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Eight years. From the day Eddie identified the pain he was and is in was, and is not, normal to the day he was finally diagnosed was eight years. Eight years of nearly debilitating and progressively worsening pain that he tried to play off but at times couldn't. Eight years of cold chills out of nowhere and an extreme intolerance to cold and heat. Eight years of wondering if he was just crazy but he wasn't.
The day he found out, it felt like, for a moment, the world had been lifted off his chest, and he could finally breathe again. That was until Eddie realized what that meant for him.
The diagnosis meant he couldn't play off his problems anymore, especially to his overly, well, more aggressively, caring boyfriend. It meant he would have to come to terms with the fact that some things just weren't going to be an option anymore. It meant fessing up that he was in pain to Steve.
Steve who had been through about as much as he had in the past few years. With his parents abandoning him after he came out as bisexual, losing the girl he thought he would love forever, and losing almost all his friends, Steve was justifiably someone who Eddie did not want to bother with his measly problems.
So, he kept quiet until he couldn't. Eddie took steps to keep his condition a secret. He took ibuprofen to keep his pain at bay, took extra care to keep from limping, wore braces and compression gear to keep his joints in place and blood where it belonged. Eddie kept his problems between himself and Uncle Wayne as long as he could.
He even kept it a secret for the first few weeks he and Steve lived together in their own little trailer on the far end of the trailer park. Not too far away from Max, who still needed some help after her own accident, but also not too close for neighbors to think they were more than just best friends and roommates, Steve still being a bit scared from his parents' reactions. But after a very long day in both of their opinions, Eddie's ruse came to an end.
After a day of herding the now high-school aged kids around to different activities and clubs and groups, Eddie and Steve had dinner and went to bed early. At least Steve did. Eddie's painsomnia, however, had different plans for him. After about an hour of tossing and turning in their shared queen sized bed, Eddie got up so as to not disturb Steve and at least let him get some sleep.
Checking his watch, Eddie realized he had another few hours before he could take his ibuprofen again so he occupied himself with doing the dishes and setting up for the Hellfire club meeting that was to take place the next day. Eddie's bustling, however, was unsupported as he had taken his braces and wraps off and tucked them away in their secret spot so he could go to bed. So his late night activities were pretty risky, and that risk came back to bite him.
While putting out the folding card table the couple kept in the hall closet for the club's meetings, Eddie put too much faith in his genetically weak joints and dislocated his left hip. Doing his best not to scream from the pain, Eddie limps his way to their kitchen to have more space to relocate the slipped joint.
After a few attempts at relocating his hip, though, he gives up and lays himself down on the cool linoleum. His thoughts turning from the pain to how ironic it was that his strong persona was just that and how he should write a song about it all when he got the chance to, if he didn't die of dramatics and pain first that is.
When Steve awoke for a sip of water not long after, the bed was cooler than usual. At first, Steve chalked it up to the changing seasons, but when he rolled over to cuddle closer to his boyfriend to keep him warm, he realized Eddie wasn't there.
Not knowing where he went, and being the man that he is, Steve decides to get up and have a look for him. Figuring he's just in the bathroom down the short hallway, he doesn't bother to bring the blanket with him and makes the short trip, only to find the bathroom devoid of the other occupant of the trailer.
"Eds?" Steve calls into the rest of the trailer, there not being many other places to look.
Eddie winces a bit at the sound of his nickname traveling through the trailer in his caring boyfriends voice.
"I'm in the kitchen," he calls back hesitantly, not sure if midnight on a Wednesday morning was the best time to have to explain the intricacies of why Eddie was laid out on the kitchens linoleum and not in bed.
But that is the sight Steve walks down the hall to see, his ebony haired boyfriend laying on the probably less than clean floor of their shared kitchen and dining space with a slight length difference between his right and left legs.
Eddie smiles a bit, trying to fake well, "Hey big boy. Can't sleep without me?"
Steve shakes his head a bit, mostly to disagree but somewhat out of confusion, "The beds colder than usual. Why are you on the floor in the kitchen?"
Eddie looks away for a brief moment before sighing and dropping his head back down against the floor with a slight thud, "Ow."
Steve let's out a soft chuckles and smiles a bit as he sits down next to Eddie's head, pushing some hair out of his face, "What was that about?"
"There's something I've been," Eddie hesitates, "putting off telling you."
"And that is?" Steve asks, playing with the other's dark curls.
Eddie's usual ramblings started after that, only this time it wasn't about Dungeons and Dragons or Lord of the Rings. This time it's about his condition and how it affects him.
"So to make a long story short I dislocated my hip and didn't want to wake you," Eddie says, finally finishing his ramble, "I didn't want to tell you any of this until I absolutely had to. Didn't want to put more on your plate."
"Oh Eds," Steve sighs softly, "You should have told me sooner. Helping you and the kids will always be my top priority. If you need help don't be afraid to ask me."
Eddie nods and smiles softly at the gentle peck to his forehead Steve gives, "Will you help me get to the hospital then?"
"Of course I will," Steve replies before helping his boyfriend up onto his good leg and out to one of their cars.
By sunrise, the boys make their way back into the homey trailer, Eddie now on crutches and Steve helping however he can. Including texting the group chat of rowdy teens to let them know their favorite after school activity was canceled this week.
"Hey guys, it's steve," he says declaring his identity since he's on Eddie's phone, "Sorry to break it to you guys but because Eddie and I were up all night, Hellfire is canceled tonight."
Just as Eddie and Steve lay down to finally rest, the group chat erupts in a fury of texts, light heartedly calling the couple gross and weird.
Eddie chuckles reading the messages, "They think we were messing around all night."
Steve smiles setting his boyfriend's crutches off to the side of the bed, "Yeah well they don't need to worry that we were in the hospital all night."
"True," Eddie states, kissing him softly as he finishes climbing into bed with him.
Steve smiles and pulls Eddie close to him to cuddle, "Get some sleep babe. Before the good shit they gave you wears off."
Eddie laughs a little at Steve's humor and snuggles up close, closing his eyes as he lays his head on Steve's open shoulder to sleep.
"You know, for how much you've been suffering for the past eight years," Steve starts, gently playing with his long curls, "You are the most peaceful sleeper I've ever seen."
"Well the only time I can ever relax is when I'm asleep," Eddie says, eyes still closed and voice sounding like he's drifting off.
Steve smiles looking out their bedroom window, seeing the dark blues mixing with the oranges and reds of the sun to make a beautiful mix of soft pink and purples. Running his blunt, almost manicured, nails over the true love of his life's scalp in a gentle massage to help lull him into sleeping.
"Next time you feel the need to ice your joints with our linoleum floors," he says softly, as not to wake him, "make sure you invite me."
Eddie hums an affirmation before his breathing slows to that of a sleeping form. His last thought before sleep takes him over being, 'I am the luckiest man in the world'. Little did he know, that was Steve's final thought before drifting off as well.