Chapter Text
After roasting that piece of shit, muscular system looking, dark magic practicing, monster in the Creel house like a turkey on Thanksgiving Day, Steve stepped out into the ashy Upside Down air.
Tears pricked Steve’s eyes as he turned to Robin and Nancy. For the first time since this thing started at the beginning of Spring Break, Steve allowed himself to laugh. Like full on. The week was over. They had won for now. Robin and Nancy cried and hugged each other, clearly feeling it too.
“We should probably start heading back,” He said, but no one made a point to move. Instead, they all just stared at each other, breathless, as relief flowed freely through them. It completely over-powered the stuff he said to Nancy that made him cringe. He didn’t even know why he cringed, he just said what he wanted to do with his life because he thought he was going to die. That was what he wanted, right? It didn’t matter right now. They were alive.
Steve peered up at the burning building in front of them and that’s when everything went to hell again. That’s when he felt it. He didn’t know why, but something about this screamed, ‘danger!’ to him. It wasn’t until the house collapsed that he heard it. What he feared. It split the air between them. Dustin. His wailing, tear clogged voice crashed into Steve’s ears.
Steve's legs started moving without thought, tearing through trees, carrying him closer and closer to Dustin. No, no, no. His mind flooded with worry, a stark difference from the relief he felt just seconds ago. Please… don’t be hurt… please… Steve prayed to whatever god would listen. Steve tore into a clearing, nearly freezing before willing his legs to keep moving.
“Steve! I-I don’t think he’s breathing!” Dustin gasped. He was holding a limp, crumpled, bloody Eddie in his arms.
“Oh god, oh god. Shit!” Steve not so quietly told himself. He knelt across from Dustin, taking Eddie into his arms. “Are you okay?” Steve asked Dustin, noticing his obviously sprained ankle.
“Why the fuck do you care about me?! Eddie’s bleeding out and you’re asking me how I’m doing?!” Dustin yelled through the tears slipping quickly down his cheeks. Robin grabbed him from behind, prying him away. Steve took a good look at Eddie, pressing a hand to his cold skin, causing more worry to pool in his gut and his stomach to drop, before giving Dustin a quick questioning look. This was bad. Really, really, bad. But he needed to be strong for Dustin.
“He cut the rope! He cut the goddamn rope! Then he ran off to buy more time and to save me.” Dustin answered, sobbing. “I jumped down and chased him as fast as I could but I hurt my ankle when I jumped.” Dustin’s words were hardly distinguishable now.
“Nancy, Robin, get Dustin to the trailer, I’ll get Eddie.” Steve ordered.
“Shouldn’t we check his pulse?” Nancy asked, already hauling Dustin away as he protested.
Steve nodded. “I know, I’ve got it.” He said this in a calm tone that even surprised himself. “Go.” They hobbled off.
Steve hastily checked for a pulse, he didn’t feel anything. He pressed his ear against Eddie’s chest and– nothing. Steve felt panic rise in his chest and started CPR, thankful that he told everyone to get to the trailer when he felt a rib snap. It’s supposed to happen, He assured himself when a shiver ran up his spine.
“Munson! Come on, man, you’ve gotta wake up. Dustin needs you, man. Come on!” He firmly told Eddie’s body… no… Eddie. Eddie was still alive, he wasn’t dead, he couldn't be dead. “Eddie, please! Those kids adore you, you cannot leave them. Wake up!” Steve willed the tears that threatened to fall back as he spent minutes doing chest compressions. He wouldn’t lose another good soul to this world. That’s when Eddie sputtered. Steve silently thanked whoever was listening before scooping Eddie up, opting for a bridal carry instead of a fireman carry because of Eddie’s now broken ribs.
Steve knew he was at least a little stronger than average, but he didn’t expect Eddie to be so light… especially since he was basically carrying deadweight. Eddie even had muscle on him, the kind where you don't really notice it but it’s there. And then it hit him– Eddie was light because of how little blood he had in him. If Steve wasn't panicked before, he was now. Dustin would break if he lost Eddie. Hell, Steve had grown a little fond of him too and more so after he sacrificed himself for a town that hates his guts.
“Harrington?” Eddie said weakly. His voice was rough and gravelly, thick and punched through. It sounded really painful.
“Don’t talk, save your energy.” Steve huffed as he ran toward the trailer full speed. His legs were burning from running so much, he felt like he might crumble in on himself. And like that, Eddie was out again, but alive… barely. The Munson trailer came into view and Steve felt partial comfort for a second. They were so close. Steve stumbled into the trailer to be met by Robin who was waiting for him below the gate.
“We’ve got him!” Steve hollered as Robin helped him shove him up through the gate. Steve and Robin quickly clambered up the new rope that hung there. Nancy handed him his car keys as everyone else carried Eddie into the backseat of Steve’s car. Steve floored it all the way to the hospital. He broke several laws that he knew his dad would kick him in the ass for, but given that Eddie was about to die and his dad didn’t bother to visit town often, he really didn't care.
Dustin cradled Eddie’s head in his lap and Nancy had his knees bend over her thighs. Eddie’s clothes were tattered– his shirt was barely hanging on, his jeans seemed fine though, unless you count the rips that were already there. Dried blood clung to his slightly parted lips and chin.
“What if they won’t take him in?” Nancy said from the back seat over Dustin, who whispered all sorts of things to Eddie to comfort the unconscious boy and also– probably– himself. At that, Dustin’s breath hitched.
“They will.” Steve said sternly slamming on the breaks in front of the hospital. Usually Nancy would’ve come up with a back up plan, but she pretty obviously knew this was a bad time to counter with something like, ‘We don’t know that for sure’. Steve scooped Eddie back into his arms and ran into the hospital with Dustin by his side.
“Help us! He’s dying!” Dustin called from beside Steve. The nurses took one look at the boy Steve had in his arms and pretty much dismissed them.
“What the hell! Why are you just standing there! Help him!” Steve shouted, his eyebrows furrowed together.
“He’s wanted for murder-” One of the nurses said. Steve shot a scowl at him.
“You have a contractual agreement to help the people who come in here! No. Matter. What. So unless you wanna get fired, get him a goddamn gurney!” The nurses paused for a second, looking towards each other for guidance.
“Oh my god, help him!” Steve, Dustin and another voice said. He learned who that voice came from as a doctor with dark skin and curly hair pulled back into a loose bun. She rushed over with a gurney and quickly loaded Eddie onto it. A few more people came to help with Eddie.
As soon as the nurses left with Eddie, Steve’s knees gave out from exhaustion. He fell to the floor only for Robin to drag him into a seat so they could wait to be checked up on. Dustin sat next to him, slapped him on the arm and then cried into his shoulder. He didn’t know what the slap was for, but that wasn’t important right now. The kid was obviously dealing with a lot of emotion. Everyone was. But Dustin was taking the most hits here.
When the nurses closed the stitches he’d torn open… which was objectively… most of them, they’d given him the all clear. Claudia Henderson had taken Dustin home when Steve was taken care of, which Steve was sure that Dustin had put up a fight to stay, but lost. It was brought to his attention that Max was alive and well, except for the broken arm and leg that bought her an overnight stay at the hospital, where Lucas didn’t leave her side. He heard she lost consciousness a few times on the ride there, but was awake now and resting in her bed.
Steve wanted to see her, but he didn’t know if she wanted to see him. Plus, Lucas was there to keep her company. She didn’t need him.
There were no casualties in their party so far. Steve just hoped Eddie wouldn’t be the first one.
“Steve,” Robin beckoned. “You should go home and get cleaned up.” She tugged at his shoulder, but he didn’t budge.
“I owe it to Dustin to stay here. I know he would want someone here for Eddie.” Steve sighed. Robin stared at him for a second like she was going to argue with something stupid that Steve had been told before by her, probably something along the lines of, ‘You don’t owe it to anyone,’ or ‘You owe yourself a shower.’.
Robin sighed. “Okay, you can stay, but I’m staying with you. First, though, I’m going to go by your house and pick up spare clothes for the both of us. I’ll be right back.” Steve hugged her. What did he do to end up with a friend like her? Jesus, he didn’t deserve her.
“Thank you,” He mumbled tiredly into her shoulder.
“Of course, Dingus.” And then she was off, she was with her parents undoubtedly because there is no way it would be safe for even himself to drive in this emotional state. If you add that to the fact that Robin doesn’t even have a license, it equals a bad time.
So, here Steve was, in bloody clothes but no longer very bloody himself, as long as you don’t count dry blood. He should probably sit down.
Steve made his way over to and sat in a chair in the waiting room, dozing off slightly, despite the adrenaline still coursing through his body. It had been mere minutes since Robin left and he felt like he was losing his mind sitting there, in the waiting room, alone. That’s when a nurse came up to him.
“Mr. Harrington?” She said, holding a clipboard in front of her. It wasn’t a nurse Steve recognized when Eddie was taken away.
Steve popped up immediately. “Yes, ma’am?”
“We’d like to inform you that Ms. Munson is now in recovery and hasn’t woken up yet. We’ve contacted her family members and they should be here soon. She took the surgery well and you are now free to visit.” She spouted.
“Uh, I’m sorry, but I’m here for Mr. Munson,” Steve chimed.
“There is no Mr. Munson at the hospital here. Only Ms. Munson. The woman you carried in here.” She guided Steve to the room Eddie was in where he plopped down on a seat in the corner. What the fuck? Steve was so utterly confused, but he had a feeling he should wait to ask one of Eddie’s family members about it before blurting his confusion to Robin.
Eddie was pretty obviously a boy, right? I mean, he has a deep voice, a flat chest, and goddamn stubble! Why would the nurse call him ‘Ms. Munson’? It just made no sense! So he sat and waited in the fluorescent lights of the hospital room and hoped that one of Eddie’s family members came in before anyone else did. Or even better, Eddie would wake up and could explain it to him himself.
Unfortunately, it was only seconds until Robin burst through the door carrying clothing and overnight bags. She planted herself next to Steve.
“How’s he doing?” Robin asked.
“They said he’s doing great and is on track to wake up soon. The surgery went well and he’s stable.” Steve breathed, running a grimy hand through his grimy hair, feeling it catch a knot, which made him cringe severely. Robin gave him a look, probably assessing his face and emotions.
“You should get some rest.” She said very calmly. Could those eyes skin him and pierce through his soul or what? She dug through the bag and tossed him a t-shirt and sweatpants. Steve complied and went to change in the hospital bathroom. He quickly stripped himself of his dirty denim jeans and pulled on the much more clean and comfortable sweatpants. The shirt was soon to follow. He tried to fix his hair before figuring there was no hope. Steve dragged his hand across his face before stepping back out into the hospital room.
As soon as Steve sat down, he knew he was a goner because his head slipped to Robin’s shoulder and his eyelids felt like bricks. Robin carded her fingers through his hair, and that’s when he fell asleep.
_______________________________
A week ago, if you told Eddie that he’d be basically on a suicide mission to an alternate dimension with a bunch of kids, Nancy ‘the priss’ Wheeler, and Steve ‘the hair’ Harrington who have all been dealing with this shit since 1983, he would’ve called you the freak.But here he was, in an open field with Dustin Henderson, playing with handmade spiked shields. Just paces away, Nancy was sawing off the barrels of shotguns and up ahead Steve and Robin were talking happily and making jokes while making fucking molotov cocktails to flame an interdimensional serial killer.
Just moments ago, Dustin had slammed his shield against Eddie’s and that’s when it hit him. Eddie loved Dustin. Eddie loved Dustin so much he would do anything for the kid. He could die happy protecting the kid. He probably would die protecting him. Let’s be honest here, the chances of them all making it out alive are slim, near zero. If it was between him and Henderson, Eddie would pick himself all day everyday for the rest of his probably short lived life. Dustin had so much to live for. Eddie, what did he have to look forward to? Being beaten to death by a mob of bigots? Haha, might as well die today and protect someone that he loved then in a pathetic excuse of a fight.
Dustin turned to Steve and Robin, his face contorting to a mix of disgust and awe. “Look at them! They deny they’re a couple and yet this is how they act!” Apparently, Steve made a joke that caused Robin’s face to flame red and she shoved him. All while Steve belly laughed, one hand gripping Robin’s shoulder and the other wrapped around his waist, trying to hold himself up. If Eddie didn’t have a sneaking suspicion Robin was a lesbian, he might’ve agreed.
Steve caught his breath. “Alright, does everyone have their things?” Robin shoved him again.
“Things as in weapons, Dingus? They’re called weapons.” She commented.
“Says the one who exclusively calls me Dingus.” Steve jabbed back.
“Oh, that’s rich coming from the person who calls people by their last name.” Steve rolled his eyes at that. His eyes were a pretty hazel in the light, Eddie could stare at them all day– snap out of it, Munson.
“Well-”
“Can we not have a lovers quarrel right now?” Dustin groaned. Steve scrunched his face in disgust, while Robin took a big gasp of air, gearing up to say something, but Dustin cut her off. “Platonic with a Capital P,” Dustin mocked. “Yeah, sure.”
Steve had a glint in his eye, probably thinking of one of his bitchy comebacks. Steve grabbed Robin’s arm and twirled her around. “You caught us Dustin! I can’t contain it anymore! My love for Robin is like…” Steve paused dramatically, turning to look Dustin in the eye with a shit-eating grin. “A Never-Ending Story.”
Robin threw her head back as Nancy tried to contain her giggles with a hand and Dustin pouted, blushing. Eddie watched it all, standing there extremely confused. Dustin mumbled something along the lines of, “You guys aren’t gonna ever let that go, huh?” when Robin and Steve burst into a purposefully horrible rendition of the song.
“Okay, okay.” Steve chuckled, “Let’s flambe this motherfucker.” Steve and Robin went off with the cocktails to the car, everyone else followed. Dustin yammered off about how he and his girlfriend Suzie sang in order to survive the Russians or something like that, but Eddie didn’t have the energy to pay attention or ask questions like, ‘what do you mean Russians?’ when his eyes were trained on the back of Steve’s tan neck. This crush was supposed to never get past the ‘fun to think about stage’ and cross into the ‘oh holy shit, this guy isn’t actually a total douchebag and is actually really nice and funny and charismatic and-’ okay, shut up Eddie.
When they got to the trailer, they used the rope to climb through the gate. Steve, being the most capable at the time despite injuries, went first and gracefully flipped into the Upside Down and pulled the alternate Eddie’s mattress to the floor. Then one by one they flipped down safely. Steve gave a little speech to Eddie and Dustin which could be summed up to, ‘don't be a hero’. When they parted ways, Eddie was tempted to tell Steve about his little, tiny, crush on the guy, because hey, he was probably going to die. At the last second he told the absolutely gorgeous boy in front of him something stupid like, ‘make him pay’ instead. Steve didn’t catch his almost slip up and just nodded.
After boarding up the trailer, Eddie started what he thought was the most metal cover of Metallica’s Master of Puppets. I mean, come on, you’re in an alternate dimension, absolutely shredding a song that came out weeks ago, and there’s red lightning overhead. Like that isn’t the most awesome thing ever. Better yet, it was working. The demobats were being distracted and on top of that, they got inside safely. But what goes up must come down, Eddie guessed, and that’s exactly what happened when the bats started finding ways into the trailer.
This was it, Eddie thought. I’m done running. He helped Dustin hoist himself through the gate into the Rightside Up, and then cut the rope.
“Eddie?” Dustin yelled. “Eddie! What are you doing!?” Eddie looked up at Dustin, presumably for the last time and gave a little smile and nod before booking it out of that trailer. He could hear Dustin’s screams for Eddie to come back as he loaded himself onto a bike and pedaled that fucker fast. He got pretty far until his apparently extremely deflated bike tire caught something, causing Eddie to tumble off the bike. At least Dustin was safe.
Bats tore at his sides and something metallic filled his mouth as he yelled in pain. How was Steve not in immense pain? He figured that it was because swarms and swarms of demobats just kept cutting into him. Over and over. Under the chaos of leathery wings flapping around his body, he could each squelch as bats bit him. Eddie felt a warm liquid trail over his abdomen, bleeding through the tatters of his shirt. It was running out of his mouth, too. He could feel each tooth take a chunk out of him along with the unbearable tenderness he felt with each squeeze of blood being rung out of him like a wet towel.
But then, everything just… Stopped. There were no more flapping leathery wings and it was replaced by the wooshing of multiple bats not flying but falling to the ground around him. He collapsed on the floor along with the bats as he heard wailing and hobbling come closer.
“Eddie! You idiot!” Dustin cried, scooping half of Eddie’s half dead body in his arms. “You can’t die! You self-sacrificing idiot!” Dustin’s tears were falling on Eddie’s face, but they weren’t much different from Eddie’s own.
“HELP! SOMEONE! HELP!” Dustin wailed into the ashy, cold Upside Down air.
“Henderson,” Eddie choked out. “Listen to me,” That got Dustin’s attention. “You’ve gotta take care of the little sheepies, okay?” Dustin sobbed harder.
“No! No! You’re going to do that! You’re gonna be okay, okay? Just stay with me, please.” Dustin sniffed.
“Dustin, promise me.” Eddie’s own tears streamed down his face. “Promise me, man.” Dustin’s lip quivered as he nodded shakily. Eddie’s blood stained his shirt and hands. Eddie took a big breath in, wincing at the pain of doing so. “I love you, man.”
Dustin shook with tears. “I love you, too, Eddie.” Eddie drew a breath in and let himself go.
At least he thought he did, but apparently, god hates him, because he woke up... Kind of. In Steve Harrington’s arms. If this is what heaven’s like, holy shit did he never want to leave. He didn’t even register the pain in his abdomen or now in his ribs, because Steve Harrington was carrying him.
“Harrington?” Eddie spluttered. Suddenly the pain seemed a little too apparent. Jesus, couldn’t heaven be a little more forgiving?
“Don’t talk, save your energy.” Steve huffed through staggered breaths. He was running. Wait. Eddie wasn’t in heaven. He was still in the goddamn Upside Down! This motherfucker resuscitated him! Dammit! Wait. If this isn’t heaven, Steve Harrington is carrying him for real and– the world went black.