Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A big orange cat paw stretches out and pins the chirping bat to the carpet.

“Knock it off,” Steve warns as he kicks off his shoes. When he walked up to the door it had sounded like a herd of buffalo in here. He’s been amazed more than once at how much noise these idiots can make, even in forms that should be quiet and agile.

The bat squeaks and the cat reaches out with his right paw to whack the bat before he releases him. The orange cat sprawls out on his belly in the strip of sun on the floor, licking his paw and running it across his head before laying both paws out in front of him, kneading the carpet and kicking out his back legs.

“Are you proud of yourself?” Steve wonders towards the cat. The cat flips his tail in response, rests his chin on his paws and closes his big blue eyes.

“Of course you are,” he mutters and he stoops down to offer the bat his open palm. The bat looks disgruntled but unwounded as he hops up into Steve’s hand. “Don’t act innocent in all this either,” he warns the bat, “I know you most likely started it.”

The bat squeaks in response, shakes like he’s flicking the dirt of the afternoon off his coat, and then tucks his wings in close to his body.

“You won’t dignify that with a response, then?” Steve sighs, brings his hand up to his shoulder to let the bat climb on.

“I’m out there all day earning money to pay the bills, working my fingers to the bone, and here you two are just playing a game of tag. It’s like you don’t even care if you ever go back to your human form.”

The bat squeaks, nudges against the side of Steve’s throat with his face. The cat opens one eye, his ear twitches and then he closes it.

“What if I kicked you out? Would that change your drive to figure this shit out?”

Eddie squeaks again, Billy flops over to his side and flips his tail.

“I suppose no one cooked dinner either,” Steve says as he makes his way towards the kitchen. “What’ll it be tonight? Insect soup with a mouse chaser?”

Eddie makes a coughing noise right next to Steve’s ear and Steve snorts. He reaches for a can of soup and dumps it into a pot, firing up the stove, he crosses his arms over his chest and leans against the counter. Eddie’s body weight is shifting from foot to foot on Steve’s shoulder and he knows he wants to tell him something but they’ve yet to figure out a way to communicate.

Sure, this whole thing seems a little like Steve’s fault but he doesn’t regret it. He’d been asking the world in general for his boyfriends to return from the Upside Down and reiterating plenty of times in his most distressed states that he didn’t care how they came back or how they’d changed, just that they came back. He tried witchcraft in his more desperate hour, and well, it worked he supposes because now they’re back. And not really human. It’s not like some Pet Cemetery thing or whatever, they aren’t zombie animals, they aren’t blood thirsty or taking any opportunity to bite Steve and eat his flesh. They’re actually kind of really fucking adorable, but he’s not going to say that to either of them. At least not yet, not until they figure out if his foray into spell casting fucked them over for life or if it’s something they can control and shift like a werewolf. Fictionally speaking. Steve’s never met a werewolf and used to doubt their existence but in the last couple years he’s decided to just never doubt anything. If he never doubts anything then he can’t be surprised anymore.

He hasn't told anyone about this just yet, it seems way too complicated to explain to anyone, including Robin. Though he feels guilty every time he’s around her and his mind wanders back to home, back to wondering what Eddie and Billy are up to, if they’ve killed each other yet being cooped up inside all day without anyone else for entertainment around. Then again, they did just spend months in the Upside Down with nothing but each other, so they’re probably pretty used to it.

He also knows the first thing anyone is going to ask is how exactly he knows it’s them. It’s just some random cat and some random bat that have come into his home and he’s crazy enough to believe it’s Billy and Eddie, like the truth is he’s fallen into some kind of delusional state and he’s truly just building his life around a feline and a mammal. He can’t really take the chance that he end up in a mental facility and Eddie is put down, Billy put in a shelter.

Steve’s gaze flicks over to Billy, he’s flipped over to lie on his back. Showing his belly. Steve never had pets, so he did a little research at the library. He knows they aren’t actually animals, so it’s not like he can follow pet owning as a golden rule, but he figures it doesn’t hurt to know about dietary restrictions and body language as much as he can. So he knows that Billy showing his belly doesn’t mean he wants to be pet there, it just means he’s in a place where he feels safe and he trusts the people he’s around. Yeah, there’s no way he can allow this cat to end up in a shelter. Billy would end up getting put down after he bit every single hand that reached for him.

And Eddie, well, he’d either be set free to go live amongst his own. Or they’d deem him incapable of survival in the wild after being domesticated. Steve reaches a hand up, scratches Eddie’s tiny furry head. Eddie leans into it and when Steve drops his hand to get the soup off the stove, he drops from his shoulder. It’s not enough height for Eddie to actually fly, but he can use his wings to slow himself down and cushion his landing on the counter. This was something that took some trial and error and a whole lot of Steve catching Eddie in his palm before he could hit the ground and hurt himself.

Steve pours the warmed soup into a bowl, spoons some of the veggies and chicken out onto a plate. He calls out towards the sleeping cat, “Billy, food’s ready.”

For Eddie, he cuts a few chunks off an apple and lays them out on the counter beside him. He squeaks what sounds like thanks, so Steve responds, “You’re welcome.”

Billy’s ear twitched, so he knows the asshole heard him. But he hasn’t bothered to get up yet. “Well, I’m not bringing it to you, so if you’re hungry eat before it gets cold. Or eat it cold later, I don’t care.”

Billy stays still, like he hasn’t listened to a word. Until Steve pulls the stool out at the counter and sits down to eat his own bowl of soup. Then he’s getting up, stretching long, yawning and sauntering over to rub against Steve’s ankle. He stands on his back legs, reaching up with his front paws to Steve’s knee.

“Yeah, except that I know you come up here all the time and lick the plates in the sink. So…” Steve reaches down anyway. If Billy is seeking touch, then he’s not going to deny him. He just needs to make it clear that he’s onto him without so many words. He lifts Billy from under his belly and sets him on his leg, pushes his little china plate over close to the edge so Billy can eat without getting up on the counter. There's a bat already on the counter, so it’s not like Steve is trying to impress anyone, but it’s kinda nice to have Billy keeping his thigh warm under his fluffy vibrating weight.

Steve talks them through his day, gives them any theories he has about how to get them back to their human states, while they eat. Eddie is making it clear he’s listening by giving Steve eye contact and doing this cute little nod thing every so often, squeaking softly like a hum when there’s moments between Steve’s words. Billy is not offering anything, he’s chowed down his soup and curled up on Steve’s lap. His tail flipping in a steady rhythm against Steve’s hip the only thing proving he’s even awake anymore.

When Eddie is done eating, he hops across the counter, climbs his way up Steve’s arm and settles in on his shoulder. As much as he loves cuddle time, it’d be a lot easier if they’d wait until he was done eating and sitting on something more comfortable than a kitchen stool. He tells them as much, Eddie nudges his neck and Billy flicks an ear. Neither of them bother to get up.

“Isn’t this what you two do all day already?” Steve wonders when he’s done eating and Billy is allowing a head scratching. Billy sighs and Eddie chirps. “Alright,” Steve says after a few moments. He lifts Billy off his lap and instead of being still and trusting Steve to deliver him to the couch, he jumps down, digging his back claws into Steve’s thigh on the way. It startles Eddie when Steve stiffens under the pinpricks of pain, he dives off Steve’s shoulder and hits the counter with a thump. Billy hit the ground, went off like a shot and Steve is pretty sure he’s going to hide under the couch all evening.

“You alright?” He asks Eddie, laying his palm out for him to step into.

Eddie does so, and eagerly accepts the lift to his perch. The tips of his wings tickle against Steve’s neck when Eddie lays on his belly, using his wings to balance his weight.

“If this lasts much longer, I’ll have to clue Robin in on it so she can help me mend my wardrobe appropriately. Little pads on my shoulders for you. A sling to carry Billy in.”

Eddie squeaks his approval as Steve starts working on the dishes.

^~^

Steve is already in bed, with Eddie hanging off the curtain rod, by the time Billy makes his way back out from under the couch. He’s silent on his way into the room, the dim light from the hall slanting across the floor when he pushed the door open. Steve hears it when he jumps up to the foot of the bed, feels his weight on the mattress. He’s careful when he puts one paw out to test the waters. Laying it on Steve’s ankle like an apology for clawing him earlier.

Steve pats his chest, the place that’s become Billy’s favorite place to spend the night. Which is equal parts comforting and uncomfortable for Steve, but his warmth and purring outweigh the pressure of his body on Steve’s sternum. Billy carefully walks the length of Steve’s leg like a balance beam, keeping his claws in and making every footfall light. It’s impressive even with the careful stepping just how much weight is on each paw. It’s not like cats are heavy, Billy is kind of a brick of a cat, but he’s still a cat.

When he walks across Steve’s belly, Steve tightens his muscles to protect himself and to give Billy solid footing. Also, he can just imagine Billy’s voice saying, “Getting a little soft in the middle Harrington,” if Steve didn’t pull his abs taut for his crossing.

With all four paws on Steve’s chest, Billy headbutts Steve’s chin.

Steve lifts his hand and strokes Billy’s head, then follows the curve of his spine to his tail before he starts over at his head again. Billy arches into it, purrs so loud it might as well be the only sound in the room. It’s always been easier for Billy to offer affection in the cover of darkness, Steve’s not surprised it’d be any different in this form.

It’s really not hard to fall asleep with Billy’s soft warmth under his hand and against his chin, with that weight on his chest chasing the nightmares away. By morning Eddie has made himself comfortable tucked into the juncture of Steve’s shoulder and neck. His tiny puffs of breath tickling Steve’s ear and the undeniable feeling of being stared at are the things that wake him. Opening his eyes, he’s met with Billy’s big blue ones giving him the unblinking stare that only a creepy ass cat can dole out. As soon as Steve blinks at him, he’s launching himself off the bed and scampering out the door like his mission has been accomplished just by startling someone out of a deep sleep with only his eyes.

“Asshole,” Steve mutters, reaching out to slap his alarm before it can go off. The motion wakes Eddie, who immediately clambers up into Steve’s hair. “Not the hair, man, c’mon,” he grumbles as he pulls himself to seated on the bed to scrub at his face, “Why do I even put up with this? I gotta get you changed back before you both drive me insane.”

Chapter Text

Billy's got it made. No job. No school. No father. No social constructs to adhere to. So he’s gotta put up with Eddie’s constant chipping and chattering all day. His attempt at stunts that he can’t pull off. And his crash landings onto Billy’s belly. But if Billy wants affection, all he has to do is climb up in Steve’s lap. If he wants food, all he has to do is brush against Steve’s ankles. If he wants attention without physical contact, he just hops up to the counter and knocks shit off to the floor. His biggest expenditure of energy on any given day is having to move every so often to follow the sunny spots on the floor, or the couch, or the table, or the counter, or the bookshelf, or Steve’s bed. It’s just really not that bad of a trade-off.

Billy spent his life, after his mom left, being the sole focus of Neil’s anger. Trying to fit into what his father expected of him. Then he finally had a plan, a summer job, and a savings account to get the hell out of Hawkins and out of Neil’s house in the Fall for college. Only to have the Upside Down fuck that all up. He has no idea how long he was down there. He spent all of it in some weird comatose state where his mind was bogged down with visions of things he wasn’t using his own eyes to see. Surrounded by false reality and being kept alive by the Mind Flayer for some super special evil plan to take over the world or whatever stupid shit villains are always after. Billy doesn’t care, he doesn’t need to know, and he wants no part of stopping it if it ever comes down to some heroic action necessary. He already played the hero card by trying to fight the Spider Monster with his bare hands. And he died. Or sort of died.

So why the hell would he want to go back to his human form? That’d be stupid. Nothing good has ever come of being in his skin. Maybe the fur is the way to go.

Billy rolls over onto his back, kicks his legs up and closes his eyes. That’s the other great part about being a cat, he can sleep. He can sleep anywhere, any time, and in any position.

Eddie doesn’t seem to be any worse or better off either. He doesn’t seem in any rush to get back to his human body. He’s terrible at those wings and Billy thinks it’s a waste that he’s the one who gets to fly. Though if Billy had wings, he’d be the fuck out of here. Going back to nature and surviving that way without the smallest trace of a human life at any point.

Billy’s left back leg twitches and wakes him, just enough to blink one eye and make sure Munson is still hooked on the ceiling light and not about to dive-bomb Billy’s belly.

He’s a good looking cat if he does say so himself. Of course his soft fluff is irresistible to Eddie and Steve. Steve has a bad habit of messing up the fur on the top of his head, running his palm back and forth like Billy is a dog asking for a head scratching. But all Billy has to do is give him a glare, lick his paw and smooth the fur back out for him to get it. Not that it stops him the next time. The idiot always smiles when he’s scratching Billy’s head, so if he has to admit it, then it’s not bad trade.

The licking though. That’s the biggest downside. Licking his own body to get clean, and getting fur-balls stuck in his throat. Of course, he just pukes them up on Steve’s sock or in his shoe or something anyway, so at least it’s amusing. For Billy. And Billy is truly all that matters.

Eddie appears to still be sleeping. Lazy fuck. Billy closes his eye again and makes himself comfortable. He wonders if Eddie is starting to miss anyone, maybe his uncle. Billy only met him once but he seemed like an actual decent human being - which is a strange new concept for Billy when it comes to adult males. And maybe Eddie’s missing his bandmates or his nerd club. For being a freak and an outcast, the guy’s got a pretty big group of friends.

Billy doesn’t miss a fucking soul. He never did. Except for Steve and Eddie. When he was allowed reign over his own mind, it would always drift to the two of them. Then one day Eddie appeared there too, Billy couldn’t tell him to run, to stop fighting and just get the fuck out. He couldn’t tell Steve either. Or any of the idiots that kept coming down there. He couldn’t say a thing. The one small mercy the Mind Flayer had on him was not to use him as a weapon against anyone other than Max. Max is one thing, Billy knows she’s a tough bird, he’d never tell her that, but he knew that she’d see through the Mind Flayer’s shit when he was using Billy as a puppet. If Billy had been used against Steve or Eddie, he’s not sure they’d have fared so well. As it was, Eddie didn’t exactly fare well considering he also “died”.

They couldn’t communicate with each other down there. They could see each other through the Mind Flayer’s eyes though. It was much worse watching Eddie trapped than it was being trapped.

Then one day the captivity was severed and they were here, in Steve’s place, in bodies that didn’t belong to them. It was like waking up after a super long and vivid nightmare only to realize that shit was still not right. Billy doesn’t really care though, he’s not Upside Down anymore and being a cat just ain’t that bad.

He refuses to speak though. He did it once when they were alone, just to see if Eddie could understand him, and he sounded so fucking stupid meowing that he never tried it again. He can’t control the purrs, doesn’t really mind them either since they’re truly soothing for both him and Steve. Maybe Eddie too. Not that he'd know since Eddie always chooses the moments of deep relaxation to interrupt in increasingly more obnoxious ways.

Billy slants one eye open, sometimes just thinking of the asshole makes him act up, like Billy’s brain pokes Eddie’s with a little needle every time he dares think his name. Eddie’s wing is over his face. Perfect.

Billy gives in this time. Allowing himself to fall deep into sleep, his purring the only sound in the room. And then a bowling ball falls on his bared belly.

His body reacts, curving into a shape that only a cat body can, grabbing Munson by the head with his claws and pushing into his body with his back-feet. Billy holds him there for a second, right in close to his face, bares his teeth and glares. He waits until the cocky little light in Eddie’s eyes gives way to a tiny flash of real fear and then he pushes him away. Eddie rolls across the floor, under the couch and squawks, the type of chatter that sounds like a little kid tattling on another.

“Fuck you, Munson,” Billy sighs as he lowers himself back down to the ground on his side. he flips his tail and waits. Knowing he’ll come out soon, he’ll make himself small and act all shy while he approaches Billy, like his animal nature is what made him do it and he was not in control of his actions at all.

“Fuck you too,” Eddie responds and then nearly shouts, “Wait, I just understood you!” as he’s scrabbling across the floor on his wings and feet, “Did you understand me? I just heard you, Billy, I got that, and it was in English, tell me you got me too.”

Billy lifts his paw, keeping his claws in and holding it in the air over Eddie’s head. Eddie cowers back a bit, stands on his feet and opens his wings to show that he’s innocent at the moment and not planning any attacks. He tilts his head to the side and wonders again, “Can you understand me?”

“Yes,” Billy admits begrudgingly, “and it was much more peaceful before that happened, so let’s go back to just chirps and shit.”

“Ha ha Hargrove,” Eddie rolls his eyes and takes a step closer. Billy keeps his paw hovering in the space between them. “Okay, I get it, I’m annoying. But I don’t deserve to die - again - just for disrupting your sleep.”

Billy snorts, pushes his claws out.

“Fine. Fine. Maybe I do considering I’ve been doing it daily for weeks now. But it’s so funny when you startle, you make it like a full two inches off the ground and your’e just a big furball and not at all the intimidating figure you are as a man, I have to get my shots in when I can take them.”

Billy sneers, showing his teeth and Eddie takes another step back.

“I didn’t say not at all intimidating, I only said not as intimidating. Or something close to that, hey, that’s not what we should be focusing on. We can understand each other! Billy, we can understand each other! That’s fucking metal, man, c’mon, we’re one step closer to figuring this all out, and I haven’t heard your voice in so, so long that I almost forgot what it sounded like so can you say something now and interrupt me so I know I’m not imagining this?”

“Fuck off Munson,” Billy responds but finally puts his paw down on the carpet, kneading into it a few times before laying his chin on top of it. If bats could smile, Eddie’s dimples would be showing by now.

He hobbles over on his wings and feet, nudges Billy’s face with his own and admits, “I love when you cuss me out, baby.”

Billy could probably admit that he missed hearing Eddie’s voice, that he missed being able to speak. Instead, he licks his sandpaper tongue right up the center of Eddie’s face. Eddie squawks in protest and spreads his wings out wide to throw them over Billy’s face and attach himself there.

Inevitably it starts a brawl, they're still at it when Steve opens the door and steps in. Steve sighs, runs a hand through his hair, points a finger at them and opens his mouth to reprimand but Eddie hollers, “He started it!”

“I doubt that,” Steve responds. Then freezes. Completely. The fact that he just understood what Eddie said dawning on his face, his mouth falling open and his eyes bugging. “Wait, did you just… did I just… can we understand each other now? Or I guess you’ve probably understood me the whole time, right? But can I…”

“Yeah, baby!” Eddie responds from where he’s still trying to push Billy’s paw off his belly, pinning him to the floor.

Billy only releases him when Eddie decides to nip at his toe. He whacks Eddie across the face with his claws in, then gets up to walk over and sit on his sunny window ledge. He needs a bath after all those bat germs got all over him. And he’s not sure how he feels about this new development. Being one step closer to being human again seems a lot more negative than positive. He wants no part in figuring it out.

Chapter Text

Eddie hops into Steve's palm when he offers it. Steve’s smiling when he says, “This is so rad! We can talk to each other again, this is going to make everything so much easier.”

Eddie bobs his head in agreement. Steve tips his eyes towards Billy, lifting a brow in question and Eddie supplies, “I understood him a little bit ago but who knows if it’ll work for you.”

Eddie’s gotten the impression that Billy is happier this way. He has no desire to go back to his human body right now. He’s not so sure he can blame him. Billy’s got no one else he wants to be around, he’s got a headstone in the graveyard and that’d be way harder to explain than just being a missing person.

“Was I declared dead?” Eddie wonders.

“No, I think your uncle is still pretty hellbent on finding you.”

Eddie sighs relief. “Good, so all I have to do is come up with a cover story for where I’ve been.”

“Well, yeah and the whole being a person again would be…”

“Ideal,” Eddie interrupts. He tips his head to look at Steve, at the soft way he’s smiling and the tenderness in his eyes. “I wonder if it’s just something that’s going to eventually wear off. Billy and I weren’t doing anything other than our typical lazing around, so it’s not like we broke part of the curse. Or non-curse, since it brought us back from the dead.”

“Whatever it is,” Steve agrees. His gaze tilts towards where Billy is lying on the window ledge, aggressively cleaning his coat, and pointedly ignoring them. When Steve looks back down at Eddie, there’s worry tugging his expression and Eddie wants to reassure him, but doesn’t want to vocalize his theory about Billy while Billy is in the room. Instead, he nods and hopes that Steve gets it. They can talk about it later, or when Billy falls asleep again in approximately two minutes. Cats, man.

Steve must be okay with the acknowledgment because he changes topics by wondering, “Hungry? It’s going to be a lot easier to feed you when I know what you can actually eat, instead of just guessing based off guides on bats.”

“Like I have any idea?” Eddie groans and climbs up Steve’s arm to perch on his shoulder. “I’ve only eaten what you’ve fed me, I’m not too keen on trying a burger just to see what happens.”

Steve shrugs and Eddie has to dig into the meat of his shoulder to keep his balance. Steve apologizes, “Sorry, forgot you were there for a sec.”

“Forgot?! Forgot I was here?!” Eddie tips over like he’s just been shot dead, falls sideways off his perch and didn’t really think that one through. It’s not enough space to get lift, and he’s totally going to crash. Again.

“Shit,” Steve mutters as he nearly trips over himself to get his hands underneath Eddie before he hits the floor.

Eddie lands safely in Steve’s warm palm, wipes his brow with the tip of his wing and admits, “Didn’t think that one through.”

Billy snorts. They both look over at him where he’s still on the ledge. His tail flipping, his judgmental cat gaze sweeping across the room before he’s looking out the window again like none of this interests him and he wasn’t watching.

“Noticed,” Steve responds. He brings his hand back up to his shoulder for Eddie to climb on again.

“Your ninja reflexes kicked in,” Eddie agrees.

Steve does a weird little ninja move and Eddie nearly falls off his shoulder. Again.

“Sorry,” Steve sighs, “You’re so light, it’s easy to forget… not forget. Just, I dunno, not think about it.”

Eddie creeps closer to Steve’s neck, sits down on his butt and leans against his pulse point. Crossing one leg over the other knee, laying his wings back and down to balance himself.

“What are you doing?” Steve wonders.

“It looked like a nice lounge chair, so I figured I’d try it. While I still had the chance,” Eddie supplies.

“In a way, it’d be nice if this turned out to be something you could control. Like you could be human or bat whenever you wanted. It’d be like a superpower.”

“I don’t know about a superpower,” Eddie protests. Mostly because he doesn’t want to be associated with that particular class of nerd. “It would be pretty badass though.”

“Yeah it would,” Steve agrees. He looks over at Billy when he says it, like he’s willing him to listen, to understand that Steve and Eddie would both accept him in either form. Accept him, and love him. Billy’s ear twitches and he doesn’t bother responding or adding his two cents to the conversation. He tucks his chin between his paws and closes his eyes.

It almost makes too much sense for Billy to be a cat. Maybe this is just some kind of true form thing and they both need to figure out how to ground themselves to shift back to human. Maybe Steve is right, maybe it’ll be something they’ll have from now on. A capability unlocked by the Upside Down combined with Steve’s meddling. Could be a cool memento. Better than anything else the place has given them.

^~^

“How do we get Billy to want to change back then?” Steve wonders. He’s pacing his bedroom, tossing a ball up and catching it, tossing it again and so on.

Billy’s asleep in the living room, even so Eddie is keeping an ear on him. Knowing Billy as well as he does, it would be just about the worst thing that could happen for him to walk in on them talking about him. He’d prefer being punched in the face over being talked about behind his back. Even if the talking about is out of love and concern.

“It’s Billy so it’s gotta be his idea, we can’t push him into it. All we can do is assuage his fears before he has to admit to them.” Eddie leans against the closed bedroom door, being sure to have a direct route to his ears from Billy’s perch. He’ll hear his feet hit the ground if nothing else. The bat hearing is kind of fucking awesome though. For the most part, sometimes it gets a little overwhelming to be able to hear the way the individual carpet particles bristle underfoot. He wonders what it’d be like outside, what kind of crazy shit he never even knew existed before, that he’d be able to hear now.

“What do you think his fears are?” Steve asks.

Eddie shrugs his wings, tips his head to look up at Steve. He whispers, “All the shit before the Upside Down - his dad, and everything that he gifted Billy - but it’s also going to be hard to come back from the dead.”

“Oh,” Steve responds. He’s stopped his pacing. Standing in the middle of his room now, one hand on his cocked hip and the other still gripping the ball. That little bit of information has deflated him and now Eddie wants to do anything he can to take it back.

“It’s not anything we can’t work around,” Eddie assures. He’s not actually certain of that, but sometimes the verbalization is all Steve needs to get him to keep pushing forward. “Just some things we need to keep in mind and maybe work on certain parts of it when he’s not around.”

Steve studies Eddie’s face for a long moment like he’s checking for enough confidence for the both of them. Eventually he nods and returns to his pacing but this time when he starts talking it isn’t about Billy, it’s about his plans for going to the library after work tomorrow and checking out every single book he find on the occult.

^~^

Eddie tries a different approach today. It’s fun to pester Billy, so much fun. But today he can tell that Billy is not in the mood for it. Problem is, that belly fur is so damn irresistible and all Eddie really wants out of life is to rub his face against it. So he flaps down from the light fixture, lands as gently as he can on the floor. It’s still enough to make Billy’s back leg twitch, but not enough to fully wake him.

Eddie walks over quietly, keeping an eye on Billy’s closed lids to be sure they don’t open and slant an evil glare his way. When he’s close enough, he goes for it. Lands his head precisely in the center of that white ball of fluff and rubs his cheek aggressively for the split second before Billy can wake up and kick him off.

Eddie lands with a squawk about two feet away from a now standing and ready to pounce Billy.

“Totally worth it.” Eddie grins.

Billy’s cat eyes narrow, his butt shakes and he comes at Eddie with his paws out and ready to pummel him. Eddie screeches, makes himself as small as he can and slides under the recliner. He crawls up into the springs underneath the chair and hollers, “I just wanted to feel that fluff! It cannot be resisted! You should be astonished I’ve made it this long!”

“Made it this long?” Billy wonders from the other side of the chair. His voice uninterested as he reminds him, “You could have asked, shitbird.”

“Shitbat.”

“Batshit.”

“No, batshit is you, Billy.”

Eddie can hear Billy walking around the chair. Light on his feet, but the bristles of carpet sound like wrinkled tissue paper under his paws.

“If I asked, what exactly would you have said?”

“Fuck you.”

“That’s what I thought,” Eddie sighs. He cocks his head to the side to listen to Billy. He’s gone completely silent. Eddie can hear him breathing, so he knows he’s to Eddie’s right. And he knows Billy is not about to let this go easily. He’s pretty safe in this steel case, and looking around he’s kind of certain he’s stuck. But that’s a problem for later. Right now the problem is that orange paw reaching under the side of the chair and swatting around. Trying to find him and pin him. Claws are in, Eddie knows Billy isn’t going to hurt him on purpose, it’s just a wrestling match. Honestly, they’re more evenly matched now than they are as humans, at least Eddie can whack Billy with his wings or give him a little bite to remind him of his teeth. Billy wouldn’t bite Eddie, but he does wonder if the longer they’re in these bodies the more the animal instincts will kick in. If that’s the case, then he probably should back off. If Billy’s cat instincts are to clamp down around Eddie’s neck with his big sharp teeth, then Eddie’s fucked should Billy get to a point of giving into urges.

“Hey, do you ever feel like biting me?” Eddie wonders as he watches that paw come down again, slip to the right, crawl to the left, whack the carpet a few times and then withdraw.

“All the time.”

“No, I mean in a catlike way. Do you want to bite my neck? Sink your teeth in and shake me until I’m limp.”

“All the time,” Billy responds again. He’s moved to the other side of the chair, his paw coming in and feeling around.

Eddie sighs, taps his toes on the steel box he’s crammed himself into. He leans back against the coil and thinks aloud, “If anyone sits on the chair I am going to be crushed.”

“Sounds like a problem you created for yourself,” Billy responds. His paw disappears and he wonders, “Wait, are you inside the mechanism?”

“Yeah,” Eddie answers with a shrug that he knows Billy can’t see.

Billy humphs, it sounds like disbelief but also like Eddie’s just met an expectation.

“What?” Eddie wonders, tapping the tips of his toes together.

“Nothin’,” Billy says. It sounds like he’s moving away from the chair. Probably finding his sunny spot and lying down. His tail lashing across the carpet as he cleans his face.

“Nothin’ like: good luck ever getting out of there? Or nothin’ like: now I’m stuck here until Steve gets home.”

Billy emits a breath that vibrates his kitty cat vocal cords and sounds like an annoyed purr. “Both.”

Eddie jolts into action, flattening himself out to crawl back through the way he came in. Only to have the tiny space seem suddenly tinier. Too tiny!

“Billy! I can’t get out! I’m stuck! I’m gonna die! I’m gonna rot to death in here or suffocate or suddenly turn back into human and all of my bones will shatter and my organs will become mashed goo! I’ll be leaking out of here for days, months even. Seeping into the carpets and through the floorboards. Steve will have to move out, he’ll have to go on the run because there’s no fucking way to explain that. Ever! Even to Hopper. If he could explain it to Hopper, it’s not like Hopper could just make it disappear!”

“Chill out Munson. I know how to take the stupid chair apart without the spring compressing and killing you. But I don’t have opposable thumbs right now.” Billy tells him in a very uninterested tone.

“You sound bored, Hargrove. Is my impending death boring you sweetheart? I’m so sorry this is so very dull for you!”

Billy snorts, coughs on a hairball. Eddie can hear him hacking it up, probably aiming it at Steve’s loafers.

“You deserve that,” Eddie reminds him when he’s done.

“So do those shoes,” Billy responds.

“Well… yeah, that’s true.”

Chapter Text

Steve’s only been gone for about two hours, but he still expects to walk in to the typical scene of destruction or wrestling or tattling or sleeping. He’s not expecting this.

Billy is perched on his elbows, his rear hovering over his back paws, like he’s nearly sitting but not relaxed enough to do so. As soon as he hears Steve step into the house, he’s trotting over and rubbing between Steve’s legs. It’s not in his typical I want food sort of way, it’s more in a way of I need you to walk exactly where I lead you. And he’s not purring.

Steve doesn’t bother taking his shoes off, he just walks in and takes the careful steps that Billy is guiding. He leads him right over to the chair. Steve sighs and reaches down to scratch Billy on the head with one hand, the books he got from the library in his other hand. The instant he reaches to put the books on the chair - intending to situate with Billy on his lap before he starts his research - Billy hollers out, “No! Don’t put anything on the chair! Don't even touch it!”

Steve freezes. One hand with the books hovering over the chair. The other hand hovering over Billy. His back bent in an awkward position somewhere between standing and leaning down to pick up the cat.

“Billy,” Steve breathes softly, “you just spoke to me. And I understood you.”

He keeps his voice low, doesn’t get as pitched and openly excited as he did with Eddie yesterday. It’s not because he’s less excited, it’s because he knows how Billy will react if he shows his true emotions over the leaping of this hurdle.

Billy flicks his tail, narrows his eyes and waits for Steve to catch on.

“Oh, right, yeah. If you’re speaking then it must be important… where’s Eddie?”

At the sound of his name, Eddie’s voice echoes, “I’m down here!”

There’s an edge of panic but also a crust of sleep like he’s decided to talk himself down from an anxiety attack by closing his eyes and making the world go away.

“Down where?” Steve wonders, looking around the floor at his feet. His glance darting over to Billy for a hint. Billy’s front paw extends and swats the corner of the chair.

Steve unconsciously puts his hand out to set the books down again and Billy leaps up off the floor to shove his entire arm backwards. It knocks hims off balance, the books hit the floor and Steve falls back to his butt.

“What the…”

“Don’t touch the fucking chair!” Billy is walking up Steve’s leg, his paws heavy on Steve’s belly as he sits back on his haunches. He’s looking up at Steve and it all hits him again how strange and fucked up this is. How undeniably Billy this cat is but how true it is he could never tell a soul.

Steve wants to gush, scratch Billy’s ears and praise him for speaking in his human voice so that Steve can understand him after spending yesterday pouting and keeping his distance. But he knows that’s fucking stupid and it’s best not to mention anything at all or Billy will walk away with a flip of his tail and not bother coming back until he’s hungry.

“Why?” Steve wonders.

“Eddie’s under the chair.”

“Oh. So why doesn’t he just… come out?”

“He’s stuck.”

“Ah, okay, so I’ll just tip it back and…”

“No.” Billy growls, bats Steve’s hand when he gestures towards the chair. “He’s in the mechanism. You gotta take the whole chair apart.”

“Huh?”

“The little box under the chair that houses the springs. He’s stuck in there and if you move the chair wrong it’ll squish him,” Billy explains. His paw is still pressing against Steve’s wrist like a warning that he’s not allowed to do a single damn thing until Billy walks him through it.

“Batmeat,” Eddie adds from his prison. “Liquefied guts all over the floor.”

“Bats don’t have enough guts to really be all over the floor, but thank you for that visual,” Steve responds.

Billy grunts, his paw pushing on Steve’s hand to get him to bring it back closer to his body and further away from the chair.

“I don’t know why they’d be liquified either,” Steve continues but then Billy swats him. “Ow, asshole, I’m just sayin’.”

“Say less. Do more,” Billy orders.

Steve huffs out a sigh, slides a hand under Billy and cradles him in the crook of his arm while he gets to his feet and heads to the junk drawer in the kitchen for a screwdriver. Billy’s paw reaches down and pushes the small array of tools around, then wonders, “That all you got, Pretty Boy?”

“There’s probably some stuff int he garage.”

Billy snorts, leaps out of Steve’s grasp and trots across the floor to the garage door. He bats at it a few times while he waits, being certain to let out a few distressed huffs that pitch into vibrations of annoyance because his human is too slow to do his bidding.

^~^

Eddie swerves on his feet, his wings out wide as he staggers out from the steel box. He sways a few times, emits a death rattle and tips over backwards to lie on the floor. He announces, “I’m gonna need a nap after all that work.”

Billy reaches one paw out and smacks him, then turns with a twitch of his tail and saunters down the hallway without a word.

“That was uncalled for,” Eddie tells the retreating feline.

He gets nothing verbal in response, only another tail twitch.

Steve shrugs at him when he looks up. Wondering, “Should I even ask?”

“Nah,” Eddie props himself on an elbow to watch Steve as he fumbles with the mechanism that’s still taken apart that he probably should have paid more attention to and memorized how to put it back together because apparently Billy’s part of the job is now done.

“You know how to put this thing back together?” Steve wonders.

“Nope.”

Steve sighs, sits back on his butt and taps the steel with the screwdriver a few times. “So…”

“Fine.” Eddie rolls his little bat eyes and sits up to tell Steve, “I just wanted to rub my face on his belly. So I did. And he didn’t like it. So I hid. Steven,” Eddie sighs and takes a few steps over closer, lowering his voice as he wonders, “what happens if we’re in these bodies long enough to have animal urges?”

“Animal urges like what?”

“Like predatory urges,” Eddie hisses in a whisper.

“I guess,” Steve reaches out and runs the tip of his finger over Eddie’s head to muse his fur, “if that happens then you should stop instigating.”

Eddie groans and tips over sideways. Steve’s not sure if the reaction is because of the suggestion that Eddie is the pot-stirrer or that it’s possible they’ll be stuck in those bodies for awhile still. Either way, he lets Eddie play dead while he gets to his feet, puts the tools off to the side, arranges all the small pieces of the chair nice and neatly on the coffee table, and tucks the larger ones underneath. If he tries to put it back together without Billy’s guidance, he’ll have a mess. So the chair can wait.

^~^

Billy’s sitting on Steve’s desk. His tail hanging over the edge of it, curled in a little question mark. He’s preening for the mirror is what it looks like from the doorway, but when Steve steps inside, he realizes he’s not looking at the reflection, he’s looking at the polaroids tucked into the edge of the frame.

Steve is quiet when he enters the room. He doesn’t approach Billy or the desk, instead he takes a seat on the end of his bed. Folding his hands in his lap, he keeps his focus off Billy’s eyes in the mirror. He waits, giving Billy a moment to decide if he wants to speak. When enough time has passed that Steve is certain he won’t say a word just yet, Steve admits quietly, “I thought about burning them.”

Steve focuses his eyes on the space between Billy’s shoulder blades. Billy doesn’t prompt for more information but Steve gives it anyway. “It’s all I had, ya know, for proof that we were… something. Something more than friends. The three of us. It’s not like we…” Steve’s eyes are welling up against his will. He takes a moment to breathe, to blink and fight the emotion from his voice before he continues, “We couldn’t just be open about our true relationship, you know that of course, but it was kinda like if these tiny reminders I had of us were gone then the past didn’t exist. Then it was just something I made up, right? And it didn’t have to hurt so much to miss you.”

Steve reaches up to wipe the back of his hand across his eyes. When he blinks back the tears again, he spots Eddie making his way into the room. Moving silently across the floor towards Steve’s leg. Billy has cocked his head but otherwise remained a statue.

“So I thought about burning them, the photos. I had them in my hand, I had my lighter open and, well you can see the bottom corner of that one is singed. Then this fucking stupid voice in my head that sounded a lot like the two of you speaking together said, burn the past, burn the future. I don’t know where it came from, I still don’t, and that was the only time I heard it. But it was enough to get me to smudge out the flame.”

Eddie has latched onto Steve’s pant leg and begun his climb. Steve wipes another tear off his cheek and offers Eddie his open palm. The instant he sets Eddie on his shoulder, Eddie snuggles up close to his neck, tucking his face under Steve’s jaw.

They’re both silent while they wait for Steve to say more, but there’s no more to that story. Not really. He just wanted Billy to know that, to know how long he’s clung to hope. Eddie’s a different story, Steve never has to doubt that Eddie will always keep hope alive as long as he’s breathing, and he’ll always know that Steve loves him even when he can’t hear him say it. It’s easier loving Eddie, it’s easier to know he reciprocates, but it doesn’t make it any more or less gratifying.

Eventually, Billy bats a small glass jar out to the middle of the desk.

Steve admits, “That’s a wish jar.”

“I know,” Billy responds. “Where’s the lid?”

“I took it off, like I was supposed to.”

Billy hums, turns to look over at the bed. He ducks his head a few times, his front paws on the ledge of the desk as he judges his distance. It’s quite a leap. Steve is just beginning to put his weight on his heels and push himself up to go get Billy, but then Billy’s launching himself across the gap and landing with a thud in between Steve’s thighs. Steve’s hands instantly go for his fluffy body, as he curses him out for nearly landing on his dick.

Billy huffs, tells him, “It’s not that long, amigo.”

Steve scoffs, Eddie giggles with glee and Steve considers shrugging him off his shoulder. But he’s got Billy between his hands and warming his legs, he’s got Eddie tickling his jaw and breathing against his neck and he can’t find it in himself to disturb any of that.

Billy looks up at Steve as he wonders, “Was the lid off the wish jar when you burned the photo?”

“I didn’t burn it burn it, you know, I just…”

Billy swats him.

“Okay, yeah. Yes it was off. Why?”

Eddie suddenly perks up from his post, “Where’d you get the jar?”

“Just a Fall Fest thing, one of those fringe type…”

“What was the name on the tent?” Eddie is clearly getting excited about this, judging by the way his weight is shifting from tiny foot to tiny foot on Steve’s shoulder. It’s kinda hurts, like little pinpricks into his skin.

“I don’t know. It had a dragon thingy on the side of it though, like a dragon snake with its tail in a circle.”

“Ouroboros!” Eddie hollers so loud right next to Steve’s ear that he flinches.

“Sorry,” Eddie concedes, and hops down to his leg to sit next to Billy, who has curled up and put his paw over his face like this no longer needs his attention. “So Ouroboros is a snake biting its own tail. It’s life, death and rebirth, but also! Also! The changing of one thing into another! All is one!”

“Okay,” Steve responds slowly when Eddie looks at him like this should be clicking into place. He runs a hand over Billy’s spine as he waits.

Eddie shrugs, “Okay, not the important part. The important part is, if you made the wish jar, and I assume you did since you’re the owner of it. If you made it, and you wished for…”

“I’m not telling. If you tell a wish, it doesn’t come true.”

Eddie sighs, and Billy huffs out a little rattly laugh. Eddie continues, “If you wished for us to come back, let’s just say it hypothetically. If you wished for us to come back from the Upside Down with your wish jar, if it sat there on your desk stewing in herbs for long enough before you took the lid off, and if you just so happened to burn the photos overtop of the opened jar, if a tiny spark got in there…”

“Did the moon have to be full?” Steve wonders.

“What? No. Okay, wait, what was the point of all this?” Eddie reaches out with his wing and taps Billy on the head.

Billy swats him and Steve has to catch him before he falls off his thigh. Billy licks his paw and rubs it over his head, giving Eddie an evil side-eye as he responds, “If we figure out how we got here in the first place, we can figure out how to break it.”

“Break what?” Steve wonders. His heart is clenching painfully in his chest as the puzzle starts to make sense. If he called them back from the Upside Down with this wish and whatever combination of herbs and fire burning memories, they can figure out how to reverse it and no longer be stuck in these bodies. But if they reverse it, it’ll just mean they’re gone again.

The clouds in his chest have begun to rise up his throat, making his breath come out shaky and harsh. Lifting his hand from Billy’s fur to rub into his eye, trying to fight off the tears that are rapidly rising, he mutters, “Can you both get off me now?” as he’s moving them with his hands and sliding to his feet to walk out of the room.

Steve closes himself in the bathroom. He needs to be alone to process this. It’s not like Billy and Eddie asked to come back, it’s not like they wanted to be here again. Especially like this. Even if they came back in their human bodies, how the hell would any of this be explained? How the hell would either of them figure out how to live normal lives? They could never just go back to the way they were before.

Steve slides down in front of the sink, wrapping his arms around his knees to draw them to his chest and hide his face in his legs. He can hear rustling outside the door, the two of them probably followed him, but they can’t open the door anyway so it doesn’t matter. He’s not mad at them, that’d be ridiculous. None of this is their fault. Aside from the fact that they both have some kind of hero complex and decided to die for a town that doesn’t care about them anyway, but that’s not really their fault. Those decisions were made in a split second to do something noble.

He also can’t blame them for not wanting to be animals for the rest of their lives. But being animals at least means they’re together and even if it’s just for a few days or weeks or months, it’s something and it’s worth it.

It has to be worth it.

Through the blood rushing in his ears, Steve hears Billy thumping at the door, rattling it like he’s trying to shake it open or maybe smashing his body into it like he’s big enough to break it down. Then a sudden sharp, “Ouch! Ow! What the fuck is happening?!”

Chapter Text

Billy cries. All the fucking time. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as he’s alone and there’s no one there to witness it. He’s spent so much time closed in his room crying since his mom left that he knows the full spectrum of tears (except tears of joy). It’s cleansing, it’s relieving, it takes a small burden off, it dulls the edge of pain. All of that and more. But he hates it. He hates crying. And he really fucking hates when Steve does it.

The fact that Steve went to hide in the bathroom to do it, really pisses Billy off. So he bashes against the door with his shoulder, with his head, with his paws. He reaches under it a few times to see if he can somehow rattle it off its hinges. But it’s useless. All he accomplishes is giving himself a throbbing headache and having Eddie stare at him like he’s gone rabid.

Billy staggers this time after he smashes the door, he opens his mouth to holler, or beg or something to get Steve back out here so he can call him a pansy for crying. Sure, it’s more about hugging him and comforting him until he’s done than anything, but Billy can’t just go about it the easy way.

When he opens his mouth to yowl, he looks up to see the desk is within leaping distance. So he climbs up there and launches himself at the door handle. It’s not like he’s forgotten how they work. He can twist just right and get this thing open, he’s sure of it. He wraps his paws around it and feels it move just a tiny bit under his weight and twisting motion as he slips and hits the floor.

The instant his body hits the ground it feels different. His bones start to crack and snap. His muscles feel like he’s being drawn and quartered, his tendons and ligaments and nerves are on fire like a growth spurt that brought him from toddler sized to full grown adult in the matter of five seconds.

“Ouch!” he hears himself curse, “Ow! What the fuck is happening?!”

The room spins, the floor scrapes against his bare skin and he lifts his paw towards his face to wipe sweat off his brow only to realize it’s not a paw. And he’s actually got sweat on his brow, it’s not just the tingling feeling of it, it’s truly there on his skin.

“Oh fuck.” Billy pats himself down hurriedly, knowing his body is there now. His face is there now, his entire physical self is there and human and he’s covered in the scars from the mall that night. But he’s breathing, and for now he’s here in Steve’s place. This small house he got when he moved out of his parents house and began working for his dad to earn his trust fund. Spoiled brat. But whatever, that’s not the point. The point is, Billy is back in his body and he’s laying here naked on Steve’s floor and he doesn’t really know how it happened or why but Steve is still on the other side of a locked door and that’s not working for him.

He glances over at Eddie, who is still a bat, and still perched on the edge of the bed. His eyes are wide and he’s completely silent. Silent and stillness is not a typical Eddie thing, but Billy’s going to worry about that one after he gets this damn door open.

It’s an old door, the hinges don’t look very strong. It’s hollow, so if the hinges don’t go then he can kick a hole in it. Billy turns around to line his back up with the door, lifts his leg to donkey kick it open and throws the power of a stubborn ass who tried to take on the Spider Monster with his bare hands into it. Only to have the door swing open and Steve’s gasp echo in his ear as arms get thrown around him from behind and his face meets Billy’s head, his voice cloudy, gasping out words like, “Billy, holy shit, that’s… you… you’re you again… oh my god… you’re…”

Billy’s hands have come up to grasp Steve’s forearms where they’re wrapped around his chest. Steve’s face against his hair, then moving along his shoulders like he’s either taking inventory of Billy with his face or wiping his nose on Billy’s skin. It’s a toss-up.

Billy turns in Steve’s arms to press against his body and hold him tight. So tight, its probably cutting off his breath. Billy doesn’t really care, he’s got Steve and he doesn’t know for how long before the Mind Flayer takes him back, so he’s going to hold. And keep holding.

Steve’s hands are moving up and down his back, his sides, his arms. Everywhere he can reach, mapping out the feel of Billy’s body again. When his hands come up to Billy’s jaw, there’s a part of him that wants to resist, wants to stay hidden here in Steve’s chest and never come out. But he relents, lifts his gaze to meet Steve’s. His eyes are glossy, his cheeks pink and tear streaked, but he’s smiling. Looking at Billy with relief and so much softness that it makes Billy want to punch him. Instead, he kisses him. Steve smiles against his lips, his hands still holding gently to Billy’s face like he’s afraid he’ll disappear if he lets go.

Billy’s hands are flattened against Steve’s back, keeping him close. When their lips part just enough distance to look at each other, Steve sighs, strokes a hand through Billy’s hair as the other drops to his lower back.

“You look…”

“Like absolute fucking garbage.”

“…so beautiful.”

“Fuck off.”

“Shut up.” Steve’s lips are warm, they’re gentle and they keep pressing into Billy’s at random intervals. They’re curved up in a smile that Billy can feel against his skin. Sure, maybe nothing good ever came from being in Billy’s human skin, nothing good but this. This with Steve. This with Eddie.

Eddie, who clears his throat when he’s grown bored of sitting back watching. Billy tucks his head against Steve’s chest, listens to his heartbeat and decides he’s not going to let go for a very long time. They can figure out how to get Eddie back to human form without letting each other go. Steve seems in no rush to lose the contact either.

“Hey Hargrove,” Eddie finally speaks.

Billy grunts a response against Steve’s chest.

“Nice ass.” There’s a noise like Eddie has just flopped over on his back on the bed, but Billy flips him the bird anyway.

Steve’s hand smooths down his back and rests on his ass, giving it a squeeze and agreeing, “Nice ass.”

^~^

“You just gotta want it, Munson.”

“I do! You didn’t!” Eddie responds, his wings spread out wide as he speaks. He’s pacing back and forth on Steve’s counter. “You wanted to stay a cat forever, I could tell. While I don’t mind being a bat, it kinda has it’s perks but now it’s less fun when I can’t irritate the hell out of you.”

“You still irritate me plenty,” Billy sighs and lays back on the couch, watching the ceiling now instead of Eddie.

“My goal in life, sweetheart.”

“I know.” Billy listens as Eddie scrambles across the counter, hops to the stool, then to the floor. He’s climbing Billy’s leg in short order and making himself comfortable on Billy’s chest. Billy tucks a hand behind his head to look down at him. He looks like he’s trying to squeeze out a shit. “You better not guano on me, shitbird.”

“Shitbat,” Eddie corrects him. “I’m not trying to shit, I’m trying to go human.”

“While sitting on my chest.” Billy flicks Eddie in the head, gently.

Eddie makes a little growling noise and sticks his tongue out.

“I don’t think it takes that much concentration. Or effort,” Billy muses as he runs a finger over Eddie’s soft head.

Eddie leans into the touch, closing his eyes for a moment before he wonders, “Still sticking with the whole I don’t know what happened, it just happened schtick then?”

Billy shrugs, “Guess so.”

Eddie huffs out a frustrated sigh and flops over on his back on Billy’s chest. He spreads out his limbs and goes quiet.

Billy watches him breathe, runs a finger down his furry side and wonders, “When do you s’pose he’ll be back?”

“Steve?”

“No.”

“Steve gets off at five. He’s stopping for some groceries on his way.”

“I know,” Billy responds. He doesn’t clarify who he was asking about. Eddie’ll get there eventually.

When it dawns on him, he sits up, his furry face lined in concern and his voice soft, “You’re talking about Vecna.”

Billy nods. His eyes are watering, but he blinks it back, removes his hand from behind his head and sinks further into the pillow so Eddie can’t see his face.

Eddie sighs, the tips of his wings press into Billys neck as he climbs up to stand on his chin. Lingering over Billy, eyeing him carefully while he processes. “Can you feel his presence?”

“No. You?”

“No,” Eddie admits. “Maybe we just needed to be in different forms to get past his radar and come back to the world, and now that we’re here the tie is severed. He’d have to reinfect us or something to get us back.”

Billy closes his eyes, doesn’t respond. He hopes Eddie is right, but that all seems too simple.

“If you can’t feel his presence, then I guess shifting back to human didn’t set off any radar for him.” Eddie creeps a little closer to Billy’s face as he’s speaking. “Maybe he’s just nothing to worry about anymore.”

Billy knew something was coming, but he wasn’t expecting it to be Eddie’s furry head brushing up under his nose to tickle him. As soon as his face begins to twist with a sneeze, Eddie is grabbing the back of the couch to climb it. Billy aims his sneeze right at him to ruffle his wings as he’s jumping off the couch. It blows him sideways just enough to force an indignant squawk out of him before he’s landing on the floor and running away while Billy chases. Sure, he’ll give Eddie that, it was more fun when he was still a cat to play these little games. He didn’t have to worry so much about hurting Eddie accidentally when he was in a sleek, light, feline body.

^~^

“I think I have to make him cry,” Eddie whispers conspiratorially into Billy’s ear when Steve is cleaning up the dinner plates.

“What?”

“Make him cry. Like you did. Then I can freak out, panic, throw myself against the door and voila! I’m human again.”

Billy snorts, puts his finger in the center of Eddie’s forehead to push him away and gets up to help Steve with the dishes.

“What?! It might work!” Eddie exclaims, still gripping Billy’s arm until he can get to Steve and then hopping over to sit on Harrington’s shoulder.

“What might work?” Steve wonders, handing a dishcloth to Billy with a smile.

“Nothing, my lordship, nothing at all,” Eddie supplies with a wink thrown at Billy.

Billy scoffs, tells Eddie, “You couldn’t.”

“I could!”

“No.”

Eddie shrugs, pushing his face into Steve’s neck, rubbing his head up and down a few times. He yawns, curls up into a tiny ball of bat and sighs. His voice is already sleepy when he agrees, “I couldn’t.”

“Couldn’t what?” Steve looks over to Billy for an explanation but Billy doesn’t bother offering it.

^~^

“I, um, talked to your uncle,” Steve tells Eddie as they enter the house.

Billy went along with Steve to the library, at this point he kind of figures he’s officially dead so what’s the harm in walking around Hawkins? Make people think they’re hallucinating. He’s gotta do something about Max, but other than that, there is no one to care. With what she’s been through, he’s going to have to take it slow, make a plan that won’t result in her having a heart attack when she sees him alive and breathing.

“What?!” Eddie starts the trek up Steve’s pant leg, “You talked to my uncle? Where? Was he on his way to the courthouse to declare me dead? Am I dead now?!”

“Uh, no.” Steve shakes his leg like Eddie’s claws have just tickled him, reaches down to grab him and set him on his shoulder.

Eddie sticks out his tongue at Billy. Billy flips him off.

“You look pretty alive to me,” Steve continues. “And no, we were not at the courthouse, so… would that even be where you go to declare someone dead? Can he just do that anyway? I kind of think they need proof at this point or something. Otherwise that’s kind of fucked up.”

“Did you tell him?”

“That it’s fucked up? It’s not really my business.”

Eddie nips Steve on the neck, Steve yelps, his hand instantly rising to swat Eddie away. He stops himself just before he makes contact. Eddie doesn’t even cower. It has always amazed Billy how certain Eddie is of himself, it’s even more amazing in the tiny body he’s in now that he’s got so much confidence in the belief that Steve and Billy would never hurt him.

“About me,” Eddie clarifies.

“No,” Steve shrugs, “I don’t know what I’d say. I mean, we talked about you, but in the same way we’ve talked about you since you, ya know.”

“I don’t know,” Eddie insists.

“Well, I guess I see him regularly. I don’t know, it’s like, we check on each other I guess. I stop by when I know he’s home and…”

“Where’s he live now?” Eddie interrupts.

“Apple Orchard Lane.”

“Movin’ on up,” Eddie tips his head to the side like he’s deep in thought for a moment. “I wonder if I could see him. If that might be the thing that sparks the transformation back to human. Like a familiar or something.”

Steve shrugs and Billy grunts. Eddie darts his gaze over to meet Billy’s and Billy grumbles, “Don’t look at me shitbat, I got no answers.”

“It’s a good thing you’re pretty, baby. ‘Cause you’re kind of an asshole.”

Billy winks, flops down on the couch and wonders, “What’s for dinner?”

^~^

They were going to come up with a plan for how to tell Max and how to tell Wayne. But then Steve starting kissing Billy and Billy didn’t stop him. So now they’re grinding against each other and the kisses are getting dizzying, hands are beginning to slide underneath clothing and everything else in the room is beginning to blur. Everything except Eddie. Because for one thing, it feels weird to be groping and making out without him joining, usually he’s the one who starts it. And also because he’s sitting on Steve’s desk staring at them.

Billy mumbles, “Knock it off shitbat,” against Steve’s lips and takes the opportunity when Steve pulls away to yank his shirt off over his head. Eddie squeaks, Steve goes for Billy’s shirt and then Eddie is thumping down off the desk and hollering about how it’s not fair and he’s going to go sit in a cold bath, or sink, or just fill up a drinking glass with ice cubes.

Before he makes it to the door though, he pauses and looks up at them, wondering, “Is it awkward if I watch?”

Billy tips his gaze back up to Steve’s, who studies him for a moment before he answers, “Nah.”

“Can bats even…” Eddie’s voice drifts off as he scans over Steve’s bare skin, licks his lips and opens his mouth to answer his own unfinished question. Instead of any words coming out, a holler of pain and a, “What the fuck?” come out instead.

Steve’s hands instantly rise to push Billy away, he steps in front of him like he’s going to protect him from Eddie since he must be turning rabid or growing into the size of the Spider Monster or something. Billy grunts, pushes Steve to the side with a hand on his hip so he can see what the fuck. It’s pretty grotesque truly, and he fully understands why when he was transforming back to human it left Eddie silent and motionless.

When all the bone cracking and joint popping, the fur and wings shifting to skin, are over it’s just Eddie standing there. Naked as a jaybird and grinning, announcing, “Babies, I’m back!”

Steve emits a sigh of relief, Billy’s heart kicks up a notch and the blur that was taking over the room while it was Steve kissing him a moment ago, begins to overtake not just the room but the entire world as the three of them connect physically for the first time in what feels like half a lifetime.

Chapter Text

“So,” Steve’s fingers trail up Eddie’s bare arm, his face turns to kiss the top of his head, “jealousy, huh? That’s what did it for the whole transformation thing?”

Eddie sighs, watching his fingers moving in Steve’s chest hair. “Beats me.”

“And for Billy it was what?” Steve’s head turns towards Billy, his voice sounding muffled against Billy’s skin, “That I was upset?”

Billy’s voice is half slurred with sleep when he scoffs, “You were annoying me.”

“If annoying was what did it, then I’d’ve done it for you ages ago,” Eddie reminds him.

Billy snorts. Eddie can hear him moving his head into the pillow to get more comfortable, one of his legs strewn across Steve’s, his foot tucks up under Eddie’s ankle.

It’s quiet for a moment before Steve wonders, “Do you think you’ll be able to shift back and forth? Or does it feel like it’s gone?”

“I don’t know, man. When I was a bat, I just felt like me anyway, so I guess it’s not something I can sense.”

“Not that it matters,” Steve assures, “just that it seems like it’d be cool, right? If you had solid control over it and all.”

“It would be pretty cool,” Eddie agrees, “besides I never got to fly for real, so I need more practice. And some freedom to jump off a roof.”

Steve chuckles, turning his head towards Eddie again to press his lips to his forehead. The instant Billy feels Steve pull away, he chases the sensation of touch, even though Steve didn’t really go anywhere. Billy’s head lifts up off his pillow, lands on Steve’s chest and butts into his jaw a few times before he settles back down and drifts off to sleep. He emits a sigh that vibrates just a bit too much to be fully human.

Steve tips his gaze to meet Eddie’s. Eddie shrugs, “I doubt it’s gone completely.”

^~^

“I’m flying! I’m doing it! I’m really flying!” Eddie swoops through the air, turns to do a barrel roll and lands on a branch. He looks down at the ground to see Billy’s furry head tipped back, watching him. The golden light of evening making him look like he’s glowing.

The shifting back and forth has gotten easy. Easy enough to be reflex at this point, Eddie doesn’t have to think about all the reasons he has for being human anymore when he wants to be human. And he doesn’t have to imagine himself swooping through the dusk sky anymore when he wants to be a bat. It’s pretty damn cool.

It was hard to explain it all to Uncle Wayne, especially considering they don’t actually know what happened or if it’ll stick, or if they’ll even be able to stay here for life or if Vecna is just resting and storing up for his next move. Either way, Uncle Wayne accepted it all with the same grace he’s always accepted everything about Eddie. The man is a saint.

It seemed easier to explain it to Max since she was already quite familiar with the Upside Down and Vecna. The hard part seemed to be Billy’s brusque presence as a reality once again, but she shook that pretty quickly too. He loves her more than he’d ever let on, but Eddie’s pretty sure she knows that already and knows there are some things about Billy that’ll just never change, no matter what he goes through. Then again, when he’s in cat form, he has no problem seeking the love and affection he’d never seek in human form. Showing his soft side beneath his soft fur by purring and rubbing up against people when he wants their attention. Human form Billy wants attention, he’ll just act like a dick or take off his clothes. It’s a toss up. Maybe someday Steve and Eddie will prove he’s worth more than that, and he’s allowed to seek love in his human body also. But for now, they’ll settle for a warm fuzzy cat body to snuggle up with.

Billy tips his head, waiting for Eddie to do it again. Eddie drops himself off the branch, spreads his wings and catches enough wind to flap his wings, catch an updraft and fly. He stays over the yard, keeping Billy in sight the whole time. Steve forbade them from leaving the yard when they’re in their fur suits, which is fair. They don’t want to end up in a shelter any more than Steve wants them to. And it’s not like Billy would ever agree to wear a collar.

After watching for long enough that he’s getting bored, Billy tips over on his side, flips all four paws up in the air and closes his eyes to the setting sun. Cats, man.

The wind feels cool on Eddie’s face. This is fucking amazing. It’s everything he ever imagined and he’s pretty sure he’s never going to stop. Every time he looks down and sees Billy’s bared belly, it’s extremely tempting to dive bomb him, but Eddie resists.

When he gets tired enough to take a rest, he lowers himself to a branch and waits for Steve to join them. He’s not sure what he’s doing - probably his hair or something. But he should be here to witness the greatness that is Eddie, before he gets too tired and calls it a night anyway.

Eddie yawns, tips his gaze down to see Billy’s back leg twitch. He’s over it, he’s done restraining himself. He leaps off the branch, spreads his wings, dips low to aim directly at that soft patch of white fur. He’s close, he’s so close. He opens his wings to slow himself so he doesn’t actually hurt Billy.

Just as he’s about to make touchdown, the door opens, the sound of the hinges startles Billy and he takes off in that psycho cat way that has him low to the ground and moving faster than he has any right to move in that position. Eddie misses his landing pad since it’s up and running, and hits the ground harder than he intended. He thunks the grass, bounces, lands again. Tucks himself into a ball and kind of bounces like one too. Each time he rebounds off the ground, he curses, or cries out, and then he finally comes to a halt at Steve’s feet. Looking up at him, he mutters, “As you wish.”

Steve rolls his eyes, one hand on his hip to lecture Eddie about being careful. Eddie makes himself look as pathetic as he can, and it works. It works! Steve sighs, reaches down to pick him up gently, lifting him to his chest, petting a hand back from the top of Eddie’s head to the tip of each wing as he moves back into the house.

Steve’s telling him under his breath that he needs to be more careful, he needs to pay better attention to his surroundings if he’s going to keep trying this whole flying business. Eddie wants to correct him, tell him he’s not just trying anymore but he actually accomplished it. It was his need for chaos that did him in this time, but he’s not about to vocalize that and have Steve jump off track of whatever it is he’s doing, or go back into lecture mode. Eddie’s going to wait this out since Steve seems like he’s on a mission.

He’s keeping Eddie close to his chest with one hand as he stops at the couch to grab a tiny scrap of t-shirt. He was cutting up old clothes for rags earlier, maybe he’s planning on cleaning the grass stains off Eddie’s body. He stops at the counter, still talking about the pros and cons of this whole flying business.

Eddie doesn’t bother moving, he’s playing wounded bird right now and he’s not even ashamed to admit it. Makes him wonder where Billy ran off to though, because he should be calling Eddie out on it by now, but he’s not.

When Steve sets Eddie down on the counter, it’s on top of the piece of shirt that smells like a heavenly dose of Steve and Eddie can’t really be blamed for allowing this little process to continue. The process being Steve swaddling Eddie. Yeah, he’s wrapping him up like a little baby burrito and Eddie’s not even attempting to stop him. It probably should be humiliating but it’s so soft and it’s so strongly scented of Steve’s years of wearing this t-shirt that Eddie can’t be bothered to care.

But then again, he has to wonder where Billy is. He’s still not pointing out that Eddie didn’t even hurt himself, that he wasn’t attempting to fly when he crashed, he was actually attempting to pester Billy so he kind of deserves it. Maybe deserves it a little bit.

Eddie peers up at Steve when he’s done tucking the edges of the t-shirt blanket, Steve smiles softly and wonders, “Better?”

Sure, this is probably the part where Eddie should fess up. But Steve looks so soft and so caring that all Eddie can do is nod. Steve slips a hand underneath him and brings burrito bat to his chest again. It’s like the world’s most amazing spa treatment. A warm blanket, a steady heart beating a rhythm against Eddie’s cheek. A strong hand supporting his entire body.

“I’m a burrito bat,” Eddie sighs.

“Did you actually hurt yourself?” Steve wonders as he sits down in the recliner.

“No,” Eddie admits. There’s more he should be admitting, but he’s not. Totally not admitting the reason for crashing. It’s not a lie, it’s just an instance where not all the information is out there yet. Yet. He’ll get to that part. Soon. Absolutely.

The door crashes open with enough force that he’d probably startle if he wasn’t a burrito. Eddie looks instantly towards it to see a very naked Billy, with very pissed off eyes and a lot of muscles popping as he slams the door shut behind him.

He points at Eddie first, “You are an asshole.” Then points at Steve and says the same thing, “You are an asshole.”

“Why now?” Steve wonders.

Billy crosses his arms over his chest and looks down at Eddie. He snorts, “You’re pathetic Munson. You wouldn’t even have crashed if you didn’t try to dive-bomb me. Now you’re in here soaking up the attention while you both left me out there on the other side of a latched door so I had to shift back outside where anyone could see it.”

He gestures at his nudity and repeats, “Anyone could see it.”

That part about having the shifting back and forth mastered - well, Eddie was wrong. Without thinking about the process at all, or calling up his human form in his mind, he’s suddenly bone-cracking, tendon-stretching, muscle-groaning and actually vocally groaning as his body shifts without his permission. So apparently it still hurts when it’s a surprise, who knew? And now he’s fully grown human Eddie lying across Steve in an awkward position in his recliner.

Eddie bats his lashes, hooks his arms around Steve’s shoulders and opens his mouth to spin a yarn about what truly happened outside, why he crashed, and then finish by telling him he can fly. Fly for real!

But then Billy snorts and wonders, “So jealousy still does it, huh?”

Instead of telling his tale, Eddie throws a hand to his chest and denies that accusation. “No, I was not jealous of the neighbors and other potential people seeing you standing naked at the front door. Not at all. That’s just a…”

Steve’s amused sigh cuts him off, eyes twinkling when he points out, “Now you’re both naked. And we should probably do something about that.”

Eddie winks at Steve, jumps off his lap, about to announce a race and an award for the winner. Before he can get any words past his lips, a sleek little orange feline bounds across the room, skids the corner, jumps off the wall and rebounds into the bedroom.

“That’s not fair!” Eddie calls out as he hustles after Billy.

“He’d’ve won anyway,” Steve reminds him, his voice right behind Eddie. His hand skimming down the curve of Eddie’s spine.

It’s really not a point worth arguing when there’s so many more productive things they can do with their mouths right about now. So Eddie will let it slide and admit defeat. This time. Once he gets this flying thing under control, he’ll be a force to be reckoned with.