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“I can’t believe you got it to work!” Dustin exclaims.
“Yeah, well, trial and error eventually pays off,” Eddie says with a shrug, grinning as he passes over the vials. “Now remember to take the yellow one first, but take the green one as fast as you can right after. I’ve modified the potion so its effects should last all night.”
Dustin is hopping up and down, one vial in each hand. “This is so cool, Eddie, you have no idea.”
Eddie sighs. He’s relieved, honestly, that Dustin is so excited to give this a try. Eddie has done this enough times by now to appreciate his human form one thousand percent more.
“Remember, you won’t feel totally like yourself. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to do it again. But I can’t change you back, so if you wanna bail you’re just going to have to-“
“Hide in the cabin, yeah, I know,” Dustin interrupts, then pats Eddie on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, Eddie, Steve already went over this. I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be the best.”
Eddie looks to the fading pink and orange sky, taking in the early spring air. The birds are coming back, the snow almost fully melted by now. Eddie has been practicing all winter and can more easily feel the increasing buzz of excitement from the flora and fauna waking up. It’s easy to draw in some more energy, now, magic waiting to be used at his fingertips.
“Yeah, alright. Well it’s pretty much time, now; is he still in his spot?” Eddie asks.
Dustin nods and points to the clearing just behind the cabin. The pair of them make their way there, where Steve’s laying with his head propped on a log, hands settled peacefully on his stomach.
“Hey, Stevie,” Eddie says, plopping down beside him and kissing his forehead.
“Hey yourself,” Steve replies. “You’ve got it all figured out?” His voice is even but his eyes give away his nerves. He’s always on edge during full moons; add Dustin into the mix and Steve’s on full stress mode.
Eddie smiles. “Yeah. I still don’t love the idea of the kid’s first try shapeshifting happening on a full moon, but-“
“But you’re just a worrywart who ran out of supplies anyway,” Dustin interrupts. “Come on, it’s gonna be fine.”
“Oh, the confidence of youth,” Eddie teases, shoving Dustin playfully.
Steve touches Eddie’s arm gently, which draws Eddie’s attention back. He’s so beautiful in the now-dim light, the hint of crows feet when he squints. It makes Eddie think about soft stuff like growing old with the guy, finding a cabin of their own where they can host parties and spend full moons.
Someday, hopefully.
“It’s starting,” Steve warns. Eddie can’t even see the moon yet but he trusts Steve’s intuition entirely. Steve’s gotten much better at being in tune with his body over the past few months. Honestly, so much has changed since that first full moon in October that Eddie still pinches himself to acknowledge just how far they’ve come.
Eddie grabs the necessary potions - a much milder sedative, its main function now to make the change more comfortable for Steve; two yellow familiarity potions; and, finally, Eddie’s latest invention: an ever-warmth and energy potion the color of hot coals.
If he’s about to spend the night in the woods, the last thing he want to be is cold and tired.
He hands the first and one of the second to Steve, taking the warmth and a familiarity potion for himself.
“Bottoms up,” he says, and he and Steve tip their vials back almost in unison.
When that’s done, Eddie kisses Steve once more on the forehead, then stands and guides Dustin back around the corner of the cabin.
“Steve‘s gonna undress and change any minute now,” Eddie instructs, “so you should do the same. Remember, undress, then take the yellow, then the green. I’ll be just behind that tree if you need me, okay?”
Dustin’s practically jumping out of his skin, nodding so vigorously he nearly knocks his hat off. “Yeah, okay, let’s do this.”
With a final pat to Dustin’s shoulder, Eddie takes off to his spot behind a large oak and tries to ignore Steve’s groans of pain. Steve’s managed to change a lot faster, now, barely taking a minute to get through the transformation, but Eddie doesn’t ever look forward to knowing Steve is in any sort of pain.
He’s easily distracted when a huge husky, up to Eddie’s hip on all fours, comes bounding up to him. Its tail is wagging with the same level of vigor to how a certain teenager had just been jumping.
“Hey, Henderson,” Eddie greets, rubbing Dustin’s furry head like a noogie. “Not so bad, then?”
Dustin’s answer comes in the form of him standing on his hind legs, pushing at Eddie’s chest and barking. It startles a laugh out of Eddie.
“Ha, alright, message received,” Eddie says. “Glad you could help us out tonight.”
There’s a low growl to his right and then there’s Steve, towering easily over Dustin, the wolf larger in every way. It doesn’t look so different from their size differences when they’re human, if Eddie’s honest. Steve’s staring at Dustin as if to warn him away from Eddie. Dustin drops to the ground, ears flattening in fear while Eddie steps between the two of them.
“Whoa, big boy, it’s okay! Dustin’s not going to hurt me,” Eddie soothes, taking the few steps to Steve to put a hand in his thick coat. Steve stops growling and leans into Eddie, just a bit, and barks once at Dustin. Dustin whines, then slowly approaches. Steve doesn’t move, and Eddie takes deep breaths.
Dustin gets close enough to sniff at Steve’s face, Steve doing the same, and then Steve lets out a low woof. Dustin barks happily and drops to the ground, rolling onto his back and showing his belly. Steve leans down and pushes at Dustin’s side, causing Dustin to bark again.
Then Dustin’s rolling back around and bolting into the trees, Steve chasing after him.
Eddie’s smile is plastered to his face as he watches the two play tag. He almost wishes he had some more animal transformation potion for himself now, too, just so he could keep up with them. But he also can’t regret being able to watch this through his own eyes.
He follows them deeper into the forest, happy that they’re staying well within their wolfsbane perimeter. It’s nearly a three-mile radius and has plenty of other traps and spells to protect the area, but Eddie much prefers to leave those things untested.
They come back to Eddie every once in a while to make sure he’s still there (and to get some well-deserved pets too), but otherwise Eddie is happy to relax against a nearby tree and feel the beautiful thrum of the earth.
He practices his other magic on full moons, finding this is when he’s at his most powerful. He manages to create a wind tunnel powerful enough to make a snow tornado which Steve and Dustin take turns snapping at, whining when Eddie makes the snow hit them in their unexpecting faces. Eddie laughs and tries to apologize, but then he’s being double-teamed and tackled to the ground, Steve licking Eddie’s ear in a way Steve knows it tickles.
“Alright, alright, uncle! You win!” Eddie concedes between giggles, then distracts them by shooting tiny jets of lights from his fingers, flames sparkling middair like fireflies. They chase those for a minute before Steve scents the air and takes off, Dustin hot on his tail.
Eddie coaxes a trail of dead leaves to float behind him for something to do as he follows their path, and doesn’t have to go far before Steve is trotting back, a rabbit in his jaws.
“Dude, gross, take that somewhere private,” Eddie admonishes. Steve whines, probably upset that Eddie still doesn’t want to share what he’s hunted for them, but whips around and drops it at Dustin’s feet instead.
Eddie turns away, not really wanting to see if Dustin partakes. Whenever Eddie had been practicing brewing the animal transformation potion, using himself as the test subject, he would still be in his own head and could remember most of it, which he had found unsettling. Dustin seems to be faring much better, thankfully.
When his watch shows it’s nearing sunrise, Eddie starts leading them back to the cabin, aided heavily by his ability to make snowballs and have them float behind him for Steve and Dustin to snap at. When they’re nearly back, Dustin starts sprinting, getting Steve to chase him again. Eddie lays down back where Steve had been before he had changed, watching Steve and Dustin tire each other out. His eyelids get heavy as he can feel the effects of his warmth and energy potion wear off, and as if they feel it, Dustin and Steve come over and blanket themselves on top of Eddie before the early morning chill can get through Eddie’s clothes.
“I think we can chalk this one up to a success,” Eddie says over a yawn as he lets his eyes close.
Both Steve and Dustin sigh hugely, as if in agreement, and the three of them sleep soundly until the sun rises.