It Waits

When Steve was young his nonna lived with his parents and took care of him. Even when he was small and at his cutest his parents were simply too busy and self-absorbed for him. He never minded much; his nonna gave him all of the love and attention he could want at that age.

She was his whole world, letting him grab on to her apron strings and follow her everywhere. She taught him how to do things for himself, things she knew his parents would never find time for. By the time he is eight he knows how to make a few easy meals, do laundry and clean up after himself, most tasks with the help of a stool to make up for his lacking height.

Every night she would tuck him into bed and tell him a story in the light of his spinning lamp that makes it look as if creatures are dancing around his room. Some of them are scary... most really to a child who found the dark scary. They always had a theme, a common thread Steve did not notice until they were gone. Every story she told him told how to sooth a creature to stay safe. Steve doesn't always remember the stories as a whole after all these years but he does remember how to sooth the creatures from the stories. 

So when odd supposedly make believe creatures do show up from time to time Steve knows how to deal with them. Any fairies that find their way into the house or yard are offered milk and honey, his name is never offered and he knows better than to accept anything for free from them. The ogre covered in plants just needs some water and shade for a few hours while it rests and Steve supplies both with the hose and a pool umbrella. He almost slips up the first time the creature his nonna called a shadow shows up after her death. 

A few months after her passing Steve swears he can hear her calling him when he is tucking himself in bed. He is ten now and his parents have hired a nanny who has been leaving him alone at night. He is not sure what she gets up to but whatever it is makes her flushed and giggly when she comes back in the wee hours. If she doesn't have company with her when she comes in she will let him have a late-night bowl of ice cream so Steve doesn't mind too much.

The call is persistent, low enough he knows it is coming from a distance but clear enough he can hear every word. "Stephano, come outside and play with me caro." There is a flutter of excitement, maybe the last few weeks have all been a bad dream?

Steve tosses the blankets back and steps into his slippers. They are almost too small now, he technically needs a new pair but his nonna always took care of those things and he is not sure what to do about it without her. Still they are good enough as he grabs his robe from the back of the door and pads out into the hall, down the stairs and through the living room to the sliding glass door.

The curtains hang in front of it and Steve hesitates until her voice comes again, "join me outside caro." He pulls the curtain open, hands shaking, be it from the cold seeping through the glass or the nerves suddenly welling up; he is not sure.

There is someone out there illuminated by the pool light. Excitement bubbles back up but still he hesitates and flicks on the switch to the side of the door. The figure turns, his grandma's brown eyes and creased skin, hair pulled up into her usual bun.

"Nonna?" Steve calls excitedly as he flicks the lock on the door, struggling to get the sticking sliding door pushed open. 

"Come caro," she beckons again, hand moving. Steve finally having gotten the door moved stops with it only a few inches slid open. He heard her speak but her mouth never moved. 

He gulps through a lump in his throat and the sting in his eyes as he remembers what that means.  "This isn't very nice," he snuffles the tears coming despite his best efforts. He is a big boy now he is not supposed to weep in front of anyone, even family or so his father says.

In the blurry blink of an eye the creature is standing in front of him. It no longer looks like the loving nonna he remembers. Instead it has taken the guise of a young girl, spots in the same place as his nonna but closer to Steve's age if he had to guess. It frowns looking genuinely remorseful as it reaches a hand out and catches a tear that drips down from his nose before it can splash on the entryway. 

"We didn't mean to hurt you," their voice sounds as remorseful as they look, finger rolling the tear between their fingers until all the moisture has absorbed into their borrowed skin.

Steve nods, he knows that wasn't its intention coming here looking like her. He remembers the story, knows what it really wants, "you're hungry?"

Its eyes light up, an unnatural glow to an otherwise human visage, "always."

"Wait here," Steve wipes at his face and leaves it standing at the sliding glass door. He heads to the kitchen and rifles in the fridge pulling out the berries the nanny had picked up at the market. She said she was going to make strawberry shortcake with them but that had been three days ago and he is pretty sure she has forgotten all about them. 

He scoops a good helping of berries into a bowl, before grabbing a kitchen knife from the block on the counter. He hesitates, biting his lip as he decides where to cut and worries over the sting that is sure to come with it. He decides on an upper part of his air by his elbow to keep the nanny from noticing, nonna always said most people didn't believe in the creature from her stories and she already told him all the normal kid stuff his nonna kept alive for him doesn't exist. Why would she believe in the stranger things?

Steve shut his eyes tightly as he drags the sharp blade across his forearm. For a second there is nothing then it registers and he rips the knife back as his arm lights up with pain from the cut. He quickly puts his arm over the bowl, the cut is shallow despite how dire it feels, but it drizzles a good amount before he presses a kitchen towel over it. He is going to have to bury it in the trash when he is done to avoid any questions from the nanny. 

He pulls the little first aid kit from under the sink, washes and bandages the wound just like his nonna taught him. He buries the towel and the bandage wrappings in the trash before picking up the bowl of blood drizzled fruit. It doesn't look very appetizing to him but he hopes the creature will like it. By the time he makes it back the creature is squatting just on the other side of the doorway, eyes doing that eerie glow and he barely feels the sting from the cut.

Steve holds the bowl out through the open doorway and the creature takes it with a move his eyes cannot track. One moment he is holding the bowl and the next minute the creature is hunched over the bowl, an arm curled protectively around it as it messily gobbles down the bloody berries.  Steve blinks bewildered at its speed, nonna had not mentioned that in her stories.

He shakes it off and settles down into a squat of his own, feeling the slightest bit queasy as blood and berry juice runs down the creature's chin as it feasts. He still doesn't think it looks all that appetizing but he is glad they are enjoying it. It would have been a waste to cut himself if it didn't like them. It is not long before the bowl is empty and they tip it up and lick up the red from the bottom like a dog trying to get every last crumb.

It holds the bowl out, tongue odd and long another giveaway as it finally sees fit to lap up the juices and blood from its chin. Steve takes it looking at the bowl, it looks clean enough to put back in the cabinet without the nanny ever knowing. But his nonna would scold him if he tried such a thing under her watch so he will make sure to wash it before he puts it back.

The creature lingers, eyes staring at Steve as it pulls its tongue back into its mouth, lips closing over a flash of sharp teeth as Steve hears, "we'll be back," rattle around in his head.

Steve nods, they always come back in the stories, especially when tragedy strikes too mascaraed once more as the deceased. He only has one request, throat tight as he makes it, "please don't come as her." It hurts too much.

The thing wearing the little girl's skin nods and then without any warning is gone in the blink of an eye. The only evidence that it had really been there, that he hadn't just dreamed it up, is the bowl and the stinging cut on his arm.

-

True to its world the creature comes back more and more over the years. Usually it is wearing the faces of people he has never met, will never meet, because they have died. Other times it impersonates the living, Steve's mother twice, his father once and never again. Steve had not been very kind the day it tried to use him for its visage. A handful of times it comes around as Carol and Tommy, a member of the basketball team on occasion, even a handful of his romantic partners.

It never comes as Billy while he is living, doesn't show up at all during their brief time together. Perhaps it is too busy with all of the people in town grieving to come visit him.

Steve had Billy for less than a year before the upside down robbed him from this world. Steve spends three whole days in bed, not just because his body aches but because his heart is broken. May never be the same again. 

The voice comes that third night, Billy's voice, "come outside pretty boy, I've missed you."

Steve shakes his head and buries his face in the pillow as fresh tears come. He thought he was all cried out by now, all dried up but apparently there is more salt left in him to offer the dead.

"Pretty boy" it calls again, just a hint of a growl. The same gravely tone Billy always got when he thought he was being ignored.

"Stop it!" Steve screams, loud enough that it must hear him, maybe even the neighbors. His throat hurts with it, already raw and aching from all the crying. He wonders if you can lose your voice like this? Has heartache ever robbed someone of their voice?

"Pretty boy come outside, it's okay I'm here now." That pisses him off. The anger doesn't so much wash away the sadness as curl around it, giving it a new path that is not leaking out his eyes.

Steve shoves the blankets off and gets out of bed. His limbs wobble a bit from the lack of use over the last three days, he has only been up to use the bathroom and drink water out of the sink when he needed to replenish the moisture in his body for more tears. His vision spots, he really needs to give his body some food but everything evens out after a few minutes and he storms down stairs.

The curtain that blocks the sliding door nearly gets torn down when it tangles around his hand and adds to his frustrations. When he finally gets the door shoved open, he staggers back a step. Even though he knew what he was going to see when he opened it he is not prepared for it. Fresh tears spring to his eyes as he takes in what could almost pass as a living breathing Billy Hargrove.

"You're not him! Stop it!" If the neighbors didn't hear him before, surely someone has now, words echoing.

The things in Billy's skin turns, those unnatural eyes glowing as it cocks its head. "But you miss him, you want him back." Does he ever! It makes the ache in his chest worse, tempted to keep this version of Billy.

Steve shakes it off, physically shaking his head, "I don't want you to be him." It could never be the same, and, "it hurts too much, he's gone and you aren't him."

"We could be," it moves closer, mouth closed the whole time. Steve almost wishes it would try and imitate Billy's stupid tongue thing just so he could see it once more.

Steve shakes his head again, making his vision spot once more, he really needs to eat something, "but you aren’t. Stop pretending to be him!" Steve slams the door closed once more and pulls the curtain. He ignores the few please that slither into his brain, there will be no bloody berries for it tonight.

-

It gives him three more days before it shows back up. Steve is finally eating again, getting up for more than just the necessary bathroom breaks, he has showered and taken a phone call from Robin. They have plans to find work tomorrow and he really, really hopes they can find something together. He doesn't think he can survive another customer service job without her by his side.

He decides that an early night is in order, he wants to look his best if he is going back into the world. A good night's sleep has been eluding him, even when he was just staying in bed crying. It is too cold now, he knows no extra body is going to slip in while he is half asleep and warm him up. There will be no heavy breathing to drift off to, no knee shoved between his thighs or arm slapped over his waist. It takes him ages to find sleep now, spending that time tossing and turning instead.

He is doing just that, blankets tangled around his legs, staring blankly up at the ceiling trying desperately not to think about what is missing to keep the dam from bursting once again when it comes. "We're sorry, please feed us," the voice is of a young boy. Steve waits it out, lets it call three times before he is getting up with a sigh.

Steve pads down stairs and into the kitchen first. The berries in there aren’t exactly fresh but Mr. Henderson had come by to check on him and insisted on going to get him some groceries when Dustin had peaked in the fridge without asking to find it bare of anything edible. The stuff that was there rotting after their time away and his time in mourning. Dustin had not understood but something on Claudia's face told him at least to her he was not hiding his pain very well.

The one thing he had requested was berries. She got him a couple of kinds and he has eaten half of them himself saving the best ones for the creature he knew would be back. 

"We're sorry, please," it sounds almost tearful as he dumps berries in a bowl. It could be one he has served it berries in before but it is hard to say. The bowl has taken some wear over the years, a strain from something red and stubborn in the bottom and a chip on the edge. Steve cuts his forearm, shallow enough that he knows it will not leave a scar if he tends to it properly. He drizzles more blood on the berries than usual before using a paper towel to stop the flow. He cleans it out and patches it up, making note to restock the first aid kit, it is getting rather low.

When he pulls the curtains the creature is right there, borrowed face pressed against the glass. It is young, a boy with blue eyes that glow unnaturally and familiar golden curls. Steve takes a hard swallow, pointedly does not look at its shoulder to check. Looking at this form doesn't hurt as much but confirmation might. Steve pushes the door open and holds the berries over the threshold.

Strangely it hesitates, glowing eyes looking up at him, unmoving mouth pulled down in a frown as the words come "You forgive us?"

Steve heaves a heavy sigh, "yes, eat." It is not this thing's fault he is mourning. It is just here to eat what it can, both the grief that seeps out of him and the bloody berries he offers.

It takes the bowl slowly, little fingers brushing Steve's before it is squatting down hunched over the bowl. "Why does it hurt," comes slithering into Steve's brain as it opens its mouth to eat, sharp teeth and long tongue another giveaway that it is not human as it devours the bloody berries.

Steve's throat goes tight, like there is a painful knot in the center, he gives his lip a hard bite to keep the wetness in his eyes from spilling over. Before he can speak he gives a hard sniff, clearing his sinuses somewhat, "because I'll never see him again."

It stops eating long enough to look up at him, blood and berry juice staining its mouth and lips a deep red, "but we could-" 

"No," Steve shakes his head and cuts it off before it can keep going, he doesn't want that and Billy wouldn't either, "don't do that to him. Something stole his body before he died, trapped him in his own mind and made him hurt and do horrible things. He wouldn't like you using him now." A few tears do spill sliding down his cheeks as he sniffles.

"Sorry," it sounds apologetic, eyes big and glowing as they look up at Steve, like some sort of kicked puppy.

"It's okay," Steve rubs at his eyes with the back of his hand, "finish your berries, I have an early morning I need my sleep." He is suddenly feeling much more tired than he was before, maybe this time he won't spend half the night crying.

-

Time passes and eventually Steve moves on. Finds someone else to spend his life with. Eddie is a surprise but a good one, the dork almost dying on them in the upside down but Steve and the others had gotten there in time to drag him out of the upside down and into a hospital bed. At that point they had just started being friends. Steve sits there at Eddie's bedside, helping Wayne when he finally gets released, taking him to physical therapy and accidentally slots himself into their lives.

Steve is not sure when it changed but when Eddie kissed him in an impulsive burst one night, it felt right. It felt like he spent nearly a year waiting for this. They have been together ever since and Eddie has even moved into the house with Steve giving his uncle more space in the government funded trailer provided to them post Vecna's destruction.

Steve is happy, happier than he has ever been; able to tell all his friends about the man he loves, not stuck hiding it for fear of rejection or one of them getting hurt. Sure not everyone in town approves but they have got Hopper, Joyce, Wayne, and all of the kids at their backs ready to raise hell if anyone messes with them. While the adults are the more intimidating of the bunch, given all the things the kids have learned saving the world people learn real quick to be afraid of them.

He hasn't seen his creature in a few months, and he doesn't think about it much. It will turn up when it feels like it, or something bad happens. It always comes back.

Steve is in the living room, the television a low murmur, a fire in the pit casting the room in warm yellow light. It is starting to warm up again after a long harsh winter, spring melting away the snow and flowers blooming but the nights are still cold and they still have a chance of an overnight freeze for a few weeks still.

"Sweet thing, come out back, it's a beautiful night," Steve frowns, when he hears Eddie call him. When did Eddie go outside? He must have come around from the front, he certainly didn't pass Steve.

Steve gets up reluctantly, slipping his feet into slippers to help keep them warm as he approaches the sliding glass door. The curtain has seen better days tattered and fraying edges, if his parents ever stuck around long enough they would probably replace it. Mostly they stop in for a night to pick up clothes and complain about how if he had to choose a man to spend his life with, did it have to be Eddie Munson? There had been less of that the last time they came, he is pretty sure Eddie is growing on them.

Steve is careful as he pushes the curtain back not wanting it to fray any more than it already has. It helps keep some of the cold out, moving it has the chill of the glass reaching for him. Steve pulls his sweater closer as he pulls the door open frowning to find Eddie in a tank top and jeans. It is too cold for that but he has done it when the temperature has been even lower. Running out during the first proper snow even if he is only in his briefs so he can make snow angels.

"Eddie!" He's going to catch another cold, he is a big baby when he has a cold, "what-"

Steve cuts off when he hears, "what do you need baby," from deeper in the house.

When Steve turns back to the creature outside has turned to face him and shifted to a child sized form. It is familiar, the one it usually takes these days when it comes to visit, with blond curls and blue eyes that are not human enough to be right. Steve glares at it with a tight lipped frown as it comes closer with its hands held out. Steve holds his own hand up before it can slither into his mind and ask for food, "wait."

Steve closes the door and the curtain on the thing as he calls back, "Everything's fine, just wanted to know you were still here." Steve moves out of the living room and into the hall to see Eddie above leaned over the banister, grinning widely at him.

"Miss me already sweet thing," Eddie teases, he has only been away from Steve on the couch for around an hour.

Steve smiles up at him with a soft, "yeah." It is not unusual for him to call out to Eddie just to make sure he is still here, that the upside down didn't get him and this whole thing has not been a dream. Sometimes Steve has nightmares where this has all been exactly that.

Eddie’s grin widens as he crosses his arms on the banister and rests his chin on them. "Come to bed," he asks with a waggle of his eyebrows.

It is not an invitation Steve will ever deny but he has something to do first, "I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Alright sweet thing, I'll be waiting," Eddie shoots him a wink, both of them knowing there is a fifty fifty chance he will fall asleep drooling into the pillows if Steve takes too long. Steve lingers in the hallway until Eddie has disappeared, the snap of their bedroom door closing before he moves into the kitchen.

Steve grabs a bowl, it is still from the same set of bowls but someone, he thinks Eddie or maybe Will has gone and painted a dragon on the bottom of this one. He knows it cannot be any of the other kids, none of them can draw for shit, and he doesn't think the other hellfire boys would be so bold as to paint on the bowls without asking him. Will is still naive enough to accept an okay from Eddie without checking with Steve.

He fills the bowl with red juicy berries; they are a little small, the first batch of coming spring. He has been working to grow them in the pool house, bringing them outside for sun during the warmer days. These ones are ripe enough to satisfy, his fingers staining red from a partially squashed strawberry. They are made all the better when he gives himself a shallow cut and drizzles the lot of them with his blood, color darkening as it drips over the fruit.

The creature is right where he left it blinking big blue eyes that aren't quite right at him through the glass when he returns. "Don't come here as him, I don't want you freaking Eddie out." Steve hisses flicking it in the nose watching it flinch back, face faltering for a moment showing off those shark teeth, a flick of something older, darker, something Steve cannot begin to describe eyes unable to fully comprehend. It is gone as quickly as it comes, back to normal in a second as Steve holds out the bowl.

"Sorry," as usual its mouth doesn't move for the words but a gleeful smile pulls at its childlike mouth as it accepts the berries. Steve thinks it is getting too comfortable with him. "Go on, eat those and go. I don't want Eddie seeing some strange child eating blood covered berries in our yard." He might have questions or try and invite it in and Steve knows better, you never invite it in and you never go outside with it. If you break those rules you will never be the same again.

-

It is a Tuesday when Eddie is taken from Steve. An ordinary sunny Tuesday. The birds are out singing, kids playing, running around laughing when Eddie goes to greet Steve from across the street and is struck by an unprepared driver. Steve saw it just like he saw Billy this time without Russian drugs to numb the pain for even a second. He sees the life leave Eddie's eyes as he bleeds out on the street, blood dripping down a sewage drain as the wail of an ambulance gets closer. It is not fast enough to save him, blood rushing in Steve's ears as Eddie takes his last breath, washing out all other noises.

Steve is not sure how long it is before he goes home. How long he spends watching the EMT packing Eddie up and trying to save his life to no avail. He rides with them, staring blankly down at the guitar pick Eddie usually keeps around his neck, now just as bloody as the rest of him.

It is not right, it is not fair. It should not be possible that something as mundane as a car accident would separate them.

He is numb as he is directed to the waiting room by a nurse. They all know Eddie is gone but until a doctor pronounces him no one is going to admit that to Steve. Steve doesn't hear it when the time finally comes, numb and nothing getting through. Somehow Robin shows up, one of the deputies must have called her, or even someone who witnessed the accident maybe.

Steve doesn't acknowledge her but he also doesn't resist when she pulls him out of the hospital. The air is humid and hot despite the sun being down, summer fully setting in.  Robin talks as she drives, Steve can see her hands moving in the way they always do when she rambles. Steve speaks for the first time when they stop in front of his house, which until a few hours ago was his and Eddie's house.

"Thanks Robin," Steve pushes the door open but a hand lands on his elbow stopping him before he can get out of the car.

When he turns it is to see Robin looking at him with the saddest eyes he has ever seen. Sadder even than the ones she used on him when he finally almost a year after the loss told her about his relationship with Billy. "Do you need anything? Do you want me to stay? I'm going to stay."

"No," Steve shakes his head. He doesn't want her around for his misery. He wants to go up to bed and try and pretend this is all some horrible dream. The sheets will still smell of them, maybe at least for tonight he can trick his brain into escaping the horrors of reality. Steve drops a hand over hers and gives it a reassuring squeeze as he says firmly, "I want to be alone right now."

For a few long moments Robin continues to give him that sad face, he thinks she is going to argue with him about this when she opens her mouth. He sets his shoulder a little straighter, he is no budging. Instead she leans in and bumps her head against his shoulder, the closest she can get to his forehead without making him bend for her. "Alright but I'll be over in the morning to check on you, okay."

"Okay," Steve is not looking forward to it, no doubt she will try and make him get out of bed. Once the tears actually come he doubts he will be doing that anytime soon even for her. "Tomorrow then." Steve leaves her with that.

-

Once inside he doesn't make it very far before he is collapsing, the tears finally coming when he trips on a pair of Eddie's work boots. He has told him a hundred times to stop leaving them there, whose shoes will he trip over every day now? It is such a silly thing to break through the numbness he was hoping to ride into a last decent night’s sleep before the emptiness of the bed robbed him of that. He sits there sobbing, until his knees are numb and then all he does is shift off of them and onto his ass continuing to cry.

"Come to me sweet thing, I can make it better," when the voice slithers into his mind there is not anger this time. Steve cries harder, he is so sick and tired of losing people he loves. He stumbles to his feet, using the wall to keep from tripping over those shoes again when he hits one. He stumbles to the sliding glass door.

Steve hooks his hands in the curtain and pulls, the whole thing coming down, the rod hanging wonky where it breaks and the curtain rings all slide toward the break falling through as the curtain pools on the floor.

There just a few feet away from the door it stands, wearing Eddie's face, eyes as always just a little too bright. Steve knows it is not him, knows he should yell at it to change but it hurts too much to think of never seeing that face in the flesh again. Tears keep coming, making it hard to make out the details. He wipes at his eyes one handed as he shoves the door open.

It moves with inhuman speed standing right in front of Steve in a blur. Steve does something he has never done before he reaches out and grabs for it, fingers curling in Eddie's vest. This one isn’t bloody like the one he had on during the accident. It feels real, the denim rough under his fingers as he drags the creature closer, boots hitting the threshold.

"Are you mad this time?" It asks, mouth still as Steve does his best to pull it through, when it will not come he leans out, pressing into its chest, rough denim scratchy under his cheek.

"No," not this time, this is the last straw, a loss to many. "Don't leave me, please," Steve sobs, tears dampening the denim under his cheek. 

Hands that are too cold for summer, brush up over his shoulders, "ask me to stay forever." Steve nods and it shakes his head, "Ask."

Steve pulls away with a sniff just to look up at it, "please stay forever." It grins, teeth too sharp as hands push Steve back into the house and it follows.

"We'll always be together sweet thing," it promises as it wraps its arms around Steve, holding him in a vice grip. Relief fills him right before pain erupts in his neck, those sharp teeth inescapable. "Shush, don't worry it will all be better soon." True to its word soon the pain fades and Steve tries to pull the creature even closer, wanting to keep it forever. "Forever," echoes back in his head.

-

Steve Harrington goes missing the same day his partner roommate dies but rumor has it that the grieving sometimes see the both of them lurking around looking for something to eat. 

- End