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motherofpirates · 15 hours ago

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Steddie where they leave Hawkins as soon as Eddie graduates. Neither of them goes to college, but that’s okay because that’s not what they wanted to do anyways.

They move to LA instead. Steve starts his training program to become a real lifeguard, and Eddie gets a job at a comic book shop. It’s not exactly an easy life, but it’s way better than Hawkins. Steve is doing great in his training, and Eddie is totally in his depth at the comic book shop.

Kids love going there to talk to Eddie and ask for recommendations. Parents are skeptical when they first meet Eddie, but they quickly change their minds once they see how good Eddie is with their children.

Almost a year after they move, Eddie mentions to one of the parents at the shop that he used to have a band back at home. That’s all it takes for the man to ask if Eddie wouldn’t agree on teaching his son how to play the guitar. The man explains he tried enrolling his son in a music class once, but the boy gets easily distracted when there’s too many people around.

“But I think Simon would have an easier time learning if he had a private tutor,” he explains. “And he really likes you, Eddie. He’d be thrilled if you could teach him.”

Eddie doesn’t accept right away. He might be good with kids, but he has no experience when it comes to teaching. He takes the matter home and discusses it with Steve. His boyfriend lights up when he mentions the offer.

“Oh my God, Eddie, that’s amazing!”

“But I don’t know anything about teaching kids. What if I suck at it? The man’s gonna waste his money.”

Steve gives him a flat look. “You learned how to play, all by yourself, when you were twelve. Of course you can teach others too. And besides, even if you can’t and in the end the kid doesn’t learn, you told the man you don’t have real experience, so you’re not fooling anyone. Please, stop doubting yourself, baby. You’re the best.”

The next day, Eddie calls Simon’s dad and accepts the man’s offer. It takes him three months, but Eddie does manage to teach the boy how to read sheet music and play some basic songs. Simon’s dad is more than happy with his son’s progress.

After Simon comes Camy. And then Andy, Jamie and Emilie. Before he knows it Eddie’s schedule is so full he can barely fit his shifts at the comic book shop anymore. He finds himself turning down kids because he just doesn’t have enough hours in his day for all of them, although Eddie wishes he had; he loves teaching the kids, it’s his favorite part of the day.

“You know, you could quit the shop and make these classes a real business,” Steve says one day, when Eddie whines about turning down yet another kid. “Depending on how many students you get, you could rent a room downtown so you can teach two or three kids at a time.”

That’s exactly what Eddie ends up doing. He’s sad to leave the shop, the job was great, and his coworkers were nice, but he doesn’t regret it.

By the end of his second year of teaching, Eddie has so many students he does have to rent a place to make it his official classroom. The kids just love how fun Eddie's classes are and Eddie also has a lot of fun teaching his gremlins.

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motherofpirates · 15 hours ago

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Eddie Munson transfers to Hawkins after 5 years of being an EMT in Chicago. Within his first three hours at the ambulance service, he learns about the Hero of Hawkins. It's said over the radio with teasing affection about a firefighter named Steve, and it's such an endearing small town thing that Eddie can't help but be enamored, like he's moved into a Hallmark movie.

About a week later, he's rummaging around the kitchen at the station, when he finds that year's sexy firefighter charity calendar tacked inside a cabinet door. It's pretty standard fare until he gets to August.

Mr. August is maybe, probably, definitely the hottest guy he's ever seen. He's wearing the pants from his gear, suspenders, and no shirt, revealing his defined, hair-covered chest. He's got these brown puppy-dog eyes, pouty pink lips, and the most luscious sweep of chestnut hair Eddie's ever seen.

After a truly embarrassing amount of time, he's finally able to draw his eyes away from the gorgeous firefighter, and only then does he see marquee lights in the background spelling out, "Hero of Hawkins."

The nickname is cute and fun if it's teasing between coworkers, but this is something else. Now, Eddie can only see this guy's little smirk and hands-on-hips pose as proof that he's a stuck up, ego-inflated, douche.

Of course, he hasn't met him yet, this Steve Harrington. And Nancy and Chrissy and Jonathan, his fellow EMTs, only have great things to say about him. But they grew up with Harrington and Eddie has big city experience with men just like that, cocky and self-assured and mean. Knows he can spot the type better than they ever could.

He doesn't meet the Hero of Hawkins for another month, not until he and Jonathan are called out to Claudia Henderson's for a firefighter who took a nasty knock on the head from a tree branch.

When they pull up, Eddie moves to the man sitting on the curb, holding a towel up to his forehead. As he nears, he makes out the perfect jawline of Steve Harrington.

"So," He crouches until they're eye-level. "Hero of Hawkins, we meet at last."

Steve's mouth quirks up, just a little. "Not feeling so heroic right now."

And that's not what Eddie expects. Not defensive, or angry, or posturing. It's self-deprecating, slightly embarrassed, just a little resigned.

"Let's a get a look at what we're working with. I'm going to touch your face, okay?"

Steve nods, moves the towel out of the way. There's a gash, sizable, oozing blood, but it looks shallow. "Hmm, got yourself pretty good. What happened?"

"Uh," Steve coughs. "Got a call that the Henderson's cat was up a tree."

"A cat did that?" Eddie draws back.

"No, of course not." He snorts. "When I grabbed Tews, he panicked and I slipped. Knocked my head against a branch."

Eddie cleans the wound, gentle and precise. "And where is Tews now?"

"Sitting in Mrs. Henderson's recliner." Steve mumbles.

He tries and fails to stifle his laugh, but instead of getting mad, Harrington smiles. "Not my finest moment."

"Alright, wounds all clean and patched up. Doesn't look like you need stitches."

"Thanks." He sticks out a hand, and it takes Eddie a second to take it. "I'm Steve. Appreciate the help."

"Eddie. Honored to meet such a revered figure."

Maybe it's the sun, but it looks like Harrington goes a little pink around the cheek. "I hope I lived up to expectations?"

"Well, you did fall out of a tree, but you saved the cat so."

Harrington's smile goes silly and crooked. "I hear I make a hell of a second impression."

"Looking forward to it," Eddie can't help but respond.

Every single time they meet after, it's because Harrington's suffered some minor injury. Cuts, burns, sprains, all collected in the line of duty, all from during absurd and dangerous good deeds. And Steve is bashful, nice, funny. Not at all like Eddie expected. Not at all like he seemed.

Eddie doesn't trust it. There's no guy in the world as hot as Steve Harrington, who people call the Hero of Hawkins, who is actually genuine and kind. It's a put-on, a ruse, a trick. Has to be.

---

All the first responders are volunteering at the humane shelter. Harrington's surrounded by these kittens who've been obsessed with him since he walked in, and Eddie's desperate attempts to thwart a crush start to crumble. Steve is hot and sweet and funny and there's a kitten sitting on his head and another one trying to wiggle into the sleeve of his hoodie and Eddie is only so strong, okay?

"Need a little help?" He calls across the room.

Steve smiles up at him. "That might be good, yeah." Another kitten squiggles into his hood.

Eddie walks over, starts gently detaching mewling babies.

"Cats always like this around you?"

"I think there's just something about me."

"Stuffed with catnip?

He laughs. "Oh, is that what that is?"

One of the kittens in Eddie's hand wiggles its little paws in an effort to escape back to Steve. "No question. I'm starting to wonder if you're like a Disney princess or something."

"What about me exactly screams princess."

And Eddie has so many answers to that, but manages to swallow them all down. "Uh, tiny animals love you? Seems like you've got a real heart of gold thing going on? Plus, there's the hair. And the nickname."

"Oh, god." Steve stares at him, mouth open. "Am I a Disney princess?"

He nods emphatically. "How'd you get the nickname anyway?"

He shakes his head, bites his lip. It's so cute Eddie sort of loses track of his question until Steve starts answering.

"God, it was like, my first six months on the job, or something. There was an apartment fire. A family got trapped on an upper floor, and I went in after them."

"Holy shit. Were they okay?"

"I think the nickname might be a little different if they weren't."

"Right. Fair point."

"Hopper tore me a new one for it, but what was I supposed to do? Leave them?"

"No, yeah, I get it. You have to do what you can to get them out."

Steve nods. "Exactly."

"Why do you do it?" Eddie asks without meaning to.

Steve's eyes focus back on him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Eddie gestures to the kittens, the ones he carefully removed all making their ways back to Steve. "You save the dogs, you save the cats, you save the kids, you save the family. Every time anyone, any thing, is in the slightest bit of danger, you're there."

"Oh." He ducks his head. "I--uh--I want to help people? I want to do good. I want--I want to be known as someone who does good things?"

It's too raw, too open, and Eddie realizes--too late--that the question was intimate, personal in a way that he and Steve haven't been yet.

"Sorry. Shit. I shouldn't have asked, that's not any of my--"

Steve smiles, but it's vague, not directed at Eddie, and before Eddie can apologize more, Nancy's calling his name, saying they need his help sorting donations.

"I gotta--"he points in the direction of the back--"I'm sorry. I--thank you--

Steve makes a little noise in his throat, says "see you later?" And Eddie nods, walks away with a lump in his throat.

Before he disappears into the back, he looks back at Steve--lying on the floor now, having succumbed to the kittens--and he can't ignore the way his heart clenches.

There's a fire at the abandoned mall on the outskirts of town. Eddie isn't on shift, not for another few hours, but this one, it starts as all-hands, quickly expands to requests for assistance from other local departments. The last thing Eddie hears before he sprints to his car is that there are credible reports of kids trapped inside, and there's no doubt in his mind that Steve will go after them.

As he nears the mall, he spots the plumes of black smoke billowing from the roof, the cops blocking the road up ahead. Eddie pulls over, sprints through the barricade.

He manages to find Nancy in the chaos. "What's going on?"

She turns to him, mouth pinched. "Mike's in there with Will and El and the rest of their friends. Hopper and Steve went in after them."

"How long?"

She shakes her head, and his limbs go numb with fear.

With a shaking, roaring, crash the back of the building collapses. Everyone screams, Eddie nearly falling to his knees.

Behind him someone gasps, shouts, "There!"

And through an emergency exit stumbles a gaggle of kids, and then Hopper holding his daughter close.

He takes account of Lucas Sinclair and Dustin Henderson and Max Mayfield and Erica Sinclair and Mike Wheeler, but there's two people missing, there's two--

"Will?" Joyce asks. There are tears in her eyes.

Hopper shakes his head. "He was trapped under some debris. Steve stayed behind to free him. I--they--the collapse--"

Joyce's hands cover her mouth, Jonathan pulling her into a hug, grief shadowing his own face.

Steve, Will, they can't be dead. Eddie can't imagine a world without Steve Harrington in it, can't imagine his life without Steve in it.

They wait in tense silence, but as more glass pops and shatters, as the flames roar closer, as more parts of the building collapse, the less likely it is that Steve and Will make it out.

Eddie can't hear over the flames, not over the pounding of his heart, but he does see when the door shoves open. He does see the booted foot that kicks it wide.

Steve isn't wearing his coat of his helmet, his face covered in soot, hair singed, some of the skin on his arms and chest shining in pink, burnt patches. In his arms, Will Byers, bundled in the coat, helmet bobbling around his head, too big.

Joyce rushes to them, pulling Will into her arms. "He's okay," Steve croaks out of smoke abused lungs.

Eddie rushes to him, grasps his unburnt shoulders in his hands.

"Steve! Steve? You're--you're okay--you're--"

He smiles, touches Eddie's jaw with his gloved hand. "I was hoping it would be you," he says before collapsing into Eddie's arms.

---

A concussion from falling debris, a scatter of 2nd degree burns around his torso and back, damage to his lungs and throat from the smoke, but Steve's okay. He's going to live.

When Eddie finally makes it to the hospital, it's outside visiting hours, but the nurses let him in without question. Steve's sitting up in bed reading, wearing little oval framed glasses. His hair's shorter, the burnt strands gone, but he looks good. Sweet. Hot even in his hospital gown.

"Mind if I come in?" He asks from the doorway.

Steve turns to him, bright smile on his handsome face. "Wondered when I'd be seeing you." He croaks.

Eddie tries and fails not to blush.

The room is cluttered, floor to ceiling, with flowers and cards and stuffed animals and balloons. He skirts them to sit in the chair at Steve's bedside. This close, he can finally make out the book he''s reading, has to ignore the butterflies when he realizes it's Fellowship of the Ring.

"I see you haven't been lacking for attention from your adoring fans," he says.

Steve laughs, then winces. "It's been a lot."

"I bet. How you feeling?"

"Been better. Been worse."

"It was amazing, what you did."

Steve flushes, won't meet Eddie's gaze. "Not stupid?"

"Why not both? You did a good thing. Scared me to death, but--you saved Will."

"You worried about me?"

"Of course! I--of course. I don't know if I've ever been that terrified in my life."

"Thought maybe--" Steve stops, chews at his lip.

"What?"

"You were mad at me. For doing something so risky."

"No. Steve. Never. You like helping people, I'd never--I wouldn't ask you to stop. I don't--I don't want anything to happen to you, though. And I guess," he pauses, swallows, resigns himself to what he's about to say next. "Everyone cares about you so much. You worry about being good, but you already are. You're so--I--this town? It would never be the same, if it lost you."

"Oh." Steve says, the word coming out like a puff of air. "You--I'll try to be more careful. I'll try for you--I'll--if you want, if you--"

Eddie leans forward, takes Steve's hand in his, does nothing to hide his smile. "I want, sweetheart. I want very much. And I need you to come home, you know? To me, if you want."

"I'd like that," Steve beams. "I'd like that very much."

He stays with Steve for the rest of the night, reading to him from Fellowship and watching old sitcom re-runs. He takes him home from the hospital, and he doesn't leave that night, or the next, not ever again. And if he still has that very first sexy Hawkins firefighter calendar tucked into his dresser, even twenty years later? Well, that's between him and the socks.

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motherofpirates · 15 hours ago

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Nurse Munson

TW: Child abuse & neglect, Hurt/comfort

Little Steve Harrington fell out of a tree and broke his arm. At least that's what his mother tells the doctor with fake tears in her eyes when asked. His arm is bundled up in a cast by the prettiest person he's ever seen.

Nurse Munson.

She smiles at him, she makes jokes, she makes him giggle even though his arm hurts.

She gives him a lolipop and tells him he's a good boy, just like her little Eddie.

Steve goes home, to a cold bed and cold house and a new stern maid to watch him when his parents leave.

Little Steve is back at the clinic with a sprained ankle and a little bruise on his head. Playing rough with his friends his mother says.

"What friends?" Steve says when Nurse Munson asks and he wonders why she's surprised. Steve's never had any friends.

Little Steve hates having to visit the clinic, but he loves seeing Nurse Munson. She's the nicest adult he's ever met. Not that he meets many adults outside of his parents and their friends, who ignore him.

She holds him steady as he shakes from the cramps of his tummy ache.

She brushes his hair back gently as he vomits out the head of a toy soldier that Tommy his new friend had made him swallow.

She looks sad as she spies the bruises on his side when he changes his t-shirt.

Steve is reluctant to leave.

Little Steve who gets a teddy from Nurse Munson the next time, a sweet little plush that fits in his pocket. A teddy that Nurse Munson says he can tell anything to. That if he needs, he can call the number on Teddy.

Little Steve who calls that number that night when there is no food in the house.

Little Steve who calls that number anytime he really really needs to and Nurse Munson, call me Ellie, comes and helps him.

Feeds him.

Plays with him.

Talks to him about her son.

Until one day Ellie doesn't answer.

Little Steve who calls again and again and again until a man screams at him to stop calling she's dead.

and Little Steve never calls again.

Big Steve who sees a curly haired kid in high school, taller than him, loud and crazy and angry and thinks Ellie.

Big Steve who falls in line with the jocks and learns that it's not Ellie.

It's Eddie.

and he remembers.

Nurse Munson's little Eddie.

So he keeps the jocks away from him, steers them clear of the only memory of his Ellie.

Steve who almost doesn't save Eddie, who almost loses the last connection he had to a woman who saved his life.

Steve who cries over Eddie's bed in the hospital because he can't lose another Munson. Can't lose Eddie like he lost Ellie. He feels like he's seven and crying at the phone again.

Adult Steve who tells Eddie Munson, after they've curled together in bed as close as skin will let them, how his mother saved his life when he was small.

Adult Steve who isn't afraid to say he didn't fall off trees, that he didn't play rough with kids that didn't exist. That Ellie Munson saved him.

Eddie who cries, for the violence that Steve had suffered and the memory of his mother.

Eddie who hugs Steve tight, who tells him it'll be okay, it will all be okay and that he will tell Steve about her, his mother.

About Nurse Ellie Munson, the woman who gave him that little patch of sunshine.

Adult Steve who visits her grave with Eddie and tells her, that he is happy now, that he still had Teddy, that he had Eddie too and that he is grateful.

That she gave him a chance to live.

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