Archive of Our Own ^beta

"In the darkness, I would never leave you"

The cassettes made this distinct plastic clacking sound when Steve was staking them next to him on the register.
He wasn't in a hurry. He still had two hours on the clock. And Robin was busy with a costumer in the back.
Some nerdy 12 year old with a love for superhero movies.

Steve looked over his shoulder to his friend, seeing the blond enthusiastically hold up several cassettes for the boy to take a look at. Two where almost falling out of her hands and Steve was already moving to go over and help her, when the phone started to ring.

He sighed and turned around again, picking up the phone in a swift movement.

"Hawkins Record Store, Steve speaking. How can I help you today?" he put on his usual costumer service voice, hoping the one on the other end wasn't that old lady again. The one that kept asking about super weird cat movies, that the store didn't carry.

"Steve! Oh my god, I'm so happy you picked up!" the voice of a young boy greeted him instead.

Alright, Steve would have preferred the old lady now.

"Henderson? You do know I am at work right?" at first Steve was annoyed.

Then for a second he felt a cold shiver creep up his spine.
He turned back around to the register, leaning on it like it could dampen his voice

"Wait- you didn't find and adopt another Demogorgon looking baby animal or anything, right?"

Dustin was quiet for a moment.

"No..? It's more a D&D call. I need your help Steve."

D&D?

Steve deflated onto the cool surface for a few seconds.
He had already seen himself grabbing Robin and running to his car, driving somewhere around Hawkins to hit another one of those weird flower headed assholes in the face with his baseball bat.

He might have gotten a bit paranoid recently.

"D&D? Henderson…what the hell do I have to do with D&D? That's your thing." he was confused.

Dustin sighed on the other end like Steve was being dense on purpose and Steve did NOT like that tone. He was about to speak up about it but Dustin was already talking again.

"It's about Hellfire tonight. Lucas isn't coming! And Eddie is gonna be pissed if we can't play because of Lucas! Can you jump in? I know D&D isn't your thing but I explain it on the way. Plus you and Eddie are friends! I am sure he doesn't go so hard on you like he would on anyone else that we ask."

"We? How many people are you asking?" Harrington already blurted out before he even fully processed what Dustin just said.

Hellfire. D&D game. Eddie.

Right. Cause being childhood best friends with Eddie Munson was going to a save Steve from being strangled by him for not knowing simple D&D lore and game play. Sure.

"Honestly you are one of the last I asked. I know it's not your thing but i like reeeealy need your help with his one. Please Steve."

Dustin's voice brought Steve back to reality. Away from the memories of how Eddie had tried to get Steve into D&D the past few years. Steve had never really caught on to it and eventually Eddie had been so passionate and jumpy about it, he just made his own club.

Hellfire.

Fit him. Steve liked the name. It was very…Eddie.

"Steve? Are you still there?"

Dustin sounded like he already fully believed Steve had just put the receiver to the side and had abandoned him.

"I was thinking Henderson. Is there really no one else? I don't know shit about D&D and not even our friendship can save me from Eddie throwing dice at my head for not knowing the rules or something…"

He really wasn't sure what to do.

It would be nice to spend some time with Eddie when he was in his natural element and actually see what his best friend was doing in this Hellfire club.

But he also really had no clue about this nerdy game. Besides that it had creatures called Demogorgons.
He had met those friendly fellas more often then he would like.
Dustin kept insisting that the D&D Demogorgons looked different though. Whatever that might mean.

"No. I asked like half the school. Anyone who would talk to me, really. No one wants to get near Hellfire. I thought if anyone in this damned place isn't scared of Eddie, it would be you."

"I am not scared of my best friend Henderson."

Steve was back at that point where he looked to the ceiling for some heavenly guidance.
This kid was going to be the end of him one day.

"I just don't know shit about this board game."

"It's more then a board game."

Dustin sounded proud.

Steve pointed a finger like Dustin was standing right in front of him.

"And that's exactly why I think you should ask someone else! Also, I am still working!"

"There is no one else! Steve please! Its not now, its in three hours. Please, I am running out of time to find someone! It's just this once. Promise!"

Three hours. Great.
He was off his shift by then.

He looked at the clock above the entrance and mulled over the idea in his head.

A evening with Hellfire, playing a game he didn't know jack shit about. But Eddie was there. He didn't talk to that guy in days.
Once a month that guy just dropped of the face of the earth for a few days and every time Steve worried something happened to him. That's just the way Steve was . Especially now, since the Upside down and everything attached to that was a thing.

"Alright, fine. But if just one person makes fun of me for not knowing this stupid game, I am out! Got it?"

Steve could hear Dustin screech in joy on the other end.

"You wont regret this! Thank you Steve! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Steve rolled his eyes.

"Yeah yeah…we'll see about that."

He saw a group of girls walking up to the glass door right in front of him at the register.

"I gotta go. Work calls. See ya later." he went to put the phone down.

He still heard Dustin yell something about meeting him in front of the Hellfire club room.
Then the bell above the entrance was already ringing and Steve had put the receiver back on the phone and was smiling at the new customers.

"Hi lady's! What can I help you Beauty's with today?"

Eddie wasn't sure what had gotten into Dustin.
The boy had been jumpy all day. Even avoiding him at lunch.

At first Eddie had been scared he had done something wrong and the Henderson boy was now scared of him like the rest of the school was.
He had felt a tight feeling in his chest because of it all day.

It was almost time for the Hellfire meet-up, aka the D&D session when Dustin finally let him know that Lucas would not be coming but he had found a replacement.

He smiled about that last sentence like he had won the lottery and Eddie was convinced he was about to meet the boys first girlfriend or something.

That was until Dustin entered the room with no one else than Steve Harrington, who was waving at him with that unsure look in his eyes that he always got when Dustin or anyone else of the kids dragged him into a territory he wasn't familiar with.

For a moment Munson wasn't sure if he was dreaming.

Did Henderson actually manage to pull his childhood best friend- that physically fought him to not have to play D&D with him in the past- into a D&D game with him?!

He would have to ask Dustin later how he managed to do that.

For now he just greeted the unexpected visitor, keeping up his Dungeon Master reputation to not accidentally slip up in front of Gareth and the others. Last thing he needed was those boys to know that Eddie tended to go easy on Steve when it came to things he didn't know or understand.
Eddie knew that Steve got into fights sometimes and with how Steve behaved sometimes he had gotten worried the boy was having memory issues or something. One hit to the head too much or something.
Either way, Hellfire didn't need to know shit about what he thought about Steve Harrington.

"Steve! Well isn't that the last person I expected to ever see in this room!"

Deep down he really didn't like how his two "friend groups" were crashing right now but it was far too late to avoid this. The only way was through.
And that included pulling Steve along, further into the room before the boy could even think about escaping.

"Ou- nice to see you too Eddie." Harrington fought a bit against the grip but eventually gave up, letting Eddie lead him to a chair to the left of the Dungeon Master seat. Steve knew from years of experience that it wasn't worth it to fight Eddie when he had that hug-like grip on someone. The guy was stronger than he looked.

Eddie sat Steve down in the chair, his hands on his shoulders for a bit longer, making sure the boy would not get back up.

"So…we are into D&D now?" Munson asked with a smirk, leaning around the chair to be able to see his best friends face.

"Not really… Dustin called me at work earlier and would not stop begging me to fill in for Lucas- so here I am." he shrugged and gave Eddie that thin-lipped smile that made him look like he was being held at gun point.

Eddie could keep his mocking look up for another three seconds before he bursted out laughing.

"Relax Harrington. I won't eat you for not knowing every D&D rule in the book. We'll figure this out as we go. It's easy, trust me."

The metalhead patted his friend on the shoulder, stepping over to his place on the head of the table, reaching for something behind the DM screen.

"Here, have a quick read before everyone gets here. You can't keep that during the game but I am sure Mike wont leave you hanging." he pointed to the chair to the left of Steve. Which apparently belonged to Mike. He wasn't here yet.

Steve took the book Eddie handed him. 'A Guide to Dungeons and Dragons'.
He threw Eddie a last look of uncertainty before he opened the book and started to skim over the pages.

Eddie took the welcoming distraction to wander over to Dustin's seat at the other side of the long table, leaning down with his hands behind his back, ignoring that his long curly hair was probably in Dustin's way.

"So…how did you manage to get "the hair" to play D&D? I have been trying to force him to play it for years. Whats your secret Henderson?"

Dustin just grinned, aligning his character sheets like he was sitting in a job interview.

"Don't know honestly…" the young boy shrugged, clearly proud of himself.
"I just begged him a few times and assured him that no one would laugh at him for not knowing everything. I mean, you guys are friends, maybe he just finally came around, you know?"

Dustin was looking up at him, looking for approval, but Eddie was stuck on the second part of his explanation.
Steve coming around the play D&D because they were friends…

He wasn't so sure about that. Steve had been fighting him about this for years.
Yeah, they were friends but Steve had always been the opposite of Eddie. Steve was popular, pretty, well kept hair, was good with the girls, liked normal things and had like zero interest in something as nerdy as D&D.
Eddie asked himself often enough how they managed to stay friends throughout all these years.

Steve had been quite the dick for a few years and Eddie had actually not talked to him during that time.
He had thought he lost him by the time he had all those house party's at his parents place, dating Nancy and all that…
But then something changed with him, and he somehow became friends with Dustin and all these kids that ended up in his Hellfire club this year.
Eddie still didn't know what happened. Back when Steve had knocked on his trailer door, apologizing for being a dick- in general and towards Eddie too at the time- he had never really told him how he became friends with those kids. Always mumbling something about helping them out with some personal stuff.

Eddie pried at first but soon let go, when Steve started asking back questions why Eddie went radio silent every few weeks. In the end both settled on being fine with not knowing everything about each other.

Munson looked from Dustin's character sheet over to Steve who was now himself filling out a character sheet. Making a face like that paper was math homework.
Which it kind of is. If you are in first grade that is.

Grinning, he made his way back over, leaning over Harrington's shoulder to look at the paper. A half elf, how original.

"Jesus, Eddie!" Steve shrieked. He didn't expect Eddie to creep up this close and this fast.

Years of knowing each other and Steve had never gotten used to the jumpy way Eddie moved around.

"Chill Steve. Your character is looking good. Get ready to introduce that bad boy to the group when we start."

He checked his wrist watch.

"Ten minutes left. Chop chop." he patted his shoulder again and retreated to his Dungeon Master position on the top of the table, making sure to have his own notes in order.

Steve was almost literally fighting for his life that evening.
D&D is easy, his ass.
It was NOT easy when you don't know shit about it. And play in a group of nerdy experts.
He felt like a baby for three hours.

Harrington was sure that Eddie was actually going easy on him. Attacks didn't hit him too hard, a orc missed him with his bow twice and Vecna didn't even acknowledge him properly, rather focusing on Mike, Gareth and Dustin.

Eddies friends left Steve mostly alone, besides interested stares and some funny but not mean remarks. Eddie was thankful they were not being weird about Steve. They knew he and Steve "the hair" Harrington were old friends, but they never really met or talked to the guy before.

Steve felt like he should help Eddie pack up all the D&D stuff after the game. Dustin and the others had gotten into a argument about their characters moves post campaign and had poured out fo the room, leaving the two friends alone.

"Eh…thanks. You don't need to help, you know? I do this every week." Eddie took the figurines Steve was handing him with a surprise face.

"I wanna help." Steve just waved it off, leaning against the table.

"Also, I haven't talked to you in days. Again. What were you up to?" he asked casually. With a quick,subtle poke at the repeated radio silence.

Eddie put the figures in a small box and looked at Steve like he knew he was being interrogated.

"The usual, playing guitar, setting up the story for this weeks campaign." he mumbled and went to put the box away in a cabinet.

"Did you break a guitar string?"

Steve's question made the metalhead turn around with a confused look on his face.

"What?"

Steve pointed to his left arm.

"I just thought, cause I think I saw a bandage under there when you where narrating earlier."

Eddie froze for just a moment, like a deer in the headlights. With those big brown eyes of his it really made him look like a deer that was waiting for a car to hit him.

"Ehm…yeah, kind of. No big deal." his voice was quieter then usual.

Steve didn't like that.

"This isn't from one of those jocks right? Jason?" he concluded.

Which made Eddie role his eyes.

"No Steve. It was not Jason. I am not 8 anymore. It was a guitar. Like you said."

Eddie wasn't 8 anymore, sitting on a playground and being bullied by a older kid until Steve had showed up and hit the bigger boy with a plastic toy shovel until he left.
Good old childhood memories…

Steve moved away from the table when Eddie started to fold the map in the middle of the table together, not looking at his friend.

"I- I just wanted to make sure, you know? I don't want that guy to ruin your club or anything. We both know he hates you."

"Thank you Steve, but I can punch that asshole myself when it is needed."

Yeah, now Eddie sounded a bit pissed off.
Steve regretted mentioning the bandage.

He had barely seen it anyway. Just for a flash of a moment in the middle of the campaign when Eddie had gestured something with open arms and his left arm had been pretty close to where Steve had been sitting.

"So it wasn't Jason?"

"No. It was not. Are you done mother henning now?" Eddie threw him a look with a raised eyebrow and that somewhat snappy head tilt.

No, internally Steve was not done.
Eddie had always been a clumsy person. Since Steve could remember this man, he had always been full of bruises or scratches.
When they were younger it still made sense. Both of them played outside all day. But now? Eddie sure still ran around the woods sometimes but the small injuries just didn't make sense to Steve and Eddie avoided his questions. He was worried his best friend might be hiding abuse or something but every time Steve had been paranoid enough to check on Eddies uncle Wayne, or even follow people like Jason around, they never even put a single finger on Eddie.
The entire thing irritated Steve.

"Yeah, I am done. Sorry man. I was just worried." he looked down at the floor, feeling a bit stupid for asking.
It wasn't like he had gotten a straight answer the last hundred times he asked, so why should it be different now?

Eddie, on the other side of the table, felt like a douche bag for talking to his friend like that.
Steve had never done anything to him and Eddie knew he was just genuinely worried the jocks were giving him a hard time again.

"All good. Its cool Steve. It was just a guitar string. Those metal things hurt." he said in a joking tone, hoping to ease the tension that had filled the room.

Steve nodded, brushing a hand through his styled hair.

"Yeah sure, sorry. I was hovering. My bad." he cleared his throat, slipping his hands into his pant pockets to stop them from fidgeting. A nervous habit he could not shake lately.

Lately, as in, since he first had a Demogorgon scream in his face and had to safe Nancy from said thing. And having a entire group of kids depend in him to survive the night.

"Want to go out for a beer or something? My car's still in the parking lot." he offered then, not wanting to leave Eddie here alone.

And maybe he was desperately clinging to any kind of connection like a lonely school girl. But that he would not admit to himself. Or Eddie. God forbid.

Eddie thought about it for a second, turning the Vecna figurine in his hands.

Then he shook his head.

"No, sorry. I am beat. I'll finish up in here and go home. Next time?"

"Yeah, sure."

Something in Steve's chest tightened. He did his best to ignore it, swallowing and leaving the Hellfire club. Alone.

'Next time' was supposed to be the next day if everything went the way Steve wanted it to.

But Hawkins had a mind of it's own, and since when did it like Steve?

Harrington had been thinking all day about how he could sneak around town just enough to 'accidentally' run into Eddie and ask him for that beer again.
Cause he was worried. And wanted to spent some time with his old friend. That's all.

He didn't have any luck at the local car repair shop even tho he was sure Eddie had some kind of side hustle here. Probably not his shift right now…

After Steve had gotten a quick check up on his BMW, completely just to cover up that he walked in here because he was stalking his friend like an absolute weirdo, the time was against him.

He ran around 2 or 3 red lights before he parked in the Hawkins Records Store parking lot.

"Where have you been dingus?!"

Robin greeted him at the register, throwing his own name tag at him.

Steve just sighed and caught it right after it hit him square in the face.

"Sorry, got my car checked out and they needed longer then expected."

"Your car? I thought that thing is spotless."

"Well, it is."

Steve put the name tag on his shirt, ignoring Robins raised eyebrow and going to work, putting the returned cassettes back into the shelves.

He was still putting said cassettes away when Robin snuck up behind him.

"Were you looking for your boyfriend?" she asked in that teasing tone.

Steve first jumped from her sudden appearance right behind him before he gave her a annoyed look.

"Robin stop. Yes I wanted to check up on my friend, and he was not at the shop. End of story."

Robin leaned on the shelf right next to where Steve was sorting the cassettes, clearly in his way.

"You know you are hovering right?"

"What do you know about our friendship?"

A shrug.

"Not much, but I know that Eddie was here an hour ago, before you showed up- late again by the way- and he asked me if you were here. He looked like he would bolt if I told him you were. Thankfully you were late."

"What?!"

Steve looked up, catching Robin who was about to walk off.

"Eddie was here?"

She grinned.

"Missing him?"

"Robin please…" he groaned.
"Just tell me what he wanted."

"He returned his cassettes and got new ones. No big deal. Chill out Harrington. You better tell me why your friend is hiding from you like its a full time job."

The blond looked him up and down.

"That's not true!" Steve pointed a finger at her before realizing he was about to treat his friend like Dustin and put his hand back down. Putting it on his hip instead.

"It's nothing… I just pried a bit too much and he got jumpy. My bad."

Robin looked at him with a mix of pity and understanding.

"You hover way too much for a guy like Eddie. Give him some space. Pretty sure the last guy who got up in his space had a black eye the next day."

"Eddie would never punch me."

"Yeah, cause he is avoiding you."

"Not cool Robin."

"Hey, I am just observing." she raised her arms in defense.

"Just get him some flowers or something. Whatever you boys do to apologize to each other." she shook her head and went back to the register were a young boy was already standing with a whole stack of cassettes.

Steve looked after her before sighing and going back to sorting the cassettes.

"Great…"

That same night, Steve had just gotten home, his walkie-talkie went off.

"Steve?! Come in!!! Steve!!"

"What the fuck?" Harrington muttered, getting the big thing out of his bag, pressing the button to answer.

"The hell do you want Henderson? Have you checked the time?"

"Fuck the time Steve! There is something in the woods behind Max's trailer! She thinks it might be a Demo!"

There it was again. That cold feeling creeping up his spine.

"Demogorgon?!"

"No, Demonstration. OF COURSE I MEAN DEMOGORGON!"

Dustin screamed so loud Steve pulled the walkie-talkie away from his face and groaned in pain. His poor ears.

"Ok, OK! I got it!
Tell Max to hide in her place, I am on my way!"

"It isn't in Max place."

"What? What is it doing then?"

"I don't know. She just said there was something in the woods. She said it was too big to be a normal animal so we both said Demogorgon, but it isn't moving like one."

"Dustin, you speak in riddles."

Steve felt a headache forming in between his eyes as he grabbed his car keys, checking if his bat was still on the backseat and started the car.

"I am on my way to the trailer park right now. I can see it. There are no lights flickering."

Dustin sounded out of breath. Was he out on his bike?!
Steve was regretting his life decisions once again.

"Henderson…if you now riled me up over a Demogorgon attack and we find a overgrown dog, I will throw this walkie-talkie into a field and never look back!"

"Do you think Max would have called us over a overgrown dog?!"

Dustin had that demanding I-know-better tone that Steve could not stand but he was too busy with driving way over the speed limit to lecture the kid.

He saw the bike in front of him and threw the walkie-talkie on the passenger seat, parking at the side of the road in front of the trailer park, getting the bat and catching up to Dustin.

"Well, I don't see lights flickering Henderson."

Dustin glared at him.

"And? Max was scared out of her mind when she called me. Also, she said that thing came from the direction of Eddies trailer." he put weight on those words.

He probably knew it worked on Steve, who immediately threw his head around to Eddies trailer. No lights on, nothing. Ok.

Ok. Calm yourself Harrington. He is probably sleeping and didn't notice the Demogorgon, or whatever it was… walking past his trailer.

"Alright." he sighed "Stay here, I go check it out."

"But Max…!" the boy started protesting.

"I come get you when the coast is clear!" Steve whisper-yelled over his shoulder, sneaking across the trailer park.

He full on expected having a grown Demogorgon jumping into his face. But he got all the way to Max's trailer without a single weird noise.

He stood by her door, looking back across the place. Eddies dark trailer, Dustin crouching besides his car, looking at him.

Steve turned around to knock at Max's door.

"Mayfield? It's me. Steve." he said as quiet as he could.

He heard shuffling, followed by the rustling of a chain by the door and then he looked into the face of the frightened red head.

"Hey…"

"Hey. Is it gone?"

Steve shrugged.

"I didn't even see anything. Where did you see the…Demogorgon?"

Max looked a bit embarrassed.

"Honestly…can't even say if it was a Demo.
It was as big as one. But..i think it was hairy. Demogorgons don't have hairs."

"Maybe they developed." Dustin chimed in from right besides Steve.

Which caused said boy to almost swing his bat at Henderson.

"JeSUS! Don't do that!" he screeched, reminding himself to whisper halfway through.

Max rolled her eyes, pulling both boys inside the trailer before they woke the entire neighborhood.

"What do you mean you don't know if it was a Demogorgon'? You are sure it was not a dog?"

Now it was Max turn to glare at Steve.

Harrington felt like he was getting everyone mad at him in the past few days.

"It was as tall as the damn trailer Steve! Trust me, that was not a dog.
I thought at was a Demogorgon at first because it was so tall. And it moved on two legs. But there were no lights flickering. And when I peeked through the window i saw that it had…fur?"

Max looked startled, her arms crossed across her chest, like she was trying to protect herself.

Steve blinked a few times.

"Like what? A werewolf or what?" he joked, looking at Dustin for moral support.

But he just made a serious face, checking his watch.

"It is a full moon tonight…" he just shrugged.

Steve felt like he was in a really bad horror movie.

"Seriously now? When was the last time you two slept properly?" he hid his face in his hand. He could not believe he was here right now. First Dustin made a big deal out of something that wasn't even close to a sign of a Demogorgon and now Max was seeing werewolf's.
Might as well check nearby trees for Dracula.

"Steve! This is serious! I am not joking!"

Max was mad.

And that was the only thing keeping Steve here at the moment.

When it came to Dustin, he took the information with a grain of salt. But Max? That girl wasn't the kind to freak out and call the entire group up over a spider in her room or something.

Sometimes she reminded Steve of Nancy. They were both brave and didn't scream at the smallest thing.

Harrington was quiet, looking between both- very upset looking- teenagers.

"-Ok, fine. Humor me. Where did you see this…hairy Demogorgon?" he turned to the red head.

She pointed towards the backside of her trailer, the side bordering on to the forest.

"This way. It went into the forest I think."

And that's how Steve Harrington found himself in the middle of a forest at 11pm on a Friday.

He could have been sitting in front of his TV with a beer right now…

Like normal people.

But no, he had to sneak through a dark forest because one of his young friends is seeing mythical creatures now.

That pretty much summed up his life in the past few years anyway.

Now that he thought about it…could he even defend himself in case that actually wasn't a Demogorgon?

He looked down at his bat.
Those nails were iron. Not silver.

He shook his head.

Great, the kids had gotten to his head. Now he was beginning to believe in werewolf's too.
Dustin had insisted that it wasn't impossible considering everything they went through the past few years.

But in Steve's head, a group of insane scientists conducting human experiments on kids, and a literal Werewolf, were two completely different things.

A werewolf as tall as a trailer was sure as hell not some lab kid like Eleven.

Right?

At this point Steve wasn't even sure anymore.

Eleven didn't look like she could flip a car in the air either.
And that happened.

And the lab kids didn't create the mindflayer things or the upside down either. El just opened the gate to it.

"Ou- fuck!"

A stinging sensation went through Steve's left leg as he crumbled to the forest floor.

Fucking trees.

Without a flashlight to guide him, he had fallen over a tree trunk on the ground.

Steve was about to call it a night and was getting back up on his feet with a list of cuss words on his tongue. He was frustrated and cold and by now he really needed a drink.

Crack

Steve froze.

His eyes shot up into the dark.
That had been in front of him.

His brain caught up with him a few seconds later and he quietly ducked behind the tree trunk he had just fallen over. He didn't even look up for the next minute, until he heard another branch snapping, a bit further away.

He quietly glanced over the dead wood, adjusting his eyes to the dark in the thicket a few feet away.

He didn't even notice he was holding his breath when his eyes zeroed in on the tall creature moving through the bushes.

That…wasn't a Demogorgon.

Max and Dustin be damned. That actually looked like a werewolf.

Tall and hairy, big ears and a snout. And eyes. He didn't see them at first but when his body reminded him to take a breath the creatures head snapped around and Steve caught a side of brown, golden-ish eyes flashing in the dark.

Demogorgons didn't have eyes the last time he checked.

Steve crouched back behind the tree, almost kissing the rotting leafs on the ground as he prayed to every god he could think off that that thing didn't see him.

It was so quiet around him.
He hadn't noticed it before now. He had been too busy with pitying his lost night in front of the TV.
There was no other sound. No owl, no wild animal running through the bushes and up the trees around him.

There was nothing.

Besides the creature a few meters away from him.

Maybe he was imagining it but he could swear he could hear it breath.

The next thing he heard was thudding steps on the ground, like a very big dog running towards you.

Steve pressed himself on the ground, towards the tree trunk, hoping he could fuse with the nature around him.

A shadow flew above him, over the fallen tree. A big shadow landing right in front of him, where he had just walked a few minutes prior.

Dirt flew up onto Steve. The last thing Steve could see through the dirt in his face was the fur right in from of him. He absently noted the slight twirl in them. Like the fur was curly.

The foot steps, alongside the huge owner, disappeared into the night.

Harrington let himself catch his breath.

It didn't see him.

He didn't move at first. The cold ground was suddenly a lot more welcoming than he had thought at first.

"Fuck this place…" he whispered to himself after several minutes, slowly getting up. Careful to not make to much noise, in case the werewolf would come back this way.

Once he was sure he was actually alone this time, he grabbed his bat a bit tighter and started to run.

Max stumbled back a bit when she opened the door to a Steve that had been almost knocking said door down and had rushed in like he had a Demogorgon right behind him.

"Never. Ever. Ask me to follow some weird creature into the woods EVER again! Do you understand me?" the young man was out of breath, leaning against the door and pointing a accusing finger at her. He didn't know it but there was a brown leaf stuck to his hair.

"What happened?" Dustin reached out to steady his older friend with a hand on his shoulder. Not daring to reach for the leaf yet. Steve looked way too paranoid.

Max went to get a bottle of water that Steve took with a thankful nod. He downed half of it before answering.

"I take back what I said, sorry Max. There was something and that thing actually looked like a werewolf. It almost saw me."

He closed the water bottle with shaky hands, looking towards the window. His bat forgotten next to his feet.

"Jeez…I saw my life flash in front of my eyes. I take a damn Demogorgon to whatever that was…"

Max and Dustin threw each other a concerned look.

"Werewolf's are real…cool…" Dustin realised.

"NOT cool Henderson! That thing could have bitten my head off!!!"

There were a lot of words you could describe Steve Harrington with right now. Calm was not one of them.

Dustin pulled his head between his shoulders. "Sorry…"

Max cleared her throat.

"Ehm…what do we do now?"

"Nothing Mayfield." Steve sighed, feeling the adrenaline leave him faster than he liked. He felt like a ballon losing it's air.

"I am sure the Hawkins police department does not care about werewolf sightings. And it's not like that thing was parading around in the city center. Unless it starts chewing on your door, I am not doing shit."

Max didn't look so happy about that.
She opened her mouth but nothing came out.

Dustin talked for her.

"But…can you stay at least? For tonight? What if it does come back? I wont go. I won't leave Max alone here!" he straightened his shoulders, appearing as brave as he could.

Steve waved him off.

"Don't Henderson. Just don't." he mumbled while holding his hurting head.

"Go home. I stay for the night. You have a couch I can crash on, right?" he looked towards Max who nodded and pointed to the corner of the room were a old but cozy looking couch was standing against the trailer wall.

"I'll get you a blanket…"she mumbled and left the room.

Dustin was still standing in the middle of the room like a lost child.

"Henderson, I said go home. I handle it. Promise." Steve reassured him.

The young boy didn't look convinced at first but then nodded.

"You got your walkie-talkie?"

"Eh, no. It's in the car."

Steve rummaged through his pockets for the keys.

"Go get it for me and then take your bike and drive back home. I let you know when something happens."

"Promise?"

A annoyed sigh.

"Yes, promise."

Nothing happened. Like Steve already predicted.
In his head. To himself.

He woke up the next morning with a sore back and a new set of regrets.

Max was so kind to make him a coffee with a side of a ibuprofen pill.
Breakfast of champions.

"Thanks." he mumbled while downing the white pill with the hot beverage.

"No problem. Thank you for even showing up last night. I know I must have sounded like I lost my mind." she admitted in a quiet voice.

"We know a girl who can flip a car with her mind. I hit a 9 feet tall flower faced monster in the face on several occasions. I won't call you crazy for seeing something tall and scary outside your window and asking for help."

Steve still wasn't happy about how last night went, but he didn't blame Max. Of course the girl had been scared.
He himself had cuddled with a tree trunk last night to avoid that thing in the woods.

Max smiled at that, relived that Steve wasn't mad at her.

"You're the best Steve."

"Yeah yeah. I know." he chuckled, sipping his coffee and moving towards the nearest window to see the trailer park in daylight.
He hadn't been here in years.
He had played here as a kid, with Eddie. When they were smaller and things had been different.
Now he rarely even went here. Eddie had a car and refused to be driven around by Steve in his tacky BMW.

The thought made him look over to Eddies and his uncle Wayne's trailer. He wondered if Eddie was home?

He got an idea and quickly downed the rest of his coffee.

"Hey, I'll be over at Eddies for a second. Be right back." he let Max now, putting the cup into the sink and leaving the trailer before Max could even properly answer him.

"Steve?" Eddie didn't believe his eyes when he opened the door to his best friend. He looked like he slept like shit.

"Good Morning to you too sunshine." the brown haired boy grinned back at him.

"Eh, yeah. Morning. What brings you here this early?"

Eddie caught himself stepping back on instinct, letting Steve into the trailer.
Munson looked towards his room, knowing it looked like a mess in there. He had…been a bit late with his planning last night.

"Sorry, it's a mess in my room right now. Lets stay here. Wayne is out." he pointed towards the couch.

Steve nodded, sitting down on the familiar couch, looking at his friend.

"Thanks. I was at Max's last night. She….eh, she got scared over some dog or something and she called Dustin. And Dustin called me and freaked me out and then we both came over to make sure Mayfield didn't have anything chewing on her doorframe." he explained with a joking undertone.

Eddie felt himself stiffen a bit and moved to the kitchen isle to avoid freezing in place.

"A dog? Don't they have one in the fence right next to their trailer?" the question sounded stupid, even to his own ears.

What else was he supposed to ask?
'Hey, was that dog by chance really big and hid in the woods all night?'
He felt pathetic enough as it was.

"I don't know honestly. I went out to check but I didn't find anything. I slept on her couch to ease the girls mind. I thought I would come over and say hello, you know?"

Eddie nodded, coming back from the kitchen with two glasses of juice.

Yes, Eddie Munson drank juice. And Steve was the only one that knew. Besides Uncle Wayne.

The juice was handed to him like a peace offering and Steve took it with a thankful smile.
Just as he was about to look up to Eddies face to verbally thank him- like a normal person- he noticed his friends movements where kind of…stiff.

When he looked even closer and started checking his entire body he noticed it. A new bandage on his other arm, a band aid peaking out from under his shirt at his shoulder.
What the hell?

Eddie saw his concerned look and reacted like Steve had yelled at him, backing off two steps like Steve had thrown something at him. Measuring his friends movements carefully with his brown doe eyes.

"Eddie…are you ok?"

Steve was genuinely worried.

"I'm fine…why are you looking at me like that?" the metalheads voice was breaking slightly as he spoke. He didn't just look like a threatened animal, he also sounded like one.

"Dude, half your body is patched up! What the fuck happened to you?!"

Eddie opened his mouth but nothing besides a a unsure stutter came out. He avoided Steve's gaze and backed up against the coffee table behind him, stumbling as his legs hit the furniture.

Steve put the glass down on said table, getting up from the couch and grabbed Eddies upper arms, holding the slightly taller boy in place.

"Eddie, if you saw something last night, you don't need to be ashamed or scared I don't believe you. Trust me…I saw weirder shit.
And I saw that creature myself. I believe you, ok?"

Eddie felt a bit trapped with his friends hands on him. He was too scared to move, like a simple muscle twitch would throw Steve into the next wall.

He realised he had avoided this talk for way too long and now he was out of time to prepare his words.

"I didn't see the creature Steve…" he started with a shaking voice.
"I-I was the creature."

That sank in way too slowly for Steve.

"…what?!"

The metalhead started to stutter out of sheer panic of Steve getting scared of him, misunderstanding or hating him. Or thinking he completely lost it now.

"I- It's not…what it sounds like…"

It was exactly what it sounded like.

Steve was still too stunned to speak. He could just look at the skittish man in front of him like Eddie just offered listening to pop music with him.

"You…are a Were- Werewolf…thingy?"

Very literate Harrington. Good job.

Eddie looked to the side like looking for a hidden camera. In his own home.

"Ehm…yeah?"

His voice was awfully quiet. Steve didn't even know he could talk in such a hushed tone.

My best friend is a werewolf. Sure, why not.
Steve was really trying to not look like he was having a inner mental breakdown.
He didn't want to scare Eddie off.

Eddie was clearly eying him up and down, still frozen in place and clearly worried Steve would bolt or start yelling at him.

Steve didn't know how to react.
He had encountered enough fucked up shit in the past few years.
Demogorgons, Demo-dogs, babysitting a group of kids that made babysitting a sack of flees easier and he got his head bashed in several times.

That's it. Maybe the brain damage was finally catching up to him.
Maybe he got attacked by a bear in the woods last night and he was just hallucinating now.

The scared puddle of a man in front of him did still look an awful lot like his best friend though. And usually Steve could not touch his hallucinations. And he was still holding Eddies arms.

Eddie was real.

This was real.

He slowly let go of Eddie, like he wasn't sure how his hands worked. They hurt a bit. Did he grab Eddie too hard? He didn't even realise. Why didn't Eddie complain?

"You- you where this huge ass thing in the woods last night?"

A quiet nod. Almost shy.

"Well. You were scary as shit. I ate dirt under a tree trunk to hide from you." a weirdly relieved laugh escaped from Steve. He didn't know what to feel but it felt weirdly ironic that he had fully planned to hit his best friend with the nail bat.
Not his fault he was a huge ass werewolf at the time. Steve didn't know.

"You were in the woods?!" Eddie screamed.

"Yeah? I thought you were a- well…long story. I thought you were something else, and Max was scared, so I went out there and then I saw…well, you?..and I almost shat my pants and hid by a tree trunk until you were gone. And then I ran back to Max's." Harrington blurted out like a nervous chiwawa.

The metalhead looked like a beat puppy after that explanation.

"I'm sorry. I hide in the woods during those nights. I don't mean to scare anyone. I really don't want anyone to see me." he looked at the floor to avoid Steve's gaze.

"Yeah, well…Max saw you and it freaked her out and I ended up actively looking for you. So that's on me." Steve tried to calm his friend down. He didn't want his best friend to feel guilty about something that he could not control.

He got a small nod in return, like Munson wasn't really convinced.

"I just get really…I don't know how to describe it. I get…itchy? Jumpy? I get really irritated a few days before a full moon, so I pull away from people when I can. I don't wanna be a dick and snap at my friends every 5 minutes when they don't deserve it."

He kept pacing around the room, in front of the coffee table.

"It sucks when it falls near a Thursday but well, I started the whole Hellfire thing, I can't just ditch them every time a full moon is near a Thursday."

Steve remembered Eddies snappy behavior at the last Hellfire meet up. How he had been even jumpier then usual and got so defensive when Steve questioned him afterwards. And how he declined his invite for a beer. Back then Steve had assumed he had just driven Eddie away with his questioning. Now he realised it had been more than that.

"So…you just push through Hellfire? Like you did yesterday?"

Eddie hums in agreement, his hand on the back of his neck like he wasn't sure what to do with himself.

"Are you in pain right now?"

"No- I mean, a bit. It's nothing, really. I took a painkiller earlier. It should kick in soon."

There was a awkward silence lingering between the two.
Steve didn't know what to say anymore and Eddie didn't know what to do, now that Steve knew about him.

"We are still friends right?" he ended up asking with doubt written all over his face.

Steve felt a sting in his chest at that question, getting up to get closer to Eddie.

"Of course we are! Jesus Eddie, I fucking love you man. I was worried you are being abused or something with all those random injuries!" he sighed and awkwardly opened his arms to offer the taller guy a hug.

Eddie looked at him, not moving for the first few seconds. Then he slowly stepped closer. He was still worried Steve was scared of him now and was just doing this out of pity.
But when he accepted the hug and leaned his chin on Harrington's shoulder- it felt good. Not forced.

Steve was warm. He smelled a bit like dirt, probably from last night. Steve pulled his arms around the smaller metalhead. Eddie was taller than Steve but Steve was the one that worked out.
Eddie loved that Steve worked out. Secretly. He looked good.
Steve liked that he appeared stronger these days and that he could probably lift Eddie up if he wanted to.
In his human form that is…

When Steve finally got the heart to pull away, he still ended up with his arms still on Eddies shoulders, his face just inches away from Eddies.
Eddie didn't intent to pull away yet so he hadn't made an effort to move away in any shape or form, which caused a moment in which he was almost pulled back towards Steve, before he quickly let go of Steve's shirt. He didn't even realise he had been holding it.
Eddie pulled back a bit, looking at the floor again.

"Ehm, thanks for not freaking out on me. This is my first time telling anyone. Wayne doesn't know."

Steve nodded, remembering that his uncle worked night shifts. He caught himself playing with Eddies hair, quickly turning it into a effort to brush his hair over his shoulder. Hoping Munson didn't notice Steve's embarrassing display of affection.
Eddies hair was awfully soft, to the former jocks surprise.

Eddie had noticed tho, looking back at Steve, who felt heat rise to his face.

Great.

It took the smaller man a second to realise that Eddie was trying not to smile.
In a moment of sheer insanity on Steve's part, he cleared his throat.

"Would it be weird to…" Steve caught himself whispering, once again sounding like some school girl to his own ears while looking at Eddies lips.

"Yeah, totally." Eddie chuckled, trying to play this moment off as a joke.

But he failed in the end, noticing that Steve actually meant that and wasn't fooling around. He got quiet and searched Steve's face for any sign of him cracking up, waiting for him to tell him he was acting.

But Steve didn't. He just held his breath and hoped he would get out of this trailer with his dignity still intact.

"Well…" the metal heads voice was quiet again.
"I kinda wanted to do this for years now anyway." he finished his thought before leaning in.

Steve didn't even have any time to process what Eddie just said before he felt the slightly ruff lips on his and he instinctively moved one hand to the back of Eddies head.

It wasn't like kissing a girl. This wasn't Nancy.
But turns out, Steve preferred Eddie. Kissing Nancy had always felt a bit off.
This felt right. Really fucking right.

Eddie was a lot more gentle than he expected. He was always so jumpy and energetic. But he kissed gently. Softly. Making sure Steve wanted this, that he wasn't pulling away.
Steve could feel his muscles relax under his hands.

Steve didn't plan on moving away anytime soon.

Steve didn't even have time to close the trailer door behind him, before Max was already yelling from the kitchen.

"How is Eddie?"

Harrington looked over, doing his utmost best to look like a normal person and not like he just figured out something very serious about himself.

"Good. He didn't notice anything last night. The guy sleeps like a rock anyway."

He made his way back to the couch to get his discarded jacket. And to get out of Max's field of view.

"I'll go check the woods one more time. I have a suspicion what your little hairy Demogorgon might have been."

"What do you mean?"

The girl had teleported back besides him which almost made Steve jump again. Almost.
He was too deep into his own thoughts to even jump from shock at this point.

"You know whats hairy and life's in Indiana's woods and is really hard to make out in the dark?" he turned around to her, putting on his serious babysitter face.

Max shrugged with a confused huff.

"Black Bears." he finished his sentence, looking more confident than he was while grabbing his bat with the nails and leaving the trailer with a monologue about how dangerous black bears were.

Steve didn't drop the act, muttering to himself until he was way out of view of the trailer park.

He finally turned around to make sure he was in the middle of no where before he brushed a hand through his hair and sat down on a nearby rock.

Either he was still hallucinating or he had actually just kissed his best friend.
And he had liked it.

If Robin found out about this, he would never hear the end of it.