#S/teve H and R/obin

[softsnzstuff]

Sickee who wants to just keep their head down and work through the sickness.

Their best friend who knows them way too well *immediately* being like, “whoa - take a day, you look/sound awful”

[nametakensff]

Could you possibly write 🧡 for platonic S/tobin? I love the way you always allude to them in your S/teddie fics, and I’d love to see how you write them!

Hey anon, thank you for the prompt (Warm Night In)! Had a lot of fun writing this, and it ended up just over 8k!

((Set this in my S/teddie Mutual fetish AU - this would take part a few months after the S4 v/ecna bs (obviously everyone lives and H/awkins remains unscathed for the most part because I crave happiness) - pre-relationship, mutual pining on either side))

S/teve comes down with an absolute monster of a cold and R/obin is there to look after him

~~~~~~

Content:

Platonic S/tobin, S/teddie pre-relationship (M/M), cold sneezes, loud sneezes, sneezing in tissues, S/teve blowing his nose in E/ddie's bandana, fever, coughing, caretaking, mess, spray, descriptions of explicit fetish fantasies, mentions of potential contagion, R/obin is a very good sport about S/teve being terrible at covering his sneezes

CW: internalised homophobia, S/teve is insecure about his fetish

NSFW - fic is about a platonic M/F relationship but includes separate NSFW M/M content - minors DNI!

“HH-H!! HAHHRISHHHHOOOHhh! Fuck…”

Steve snuffled miserably into the soggy tissue he’d managed to catch his most recent explosion in. It looked about as sturdy as he currently felt – which was to say, not at all. He reached out from under the protective cover of his jacket, functioning as a makeshift blanket as he lay on the breakroom couch, and plucked another 3 tissues from the quickly diminishing box. Taking in a deep breath, he blew his nose with as much force as he could muster, desperate to get some relief from the built-up congestion. All attempts of keeping noise to a minimum had dwindled hours ago, along with whatever remained of his energy. He tried not to think about the customers browsing the shelves of the establishment for movies, how they could probably hear every crackling shift of mucus that he forced out into the tissues, the embarrassingly loud honk that rounded off his efforts.

It felt as though he’d spent more time in the first half of his shift stifling the never-ending barrage of sneezes between his pinching fingers than actually working. It hadn’t done anything for his headache, squeezing his temples as if in a vice – and it certainly hadn’t helped with the blockage in his sinuses. Once Robin had shown up that afternoon, she had all but forced him to go and lie down in the back, pulling him by the arm even as he smothered another miserable sneeze against his palm.

“Steve, please. If not for your own sake, do this for me. I don’t want to be responsible for letting you die on shift from some kind of freak head explosion – especially not in front of the customers. Who do you think’ll be the one scrubbing your brains off the walls?”

“Jesus, Robin. It’s not th’haahht….that ba’hhHDD!!”

Out of pure habit at that point, Steve had pinched his quivering nostrils closed, that final touch of his fingers to the sensitive skin pushing him over the edge.

“HAHH’GXKKT’SCHHH!!”

It was quieter than his unsuppressed sneezes, nobody could fight him on that. But it’d still been loud, the desperate attempt at wrangling it into submission making it angrier, more violent to his ears – and evidently, Robin’s. She’d hissed in sympathy as he let go of his nose, the wrinkle of concern between her furrowed brows growing deeper as his sinuses audibly squeaked with each post-sneeze snuffle.

“You shouldn’t do that.” She’d worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “You’ll seriously hurt yourself – blow out an eardrum or something. Steve – don’t.” She finished firmly, glaring as he had started to lift his hand up to his nose in preparation for an encore.

“But ih-hih-! It’s so loud – I –“

“It’s okay, dingus. There’s, like, one guy here right now. In the adult movie section. At 4:30pm.”

It was certainly a reassuring statement, but it wasn’t really as if Steve would have been able to hold back in the first place. The couch shook with the force of the sneeze that rocked through him – the first he had actually let out unhindered since the tickle had taken hold hours earlier. He’d practically roared with the effort of it, drenching his palms as he caught it between his steepled hands.

“HAHHH’RESSSSSHHHHIEWWWW!!!”

He’d noticed Robin jump, heard her mutter a soft “oh my god” as her soul no doubt left her body. Glancing up apologetically, he had blinked through bleary eyes at her, holding his soiled hands in place. He hoped she didn’t notice the slight shiver that ran down his spine, the goosebumps breaking out over his arms. After holding back for so long, it had felt so good to purge the tickle completely, like spreading a soothing balm over the persistent, niggling itch.

“Sorry.” He had just about resisted the urge to sniffle again, knowing it would sound gnarly.

“That’s ok – hey, look at that, I don’t need that midday coffee anymore. Totally awake!” She smiled like a dork and he couldn’t help grinning behind the protective cover of his hands.

“I’m gonna walk to the store on my lunch break and get you some things. Are you allergic to any medicines? Does your head hurt? Would you say you’re coming down with a cough – and is it a chesty kind of deal, or is it more tickly? Do you –“

“Robi’d.” Steve had cut her off, both of them visibly wincing as he struggled to pronounce her name. As if he didn’t feel disgusting enough, he could feel his nostrils twitching and flaring, another colossal sneeze working its way up and out of his sinuses just moments later.

“HAHHH’GITTSSCHHH’IEWWW!! Oh M’by god….”

Messy. So, so messy. As he’d snuffled and searched frantically for something to save him, Robin had slid a small pack of tissues across the coffee table in front of the couch.

“Guess I’ll take my break now. Try and hold out with these. Do not move. I’ll be back in 20 minutes, tops!”

With that, she’d spun on her heels and barrelled out of the door, leaving him to sit and stare at the tissues, holding his sticky hands tightly to his face as he tried to formulate the best plan of action. Before he’d even started to reach for them, Robin had stuck her head round the breakroom door one last time.

“Oh, and before I forget – Bless you!”

~~~~~~

‘Do not move’, she’d said. Steve had initially intended to clean himself up and ignore her entirely, getting back to organising the latest releases on the shelves and continuing as before. That had been his intention, but after the laborious and disgusting task of cleaning up his hands and face with tissues so flimsy they stuck to his skin almost instantly, and the blood rush that hit him so hard the moment he stood up he had swooned with it – not moving sounded like a great idea, actually. And so he hadn’t, for hours now.

He tossed the latest bundle of soaked tissues in the general direction of the trash can, using another few to dab gingerly under his damp, sensitive nostrils. Robin had been sure to pick him up some Kleenex Mansize on her trip to the pharmacy, making Steve blush when she’d mentioned they were the next best thing to getting him a tablecloth to use. He knew she’d just been joking but for various…reasons, his regrettably huge – and often, extremely messy – sneezes were a topic he didn’t like to draw attention to. They did a good enough job of doing that themself, turning more than a few heads each time they ripped through his sinuses. She’d noticed his change in demeanour immediately, because of course she had, and her voice had softened as she made some comment or other about ‘you know what they say about big sneezes’. He’d had to laugh at that – she had an amazing ability to disarm and placate him when all he wanted was to defend.

It was hard not to be defensive when it came to the topic of sneezing. He wondered if he’d ever be brave enough to explain why to Robin. He’d disclosed more to her than he had to any other person – even Nancy. And for what it was worth, that seemed to be the case for Robin, too. She may not have ended up his girlfriend, but this was better. She was his best friend, his person. He considered it a blessing that she actually couldn’t like him in that way – he was a fuck up, romantically. It only seemed to push people away when he got emotionally involved – another thing he had confessed to her one night when they were cuddled up in her bedroom, the late hour and the collective exhaustion between the pair of them elevating their meaningless rambling into much deeper, scarier territory.

She’d told him at the time that he wasn’t a fuck up, that he was fucking great and that he just had to believe her. That he had to slow down and stop treating dating like it was some kind of doomsday race, and that he would definitely find the girl for him. He’d been surprised that, although the comment was reassuring in its own way, something felt a little…off. Probably because an image of Eddie flashed across his mind in that moment, and the gravity of it was too much for him to handle. He’d tried his best to ignore it, but it had only flourished in the following weeks to the point he was thinking about the metalhead near constantly. It terrified him, truth be told. And that fear made him feel like a hypocrite above all else. How could he accept Robin with such ease but the thought of himself liking men almost had him breaking out in a cold sweat?

It really didn’t help that Eddie had the most extensive and pervasive allergies of anyone Steve had ever known. He’d figured the fits he’d been privy to at the boat house had been circumstantial. It had been dusty enough that he’d sneezed a couple of times himself, and he’d been there sparingly – for Eddie, it had been days of exposure. Of course he’d had a rough time. But, as time went on, Steve realised it wasn’t just dust. It was dust, and mould, and pollen, and certain perfumes, and feathers – the list that Steve wouldn’t admit to mentally keeping continued to grow as the days became weeks became the last couple of months. He would be engrossed in conversation, completely captivated by whatever Eddie was saying and happily so, when the older man’s expression would crumple and Steve had to pretend to be a normal person as he witnessed the most erotic allergic reactions of his life unfold mere feet away from him.

He felt he did a pretty good job, thank you very much. He even remembered to bless Eddie about half of the time, and enjoyed the bashful smile he got in response when he did. He was pretty sure he didn’t turn totally bright red each time – something he considered a huge achievement. Crossing his legs was a surefire way of concealing any visible…excitement. He was nailing it. Dealing with Eddie’s sneezes was one thing - as much as he had tried to hold back around the older man, he’d slipped up a few times and sneezed his embarrassing, splashy, intrusive sneezes in front of him. Luckily, the metalhead didn’t seem entirely repulsed – if anything, Steve noticed a twinkle in his expressive eyes, noticed a certain shift in his demeanour and body language as he focused in on him. It made him far too happy to be blessed by Eddie, but it simultaneously made him want the ground to open up and swallow him whole. This growing attraction to the older man, his – interest, going into overdrive; all of it was just too much to deal with – so he…didn’t. Basically.

And he didn’t need to be thinking about all this right now – not when his head was pounding and his eyes and nose were leaking like a faucet. And this fucking tickle…

Sitting up now, he reached frantically for another handful of tissues, holding them at the ready in an upraised hand as he panted and gasped, willing the maddening tickle to culminate and grant him some temporary reprieve. He could feel his nostrils flaring, stretching to capacity as the itch burrowed and crawled through his sinuses, leaving them damp and threatening to overflow.

“Come on…” he grumbled aloud after a particularly desperate gasp scissored out of him, causing tears of irritation to bead at the corners of his eyes but leaving him notably bereft of sneezes.

He reached up with a finger of the hand not cradling the tissues expectantly in front of him and nudged the tip of his nose from side to side. More often than not, a little manual stimulation could help a particularly stubborn sneeze along, at least if he was ticklish enough. It seemed to do its job, a few little wiggles igniting the tickle and leaving him bristling with the force of the subsequent inhale.

“HHDTT-!! HUUURRRSHHHHH’OOHhh!! HARRRUSHHHH’IEWWW!! TISSSCHHH’IEWW!! HAGT’TSCHHHHhhhh!!”

The tissues were predictably destroyed in the onslaught, damp and torn against his palm. He sat in place for a moment, leaning heavily to one side on the arm he’d frantically propped up against the couch to steady himself. That fit had been intense, each sneeze seeming to begin at his toes and rip through his entire body, muscles seizing and skin tingling. He felt pretty pathetic, shaking like a leaf and panting in the aftermath, extremely grateful that although everyone in downtown Hawkins could probably hear the excruciatingly fast progression of his illness, they couldn’t see him. He swiped at his dripping nostrils with what was left of the tissues before tossing them, plucking even more to tend to his leaking eyes, his lips dampened with heavy spray. One wary glance at the box revealed that it was almost empty. With a defeated sigh, he allowed himself to fall back against the couch, one arm slung over his closed eyes.

He hated being sick. The lack of control, the way it distracted him from focusing his energy on others, demanding he focus on himself, his weakened body that was no longer cooperating with him. The humiliation of it – the way he was such a gross, drippy mess. He felt like a germ factory, and he wasn’t wrong.

The worst part of it all, even above feeling shitty and gross and useless – was that he was inevitably going to get Robin sick. Her parents were out of town for the week, some old hippy reunion somewhere or other. Robin was fine with the peace and having the house to herself, he knew that – but they’d both decided that since he drove her to and from school and work most days and they hung out most days too, it would make sense that she just stay with him for the week.

It was fun, like they were real roommates – or maybe siblings? Both of them were Only Children so it wasn’t like they had any means of comparison, but the closeness and easiness of their bond was undeniable to themselves and everyone around them. Every day, they’d wake up, eat breakfast together, Steve would drop Robin off and they'd go about their respective school or work, reconvene for their shared evening shifts, eat dinner together, sometimes hang out with each other and sometimes not. They’d planned to veg out tonight, watch some dumb movies and relax. It was great hanging out with everyone, especially now that Eddie had been welcomed into the fold, but he needed his Robin time. Working together most of the week was great, for sure, but it was still work.

That had been the plan, but now he was wondering if he should muster up the rest of his strength at the end of the day to drop her off at her house and drive himself back home alone, sequestering himself away until this plague-like sickness fucked off for good. He knew already she wouldn’t allow it, but he was going to proffer the suggestion anyway.

He glanced at the crooked clock on the wall – just about two hours ‘til closing. Keith and the other coworker Steve had yet to meet would be working tomorrow, and he had the weekend off, for which he could not have imagined he would ever feel so grateful. Maybe he could sneeze and cough and wheeze this cold out of his system in a day if he willed it so. He felt awful that Robin had been working the front alone, especially as business ramped up to a maximum on Friday evenings. Just two more hours.

~~~~~

“…eve. Hey, Steve. Wakey wakey. Steeeve.”

It took Steve a moment to realise who he was, let alone where he was and the fact that Robin was gently shaking him awake. He groaned as his head started to throb almost immediately, as if the headache had been waiting to strike the second he woke up. His eyes opened slowly, irritated and dry, and scanned their way upwards to take in the nervous expression on Robin’s face. She was smiling, sure, but she was terrible at masking her concern. It worried him more than a little that she was even trying to hide the anxiety she would usually wear so plainly.

“…Robin?” He managed to rasp out. They both winced at the ragged sound of it.

“Jeez, Dingus. You sound like you swallowed a pile of broken glass.” Robin was still smiling, but it didn’t reach her eyes. If anything, they looked almost glossy enough that tears were imminent. Steve absolutely couldn’t stand that – the immediate need to reassure her galvanised him, the final push he needed to drag himself upwards and into a seated position. His head throbbed, and he gritted his teeth against the pain. He sensed Robin hovering, even with his eyes closed could visualise her hesitant hand outstretched toward him.

“I’m okay,” He cleared his throat somewhat productively, and tried again. “I’m okay, Robin.” Slightly better.

She flashed him another sad smile.

“You’re really not, Steve. But you don’t need to be.”

He didn’t really have a response to that – he just nodded, kneading at his temple a couple of times, willing the pain to recede. Sitting up had only made the throbbing worse, and on top of that the shifting of mucus in his sinuses had brought that ever-lingering tickle back to the surface. And god, did it tickle…

“I’ve gotten everything sorted out front. It’s a teeny tiny bit early, but I figure we’re alright to head out now. Do you – oh.”

Robin paused, taking in Steve’s tortured expression and the way his chest jumped with increasingly violent inhales. He noticed her noticing, started to blush as he lifted a hand frantically to cover his twisting facial features. He scrambled madly for the tissue box, but he wasn’t going to make it, he was going to sneeze, and-

He felt Robin press a handful of fresh tissues into his reaching palm, but he was too slow. The first sneeze burst out into his waiting palm, drenching it with spray and an unfortunate build-up of mess.

“RRRRISCCHHHHHH’IEWWWW!!”

He had just enough time to raise the tissues in his other hand to his face for the volley that followed, awkwardly cradling his soiled hand in a partial fist to shield the damage from Robin.

“HAHHHDTT’SHIEWWWWW!! HH’RRRUSHHHH’OOHH!! RRRRRSHHHH’UHHH!!”

He shuddered, the force of the powerful sneezing sapping him of almost all of his remaining energy. He gingerly wiped at his nose and tossed the sodden wad towards the trash can, composed enough now to reach for more clean tissues on his own and tend to his hands.

He glanced up and noticed Robin standing awkwardly with her arms wrapped around her lanky frame, half-watching and half-floundering, not sure where to look and chewing her bottom lip hard enough that it looked painful.

“Ugh, sorry you had to see that, Robs. I really am okay, I promise. Definitely sick. But okay.” He tossed the second wad of tissues in the trash and stood up tentatively, wobbling a little but managing not to fall on his ass. Robin had reached out then, steadied him with a soft hand to the back of his tricep. She gasped, eyes darting up to his face.

“Steve, you’re boiling hot! Like, volcanic explosion, magma-level hot!”

He sighed, knowing there was no way his verbal reassurances would get through to her at this point. He could understand how she was feeling – everyone called him a mother hen, and he knew it was true. Worrying about other people was an immutable and extremely prominent part of his personality. He’d be fussing over her just as much if he were in her shoes – would offer to carry her to the car if she was this shaky on her feet, even knowing he’d probably get an ‘Ew, gross’ and stalwart refusal to let him do so.

“’S just a mild fever. I run hot anyway, you know that.” He rounded off this blasé statement with an obnoxiously noisy sniffle.

She wrinkled her nose at him.

“Can you drive like this?” She asked, voice heavy with concern as she helped him gather up his things.

“Absolutely. Driven under much worse conditions, remember?” He was referring to driving uphill in the dark, borderline concussed, and the both of them knew it.

“That was different – desperate times, fighting an evil sludge monster. The only evil sludge monster here right now is you, Harrington.”

He snuffled again, the sound of it thick and wet, causing her to wince. Her poorly veiled disgust wasn’t making him feel much better, but he also couldn’t hold it against her. He sounded gross.

“It was different – like I said, much worse conditions. I have a cold, Robin. I’m not on my death bed or anything.” He shouldered his backpack, clearing his throat and managing to hold back what he was sure would be an obnoxiously prolonged coughing fit. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

She shrugged and followed him as he strode – or attempted to stride – out into the store. She was hovering, making sure he wouldn’t fall – it was sweet but still irritating. By the time they reached the car, she was close enough that when he spun round suddenly she nearly fell backwards in shock. He reached out to grab and steady her by the forearm, feeling guilty immediately that he’d touched her with a germy hand.

“Listen, Robin – I really don’t want you to catch this. Will you let me drive you home? I can bring you your stuff back in a couple of days.”

“Steve,” she started, her tone soft but firm. “I’m not leaving you alone right now. I don’t care if I get sick – you need someone to help you.”

“I don’t – “

“Don’t bother trying to talk me out of it. You’d just hide yourself away and get sicker and sicker, feeling sorry for yourself and ignoring anybody who reached out to you. You sound awful, Steve, I’m serious. I’m staying with you. Tough shit.”

He blinked at her. He’d expected her to refuse, but not the additional psychoanalytical beat down.

“Um. Wow, okay, sure. It’s your funeral if you catch it.” He shrugged, opening the car door.

“Thought you weren’t on your death bed.” She quipped back, settling into the passenger seat.

“Yeah, well.”

~~~~~~

After all the easy-going confidence with which he’d reassured Robin he was totally fine to drive, within minutes he realised that whilst he technically could, it would not be fun. If anything, he’d felt better with the concussion. He had a permanent bundle of tissues in his right hand, even as he clutched the wheel, ready to stifle sneeze after sneeze as Robin fretted beside him and held the wheel steady enough that they wouldn’t go veering dangerously off-road. They were a week into May,  the weather not even remotely cold outside, but the fever had left him chilled and shivering enough that he’d turned the heating up anyway, apologising to Robin. It wasn’t helping, however, and all the shift in temperature seemed to do was tickle his sensitive nose even more.

It was as Steve pulled to a stop at a red light that the tickle blossomed so suddenly and so intensely that he couldn’t even think to let go of the wheel and ready himself to sneeze into his tissues. His chest jumped with a wrenching gasp, nostrils flaring wide and jaw snapping open in an instant. It tickled so, so much; even as it tipped his head back and squeezed his eyes closed, he couldn’t deny that the sensation was immensely pleasurable, moreso knowing that the resultant sneeze was going to be an absolute monster. He craved that release after all those hastily suppressed sneezes, pinching his reddened nostrils shut against the force of them.

Focusing all of his energy on the sneeze and losing himself entirely, he hitched once, twice, and then –

“HAHHHDDT’TIISSSCCHHHHH’IEWWWW!!!”

It tore through him, sending him tumbling forward in his chair. As he’d expected, it felt fucking incredible – he leaned into it, savoured that tingling relief that spread through his limbs as his lungs pushed out every last bit of air through his pursed lips.

“Oh, god, Steve!”

Robin’s yelp pulled him back to the present - the embarrassing, unfortunate present in which he had just sprayed the sneeze to end all sneezes all over the steering wheel, dashboard, his own arms and hands, and practically everything else within a 4 foot radius as the massive cloud of aerosol swirled in the air around him. He felt his entire face burning – he meant to apologise, he really did, but the tickle returned with a vengeance and it was just too strong.

“TTTISSSSHHHHH’IIEWWWW!! HH’RISSSSSHH’OOohh!!”

He sneezed twice more in much the same fashion, helpless to control it. He rocked with them, eyes streaming in irritation, feeling his muscles strain with the effort and the way it almost lifted him from his seat.

“Steve!! Oh my god, that went everywhere!” He heard Robin complain, saw how out of the corner of his eye she rolled down her window frantically.

“Fuck, I’m –“ He started before a loud honking behind them cut him off. The light had turned green and the car behind them was impatiently telling them to haul ass – how embarrassing. He stepped on the gas, blushing to his ears and hoping that the other driver hadn’t been witness to that repulsive display.

He sniffled, turning a corner and, thankfully, onto a road with no other drivers. He took the chance to peer down sheepishly at the damage he’d caused. His steering wheel was almost dripping; the dashboard glittering with visible droplets of his spray; he could even see a shimmer of dampness on the back of his hands and forearms.

“Robin,” he started, scrambling with one hand for some clean tissues and scrubbing at every surface he could reach. “I am so, so sorry. That was disgusting. Did I – did I get you?”

He turned to her, plucking a handful of tissues from the box and thrusting them at her. He realised with some dismay as she accepted them that said box was now completely empty.

“I don’t know what happened – I just couldn’t control them. God.” He scrunched his eyes shut before remembering he was in the middle of driving.

“Ugh, Dingus. It’s okay. I mean, it’s pretty gross but I’ve had, like, gooey monster tentacles all over me. I can handle your mucus.”

“Fuck.” It didn’t help – he was still mortified. Robin was such a good sport – he imagined most people would have punched him square in the jaw for that performance.

“Steve, hey. You’re really sick, it’s okay.” She patted him on the arm conciliatorily.

“God. I guess I am. That shit felt like it bounced my brain off my skull.” Normally he wouldn’t talk about his sneezes, especially not how they made him feel, but he was truly shaken.

“Think you can hold it together ‘til we get to your place?” She asked, resting her hand on his arm now. The gentle touch felt reassuring.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll b-be-! Hh’HUH!”

“Gonna sneeze again?”

Regrettably so, he really was. Panicking, he started to gasp into another buildup.

“I dohh-h’ont-!! I don’t h’hahh!! Hahhve any-! Any Tih’hh-! TTTTISHHHHIEWWWW!!” He exploded, this time jerking to his left to avoid spraying Robin and instead baptising the window beside him. The car lurched with him – Robin squeaked and grabbed for the steering wheel, pulling it towards herself to steady them back onto the road.

“Sorry, sorry, fuck!” Steve snuffled heavily. Mess was now dripping in twin streams over his upper lip, making him feel more disgusting than ever.

“No tissues?” Robin said, letting go of the wheel and wriggling in her seat, looking all around her for a spare. She came up empty, as Steve knew she would.

“Hold on,” She started, leaning back and angling herself between their seats as she reached into the back. “Might be something back here.”

Steve started to sniffle again but held himself back, anxious it would only trigger another spraying sneeze – one that would no doubt splatter the front window with its productiveness.

“I really don’t think – “

“Bingo!” Robin announced, audibly proud of herself. When Steve turned his head to look at the item she proffered towards him, his blush returned in earnest. Eddie’s bandana-slash-handkerchief. He must have left it there the last time he’d ridden with Steve. Come to think of it, when he’d driven Dustin, Lucas and Eddie to a campaign at the Wheeler house, the metalhead had been pretty…sensitive. He’d reassured them that it was just allergies, nothing to worry about. And it really hadn’t been all that much, but even a sniffle from Eddie was enough to send all the blood in Steve’s body rushing straight to fill his cock.

Not only had Eddie sneezed, a series of sweet little stifles that had Steve’s heart beating at 100mph, he’d sniffled and rubbed at his pinkened nostrils with the very bandana Robin was now pressing into the palm of a hand she had pried free from his grip on the steering wheel. He must have forgotten about it and left it there, sitting on the floor of Steve’s car, completely unaware of how intensely erotic said item was to the former jock. Had he known it was there, would he have had the courage to return it to Eddie himself? It seemed to burn in his palm. Eddie’s adorable, desperate sneezes had been sprayed and muffled into this fabric. It was too much – on top of the fever, this deviant spiral of thought left him feeling as though his brain was seconds away from leaking out his ears.

“…Steve?” Robin asked. He jumped, eyes flickering upwards from their fixed stare on the bandana to her confused expression, then swivelling straight back to the road before he really did make them crash.

“Yeah. Uhh. It’s Eddie’s.” He said, as if that meant anything at all to Robin. He heard her laugh.

“Uh, yeah, Steve, I figured. Unless black and skulls are your thing now.” She was teasing him, and not just about his fashion choices. He wasn’t sure how, but he sensed that she was, and it went deeper than his stupidly obvious statement.

“So…are you gonna use it?” She asked a moment later, and Steve remembered the entire reason she’d given it to him in the first place. He’d been focusing so hard on keeping the blood in his head and not in his cock that he was almost functioning on autopilot. He was suddenly very aware that the mess running down his face was moments away from ending up in his mouth.

“Yeah, fuck, sorry.” Desperate to avoid her scrutinous gaze, he hurriedly brought the fabric to his face and blew into it, hard. Arousal blossomed anew, thinking about Eddie doing the same – about every sneeze the fabric had been graced with now touching his face. It was driving him crazy. He wished he was alone in this moment – if he was, he’d pull off the road, haphazardly park, then jerk himself hard and fast until he was coming into the bandana, that sexy little piece of fabric that almost functioned like an indirect kiss.

Miraculously, he was only a little hard – enough that Robin wouldn’t notice, especially since dicks were a big enough source of amused repulsion for her that she was unlikely to be looking. He imagined the illness was helping to keep him soft; he really did feel shitty, increasingly shittier with every passing minute. He rounded off with one final, honking blow before sighing deeply – a weary, exhausted exhalation of defeat. Robin rubbed his arm reassuringly.

“Almost home.”

~~~~~~

In the twenty minutes that had passed since they’d walked through Steve’s front door, he had: sneezed at least 10 times; almost brained himself on the corner of his dresser as he attempted to wriggle out of his (admittedly pretty tight) jeans; coughed hard and long enough to leave his throat burning; and almost fallen down the stairs dressed in the comfortable loungewear Robin had insisted he put on.

In short, he wasn’t doing so hot. He hoped that this fast progression from awful to even worse would end up in his favour, aligning with the hope from earlier that he could burn through this sickness over the next couple of days, as if sprinting to the finish line. He really didn’t think he could handle feeling this terrible for much longer than that. It was as if every cell in his body was committing mutiny against him.

He lowered himself onto the living room couch on shaky legs and wrapped his arms around himself. He had no idea how he could be so hot but feel so cold. Like, okay, he understood the concept of a fever, but it still didn’t make the paradoxical sensation any easier to bear. He shivered miserably.

Robin bustled into the room a moment later, carrying a soft sherpa blanket in a scrambled heap, as if she’d yanked it from its neatly folded position in the main bedroom linen closet in a rush. Steve was certain this was absolutely the case.

“Heyy, buddy,” she started, still a little on edge but evidently happy to be done with that tumultuous car journey. “You should get under this blanket. You know what – lemme just…”

Initially thrusting the bundle of fabric at Steve, she seemed to change her mind and took it upon herself to wrap the blanket round him – even tucking it closer when it threatened to slip down his shoulders. Steve felt himself blushing a little and hoped that it wouldn’t be all too obvious on top of his fever-flushed complexion. He and Robin had cuddled together on occasion, sure – they’d held hands, too, discovering the contact felt reassuring and natural – but this level of intimacy and caretaking was something he’d never experienced – from anyone, really, but especially not from her. Her usual style was more sarcastic one-liners, name-calling and gentle shoves. To be fussed over by anyone was hard for him to accept, so it felt more than a little daunting at the hands of his best friend - purely because it felt so alien. One tentative glance at Robin confirmed that she must have been feeling pretty similarly awkward herself.

“Okay. I ordered us pizza – I know soup would probably be better, yeah, I realised that after I hung up the phone, shit – but anyway, that’s dinner. I’m gonna get you some water and Tylenol – maybe tea? Do you want tea?”

He couldn’t help but smile at how endearingly unnatural she was finding this. He knew if he was in her shoes she’d be wrapped up, propped up, fed and medicated 10 minutes ago. He’d still be brimming with anxious energy but that would be the natural result of the helplessness he’d feel that he couldn’t take away her discomfort on the spot. That she was trying, really, honestly trying, made his heart swell.

“Um, no tea, Robs. I don’t even know if we have any. Could you get me a cold compress for my head, maybe?”

Her eyes widened for a moment before they rolled back into her head dramatically, and she slapped a hand to her forehead.

“Uh, yes, of course I can do that – can’t believe I haven’t already. Sorry, Steve, just a minute – “ She was already halfway out the door by the time she finished.

“Robin, you don’t need to run – I’m okay!” He called out after her, regretting it almost immediately as his throat seized and he was thrown forward with a violent fit of coughing. He attempted to muffle it into one blanketed hand, shielding his mouth with the fabric. As if he didn’t feel disgusting enough already, he felt a tickle blossoming deep in his sinuses, so quickly that almost the moment he finished hacking he was gasping deeply in preparation for the oncoming explosion.

“Hh’Ohh goddDD’TTSSSHHHIEWWW!! HXXT’SHIEWWWW!! HAH’RRRRSHHHH’UU!! Oh…”

He shuddered and gingerly pulled his nose back from the now sodden fabric, clinging to the palm of his hand under the weight of the mess. Cursing, he scrambled to pull his other hand free of the blanket, snatching a handful of tissues from the box on the coffee table that he now regrettably wished he’d had half the mind to reach for sooner. Eddie’s bandana might have been a relief at first, but it was now so thoroughly sneezed and snorted into that it lay useless and dejected in Steve’s laundry hamper.

“Bless you, Dingus!” Robin called out from somewhere in the house.

He didn’t bother calling back, not wanting to trigger a repeat performance of that entirely disgusting display. At least the sneezes had felt halfway relieving – though very productive, the results of which he frantically scrubbed from the soggy patch of blanket. After he’d done all he could, he sighed and attempted to snuggle back into the couch cushions. ‘Attempt’ being the operative word, here – the Harrington household couches were much like everything else in the joint: carefully selected to signal a certain degree of cold and detached classiness, more like a showroom than a home. The Buckley household was much more inviting. Hell, even the couch at the Munson trailer was effortlessly comfortable, even with the creaky springs that prodded you as you moved.

He wondered what Eddie was doing now – planning for a campaign? Playing guitar? Some party, somewhere? He hadn’t spoken to him for a couple of days, come to think of it. He realised suddenly that he really wanted to talk to him. More than that, he just wanted to listen. Even with this persistent headache, he wanted to sit back just like this, eyes closed in surrender, and let Eddie ramble away about whatever he pleased. It didn’t really matter what was said as long as it was him saying it. These thoughts, though initially soothing and pleasant, very quickly became a source of gnawing emotional pain that Steve refused to address a moment longer. He squeezed his eyes shut and groaned, feeling embarrassed and pathetic.

“Hey, I got that compress – you wanna – oh, you’re already leaning back, good.” Robin was at his side again, gently sweeping back his sweaty bangs and resting the cool, damp towel on his forehead. He felt the relief of it instantly, humming softly and focusing in on the sensation until the troubling thoughts of Eddie started to fade.

“That feel good?” Robin asked softly, sitting down next to him.

“Mm. Yeah. Th���nks.” He muttered, reaching a hand out of his cocoon and squeezing her wrist in appreciation.

“You wanna stay like that for a while ‘til the pizza gets here?”

“Mm’hmm.”

“Cool. Can I put something on? Anything you want. I’ll keep the volume low.”

“I don’t mind, if you don’t mind me not really paying attention.”

Robin laughed.

“As if you pay attention to anything I suggest, anyway.”

“Hey!” He smiled despite himself. “You can’t say I don’t try.”

“Oh, I can, and I will.”

She laughed again as he weakly punched her arm.

“Just stay with me, please?” He asked, a little shocked by the naked sincerity of the request as it tumbled out of him.

“Of course, Steve. Where else would I go?”

~~~~~~

After they’d finished their pizza – Steve far less than he would have liked, the normally delicious cheese seeming extra congealed and greasy – Robin had put on some artsy film that Steve tried his best to follow but was sure he’d have had a hard time with on a regular day, let alone one where he was starting to feel like jello in the form of a human. They gradually cuddled closer together, interrupted only by Steve twisting himself away from Robin each and every time he felt a sneeze coming on. It had reached the point where she’d told him to cut it out and sit still.

“You’re gonna give yourself whiplash on top of your cold. Seriously, stop.”

“But I’ll – end up sneezing on you.”

She’d sighed in defeat.

“Then do that. I’m catching this anyway.”

His cheeks burned a little at that.

“Are you sure? Wouldn’t that be like, super gross?”

“As long as you use the blanket or tissues, it won’t be all bad.”

And Steve had used both the blanket and the tissues – for a little while, anyway. He soon had his head in her lap, propped up by a cushion she’d added for his comfort. He wasn’t facing her, at least, so every germ-filled blast was aimed squarely at the table in front of them. If she felt the spray settling on her thighs or knees, she said nothing. To his utter delight, she’d started to rhythmically card a hand through his hair, making him feel for all the world like a spoiled little lapdog. Her endearing clumsiness was nowhere to be found as she expertly dragged her nails across his scalp. He’d have been asleep long ago if it wasn’t for this…t-tickle-!

“HH!! ‘GGTSCHEWWWW!! HARRRUSHHHH!! Hh, HH-!”

The third and final sneeze seemed to elude him, teasing him fiercely enough that his bleary eyes were beading with tears. He was more than grateful that Robin couldn’t watch his face as it crumpled – the way his nostrils twitched, mouth dropping open as his tongue pressed against his bottom teeth in a silent prayer, begging for the tickle to crest.

At last he was granted some reprieve, and three choppy inhales later he was barrelling forward, sneezing violently over Robin’s knees.

“hHAAHHH’GCK’TCHIEWWWWwww!!!”

He felt her other hand reach out and steady him by the shoulder as his body threatened to roll off the couch with the sheer force of it.

“Jesus, Dingus, Bless you!!”

“Ugg. Tha’gk you…” He snuffled miserably. The sneeze had felt amazing but he still felt bad about repeatedly spraying his best friend with an endless torrent of germs.

A bundle of tissues was suddenly hovering before his eyes as Robin held them out over him. He took them gratefully, muttering a small ‘thanks’ before blowing as hard as he possibly could. It was gnarly – loud, thick and rounded off with a honk not unfamiliar to the trumpet warm-ups Robin had subjected him to as she practiced in the guest room last night.

“God, Steve. Talk about man flu.” She patted his shoulder good-naturedly.

“I know. I’m sorry.” He meant it, too.

“No, you’re good. Don’t even worry about it. Just try not to die on me, okay? You’re heavy.”

“Promise.”

The glorious head massage resumed, and finally, blessedly, Steve felt himself slipping into a heavy sleep.

~~~~~

Robin pulled Steve’s bedroom door shut with a gentle click – not that her efforts at silence would matter, given the heart-breakingly congested snores Steve was already emitting from under his duvet. She headed to the bathroom and started her nighttime routine. Looking at herself in the stupidly ornate mirror of Steve’s guestroom ensuite, she noticed she looked just as tired as she felt – maybe moreso. She knew it was too early to be catching Steve’s cold  – had to be, right? The incubation period was just too short. Realistically, she just looked worn down from the strain of an entire evening of worrying about Steve – who had, no doubt in her mind, possibly the worst cold on the face of the planet.

She finished washing her face, almost forgetting to rinse it properly as her mind wandered. Was he really that sick, or was he just one of those men for whom a tiny little bug brought them to their knees in one fell swoop? It was probably the latter – though he really did look, and sound, miserably unwell. The temperature emanating from his body as he’d rested in her lap had been scorching – she’d been sweltering in the combined warmth of the pleasant May evening and Steve’s furnace-like condition. Steve hadn’t noticed, at least; if he had, he’d been kind enough to ignore the massive pit stains that dampened her t-shirt.

She’d let him sleep for a while – 45 minutes, just until her movie ended and her legs had fallen asleep – then she’d woken him up with a gentle hand to the forehead. 10 minutes later, she’d successfully helped a groggy, snotty Steve up to his bedroom. That they’d nearly tripped heading upstairs as Steve buckled forward with several wrenching sneezes was just a minor inconvenience. Once he’d gotten into bed and she’d tucked the blanket up to his chin, she’d returned with the damp washcloth – using ice water this time, draping it over his burning forehead. He was shockingly pliant, incredibly obedient – the total lack of hyper-independence and stubbornness a sure sign of how poorly he was feeling.

After brushing her teeth she padded back downstairs, locating the living room landline. She had a feeling Steve would only feel worse tomorrow, and she’d underestimated how many meds and tissues he would need. She could probably bike out to the Drugstore herself, but something about Steve’s condition made her want to be in the house with him at all times. Call it trauma, separation anxiety, whatever – it was tough seeing him hurt and weak, and in their relatively short friendship it felt like he’d had decades worth of bad luck. A lifetime of it, probably. And besides, what if his dumb ass sneezed himself down the stairs and broke his neck when she was gone? No. It was too risky.

She dialed the familiar number and waited. The nearby clock indicated it was about 1:45 AM. The middle of the night for some, but not for who she had in mind.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Eddie?”

“Hey, Birdie! What’s got you calling little old me at this frightful hour?”

She smiled despite herself. His charm was undeniable - as cheesy as it often was, it was still disarming and soothing. She was glad to have had the fortune of getting to know him under more…relaxed circumstances following their initial meeting, where she’d been convinced she’d found the only other person more prone to floundering, nervous breakdowns than herself.

“Figured you’d be awake for at least another 3 hours. Can you talk for a minute?”

“Sure, shoot. I was just fucking with my guitar anyway.”

“Kinky.”

“Watch it, Buckley.”

She grinned, knowing he’d be doing just the same on the other end of the line.

“I actually need to ask you for a favour, if that’s okay?”

“Oh?” He sounded pointedly curious, like this was the last thing he’d expected her to say. “Are you okay? Need a ride, or something?”

“No, no, I’m fine. I’m at Steve’s – remember I’ve been staying here this week?”

“Oh, yeah. Speaking of Stevie boy, how is he? Haven’t heard from him in, like, three days?”

She smirked. The two of them thought they were so fucking subtle with this shit, and as much as she wanted to let them figure it out on their own, she couldn’t help but poke the proverbial bear every now and then.

“Three days?? My god, that must be like three months in Eddie time.”

“Fuck off!” He was laughing, at least.

“That’s just the thing though, actually. It’s Steve, he’s – “

“What’s wrong? Is he hurt??”

She was so glad he couldn’t see her face right now. He was painfully, painfully transparent and it was the funniest, sweetest thing.

“He’s fine, you geek – not in any immediate danger. He’s just sick. Got the worst case of man flu probably, like, ever.”

Eddie was silent long enough that Robin wondered if their call had been disconnected.

“Eddie? You there?”

“Oh – yeah, sorry, just spacing out a little, ha ha!”

The forced laugh was…strange. But she chose to ignore it – he was probably stoned, at any rate.

“So, since he’s sick, I was wondering if tomorrow you could possibly pick up some meds and stuff for him? I really don’t want to leave him alone like this. He sneezed so hard before he nearly threw both of us down the stairs. If I leave him unattended who knows how else he might sneeze himself to an early demise?”

She ended her ramble with a small laugh, hoping to amuse Eddie and bring some levity to the situation. Instead, she was greeted with that same awkward silence, though it expired a little faster than last time.

“Oh man, that sounds – yeah, that would totally suck. Poor guy.”

It wasn’t the raucous laughter she’d been expecting at all. Eddie sounded – could it really be? Embarrassed?

“Are you okay? You sound weird.” She asked.

“I’m-! I’m fine, Birdie. Just. Pretty high.”

She’d figured as much, but somehow, she didn’t quite buy it. Whatever. Eddie was great, but she still didn’t fully understand him and his often confoundingly strange mannerisms just yet.

“Anyway. You think you can do that for me? I’d majorly appreciate it.”

“Yeah, yeah – I can totally do that. What time should I – drop stuff off?”

“Honestly, before lunch? The rate at which Steve is going through tissues is worthy of scientific observation.”

Eddie offered a reedy laugh at that – she’d expected that attempt at humour to dive like before, been ready for another awkward little pause. She would have almost preferred that to this obviously forced attempt at normal laughter. It wasn’t as if Eddie didn’t have a sense of humour, or know how to laugh like a human being, so? Man, he must be really high.

“So…I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“I’ll be there. I…probably won’t come inside. I mean, don’t want to disturb poor old Harrington, y’know?”

She blinked.

“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind?”

“Really, Robin, if I want to graduate in a month, I can’t get sick. I won’t face celebrating my 21st year still stuck in that fucking dump.”

It made sense, what he was saying. But again, she just didn’t buy that that was the sole reason for this extremely out of character avoidance of Steve.

“Sure. Well, I’ll see you, then.”

“See you tomorrow, Birdie. Sleep tight.”

She hung up on him, taking a second to stand there and letting the absurdity of his behaviour wash over her before she made her way back upstairs. She was far too tired to even attempt to analyse the inner machinations of Eddie fucking Munson right now – tired enough that even Steve’s woeful snoring couldn’t stop her from passing out the second her head hit the pillow.

[minteacutie]

Headcannon

Shared this with a friend but felt like sharing this here, so have my brain dump. I feel like Steve's not a germaphobe and that part of the reason why he gets sick so often is that he just doesn't really care about germs. Like yeah, he'll wash his hands and things but he won't go out of his way to avoid being around people when they're sick. Robin will actually try to go out of her way to not let Steve know she's sick because she knows he'll go all mama bear on him and want to take care of her. If he even gets the inkling that she's sick he'll be outside her house with soup tea and various medicines. Ready to hang out and just cuddle with Robin platonically until she feels better. This is unfortunate for him because I feel like Robin is definitely a germaphobe, and would not come over to take care of Steve. She'd do her best like bring him over tissue, medicine, tea, and soup, but that's about it. So it was a huge relief when he and Eddie started dating because Eddie is also not a germaphobe and has no problems with taking care of Steve. Weirdly enough though I feel like Robin has the kink but I feel like her kink is geared more towards allergy sneezes than cold sneezes.  I feel like the only exception she'd make for her germaphobeness is probably her girlfriend. Idk thoughts? Opinions? I’m intrigued to hear what others think!

[werewolfsteveau]

Short lil’ update to this au

Sorry it’s been forever, I’ve had a bit of a writers block on this fic. I have a lot of idea I just have to find the words to get to where I want to get in this fic. 😭 Hope you guys enjoy this lil’ update!!! Part 1, Part 2 and the playlist for this au! ~ Robin woke up to the shrill ring of her phone, groaning as she pawed around for it glaring at the screen when she saw Steve’s stupid face flashing across the screen “This better be good if you’re waking me up…” Robin trailed off glancing at the little numbers at the top of her screen, “ at 6:00 am. What the fuck, Harrington?” “Sorry…shit…”Robin’s brow furrowed as she recognized Julie’s voice on the other end,” I know it’s early but I found your number on Steve’s phone, and I didn’t know who to call about this… “What?” Robin sat up in bed, dread settling heavily into the pit of her stomach a little more awake now, “Did something happen? Is Steve okay?” “No!” Julie exclaimed, cursing on the other end, “Steve’s fine…well mostly fine. He’s got the flu.” “The flu…but he was fine like yesterday,” Robin sighed, flopping back against her pillows relief flooding her body, “is the flu like some sort of code for a hangover, because we already talked about that. Hangovers don't count as sick.” “I wish…”Julie huffed out a laugh, “we didn’t even make it out the door last night, before it hit him hard…trust me it’s bad.” “Alright I don’t need details,” Robin wrinkled her nose in disgust, “tell him I hope he feels better…I guess?” “I’ll keep you posted.” Julie hung up, running her fingers through her hair as she blew out a long sigh through her mouth. Trying to figure out how she was going to get Steve up out of the basement by herself. “Alright Stevie…” She murmured rousing her friend enough so that she could haul him up onto his feet, nearly buckling under his weight, “come on buddy you’re gonna have to help me out here, you’re like solid muscle.” Steve groaned, somehow managing to stay upright as Julie haphazardly hauled his aching body up the stairs. His legs trembling underneath him, threatening to give out. “Just a little further, Stevie.” She dragged him over to the couch before finally giving out a bit under his weight, letting Steve slide onto the couch with a graceless flop. Panting Julie slumped down next to him with a huff, letting her body rest for a moment. “I need to get ready for work…” Steve mumbled, but he didn’t make any move to get up off the couch, slumping against Julie with pained hiss. “Not today, lover boy.” Julie told him, patting him on the shoulder before shifting so that Steve could stretch out across the length of the couch. She took the throw blanket off the back, draping it over him when she noticed him tremble. Steve just burrowed further under the blankets with a wide jaw cracking yawn as Julie carded her fingers through his hair, “That’s it just relax, Stevie.” His muscles slowly unwind as his body relaxes. “I don’t have the flu…”He murmured, half asleep already,”j’st run hot.” Julie shushed him softly, rubbing his back. She could feel his breathing start to even out, eyes sliding closed before Steve started to snore softly.

[sleptwithinthesun]

You mentioned in another E/ddie fic something about him being a mess in that warehouse with the dust and dirt. Request for that story?

asjkdf i meant boathouse but yes. somehow i expected this prompt yet didn't think about how to write this at all lmao. please take a nice little 2.1K amalgamation of allergic chaos :)

Once upon a time, not very long ago, Eddie Munson was infamous within the halls of Hawkins High. He wasn't popular, or liked, or even respected by the majority of his peers, and more often than not looked down upon by them. Still, he always felt like he knew where he belonged, what his place in his little sliver of the world was. He was a freak, a nerd, and a loner. He was the head of Hellfire and leader of the outcasts, at least, the ones who were desperate enough for company. He was Eddie goddamn Munson, and he didn't mind.

Now, though, he's a fugitive, infamous throughout the entire town instead of merely in the halls he's been walking for nearly seven years. He's wanted for murder, a presumed satanist, and suspected cult leader. Just a couple of steps down from his old man, to be honest. Eddie's even pulling the same stunt that got his father captured in the end, but really, he didn't know what else to do. He doesn't want to get Wayne tangled up in this any more than he already is, considering that he just... left Chrissy on the floor of his trailer, bones shattered and limbs twisted in ways he's pretty sure aren't supposed to be possible. Lying there for Wayne to find.

God, what has he done?

Crouched underneath a tarp and on the brink of an allergy attack, Eddie supposes now isn't the time to be questioning his moral choices. What he should be focusing on is whoever's about to enter the boathouse, whether it be the police or Wayne or... he doesn't know who else would come for him. Maybe Jason Carver and his douchebag basketball friends, pissed off and assuming that he was the one who killed Chrissy from the news reports. But fuck, the itch in his nose and around his eyes and all over his skin is impossible to ignore, pulsing in time with every beat of his heart and absolutely unrelenting in its intensity. He wants to cough his lungs out, too, but the pressing need to sneeze usurps it.

Eddie allows himself a set of five silenced sneezes, pinching at his nose throughout the entire thing to ensure he doesn't inhale any more of the shit that's getting to him right now, fucking around in his chest and tightening it up. His eyes burn with irritation and all he wants is to be able to press a warm washcloth to his face, pretend that this isn't happening, and sleep for about eight years. But none of that is possible, not right now.

(No one even cares that his life was just ripped out from under him, do they?)

His other hand, the one not holding his nose, tightens around the beer bottle he'd broken earlier when he hears the door open, already taut muscles tensing even further. There's nowhere to run, not this time. Multiple voices heard moments earlier told him that it's not Wayne, and the lack of anger means it can't be Jason, leaving just the cops. Putting up a fight will be useless, but Eddie picked a good spot. They shouldn't have tracked him down this quickly.

Flashlight beams trace thin paths along the walls from the outside, all leading to the door a moment before it creaks open and someone steps inside. Eddie barely dares to breathe as he hears a tentative move forward, a wooden board groaning, and then a female voice asking, "Hello? Is anyone home?"

Well, it's definitely not the cops. Her voice carries none of the authority any of the police in this town do, and besides, Eddie's never seen a single woman on the force. Meaning, it's some other group of people who aren't necessarily looking for him. It's possible that they're druggies, looking for Rick or another dealer. But not him.

There's a thump of something connecting with a wall and another flashlight beam passes across the tarp, light shining through and bright enough to set off a photic fit. Luckily enough, it's short and hidden by the sudden movement of something jabbing into the tarp, causing the whole boat to shake and another voice to hiss, "What are you doing?" as Eddie viciously stifles the breathless triple, the sound and motion of the newcomers enough to disguise it. "What are you doing?" the speaker repeats, sounding annoyed.

"He might be in here," yet another person reasons, likely defensive. Eddie's good at reading people and their body language, had to be to survive middle school, but tone is not nearly enough for him to gauge off of. He has no idea if these people are angry with him, or whoever they're looking for, or even at each other.

"So take the tarp off." It's a logical suggestion, he'll admit, but also completely unwanted. Moving the tarp will stir up dust again, and that's not an issue Eddie has time for right now. Jesus H. Christ.

There's not a moment's hesitation when the third person replies, "If you're so brave why don't you take the tarp off?"

Silence falls between the two of them after that, and the third continues jabbing whatever stick he has into the tarp, slowly making their way closer to Eddie's hiding place as somehow, a fourth person speaks, calling attention to another part of the room. Definitely not druggies; they wouldn't travel in a group this big, much less with two people who he's fairly certain are children.

"Maybe he heard us... got spooked, and ran," the first voice responds, and goddamnit. They're absolutely looking for him.

"Don't worry; Steve'll get him with his oar." Sarcasm. Whatever their dynamic is, these people are clearly familiar with each other.

The oar stops jabbing into the tarp, moments away from him, as the third voice responds and Eddie crushes his nose in a desperate attempt to stave off the eternally-blooming tickle. It's now or never.

Chaos erupts in the room as he shoots out from under the tarp, breath hitching and throat constricting with a short wheeze the second he's back in the dusty air. Everything about this hiding spot was a mistake, he's realizing; he was found in a day by four people who cannot even be adults yet and he's pretty sure if he stays in here for one more minute, Eddie's going to scratch himself out of his skin and sneeze until the sun rises again. Plus, Steve fucking Harrington is pretty much the last person he expects to see under his hand, but there he is, pulse fluttering against his fingertips.

"Eddie! Eddie, stop!" the second voice shouts above the rest of the clamoring, sounding oddly familiar underneath the sound of his heartbeat in his ears. "Eddie, Eddie, it's me. It's Dustin. This is Steve; he's not going to hurt you." He speaks slowly, like Eddie's going to hurt him if he says the wrong thing. Which, fair. He is holding a broken bottle to someone's neck at the moment. "Right, Steve?"

"Right," Harrington, the third person, whispers, eyes and expression oddly calm, as if he's not surprised or even worried.

Dustin speaks again, clearly the only one with experience in how to deal with him. "Steve, why don't you drop the oar?"

The itch writhes underneath his eyelids as the falling oar kicks up even more dust, the majority of it remaining unseen to the others. Eddie, though, he can feel it clinging to him, landing on his clothes and skin and fuck he needs to sneeze so badly. Just a little bit longer. If he can hold on just a little bit longer, prove to them that he's not exactly a threat and that he can be temporarily swayed before turning around and hightailing it out of there, they might not attack him the second he becomes vulnerable. His knuckles turn white around the bottle as he holds it closer to Harrington's neck.

"He's cool!" Dustin insists, "he's... cool."

In front of him, oblivious to how close Eddie is to letting him go just to get a hint of relief, Harrington whispers, "I'm cool, man. I'm cool."

"What're you doing hhhere?" Eddie manages, only letting a small hitch in his breath through, barely holding back a cough. It's taking almost all of his concentration to hold everything back, but he just need a little more time. One more minute.

"We're looking for you," Dustin says, confirming it all. He didn't think that Hellfire would turn against him this quickly, much less that it'd be Dustin leading the charge, but he supposes they feel betrayed. Hurt. Maybe even lost, but he doubts he's had that much of an impact on their lives.

"We're here to help," the first voice chimes in, shaky. She also sounds familiar, come to think of it. That's really not a good sign, people he knows turning against— did she just say help?

"Eddie, these are my friends," Dustin tells him, and Eddie glances backwards to confirm his claim. "You know Robin, from band." The girl in question lifts up her flashlight like she's playing a trumpet, imitating the sound quickly, and it hits him. Buckley. She was the first speaker. "This is my friend Max, the one who never wants to play D&D." The other, completely unfamiliar to him in everything but name, raises a hand in greeting. "Eddie. We're on your side."

It's enough. Eddie breaks away from his hold on Harrington, not even hearing as they both gasp, Harrington for breath and Eddie right before sneezing into his shoulder, the stifles doing absolutely nothing to alleviate the tickle that only gets worse, buzzing in his sinuses.

He backs away, moving to the right and sliding down the wall he'd just pinned Steve against, blinking allergic tears out of his eyes until they spill over and track down his cheeks. Vaguely, he registers that someone's now crouching in front of him, hands out to calm him, but the itch is back with almost dizzying force, and before he can even think about stifling them, Eddie's burying his face in his knees and sneezing and sneezing and sneezing.

"h'itschh! ktch! tshh! h'uKSH! KSHH! KSHHH'uh! heh'isHh'uhh!"

The chorus starts to his left. "Bless—"

"Nodt dohhne... mp'tcHH! kTtschh! ht'schh! Oh mby— k'ISH! isHhiew! Fugck! it'sch! kt'shh-tsch-itsCH'uhh!"

And holy shit, every memory comes flooding back like a dam inside of him broke; curling in on himself with every desperately wheezy breath, chest stuttering every other second, sneezing into his folded arms like the world would end if he stopped. Eddie hasn't felt like this in a long while, the most recent allergy attack on this level occurring almost three years ago, an incident with a stray cat he'd tried to keep.

"Jesus fucking Christ, man," Harrington says, kneeling in front of him as Eddie palms the ground in frustration. "Are you okay?"

"Allergic," Eddie mumbles, fumbling for the bandana in his back pocket as he feels the congestion build. It's not going to be any better, now that it's been on the ground, but he feels disgusting right now. Steve doesn't even look away as he blows his nose, cheeks flushing pink as he tries to angle himself so that he's not facing the other man directly.

"The dust?" Buckley asks.

He shakes his head, shrugging. "Fucking e-heh-verything, it feels like. ht'SHH! hg'tsCh!" Eddie's breath hitches for a couple moments more, the entire room held in suspense, before he tucks his head behind his folded knees again and sneezes openly into his lap. "ih'KTTsh!"

Harrington's expression when he emerges only broadcasts worry. "Fuck, can you even breathe?"

"It's a little hard, I guess, but nothing I can't handle," Eddie attempts, immediately contradicting himself by coughing fiercely. A raised eyebrow is his next greeting, and his shoulders slump a bit. "What do you want me to say, Harrington? I'm on the run from the law. A bit of allergy trouble isn't something I can afford to be concerned about."

"It'll have to be if you collapse from the lack of oxygen," Buckley supplies, sounding way too cheerful considering the nature of what she just said.

"Excuse me?"

"What she means is, let us help you," Harrington interjects, smoothly taking over. "Max and Dustin are getting the car ready. We'll hide you in the back and you can stay at my house for a bit to lie low. They're not home, won't be back until spring break is over, okay? I have allergy meds, in case there's anything else that sets you off. We're on your side, Eddie."

He's silent for a moment, taking it in. "You don't believe I killed Chrissy?"

"No," Harrington and Buckley insist as one, before the former continues to speak. "No, Eddie. We'll go to my house, get you some meds, have this work through your system, and then you can tell us whatever you're comfortable with. Until then, though, let us make sure you don't keel over."

[minteacutie]

This but with the fruity four.

A group of people around a plant that's making them all sneeze like crazy except the person who's allergic to everything but this one plant apparently

[softsnzstuff]

Sicktember Day 1 - Hopelessly Bad at Self Care

Fandom: Stranger Things (Canonverse)

Summary: Platonic Stobin; Robin knows Steve is getting sick before he does

Word count: 500

They’re finishing up the evening shift at family video when Steve starts to cough. He pats his fist against his chest in a joking way, not even knowing he did it.

Robin glances over at her friend who’s counting the cash in the register. He sniffles and looks up to meet her stare.

“What??” He asks, “Quit staring at me.”

“You feeling okay over there Casanova?” she quirks an eyebrow at him.

“Yeah. Fine.” He stares at her waiting for further explanation.

“Nothing. Go drink some water.”

Steve shrugs and goes back to counting the cash, clearing his throat. “I’m fine.”

He brushes off the comment, genuinely perplexed why Robin seemed to be in his business all of a sudden. He made sure to finish counting the change before he slipped away to the back, taking a swig of water. His throat did feel a little scratchy now, but Robin didn’t need to know that.

“You need a ride home Robin? Looks like it’s gonna rain.” Steve asked when he came back.

She was finishing sweeping the floors and perked up at the offer. “Sure! If it’s not too much trouble.”

“I practically drive you everywhere else Robs.” He laughed and rolled his eyes. “Get your crap, let’s go.”

---

Steve wakes up around 8am the next morning feeling like garbage. Not bedridden terrible, but bad enough to cancel his brunch with Robin that was scheduled for later.

He stared tiredly at the pale reflection as he brushed his teeth before padding downstairs. The Harrington residence was empty - not an unusual occurrence anymore. The brunette coughed into his sleeve on the way to the kitchen where the landline was.

He was just about to pick up the phone when a knock on the door startled him. It was probably one of the kids wanting to drag him out to do something dumb. He wasn’t going to answer but -

“H’ISSSHuhiEW!”

- the loud sneeze gave him away. Fuck.

He scrubbed at his nose, opening the door, surprised to see Robin staring at him.

“Bless you! I brought you some stuff!”

She smiled, pushing past him and letting herself in, dumping the contents of the plastic bag onto his kitchen table: some cans of soup, cold medicine, tissues and cough drops.

“Ta Da!” She gestured at the table.

“How’d you know I’m sick? I didn’t even call you yet.”

“Oh I knew yesterday.” She retorted, “You’re welcome!”

Steve blinked slowly in confusion. “Thanks. I meant to call you about brunch, I-”

“Don’t worry about it, Dingus. There’s a reason I brought these goodies over. You are hopelessly bad at self care.”

“What would I do without you?”

“You’d die.” Robin teased, “Now go lie down I’ll try and make you some soup.”

Steve huffed a sigh, grabbing the tissues and cold meds off the table and taking them with him to the living room.

“Thanks Robin.”

[softsnzstuff]

Id love to read some platonic stobin!! How about canon verse Steve told Robin he’d take her to a party but then he turns up to her house and he’s got a bad cold so she forces him inside and makes him rest instead.

Robin is nervous. She never went to parties in high school, and she certainly didn’t intend to start going once she’d graduated. That being said, Steve was really keen on taking her to this specific party.

She’d had higher hopes and expectations now that he was basically a mom of six and didn’t hold the same “King Steve” title, but she had to admit. Socializing made her anxious.

It was almost a godsend when her best friend showed up at her door - not only ten minutes late - but also nursing what appeared to be a terrible headcold.

The brunette was hunched over in jeans and a hoodie as he blew his nose into a slowly deteriorating handful of tissues.

“Hey Robin’d!” He smiled.

“Are you sick?”

Even having known her for years now, he was still shocked by her straight forward demeanor.

“Snff Feeling a little rough, but I’ll be fine…”

His voice trailed off which signaled Robin to rush to cover her ears. Steve’s eyes fluttered shut as he ducked into the hood of his sweatshirt, muffling a few sneezes that tore through him.

“HAESSSHUHEW! Heh- EKTSCHHH!”

Robin cautiously stepped one foot onto the front porch and used a gentle hand on Steve’s back to usher him inside her home. His nose was buried into the confetti he was calling a tissue again.

“Gosh Steven, I can’t take you anywhere.” She teased, holding out a trash can. “Toss it.”

When her gaze was met with confused puppy dog eyes, she sighed.

“I have clean tissues, Dingus. That one is all gross.” She nodded her head towards the box on the coffee table.

Accepting the offer, Steve binned his current one and grabbed a handful of new ones. “Tha’gks.”

“Don’t worry about it.” She flopped down on the couch and motioned for him to sit too, “Let’s forget the party okay? You’re sick and I kind of didn’t want to go anyways. Watch a movie?”

Steve nodded and joined her on the couch. “Your pick, Buckley.”

[softsnzstuff]

Idk if I’m just dumb but I’ve never seen the full interview of JQ dealing with like really bad allergies? And finally found the full thing!!

You can hear him sniffling SO AUDIBLY in the background especially at the beginning. He wipes his nose on his hand several times and poor guy’s eyes are like super watery.

[softsnzstuff]

In better news I’m UNWELL about this photo. They look SO GOOD FUCK

Will also take Steve prompts bc J/oe K/eery is babygorl

[softsnzstuff]

THEY HAD THEM

[softsnzstuff]

Fever Pitch

Fandom: Stranger Things; Doctors Office AU

Word Count: 10k

Summary: Doctor!Eddie gets super sick, but refuses to admit that doctors can get sick too. Eddie spends half the week grumpy and annoyed until he finally breaks in the most whumpy way.

CW: Flashback mentions of domestic abuse // gunshot wounds, minor mess

Monday, April 3rd

“Hey! Earth to Eddie??”

Eddie blinks himself back to reality and realizes he’s been staring at his mug of black coffee for a few minutes.

“Sorry what?”

Steve shakes his head and laughs, “I asked if you’re almost ready to go? It’s 6:58.”

“Yeah!” Eddie grabs his travel mug from the cabinet and empties the contents of his coffee mug into it, dropping the mug in the sink, “Good to go. Sorry, just a little spacey this morning I guess…”

Steve grabs the car keys off the hook and opens the front door, still chuckling, “I can see that.”

---

Usually the drive to work is filled with banter, but today Eddie is tired in a way he almost can’t explain. His ears feel weird too and he can’t quite place it.

Steve parks the car in their usual spot and they both get out. The bell chimes above them as they enter through the back door.

“Good mooooorning!” Comes a voice down the hall. Robin.

“Morning Robin!” They call out in unison.

Eddie heads to his office, slumping into his chair and turning the computer on, while Steve makes his way towards his station where Nancy is waiting and Robin is hanging out.

The dirty blonde is sitting on Steve’s desk, kicking her feet talking to Nancy. Steve approaches his childhood best friend and jokingly waves the air at her. “Shoo! Off my desk.”

She playfully sticks her tongue out at him and hops off. “I just opened the front. First patient isn’t until 7:45 I think?”

Steve nods in acknowledgement as he logs onto his own computer, eyes not breaking from the screen.

“That’ll be good. Give Eddie a minute. He’s being kinda weird and quiet today.”

Nancy and Robin exchange a brief look of worry.

“You talking about me in here?” Eddie wanders in.

“Just shit talking you behind your back, obviously.” Robin teases.

Eddie breaks character and laughs, playfully punching her arm. “Well don’t let me interrupt. Needed a new pen. My favorite one just ran out of ink.”

Steve opens his backpack and pulls out a fresh pen, holding it over his head for Eddie to take. The older man grabs it, slightly disappointed that it’s ballpoint and not gel. Trivial, sure, but a small detail that makes his morning that much more irritating.

He disappears back towards his office as Robin speaks up.

“Well I guess I should get to work too. I’m sure our first patient will be here soon.”

She heads up to the front of the office and sits at her desk previewing the schedule for the day. All things considered, it’s actually pretty light for a Monday. Billy is off today and tomorrow, so it’s just Eddie and Nancy.

The front door bell chimes and Robin looks up to lock eyes with Mr.Gilmore (Mickey, please).

“Hey Mr.G! How are you?” She asks in her bubbly voice.

“Oh just fine, sweetheart. Checking in for 7:45. I think my wife is coming in later.”

The man starts to scribble his name on the check in sheet while Robin skims the schedule.

“Would ya look at that! She is coming in at 2:30.” Robin smiled, “You know the drill then, Mickey. Steve will be out to get you in just a second okay?”

He nods and takes his seat in the waiting room. The doorbell rings again as Robin stands up.

“Good Morning Mrs.Harris. Go ahead and get yourself signed in. There’s no copay today. Give me one second and I’ll tell Steve you’re here too.” She grabs both charts, Mickey’s on top since his appointment is first.

“First two for you, Steve-o.” She says, handing off the charts to her friend.

He runs a hand through his hair as he looks over them. “Yeah alright. Let me bring Mickey back and into a room and then I’ll come back for Gina.”

---

“Well your labs look fantastic, Mickey. Great improvement since the last time. If everything’s working for you I think we’ll keep your meds at the same dosage and follow up in a few months?”

“Sounds great, Doctor Munson.” The man reaches out and gives Eddie a handshake before standing up to head out.

“Go ahead and go up to the front. Robin will check you out shortly.”

Eddie could hear muffled talking in the room next door. Nancy was probably in there with Gina.

“Hey Steve can you bring this to Robin?” He holds out Mickey’s chart with his scribbled notes on it.

Steve gives Eddie a once over, but agrees, taking the chart and heading back to the front. Eddie, on the other hand, went back to his office and uncapped his travel mug of coffee, sipping generously. Why wasn’t the caffeine waking him up like it usually did??

As he swallowed, he finally was able to pinpoint the weird feeling in his ears. It was a sticky sort of pain deep inside that sometimes happened when- his throat was sore.

Shit. A sore throat was truly the last thing he needed. Maybe it would get better as the day went on if he tried to talk less?

---

A few hours passed by, and instead of getting better, Eddie only felt worse. The twinge in his throat was more of a dull ache now, and worst of all, his throat was scratchy in a way that made him want to gag.

As soon as he was done with the last patient before lunch, he beelined for the break room to make himself some more coffee.

The Keurig spurted and hissed as it produced a small latte in his travel mug.

“Babe you’re having more coffee? You’re gonna be up all night.” Steve came up behind him and squeezed his shoulder.

“What are you, my mom??” Eddie snipped.

“Geez, I’m just asking. What’s up with you today??” Steve tried to hide the fact that he was a little hurt.

“Nothing’s up with me, Steve. Just getting coffee because I’m tired.” The older man grumbled and walked back towards his office and shut the door behind him.

“What was that all about?” Nancy asked as she and Robin joined too, pulling their lunches out of the fridge.

“Hell if I know. Apparently the man just wants to be fueled with caffeine.” Steve rolled his eyes and sat down with his salad, “So how was your guys’ weekends?”

---

Its 2:15 now. Lunch has been over for a while. He’s seen a few more patients already and his coffee is now gone. He wants more but Steve is right - he’d be lucky if he gets to sleep tonight as is.

There’s a knock on his open door that gets his attention. It’s Robin and the iPad.

“Hey Doc, can you sign this for me?” She asks, holding out the iPad for him to take.

“Have I ever NOT signed it for you??” He asks in a tone way grumpier than he’d expected.

Shit why did he say that.

“No… sorry, I just didn’t want to assume…”

“You’re fine Birdie, I’m sorry. I’m just… in a mood today apparently.”

He signs for the meds and hands it back to her.

Robin shrugs, “It happens. Mrs.Gilmore is here early by the way. Steves probably coming through with her chart soon.”

Eddie sighs as he stands up. If he could just finish the last four patients he could go home.

---

Steve’s humming to himself in the kitchen as he cooks the pasta. Spaghetti with brown butter and tomato basil sauce is a recent favorite of his and he took it upon himself too cook for the two of them tonight

His phone buzzes. A text from Robin.

What’s cookin, good lookin?

He rolled his eyes. Since he started cooking new dishes, she’d been requesting photos of his food. He sent a pic back of the pasta in the pot of water.

Nothing fancy… yet. Spaghetti with tomato basil and brown butter sauce.

🤤Eddie’s the luckiest guy I swear.

Steve looks over his shoulder. After confirming Eddie was still in the shower, he types back.

Eh… he’s still kinda prickly. I think he’s getting sick or something.

Doctors don’t get sick, remember Steve?? 😤

Steve chuckles to himself. By now, everyone at Hawkins Medical is familiar with Eddie Munson and his ‘Doctors Don’t Get Sick’ one man show. He’s about to say something witty back when the bathroom door opens and small amounts of steam billow out.

One sec - he just got out of the shower…

Eddie pads over to the table, rubbing at his eyes with the heel of his hand.

“Just in time!” Steve offers a smile as he drains the pasta. “Spaghetti just finished. Pot of brown butter on the left. Tomato basil on the right. Pick your poison.”

Steve’s already plating his own dinner, when Eddie coughs into his shoulder, following behind with the smallest scoop of pasta and a tiny bit of sauce.

“That’s all you’re gonna eat?” Steve asks after Eddie takes a small bite.

“M’not hungry.” Eddie lies, but Steve doesn’t miss the way he winces when he took a sip of water.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine.” Eddie insists, “I’m not hungry.”

He goes to clear his throat but it catches, making him cough painfully into his fist. Eddie tries to blink back the pain, each cough scraping the back of his throat.

“Does your throat hurt?”

Eddie pushes away from the table, “I said I’m fucking fine Steve.”

“Hey, watch the attitude. I’m just asking!”

“Whatever.” Eddie grumbles, setting his plate by the sink, “I’m going to bed.”

He storms off to the bedroom, door closing behind him. Steve rolls his eyes and reaches for his phone again, sending a text to Robin.

Definitely sick. He just screamed at me for asking if his throat hurt 🙄

Steve threw his phone down after sending the text and finished his pasta by himself.

*****

Tuesday, April 4th

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

The joint alarm for 6:15am pierces through the fog in Eddie’s brain. Apart from the blaring alarm, the first thing he notices is that his throat hurts. BAD. It’s now a scratchy ache that burns when he swallows.

Steve turns the alarm off and groans, rolling out of bed to brush his teeth. Eddie takes the opportunity to lay there a little bit longer, squeezing his eyes shut. His head aches at the front of his forehead and all he wants to do is go back to sleep.

“You want coffee too Eds?” Steve asks on his way from their bathroom to the kitchen.

The older man tries to speak but coughs instead. He clears his throat and groans, “Yes please.”

“Coming right up.” Steve turns around, frowning at the sound of his partner.

While Steve starts their coffees, Eddie drags himself out of bed and heads to the bathroom too. He pees, washes his hands, and then brushes his teeth. He stops for a moment to stare at himself in the mirror. He looks run down for sure, paler than normal and rings forming under his eyes. After rinsing his mouth out, he tames the hair a little and then grabs a few tissues to blow his nose.

He huffs a sigh when it does nothing to relieve the congestion that’s settled in his sinuses.

“For fucks sake…” he grumbles.

He turns off the bathroom light and goes to get dressed. His favorite black jeans and tee shirt will do. They’re just going to be under his doctors coat anyways.

He’s sniffling and scrubbing at his nose as he walks into the kitchen where Steve is sitting at the table, finishing a prepackaged muffin and sipping his coffee.

“Morning babe.” Steve says and kisses Eddie on the cheek, “Shit it’s 6:40 already?? Let me get dressed really quick!”

“Morning.” Eddie hums, dumping his coffee into the travel mug. He takes a small sip, coughing again.

Steve reappears just a few minutes later, hair done and in his scrubs.

“Okay! Ready?”

Eddie nods, “Mm hmm.”

Steve grabs his bag and heads out the door towards the car, Eddie trudging sluggishly behind him.

---

When the boys arrive at the office, they both head back towards the nurses station to greet the girls. Steve drops his backpack at his desk and turns the computer on.

“Hey Robin!” He calls out.

“Morning guys!” Robin bounds around the corner but stops abruptly, “Oof Eddie you don’t look so hot. Are you okay?”

She asks, having forgotten the warning text from Steve late last night.

“You flatter me.” He says, voice dripping with sarcasm. “I’m fine.”

Nancy walks in just as Eddie starts coughing again. She places a gentle hand on his back as she walks past him to her desk.

“Awe poor thing, you sound awful. Are you getting sick?”

Steve and Robin look up at her like deer in headlights, signaling to her immediately that that was the wrong thing to say.

Eddie rolls his eyes, swallowing back his unwarranted anger, “I don’t get sick.”

He turns on his heels and heads to his office, coughing into a closed fist on the way.

“I’m sorry.” Nancy starts, “I forgot…”

Steve waves his hands dismissively, “Don’t be sorry Nance. He’s just grumpy because he doesn’t feel well.”

All three of them exchanged different variations of the same eyebrows-raised glance that screamed ‘not this again’.

“Well I’m going to go let people in now. The Anderson’s were outside at 7:05.” Robin headed up front to unlock the doors.

Her pastel pink scrubs were light and joyful. She usually stuck to the darker colors but today she felt like brightening up the mood a little.

“Good Morning, Anderson’s!!” She greeted as she opened the door, “Enter my humble abode!”

The two of them laughed and stood up from the bench they were waiting on outside. They were in their early 70’s and were some of Robin’s favorites.

“Well you look absolutely vibrant in those scrubs. How are you doing today, Darling?” Mrs.Anderson asked as she signed both of them in on the clipboard.

Robin jogged around the back to meet her at the desk window.

“Thank you! Pretty good! Pretty good! I see you guys are here forrrrr,” she clicked around on the computer, “Back to back wellness checks?”

“That’s correct!” Mrs.Anderson chimes.

“Well good news then! Insurance covers 100% of the wellness exams, so there’s no copay. Let me tell Steve you guys are here.”

She takes both charts and runs them back to Steve, leaning down when she hands them off.

“They’re back to back wellness exams, so hopefully Eddie can just chill with them for the next hour and a half?”

Steve nods. Wellness checks were pretty easy and straight forward to do. Eddie would definitely be grateful he wasn’t having to do any procedures this morning.

The brunette gets up and calls them both back. They walk with him to Exam 2. Robin chuckles as they walk by, Mr.Anderson telling Steve, “Stevie boy, I have to show you this new magic trick I learned from my son in law. You brought my cards right Debbie?”

Mrs.Anderson patted him on the back, “I always bring your cards, Arthur…”

---

“Anderson’s are in 2 whenever you’re ready.” Steve said gently, leaning in Eddie’s doorframe.

The man in question was hunched over his desk blowing his nose again.

“Be there in a seco’d…” he said from behind the tissues.

Steve just nodded.

---

Almost an hour and forty five minutes later, Eddie came out of their exam room, eyes wide with annoyance, the rings under his eyes even more prominent than before. He dropped the charts on Robin’s desk.

“Mrs.Anderson is fine. Mr.Anderson needs a follow up in a month for his blood pressure.” He rasped.

“Sheesh Doc, you sound rougher than earlier.” She opened one of the drawers by her feet and pulled out a fresh bottle of water, offering it to him.

“M’fine just…” he cleared his throat, “Just a lot of talking.” He took the water bottle from her and sipped from it briefly before heading back to his office to type in his appointment notes.

“Everything okay?” Steve stopped him in the hallway. “You look…stressed.”

“Yeah he just. Kept doing magic tricks.” Eddie complained.

Normally he was all for Mr.Anderson’s funny antics, but today he was too drained to entertain anything, especially repetitive card tricks.

“Sorry.” Steve started, “Your next appointment isn’t for half an hour. Take a second to chill in silence or something maybe?”

“I know how to use my free time, Steve.”

Steve threw his hands up in defeat. “Yup! You’re absolutely right. What was I thinking?”

---

By the time lunch had rolled around, Eddie was done. Done with work. Done with talking to people. Done with feeling like shit. He had his head resting in folded arms at his desk, swallowing past the knives in his throat.

Robin clocked the limp figure as she walked past his office on the way to the break room. She turned to face Steve and Nancy and whispered, “Is he okay?”

Eddie cleared his throat, scaring them all. Robin had thought he was asleep.

“He lives!” She joked.

Eddie lifted his head, trying to stare daggers with his glazed eyes, “Would you all quit asking if I’m okay?? I’m fucking fine alright?”

“Yeah Eddie, you totally look and sound fine.” Steve murmured.

“What was that, Harrington??” He raised an eyebrow at the three figures standing in the hallway.

“Nothing! Jesus, I said you’re fine.”

Steve grumbled his way to the break room, Nancy and Robin following suit. The three of them sat down, Steve running a hand through his hair, clearly stressed. Robin popped her Dino nuggets in the microwave and then sat next to Steve, rubbing a hand on his back.

“I’m sorry. He’s being such a dick.” Steve whispered.

“It’s okay Steve. Don’t stress.” Nancy said, shrugging as she ate one of her carrots.

The friends sat in relative silence for a moment until a trio of harsh sneezes sounded from Eddie’s office.

“N’Gshuuh! Eh’TZiew! H- h’EKSHTew!”

Robin opened her mouth out of habit to say ‘bless you Doctor Rockstar’, but Steve clamped a hand over her mouth and shook his head.

“Don’t say it.”

Robin nodded, thankful Steve stopped her in time. They could all agree that today was not the day for that.

Steve sighed and pinched the bridge if his nose, “Fuck. He’s sneezing now. He’s just going to get so much more annoyed and pissy…”

Nancy rested a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “He’s a grown up Steve. Just let it run it’s course. He’ll be fine again in no time.”

---

Steve should have known better than that. He should know by now that when Eddie got sick, it almost always got worse before it got better. And now, just like clockwork, that’s what was happening.

The rest of the work afternoon was filled with tense silence punctuated by sneezing and coughing from Eddie’s office.

By the time they were closing up for the day, Eddie’s nose was tinged pink and he was exhausted. He leaned heavily against the wall by Steve’s desk.

“Are you alm’bost ready to go home? M’by head is killing m’be.” He asked in a weak but frustrated tone.

Steve looked up and his heart immediately dropped. Eddie looked awful. “Yeah, sorry let me just turn the computer off…”

Steve awkwardly scrambled to shut down the desktop computer and shovel a few things into his backpack.

“I’b gonna go wait in thehhh the car- H’iKTschEW! Eht’CHuhew! T’SZIEW!”

He steepled into his hands as he walked towards the back exit. Steve could faintly register an “ughh fuck” before a thick sniffle on his way out.

The younger man scooped up his backpack and jogged out after Eddie, jumping in the car not too long after he had. The car was silent except for watery sniffles from Eddie every now and again.

He figured Eddie was spaced out, too lost in a sick induced brain fog, but music seemed like it would ease the tension. Steve reached for the radio button and turned it up just a little bit. After a fifteen minute drive in the setting sun, he parked the car in their spot and made the short walk to their apartment.

“I’m gonna take a shower…” Eddie mumbled once they got inside, already dragging himself towards the bathroom.

“Guess I’ll make dinner then.” Steve said sassily to himself as the bathroom door shut and the shower water turned on.

When Eddie stepped out of the bathroom after twenty minutes or so, he’d disappeared into their bedroom to change and probably text some friends quickly.

Steve took it upon himself to take a quick shower, afterwards sitting on the sofa and watching reruns of How I Met Your Mother.

Eddie emerged from the bedroom in pajama pants, thick socks, and a T-shirt, cradling a box of tissues.

“I love this episode.” He flopped down on the other end of the couch and pulled one of their blankets over his legs.

It’s only a few minutes into the Blitz episode when Eddie frantically grabs a tissue and clamps it over his mouth, inhaling dramatically.

“ii’KTCH! H’esSHiew! H’MPTsch!!”

“Bless-”

“N’giSHuhew!!”

“Bless you!”

“Tha’gks…” Eddie groans, gurgling into the already damp tissue before tossing it aside and pulling a new one to blow again.

“On seco’d thought… I thi’gk I’b gonna go to bed.”

“Okay. Goodnight.” Steve wants to add that he hopes Eddie feels better, but refrains, keeping it to himself and his reruns.

*****

Wednesday, April 5th

The alarm only beeps once before Steve turns it off, slipping out of bed quietly to start getting ready. Eddie’s congested snores ring out in a way that Steve just knows his throats going to be raw when he wakes up.

After throwing his scrubs on, he makes himself and Eddie some coffee. He’s on his way back to the bedroom, double fisting mugs, when he runs into Eddie, standing in the doorway.

“Steve! It’s 6:30 why didn’t you wake me up???”

Steve’s taken aback by the heat in Eddie’s voice. “I was just making you coffee. I thought you could use the extra sleep. Was about to wake you up just now.”

“You don’t get to decide if I need sleep. I’ll have to take the coffee to-go now. There’s no time.” he turned around and stormed off to the bedroom to get dressed.

Steve huffed a sigh and went to empty the mugs contents into his partner’s travel cup.

Eddie felt absolutely wrecked. He didn’t know it was possible for him to wake up feeling worse than he did last night, and yet. Here he was with full body aches, a sinus headache, and chills. His entire body hurt and his skin was overly sensitive to everything.

He opted for scrub bottoms - the closest thing to sweatpants he could get away with - and a hoodie underneath his doctors coat. He coughed as he got dressed, the tight congestion in his chest slowly loosening.

Steve sat in the living room waiting for Eddie. Being sick had really slowed him down and it was now 6:53. They were behind schedule, usually leaving before 6:50am.

They both hopped in the car, music playing faintly as Steve drove them to work. The older of the two kept stifling chesty coughs with his mouth closed - clearly his lungs were more awake than he was.

As they pulled into the parking lot for Hawkins Medical, Eddie snapped forward into his elbow.

“Eh’GSHiew! snff h’eKTCH! H’eiTSCH!!” The sneezes were harsh and desperate, followed by another productive cough that made Steve wince.

“You sound a lot worse Eddie…” Steve commented hesitantly.

“Drop it, Steve.” He quipped, which would have been a lot more threatening if he wasn’t so god damn congested.

Steve went silent as they both got out of the car. Eddie paused for a minute. With one hand on the hood to steady him, he snapped at the waist sneezing again towards the ground. Steve shook his head and made his way into the clinic, leaving his boyfriend to clean himself up.

“Did Eddie finally stay home?” Robin started, a little too excited.

Steve signaled at her to stop talking as the back door bell chimed followed by some coughing.

Noticing the girls’ concerned looks, Steve quickly hissed, “Just leave it.”

“Hey Eddie.” Nancy said sympathetically as the man walked in looking worse for wear.

“Hi N’dance.”

The back door bell chimed again. Fuck. Billy. The man walked in (late as usual) and dumped his stuff at his desk. He offered a simple “Hey.” before he caught sight of Eddie coughing into another tissue.

“Are you sick Munson? Stay away from me.”

Everyone in the clinic knew Eddie was being pissy the last couple days. Everyone except Billy, who was off Monday and Tuesday. Steve bit his lip, preparing for whatever outburst was about to come from Eddie.

“You shouldn’t have to worry about that since I was going to tell you to fuck off anyways, Hargrove!” Eddie clapped back.

“Eddie!” Steve scolded.

“Hey hey hey! Everyone stop.” Robin stood up in between Eddie and Billy, but Billy just laughed.

“Would you look at that? Munson’s got some fire in him after all. I respect it.”

Nancy, Robin and Steve exchanged looks of confusion before Robin finally stepped back, knowing Billy wasn’t going to escalate the situation.

“But seriously. Don’t fucking get me sick.” Billy pointed at Eddie on the way back towards his desk.

“How about. I go open the doors and we all take a breather? Would that be fine??” Robin asks, exasperated, slowly backing away to open the clinic for business.

Robin pulls her phone out of her back pocket and sends a quick update text to Chrissy. The two had been talking a lot more since they started flirting and so Chrissy was very well aware of the situation.

Jesus Chris, Eddie just almost fought Billy in the nurses station. Told him to fuck off and everything.

Chrissy’s reply was almost immediate:

In any other circumstance that would be the highlight of my week. Poor Eddie, he must really be feeling sick if he’s that confrontational.

The strawberry blonde had known Eddie longer than Robin had known Steve, so she certainly knew all of his quirks. Apparently this was one of them.

Ugh. Yeah. He sounds terrible. Gotta work now. Text you later. Xx

Today was unfortunately one of the busier days. The silver lining was that it was filled with familiar faces. As Robin pocketed her phone, a red haired girl who was about 21 came skating in through the doors.

“No skating in the clinic Max! I’m sorry I don’t make the rules.” Robin said.

“Sorry.” She chuckled signing herself in. Her other arm was wrapped in an ace bandage.

“Steve will come get ya soon, just. Hang tight okay?” Robin teased.

The girl nodded. When Robin came back, Steve was just behind her. He opened the door to the waiting room.

“Hey Max, come on back.”

“Hey Steve!” She clocked her older (step)brother, Billy, in the nurses station as she walked back with Steve, “Hey Dickwad!”

“Grow up Maxine!” He yelled back, flipping her the bird.

She smirked and threw two birds up in response as she followed Steve into exam room 1.

Steve stifled a laugh once the door was closed. “Authentic sibling love…”

“Step sibling. Am I wrong??” Max asked, grinning.

“I mean. He did look up when you said dickwad.” Steve laughed, hooking her up to the blood pressure cuff and slipping the thermometer in her mouth.

Steve typed a few notes in the computer until the cuff deflated. He took the thermometer out from her mouth and looked at the numbers on the BP machine. He typed some more in the computer before heading out.

“Blood pressure is normal considering you live with Billy.” Steve commented, “Eddie will be in to see you soon!”

“No rush!” She called after him. Might as well make herself comfortable. She lay back on the crinkly paper, bending her knees, feet on the table.

She stayed like this for a few minutes before a couple rough sneezes from outside the door startled her.

There was a knock on the door before it opened, Eddie stepping inside.

“Bless you.” She said, slowly sitting up, “Jesus you look like shit.”

Eddie rolled his eyes, washing his hands. “Thank you so much for the compliment. You have such a way with words.”

“Ha ha.” She teased.

“You been icing that sprain?”

“Yup!”

“Wrapping it?”

“Yup!”

Eddie squinted his eyes and glanced at the skateboard in the corner. “You been staying off your board?”

Max paused. Caught. “No… but I haven’t fallen on the wrist! Promise!”

“We’ll see about that. Give it here.”

Max holds her arm out. Eddie sniffles wetly as he unwraps the ace bandage.

“So are you sick or something?” She breaks the silence.

He looks up at her eyebrow raised. “You must be confused. I’m pretty sure you’re the patient in this room.”

Max matched his energy pretty quickly. “Really? Hmm I just thought because you come in here sneezing and looking all sickly…”

“Sickly?!” Eddie scoffed as best he could before turning and coughing into his elbow.

Max watched the display and just shrugged.

“Listen you shouldn’t call me sickly when your skating career lies in the hands of my doctors note.”

Now that the bandage was off she flexed her hand and rotated the wrist a few times.

“Feel okay?” He asked.

“Yeah. Feels good.” She nodded and Eddie opened the drawer behind him and pulled out a box.

He tore it open and held it up. “This. Is your new brace. Wear this for a week and you should be good to go. But no crazy skate tricks!!”

“Whatever you say, Doc.” She hopped off the table and grabbed her board. “Hope you stop being sickly soon.”

“Very funny.” He said sarcastically as she made her way to check out with Robin.

Now that she’d left, Eddie felt his entire demeanor drop. The happy Doctor facade. He put it on for his patients, but he felt like absolute garbage.

he grabbed a few tissues from the box on the exam room counter and blew his nose. He paused as the act sent a tickly buzzing through his nose and his eyes fluttered shut.

“H’eiSHuhew! E’kSHT!”

He grabbed a couple more tissues and blew his nose again before binning them and washing his hands. He was in for a long day.

---

Mrs.Henderson is the last patient before lunch. Usually everyone loves the Hendersons - especially Dustin. However, today Mrs.Henderson came in alone, just her and her hypochondria.

“Hi Robin dear, I really need to see Doctor Munson, it’s urgent. I don’t mean to alarm you but I think I have smallpox.”

Robin stared wide eyed. This was a new one, even for her. “Okay ummm let me just get Steve and we’ll see you in just a second okay?”

Robin took the chart and headed back to Steve. “She thinks she’s got smallpox this time.”

Steve sighed. “Gimme the chart.”

The brunette took a breath and then called her back to Exam 3. “Hey Mrs.Henderson. What brings you in?”

“Didn’t Robin tell you? I think I have smallpox. It showed up a few days ago. Look!”

She points to her ankles, where he locks eyes with the most obvious flea bites he ever did see. Eddie’s gonna love this…

“Alright. Let me get Doctor Munson okay?”

Steve finds Eddie hunched over in his office, face buried in his hoodie sleeves.

“N’xxTCH! ii’xtCHU! H’tchiYUE!”

“Bless you times three!” He announces himself.

Eddie wipes his nose on the sleeve of his jacket and very briefly gives Steve a puppy dog look. “What now?”

“Mrs.Henderson is here. She’s got flea bites on the ankles…”

“And she thinks its….?” Eddie starts.

“Smallpox.”

“Of course she does. Can’t you give her to Billy this time?” He almost whines.

Steve frowned, “She asked for you.

“Ughhh okay fine.” Eddie stands up, clearly at the end of his rope, and takes the chart from Steve, marching into the exam room.

“Oh good Doctor Munson! I need you to look at my legs. I have smallpox-”

“Mrs.Henderson. It’s not smallpox. I can assure you that much.” Eddie says, looking at her legs, “Don’t you have a cat?”

“Dusty brought me another one so now I have two actually. Mittens and Buttercup-”

“They’re flea bites Mrs.Henderson.” Eddie tries to stay calm.

“But I read online that smallpox can cause itchy bumps…”

“So do fleas.” Eddie stated.

“But Google said-”

“Mrs.Henderson. Do you have any other smallpox symptoms? Scabs? Stomachaches?” He cut her off.

She shakes her head and stares at him as he continues, “Do you have a fever?”

“… no.”

“Well I do.” Eddie starts, “and I don’t know how else to prove it to you, but those are flea bites. I’ll give you an antihistamine cream for the itching. And I can recommend a really good vet for your cats.”

He scribbles out a prescription on his pad while she seems to consider. She now seemed less paranoid and more sympathetic.

“Okay. That would be lovely. Thank you.”

“Perfect.” Eddie sighed and gave her his best fake smile before leaving the room. He passed the chart off to Steve and then went to his office to sit down.

---

As soon as the front doors were locked for lunch, Robin hit up Steve’s desk. “Wanna do a coffee run with me?”

“Yeah sure. Now?”

Robin nodded. “Yes sir I need caffeine.”

Steve grabbed his car keys and the pair left. Thankfully there was a great coffee shop just down the road. They acquired three iced lattes for the two of them and Nancy. Billy always brought his own Red Bull, and Steve picked up some hot tea with lemon for Eddie.

They were back at the office in damn near record time - only 15 minutes out of the office. Nancy was eating in the break room. Eddie was in there too now, resting his head in his folded arms on the table again.

“We come with coffee!” Robin announced, handing one of the iced drinks over to Nancy.

“Thank you!!” She pleaded.

Eddie sat up and started that god awful coughing again. He was so pale with a bright flush over his cheeks. His nose was pink and damp and his cough was definitely not getting any better.

Steve came up behind him and rubbed his back, not liking the heat coming through, even past the thick sweatshirt layers.

“Hey, you feel really warm, Eds. Maybe you should see a doctor.” Steve said, concerned.

“For fucks sake Steven! I don’t need a doctor okay?!? I am a doctor!!”

The outburst startled everyone, especially with the amount of heat behind Eddie’s voice.

“Jesus Christ Eddie I’m just trying to help. Here! I brought you tea!” Steve aggressively puts the paper cup in front of Eddie.

The older man looks at the cup and then looks at Steve as he pushes it across the table away from him.

Robin looked at Steve and then immediately looked away. She knew that look. Steve was pissed. He was absolutely seething.

“You wanna sit here and be fucking miserable?? Fine. Be miserable, I don’t care.” Steve stormed out of the room swearing under his breath. “Fuck!”

Nancy and Robin stand there awkwardly before Robin decides to break the ice.

“We’re gonna give you some space Eddie.” The two of them took their lunch and coffee and went to go sit with Steve at his desk.

As soon as everyone left the room, Eddie reached for the paper cup of tea and sipped on it greedily. He did want the tea. It helped with some of the congestion and especially helped with the chills. He wasn’t sure how, but Steve always knew just what he needed.

---

The rest of the day was tense to say the least. After yelling at Steve, he could tell Steve was angry and hurt and wasn’t going to talk about it. So Eddie just kept pouting until they got back to the apartment.

After a shower, he decided he’d just go lie down and give his body a break. He was fucking freezing but his face felt too hot and all the while, he was slipping into fever dreams he didn’t want to be in.

---

He was back in Med school, doing practice rounds at the hospital. He hated the reputation he had here. Not only was he the oldest in his group because he kept failing classes, but because it’s a small town, everyone knew about his history. About his dad.

Imagine first day of school jitters when everyone knows your dad beats you and your mom when you come home. Not exactly a golden ticket to the popular crowd, that’s for sure.

Everyone knew his family couldn’t afford med school either. So they knew he was a bartender on the side to help pay bills.

“Trailer trash Eddie thinks he’s going to be a doctor!” He could hear people teasing.

Stupid how cruel even adults can be when they wanted to.

“Help me Eddie.”

He knows that voice. He hasn’t heard it in years. Why does he know that voice???

He follows it down the corridor, but it only gets more desperate.

“Please Eddie! Please help me! Why won’t you help me??!”

He’s running. Flying down the stairs until he reaches the double doors labeled morgue. He stops in his tracks and pushes the doors open slowly. The screaming dies down and one of the bodies on the table sits up.

It’s his mom. She has bruises on her body and face, a massive gash in her bottom lip.

“Eddie.”

He runs over to her. He’s not too much taller than her when she’s sitting up on the autopsy table.

“Mom…” he hasn’t seen her since he was 8.

He cups her cold cheek with his hand and stares into her eyes, on the verge of tears. Suddenly he feels something warm roll down his hand. He looks and sees blood dripping down the side of her head and onto his arm. It’s coming from the gunshot wound from his father. Her husband.

“Oh my god!” He gasps, falling backwards and crawling across the floor.

He’d only been 8 when his father killed her and Eddie found her. Only 8 when he had to testify in open court and out his father away.

“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry.” He sobs squeezing his eyes shut and willing her away from him.

It’s silent all around him for a minute and he opens his eyes. She’s not on the table anymore. She’s limp, being held bridal style by …his dad.

“Get up!” He shouts.

Eddie is frozen. He can’t move.

“I said get up!!” His dad commands.

All of a sudden he’s 8 years old again, scared of his dad. He scrambles to his feet while his dad looks him in the eye and drops his moms body to the floor.

“Do you know what you are?” He asks Eddie, jamming his finger into Eddie’s chest, “You’re a fucking liability. You’re nothing. You will always be nothing. You couldn’t save her. How do you expect to save your patients, huh? Certainly not by taking a sick day, that’s for fucking sure.”

Eddie starts crying quietly. “Wayne!! Uncle Wayne help me please!”

He calls into the void but there’s nothing. Just him, his dead mom, and his demons.

---

It’s close to 11pm when Steve turns off the tv and heads to their bedroom to go to sleep. He brushes his teeth quietly, so not to wake Eddie, and then crawls into bed next to his partner.

A small whimper makes Steve look over. Eddie’s asleep, but his brown is furrowed. He looks panicked and keeps making small whimpering noises.

Instinctively, Steve reaches out and runs a hand through Eddie’s hair. The older man almost immediately calms down a little. Steve pauses, resting the back of his fingers on Eddie’s forehead and then his cheek.

The poor guy is absolutely throwing off heat waves. Steve keeps running gentle fingers through Eddie’s hair until the whimpers are replaced by the usual congested snores. After Eddie’s settled again, Steve finally lays down and turns off the bedside lamp.

*****

Thursday, April 6th

Steve groans to himself as he finally turns off the alarm that he’s already snoozed twice. Its 6:35 and he’s barely gotten six hours of sleep. He kept waking up in the middle of the night either to check on Eddie or because he was too hot from sleeping next to Eddie.

He peels himself out of bed, surprised to see Eddie wasn’t there. Some harsh coughing echoing from the kitchen answered that question, though.

Steve pulls on his scrubs and heads to the bathroom, not wasting any time. He added some mousse and spray to his hair, giving it a once over before brushing his teeth and washing his face. He put on his watch and checked the time. 6:48 - time to go.

Grabbing his bag, he heads into the kitchen where Eddie is sitting at the table. He’s in his scrub bottoms and hoodie again, with a thin blanket draped around his shoulders. He’s got dark circles under his eyes and his nose is red and raw from blowing it so much.

“You were up early.” Steve commented, grabbing the car keys and opening the front door.

“Couldn’t sleep.” Eddie coughed, as he exited the apartment.

“Wait. Eddie. You’ve still got the blanket.” Steve points out.

The long haired man waves a hand dismissively. “I’m taking it with me.”

With that, he gets into the passenger seat of the car and leans back, blanket still wrapped around his shoulders, letting his eyes droop. His lips are parted slightly so he can breathe, a small detail that Steve picks up on as soon as he starts the car up.

They pull onto the main road when Eddie starts fidgeting, rifling through the glove compartment.

“What are you-? Oh..” Steve knows this look. Eddie’s pre-sneeze look.

His eyes are fluttering shut and his nostrils are flaring. He’s been sniffling the last couple minutes too so he’s assuming Eddie thinks it’s going to be messy.

“Hold on, hold on!” Steve has one hand on the wheel and one hand trying to grab at the middle console, but he’s also trying to drive the car.

Eddie buckles forward, using both his hands to pull the corner of his blanket up to cover.

“H’issh! NxxTCH! Eh’GSHT! snfsnff ii’KSHT’iew!”

“Bless you! Jesus…”

Steve grimaces at how sick and contagious those sneezes sounded. There’s no way the blanket escaped unscathed. He opens the middle console and pulls a handful of napkins, holding them out to Eddie.

The older man grabs at them and quickly holds them over his nose, pausing for a second, “heh-ISHHuu!”

The raspy sneeze turns into a desperate nose blow. Eddie drops the soaked napkin by his feet and grabs another to gurgle into. After he cleaned himself up, he grabs the last napkin and scrubs at his blanket.

“That can’t be sanitary…” Steve whispers to himself.

Eddie just coughs and leans his head against the cool window of the car until they park in the lot for Hawkins Medical.

The boys walk in where Robin is once again chatting with Nancy before opening.

“Hey guys-” Robin starts.

Steve stares at her wide eyed, mentally telling her not to even address the sorry state of Eddie. The doctor follows in behind Steve, pulling the blanket closer to him.

“N’dancy do you have any m’bore tissues?”

“Yeah Eddie, sure.” She opens the cabinet under the sink behind her and pulls out a fresh box and hands it to him.

“Tha’gks.” He sulks off to his office and Nancy gives Steve a look.

She leans in close and hisses, “You are not letting him see patients like that.”

Steve shrugged and held up his hands in defeat. “I don’t know what you want me to do about Nancy. I’ve been yelled at so many times this week. My hands are tied.”

Nancy and Robin both felt bad. Steve was in a really tough position, wanting to help but also not wanting to start any fights with Eddie. Billy walked in and pointed towards the back office.

“You letting patient zero stay here today??”

For once in his life, Billy was not only right, but valid in his concern. Eddie definitely shouldn’t be here right now.

“He won’t listen to me so I guess yeah. Yeah he is.”

Billy rolled his eyes. The clinic would be opening soon. The first patient was for Billy and then Nancy. Eddie’s first patient wasn't until 9:30.

The first part of the morning went smooth, leaving Eddie to drink his coffee and work on notes in his office. But by the time his first patient showed up, everyone was walking on eggshells.

“Morning Jessica!” Robin grinned.

Jessica was one of the regular patients in her late 30’s who was always friendly with the staff. Her and her girlfriend, Beck, were two of the funniest people around.

“Hey girl! How you doing?” Jessica asked.

“Hanging in there this week.” Robin leaned in close and brought her voice down to a whisper, “Doctor E’s sick and refuses to admit it.”

Jessica mouths the knowing “ahhhhh” as she nods. “I know the type. Doctors make the worst patients though, am I right?”

Robin nodded profusely. “Looks like you had a credit from the last appointment so no copay today. Go ahead and have a seat. I’ll have Steve get you soon.”

She grabs Jessica’s chart and marches it back to Steve. “Our favorite is here for her new med follow up.”

“Perfect! I’ll bring this to sick boy.” Steve types something into his computer and then stands up to let Jessica into an exam room.

---

Eddie looks dead on his feet when Steve brings in Jessica’s chart.

“First one for you Eds.” He says as nonchalantly as he can.

“Yup. I got it.” Eddie stands, but has to steady himself, closing his eyes to let the wave of dizziness pass.

Abandoning his blanket momentarily, he grabs the chart and heads into the exam room.

“Hey Jessica. You’ll have to excuse this-” he gestures to his entire demeanor, “I’m not feeling the best.”

“Understatement of the year, I suppose.” Jessica teased. “Sorry you’re not feeling well!”

Eddie sits down on the chair across the room, already too tired to stand. “So last time you were here we started you on 25mg of Zoloft. That was about three months ago. How are you feeling now?”

“Honestly? Best I’ve felt in a long time.” Jessica smiles.

“Any weird side effects? Mood swings? Any more bad thoughts?”

She thinks for a second but responds matter of factly, “Nope! Feels great.”

“Then I think I’d like to keep you on 25mg for now, but if anything changes you come back and we can reassess okay?”

“Bing, bang, boom! That was quick and easy.” She exclaims, grabbing her cross shoulder bag. “See you in a few months I guess!”

Eddie nodded, “See you then! Robin will get you all checked out.”

When he thought she couldn’t see him anymore, his face fell and he rubbed at his temple. Jessica made her way back to the front window.

“He’s worse than I thought.” She whispered to Robin, “He thought I couldn’t see but he looks really out of it and run down. Needs a pick me up or something.”

Those words echoed in Robins head as she signed Jessica out. He needs a pick me up.

If there was one thing Robin was good at it was humor. Once Jessica was gone, Robin made her way back towards Eddie’s office but saw him in the hallway.

“Hey Eddie! I have a joke for you. How do you tell if a vampire is sick?”

She paused briefly before answering her own joke, “By how much he’s coffin!!”

Eddie stared at her with annoyed eyes before he shouted, “Seriously Robin?? What are you comparing me to a Vampire now?? Stop trying to be funny and go back to work.”

Thank god he stormed off to his office because Robin was too shocked to move or speak. That stung. She’d never been yelled at by Eddie before. Before she knew it, Steve had a hand on her shoulder saying, “I’m so sorry Robs, ignore him.”

Her best friend kept speed walking into Eddie’s office and shut the door behind him so he could yell at his boyfriend in private.

“What the fuck Eddie??? You cannot speak to Robin like that, especially when she’s trying to cheer you up. You owe her an apology.”

Eddie just glares at his desk.

“Did you hear me Eddie?? Fucking apologize. Either get your shit together or go home. Jesus Christ…”

Steve is the one to storm out this time, slamming the door behind him. Nancy and Billy definitely heard, but opted to keep to themselves. Probably for the better anyways.

---

Robin was scribbling numbers on her insurance verification sheet for tomorrow. This was probably her least favorite part of the day, running numbers and making calls to the obscure insurance companies to ask about it.

Her concentration was broken when there was a small burst of wind as someone sat on the chair next to her.

“Hey Birdie.”

It was Eddie. Still wrapped in his blanket. But this time he looked apologetic and sad.

“I should NOT have yelled at you like that. The joke was funny and you just wanted to make me laugh.”

She slowly looked up and met his eyes. They were glazed and teary.

“I’m really really sorry Robin. I didn’t mean to. I just.” His voice wavered, “I just feel so sick!”

Two silent tears rolled down his cheeks. Robin’s heart broke and she immediately pulled him into a sitting hug, holding his head to her shoulder (and shielding him from any patients that might walk in.)

Steve walked up holding papers to copy but stopped dead in his tracks. Robin looked up at Steve, shooting him a look that screamed, “SOS he broke” as she held him.

Steve set the papers down and rushed over, kneeling in front of Robin and Eddie. He rubbed Eddie’s forearm.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Look at me.”

Eddie slowly turns to look at Steve, his face wet with tears and a thin layer of sweat. His nose is running from crying. Robin brushes some strands of hair out of his face with one hand and grabs the tissue box and sets it on her lap with the other.

“I feel bad.” He sobs, “I yelled at everyone and I wish I didn’t and I just feel so sihhh hhh -sick- h’iKSHT!”

Robin bites her lip in disgust as she rubs her friends back. Steve grabs a few tissues and wipes away the strings of mess from Eddie’s nose. He runs a hand through Eddie’s hair and then rests his palm on his forehead.

“You’re burning up Eds. I’m gonna go grab the thermometer.”

“Should we like…put him in an exam room or something Steve? I can sit with him until lunch and you can take him home…”

“Uhhh yeah fuck okay. That’s a good idea.”

Robin helps Eddie up and they walk over to Exam room 1 since the bed is against the wall.

“Just. Lay down for a second Eddie.” Robin is flustered. She doesn’t usually spend much time in the actual exam rooms.

He lays down, resting his head on the small pillow, and she pulls his blanket over his shoulders. He’s still sniffling from crying, his cheeks are flushed bright red.

Steve comes in with his little vitals cart, pulling the thermometer from its spot next to the blood pressure cuff.

“Open up Eds.” Steve slips the device under his tongue and waits for the reading. “102.4° Eddie. No wonder you feel so bad.”

Robin’s already going through the cabinets in the exam room until she finds what she’s looking for. She’s seen Eddie use it on some of the Peds patients before.

She opens the box and takes out a gel fever patch, peeling off the adhesive and gently sticking it to Eddie’s forehead. He whimpers slightly at how good it feels.

“Oh my god Robin those are for children.” Steve can’t help but laugh a little.

“A fever is a fever, Steve.”

She has a point.

“You sure you’re okay watching him?” He asks.

“Yeah I mean as long as you check people in and out. It’s only an hour or so. Just turn the lights off on your way out.”

Steve nods, flicking the light off and closing the door. He’s already sending texts to Chrissy asking if she can cover him tomorrow.

---

Despite it only being an hour, give or take, Steve is super anxious wanting to take Eddie home and get him to bed. As soon as the last patient was out the door, Steve was already locking up for lunch and making his way back to Exam 1.

“Hey buddy.” Steve gently rubs Eddie’s shoulder after turning on the light.

Lunch hour started and Steve had come to relieve Robin of her babysitting duties. Eddie slowly blinked himself awake.

“Hey Stevie…”

“How’re you feeling?” Robin stands up from the chair next to the exam room bed, stretching her legs.

Eddie groans and rubs at his nose, sniffing, “Really really sick actually…”

“You ready to go home?” Steve asks, petting his hair.

“Yeah. I am.” Eddie sits up and touches his forehead, “What is this??”

“It’s a fever patch, dummy. Don’t touch it!” Robin playfully slaps his hand away.

She helps Eddie to his feet and he notices Steve’s already got his backpack and the car keys.

“Are you… staying home with me? Steve you don’t have to…”

“Yes I do. And Chrissy’s gonna cover for me tomorrow too. Especially if you’re finally dropping the ‘doctors don’t get sick’ act and will let me help you.”

“If some soup and the good tissues are involved I’ll gladly accept that offer.”

They make their way out into the hallway and stop outside the break room where Robin just joined Nancy.

“I’m sorry for being a dick this week Nancy.”

“It’s okay Eddie, just get some rest!” Nancy’s mom-friend tone was coming out.

Steve nodded at them and gently shoveled Eddie out the back door into their car. The drive back to their apartment was still about fifteen minutes, but it felt so much faster.

“I’m thinking maybe a shower for you and then bed.” Steve looks over from behind the wheel.

Eddie coughed into his elbow. “I was thinking the same thing.”

When they parked and got out of the car, Steve was expecting Eddie to beeline for the shower like he had the past couple of days, but instead, he gives Steve the biggest hug.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so mean.” Eddie mumbles into Steve’s chest. “I’ll do whatever you say, I’m just tired of feeling like shit.”

Steve softens and leans into the hug. “It’s okay Eddie. I just want you to feel better. Why don’t you go shower and get in bed and I’ll bring you some tea?”

---

Steve had started the tea when he heard Eddie get out of the shower. He didn’t want to start it early and risk it getting cold.

He let the water boil in the electric kettle, letting the tea steep after it had stopped bubbling. He stirred in a bit of honey for good measure and walked it over to the bedroom.

“Eddie, you decent?” He called gently.

When no response came, he toed open the slightly ajar door. Eddie was passed out, face down in his favorite black sweats and a waffle knit shirt. He snored softly, face buried in the bedsheets.

Steve set the tea down on the bedside table and draped a clean quilt over him, taking the dirty one to the wash. He closed the door quietly behind him and made his way to the kitchen to make himself some lunch.

His phone buzzed as a text from Robin came through.

How’s he doing?

He typed out a quick response.

Hey Robs. He’s out cold in bed already…

That was quick 🤣

Record time, I think.

Steve laughed to himself while he reheated leftover pasta. He didn’t know how long he’d have to entertain himself, but Eddie definitely needed some rest.

****

Friday, April 7th

“-chEW!”

Steve slowly pulls himself from sleep, vaguely aware of the wet sneezes sounding next to him.

“K’tschIEW! snrkk sorry I didn’t m’bean to wake you up. Tried to stifle them but… they were too strong.”

“S’okay. Bless you.” Steve props himself up on his elbows and reaches over to feel Eddie’s forehead while he blows his nose. “Feeling any better?”

“Yeah, but still feel like I got hit by a bus.” He tossed the tissues to the side and leans back against the pillows propping him up, “Can’t breathe through m’by n’dose.”

“I’m sorry babe. I’ll look around for the humidifier later and see if that helps.”

Eddie nodded, while Steve grabbed the thermometer off the table by the bed and pressed the ON button. He hands it to Eddie, who slips it under his tongue.

They wait for a minute until it beeps. Eddie leans forward and Steve takes the device to check the reading.

“What’s the damage n’durse Steve?”

“100.3°. Explains why you feel so crummy. A lot lower than yesterday though.” Steve kisses the top of Eddie’s head before getting out of bed to get dressed.

Eddie slumps down, closing his eyes again. He only intended to rest them for a minute, but soon enough he’s right back asleep.

---

Steve’s in the kitchen heating up some soup for Eddie when there’s a knock on the door. He turns the heat down to low and goes to open it.

“Hey Robin what’re you doing here?”

She smiles and holds up a paper bag, “Thought I’d drop by on my lunch break to drop off bagel sandwiches for you.”

“That’s so nice!” Steve stepped aside, “Come on in.”

“How’s Eddie doing?” She asks.

“Well…” Steve points to the living room where there’s a figure hunched over a small humidifier with a towel over their head. “His fever’s down but he’s super congested still. I have him doing humidifier treatment while I make him some soup.

“How very domestic of you.” She smirks, making her way over to the covered figure.

“Hey Eds! Brought you some bagels! Feel any better?”

He flips the towel over his head so it’s resting on his back. His face is looks clammy from the steam.

“Thanks Robin.” He turns away to cough and then teeters his hand back and forth. “Eh. Been better. Still feel like shit.”

Almost on cue, his eyes flutter closed and he turns to the side, leaning into the crook of his elbow.

“M’ptSHew! G’isSHuhew! H’ekTSCH!”

“Bless you!! I gotta get back to the clinic, but feel better, yeah? Lord of rest this weekend.” Robin ruffles his hair and heads back to the front door where Steve is waiting.

Eddie gives a tired thumbs up from behind his tissues before throwing the towel back over his head.

“Guess you finally got him to drop the act?”

Steve sighs, “Yeah. Fucking finally. Doctors do get sick after all.”

The two of them chuckle to themselves, certain Eddie couldn’t hear their teasing over the hiss of the humidifier.

“Thanks for the bagels.” Steve gives Robin a hug on her way out. “See you Monday?”

She walks backwards out the door, shooting finger guns at him. “You know it Steve-o!”

Steve smiled at the ground as he closed the front door, turning the stove back up to a boil. He was so thankful for friends like Robin. And thankful his boyfriend was finally letting him take care of him.

[softsnzstuff]

A Little Helping Hand

Fandom: Stranger Things, Streamer AU

Summary: Robin has Eddie and Steve do the Not My Hands Challenge, only Steve has a cold

Notes: Thanks @dontfeeltoohot for bouncing this idea around with me!

CW: Contagion, non-intentional

“Hi lovelies!! You asked and asked and asked and I finally convinced the boys to do the Not My Hands Makeup Challenge!”

Robin addressed the stream and gestured to Steve and Eddie who were next to her.

“I would be in bed right now, but Robs really wants to do this stream today…” Steve muttered, consonants slightly rounded.

“Oh come on, I know you’ve been looking forward to this all week.” Eddie playfully elbowed him and then addressed the stream. “Stevie’s got a cold. He’s just grumpy.”

Aww poor Steve

Such a trooper doing this anyways

You’re so cute Robin!

Robin laughed. “Well okay! Let’s set this up then?!”

Eddie sat down with his legs slightly spread, Steve sitting in between so he was in front of Eddie, blocking his view.

“So Steve is gonna put his arms behind his back…” Robin narrated.

Steve held up his hands and wiggled his fingers before putting both arms behind his back. Robin took some duct tape out and stuck it to Steve’s chest and started wrapping it around him.

“Well. I definitely can’t use my hands.” Steve grumbled.

“And Eddie here. He’s going to act as Steve’s hands!”

Eddie had his chest pressed up against Steve’s back and his arms were sticking out to the side.

Robin had them set up at her makeup table, the streaming camera in front of them. She had an array of makeup brushes, powders, foundations, and eyeliners splayed out on the table in front of Steve. He was eyeballing them all.

“This. SnFF Looks like a bad idea.” He sniffled.

Are they gonna even know what all those are for??

Eddie might actually do killer eyeliner…

Yeah but he can’t see???

Robin perched herself behind them on her bed. “Okay guys I’ll tell you what you’re going to do, and Eddie is gonna do it as best he can. Steve you can help tell him where things are I guess. Start with foundation.”

Eddie started slapping his hands along the counter trying to grab anything he could.

“No Eddie just snf wait a second. The foundation… maybe the bhehh back left cehh corner..?”

Oh fuck.

Eddie could feel Steve’s breath hitching. He loved his partner but god damn was he bad at covering. And his hands were literally tied. The last thing he wanted was for Steve to sneeze all over Robin’s things.

Eddie felt Steve’s chest expand as he inhaled. Without thinking, his reflexes kicked in and Eddie found himself using his own hands to cover Steve’s nose and mouth.

“HAESSSH!”

“EW!”

“ETSCHIEW! snfsnff ISSSSHuhEW!”

Eddie screamed as Steve continued to spray his hands with each cold ridden sneeze. “STEVE STOP!”

Robin’s jaw was on the floor and comments were pouring in while Steve sniffled helplessly.

EW EW EW OH MY GOD

Eddie NO!!!!!!!

I saw the spray ☠️☠️☠️

The pause was only momentary as Steve immediately started to hitch again. This time almost more desperately.

“Don’t you DARE!” Eddie grappled around for the collar of Steve’s own shirt, bringing it up towards his boyfriends face.

“H’itSCHhh!”

Eddie felt a damp spot form on part of his hand, so he shifted the shirt slightly, still trying to use it to shield himself.

“TszzIEW! H’aTSsuHEW!”

Stop he’s still going 😩

RIP headphone users

Someone step in maybe??

Fuck is he okay?

Steve sniffled thickly, clearly embarrassed.

Robin had gotten up quickly, grabbing the box of tissues off her nightstand and bringing them over to the boys. After quickly untaping Steve, she knelt down and handed him several tissues that he pressed to his nose.

Eddie stood up frantically, a disgusted look plastered on his face as he looked at his hands. He made a dramatic show of flicking his hands towards the floor with a snapping motion, trying to rid himself of the mess Steve had left.

The older man walked out the open bedroom door and into the bathroom and started washing his hands. Robin took Eddie’s spot and sat next to Steve, rubbing a hand up and down his back as he continued to fight against the tickle.

Are you okay Steve?

Didn’t get very far into the makeup challenge did they?

Steve looked at the comments coming in.

“I’m okay. That just happens when I’m sick. Sorry guys that was gross.”

As if on cue, Eddie walked back into the bedroom. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and his hands were still damp from washing them. He pointed dramatically at Steve.

“I swear to GOD Steven, if you get me sick…”

Steve snuffled again and lowered the tissues from his face. “I’m sorry I can’t help it!”

Robin put an arm around Steve and spoke to the viewers.

“Well that was an absolute train wreck! We didn’t even get to the makeup and I’m pretty sure the boys are never going to do that again.” She laughed.

“We’re gonna end the stream here but be sure to tune in tomorrow when Nancy and I play Smash Bros. And go give Eddie and Steve a follow as well!! Byeeeeeeee!”

*****

[Four Days Later]

Eddie’s slouched forward at his gamer desk, a blanket draped over his shoulders. His complexion is paler than normal and the tip of his nose is tinged pink. He had a plastic water bottle and a small bowl off to the side, barely in frame.

“Hey guys.” He said sluggishly, punctuated with a watery sniffle.

You look so tired :(

Are you sick?

No jam session today??

Eddie’s eyes slowly moved back and forth as he read the stream comments.

“Someone got me sick, so instead of the regularly scheduled program, we’re playing Animal Crossing and eating soup.”

Steve shouted from the next room, “I said I was sorry!!”

Eddie sat up and turned over his shoulder, “Sorry doesn’t kill germs, Steven!!”

The long haired man twisted himself so that his legs were dangling over the armrest of his chair. Hugging the blanket tighter to him, he quickly brought an arm up to his face.

“N’xxT! H’ixxTCHU! iiKSHTiew!”

Bless you!!

Poor guy sounds awful

Take it easy okay?

“Ughhhh fuck,” Eddie groaned, leaving his face in the crook of his elbow while he reached for a tissue, “I’b sorry guys. This is so disgusti’g.”

He replaced his arm with the tissue, blowing his nose a few times before leaning back against the chair and going back to the game.

He played for an hour or so before Steve finally came in and placed a gentle hand on Eddie’s blanketed shoulder.

“Hey, it’s time for your night time cold meds.” He held his hand out, dropping two green pills into Eddie’s hand.

“Thanks Steve.” Eddie looked up at him from where he was sat in the chair.

Steve leaned over and pressed a kiss to Eddie’s forehead before disappearing back to the living room.

“Kay guys I think that’s it for tonight. Once I take these, I’ll sleep for like…1-3 business days.” Eddie joked to the stream, “I’ll see you guys later!”

[softsnzstuff]

robin thoughts you say???? sorry but i’m literally just obsessed with how her freckles would accent her cheeks and nose when she gets sick???? nose scrunches ??? the way they stand out differently on flushed cheeks??? like i’m so soft for girls with freckles as it is? but ??? omfg.

ONLY TOOK ME YEARS TO ANSWER THIS PROMPT BUT!!

Was in the mood for some Doctors Office AU Robin super sick and the boys coming to check on her. Established Steddie ((Robin/Chrissy Pining))

*****

Who the fuck was knocking on her door?? She’s tired. She’s annoyed. She just wants to sleep but the sleep won’t come. When she finally opens the door she’s met with the beaming faces of Steve and Eddie, the latter of them waving at her from the doorstep.

She looks at them unamused, lips parted slightly, flush accenting her freckle dusted nose.

“What’re you doi’g here?”

“Your best friends are a doctor and a nurse, Robs. You think we weren’t gonna come check on you when you’re sick?”

Steve let himself into his friend’s apartment, walking past her. He crinkled his nose at the sight of tissues scattered all over the floor and the couch.

“Ignore that.” She muttered, reading his mind. She padded back over towards the couch, but stopped a few feet short, bringing her sleeve covered hands up to her face. “t’ssiew! ii’kshew!”

She sniffled wetly and sat down on the couch, slumping into the cushions.

“We brought you some soup and crackers!” Eddie offered, setting a bag on her kitchen counter.

Steve had sat next to her on the sofa and she’d instinctively leaned up against him. He wrapped his arm around her, “You didn’t want to call your girl over to take care of you?” He teased.

“If you’re talking about Chrissy…,” she coughed, “She was here earlier.”

Robin gestured to a comically large squishmallow that was resting on the couch too. Steve chuckled. “Ahhh I see.”

She brought a hand up to her face once more as she turned into Steve’s shoulder.

“Hhh ii’tsyue! H’kshEW!”

Steve rubbed her back as she curled more into him. He shot Eddie a look that was both sympathetic for Robin but also screamed ‘I’m not escaping this.’

Eddie made his way over and perched on the edge of her wooden coffee table so he was facing her.

“How’re you feeling, Birdie?”

“Throat hurts. Body hurts. Can’t hhhh stop hih- sn’deezi’g… h’TSHuh! eh’tsyue!!”

“Bless you.” The older man leaned forward and placed his palm on her head before gently moving his hands down to feel her glands.

“Have you eaten anything yet today?”

“N’dot hu’gry.” She mumbled, burying her head into Steve’s shoulder.

Eddie frowned, exchanging another look with Steve.

“Sounds like it might be a mild flu. Not fun at all, but this is probably the worst of it.” There was just a small groan in reply. “Hang tight I’m gonna warm you up some soup.”

Eddie heads to the kitchen but Steve stage whispers to him.

“Eddie.” He hissed.

Eddie looks over, confused but sees Steve shake his head No and then point to Robin with his free hand, then motioning that she fell asleep.

Understanding, Eddie puts the container of soup in the fridge for later and makes himself comfortable on the couch with her and Steve.

The boys both knew she needed this rest, so if they had to stay and watch tv while she slept, they were okay with it.

[softsnzstuff]

Whoops my hand slipped and I wrote it. Hope y’all enjoy. I know it’s been a hot minute since I’ve written.

*~*~*~*~*~*~

It’s the first group stream of the spring - Steve, Eddie, Robin and Chrissy all on their separate coms. The group usually faces off in a few Mario Kart tournaments, and today did not stray from the usual.

They’re competing in a Grand Prix at 150cc. Despite being the worst driver in real life, Eddie somehow held the champion title when it came to Mario Kart.

The gamers were all hyper-fixed on their screens as the chat went off in the bottom corner. This was the second of four courses.

“Oh MY god,” Robin snorted, “How is Steve so bad at this game??”

The brunette had just overshot a turn and fallen off the edge of the road.

“Listen Robs, I’m the best driver here.”

“Yuh in real life.” Robin mocked, “That doesn’t matter here.”

It’s where it matters most

Steve sux at this game wtf

“Yeah, I mean. Eddie’s the worst driver and he’s in first.” Chrissy giggled.

“I don’t know whether to scold you or thank you, Cunningham…” Eddie squinted, eyes darting to her picture on the screen briefly.

“You look too soft to scold me today, bean.” Chrissy laughed.

She wasn’t wrong. The eldest of the group was leaned back in his gaming chair, knees tucked up by his chest. He had a bright blue fluffy blanket draped over his shoulders.

“How dare you make fun of a dying mahhh man- T’sch! h’ixxtCH! Ng’TchUU! - snrff” Eddie had ducked down into a fistful of tissues that materialized from within his blanket.

“Bless you.” The other three sounded off.

“You’re not dying Eddie.” Steve rolled his eyes at his partner’s dramatics.

“Then why am’b I in quara’dtine?” Eddie retorted back.

Robin and Chrissy both silent laughed as their jaws his the floor.

“Steven!!!” Robin exclaimed, “You put Eddie in quarantine???”

Oh my god he did not 🤣🤣

Steve why!!!!

I mean I would do it…

“He’s got a bad cold. But it’s on top of his spring allergies…” Steve tried to defend himself.

“And??” Chrissy asked.

“H’eTCH! Isshuu! … T’szziEW!”

Bless you bless you bless you

Bless you

Bless you times three

“And he keeps doing that.” Steve muttered. “I have an event later this week and didn’t wanna risk catching it.”

Eddie just stared at the screen intensely as he quickly wiped at his nose with another tissue, other hand still on the controller.

“You know you’re gonna catch it anyways right? It’s you Stevie, come on.” Robin teased.

“YES!” Eddie shouted as he finished the race in first place, followed shortly by Chrissy, Robin and lastly Steve.

Robin eyed her camera as the third race queued up. “How many of you think Steve is gonna get Eddie’s cold anyways? Let me know.”

The countdown started on the screen and the race begun as chat popped off.

Absolutely

Duh. It’s Steve

He probably already has it and doesn’t have symptoms yet smh

YES LMAO

They’re almost two laps in when Eddie’s nose starts to tickle deep in his sinuses. His eyes start to close as his nostrils flare.

“Hhhh…”

What’s wrong with Eddie?

That’s a funny face dude

I think he’s gonna sneeze again?

Cmon Eddie you’re so close to the finish!

“HIH!” Eddie scrunches his nose trying to will the sneeze away.

“Okay there Eds?” Steve raised an eyebrow.

“Gonna… snehh sneeze…”

He was in first place by a landslide. As he gasped an inhale, he quickly brought the crook of his arm up to his face and used the wrist of his other arm to hold it there, controller completely useless.

“H’MPTCH! ii’SHHiew! H’eKSHT! SNF … fuck!”

He blinks himself back into concentration, holding the controller with two hands again.

Bless you again

Poor guy’s really sick

Stupid allergies

“Passed ya!” Chrissy teases as the speakers sound, letting everyone know she’s now on her last lap.

“Only because I’b dyi’g.” Eddie gave a watery sniffle as he dragged the backside of his wrist under his damp nose.

He glanced the chat and smiled weakly. “Awww thank you for the bless you’s.”

Chrissy finishes this race in first, Eddie very closely second followed by Robin and Steve.

“Dammit!” Eddie mutters, pulling a handful of tissues out and blowing his nose.

“Yes! Yes yes yes!!!” Chrissy did a little dance in her chair.

“Yeah yeah, enjoy it while it lasts, Chris…” he mumbles from behind the tissues.

“Nice job Chrissy!” Robin shouts through her headset.

“Finally someone else can take Eddie down.”

“Sore loser are we, Harrington?” Eddie scoffs.

The fourth and final race starts and Eddie is determined. He sets the box of tissues down on the table and shifts so he’s now sitting cross legged on the chair, leaning forward.

The four streamers take off, drifting over sharp turns left and right.

“Eddie ya know if chrissy beats your ass in this race she dethrones you?” Steve smirked in realization.

When no response came, everyone looked to his screen. Eddie looked to be fighting off another sneeze.

“You okay there Eds?” Steve laughed knowingly.

A hand lifted off his controller just long enough to flip Steve the bird before it grabbed hold of the fluffy blanket and pressed it firmly to his face.

“HEH’ iiKSH!” His head bobbed down as he sneezed wetly into the blanket. “…t’isshu! H’kTCH!”

“Gross Eddie? Really??” Robin screamed.

“Into my blanket Eddie??? Come on.” Steve grumbled.

“Bla’dkets can be washed, Steven. M’by champion title cannot be reclai’bed.”

Chrissy just laughed at her best friend.

Yeah… that’s very Eddie

He’s not wrong

Gross dude

On STEVE’s blanket???? He’s DEF getting sick…

Eddie sped through the finish line and huffed a sigh of relief, setting the controller down and reaching for the tissue box once again. He plucked a few and muted his microphone so he could gurgle into them briefly.

He grabbed a fresh one to wipe at his nose one more time as the others bantered, leaning back in the chair.

He pressed a button on his headset to unmute the mic.

“Wanna go another round Dingus?” Robin offered up.

“Umm I feel like my head is full of goo.” Eddie groaned, consonants rounded with congestion. “I think I’m gonna call it and go lie down.”

The girls have a sympathy frown, knowing he must be feeling bad if he’s turning down the chance to show off his Karting skills.

“Awww alright Eddie. Hope you feel better!”

After saying some brief goodbyes, the four logged off of their respective computers, stream offline. Eddie flopped onto the couch and groaned again, closing his eyes and hoping the sinus headache would go away, when he heard the door to his streaming room open.

He opened one eye and glanced over to see Steve standing in the doorway holding a bottle of antihistamines and a blue Gatorade.

“Don’t come too close - you’ll catch your death.” Eddie teased, coughing lightly into his elbow.

“Brought these for you dummy. You sound awful…” Steve looked sheepish, “Figured I should stop being a shit boyfriend and look after you.”

Eddie raised an eyebrow, “What about your event?”

Steve shrugged, “Doesn’t matter. Wouldn’t be as fun without you anyways… gimme a hug?”

Eddie grinned and opened his blanketed arms making room for Steve, who set down the bottles and cuddled up next to Eddie. The older man closed his arms around Steve, blanket engulfing them both.

They lay there in silence for a few minutes before the younger man quickly ducked down into Eddie’s chest “HRUSSSHEW!”

Eddie quickly looked down at Steve and then kissed the top of his head. “Sorry…”

Suddenly very much in the mood to write Streamer!Eddie suffering through a cold on top of his seasonal allergies on a stream 😳 do I do it….?

[softsnzstuff]

What about nurse Steve having a week off for vacation and to Eddie’s surprise he turns up at the office about three days in. Turns out Steve came down with a wicked cold and had to cancel his trip, and now he’s getting a sinus infection and has to come see Eddie as a patient for antibiotics (idk if that’s allowed but it still seems fun lmao)

Anon, this is SO GOOD! I’ve had this in my inbox for like a week because I wanted to make sure I did it justice. Please enjoy 1.6k of sick Nurse!Steve and Doctor!Eddie

*****************************************************

“Hey Robin, here’s the chart for Mr.Jones. Doctor Munson would like to follow up in about six weeks.”

Robin looked up and locked eyes with the bubbly girl standing in front of her. Chrissy was a nurse from one of the other clinic locations, filling in for the week while Steve was on vacation in Chicago.

“Thanks Chrissy!” Robin took the chart and placed it in front of her, watching the strawberry blonde’s high ponytail bounce as she walked away.

Robin smiled and began typing in the computer as Mr.Jones appeared at the little window by her desk.

“Sounds like it’s going to be six weeks until the follow up Mr.Jones. You want another Thursday appointment?”

“Only if it’s Doctor Munson.” The man chuckled.

Robin jokingly looked left and right before whispering, “I’ll make sure it is.” She wrote down the new appointment information on a business card and handed it to the man who smiled and nodded on his way out, leaving Robin to type the appointment notes in the computer.

Mr.Jones - 6 week f/u for BP. Requests Dr.Munson. Thursdays work best due to his work schedule.

She dated and initialed the appointment note as her phone vibrated in her pocket. She wasn’t usually one to check her texts at work, but seeing that it was a slow day, she took a peek. To her surprise it was a text from Steve.

Hey Robin. Can you do me a favor?

She typed back quickly,

‘Hey Steve-o, what can I do ya for?’

The response came quicker than she expected.

Does Eddie have any gaps in his schedule today?

‘Mmm yeah he’s got an opening at 2, but don’t worry about it. Go eat deep dish pizza or whatever you do in Chicago.’

I didn’t go

Even though he couldn’t see her face, she was visibly puzzled by this.

‘Steve why are you not in Chicago and why are you asking me about Eddie’s schedule??’

Before she could interrogate him more, her phone lit up with a picture of his face. He was calling. She quickly glanced at the waiting room making sure no one was there.

“Steve?” She whispered, “I’m at work, Dingus. What do you want. And why aren’t you in Chicago??”

“I need- H’AESSSH! ISSSHHH!! ITSSCHIEW!”

Robin pulled the phone away from her ear, startled by the loudness. When she finally put the phone back to her ear, he was blowing his nose, “Gross Steve.”

“I know. I need an appointment. Got sick over the weekend, cancelled the trip. snrff It’s only getti’g worse.”

Robin sighed, “Yeah you sound awful. No offense. I’ll put you in for the 2pm yeah?”

“Tha’gks Robin.”

“See you soon.”

As soon as she hung up, she pumped some of the hand sanitizer from her desk onto her hands, rubbing them together. Steve sounded contagious and she wasn’t going to risk it.

She slipped the phone back into her pocket and pulled up Steve’s file on the computer, printing out a blank chart for him. She circled some information with her pen that had the bobbles on top and then set it to the side for later.

***

Steve rolled into the waiting room at promptly 1:45. Instead of his clean and pressed scrubs, he was in sweatpants and a hoodie, his face three shades paler and nose raw and red.

“Hey Robin.” He sluggishly picked up the pen at the window and signed himself in.

“Jesus Steve. You look like shit.”

“You flatter me, Buckley.” He sighed, but she wasn’t wrong. He turned to the side, bringing the sleeve of his hoodie to his face, “HM’PTCCCH! NGTSCH!! ISSSHIEW!”

Robin used her foot to push her swivel chair back a foot as she looped on a mask from her desk drawer. “That sweatshirt is probably a level 2 biohazard at LEAST.” She pushed the box of tissues towards him. He plucked a few and blew his nose. “How long have you been like this?”

“Ummb since su’day I thi’gk.”

Robin shook her head and tsk-ed as she scribbled a note on his chart. “I’m gonna bring this back. Hang tight.”

She got up and walked the chart back to Chrissy, who was finishing the outpatient paperwork from the woman before.

“Trade ya!” Chrissy chimed, holding out the chart for Mrs.Norris. Robin cheerfully handed Chrissy the new chart and took the old one back to her desk.

As she tapped away at the computer scheduling Mrs.Norris’ follow up in two weeks, she could hear Chrissy’s hushed voice as she took Steve’s vitals in the exam room.

“-he’ll be in soon. Good talking with you!” The door closed and Robin heard the plastic click of Chrissy flagging the room that the patient was ready for the doctor to come in.

Even through the closed door, she could hear her friend, “TISSSH! ISSSH!”

Robin got up, grabbing the box of tissues from her desk, shaking her head. She knocked gently on the door before opening it.

“Room service.” She joked, setting the box in his lap before closing the door and heading to Eddie’s office area.

She put a hand on his shoulder and leaned into him whispering, “You might want this, doc. Next patient sounds contagious.” Robin held up a mask with one finger

“Thanks birdie.”

He stood up and put on the mask, Robin looking over her shoulder as he opened the door, looking down at the chart.

“Robin!” He yelled, door still open. He poked his head out and took the mask off, laughing. “You didn’t say it was Steve! You’re so dumb.” He continued laughing as he closed the door behind him.

“Hey Steve, sorry Robin thinks she’s funny. She said you sound super contagious.” He pulled up a chair and straddled it, snapping on some latex gloves.

“She should write to the British medical journal.” Steve quipped.

“Oooh he’s feisty today! So what happened to Chicago??” Eddie asked.

Steve swiped at his nose with a tissue, “Ca’dcelled. I got sick on Su’day…? Feel like shit.”

Eddie tilted his head as he listened, “Well. If you don’t mind me saying, you also sound like shit. And knowing you, you wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t concerning you.”

“Yeah… feels like it mbight be a sinus i’dfection?”

“I’ll be the judge of that. C’mere.”

The younger of the two leaned toward as Eddie reached out with gloves hands and felt Steve’s lymph nodes. He hummed in thought as he moved his hands up, feeling the area around Steve’s cheeks and head. Steve winced at the touch.

“Sorry. Definitely feels swollen.” Eddie said, opening a drawer and pulling out an otoscope. “Told your head back for me?”

Steve did as he was told and Eddie flicked on the instrument’s light, sticking the end into Steve’s nose and looking for a minute, first in one nostril, then the other.

“I think your initial thoughts were correct,” Eddie leaned back, removing the plastic cover from the instrument and sanitizing his hands, “definitely looks like textbook sinusitis. Good to know your medical knowledge is unaffected by illness.” he joked.

“Ugh I- hehh AISSSH! Issssh!! HEH’tssCHH!” Steve’s face was locked in the crook of his elbow.

“Gnarly.” Eddie held out the tissue box. Steve took several and gurgled into them.

“I’b so sorry. I feel so disgusti’g.”

“Hey, don’t it’s okay. You forget I spent the majority of my residency working sketchy night shifts. You wish your germs could compare to the shit I’ve seen.” Eddie stood up and opened the top cabinet, pulling down a big glass jar.

“Listen I don’t do this for all my patients, BUT since you were such a good one, you can take a lollipop from Doctor Rockstar’s secret supply.” A huge smile crossed Eddie’s face.

“You think you’re cute, huh?” Steve asked, raising an eyebrow.

“And you don’t?” Eddie retorted back. “I’m just saying I’ve been told my sweets have magical healing powers.”

Steve locked eyes with Eddie for a few seconds before he reached in and took a Cherry one.

“Good boy.” Eddie pinched Steve’s cheek and out the jar away. “I’m gonna write you a script for some antibiotics. Should be ready for pick up in a few hours. Until then you’re free to go!”

“Thanks Eds.” Steve wanted to pick up the playful banter but he was just exhausted. He left the room and went to Robin’s little window while Eddie took some notes on the chart.

Robin had taken off her mask and was chewing on the end of her pen, trying to take notes on insurance verification for tomorrow’s patients. She looked up when Steve was at her desk.

“Doctor Rockstar make you all better?” She asked.

Steve coughed into his sleeve, “Yeah. Sent me some antibiotics. I’ll follow up with him when I’m back at work I guess.”

“Great, less work for me then!” She exclaimed. “Go home and sleep yeah?”

Steve nodded and turned on his heels to head out.

“Oh and Steve?”

He turned around, half out the door. “Yeah?”

“You get one of the Good Boy lollipops?” Robin teased.

Steve reached into his hoodie pocket and waved around the cherry one he had picked, which Robin couldn’t stop laughing at. Steve huffed a laugh and exited. “Later Robin!”