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“Don’t move! Whatever you do, Eds, do not fucking move!” Steve hollers from his spot in the doorway.
Without a question, Eddie freezes, eying him with a questioning gaze. He’s standing somewhere between the pool and the house, trying and failing to find what has so much fear working its way into Steve’s face.
“One of the lines just snapped and fell,” Steve explains, eyes on the area around Eddie but never directly on him. “Right into the puddle.”
With the explanation, Eddie is able to see the problem now, just inside their fence, easily overlooked by anyone but the eagle-eyed Steve Harrington. It was supposed to be a simple in and out job after the storm, just righting a couple of potted plants that had blown over in the winds.
Now apparently it’s turned into Eddie being stuck outside with a power line probably running electricity through the puddle he has to cross to get back in. They’d still had power when he stepped out, so the odds are high.
“What do you propose I do, Steve? I can’t stay out here,” he hollers back, just a little meanly because now he’s scared too and he’s always meanest when he’s scared.
“Just… Just fucking stay there, I’m going to go call 911 and the electric company and try to have them turn it off,” Steve instructs, disappearing into the house without waiting for a reply.
The thing neither of them noticed, though, was the runoff from the neighbors’ house flowing directly into the puddle, slowly but surely dragging it closer and closer to Eddie’s feet with every passing second. It’s only when Eddie finally looks down, trying to find a clear path without having to wait, that he sees the newly wet concrete, sees that his feet are closer to the water than he remembers.
He takes two steps back, mindful of the gathered water behind him as well. Maybe they should do something about how unlevel the yard is now, but that’s definitely not a pressing issue. Not if there’s electricity running through the water he’s surrounded by. Especially not when it’s probably enough to cook him from the inside out.
A pleasant thought really.
Eddie has no plans to find out just how true or untrue it is. Instead he just keeps an eye on the water, swearing loudly when it’s clearly closer than before. Too many more steps back and his only option is jumping in the pool, which also feels like it might kill him. If it has shocky water flowing into it. He’s not really sure how that all works.
Another step back and Eddie looks towards the back door where Steve still hasn’t reappeared. What is taking him so long?
“STEVE!” Eddie yells, hoping it’s enough for Steve to hear him, wherever he’s gone in the house. “Steve, get back out here!”
There’s something frantic in the words as Eddie moves another step, eyes locked on the widening gap between himself and safety.
It takes a moment, but Steve comes scrambling to the back door again, cell phone pressed against his ear as he talks. His eyes look around for a moment, taking in the scene before him and anything that’s changed about it before his eyebrows are pulling together.
“Fuck!” he swears loudly before mumbling an apology to the person on the other line. “The water is getting closer to him, can they hurry it up a little? Or like, is there something I can do?”
His tone is just as bitchy as Eddie’s had been earlier, also born from a place of fear. And he clearly doesn’t like the answer he gets in response to it as his lips pull into a scowl, one that Eddie loves and everyone else hates. “Okay, yeah, fine I’ll just wait it out and hope that my boyfriend doesn’t turn into smoked human, sure. Thanks for your time.”
Then he’s hanging up and phone and flinging it off into the house before pulling his hands over his face and screaming into them out of sheer frustration. “How fast is it moving?” he asks a moment later, calmer now except the every-present fear in his eyes.
“Too fast,” Eddie replies with yet another step. The edge of the pool looms behind him. “But I’m fine. I still have space for a few more steps.”
A few more steps, a few more minutes. Probably not very long though. Probably not long enough to actually make it out of this unscathed.
Several panicked minutes and a few footsteps later, Eddie goes to move and his shoe nearly ends up in the pool instead. He’s out of space and the water is only inches from him now. He has nowhere else to go before it reaches him, full of whatever power their neighborhood gets from the lines running from pole to pole. “Fuck!”
“Eds?”
He shakes his head frantically. “I’m fine. It’s fine. There’s still plenty of time.”
It’s a bold lie, considering they can both see the waterline and Eddie’s placement on the patio. But he tries to stay calm, he really does. There’s no point in freaking out when neither of them can do anything about it.
“Hey, Stevie?” Eddie calls out as the water inches closer still. “I love you, you know.”
There’s a whimper from Steve, so soft Eddie almost misses it. “Don’t talk like you’re about to die,” he chastises. “But I love you too.”
The thing is, Eddie could very well be about to die. They don’t know how much electricity is running through the water that’s trying to be besties with him. It could be little enough that it’s fine, but it could also very well not be that. Eddie doesn’t really feel up to testing it.
Movement at the back of the yard catches their attention, and Eddie yelps when he feels the rush of water under his foot. But nothing happens, not even the tiniest of shocks.
“Got it!” a voice calls from the alleyway behind the house and Eddie falls to his knees.
Feet splash through the now safe puddle and then there’s Steve, pulling Eddie into the tightest embrace he’s ever felt. “Holy shit, that was too close.”
Eddie laughs weakly as he burrows into Steve’s neck. “You’re fucking telling me,” he agrees wetly as he returns the embrace. “Fuck me, that was terrifying.”
“You’re safe now. I’ve got you.”
Eddie nods, clinging onto Steve even tighter, neither of them worried about the water soaking through their pants as they embrace.