#eddie still apologize for making steve cry for two days. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sp0o0kylights · 7 months

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"Valentines Day is a capitalistic scam made to sell chocolate and flowers!" Eddie Munson bellowed, leaping to the top of a cafeteria table not even ten minutes into lunch.

"Do you think he was born like this, or just dropped on his head as a baby?" Heather asked, rolling her eyes as the super senior began waving his arms around, getting way too into his annual “anti-valentines day” rant.

Steve, who'd tuned out the dramatics in favor of trying to figure out how he could ditch school, only heard her because she’d begun running her foot up his leg.

Directly in front of Patrick.

As if half the school didn’t know he planned on asking her out after school.

Long over being a part of these kinds of games, Steve kicked out, forcing Heather’s leg off his.

He did it harder than he intended and immediately winced, as if he hadn’t meant to do it at all. Aimed a sad little look at her, softening his eyes in the way he knew ladies loved while murmuring a quiet "sorry.”

A pudding cup was offered as an additional apology--which Heather, thankfully, accepted.

Crisis averted, Steve used the movement of handing the cup over to get his legs well out of Heather's range. He had other things to think about today, and getting drawn into whatever drama Heather was trying to brew wasn’t on the list.

Particularly given the basketball team as a unit had started snubbing him out.

"Newsflash ladies! Your man isn't taking you to some shitty restaurant because he loves you, he's doing it because he hopes you'll give it to him in your car!" Munson continued, voice growing impossibly louder.

A crude gesture followed, involving hip thrusts and hand jabs.

Several of the cheerleaders shot him disgusted looks as he did it.

"Definitely dropped on his head." Carol said, glaring at Munson as his little group of freaks and geeks cheered him. "More than once."

Steve hummed an agreement, more on automatic than from actually listening. He knew how to look like he was paying attention, even if his head was deep in possible escape plans.

If he dipped at the last minute to the bathroom on the way to fifth period, Tommy wouldn't have time to stop him and he could make a break for his car…

That just left making up a plausible enough excuse as to why thee Steve Harrington, whose single status was the current hot topic of the school, left school early on Valentines Day.

("Candy, sex, the overwhelming affection of all the ladies." Tommy drawled out that morning, practically preening. "Valentine's Day is the best holiday man. Just look at all this!"

He waved a hand at his locker, which was absolutely covered in paper hearts.

"The rally squad put hearts on the lockers of everyone on the basketball team, Tommy." Carol argued, rolling her eyes. "Steve’s is practically buried in them.”

Tommy opened his mouth to respond, no doubt with something else teasing and rude, but Carol’s elbow caught him in the gut first.

“If you keep acting like this you're not getting any sex." She warned.

"Aww baby, don't be like that. You know you're the only one for me." Tommy teased, with a wink that prompted Carol to smack him on the shoulder.

Laughing, he added: "Besides we can't fight or we'll miss our favorite game. Which poor gal thinks this year is the year Steve will take her out on a date!"

Carol allowed Tommy to put an arm over her shoulder, the two of them turning knowing grins on their friend as a singular unit.

Even if Steve hadn’t felt like their friend in a hot minute.

Not in the way he used to.

"I do love watching them stutter through their little confessions.” Carol admitted, like this wasn’t something they’d loved doing since middle school. “I wonder if anyone will ever top Cindy Komer."

Steve almost wasn't fast enough to cover his wince--that particular incident had been painful for him and Cindy.

Steve still had no idea what he'd said to make the then-freshman cry.

He thought he'd been nice about turning her down, but judging by Carol constantly quoting what he'd said, Steve had a feeling he'd accidentally been an asshole again.

Not that anyone ever thought it was accidental.

“Steve? Hel~lo? Are you listening?” Carol said, snapping to get his attention and God did Steve hate that.

Never realized just how much until Nancy but after she’d pointed out that Carol treated him and Tommy both like her dogs, well.

It was hard not to notice--and be a bit resentful.

“God you keep doing this, you’re turning into such a space case.” Carol continued, the edge back in her voice. The same one she’d been using for a while, like Steve was on her last nerve. “Please tell me you’re not still mooning over Nancy fucking Wheeler.”

“No.” He snapped, only to know instantly that was the wrong move, and try to fix it before Carol blew up. “No--I’ve just already had to fend someone off today. Like first thing--I was barely out of my car.”

There, that should keep Carol and Tommy both off his back for being “angry” and it wasn’t even a lie. He really had been asked out earlier, though the girl had been gracious about his rejection.

Of course, this kind of instant redirection came with a price--and in this case, it was being absolutely hounded for more information.

“Oh shit who!? Was it that Buckley girl?” Carol perked up immediately, like a hunting dog scenting prey. “I swear she stares holes in your head, she’s so weird…” )

"This isn't about romance! It's about showing who has the most cash, gets the most sex! It's a pathetic social ritual you're all falling for!” Munson yelled, jolting Steve back into the present. “I bet none of you even enjoy it!”

"Tell that to all the girls Steve’s dated!” One of the younger basketball guys hollered, prompting a wave of laughter from the rest of the cafeteria. “They seem to enjoy it plenty!”

Steve couldn’t see who had said it, and should have felt the normal wave of smug warmth that the team had his back.

Except his team had already proven they didn’t.

Were in fact, siding more and more with Hargrove, just as Tommy was.

They were rapidly approaching a watershed moment. Steve could feel it, the same way he’d always been able to tell when a crowd was about to turn.

He was losing, but was still on top of Hawkins social spaces enough, had caught it early enough, that he could turn everyone’s favor--if he wanted.

Emphasis on ‘if.’

Munson spun to face his table, hair whipping to smack him in the face. The guy had clearly been trying to grow it out, but right now he looked like one of those poodles Carol's mom loved so much.

So said Carol, anyway.

"You sure about that?" Munson challenged, a crazed grin breaking across his face. "Rumor has it King Steve lost his groove ever since Wheeler dumped him!"

Steve grimaced, though he was secretly thankful Munson went with "dumped" instead of "cheated on" (or any of the other vile words Billy had flung around, spreading across the school in the sick, crawling way rumors moved.

Hargrove had been positively brutal about the whole Jonathan and Nancy thing, and the only reason he wasn't here now to spin this whole situation against Steve was because the guy always vanished at lunch.)

Tommy's face morphed into an affronted snarl, hands slapping down on the table. He turned expectantly to Steve, waiting for "The King" to get up and "handle" Munson.

Like Steve even cared about this dumb high school shit anymore.

It took him a moment to realize Steve wasn’t planning on doing anything. Was in fact, going to remain perfectly quiet, other than an eyeroll and half-assed middle finger in Munson’s direction.

Tommy let out a disgusted scoff in his direction and then decided to handle things himself.

(Like that had ever been a good idea.)

“Shut up, Freak. The only game you have is in the prison showers.” He snapped, half rising from the table. “Isn’t that why you keep your hair long? So all the boys will actually fuck you?!”

Whistles and yells lit the air, though Steve didn’t miss how the girls at the table looked taken aback at the sheer vitriol in Tommy’s voice.

Even Carol looked startled, eyes sliding to meet Steve’s as if to confirm she hadn’t just imagined it.

The three of them had always been good at this kind of mindless high school banter, but this over the top, crude shit?

It wasn’t Tommy’s style.

It was Hargrove’s.

(That was its own growing issue.

The way Tommy was gravitating towards Billy.

How Carol kept expecting Steve to act like he used to.

That she blamed his “outbursts” on Nancy, snidely mentioning that Steve had better have learned his lesson about “changing his personality for pussy.”

Even now Steve knew they were only defending him because Munson was the one saying it.)

“I didn’t realize Harrington still had his attack dog!”

Munson put a hand against his heart as though injured, staggering dramatically backwards.

“I thought you were too busy putting your tongue up Hargrove’s ass to bark at people!”

Tommy immediately fired back, letting loose an uninspired string of curse words and something about Eddie being queer again. Steve didn’t hear the specifics--didn’t care to hear it, even as things started to spiral out of control.

All he wanted to do was go home.

Ideally before Billy got back from lunch and decided to make a spectacle himself, because Steve could feel that coming just as he could everything else.

He was running out of time to come up with an excuse to get out of here without making a production out of it, and Munson wasn’t someone he wanted to piss off today, given he’d half hoped to buy weed off the guy before he ditched.

…Which was looking more and more unlikely given Tommy had just screeched some insult that had put Munson’s sights back on Steve.

“You sure? Cause Harrington looks like he’s just gonna sit there and take it, just like he takes everything Hargrove and Wheeler and anyone else throws at him.”

He leered, leaning forward as if to see into Steve’s very soul.

“I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but our beloved King here hasn’t exactly been defending his crown. If anything, he’s abandoned it.”

The world stopped.

This was the first time someone actually called him out on the fact that he often let whatever crap Billy spewed go. That Nancy and him had a few awkward encounters publicly, with at least one of them starting a rumor that she’d told Steve to fuck off.

(She hadn’t of course, but Carol had stopped running damage control, and Steve was feeling the effects of her ire.)

Silence echoed, and Steve realized with a dawning sort of horror, that Munson was waiting for a response from him.

Just as the entire cafeteria was.

The catalyst was here, brought on early by one Edward Munson.

With a startling amount of clarity, Steve realized he was done.

With his so called friends, with the girls who’d tried corning him all morning, with Hargrove and just--everything.

He was over it.

If Billy wanted the crown so bad he could fucking have it.

(If Tommy wanted to pretend he was tougher than he was by mimicking the dick, then he could have that too.)

“This is stupid.” Steve announced, dropping the masks he so carefully wore. The ones he kept having to fix, because the Upside Down and its related demons (human and non) kept taking chunks out of it.

He stood, feeling the weight of the room press down on him as he faced them all down.

“Yeah--!” Tommy started to pile on, seeming to think Steve was about to unleash hell, and got the surprise of a lifetime when Steve turned and jammed a finger in his face.

“Shut up.” He snapped.

Knew instantly he only got away with it by the fact that he’d caught everyone off guard.

King Steve did a lot of things, but he rarely blew up.

“This is stupid.” He reiterated, voice booming across the lunch room, “ You wanna fight? Fine, but leave me out of it.”

“The King doesn’t want to play? Why I never thought we’d see the day!” Munson clucked his tongue, and without missing a beat Steve turned to him.

“For someone who is always screaming about nonconformity, you sure are happy to attack anyone who doesn’t do what you want.”

Steve’s voice was loud, but he wasn’t screaming. Wasn’t yelling or throwing his arms around.

He didn’t need to. Had never needed to.

“I heard you going off on that guy whose lunch you're standing on yesterday, because he wanted to watch the Colts play.” Steve continued, voice cold. “Half of your friends are terrified of you, because you’ll scream at them just like you accuse us of doing--and let’s be real here, Munson, you do it more.”

In a dramatic move that absolutely, 100% came from Dustin and his theatrics, Steve shrugged his letterman jacket off and bunched it into a ball.

“You might as well crown yourself King, because you’re the exact same as the rest of us. Here--you can start with this.”

Cocking back an arm, Steve let the jacket fly. Watched with everyone else as it landed neatly right at Eddie’s feet.

Shell shocked, Munson’s eyes drifted from Steve down to the letterman jacket and back. They were massive, those stupid eyes of his, but at least it meant Steve could see the realization wash over the guy in real time.

Steve should have felt smug about it. His past self would have.

Presently?

He just felt tired.

“You’re welcome to jam it up your ass.” He finished, before giving his own sarcastic half bow to the room.

The cafeteria was dead silent. Not a fork was scraped, or a loud piece of chip chewed. All eyes were on Steve, some waiting to see if Eddie would let him have the last word, others just shocked to see Steve lose his shit in front of them.

Idiot he was, he tried to rally anyway.

Even Tommy, who’d partly stood up, hands pressed against the lunch table looked shocked.

“What the fuck Steve!?” He sputtered, and it wasn’t long before half the basketball team was muttering similar remarks.

They were ignored.

Whispers ripped across the room when Steve turned on his heel, striding towards the exit and making it clear things were over, but Tommy didn’t give up.

“Fuck you Harrington!” He hurled at his back, Carol now standing and placing a restraining hand on his arm. “You’re not fucking better than any of us!”

Steve didn’t even look back.

"That's my point Tommy." Steve said, loud enough to be heard. "No one is better than anyone else. You lot are all just buying into your own bullshit.”

Then he was slamming through the doors, and out into the sunlight.

xXx

He didn’t want to go home.

Not anymore, which was ironic in a way that made Steve’s face screw up in a grimace.

Here he’d been dying to go to his stupid house all day, and now, after losing his shit and undoubtedly, the last of his social standing, he just didn’t feel like being by himself.

All alone, in a house too big for him, full of nothing but dark corners and a phone that never rang.

So instead, he wandered, reminiscing on how Valentine's Day used to be his favorite day of the year.

Steve loved the gesture of it all--the romance, the wooing. The butterflies floating in one's stomach, mixing with fear of rejection and a burning kind of hope towards starting something new.

Of course, Steve also had always had a girl in mind, when he celebrated. Now, after Nancy…

He did not.

It felt weird to go to Skull Rock--the place he himself had made into Hawkins hottest makeout spots. Likewise all the local restaurants were off limits--too many adults knew how much he loved the holiday.

Steve didn’t want to face that. The expectations, the knowing winks that would slide into uncomfortable frowns. Any possible advice given wouldn’t be appreciated, and the last thing Steve wanted was to get the “everyone has an off season, son” speech.

So he’d stayed away from his usual haunts. Explored some storefronts instead, the Beamer parked in front of Family Video as he wandered.

Had an entirely too peaceful two hours, which of course, meant he had to bump into someone.

At least, Steve thought dully, whole body tensing in preparation, it was Munson.

Not Hargrove, or Tommy, or hell--the children, demanding he help them fight some other fucked up creature the government had accidentally summoned.

“Hey Harrington.” Munson said, and it took a moment for Steve to realize the guy was embarrassed. “I uh, I need to talk to you.”

Steve just stared at him.

“If you couldn’t tell from earlier,” He warned, “I’m a little done talking for today.”

Or any day, for the foreseeable future.

“Yeah no--I, I got that. I--okay.” Eddie stopped rocking on his heels, before giving his entire body a shake, like the guys sometimes did while prepping for a game. “Hear me out, and then you can deck me or leave or whatever makes you feel better.”

“I’m not going to deck you.” Steve said, exasperated and frazzled and not wanting to do this whole song and dance a second time.

Not that it mattered, because Munson had already launched right into whatever it was he needed to say.

“There’s this book right? My Uncle got it for me. It’s a fantasy book all about this big battle and there’s these wizards in it, and--” He stopped himself, shaking out his hands.

Like he realized he was rambling and needed the movement to get himself back on track.

“I always--I guess I saw myself as a Gandalf kinda guy? Like I was this shepherd herding these lost sheep. A person who intimately knew all the dark forces of the world and could be a shield for them. Do not pass and all that.”

He chuckled, but it was weak, and he killed it almost immediately.

“...Okay?” Steve said, knowing he was supposed to say something here, even if he had no idea what.

Maybe something about how Gandalf the Grey wasn’t exactly a shepard given he’d led the hobbits straight into Mordor, but saying that meant admitting Steve knew what Lord of the Rings was, which wasn’t a conversation he felt like getting into.

Particularly not because he’d only read the damn things after losing a bet to Dustin and Mike both.

Munson nodded, as if acknowledgement was all he needed.

“I thought that’s what I was doing. I wasn’t and I didn’t realize I wasn’t until you pointed it out. You shouldn’t have had to point it out. You shouldn’t have had to say any of what you did.” He rushed to add, oddly sincere.

"Is this…" Steve might be confused but catching on, an uptick at the corners of his mouth as the tiniest spark of amusement leaked through. "an apology? Are you trying to apologize right now?"

Eddie groaned, flinging his head back. "No!”

Then immediately;

“Actually yes, but--”

Which caught Steve off guard enough that he laughed, and had to hide it with a cough.

“I am sorry, man. I shouldn’t have said that shit about you, especially not about you and Wheeler. It's more than that though.” Munson swallowed, before squaring his shoulders. “It’s that you were right."

“I was right?” Steve repeated dumbly, because fuck, he couldn’t believe it either.

Not that Munson heard him. Eddie always had been hard to stop once he started, and Steve had been in enough classes with the guy to know the train had left the station.

"I did yell at Jeff because he wanted to watch that stupid football game.” He began, and Steve got a front row seat to watch as one Eddie Munson word vomited his way through a myriad of emotions.

“I fuckin’ lost it on Grant because he missed band practice to drive his sister to some thing. Gareth looked like I was going to hit him when I asked if I had really been that bad--same exact look he gave Hagan and those other assholes that cornered him in the bathroom two weeks ago!”

“Tommy did what?”

Steve was promptly ignored.

(Or more likely, Eddie simply didn’t hear him, too lost in his own voice to realize Steve had said something.)

There were a lot of mentions of the Gandalf guy. Where Eddie thought he’d gone wrong, and even something about a glowing eye thing that had Steve a little concerned until he realized Munson was talking about Sauron (and also made Steve realize that he’d been pronouncing Sauron in his head wrong, oops.)

“I called up this friend of mine who graduated. She’s always been no nonsense, so I asked her for her advice.” Munson said, finally seeming to slow down a little. “She told me I might as well eat my own doctrine because I sure wasn’t living by it, and that if I wanted to fix it then I should start by apologizing. To everyone but--to you, first.”

Eddie took a step back, winging out his hands as if to present himself.

“So here I am. Apologizing.”

A pause wherein neither of them did a thing, which caused him to awkwardly add; “To uh, you. Harrington.”

“Yeah I got that.” Steve said, because what else was he supposed to do here? “Good for you? I guess?”

“Most people either forgive a guy or tell him to fuck off.” Munson pouted, and mimicked like he was kicking at a rock.

It made Steve want to laugh again, though he shoved the urge down.

“Someone once told me,” He said instead, speaking slowly to make damn sure he didn’t let slip this piece of advice came from a middle schooler. “that apologies without actions don’t really mean anything. They’re a start--they let people know you’re aware you screwed up, but no one’s going to trust you if you don’t follow through. So I can forgive you, but I think you’re better off doing this with one of your friends.”

Someone who would hug it out, or at least tell Eddie how he could be better, at least.

Rather than argue, Munson just titled his head back, eyes to the sky. Like he was really thinking on the words, before giving a sort of accepting sounding noise.

“Trying too.” Steve admitted with a sigh.

“That’s what you’ve been doing, isn’t it?” He asked, head coming back down so he could stare at Steve.

“The thing in the cafeteria was a good start.”

“Yeah?”

Eddie grinned.

“Yeah. Don’t think Hagan’s gonna see it the same way though.”

“We were falling out anyway.” Steve admitted, and hated how easy it was to say.

That they really were just going through the motions of friendship. Had been, ever since Jonathan had punched Steve in the face.

“Think you lost more than just him as a friend, to be honest.”

“Pro tip about the actions thing, Munson?” Steve said with a snort, once again unsure of where this conversation was going, “Nice people don’t typically point out when someone’s turned into a social pariah.”

“No, I get that. Say,” Eddie’s grin had grown, which Steve would have taken poorly except he invaded Steve’s space with a goofy little hop. “I think you might be in need of some new ones!”

“New…friends?” Steve hesitated, very unsure of what was happening.

Munson promptly stuck his hand out. “Yup! So--hello, my name is Eddie Munson, and I am here to apply for the position as your friend!”

Steve snorted, but the harshness of it was taken away by the grin on his face.

He took Eddie’s hand, noting how doing so made the older teen’s smile widen.

“Nice to meet you Eddie, I’m Steve.”

Excited, Eddie waived their arms up and down, with far more enthusiasm than the gesture required.

“How about we cement our new friendship by renting a truly terrible horror movie and drowning our woes with my other good friend, Mary Jane?”

Then he waggled his eyebrows, like that was something scandalous.

“Tempting me along with weed, huh?” Steve mused back, sticking his hands in his pockets once Eddie let him go. “Guess you’re a little like Gandalf the Gray after all. Just don’t send me on any missions.”

“Steve Harrington.” Eddie gaped, pure delight spreading across his face. “Have you read Lord of the Rings!?”

He got a shrug and a sly; “Maybe.” in response.

It was worth the barrage of questions, even if the rapid fire pace of them nearly gave Steve a headache.

(Just as it was worth it several months later, when Steve was comfortable enough to instigate wrestling matches with Eddie over the dumbest of things.

One particularly semi-drunk tussle over the remote led to an interesting discovery when Eddie popped a boner, and then frantically tried to escape when it brushed against Steve’s leg.

Instead of panicking--or letting Eddie bolt in his panic, Steve just dropped his whole weight down, effectively pinning the slimmer man to the floor.

“Steve.”

Eddie said it so quietly he almost didn’t hear it, the word filled with desperation.

The kind of tone someone whispered a prayer in, a sort of pleading that Eddie did better with his eyes than his voice. Or would have, given his own were firmly scrunched closed the second he realized he’d been caught out.

Except--

“Not right now I’m thinking.” Steve told him absently.

Which he was. Speed thinking even, if that was a thing.

Because if two plus two equaled four (which it did) then feeling the exact same, fluttering excitement about Eddie’s boner as Steve had Nancy’s breasts, equaled…

“The fuck? Steve--”

Steve shushed him.

That pulled a frustrated, embarrassed groan from Eddie that went directly to Steve’s own dick, not that it needed much help waking up.

“I think I’m having one of those crisis’s Robin is always accusing the basketball team of having.” Steve informed Eddie dutifully, the dots done connecting.

Eddie, still refusing to open his eyes, snorted.

“Whatever man. Can you at least be decent and hurry up with the beating? This is embarrassing enough.”

“I’m not going to beat you up.” Steve said, thankful that his brain managed not to add some shitty comment about the entire town being awash in rumors of Eddie’s sexuality. That he’d confirmed it here wasn’t exactly a surprise.

“I’m going to try something. If you don’t like it, let me know.” Streve added, before screwing up his courage and leaning down.

That of course, got Eddie to open his eyes.

“Wha--” He managed, before Steve’s lips were on his.

For one single, blissful moment, Eddie Munson’s mouth was too busy to talk.

“Yeah?” Eddie said, voice wrecked, and oh, Steve liked that.

“Huh.” Steve muttered, when they broke for air. “Well that’s new.”

Liked the way Eddie looked at him more, hesitant, but with heat in his gaze.

Steve had always been good about knowing what to do with heat.

He leaned back down, pecking lightly at Eddie’s lips, and was delighted to find Eddie not only let him, but kissed back.

“Not bad, Munson, but I think I could give you a few pointers.” Steve muttered, nose ghosting alongside Eddie’s. “Let me show you…”

One boyfriend, several weeks, and another interdimensional monster later, Steve found himself socked in the arm by none other than his coworker, Robin Buckley.

In her defense, she’d confessed her love for Tammy Thompson, still somewhat drugged on the Starcourt bathroom floor, only for Steve to tease her that at least his boyfriend could actually sing.

“God you and Eddie Munson.” She muttered after, smile on her face. “How did that happen?”

Steve knocked his shoe into hers, returning the grin unabashedly.

“So remember last Valentines Day?” Steve started, all too eager to finally tell someone who understood about the best thing to ever happen to him.

Robin of course, would soon also be ranked in that same chart, but Eddie didn’t need to know that. )

#DADDYS BACK #steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #pre steddie to steddie #0o0 fanfics #be gentle with me I JUST got my computer back lmao #this was a warmup I finished out #Ive been writing at work on my lunches #yes I have been working on adopt a jock #and the third part of the holiday hellfire fic #I think I stared at that steddisy one once #maybe #IDK this whole ass month has been a blurr

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munsons-melody · 1 year

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angeleyes

summary: after seeing nancy get pulled into a trance, eddie gets worried the same might happen to you and makes you a tape with your favorite song on a loop, even though you're broken up

pairing: eddie munson x female!henderson!reader

cw: bit of angst but ends with fluff

recommended songs: 'disillusion' and 'angeleyes' by ABBA

word count: 3.3k

a/n: did i start crying while writing this? yes, yes i did. also NOT PROOFREAD! also feedback is always appreciated :)

masterlist

part two of this fic called ‘your song’ can be found here

i do not consent to having any of my works republished, translated, or posted to any other site except here. if you see my works anywhere but tumblr, it has been republished without my knowledge, consent, or permission.

the two of you were together for almost a year. you were inseparable from the start but as months passed, you each kept getting busier and busier and whenever you were together, it would end in a giant screaming match with one of you crying while the other stormed off with no apologies in store till days later.

even though you knew the two of you were in a rough patch, you never expected the last fight to be your final one. you were at each others throats, a silly bicker turning into a full blown fight. you were both teary-eyed, throats sore from screaming and holding back tears, pacing all around the trailer. neither really knew what the fighting was about, but it didn't stop the screaming match that definitely caused the whole neighborhood to wake up from their peaceful slumbers

you still remember the exact moment you felt your world shatter. you stood in eddie's room, wiping the tears from your cheeks as you diverted your eyes from him to the floor, littered with his clothes and various items. you didn't want him to see you cry as hard as you were.

all you wanted was him to say anything like "i'm sorry" or "come here" and have him wrap you up in those strong arms of his, while he stroked your hair and told you he loved you and the two of you would be alright. but nothing of the sort came. the quietness deafening after the two of you stopped fighting.

"maybe we just aren't good for each other anymore," eddie muttered out, and you looked up at him with bloodshot eyes

"what? no! don't say that, please" you said, inching forward but he moved back to avoid your touch

"i think we should break up y/n" he said. it was like someone knocked all the oxygen out of your body as your heart started pounding

"eddie-" you tried but he shook his head, a couple of tears slipping down his cheeks

"y/n, please, just go" he said with anger hidden in his voice, facing away from you

"fine" you said, your blood boiling. you stormed out of his trailer and walked out into the cold evening air, using your walk home as a way to cool down and soon enough your anger turned into more sadness

once you arrived home, you couldn't help but let the tears flow freely, feeling as if your heart was broken into a million tiny little pieces

"shit are you okay?" dustin asked you as you crumpled onto the couch, not caring that you would most likely have to explain why you were crying.

"no" you muttered out, curling into a ball and putting a pillow over your face. he walked over to you, sitting on the coffee table across from you

"did you break up?" he asked and you nodded, turning your head to smush your face into the pillow, letting your tears soak into the fabric of the pillow

"shit shit you're gonna be okay i promise" dustin said with a panic

eddie's trailer was in pure chaos as everyone ripped his room apart, looking for some tape that wasn't a heavy metal song to aid nancy in freeing herself from vecna's trance

"music! we need music!" robin screamed out as you watched as she flung a handful of cassettes onto eddies bed, Eddie swiftly picking one of the iron maiden tapes up and screamed at her "this is music!"

right as you grabbed another box of tapes you heard steve yell "guys!" and all of you ran to the small living room, littered with debris surrounding the mattress that served as your 'landing pad'

you looked up to see steve holding nancy on the floor and you immediately thought the worst, your heart pounding as it skipped a beat, not prepared to see the potentiality of your best friend dead in steves arms

"she's okay! we're going to come through!" steve's voice rang out, laced with urgency. everyone nodded as they cleared the area. you watched as the two of your friends individually climbed up the makeshift rope and fall through the gate onto eddie's mattress

you saw everyone, or at least assumed everyone, swarm nancy, asking question after question of "are you alright?" and "what happened"

nancy just stayed quiet, holding her arms to herself blinking away tears, and you broke away from the group to get her some water as she slowly sat down on the couch

you moved through the all too familiar kitchen of the munson trailer, wanting to reminisce about the memories you shared with eddie in this kitchen, but refusing to do so due to the fact you a) didn't want to waste time helping nancy and b) didn't want to relive the memories that would just break your heart even more

once you handed nancy the water, you let her be, not wanting to overwhelm her or pressure her into talking about what just happened. you went back into the kitchen, not wanting to be in any ones way, and stood there with your arms crossed

this time you allowed yourself to let those memories creep back in. the early mornings where you would make pancakes for you and eddie's breakfast, and what would be wayne's dinner when he came home before he would go to sleep. the times you would teach eddie how to cook when you felt like making dinner together. the late nights you spent listening to the radio and would dance under the refrigerator light. the times you two would spend after hours of endless sex where even when you tried to have a break from each other to get some water just to end up fucking on the kitchen floor.

hell, you even smiled to yourself about the time eddie accidentally bruised his knuckles after enthusiastically waving his hands around while in conversation and smacking them on the cabinet, and you of course had to kiss them better.

you heard some shuffling and mumbling behind you and turned to the hallway just to make eye contact with eddie as you watched him drag dustin down the hall and into his room

you heard the door close and some muffled voices, but you couldn't make out the conversation

eddie shut the door and turned to dustin who stood there, confused as ever as to why he was being dragged down the hall

"what is y/n's favorite song?" he asked with urgency. dustin looked taken aback.

"excuse me?" dustin questioned, looking at eddie as if he had five heads

"your sister, y/n, what is her favorite song?" he repeated with a stern tone

"shouldn't you know?" dustin snapped with an annoyed look upon his face. even though eddie was one of his best friends and someone he looked up to, this breakup between his sister and him was so new and fresh, he didn't know how to act in this situation

"well it changes with her, like it changes all the time man... for a while it was killer queen by queen and then it changed to dreams by fleetwood mac then it changed to, i think, amoreena by elton john? ugh" he groaned

"eddie, why do you want to know? didn't you two break up like a couple of months ago?" dustin pointed out and eddie shook his head, rubbing his temple

"it was a little over a month ago but-" eddie started before dustin interrupted him

"and didn't you break up with her?" he questioned further, crossing his arms

"well technically but i-"

"'technically' my ass! you completely broke her heart and now you want to know her favorite song? why do you even care all of a sudden? you didn't seem to care when she would come home crying after seeing you at school all day. you didn't seem to care when she wanted to go to her favorite place in this goddamn town but didn’t cause she was scared she'd run into you there. you didn't seem to care when she spent all of her money to buy you those stupid concert tickets for your birthday..." dustin's voice trailed off from his originally loud tone

eddie looked down, a lump forming in his throat

"i didn't know any of that..." he admitted, moving his head up to look at dustin with glassy eyes

"what?" dustin said and eddie nodded, sniffling

"i didn't know she did any of that, especially those tickets" eddie said, his voice cracking which mirrored the cracks forming in his heart

eddie sat down on the bed putting his head in his hands, feeling completely and utterly stupid

"i am the biggest fucking idiot for breaking up with her. it was just the heat of the moment with that stupid fight- and i can't even remember what it was about! i was just tired of the fighting! and now it's been a month but i haven't even talked to her until all of this shit went down but god i love her so goddamn much and i will be damned if something happens to her- if nancy can get under his trance at random who knows if she's next" eddie ranted, standing up and putting both his hands on dustins shoulders

"please dustin, what is her favorite song?" he pleaded. dustin looked at him with sympathic eyes and sighed

"angeleyes" he muttered out and eddie stared at him with a confused look written across his face

"i think her favorite song right now is angeleyes by abba... i always hear her listening to it and singing it around the house..." dustin told him and eddie's eyes widened

he ran to the door to open it but as he did he it revealed you standing there, with your arm and fist up in a knocking position

"y/n" he breathed out and you looked into his eyes, the knots turning in your stomach reminding you of the heartbreak he succumbed you to and you blinked, looking past him at dustin standing there

"sorry, uh we're heading to max's next door, it's safer over there" you said bluntly before turning around and walking down the hallway, steve wrapping his arm around your shoulder as you headed toward the door

eddie watched you leave and made a b line into the cabinet that sat adjacent to their kitchen, opening the door and starting to rummage through the boxes

"what are you doing? didn't you hear y/n?" he heard dustin ask as he approached behind him

"i know for a fact that we have that abba song on an album somewhere" he rumaged some more before pulling out a handful of tapes by ABBA

"my mom loved them so we had a lot of their tapes," eddie explained, walking back to his room and grabbing a blank tape

he looked on the back of each tape till he saw the small words ‘angeleyes’ on the back of the voulez-vous album

he put both in his boombox, playing the song and pressing record so he was able to make a loop of the song

"eddie we need to regroup with everyone next door" dustin pleaded and eddie shook his head

"we can meet them after we get a good loop of at least 10 minutes" he said before turning back to his dresser

"we shouldn't risk being here longer than we already have, what if someone hears us or even sees us in here?" he pleaded again and eddie shook his head, being stubborn as a mule

"fine, we'll be all over there where its safe and you can be over here with the fear of being caught" dustin said with annoyance, starting to leave eddie's room when eddie walked over and stopped him

"just wait 5 more goddamn minutes" eddie told him with an angry tone

"jesus christ okay" dustin responded with his voice higher than normal

eddie heard the end of the song and quickly paused the two tapes, and rewinded before pressing the play and record buttons

he sat on his bed, listening to the song and the lyrics hit him like a train

'Sometimes when I'm lonely, I sit and think about him And it hurts to remember all the good times When I thought I could never live without him And I wonder, does it have to be the same Every time? When I see him, will it bring back all the pain? How can I forget that name?'

shit he thought to himself, continuing to listen to the lyrics of the song

'Look into his angel eyes One look and you're hypnotized He took my heart and now I pay the price Look into his angel eyes You'll think you're in paradise Then one day you'll find out he wears a disguise Don't look too deep into those angel eyes'

once the song ended, he rewinded and played it again, internalizing each word he heard from the song

he came to his senses that both of you were hurting just as much when it came to this break up and he felt guilt and resentment gnawing away at him

how in the world could i ever get her back? he questioned himself, feeling as lost as ever

he heard the song again a couple more times as it was recorded onto the blank tape, feeling like a piece of his heart was shattering with each note

he finally felt satisfied with the loop he had made, and quickly ejected the tapes from where they sat and slipped it into his walk man and shoved it into dustins bag along with a pair of headphones, and they carefully walked out of eddie's trailer and to max's trailer next door

you stood next to robin in the kitchen, the two of you hungrily snacking down a pb&j after finding your appetite now that you knew everyone was safe and was able to take a breather from the traumatizing experience you all shared

"here's one for you and nance" robin said, handing the plates to steve and he smiled before turning to nancy who was in the living room

"where's eddie and dustin?" max asked you, making a sandwich herself and you shrugged, gulping down some water

"i'm not sure, i mean i told them we were coming here and that was almost 20 minutes ago" you said, wiping your face

"should we go check to make sure they're still over there and not getting sucked back into the upside down?" robin asked and you nodded

"yeah i'll go, you two finish eating" you said, putting your plate in the sink and walking out to the front door but you noticed the two of them running across the street from eddie's trailer to max's and you switftly moved from the door as they jumped in

everyone stopped and stared at them since they were out of breath

"where were you guys?" lucas asked and dustin looked at eddie before looking at you and then back to lucas

"uh sorry we had to reattach the caution tape to the front door so it didn't look suspicious" dustin said, and everyone seemed to buy the lie, nodding to each other as everyone convened in the living room

you sat in the stolen rv in the back, looking out the window at the birds playing in the trees. it was parked on the side of the store where there was room to fit it without taking up spaces in the main lot.

you heard dustin and lucas up front near the steering wheel in some conversation when you felt the seat dip next to you.

you turned your body to see eddie sitting there looking at you.

"hey" he said softly

"hi" you said back, turning to face back to the window

you hadn't really talked to him over the past few days, not knowing what to do or say since you hadn't spoken since your breakup

"y/n can i please talk to you?" he asked sweetly, and you looked at him again, seeing his eyes in a fixed stare

you just nodded, turning to face him completely

"the reason i was late coming from my trailer earlier wasn't because dustin was fixing the caution tape" eddie started, reaching for dustins bag which was by his feet. you blinked at him, muttering an "okay?" which came out with a more annoyed tone than you intended

he pulled out a walkman from the bag, and popped the tape out

"y/n... i don't know what the hell will happen next but i know for a fact if anything happened to you and we didn't have a way to save you i-" he said, wiping a few tears from his eyes

your brows furrowed as you looked at the tape and back at him, meeting each others gaze

"i made this, uh, it's like a 20 minute loop of angeleyes by abba... dustin said it was your favorite song... after seeing nancy be put in that trance just so vecna could talk to her really freaked me out, and i don't know if he'll somehow use you as a pawn in his game, so this is for you" eddie said, fiddling with the tape before replacing it back in the walkman and handing it to you

"oh eddie..." you said, rubbing your thumb over the piece of technology

eddie's heart fluttered as he heard you say his name

"listen, nothing will happen to me, i promise" you said, grabbing his hand in yours. the fact that he was in the shittiest situation to ever occur and he was still thinking about you just made your love for him grow strong, which in turn only fed into your heartbreak because he wasn't yours to love anymore, and he had made that very clear

"yeah but if anything does, i want to- no i need to tell you... i love you y/n henderson. you were the best thing to happen to me in this godforsaken town and the fact that i messed things up will be something i will always regret. i hate that i told you i wanted to break up. i didn't- i was just so sick and tired of always fighting. i've never had someone like you in my life and i thought you were going to break up with me so i went and pulled the trigger before you could. this past month has been pure agony for me, and dustin went and rubbed salt into the wound when he told me about those tickets you got for my birthday, and jesus- im just, im sorry and i love you" eddie told you, rubbing his thumb gently over the back of your hand

you cupped his face, leaning in to kiss him, craving his lips on yours. he kissed back before you pulled away to look at him

"eddie, i don't even know what to say" you muttered out and he shook his head

"you don't need to say anything, i just needed to tell you how i felt just incase" he said and you took in a deep breath

"i've hated you so much these past few weeks for what you did, but fucking hell i love you more than words can say eds. it was very stupid of you to assume i would break up with you just because we were going through a rough patch but, maybe when all of this is over and you learn not to be an idiot, maybe we could have a picnic by lovers lake, just me and you," you said softly, and eddie smiled

"yeah?" he asked, his eyes lighting up

"yeah, maybe i can even tell you about the concert tickets i spent all my money on... it was supposed to be a surprise but i guess dustin ruined that" you joked, and eddie chuckled

"oh honey you didn't have to spend all your money on me, especially not on tickets," eddie said, brushing his fingers through your hair to push it back on your shoulder

"but you deserve it, your birthday's coming up and ozzy osbourne was going on tour and i knew you wanted to see him" you shrugged with a small smile

he kissed you passionately, and you melted into his touch, feeling the warmth of his lips on yours and you didn't realize how badly you needed him till this very moment. it was soon interrupted however as the door to the RV swung open, and you pulled apart, watching everyone clamber in yelling that we needed to go

the engine of the RV roared to life as steve sped off the premises, leading you guys onto the next part of your adventure to killing vecna

fin.

#stranger things #eddie munson #dustin henderson #munsons-melody #eddie munson blurb #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson smut #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson x female reader #eddie x reader #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson x henderson!reader #steve harrington #eddie munson headcanons #eddie munson hurt/comfort #hellfire club

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steddieas-shegoes · 1 year

Text

Baby formula was expensive, and Eddie knew the fact that half of the container being spilled on the counter would probably cause Steve to have a heart attack.

It was an accident, obviously. He didn’t just decide to dump half of the powdered gold that fed their newborn daughter on the kitchen counter.

And Steve wouldn’t be mad about it. He didn’t get mad about accidents.

But he would definitely spiral about how that was two days’ worth of bottles for Ella and how they had a budget.

Eddie told him many times they were fine. He had more than enough money in savings from the band’s success, and he knew Steve had his own trust fund that he’d guilted his parents into letting him keep as a way to apologize for never being around in his childhood.

Money wasn’t really an issue for them.

But Steve was still careful with it, and Eddie loved that about him.

Other than their house, they’d never made major purchases, and stuck to necessities only with occasional extra spending for birthdays and Christmas for their loved ones.

But after they adopted Ella, Steve turned into a penny pincher. He stocked up on everything from diapers to formula to baby soap any time there was a sale, and refused to buy the “fancy” brand that had the same ingredients and vitamins as the generic store brand.

Eddie loved him.

But he was very worried about Steve finding out about this.

Maybe if he just cleaned it up and then pretended Ella had had a few extra bottles?

No, then he’d panic that her food intake was abnormal and he’d call the pediatrician and Eddie would have to backtrack and then Steve would be mad.

He pulled the trash can in front of the counter, swiping his hand across quickly to get most of it into the trash.

As he moved the trash can back to its usual spot, Steve came around the corner with Ella in his arms, cooing at her.

God, he was born to do this. Eddie was gonna do everything he could to give him the six nuggets he wanted so he could watch him in his element for as long as possible.

“Say hi to Daddy, Ella,” Steve said before looking up at Eddie, who was wiping down the counter furiously.

Not fast enough if Steve’s face was any indication.

“What are you doing?”

Dammit.

“Just cleaning.”

“You’re wiping the counter.”

“Yes.”

“You never do that.”

“I just finished the dishes so I thought I should.”

“You do the dishes all the time and never do that.”

He was so suspicious. Rightfully so.

Eddie knew he was found out, or if he wasn’t quite yet, he would be as soon as Steve saw the trash.

He sighed, letting his head fall down and his chin hit his chest.

“Eds, what is it?”

Steve was walking behind the counter, concern on his face. Concern for Eddie. Concern he didn’t deserve.

“I spilled something, it’s not a big deal.”

“Okay. But you’re being weird about it so it makes me think it is a big deal.”

And then he saw it. He must have, because Eddie watched him freeze in his tracks and stare down at where the trash is.

“Stevie, it’s not a big deal. I’ll go get another can to make up for it.”

“What happened?”

“I was measuring out her nighttime bottle and knocked the can over.”

“That’s a lot of formula.”

“I know.”

And then Steve started laughing.

It startled Ella in his arms and she let out a whimper like she was about to start crying.

Steve handed her to Eddie so he could lean over, hands on his knees, and laugh louder.

“Ella, your dad’s lost it.”

“Sorry,” Steve said as he tried to gasp for air between hysterical laughter. “Just- you were so serious. Why didn’t you just say that?”

Eddie knew he wasn’t seriously asking that.

“Sweetheart, you’re kind of insane about this stuff. In a good way! I love you because you’re a little crazy! But like, that was a lot of formula and it’s wasteful and costs a lot to replace.”

Steve’s face went serious.

“Baby, you don’t think I’d be mad about an accidental spill, do you?”

Oh no, he was hurt.

Eddie hurt his feelings.

“No! No. It’s not that. It’s just you’re so serious about the budget and this would mess it up.”

“It’s just a little. And it’s not like we actually have to live so tight.”

That was suspicious. What the hell did that mean?

Steve wasn’t changing his mind on the budget, was he?

He must’ve done something.

“Oh my god. What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Oh yes you did. Your face is bright red and you look like you committed a felony. I would know what that looks like since we’ve committed at least two together.”

Steve somehow blushed harder.

“It wasn’t a felony.”

“Aha! But it was something!”

The tables turned awful quickly. Eddie didn’t know how, but he’d take it. Anything to get the focus off of him.

Ella was gurgling in his arms, eyes flitting between the two of them like she was watching a tennis match.

“Well, you know how we talked about getting an RV, right? Since we had Ella now and might try to adopt again? Since it’s one of the things I want more than anything?”

“You bought an RV.”

Eddie was smirking at Steve, who probably expected him to be upset, but Eddie was thrilled.

Not only would they be able to travel the way Steve wanted to, Steve had thrown their budget right out the fucking window.

“I put a down payment on an RV. I told them I had to talk to you first.”

“This is gold.”

“We did technically talk about it already.”

“We did.” Eddie bounced Ella in his arms and looked down at her. “Wanna go on a road trip, angel?”

“So you’re not mad?”

“Sweetheart, I’ve been waiting for you to spend my money for years. This is the third best day of my life.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

Eddie walked up to him and kissed the corner of his mouth, then his nose, and finally his lips.

“I love you and your crazy budget.”

“I love you and your ignorance of how money works.”

“That’s why I have you, sweetheart.”

Steve rolled his eyes but nodded.

“We can pick up the RV tomorrow if you want.”

“Did you plan our first trip yet?”

“No.”

Eddie raised a brow at him.

“Yes.”

Eddie jumped up once, making Ella giggle.

“Where are we going?”

“I figured you’d wanna take Wayne to the Smoky Mountains.”

Of course he did. Of course he thought about what Eddie would want and what would make Wayne happy and what he could do to make it happen.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Then I guess we better make a stop at Wayne’s house tomorrow with the RV.”

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #tumblr drabbles #stranger things #dad steve harrington #dad eddie munson #domestic fluff

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space-invading-pigeon · 2 years

Text

Steve came home from work one day pissed as hell. His coworker had made three of his little ones cry, the service dog that was supposed to visit the long-term patients was cancelled last minute, Dustin texted him to cancel their weekly phone call because he and Suzie were fighting, Hopper had to postpone his monthly check-in because El caught a stomach bug at school, and Mrs. Ryans stopped him in the lobby to tell him that she's praying his "no good devil worshipping roommate" received the damnation he supposedly deserves.

So Steve burst into his home, fuming, face flushed red in his anger, and startled poor Eddie out of his armchair. "I called Mrs. Ryans a stupid old hag and I'm not apologizing!" He announced, practically throwing his shoes into their proper place. "She's stupid and I hope she breaks her other hip."

Eddie started his usual task of making brownies (he's a firm believer that chocolate can make anything better, and he knows that Steve's got an almost pavlovian response to the smell of brownies now) while Steve changes out of his scrubs and into something more comfortable. He'd completely bypassed his own closet, instead stealing one of Eddie's prized Iron Maiden tees to go with his threadbare pajama bottoms. Eddie opened his mouth to ask what had happened that day to make Steve so upset, but Steve didn't let him.

"Seriously, why does she hate you so much? You're like the sweetest person ever. So I told her to stop talking shit about you, and she was like, 'why should I,' so I told her that my baby sister would slap the wig off her bald little head if she kept being shitty to my boyfriend, and I might have actually given her a heart attack. Should we go check on her?" Eddie froze at Steve's admission; first of all, a baby sister?? But, more pressing, boyfriend. "Oh, my god, I might have killed our elderly neighbor. El wouldn't actually slap her! Wait, yes she would. She's still learning social norms and I don't think Hop told her that hitting old people is frowned on. I don't- does Hop know not to hit old people? Eddie, my dad might abuse the elderly."

"Stevie, honey, slow down," he finally settled on. Eddie bypassed their little dining table to sit Steve on the couch. "One thing at a time. Mrs. Ryans is not dead, we'd have heard all the munchkins singing by now."

"I'm not going to prison for shocking our neighbor to death, Eddie, I'd rather be melted into a giant flesh monster," Steve piped up. Eddie didn't have time to unpack whatever that meant, so he ignored it.

"You're talking about your sister like she's not used to humans."

"She's not, really. She was ex- she was, um, bad home life. Before we met. She's Hopper's daughter now, but before, her dad fucked her up. Like, doomsday, raise the children in isolation, fucked up." Steve was marginally calmer, but his anger gave way to nerves as everything he'd said caught up with him. "I called you my boyfriend."

"Good to know you've got beauty and brains, sweetheart," Eddie cooed at him, smacking an exaggerated kiss to his cheek. "Not every day I have such a cute guy screaming at old ladies for me."

"J-just the one old lady. You're not mad I called you my boyfriend?" Eddie paused there, giving Steve the flattest stare he could manage.

"Steve. I've been flirting with you for two years. Bruce has been trying to get me to propose to you for one of those two years."

"Bruce just had a baby, he should worry about-"

"Bruce tried to explain to you that we're dating and you called him a funny guy, honey. Congrats, you're the last to know."

"We're dating?" Steve shrieked, and Eddie couldn't help but laugh. Steve's face was so incredulous, like he really had no idea, and as sad as it was to see that, it was just too funny to Eddie that they'd been dating in almost every sense for more than a year before Steve seemed to be aware of it. "Are you telling me I could have kissed you this whole time?"

"Well, yeah, obviously. Stevie, you really didn't know? I thought it was obvious how much I love you, sweetheart."

#steddie #steve harrington #stranger things headcanons #eddie munson #eddie and steve #roommates au #the party #here's how they get together #as a lil treat #because im going to make them suffer later

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gloomysoup · 3 months

Text

take my hand (and dance with me)

“Dance with me?”

Steve looked up at Eddie’s outstretched hand, the record player crooning something soft and slow throughout the bedroom. Not something he would have expected from his boyfriend, honestly. “What?”

Eddie just smiled softly, wiggling his fingers. “Dance with me.”

Steve frowned. “Why?”

This wasn’t something Steve was used to. He hadn’t been in a steady relationship since Nancy. He barely had partners who cared to hold hands with him, let alone something as… intimate as dancing. Not like this. Everyone was always just using him to get something. Satisfaction and pleasure. Bragging rights, maybe. But of course, Eddie was just as kind and patient as always.

“Because I want to dance with you,” he responded simply. “Because I love you.” He said it like it was the easiest thing in the world. The soft, warm, beautiful smile never left his face while he waited for Steve to take his hand. Steve found all of this really hard to believe, truthfully, but he wasn’t going to make Eddie stand there and wait for him. He took his boyfriend’s hand, letting himself be pulled to his feet and wrapped up in Eddie’s arms. He swayed to the beat of the music, melting into Eddie as he took the lead. The words he had said continued to bounce around in his skull. His touch was so gentle, yet strong. He held Steve against him like he was something precious.

Steve had never been precious before that moment. He couldn’t remember the last time he was truly held. Eddie liked to cuddle sometimes, but Steve was so used to being the big spoon that it never occurred to him it could go any other way. Not that Eddie ever complained. He was perfectly content being the little spoon, letting Steve pull him in and hold him close. Steve began to realize for the first time that maybe all that time convincing himself he didn't need anyone to hold him was… a lie. A facade. All the insistence that he was a big boy who could take care of himself, he didn’t need it, he didn’t want it, was a little detrimental.

His father’s words started to ping pong around in his ears. That hadn’t happened in a while.

“Grow up and be a man, Steven,” he always said. “Only babies get held like that. You’re no baby anymore.”

Steve hadn’t even realized he was crying until Eddie’s hand slipped up into his hair, scratching at his scalp, and Steve noticed the wet spot on his shirt.

“‘M sorry,” he whispered, sniffling and pressing his face harder against Eddie’s shoulder.

Eddie hummed softly, squeezing Steve a little tighter. Eddie barely had an inch on him, but it felt like a lot more in those moments. “No need to apologize, sunshine,” he whispered back, still swaying to the beat. A new song had started, but it was just as slow as the first one. “I don’t mind.”

They didn’t speak again as they danced to the next two songs after that. Maybe they would later, because Eddie always wanted to support Steve and his healing in any way he could. That could be a conversation for another day. For now, though, they lived in the soft glow of a setting sun. Eddie held Steve, and Steve tried to fight the silent tears. He had lost that battle a long time ago, though. By the end of their dance, when Eddie slowly pulled away and took Steve’s hand instead, his boyfriend’s shirt and neck were soaked with salty tears. Eddie led him to the bed, where they crawled under the covers. He laid Steve’s head on his chest, arms wrapped around him as the last rays of sunlight filtered through the curtains. Dusk was upon them. Steve’s eyes fluttered with the effort of staying open. Eddie’s fingers ran through his hair, his heartbeat lulling Steve to sleep.

For maybe the first time in his life, Steve truly understood what it meant to be loved so wholly. There was no questioning Eddie’s love for him.

Steve just hoped they never stopped dancing.

#gloomysoup #gloomysoup writes #gloomysoup ao3 #steddieweek2024 #stranger things #steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #steve x eddie #steddie fic #stranger things fic #hey look i actually got it posted on day 2 #instead of being late like i was with day 1

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cainache · 1 year

Note

saw you wanted steve request & i love your steve angst.

steve with obvious reader who is unaware of the upside down but is slowly starting to freak out and get a little upset at steve from keeping it form her.

he’s my liar ♱ steve harrington

Hawkins, 1986

The phone call was worse than any kick to the gut. He hadn’t wanted to call you. It was late. You were sleeping and the last thing he wanted to do was bother you with his bullshit. But he was so damn scared. So damn terrified that he wouldn’t see tomorrow, so he called you. Shaking in his skin.

He needed to see you. Now. Selfishly.

You had rushed over without a problem, only living down the street. It was a short bike ride. One you hadn’t minded, even if you were livid with him and his disappearance act.

You had heard the news. Everyone had. Eddie Munson was missing. Chrissy Cunningham was still dead. Jason Carver was now missing. Max was in the hospital. So many others were dead. Half the town was in shambles.

And you didn’t know a thing of the truth.

You hadn’t seen Steve in two days. Every call went unanswered. Every visit to his vacant home left you leaving without seeing him. You’re not surprised by this, he does it all the time. Disappear. It’s happened like once every year since you’ve gotten with him. This year makes number three.

And when he does come back to you, there’s always a million apologies on his tongue and faded bruises on his skin. But tonight, everything is at its peak. Right in front of you. The red ring around his neck. The chunks of skin missing from his abdomen. Small littering cuts. You’re simply staring at him as he leans against the bathroom sink. There’s a towel low around his waist and his hair is wet and dripping. You can’t even be mad at him when he looks like this. You don’t fucking understand.

He hasn’t met your eye in a while.

“I’m sorry,” he suddenly whispers. It’s all too quiet in the bathroom. The steam from his shower is making you dizzy. You suck in a breath before you can cry. He’s looking for your eyes now. You wave a hand at him, staring at the white of his towel. “Can you just let me get the first aid kit, please?”

He winces at the way you sound. He moves, his back scrapes the wall as you bend down to shuffle around under his bathroom sink. Steve tries again, sick to his stomach. “Honey—” You can’t right now.

Your eyes screw shut as you grab onto the kit. “Steve. Please. Just go sit on your bed. I.. I need a minute.” He swallows, thick. He nods, even though you can’t see him. He pulls on his fingers till they ache as he walks the short distance to his room. He sits right on the edge of his bed, staring at the door. Waiting for you.

You stand after a second. Your eyes meet yourself in the mirror. Your face is caked with sleep. Your eyes are teary. You frown and shut the light off as you head for Steve’s room.

He perks up when you appear, it’s accompanied with a small wince. Your frown deepens as you take a seat next to him. “You.. You should lay back, so I can cover these easier.” He just nods. He lays back and you still won’t reach his eyes.

It’s quiet for a while. The only noise is your sniffles, crinkled plastic, and Steve’s occasional whispers. You don’t even have it in you to say soft sorry’s. You’re confused. Scared. Worried. Angry. And Steve’s here, breathing heavy as you look down at his ripped skin. “It’s not as bad as it looks,” he whispers. His eyes are glued to his ceiling.

You stare at his moving abdomen. “Looks pretty bad, Steve. There’s.. Theres teeth marks? Your skin is literally missing here..” Your finger gently moves to point and you flinch in surprise when he takes your hand in his. Your eyes are forced to meet his. He looks guilty. You’re still frowning.

“I’m sorry I called you. I.. I know I’ve been a dick. I know I’ve been gone. But honey, I’m okay. I’m here. Things are fine.”

You stare. Your jaw clicks. You want to rip your hand from his hold, but you love his hold. You need his hold right now. The reassurance. “Things are not fine, Steve.” You seethe, eyes watery slits. “Fucking look at you!” He frowns at your tone and your words. He knows he shouldn’t have called you, but he needed to see your face.

Your other hand waved towards his day old wounds. “What.. What even are these? Where did you get them! There’s damn teeth marks, Steve! I don’t get it!” You can’t sit, you stand during your vomit of words. Your anxious and your hand is still in his. Never too far.

He lets go of your hand slowly and sits up himself. He frowns as he looks at you. Tired. Chest moving quick. You look terrified. He wonders if he looks around the same?

“Honey, I can’t.. I just can’t explain it. I don’t know how.”

You glare at him. “Steve, I can not keep doing this? You’re like a damn mystery! God, whatever you’re doing is painful! Look at your stomach! That’s insane! It’s making me sick!”

He doesn’t know what to say. He can’t tell you the truth. He won’t. You can’t die. He can’t have that. He has to keep you far from it all. He lets out a breath, “I am okay.”

You’re heavy breathing, hands balled up into fist down at your sides. You stare at the bandages that take up a lot of his skin. “I’m okay,” he whispers again as he stands. He towers over you as his hands coat your fist. He squeezes gently. He takes you softly into him. Your eyes screw shut, you’re scared to touch him. He kisses your hairline. You cannot do this.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers again.

You can say you won’t do this for a million times and it will never be true. If he calls, you’re here. Even if he is a liar.

#steve harrington x you #steve stranger things #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x anxious!reader #steve harrington blurb #steve harrington #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington stranger things #stranger things #stranger things 4 #soph’s place

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blushweddinggowns · 1 year

Text

But then she woke up the next day and nothing was better. She had slept till noon and by the time she came downstairs her mom let her know that she had two messages from Steve already.

Those were definitely getting ignored. At least for today.

She didn’t even know what to say to him. If her feelings for him weren't obvious to him before then they probably were now. Or he thought that she was a total homophobe which made her want to cry for a whole new reason.

You’re the first person I’ve ever actually told this too, because it just feels like I can trust you.

Nancy groaned at the memory. God, she had blocked that part out. He probably thought she hated him by now, but she didn’t. She couldn’t even be mad at him, not really. He didn’t do anything wrong. She was the one who didn’t want to see what was right in front of her. She didn’t know what to do. And when she didn’t know what to do she called Barb, but that wasn’t an option for this.

…was it?

No. It wasn’t. She shouldn’t tell her. She wouldn’t tell her. But then again…if she guessed on her own what had happened that didn’t really count right? And if there was anyone Nancy could trust it was her. She’d never say anything. She just wasn’t the type of person who would endanger someone’s life for petty gossip.

Plus Nancy needed to apologize anyway and it was time she took the verbal tongue whipping that she deserved for leaving her there last night. She called her, sighing when it went to voicemail. She knew she was awake by now and she was definitely home. God, she was even more pissed at her then she thought.

She spent the weekend sulking, while successfully avoiding Steve and leaving multiple I’m Sorry messages on Barb’s machine. But she wouldn’t be able to avoid her on Monday, she’d find her then.

But then her mom called her, crying. Barb had been missing since Friday. Which didn’t make any sense. Nancy was at their door within the hour, but they had nothing to tell her except that her car was gone and the police had been called. She even went back to Steve’s to look for her, her intense embarrassment suddenly felt like nothing in comparison to not knowing where he best fucking friend was.

But lucky enough for her he wasn’t there. And Barb’s car wasn’t there either. And Nancy could have sworn it had been when she started walking home. Hadn’t it? What had happened to her after she left?

Nancy was aware that breaking into Steve’s house to investigate was probably a bad idea. But it was his own fault for showing her where the hide-a-key was. It’s not that she thought that Eddie or Steve would do anything to Barb, but if she was crashing at his house she needed to know about it. But she didn’t find anything. She checked every room, she checked out back, but nothing. There weren’t even signs of a struggle. No blood, nothing that could indicate anything happened here.

But still…if Steve and Eddie were the last people to see her, she couldn’t just pretend that it didn’t matter. Against her better judgment she kept digging around, looking for anything that could help her figure out where she was. She was a little frazzled to say the least. Her best friend was missing and she was trespassing in her ex-crush’s house looking for.

She was lucky she even heard the front door open while she was rifling through Steve’s desk, immediately followed by his and Eddie’s voices.

Shit, shit, shit.

She could hear them coming up the stairs. Of course they were coming up the stairs, his room was upstairs and Nancy….really didn’t want to get caught doing whatever the fuck this was. Could she be blamed for hiding in the closet? God, what kind of hellish weekend was this?

Nancy held her breath as the two of them walked in. She couldn’t see much through the slants in the closet, but she could hear everything.

“Are you sure you left it here?” Eddie asked, “It might just still be at school.”

“I’m sure,” Steve answered while he shuffled around the room, “I had just finished it and put it back in the book before you came. Give me five minutes and I’ll find it. Just need to retrace my steps. Okay, Friday, I was studying before they came over. And then you happened and…”

She could hear him shuffle around the room before exclaiming, “Ha! Told you it was in here!”

“Why is it under the bed?”

Steve snorted, “Babe, ask yourself that question.”

“Okay whatever. You got me there. Nancy would be proud to know you were this dedicated to turning in homework.”

Steve sighed, “Please don’t say her name right now. I’m sad enough as it is. God, what if she already told Barb and they both hate us? I didn’t even get to say goodbye before they both left.”

“Oh Stevie…” Nancy could hear Eddie move to him, and then an unmistakable, wet kissing sound before he said, “I know this sucks, but it will be okay. You said it yourself right? Nancy’s not that kind of person to hate you over this. And if she is then we do what we always do, lie and move on.”

Steve sighed, “You make it sound so easy.”

“Because it is that easy. Besides, you still got me don’t you?”

Another wet sound before Steve giggled, “Yeah. I do. Now let’s go home, this room is making me depressed.”

Nancy could almost cry from how relieved she was when she heard the door close, even if all of that was hard to hear. Though having to hear them kiss wasn’t exactly pleasant. And she…she didn’t want Steve to think she hated him. But she also couldn’t focus on that for right now. Because now she had proof that whatever happened to Barb had nothing to do with Steve and Eddie, thank god. She would still have to ask them about her, get all her bases covered, but she felt pretty damn confident that they had nothing to do with her going missing. Which meant if she told anyone about this stupid party the cops would waste all of their time questioning them while Barb was still gone. Hawkins police had been functionally useless for finding Will Beyers, what were they going to do with Barb? Less than nothing?

Well Nancy wasn’t going to let that stand. She was going to find her herself.

She just didn’t think she’d end up doing it with Johnathan Beyers of all people. Or that monsters turned out to be fucking real. Or that her little brother was involved. Or any of the insane shit that happened to her in the span of one week.

Honestly, in comparison to all of that Steve coming out to her really wasn’t that big a deal.

But him and Eddie showing up to the Beyer’s place to deliver condolence cookies sure fucking was. Though she had to admit, watching Eddie stab the monster in the back with the knife he kept in his shoe kinda made her more understanding on why Steve was so into him.

She hadn’t even thanked him, either of them for their help. She was too busy rushing to the hospital with Johnathan. Because if they found Will, then that meant that they found Barb, right?

And they had. Just not all of her. Joyce was the one who ended up telling her. And the one who held her while she sobbed.

Suffice to say, it was a pretty bad fucking week. It had been a few days since then and Nancy had spent most of it crying about Barb. She couldn’t even tell her parents because of the stupid NDA. Mike and Johnathan were too busy celebrating the fact that Will was alive to deal with her. She had never felt more alone in her life. She couldn’t tell anyone. She couldn’t talk to anyone-

Well…actually…she couldn’t talk to anyone who hadn’t been there. And even though they didn’t really know what was going on, Eddie and Steve had been there. If they haven't been forced to sign a shady NDA yet then they would be, and it had said nothing about discussing it with the people who already knew.

But Jesus, now she had to think about Steve. Steve, who didn’t care that she had been ignoring him. Steve and Eddie who still jumped into help save their asses, despite being completely in the dark. How was she even going to face them?

After everything that had happened, the whole gay thing felt so small. She could get over it, couldn’t she? And maybe her feelings for Steve hadn’t died completely yet, but they would if she tried right? Plus…as sad as it was, Steve was probably the closest living person to her at this point, even if they had only started getting close the past few months. She…missed him. Hell, she even missed Eddie.

She hadn’t talked to either of them since that day. But she wanted to. She just wasn’t sure if they would want to talk to her. It’s not like she had anything to give them to make up for getting them almost killed. Or for running away. And she did want to make it up to them. She just didn’t know how.

Unless…maybe there was something she could do after all.

I’m not some kind of casanova. I haven’t even had sex with a girl before. All of those dates never got past first, if that. But we needed a way to not be obvious so that’s how that happened.

Steve’s words rang in her head. Maybe it wasn’t a good call to offer up being a fake girlfriend to the guy she still technically liked, but it was something. And it would benefit Eddie too. Plus, she could probably save a few girls from some heartbreak while she was at it.

Okay, that was something. A plan was forming and plans always helped Nancy to feel like she was back in control. Now she just needed to go over there and apologize, explain everything that happened without crying, and offer up being a fake girlfriend as penance. That wasn’t so hard right? Plus it had the added benefit of getting her to move for the first time in two days.

She rode her bike over to the Harrington’s place, completely unsurprised when there were no cars. Steve had said it himself, this wasn’t where home was. Luckily she knew where the trailer park was. She didn’t know which one was Eddie’s but she did recognize Steve’s car parked out in front of it.

It took more than a few knocks for someone to answer the door, but she didn’t bike all around town for nothing. Though…it became pretty obvious pretty quickly that she had um, interrupted something when she came over. If the insane amount of hickies on both of their necks was anything to go by. But the conversation went well enough, of course it did. Both of them were understanding, maybe even understanding to a fault. And they had managed to make her laugh for the first time since she’d known Barb was missing. And both of them jumped right onto the fake dating idea. Eddie seemed especially relieved, he even promised to make her muffins for every other fake date they went on.

And just like that she had them back in her life. Thank fucking god. Nancy wasn’t the type of person who always needed to be surrounded by others to be okay. She liked being alone, honestly preferred it more than half the time, but she couldn't get through all of the shit they’d been through alone. She just couldn’t. And she didn’t have to, because Eddie and Steve were there for her every step of the way. Especially Steve.

It’s not that he took Barb’s place, no one could. But he quickly became the person she’d go to for…well. Everything. Talking about Barb, on the days she could without crying about it, complaining about her Dad and brother, or even dumb things like who she went to first when she heard a song she really liked. She didn’t think that everything would feel so easy with him after what had happened. But it did.

And while she was a lot closer to Steve, having Eddie around wasn’t too bad of a feeling either. He had a gift for lighting up any room he was in. Steve and Nancy actually shared a lot of the same interests and didn’t have many differing opinions, which just made it so much more fun when Eddie went against almost everything they said. He always kept things interesting, that was for sure.

But Steve just…understood her in a different way. A way that she needed. And if she could just forget about the whole My best friend fucking died for no reason thing for a second then she’d be doing pretty good right now. And also the small issue of I might still be in love with Steve thing.

That one was harder to ignore when she saw him nearly every day. And it made her feel sick. She didn’t want to feel like this. She didn’t want her heart to speed up every time he hugged her. She didn’t want to imagine a world where him holding her hand actually meant something. She didn’t want any of it, and she didn’t know what to do about it. There was nothing she could do. It was a lose-lose scenario.

For one thing, it was never going to happen. That became painfully clear after Eddie and Steve got the go-ahead that she was a safe person to be themselves around. They were…ugh. Disgustingly in love. And the more she learned about the truth in their relationship the more nails were hammered into the closed door of Steve and Nancy ever being together. Plus, she didn’t even want to be with him. Even if Steve magically fell in love with her tomorrow it would ruin Eddie. She couldn’t even fantasize about it because it just made her too damn sad. She wasn’t even sure Steve could be Steve without Eddie at his side.

Besides, if anything she likes seeing them in love, as weird as that was. But the two of them beat her parents out of the park as an example for what love could be. And she wanted that with someone who wanted her. And Steve was never going to be that person. So why hadn’t the feelings gone away?

They were worse when she was having a bad day. And today was an especially bad day. It had been a few months since Barb died. It was a Friday night and Nancy’s parents were gone for the weekend, Mike was at Will’s, and Steve and Eddie always did their own thing on Fridays.

No one had remembered what day it was. Or if they did, they didn’t care. March 26th. Barb’s birthday. Nancy didn’t tell anyone and she didn’t do anything besides sending flowers to her parents.. No one else in school knew. She didn’t even go, she allowed herself the small liencay of skipping, even if she was regretting it now.

Because she had had a strategy for dealing with Barb being gone. And that was keeping herself busy to the maximum extent possible. If she wasn’t studying her ass off she was doing an extracurricular, and if she wasn’t doing that then she was hanging out with Steve. And if she wasn’t doing that then she was busy trying to read everything Tolstov ever wrote. The busier she was, the less time she had to think. And the less time she had to think meant that her mind wouldn’t wonder to Barb, or how she died, or how alone she probably felt or how scared-

And her strategy was not working. At least not for today. Now she was back to where she was last year, crying alone in her room. Steve had called after school to check up on her and he seemed to believe the lie she put out about her period being particularly bad. It was good for no follow up questions at least. She would have the next 60 or so hours to be alone and miserable.

So why was there someone pounding on her door? Nancy groaned as she forced herself out of bed, yelling down the stairs, “Jesus, I’m coming!”

It had to be Dustin looking for Mike. It’s not like anyone wanted to see her. She didn’t even bother opening the door, she just yelled through it, “Mike is at Will’s house!”

Steve laughed nervously on the other side, “Well that’s good, because I’m pretty sure that kid hates my guts.”

Nancy’s eyes widened at the sound of his voice. She opened the door and there he was, sheepishly waving at her on her front stoop, "Hi? Can I um, come in?"

Nancy stepped aside to let him, quickly wiping at her face to hide any stray tears. She was pretty sure she looked like shit, but too little too late for that one.

She shut the door and turned to face him, suddenly feeling very awkward, “I thought tonight was date night?”

Steve shrugged, “Every night is date night if you try hard enough. Do you want to sit down or…?”

Nancy shook her head. What she wanted to do was get back to sulking, but she needed to figure out why he was even here before she could do that, “Steve, what are you doing here?”

Steve fidgeted in place and Nancy hated how adorable she thought it was, “Well you sounded weird over the phone and I was just worried I guess. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Or at least she would be fine after she was left alone to rot, like she deserved, “You don’t need to worry about me.”

Steve ran a hand through his hair, “Nancy look, I know you can take care of yourself. But I just thought since it’s…well y’know.”

How would he…he couldn’t know. Could he? Nancy narrowed her eyes at him, “What are you talking about?”

Steve frowned, suddenly looking a bit more unsure of himself, “It’s Barb’s Birthday today right?”

Nancy stared at him, eyes wide, “H-How do you know that?”

Steve shrugged, “We um, talked about it once.”

“And you remembered?”

Steve cocked his head at her, “Of course I remember. We were having this whole debate about cars and then I asked what she’d want when she turned sixteen and she mention- Nancy? Are you okay?”

Nancy was not okay. She could feel the tears already welling up in her eyes. She thought…she didn’t think anyone remembered. Or cared but…Steve did. He hadn’t even known her that well. Which was fucking horrible because Barb would have loved him. She did love him, begrudgingly back when they barely knew each other. And Steve would have loved her. Because Barb was smart and funny and sweet like Steve and…and Nancy was crying. Like crying, crying. She was sobbing so hard it felt like an out of body experience.

She could feel herself sinking to the floor, hands covering her face as she wept. She hated crying in front of other people. She hated looking so weak and pathetic. She hated feeling like this. She was supposed to be better than this. Why did she even have to cry about? She wasn’t the one who was dead.

God, was this what a mental breakdown felt like?

She could barely hear the sound of Steve kneeling next to her over her own sobs, but she did feel it when he wrapped his arms around her, “Hey, hey, you’re okay. Everything’s gonna be okay. You’re not alone.”

That just made her cry harder. Because she should have been alone. She deserved to be alone.

“No, you don’t Nancy. Don’t say shit like that.”

She hadn’t even realized she’d been talking out loud. Yep, this was definitely what a mental breakdown felt like. But Steve holding her was helping. He was even rocking her a little, murmuring reassurances in her ear the whole time.

It took awhile for her to calm down. She couldn’t even tell you how long it had been. But somehow Steve had gotten them off the floor and to the couch, an arm still around her shoulders as she sniffled.

She wiped at her face, a sea of emotions flowing through her. Grief, shame, longing, and all of it was fucking awful.

She couldn’t even look at Steve, “I’m sorry. I…I don’t know what came over me.”

“Nance, don’t apologize. You think I’ve never had a good cry session on the floor before? It’s normal.”

But it wasn’t normal for her, “You shouldn’t have to see me like this.”

“Why not? Nancy, your best friend died. What else are you going to cry over if not this?”

Even months later, hearing someone else say she died felt like a knife to her heart. Her eyes were already welling up again. Fuck it, she had already embarrassed herself to hell and back in front of him, why not a little more?

“I miss her. So much. Every day. And I can’t stop thinking, why her? What did she ever do to deserve this? And I can’t stop thinking if I hadn’t taken her to your house that night, would she still be alive? Is it my fault she’s dead? O-or am I just making her dying about me? And it makes me feel like I’m going crazy,” She was babbling, and she’d be shocked if Steve could even understand half of what she was saying through her shaking voice.

But Steve was listening to every word, patiently waiting as she got everything out before speaking, “Nancy, it’s not your fault she’s gone. And you’re not bad for thinking about what happened. I…I know there’s nothing I can say to fix this. But you're not a bad person because of what happened to her. And there was no reason. It was just fucked up and wrong and no one’s fault but the people in that lab.”

Nancy knew that he was right, even if it didn’t feel right. It still felt like her fault. And even if it wasn’t it didn’t take away the fact that she was gone. But…at least she wasn’t alone. She hadn’t even told him to come, but here he was anyway, all because he remembered her best friend’s birthday.

Because that was the kind of person Steve was. And she loved him for it. And he was handsome and kind and Nancy’s sense of self-preservation was at an all time low.

The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, “I think I’m in love with you.”

She regretted saying it the second it was out there. She could feel Steve freeze up next to her. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

Why had she said that? This. This right here was why she didn’t do vulnerable, because you say the dumbest shit imaginable. Shit that ruined friendships. What was Eddie going to think of her when he found out? He’d probably never talk to her again and now she put Steve in this horrible position and…God, why did she suck so much?

She looked up at him, near cringing at the shocked expression on his face, “Im so sorry Steve, that’s a terrible thing to say. Please don’t tell Eddie. I don't even know where that came from-”

Steve shook his head, shaking himself out of his surprised stupor. He smiled at her, aiming to comfort, “Hey, hey calm down, I’m not mad.”

But he should have been. Or at least Nancy thought he should, “Steve, I would never try to get in between you guys. You know that right? I’m just all fucked up and-”

“Stop apologizing. It’s okay. I get it Nancy. I do. But uh, I’m not sure you do.”

Nancy stopped, her third apology dying on the tip of her tongue, “What?”

Steve sighed, “Nance, I love you but I think you’re looking at me through some rose-colored glasses here, alright? We work because you have the friend version of me. I think a week with romantic Steve would have you running up a wall.”

That’s what he was focusing on?

“Huh?”

Steve bit his lip, struggling for the words before saying, “It’s just-and stop me if I’m totally wrong here, but I think that it’s not everyday a boy and a girl get as close as we did without the romance part. So it’s easy to get confused. I know you love me. But…I don’t think you’re in love with me. I think you think it would be easier if you were, but Nancy, I swear to you it wouldn’t be.”

This conversation had taken a weird turn. And it didn’t make any sense to her, “What are you talking about? Anyone would be happy to be with you Steve. Look at you!”

“Exactly!” Steve groaned, circling a hand around his face, “Look at me! Do you know the shit I put Eddie through on a daily basis?”

“What do you mean?” Nancy asked.

“I mean I’m a nightmare! First of all, he’s not even allowed to sleep at night without me. And I’ll like, koala cling to him. All night long. And it doesn’t stop in bed. If we’re alone, his lap is my home away from home.”

Nancy stared at him, gnawing on her lower lip as he talked, "You're exaggerating."

Steve shrugged, "You're right. Half the time he’s on mine. But it gets worse. Do you remember when I was gone for that tournament a few weeks back? It was maybe two days?”

She nodded.

“I called him eight times. And he picked up every single one of them. Because if he hadn’t, I would have obsessively called him until he had.”

Jesus Christ, that could not be healthy, “Are…are you serious?”

Steve ran a hand through his hair, equal parts embarrassed and determined, “Dead. And that’s not even top five in the clingy shit I do. Did you know there was a weekend I literally didn’t let him out of bed for like twelve hours? Or the fact that I’m responsible for like every class we’ve ever skipped because I drag him into some dark room to makeout?”

Steve may have been right about the rose-colored glasses. If he ever tried any of that with her she’d strangle him, “You guys do that?”

“We do worse. But I’m not trying to add to your trauma here. But think about it. You’re…you. You’re independent, you love having alone time, you like the quiet, you want people to ask before they hug you. And I love all of that, I do! I love that you’re so straight-foward. I love that you're all no nonsense, but…well…I’m all nonsense. God I don’t know what other way to say this but I’m a brat and believe me, you’d dump me in a few months, a year tops.”

She hated how true that was. But Steve was right, she knew he was right. She would never be able to handle someone being that clingy. She stopped sleeping with her stuffed animals when she was ten because they made her too hot, but a whole person, attached to her side every night and day? She’d die. And maybe…maybe that explanation cleared up all the confusion. Because she still didn’t actually want him before she knew all of that, out of guilt. But now…it was a little more than just that.

“But…” Steve trailed off for a second, before giving Nancy’s hand a light squeeze, “If I was straight, I’d love nothing more than to get my heart broken by you.”

Now Nancy was tearing up for a whole other reason. Maybe in love had been the wrong phrasing, but she really did love this guy. This strange, sweet, freak of a man.

She squeezed his hand back, “Promise me this won’t change anything?”

Steve shrugged, “I can’t promise that. I think it will change things, but for the better alright? No more secrets between us, yeah?”

Nancy nodded, with one small caveat, “But you still won’t tell Eddie right?”

Steve grinned before pulling her into another hug, “That you thought you were in love with me for five seconds? Never.”

Nancy pulled away first, wiping at her eyes again. They were actually sore from all the crying she’d done in the last couple of hours, “I feel like I should send him flowers for dealing with you now or something.”

“Well…if you wanted you could tell him that yourself. How about you come back to the trailer with me? You can be alone with us.”

Nancy laughed at that, “That doesn’t make any sense.”

"It kind of does though."

It really didn’t but Nancy didn’t care. She smiled at him, relaxed in a way she hadn’t felt in months,“Yeah, that sounds good.”

While she was happy she’d get to spend more time with Steve, she was more than a little nervous to see Eddie, especially since she was interrupting their night. Even though Steve insisted over and over again that it was more than fine. Best case he’d be begrudgingly accepting, and worst he’d be obviously annoyed. Nancy wasn’t sure which she preferred.

What she hadn’t expected was for Eddie to hug her right after she got in the door. Or better yet, ask before he did it.

“You get full movie picking privileges,” he announced right after. He looked her up and down, frowning to himself a little, “"Have you had dinner yet?"

"Um no but I’m okay-"

“But nothing. I could throw you like a football. You’re eating something.”

Steve snorted behind her, “Did you just get possessed by an Italian grandmother? He makes spaghetti one time-”

“And you loved it!”

Nancy smiled to herself as she watched them bicker. But there was no longing to go with it this time, she just felt…happy to be around them. And she did eat, just to shut Eddie up, the nag.

But she got him back. She was never going to let him live down the fact that he cried during Harold and Maude. She had them sit through all of her favorite movies, and by the third act of Valley Girl, they were both fast asleep.

Steve was leaning against her shoulder while Eddie was half draped over the armrest, snoring in what looked like one of the most uncomfortable positions possible. She leaned back into the couch with a sigh as the movie played, her eyes slipping closed on their own. And for the first time in a long time, Nancy knew that she was going to be okay.

Part 1 Part 1.5 Part 2

The end! At least for the Nancy POV. Everything from this little series was from this fic, and I might post more snippets if it can be relatively short for tumblr styling. This honestly isn't that short but I didn't want to split it in two so here we are!

@northa @dustcommander @attic-cat-blog @dinosareawesome2137 @obsessivlyme @fuckign-uh-hi

@a-little-unsteddie @ghost--enthusiast @jestyzesty @missarte-beltane

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artaxlivs · 1 year

Text

Eddie wakes up in an unfamiliar bed. He’s bandaged and broken with no memory of how he got here. Before he can call out for help, Steve comes in. Looks delighted that he’s awake. Tells him he has to be quiet though. That Steve’s parents showed up and they’ll probably leave soon but if they see Eddie, they’ll call the police and he’s still a wanted man.

Steve’s got the kind of bathroom that connects his room with the guest room. Says they’re called “Jack and Jill” bathrooms. Which sounds like some weird Brady Bunch type of shit but it means they have access to each other and a bathroom without leaving their rooms which is convenient as hell.

Steve helps him to the bathroom at first, closes the door for privacy. Showers are trickier because his parents would notice the shower running twice. And Eddie needs help. They shower together with their boxers on until the last minute, then shove them down with their backs turned and wrap up quickly with towels after. It’s an odd bonding experience but it breaks down any barriers they have pretty quickly.

Steve apologizes daily for the lack of visitors. Says they can’t risk it though, his parents don’t really know about the kids. Steve sneaks him food, cold leftovers usually but snacks to keep in a drawer, even brings him a pack of Yoo-hoos. He loans Eddie his Walkman with his shitty tapes but promises to go to the record store soon and get Eddie something he likes.

Every day Steve brings him something new. A notebook to doodle in, colored pens, books to read. Spends most of his time with Eddie. Let’s Eddie draw fake tattoos on him with a black marker until Eddie’s exhausted and needs to sleep. Refuses to scrub the tattoos in the shower so they’ll last longer. Eddie drags his fingertips over them sometimes. Thinks about pressing his lips to them.

He has nightmares about the bites and feels them again night after night. Feels terrified in the dark. One night he wakes in Steve’s arms, with Steve shushing him and rocking him. Steve tells Eddie that he’d been crying out and he was afraid his parents would come check. Offers to sleep with him. Eddie’s so desperate for human contact that agrees, even though he’s already worried Steve knows how he feels. The next night, Steve offers without Eddie even asking. He never bothers going back to his own bed after that.

It’s not until he’s been trapped in one room for two weeks and realized he isn’t getting any stronger that Eddie gets suspicious.

The weirdest thing is that Eddie never hears anyone else in the house. And he listens. His window faces the backyard so he can’t tell if Steve’s parents' car is ever gone. But the phone never rings and there’s never raised voices or music or anything. No TV to disrupt the silence. The only time there are sounds from the kitchen or on the stairs is when Steve’s out of the room.

One day, Steve tells him he’s going to go see the kids, maybe bring Eddie some letters from them if he can but his moms home so Eddie can’t leave the room. Shouldn’t even walk around and don’t flush the toilet. He’s scared. Or he acts like it at least. Eddie’s not sure what to think. Makes Eddie promise to be careful because he says he doesn’t want anything to happen to him. So afraid he’ll come home to find Hawkins PD on the lawn and Eddie at gunpoint.

Eddie’s afraid of that too but he’s just as afraid that there’s something not adding up here. He waits for fifteen minutes after Steve leaves before he cracks his guestroom door open, listening for any sounds. There’s nothing. He’s so weak that his legs almost wobble in their borrowed sweats but he makes it across the hall to what looks like another guest room. It overlooks the street. No cars in the driveway or out front. But they have a garage. So maybe they’re parked inside it?

Eddie pokes his head cautiously into the other bedroom. The door to this one is closed. It’s clearly the master, he can tell once he peeks inside. On his way to pull the door shut though, he sees dust on the bedside table. He lifts up the picture frame on it. There’s a lot of dust on the table. Months worth. Maybe more. He puts the frame back carefully. Ventures farther into the room, careful not to stick his fingers into any of the dusty surfaces on the furniture he passes. In the master bathroom, he finds the same signs of disuse. Opens the closet, it’s full of clothes but they all smell musty. Like they’ve been closed up for far too long.

He goes back to the guest room to check the driveway, still empty. No Bimmer. He doesn’t bother to go downstairs. There’s no way Steve’s parents are here. Which means that Steve is keeping him here for some reason. Lying to him. Why is he lying?

He goes to the phone table in the hallway, realizes he doesn’t know Dustin’s number by heart. He only knows the number to the trailer which he tries first and gets the disconnected signal and the number to Reefer Rick which is also disconnected …and Gareth. Who he doesn’t want to involve but he needs help. He calls. It rings ten times before Eddie finally hangs up.

He’s close to tears. Maybe he can run for it? Hide somewhere and then go to Henderson’s once it gets dark? He stands there in the upstairs hallway next to the little table with the phone on it for far too long though because he hears a car pull into the driveway. He hobbles quickly back to his room, clicking the door shut and climbing back into bed. He’s sweating, his heart is racing, Steve’s gonna know. He’s gonna know.

After a minute of movement downstairs during which Eddie barely breathes, he hears Steve coming up the stairs. His heart is near to bursting out of his chest; it's beating so fast. Steve’s bedroom door opens and then Steve comes through their shared bathroom. Concern on his face at Eddie’s agitated state.

“Oh fuck,” Eddie whispers, voice trembling naturally, “I was freaking out. Thank god it’s you. Every tiny sound, I was sure she was gonna come in here. Can you,” he holds out his hands and Steve smiles, sliding onto the bed next to him. Protective. Eddie curls into Steve, hiding the fear in his eyes by squeezing them shut. Hiding the knowledge on his face by pressing into Steve’s shoulder. Curling into Steve like a scared rabbit. Because he is. Because Steve is some kind of predator and Eddie doesn’t know how to escape.

Steve rubs his back gently, whispering reassurances. They fall asleep like that. Eddie, exhausted from his digging and the adrenaline fall out of what he’s excavated.

When he wakes up, there’s a fresh bandage on his neck and he’s alone. Steve must be listening for him though because he comes in on quiet feet, tells him in a hushed voice that Eddie must have strained too much while Steve was gone. He’d bled through his bandage so Steve had very carefully changed it in his sleep.

But Eddie knows it hadn’t hurt all day and it hurts now. He thinks about how often that happens. And how weak he is. How he’s not getting any stronger. How monsters are real. And Vecna is real. And that Vecna’s right hand was a vampire, a valiant knight that he gave the name Kas to. He thinks about how Steve is the most valiant knight that Eddie has ever known. And Eddie knows he has nowhere to run this time.

Posted on Ao3 as There’s Something Wrong With Steve

#stranger things #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie #kas the bloody handed #write a series #or not

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ashwhowrites · 2 years

Text

Best friends part 2

Part 1

Not proofread

Y/N was up all night, her brain couldn't shut off.

She went from being with no one, to now having two boys after her. It made no sense.

A part of her was happy to hear about Eddie possibly liking her in a more than friendly way. But her head wanted to remind her of his actions. He hurt her and he kept hurting her. Would he have even apologized if Steve never went over there?

Steve, now her brain ran to Steve. He technically did nothing wrong. He was sweet and such a gentleman. It was obvious he was into her and he has been. She never once had to question his intentions.

But Eddie? It felt so random and a change of character.

It hurts to admit but she really thinks Eddie just enjoyed how she felt about him. That made him feel special and good. It's normal to feel that way when someone tells you that they love you. But did he ever feel anything before she told him?

She really doesn't think so.

The next few days were awkward. Every time she looked at Eddie her head hurt. And every time she saw Steve she felt like running to him and crying.

She made sure to take time to think about this. Someone was going to end up hurt. That's what happens when you find yourself in a love triangle.

She had to think with her head because her heart betrayed her too many times.

Her heart wants Eddie, and it wants Eddie so bad.

But her brain keeps reminding her Steve was the right choice. Steve was someone her heart could learn to love. Someone her heart could learn to want.

Standing outside Eddie's trailer had her feeling sick. She never once has been so scared to see her best friend.

Every second she waited for him to open the door was another second of her wanting to run, make an escape.

But she had to do this.

So when he opened the door with a small smile, she took a deep breath.

Here goes nothing.

"Eddie I know I still love you. And I think I will for a long time. And I can't lie, when you said you feel strong feelings for me too I was excited. I was happy. But I don't think your feelings came from your heart. I think you got caught up with the idea of someone loving you. And it's being taken away and you are jumping into action. Doing what you can to make that feeling stay. But I can't Eddie. Steve has done nothing wrong. He hasn't hurt me like you have."

She hated that his eyes filled tears. She could see the guilt and regret meeting each other in his eyes

"maybe if we went about this differently. Maybe if you didn't turn on me because I wanted to move on from you."

He nodded along. Everything she said was right. He was an asshole and he had to face the consequences of it.

"Eddie, you are my best friend. And I want to stay in your life and I want you in mine. But you had your chance with me. You had years to find out your feelings for me. You had your chance for a long time. But now-"

He cut her off. It felt like he was choking on the words, trying to breathe through the cracks.

"But now is Steve's chance." He smiled at her sadly. He had a feeling where this conversation was going to go.

"um yes. That's exactly what I was going to say." She slightly laughed. Eddie always knew how to finish her sentences. She smiled at the moment.

Eddie sat closer to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"you're right. He deserves a fair chance. And I'm not going to ruin that. I should never have been an asshole about anything of this. Steve is actually a good guy. And I know he's going to treat you well."

Her heart warmed at his confession. She kissed his cheek softly and mumbled out a soft "thank you"

Eddie laughed to break the silence. Wiping his tears and hers. He clapped his hands on her shoulder.

"now let's go get your man!" He exclaimed as he grabbed his keys. She laughed as she followed him out the door.

Now that is her Eddie.

"what if he changed his mind?" Y/N was terrified. Maybe she was too much drama for Steve.

Steve graduated, he's probably done with high school drama.

Eddie sighed as he neared Steve's street.

"don't be ridiculous. He definitely did not change his mind." He encouraged her. She tried to let it help but inside she was still filled with doubt.

Once Eddie pulled into his driveway, she took a deep breath.

"Hey, he's going to pick you too." Eddie said as he patted her thigh.

She smiled at him softly and unbuckled her seatbelt.

She gave herself a pep talk as she knocked on Steve's door.

Steve was surprised to see Y/N standing at this front door. His eyes caught sight of Eddie and his van. He was even more confused.

"um what's going on?" Steve asked, nerves clear on in his voice. He secretly prayed that this wasn't her breaking up with him. She'll leave him and go kiss Eddie and drive away.

"I have something I wanted to tell you." She smiled at him brightly. That eased his nerves slightly.

"I wanted to say first that it was very sweet of you to step aside for Eddie. You definitely did not need to do that at all."

He nodded. He was trying not to freak out. Not sure which way this conversation was going.

"and second I want you Steve. I understand if there is too much drama for you. And this whole love triangle turned you off in a way. I totally get it and I wouldn't blame you for sending me back to the car. But you made me feel all the things I've been wanting to feel for years. I don't even know if I can make you feel half as special as you make me. But if you still want me, I would love to be your girlfriend still."

Steve couldn't wipe the smile off of his face. His heart is practically running.

She wanted him

She was picking him

For once, Steve was the first choice.

"YO HARRINGTON. THIS IS THE PART WHERE YOU KISS HER!" Eddie yelled from the van.

Y/N laughed into her hands, blushing painfully hard.

She shyly looked back at Steve, who was blushing too.

"you can if you want to." She whispered softly.

Steve didn't waste a second. He cupped her face and smashed his lips onto hers.

As cheesy as it was, fireworks exploded in his chest.

They smiled into each other's lips so hard they weren't even kissing much anymore.

Steve got the girl.

Tags!

@kalinaselennespeaks

@kindablackenedsuperhero @mirrorsstuff @magnificantmermaid @lokiofasgard616 @munsonzzgf @chipster-21 @starrywhitenight @omgvirtualcupcakecollection-blog

@bmunson86 @mxcheese @ladymunson @michaelfuckinglangdon @z0mbie-blah @biittersweet

#steve stranger things #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington #steve harrington angst #steve Harrington fluff #eddie stranger things #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson #eddie munson angst #eddie munson angst x reader

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robyn-118 · 1 year

Text

golden boy

Prince!Steve x Kitchenboy!Eddie

Hi, all! So, this is my first attempt at writing for this particular pairing. I've been in a hell of a slump recently so please be gentle with me. I started out wanting to write the scene in The House of the Dragon where the guard and the princess get together and somehow it turned into this fluffy shit. Hope you enjoy ❤️

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Eddie's elbow deep in a large pot scrubbing the day's dinner remnants off, lost in thought and humming a tune he'd heard while at the market that morning, he's taken out of his resolve when the door leading to the back of the castle swings open quickly.

"What th - " he starts, splashing soapy water up onto his apron as he turns toward the sudden intrusion. He is at a loss for words once he finally lays eyes on who just came bursting through the door.

Prince Steven.

The two of them lock eyes for a moment, Eddie noticing his tear-stained face and his red-rimmed eyes immediately. Before he can react, say anything of comfort to the poor boy, Steven is ducking his head shyly, mumbling his apologies and hurrying up the few stone steps and out of the scullery.

Eddie can only stand there for a moment, keeping his eyes on the trail the prince left. His chest tightens at how pitiful the boy looked standing before him.

This wasn't their first interaction, not by a long shot. Eddie's Uncle, who stepped in as a father when Eddie's own left him without a home when he was seven, is part of the Royal Guard. It's how Eddie came to work in the palace in the first place.

His Uncle Wayne served King Harrington for many years on the battlefield. When Wayne was wounded and could no longer keep up with the young men coming in to the guard, he was kept on as a guard in the palace - looking after Prince Steven and sometimes the Lady Queen among other noblemen that visited.

Eddie had grown up alongside Steven - though they lived in two very different worlds. They weren't friends, Eddie wasn't simple enough to believe that, most of their 'interactions' involved Eddie watching Steven from afar.

He would watch him practice his archery and sometimes his sword-work, dueling in the courtyard with other boys his age of much more noble birth than Eddie. Usually, that would involve getting caught staring; Prince Steven was attractive, to say the least. With tan skin peppered with freckles, brown hair long and flowing, and eyes that Eddie could get lost in. Eddie usually ended up averting his eyes and trying to hide the blush he could feel burning through his skin and returning to whatever task he was tending to before he got caught in the magnetic pull of Prince Steven Harrington.

Steven, though he seemed about as spoiled as a pampered prince could be, wasn't cruel, not like his father was. The King was known to be merciless to most people and that included his family. He had no qualms putting down the one and only heir to his throne, no matter who was around to witness it.

Eddie had witnessed the King striking his son across the face on more than one occasion. He always secretly wished Steven would fight back.

A child was easy to pick on but as Steven grew older, he'd grown more domineering, his young, lanky body turning into all swollen and hard muscle.

Each time, though, Eddie watched Steven tighten his jaw and retreat into himself more - like he had no other choice than to take the abuse.

That's why seeing Steven so clearly distraught had Eddie a little shaken up. What had happened that was bad enough to make the prince cry - bad enough that he looked well and truly wrecked.

Eddie finished his scrubbing before heading up to the kitchen proper. He scurried by mostly unnoticed by the few ladies still preparing night meals for the royalty in the castle; not a hard feat since most of them never so much as gave Eddie a passing glance.

He froze in his step, eyes landing on one of the many trays about to be taken to each person's bedchamber. Before he could think about how bad of an idea it truly was, he was grabbing a tray and hurrying out of the room headed toward the Prince's bedchamber.

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Steve's eyes burned as he hurried down the dark hallway leading to his bedchamber. He never should have climbed down that damned trellis, he never should have met up with him, he never should have left his bedroom in the first place.

He wishes more than anything he could take it all back.

"Your Grace?" A gruff voice sounds in front of him. He knows it's Sir Munson without looking up, the old man's voice that's become so familiar to Steve, already laced with concern.

"I'm fine." He says weakly, darting inside before another soul can bear witness to his pathetic breakdown.

He hears the guard throw a questioning "Sire?" before the heavy door closes between them. He sags his back against the door, letting a quiet sob escape him as he sits down onto the cold stone floor.

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What in the seven hells am I doing? Eddie wonders to himself as he makes his way down the corridor - only the warm light of the candles that hang on the walls lighting his way.

Eddie has been down these halls before but not often enough to feel any sort of comfort in doing so. He has already gotten a few suspicious looks but, thank gods, no one has spoken of it... yet.

He finally comes to the last turn, seeing none other than his Uncle standing watch outside the Prince's door - though, he seems to be pacing rather than merely standing.

His Uncle catches sight of Eddie and stalls his movements his brows raise in silent question. Eddie slows his approach, already telling on himself - his uncle knows him like a book, Eddie makes it a much too easy sometimes. He continues toward the lone bedchamber at the end of the corridor, as in answer to his uncle's unasked question.

He comes to a stop a few steps away, "Uncle."

"Nephew. What are you doing up here?" Wayne asks, Eddie being able to discern his uncle is speaking to Eddie as more of a knight of the Royal Guard and less of an uncle.

"I - uh - I saw the Prince," Eddie begins simply, hoping that would be sufficient but continues when he learns it is not. "His Grace seemed... distraught. I only want to ensure that he has not taken ill." He finishes, hoping his uncle asks no other questions.

Wayne gave him a suspicious look but Eddie could see the tension in his shoulder recede the slightest bit.

"In and out," His uncle stresses, giving Eddie a stern look before turning to knock gently on the door. There's a moments pause, then he hears the muffled voice of the Prince, "Come."

Eddie squeezes past his uncle once he has opened the door. Though Eddie has been down these halls before, he has never entered into one of the royal's bedchambers. He's fairly certain that the tiny house he shares with his uncle could fit inside this room two or three times over.

The entirety of the room is filled with furniture, needless things with fanciful fabric covering each one, tufts of lace and furs decorating every part that isn't. Eddie lets out a chuckle but quickly swallows it down, reminding himself where he is presently standing.

He clears his throat, hoping his voice will come out much more confident than he feels. "Your Grace. I - I have food for the night."

He hears a shuffling on the other side of the wall that blocks what Eddie assumes is the bed from view. "Where's El?" the voice questions, though not out of anger - Eddie hears more concern in his voice.

At that moment, the boy emerges from the other room. A tunic hanging loosely on his shoulders, the laces undone so as to reveal a splattering of dark, course hair across his tan chest. His hair is unruly and Eddie can still see the faint tint of pink on his skin from the tears he shed earlier.

Eddie pulls his gaze away and focuses on the floor, unsure of how long he had been standing there gawking at the fucking Prince of Hawkins.

"I - It's you."

Eddie swallows thickly, only now realizing what a mistake all this truly was. "I..." Eddie stutters, forgetting himself - people have had their head on a platter for far less than forgetting to address royalty properly. "Your Grace. I do apologize," the words come out a stuttering mess but he pushes through. "I - I don't... I should not be here."

Eddie is quick to put the plate down, clumsily of course with a loud clatter, almost causing it to fall off the table entirely. He curses to himself as he turns to leave.

"You - You are Edward?" He hears Steven say and freezes where he is. There's a moment of silence before the Prince says, almost... nervously, Eddie thinks. "Correct? Sir Munson's son?"

Eddie turns around, a mixture of shock and confusion clouding his already anxious mind. How does he - Prince Steven Harrington - know Eddie's name?

"Y - yes, Your Grace. I mean - No, he's not..." Eddie stopped and took as deep of a breath as he could muster. "He is my uncle, Your Grace. But, he is the closest thing I have known to a true father."

The Prince nodded, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth and Eddie tried to ignore the flutter in his stomach at the sight.

"Is El okay?" The Prince asks, thankfully steering the conversation away from Eddie's rambling.

"Yes. I- I mean, I'm unsure..." He trials off, unsure of how much he should say. He catches the Prince's eye. his brows furrowed in confusion. "I saw you coming back into the castle. Y - you looked distraught. I only wished to make sure you were okay."

"Oh," Prince Steven says but it's a delicate thing.

Eddie lowers his head in a slight bow and finishes with a weak, "I should go, Your Grace."

"Um, I actually - I like Steve..." The prince hurries to say, taking a few unsure steps toward Eddie, catching him before he turns around completely. It's Eddie's turn to look slightly confused. "I like Steve... better than Your Grace."

Eddie can't help when his eyes widen just the slightest bit and it makes a smile spread across the Prince's - no, Steve's - face. If he wasn't already smitten enough over the dashing good looks and the flawless hair, he's certainly a goner with that winning smile.

"I like - um - I like Eddie. Edward is too formal." he says, unable to fight the blush that he knows is creeping up his neck.

"Well, Eddie," Steve pays special attention to the name passing his lips. "Would you like to sit? Have a bit of fruit?" There's something in the question that makes Eddie's stomach swoop. He gives Steve another shy smile and a small nod.

Steve gestures to a seat, big enough for them both, sitting and waiting for Eddie to follow. As soon as he sits beside him, feeling the warmth from the other boy, he hears the large door open and springs back up, distancing himself from Steve.

"Forgive me for this intrusion, Your Grace. Edward I can only assume you have gotten lost on your way home." Lady Joyce, who Eddie knows all too well from his day to day work in the castle, says a little louder than Eddie personally believes is necessary.

"Yes, ma'am." Eddie ducks his head, making a bee line for the still open door where his uncle watches holding the helm of his sword. "Sorry, sorry."

"Edward," Lady Joyce barks, catching Eddie in his escape. "Manners, Edward. He is your Prince."

"Oh," Eddie nods to the intimidating woman, turning and bending into a bow, his arms dramatically floating out beside him. "Good evening," a pause, his head tilting up to watch Steve's eyes dance across his body a the gesture. A rather large smile and a dash of rose coloring his cheeks. "Your Grace." Eddie gives Steve one of his biggest smiles, twirling out of his bow and skipping out the door.

His smile doesn't fade despite hearing Lady Joyce's excuse of kitchen boys not knowing how to be presentable in front of royals or the disapproving (but knowing) look his uncle fixes him with.

#steddie #eddie munson #steve harrington #prince steve harrington #kitchen boy eddie munson #golden boy #steddie fic

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eddiemunsons-missingnipple · 2 years

Text

Part: 4

Pairings:Priest!Eddie x fem!reader

Warning: priest kink jealous!eddie, toxic!eddie possessive!eddie, violent altercation, drug use. Unprotected sex. Angst, slight fluff.

Not proof read.

18+ minors do not enter

"So are we gonna talk about the real reason you avoided me for so long?"

The moment that question left his mouth, your blood ran cold. You didn't want him to know you knew. You didn't want him to know it made you jealous. "It doesn't matter anymore" shifting under him to get off the couch.

"Doesn't matter anymore?" He questioned.

He sits up and follows you around your home. You try to busy yourself cleaning things that were already clean. "It doesn't matter anymore because I'm over it, I forgive you." You smile sarcastically at him.

His eyes go wide, and he looks even more confused. "What the fuck is there for me to be apologizing for?" He said in disbelief.

Moving past him, he's still following behind as you head to your room. Searching for some clean clothes and getting ready for your shower. He stands in the doorway, not letting you leave.

Crossing his arms over his chest. "You owe an explanation at least give me some type excuse."

Going to speak, you can't find the words. You so badly want to tell him you truly do. This whole situation has been eating away at you. You laid in bed crying for days over a man you just started seeing privately. You thought you were the only one he was seeing. Eddie was sweet to you and always good at conversation.

This is the reason why it was so hard to move past if he was an asshole you wouldn't have cared. With him, it was different when it was just the two of you alone he made you feel like you were the only girl in the world. He didn't just feel like a secret lover but a friend.

Tears slowly fall down your cheeks, and you look down at your feet. "It doesn't matter anymore,okay." You say with your shakey voice just barely above a whisper.

"Hey, look, I don't know what's going on with you, but you can talk to me about anything." He reassured you hooking his finger under your chin to look you in the eyes.

"I'm always gonna be here for you when you need me." Smiling at you, he gives you a soft kiss on your forehead.

Nodding, you tell him you're going to take a shower he stays there for a moment. You think he wants to say something else but decides against it. He gets himself together and tells you he wants to hang out at his place again soon. You agreed you want to as well even though you know you shouldn't. He makes you feel special like none else has before. No one has cared for you the way he has. You didn't tell him about your date you'll be going on in a few days. Not that he'd probably care anyway since he sees plenty of women when you're not around.

Finally, it's Friday the day you have your date with Steve. You haven't heard much from Eddie since Sunday. You were expecting a note from him any day now since he told you he wanted to hang out again.

Every time you came home, you felt excitement in your stomach only to be disappointed when there was nothing taped to your door. You forget about all of that, and just focus on your date with Steve. He was so sweet and handsome you met him at the local cafe.

He asked you out after bumping into you and spilling coffee on each other. Your mind still wanders back to Eddie and thinking about who he's been with since being with you. You want to cry again at the thought of him making someone else feel special the same way he did with you. Clearing your throat, you put on a nice short dress and put some of your hair back away from your face.

Steve's car pulls up at your front door, and he honks the horn for you. You rush downstairs and run outside. Jumping in the passenger seat, you think about how Eddie would come knocking at your door, not honk his horn at you. You try to stop comparing Steve to Eddie so much, but you can't help it. Steve took you to a nice dinner outside of your town and then wanted to take you dancing too, and that's when everything went to hell.

You and Steve walk into this old dingy night club. The atmosphere was dark and clouded with smoke, the only lighting being red and dim. Everyone crowding around you dancing and grinding on each other. Steve finds you guys a little table to sit at, and he heads to get you both drinks. What you didn't know was Eddie was there too with a bunch of his people.

He was sitting in a booth far back facing the dance floor. He had two women on his side, nuzzling his neck with a bunch of others at his table. The two women were from the strip club up the road from his motel room. He was very familiar with them since they would give him private dances together and then go back to his room later for some more fun. The three of them drunk with Eddie snorting coke off their tits and asses before fucking them both.

Steve finally came back with your drinks and a pint of beer as well. You always have been a light weight, so when you guzzled down your first drink and went for the beer, Steve tried to get you to slow down. That's when the DJ started playing Nine Inch Nails over the stereo system. You pulled Steve up and dragged him to the dance floor. Stumbling, he catches you and holds you tight against him as you both sway to the beat.

Eddie stops paying attention to his dates for a split second to see you both dancing. His face drops, and jaw clenches. His fists ball into knots, and he just watches both of you. Especially you not taking one look away he's making sure Steve's hands don't wander around and touch places only eddie feels entitled to touch. You pull away from Steve and tell him you have to use the bathroom. He nods and tells you he'll be waiting at your table when you get back.

Making your way through the crowd of people to get to the bathroom, you have no idea Eddie is on your tail. Opening the door to the single person bathroom, you feel someone push into you. Turning around to bitch at whoever just pushed you you're face to face with a certain someone you didn't expect to see tonight. Your mouth gapes open, and your eyes widen in shock. Panicked you try to move past him and run away, but he just blocks the door and locks it.

"What are you doing here, honey?" He asked you squinting his eyes in anger.

He looks pissed and you've never seen him like this before. You won't lie in other circumstances. You would have found it hot, but right now, it scared you. "Im here with my date." You tell him matter of factly. He laughs at you and pushes his tongue to the inside of his cheek, trying to fight back a rude remark toward you.

"Well, tell your little date you're leaving." He told you as if you were sure to listen to him.

"No, I'm not. I'm having fun." You told him standing your ground.

He laughed again at you and pushed you up against the bathroom door a little too roughly. His breath smelled of clove cigarettes and bourbon. There was a white powdery substance on his nostrils. He eyes were bloodshot, and pupils were dilated. You've never seen him like this before, and it honestly shook you up a bit. He pulls back slightly and looks at what you're wearing. You feel small under his gaze, looking quickly away, worried he might insult your appearance because he's angry. He just smiles that sweet smile he always gives you.

"You look really pretty tonight, honey." He says as he rubs your arms up and down, trying to ease your nerves.

He leans in closer to your face now. "Go tell him now that you're leaving, or I'll do it instead." His voice is laced with so much warning, but you don't care.

"No, I'm not leaving. I'm staying here with him." Stomping your foot down at him.

Eddie laughs at you again, but this time, he's not laughing because it's funny. He's laughing because he's getting angrier. Taking a deep breath in and out, trying to calm himself down.

"Sweetheart, go tell him you're leaving. I won't ask again, or I WILL TELL HIM MYSELF!" he tried to stay calm but lost his composure and screamed at you.

Jumping at his reaction, you turn away to the side again and begin crying. Rolling his eyes, he kisses your head and pulls you in for a hug. You try to resist but eventually give up, hoping he'll stop acting like this and go back to whoever he's with. He kisses your hair and smooths it down.

"Are you going to go tell him?" He said more softer now.

"No, Eddie, can you please just stop? I'm allowed to go have fun with someone you see other people all the time." you argue with him.

He pulls away from the hug and doesn't look at you but instead swings the bathroom door open, storming out. You stay there still in shock at his personality shift. That's when you realize where Eddie is going and you try to get to him before he gets to Steve, but it's too late.

Eddie stomped over to your table and started asking him questions immediately. Steve was polite and nice to Eddie, which pissed him off even more. Eddie asked him about his date with you, and at first, Steve was confused as to why this strange guy was asking him about his date with you. Eddie lied and said he's a family friend who looks out for you. Steve wasn't dumb. He saw Eddie push his way into the bathroom with you. Being a smart ass Steve started to tell him his plans for the date and what you did earlier.

"Well, I took her out to eat at a nice restaurant. Then I took her here to do some dancing and then I'm gonna take her home." He told Eddie innocently.

"Aaand?" Eddie questioned him, hoping to get the answer he's looking for.

"And I'm gonna give her nice long kiss goodbye.....in the morning." Steve said with a shit eating grin on his face.

Eddie began to laugh again for a moment, and so did Steve. That was until he threw his head all the back and headbutt your dates nose. Once you reached them, you tried to check on Steve, but Eddie just yanked you by the elbow and escorted you outside to his car. He yanked the passenger side open and shoved you in.

"I'm going back inside to tell some people i was with. I'm leaving. Stay here." He demanded you, and you obeyed.

Eddie came back out 10 minutes later and got in his car and pulled out, heading to his place. The car ride was painfully quiet, and the buzz you had was gone. You felt like you were going to have a panic attack after seeing the way Eddie acted tonight. He's never talked to you like that before. He's never scared you like this before.

Eddie has always been so kind and gentle towards you, but tonight was different. Not only did he scream at you, but he hit Steve in the nose, probably breaking it. That's when you lost it and started to break down next to him but kept your eyes out the window. He looks over at you and puts his hand on your leg to help you calm down. Moving it away from him, he grips it harder. Neither one of you speaking to the other until he pulls up in front of his room door. He gets out and opens your door for you.

"Get out of the car we need to talk." He still sounded pissed off.

"No, I'm staying right here. I don't want to talk to you." You tried to sound angry but your voice came out broken.

Rolling his eyes, he undid your seat belt and yanked you out by the arm, dragging you to his room. He slams his door shut, and you move far enough away from him. He finally notices how scared you are of him and calms himself down a bit.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier, and I'm sorry for yanking you around it won't happen again, I promise. " His voice sounds softer this time, and he puts his hands up. He sounded sincere, but that doesn't mean you still weren't shaken up.

"We still need to talk" He continued

"You're right. I do see other people and do fuck around a lot. When I'm not with you, I'm with someone else, but I don't think of them like I do you." He finally confessed.

You go to speak up, but he puts his hand up, stopping you so he can continue. "I fucked up and I didn't realize what I had until I saw it being taken away from me." "What I did isn't right but I'm selfish and I'm not sharing you." You sat on the edge of his bed listening to him. Eddie, confessing to you what you already knew somehow hurt more. Maybe because your mind can make things seem worse than they really are, but to hear him actually tell you just made it all real.

"That is very selfish of you. You don't own me. I can go on dates too, and just because I go on a date doesn't mean I'm having sex with them either." You tell him trying to make your point across.

He just put his head in his hands and then pounds on the wall in his room. "I'll stop fucking around if you stop going on dates then." He tried to bargain with you.

"I'll forget their numbers. I'll stop talking to them. I'll do anything you want me to do." He sounded so desperate.

Moving, he goes to sit on his knees in front of you on the floor. He grabs your hands, and you snatch them away.

"I swear to God, I only want you, I promise." You hate it when he looks at you with those big brown eyes. He looks so lost and scared. Once again, he's got you in the palm of his hand.

"Okay, fine. I pray you keep your word and you prove to me that you meant every word you just said." Nodding his head rapidly, he takes your hands into his again and kisses them.

He moves to sit next to you, and he leans over and begins kissing you softly. Breaking the kiss, you remembered him leaving you in the car to tell some "people" he's leaving. You had a feeling it was someone he was going to fuck tonight if he hadn't seen you.

"Who did you go say good by to at the club earlier?" You questioned him.

"Just some friends." He said in between kisses.

Pushing him away, you look at him, and that's when you notice a small stain of lipstick on his collar. Looking back at him with anger in your eyes. You can't believe he's still being so vague after confirming that he does fuck around.

"That's not good enough. You got to know who i was with tonight, so tell me who you were you with." Now, it was your turn to show anger like he did.

"They are-well, they were just some girls that work at the strip club up the road. I hook up with them from time to time." He looks almost ashamed to be confessing that.

"Really, and who else do you see?" Getting braver now, you demand to know everything.

He told you about the blonde girl and how she's married but will come to see him often. The girls who work at the club and a few housewives in town that he also used to visit after church. Sitting there taking it all in, you realize this man is not who you originally thought he was. Interrupting him speaking because he was still going on and on about all the people he was sleeping with. You felt like this would take all night listening to him tell you all but his conquests.

"I want to take a shower before bed." He looks over at you and asks if he can join you. Telling him "yes" both of you head to the bathroom and strip off your clothes. You washed each other off and made out under the water until it ran cold on you both.

Neither one of you bothered to put on any clothes after you got out. You race to jump under the covers to get warm. Eddie joins you under the blanket, and you lay in his arms for a few moments before kissing again.

You move to lay on top of him and continue to kiss, moving from his mouth down to his jaw and neck. You lick and suck at his jugular vein, leaving a nice purple bruise there for everyone to see. You start grinding down on him feeling his happy trail rub against your clit. Your mouth moves back up to Eddie's, and he moans in your kiss.

Still grinding against him Eddie grabs his cock in his hand and tries to align it with your entrance. When you notice what he's doing, you stop your movements and get off of him, causing him to whine out.

"Come back, please." He begged you.

"Nope." You say teasing him.

He pouts and starts rubbing his length up and down. You move and spread your legs wide so he can get a better look at you spread open. He bites his lower lip and presses his thumb down on his tip, smearing the precum leaking out. He's breathing heavy, and you take your two fingers to spread your wet folds open wider some more for him. "Fuuuck" He says under his breath.

"Please baby let me fuck you. I can make you feel so good, like I always do, please." He begged almost sounding like he's on the verge of crying.

"I don't know you sure you don't want to call one of your friends instead?" You mocked him.

"Nope, I want you. I only want you. I only want to make you feel good no one else, baby, please." He begged, throwing his head back in frustration.

Biting your lower lip, you take pity on him, and you let him have you. He gets up fast and grabs you the by ankle, pulling you closer to him. You let out giggle until you feel Eddie drag his cock up and down in between your wet pussy over and over again. He dips he head and begins to softly kiss and nip at your neck. You throw your head back to give him easier access.

Eddie continues his movements for a few more seconds before he locks your hands with his pinning them down to the bed. He readjusts his hips and slowly sinks his cock inside your entrance spreading you open around him. He stills for a moment, giving you time to adjust before he's pulling out and slamming back into. The feeling almost took your breath away, and Eddie is still attacking your throat with his mouth.

His hips are slamming into you harshly with the sound of your bodies slapping into each other. You hook your legs around his lower back, causing him to go deep inside you, hitting that spot inside you just right. Eddie leans back and takes a break from your neck. You whine out, already missing the warmth of his mouth on your skin.

"Shh baby, I got you, don't worry," He whispered

He lets go of your hands, putting one of his on the small of your waist while the other presses down on your lower tummy while his cock is still pushing into you. You cry out Eddie's name and cover your face in your hands. "Ooh, don't stop, please." You begged him.

He moves your hands away from your face, telling you to watch him fuck you. He sits up on kneeling on the bed and grabs one of your legs to lay against his chest. He began fucking you harder this time while licking and kissing at your ankle.

"You like that baby? Feels so good, doesn't it?" His voice sounds shakey.

You can tell he's getting close to cuming his thrusting is becoming sloppy, and he's throwing his back moaning so loud he doesn't care who hears him tonight.

"I'm so close Eddie don't stop, please," you cry out.

"I know you're close.I can feel you clenching me baby you feel so fucking good. fuuuuck your so tight." He grunted out to you.

Clenching tighter and tighter around him, his grunts and moans turned more into soft whiney whimpers. Pulling his hand away from your waist he licks his finger and starts rubbing your clit. Your legs start to twitch, and you clench around him harder this time. He continues rubbing your clit until you throw your back and your body begins to shake. You come hard around him, throwing your head back and yelling out his name.

Eddie doesn't take long to come either with a few more strokes he pulls out quickly and starts jerking himself until he's coming on your stomach and chest again. Collapsing beside you, both of you are trying to catch your breath. You're still shaking, and he moves to grab a tissue to clean you off like he did last time. Rolling over onto your stomach, you reach up and give him a quick kiss on the lips.

"You're still not off the hook. I want you to apologize to Steve tomorrow." He looks at you, surprised.

"I will not, he took my girl out on a date and planned to fuck her too" raising your eyebrows to him.

"Fine, I'll apologize, but I won't mean it." He sounded so immature. You laughed at him and started kissing him on the lips again.

Eddie pulls you closer to him, and you notice the hickey on his neck. Panic takes over when you realize you are covered in them, too. They can't know what you guys did together. This was against the rules. Eddie made vows, and now everyone will probably know what you guys did. He notices the worried look on your face and immediately clocks it.

"Don't worry about the hickey we'll cross that bridge when we get there." He tried to soothe you.

You just pray that no one in town puts two and two together, or will they?

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson fanfic #jealous!eddie #posessive!eddie #priest kink #priest!eddie #eddie munson smut

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dwobbitfromtheshire · 1 year

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A/N: I wrote this because there are some people who can't accept the fact that Eddie is bisexual or can't seem to accept the fact that Eddie has had a past relationships with a woman and that invalidates bisexuals. I think if Steve were to discover that he was bisexual it would be nice to know there is someone else out there like him, his own age, and Eddie would feel the same. Robin knows what it's like to be queer but she doesn't understand what it's like to like both genders and to be judged harshly by her own community. I hate the fact that people can't possibly accept the possibility of Eddie being bisexual, of him being with a woman. Just because you don't like it or can't understand it doesn't mean it can't happen. After this, I'm back to taking a break. This is for all the bisexuals out there.

Here's a hand to hold. . .

Warning: Mentions of Eddie Munson having had a past relationship with a woman.

Eddie Munson whistled a jaunty tune as he strolled into Steve Harrington's house, unlocking it with the key Steve had given him. Yeah, Steve Harrington's house. It's been a year, and he still couldn't believe how close they were. They were best friends, and while Eddie wanted more, having Steve in his life in any way was more than enough for him. Seeing him almost every day and seeing him smile because of something Eddie said or did made Eddie's cynical heart all gooey inside like melted chocolate. He still remembered the smile on his face when he gave Eddie his house key.

"These are for people who are important to me," Steve said. "Especially those who are welcome here any time."

Eddie had to ruin the moment by squeezing Steve’s face cheeks together, giving him duck lips. Steve had just laughed, though. Currently, Eddie was calling for Steve’s name but was receiving no response. He frowned. Steve’s car was in the driveway, so he had to be home. Eddie started climbing up the stairs when he heard it. Someone was crying. He followed the sound and found Steve. He was sitting on the floor of his bathroom, weeping. The sight nearly tore his heart in two when Steve looked up at him, and his eyes were full of tears. He knelt his knees immediately, clutching Steve’s knees.

"Steve, what's wrong? Did someone do this to you? Was it your parents? Okay, that's it. I'm murdering them. I don't fucking care if I go to jail. You're worth it," Eddie rambled on.

What he said seemed to make Steve cry harder, and then Eddie began sprouting out apologies for that.

"Is it really okay, Eddie?" Steve asked.

"Is what okay?" Eddie asked.

"To like both?" Steve asked softly.

"Why would ask th - oh, okay, um, yeah. Of course, it is," Eddie said. "Who told you that it wasn't? I'll -,"

"Kill them?" Steve snorted. "Not unless you want to kill me. It's just me, you know. . ."

"Being your own worst enemy?" Eddie asked.

"I was going to say stupid, but yeah, that works too," he replied, sniffling.

"Steven Ronnie Harrington," Eddie began.

"It's Ronald," he said.

"Steven RONNIE Harrington," Eddie continued. "You are not stupid, and I will keep telling you that every single day until you believe me."

"Did you deal with these thoughts when you realized that you're -" Steve paused.

Eddie sighed and collapsed behind him, wrapping an arm around him.

"Come on, Stevie, say it with me. It's okay," Eddie said.

"Bisexual," Steve said softly.

"There it is," Eddie grinned. "And yeah, I dealt with these thoughts. I freaked out when I started realizing it. It was 'I like girls' but no, 'I like boys.' It went back and forth. 'I like girls.' 'I like boys.' 'I like girls.' It was like the worst game of ping pong ever. I kept thinking I was the worst sort of freak. Then I realized: 'wait, why the fuck can't I like both?' I finally let it start to sink over me that I did, in fact, like both. It wasn't until I heard about David Bowie and I knew the word for it. Bisexual. I, Edward Metallica Munson, am bisexual," Eddie said.

"Okay, your middle name is Lawrence," Steve said.

"It's so boring, though, Stevie! Let me have this! It sounds so much cooler!" Eddie whined. "Anyway, what was I saying?"

"You were saying that you're bisexual," he said.

"After that, I kind of had to figure out dating. My first girlfriend. . .man, I loved her, and I thought for sure I could trust her. When I told her, she had this look on her face. . .well, her words said differently. She wasn't quite so okay with it, despite what she said. She found it hard to kiss me and man. Did that hurt? I ended it. I went to this club I was told about in Indie where I met a man a couple years older than me. I was legal by then, don't worry. He was in college. I fell head over heels. He hid it well, how uncomfortable he was with my sexuality. He couldn't understand how I also liked women. He thought I was just confused. He started telling me about how he tried to like girls at first, too. We started arguing about it eventually until I was crying all the time and felt awful about myself. I loved him so much that I started to think that maybe he was right, but then I shook my head. I knew what I liked, I knew who I was. I knew he was too and told him that it was okay. It was okay to like both or to like one gender. What was not okay was to tell someone what you think they are when they aren't," Eddie said. "It's okay to like both, Stevie. It's more than okay. Don't let anyone tell you that it's not. Whether you're straight, gay, or bisexual. . .it's all okay. Don't let anyone tell you that you aren't something because they don't fucking know. Only you do."

"Uh, Eddie, you're squeezing my arm rather tightly there," Steve said.

"Oops, sorry, it gets me angry sometimes, especially when thinking about Lucas, you know. I inadvertently did the same thing. He just wanted to know that it was okay to be a nerd and a jock. I couldn't fucking tell him that. I couldn't put off D&D for one night to let him know that his game was just as important as ours? Plus, the fact that it might have been what gave the jocks the idea that we don't necessarily have to be enemies, you know. I was an asshole," Eddie rambled on.

"Well, you apologized, and Lucas forgave you. As a former asshole, I forgive you too," Steve said, and Eddid laughed.

"So, what made you realize that you're bisexual?" Eddie asked. "If you don't mind me asking."

"You."

"Huh?"

"My feelings for you is what made me realize that I was bisexual because I realized I had feelings like these for boys in the past. I was like, 'Holy shit, I liked those guys.'," Steve said.

"Wait, what?!" Eddie exclaimed.

"I like you, Eddie," Steve said.

"Say that again," Eddie said, getting on his knees.

"Am I speaking another language?" Steve said, getting on his knees and cupping his face, squeezing his cheeks. "Edward Lawrence -"

"Metallica," Eddie corrected.

"Edward LAWRENCE Munson, I fucking like you," Steve said.

Eddie surged forward and kissed him, gripping his waist. Steve sighed happily against his lips and pulled Eddie closer. He pushed Eddie forward until he had his back pressed against the cold tile of the bathroom and straddled his waist as he deepened the kiss. Eddie slipped his tongue in Steve's mouth and moaned as he moved his hand down to cup Steve’s ass.

"Just as fantastic as I thought it would be," Eddie said.

"Well, it's yours now, so you can touch it as much as you want to," Steve giggled.

"You have no idea how hard I am going to hold you to that," he told him. "We should probably cool it because otherwise I'm going to end up fucking you on this bathroom floor and baby, you deserved to be wooed first."

"You're so good to me," he grinned and climbed off of him, collapsing next to him.

"Ugh, I'm still feeling a little hot," he said.

"Take your shirt off," Steve replied. "The cool tile feels good against your skin."

"You just want to see my tits. You should know, though, that I only have one nipple now," Eddie told him.

"And I bet it's a damn fine nipple. Eddie, If I swear not to try and get to second base with you, will you please take your shirt off?" Steve asked.

"Only if you do," Eddie said, and Steve affectionately rolled his eyes before pulling off his shirt, causing Eddie to whistle.

Steve threw his shirt at him and laughed when Eddie did the same. Eventually, they were just throwing their shirts back and forth while they laughed. Steve grabbed them both and threw them in the corner. Eddie sighed as his back made contact with the floor. It did feel good. He felt Steve slip his hand into his, entertwining their fingers, and Eddie gazed at Steve fondly. Sometimes, it's nice to know that there was someone there to understand what you went through, to have shared life experiences with someone who means so much to you. It's also nice to know that no matter what you are in life, there is someone there in your life to tell you it's okay. . .unless you're like a murderer or something or you want to split open a town and bring hell to Earth. That is NOT okay. Eddie's just glad he has a hand to hold.

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schrijverr · 1 year

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I Found Myself a Cheerleader 16

Chapter 16 out of 28

Bumped to the lowest step on the social ladder after his fight with Billy, Steve gets roped in with the cheer team. What starts as a favor to help them out when one member breaks her leg in turn for protection from the brunt of the bullying, sets the universe on a different path.

In this chapter, Chrissy finally reaches out again, telling those who know about what truly happens in Hawkins that something else is afoot. At the same time, the death of a star basketball player rocks the town and forces Eddie and Steve to face each other again for the first time since their fight.

On AO3.

Ships: steddie & buckingham

Warnings: death mention, general season 4 shenanigans

~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 16: The Boathouse

Lucas had been amazing at his game and Steve genuinely thinks that spring break might be a fresh start for all of them.

He and Robin clock to work that morning, still giggling about Tammy Thompson of all people that had shown up last night. Still as muppety as ever. Steve can’t bring himself to feel bad about how he ignored his date to joke with Robin, especially because Chrissy caught their eye while they were doing it and gave a real smile for the first time in weeks.

They’re stocking shelves when the door rings and Chrissy is there. Actually there. Seeking them out. Them!

Both of them freeze for a moment, before Steve breaks out in a smile of relief and goes to hug her, as he exclaims: “Chris! Oh my god, how are you?”

Chrissy is quiet for a second, then Steve feels how she starts to tremble in his arms. The relief at her appearance making place for worry as he holds her close and makes panicked eyes at Robin, who returns them twofold. He starts to whisper placating comments, leading Chrissy to the counter as he lets out silent tears.

Steve gets her up on the counter, signaling Robin to go sit next to her. She gives him big eyes in return and he glares at her to go. No time to panic about having a crush on the girl you’re comforting, because Chrissy is still crying.

Fortunately, Robin goes, awkwardly wrapping an arm around Chrissy as she says: “It’s okay, we’re here. I don’t know how comforting that is, we’re both idiots, but, I mean, it is something. Because we lo- care for you, you know. And we want you to not be crying. Not that you should stop. Well, you should, because I want you to not be sad, but crying is good sometimes too. Like, healthily expressing emotions is good and I- I am going to shut up now.”

As she always does when Robin rambles, Chrissy giggles. Though right now it sounds more like a wet chuckle. She wipes her eyes and softly says: “I’m sorry about that.”

“No need to apologize,” Steve tells her. “Wanna talk about it?”

“It’s just-” Chrissy takes a breath and makes a helpless gesture as she figures out what she wants to say, before asking: “Do you ever feel like you’re losing your mind?”

“Uhm,” both Steve and Robin look at each other. Their eyes reflect Russian bunkers, a monster made of flesh, Dustin singing over the radio and crashing a car together on purpose.

“Just on a daily basis,” Robin offers. “I mean, I am friends with King Steve and Cheer Queen Chrissy Cunningham. I play trumpet. That should be illegal.”

That makes Chrissy laugh again, this time less wetly. “I feel like you know me better than just cheer queen,” she says, turning a little more serious as she goes on. “What should be illegal is how I ignored you two. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sure you had your reasons,” Robin immediately offers, obviously wanting to make Chrissy feel good about herself again.

Steve, however, isn’t wearing rose tinted glasses and can say: “Yeah. I’m sure you did. You can tell us, you know, if anything we did upset you. We won’t judge.”

“Oh, no, it’s not you guys, not at all,” Chrissy quickly says, her arms waving about, much to the relief of both Steve and Robin. Steve had been pretty sure it wasn’t them, but days of Robin’s worrying might have put him on edge a little.

“Then what happened?” Steve asks.

“Anything we can do?” Robin adds.

Chrissy looks between them as she bites her lip, obviously deciding whether or not to tell them what’s been going on. Without meaning to Steve holds his breath, letting out a relieved sigh when Chrissy says: “Okay, yeah, uhm, alright. Just- Just promise you won’t think I’m crazy.”

“We won’t,” Robin promises. “Seriously. Never. You have to get like really out there to get us to not believe you.”

“Yeah, exactly,” Steve agrees, before Robin can say too much about things they are not allowed to talk about, because the government will quite literally come for them. God, he loves Robin but her lack of filter around people she likes is bad for his health.

“Okay,” Chrissy nods again after studying both of them for a moment, believing their promises to be true, thank fuck. “Okay, yeah, so I- I, uhm, have been seeing things. Like, I’ll be a school and hear my mom or I’ll hear a clock. It’s just really weird and I’m- I’m so scared.”

Robin pulls her closer in a comforting manner, looking at Steve to find words, because she might make it worse with her medical rambles. However, something is bugging Steve and he only frowns and asks: “Your mom?”

“Yeah,” Chrissy says. “I was at school in the bathroom and suddenly it went all grayish and it was like she was banging on the door, yelling at me about,” her voice gets smaller, “you know, food stuff. But she sounded all wrong. It was-” she looks unsure, then finishes “It felt like I was in another dimension.”

The world freezes alongside the blood in Steve’s veins.

There are a million things he wants to say, a thousand questions he wants to ask, a hundred denials playing on his lips. But none of them come out as he stands there, glued to the ground.

Robin sends him a look. He has told her about the Upside Down, but she has never experienced it beyond the Mind Flayer. She hasn’t seen a monster crawl out of the walls, lights flickering around her, she hasn’t been attacked by demodogs on a bus, accepting that they day might be her last and she hasn’t felt the cloying air of the tunnels.

She just doesn’t know the full extend that statement has. What it might mean. How the fear has gripped at Steve’s heart at those words. So it is quiet, the words hanging into the air.

Chrissy shifts under Steve’s stare as behind him the TV plays, though he isn’t hearing it past the rushing in his ear. It is clear she wants to say something – Robin too, but she has enough sense that she can’t in front of Chrissy – however, before she can the bell of the door rings again.

All of them snap their eyes towards it. Unable to glare at whoever broke this important and pivotal moment, all of them feeling like they’ve been caught.

In the threshold are Dustin and Max. And with everything, it is a relief to see the two, even if they look out of breath and add to the foreboding sense of dread that has taken a hold of Steve.

Max’s eyes glance up at the TV and Steve follows, now registering what the news anchor has been saying. A murder has been committed. Someone died last night. Then he registers the trailer on the screen is Eddie’s and he feels sick. What is happening? What has brought Dustin and Max here to Family Video today?

“How many phones do you have?” Dustin asks, sounding like he had done in ‘84 outside the Wheeler house.

“Two. Why?” Steve answers.

“Technically three, if you count Keith’s,” Robin adds, more with the program and he is so grateful to her right now.

Dustin and Max share a look, before agreeing that three works. Then they invade the counter and take over the computer without explaining, ruining all the work he and Robin have done today and making Chrissy close off again.

“What are you doing?” Steve demands. He has to get his racing thoughts in order and figure out what is going on. Right now. He wants answers.

“Setting up a base of operations here,” Dustin answers, giving him exactly zero information.

“Base of operations?” Steve questions, not liking how it sounds. Also not liking how Dustin starts typing on the computer while ignoring Steve. This is so not happening right now. He tries to get him to stop. “Get off.”

“I need it,” Dustin counters, glaring at Steve.

“For what?” Steve exclaims, getting exasperated with how Dustin isn’t explaining anything. He has just heard Chrissy say different dimensions, someone died at Eddie’s trailer and Dustin and Max are here with the looks of people who know something is wrong and Steve needs answers. Right. Now.

“Eddie’s friends’ phone numbers,” Dustin explains, though it isn’t really an explanation and Steve is getting fed up with these non-answers.

Robin luckily catches onto it and continues the interrogation before Steve can explode. “Calling Eddie’s friends is an emergency?”

“Correct!” Dustin says.

“Please just explain yourselves,” Robin yells, the volume stopping Dustin’s typing and making both him and Max turn to look at where she’s still sitting on the counter next to Chrissy.

“The person that died is Patrick, I saw him enter the trailer with Eddie last night when I fed the neighbor’s dog some scraps,” Max tells them. “We want to find Eddie before the cops do. No, we need to find him.”

Next to her Dustin nods vigorously, but Steve is send reeling again. The police thinks Eddie has killed someone. Killed Patrick. Holy shit that’s Lucas’ friend Patrick. Was Lucas there? Is he okay? Fuck, did Eddie do it? No, right? He won’t. Eddie wouldn’t hurt a fly. Too nice. Always too nice to everyone.

His silence, however, is interpreted way differently by Dustin, who has never known that Steve ever knew Eddie, beyond their fake rivalry that turned real. He says: “You think Eddie’s guilty, don’t you?”

“Whoa, whoa,” Steve says, but before he can say more, Dustin demands: “Max, tell them what you saw.”

Max glares at him, then looks at Steve like she is bringing terrible news as she admits: “A little after they went inside, the lights flickered. We have shitty electricity, I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but it was about the time of the murder.”

“Fuck,” Steve breathes. Pieces float in his mind in a way that will click together if he has the peace to think clearly for a moment.

“What’s happening?” Chrissy asks, sounding scared. She isn’t used to the insanity of the party, not to mention the Upside Down.

Steve would love to comfort her right now, but he isn’t in the mindset to do so and Robin is right there anyway, so he just says: “Chrissy, I need you to repeat what you told me and Rob. About what you felt in that bathroom.”

Chrissy looks at him like he’s insane and he probably does look a little out of his mind, but Robin has his back, encouraging Chrissy and telling her it’s okay.

Dustin and Max both frown as they study Chrissy curiously, who flushes in embarrassment, before saying: “It felt like I was in a different dimension.”

“Holy shit,” Dustin repeats, urgency creeping back in his voice: “We need to find Eddie, right now.”

“I know,” Steve says, pushing Dustin back to the computer and saying: “Type and think. Did Eddie ever mention a hiding place?”

Immediately Dustin goes back to typing, Max already picking up the phone to call whatever number Dustin will rattle off as Steve wracks his brain, thinking off all those late nights they shared. If Eddie ever mentioned a safe place. A hiding place.

He can feel Robin’s eyes tracking him, Chrissy’s too. They know how he is still a bit of a mess over Eddie and now he is in trouble. Though Robin is the one that understands, Chrissy still looks a bit overwhelmed and unsure about what the hell is going on.

She has already been forgotten about by Max and Dustin, but Steve hears her ask: “What the hell is going on? Are we really going to look for him? He might be a killer.”

“If we’re right about what’s going on, he isn’t,” Steve tells her. “But I can’t tell you more until we’re sure, because it could be dangerous.”

“What?” Chrissy swallows, sounding scared and like she thinks they’re all insane.

“Don’t worry about it,” Robin assures her. “Trust me. It sounds crazy, but we’ve done something like this before. Well, not this, of course, we don’t even know what this is, but it’s going to be just fine, promise.”

Chrissy looks skeptic at Robin’s words, but decides to keep to the background, watching them all with cautious eyes. Steve feels bad about keeping her out of the loop, while also dragging her along with them, but if she has seen something already, she’s in danger and safer with them.

A few customers come in, giving the hubbub at the register a weird look. Robin is still stuck next to Chrissy, so Steve tries to distract them, so they won’t hear what they’re doing. Who they are looking for.

When a girl comes in and starts flirting with him, he reaches his limit. He is worried about Chrissy, he is worried about Eddie, he is scared out of his mind about the Upside Down being back and he is terrified to all hell. He doesn’t want to pretend to be into this girl right now. He can’t.

So, he snaps: “I don’t know what kind of movie you wanna watch. We organize them by genre, I’m sure you’re capable of picking on your own.”

The girl looks shocked and a little offended, before stomping away as Steve deflates slightly. He didn’t mean to make her upset, he just needs some room to think. To breathe.

Robin appears next to him, Chrissy clinging onto her, having apparently decided Robin is her anchor in all this. Robin takes his hand and softly asks: “Are you okay?”

“Not really,” Steve admits, taking a deep breath. “I’m- I- I can’t think right now.”

“Hey, Eddie is going to be fine,” Robin says and while Steve knows he’s worried about Eddie, it’s not until she says that that it hits him.

Eddie is in trouble.

Big trouble. Upside Down trouble. He could be in danger, he could be taken by whatever had hurt Patrick, he could be dead. This isn’t jocks coming after him for being a freak or getting busted with his drugs.

“Fuck, I wish I could still get high and forget all this shit,” he groans, hating how the thought of being high makes him nervous ever since Starcourt.

He remembers Eddie offering him a joint a few times, Steve always rejected with a smile, hoping Eddie won’t take offense. After a few times, Eddie had asked if he doesn’t smoke and Steve had been nervous to say no, wanting to be cool, but unable to lie to Eddie when he seemed so sincere about it. So he told Eddie he didn’t really want to no and Eddie had smiled and said that it was all okay, joking: “Rick won’t mind if I sell instead of share my stash, sweetheart.”

“Rick, Reefer Rick,” he says, not having heard if Robin or Chrissy replied to his comment, having been lost in thought.

“Who’s that?” Robin frowns.

“It’s the guy Eddie gets his drugs from,” Steve explains, as he rushes to the register, pushing Dustin aside, who squawks. “He might have an account here.”

“Who?” Dustin asks, both him and Robin leaning over Steve’s shoulder to look along.

“Reefer Rick, Eddie’s drug guy,” Steve says.

“Of course you know the drug guy,” Dustin rolls his eyes, which Steve ignores. He doesn’t blame Dustin for being on edge, so is he and it’s not like Dustin has a reason to think Steve would know that because of any other reason.

So, he just ignores it as they go through the list to find the Rick that is like Reefer Rick. Steve feels relief when they find the guy. Eddie is not out in the wind anymore.

Even though both he and Robin need this job, neither of them think twice about closing up the store and getting into Steve’s car. He doesn’t know if Eddie will be happy to see them, if he is in a dangerous mindset, if he will be mad or scared. It makes him anxious, but he is also anxious to see Eddie, to make sure no monster has crawled out of he wall and gotten to him.

The house is old and creaky and no matter how much Dustin bangs on the door, no one opens. Steve also wants Eddie to open the door, but knows better than that, so he just peers in and hopes he’ll see signs of life, but it is dead inside. Empty.

Fuck, what if Eddie isn’t in here? What if he is dead, something Steve has realized could be, but hasn’t fully entertained as an actual possibility. But the news hadn’t said a name. It could be Eddie’s body that they found.

God, he might be spiraling now. His breath isn’t fully happening correctly and he feels like he can jump out of his skin.

Before his breakdown can take an embarrassing turn, Robin points out the shack that is off to the side and the little bit of hope is enough to get Steve’s feet moving again.

The shack is easily broken into, but looks abandoned at first glance. An uneasy feeling hanging in the air. Steve regrets not going to pick up his nail bat, they don’t know what Eddie might be hiding from. Needing to have some sort of weapon, he picks up an oar and starts poking with it. From his fights with Billy, he remembers how crucial it is to have his hands free when attacked.

“What are you doing?” Dustin asks as Steve pokes the tarp. He pokes it again and Dustin repeats: “What are you doing?”

“He might be in here,” Steve counters, not thinking that Eddie killed anyone, but certain that he is on edge, dangerous. Not alone, perhaps.

“So take the tarp off,” Dustin tells him.

Steve doesn’t have the energy to explain why that would be a bad idea, so he just scowls: “If you’re so brave, you take the tarp off,” to put the twerp in his place.

“Hey, look over here,” Max suddenly speaks up and Steve turns as Robin and Chrissy follow Max to look at her findings. “Someone was here.”

“Maybe he heard us. Got spooked and ran,” Robin suggests, as Chrissy huddles closer to her while glancing around with scared eyes.

“Don’t worry. Steve will get him with his oar,” Dustin snipes.

“I know you think you’re being funny,” Steve replies, not one to be insulted by a kid, whom he knows has no sense of self preservation, “but considering almost everyone in this room has nearly died a hundred times, personally, I don't find it funny in the slight-”

Without warning Steve gets cut off, a cacophony of sound all around him as he is put off balance and marched backwards.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,” Steve yells, scrambling against the hands holding him, recognizing Eddie and hoping he’ll realize it’s Steve and stop his attack. However, he doesn’t get his hopes up after their last conversation.

Eddie pins him to the wall, broken bottle under his chin as he threatens him. Steve now remembers how Eddie stood up to Billy, the strength hidden under that leather jacket. So, Steve is literally trapped and at his mercy.

The look in Eddie’s eyes is a little wild, looking like a cornered animal, scared and ready to fight to get away from it all.

Steve is quite terrified, but he can admit that the display of strength is hot and even in this disheveled state, Eddie looks beautiful. God, Steve has missed those brown eyes close to his, missed Eddie’s warmth, missed Eddie.

However, he is still aware of the danger of the situation and after the disorientating charge, sound is slowly filtering in again. He hears Dustin’s frantic voice plead: “Eddie! Stop! Eddie. Eddie. It's me, it’s Dustin. This is Steve. He’s not going to hurt you, right, Steve?”

“Right, yeah,” Steve agrees, realizing that he is likely the most dangerous in Eddie’s eyes and he hates how that is what he did to Eddie. That he made him scared of Steve.

“Steve, why don’t you drop the oar,” Dustin suggest in a way that is more a demand.

Slowly Steve moves to drop the oar, well aware that a wrong move could end up with his throat sliced open. However, it’s not slow enough. Eddie pushes against him again and a small, horny part of Steve has to work to not make a more embarrassing noise than a groan.

“He’s cool, he’s cool,” Dustin assures Eddie when he presses against Steve and it’s so like him to still have Steve’s back, despite all his digs and ribbing. You die, I die.

“I’m cool, Eds, I’m cool,” Steve assures Eddie, looking into his eyes intently. “I promise. I’m here to help. I’m so sorry.”

There is something in Eddie’s eyes as he hears Steve’s voice. Steve can feel Eddie’s hands trembling where he is pinning Steve to the wall. No dimples in sight and frown lines that are usually not there, break Steve’s heart. Those beautiful eyes look too haunted for this kind soul.

“What are you doing here?” Eddie asks, it sounds like it was meant to be a demand, but his voice is too fucked up for it to come across like that.

“We’re looking for you,” Dustin jumps in, trying to calm the situation. Out of everyone here, he is the closest to Eddie and Eddie is most likely to listen to him.

“We’re here to help,” Robin adds, sounding like she’s terrified for Steve, a sentiment he appreciates, especially when he hears Chrissy soft squeak.

“Eddie, these are my friends,” Dustin goes on. “You know Robin. From band.”

And Steve hears Robin do her stupid trumpet impression that still isn’t funny, but right now he just loves her for it.

“This is my friend, Max,” Dustin moves on and Steve can’t hear her, but she must do something. “The one who never wants to play DnD. And that’s Chrissy. From cheer. You know Chrissy right, Eddie?”

Eddie nods, it’s small, but it’s there and Steve’s heartbeat slows down. Whatever is happening right now, Eddie at least isn’t going to murder Steve because he’s scared and Steve has been an asshole to him.

Dustin is desperate as he says: “Eddie. We’re on your side. I swear on my mother.”

Steve hears the other’s echo it and he catches Eddie’s gaze and gives a soft smile: “Yeah, on Dustin’s mother.”

That gets a small snort out of Eddie – it’s not the deep, rumbling laugh that Steve adores, but it is a something, a bit that fills up a crack – as Eddie lets him go.

Without Eddie holding him up, Steve collapses. His legs are jelly and his heart rate is still a bit too high to be comfortable. Chrissy and Robin are by his side immediately, checking him over and making sure he is okay.

A little bit away, Eddie is curled into himself on the ground and Steve wants to go over to comfort him, but he’s not sure if it will be welcome. So, he keeps to the back as Dustin says: “We just want to talk.” He reaches for the bottle, retreating when Eddie is unwilling to let go. “Okay.”

“We want to know what happened,” Robin says and Steve glad she is asking questions, because he is desperate to know and unsure where he stands.

“You won’t believe me,” Eddie says and Steve knows the feeling. Remembering coming back to school after the Byers house and someone in the basketball team asking if he was okay. How he didn’t have the words. He still doesn’t know what to say.

“Try us,” Max says and Steve is glad she knows what to say, that she can make Eddie look up a bit of hope among the fear on his face.

Eddie looks around at that, eyes landing on Steve, who gives him an encouraging look. He wishes he could reach out and touch, but Eddie quickly snaps his eyes away and hunches in on himself as he takes a deep breath.

“Patrick, he-” Eddie starts, swallowing. “He wanted to buy drugs. Said he wanted to forget about life for a bit and hey, that’s my whole business. I thought it was just weed, but he wanted something stronger, so he came by my trailer.”

As he remembers what happened, he looks visibly shaken. Small and scared. It looks wrong on Eddie, who has always been so confident and bigger than life. Without thinking about it, Steve scoots a little closer to offer come comfort.

Eddie glances at him and Steve holds his breath, then he leans in a bit, before going on: “I went to grab shit, he was unresponsive. Like he couldn’t hear me. Then his body just like lifted up into air and, uh… And he just like hung there.” He swallows again. “And his bones- he-” Eddie whimpers, a quiet broken sound. “His bones started to snap. His eyes, man. It- it was like there was something like inside his head. Pulling.”

“I- I didn’t know what to do,” Eddie stammers, looking guilty at the confession. “So, I- I ran away. I left him there.” He looks around. “You all think I’m crazy, right?”

Chrissy looks like she’s about to say yes, so Steve gets ahead of her and says: “No, we don’t think you’re crazy.”

“Don’t bullshit me, man. I know how this sounds,” Eddie yells, standing up at if he needs to move to deal with it all. He has always been fidgety.

“We’re not bullshitting you,” Max says.

“We believe you,” Robin adds.

“Why do we do that?” Chrissy asks in a quiet voice and Eddie gestures to her as if to say ‘see, she’s at least sane here.’

“Look,” Dustin starts, “what I'm about to tell you might be a little difficult to take. You know how people say Hawkins is cursed?” Eddie nods as Dustin explains. “They’re not way off. There’s another world. A world hidden beneath Hawkins. Sometimes it bleeds into ours.”

“Like ghosts and shit?” Eddie asks, looking skeptical.

“There are some things worst than ghosts,” Max says and Steve knows what she is thinking off, putting a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

“It’s been a fucked up few years,” Steve says, hoping to loosen a bit of tension with the wording, though not changing the subject.

“Wait, you’ve seen something like what Eddie said before?” Chrissy asks, sounding horrified.

“Yeah,” Robin says. “We’ve seen something like this before. Lot more than just seeing, if I’m honest. Not exactly like this of course, but similar, right guys? Sorry, I haven’t been part of the club for long.”

“Yeah, we have,” Dustin nods. “I had a lizard that was actually a demodog, this creature from another dimension that nearly killed Steve in the junkyard.”

“Nearly killed me and Lucas too,” Max scowls.

“It was friendly,” Dustin protests.

Steve can see both Chrissy and Eddie look a bit terrified and confused, so he cuts both of them off with a: “Okay, no more talking from you two. That shit still haunts my nightmares.”

He turns back to Eddie, a flash of understanding crossing over the other’s eyes as both of them remember that night when Eddie drove Steve to Robin. Eddie cocks his head as if to ask was that that? And Steve gives a crooked smile that says ‘sadly, yes.’

“Don’t tell me to shut up,” Dustin scowls. “Besides, it was totally badass too.”

“Just explain the Upside Down a bit for Chris and Eds,” Steve sighs.

“Eds,” Dustin repeats with an odd look, which both Eddie and Steve ignore, until Dustin moves on to explain the basics. It’s not a good explanation, since none of them really know what’s happening now and Dustin wasn’t there for the Byers house, the attack on the lab or all that happened outside the bunker for the summer.

So, when he is done Eddie and Chrissy look confused, but that is better than being scared. Though Eddie still looks a bit green around the gills.

“I don’t know, man,” he says. “That doesn’t sound like it can really happen.”

“Then what happened with Patrick?” Robin counters and Eddie winces at the name, which makes Steve feel bad, though he knows they need Eddie to believe and trust them right now. “That night, did you see anything?

“Dark particles maybe?” Max asks and Eddie shakes his head.

“It would almost look like dust, swirling dust,” Dustin says, hoping it would trigger a reaction, a memory.

“No, man, there was nothing you could see, or- or touch,” Eddie says with a shake of his head. He looks off for a few seconds then adds in a haunted voice: “You know, I- I tried to wake him up, man. He couldn’t move. It was like he- he was in a trance or something.”

“Or under a spell,” Dustin offers.

“A curse,” Eddie says, looking scared.

“Vecna’s curse,” Dustin says, eyes wide.

“Who’s Vecna?” Chrissy asks, sounding scared.

“An undead creature of great power,” Dustin answer. “A spell caster. A dark wizard.”

“It’s from their DnD campaign,” Steve tells her. “They always give these things names from their game to make it easier to talk about. We’ve had a demogorgon, demodog and the Mind Flayer. Now it’s Vecna.”

“And his spells cause particles?” Chrissy asks, sounding unsure at the words.

Robin looks back to her and Steve can see in how she holds herself. She says: “I mean, not directly, but the particle are part of the Upside Down, right?”

“Yeah, we saw them in the tunnels,” Dustin answers.

“I- I, uhm, saw those particles in the bathroom,” Chrissy admits.

“Holy shit, Chris,” Steve breathes. He doesn’t know exactly what’s happening, but it’s fucked up and Eddie is wanted for murder and Chrissy is cursed or something and Steve can’t think of anything to fix this.

“Am I- Am I in danger?” Chrissy asks, voice small.

“No, of course not,” Robin assures her, looking at Steve with pleading eyes to say something, to back her up, but he’s lost for words.

Surprising him is Eddie, who puts a hand on his shoulder and gets him to look at Eddie. Steve wants to break down, cry a little, burying himself in Eddie’s arms and forget all this is happening. He wants to hide in Robin’s bed and wait until it’s all over, but he can’t.

Chrissy is scared, Dustin and Max too, though they hide it well, Eddie is a target and Robin is freaking out. Steve can’t hide away. He needs to be strong and exude confidence and keep everyone upright, keep it all moving. Needs to protect them. Like Hopper would.

“You’re gonna be fine, Chris,” he tells her, maybe a beat too late to be fully believable. “We’re all going to be fine.”

“Yeah, we’re always fine, don’t worry,” Dustin agrees and he does have the confidence about this that is believable.

He hasn’t been face to face with a demogorgon with only a bat, hasn’t been the target of a horde of demodogs while responsible for three other people, he has never been tortured by Russians or chased by the Mind Flayer. He hasn’t held El and Joyce at Hopper’s funeral. He hasn’t held Max at Billy’s.

Steve doesn’t begrudge Dustin in his naivety. He is glad that Dustin still has that confidence, that he hasn’t had to go through all of that, but he is scared that it will come crashing down at some point and Dustin will be in the middle of it.

However, for now, they can all use his confidence and unwavering belief that it will all turn out okay.

“We need a game plan right now,” Steve says, taking control, because that is what Hopper would have done and this is exactly the situation where Hopper would have stepped in.

“I can use my Cerebro to know what the police are saying. If we know what they know, then we can figure out if they even suspect Eddie,” Dustin says.

“Okay, then we’ll drive there,” Steve says. He isn’t the big plans guy, but he is practical. “Eddie, you need to hide. We’ll come by tomorrow with food, okay?”

He would offer Eddie a place, but he doesn’t want to spring that on him. There will be questions from Dustin if he does and the last thing he wants is to rehash their fight with an audience. Sure, he has told Chrissy and Robin, but he doesn’t want it all thrown in their face with them there. So, he just makes sure that Eddie knows he cares, that he can do something to take care of him.

“Yeah, sure, alright, man,” Eddie nods, taking a deep breath.

“It’s going to be fine, dude,” Dustin grins at him, clapping him on the back. It’s so out of line with the severity that it gets a smile out of Eddie as he hugs Dustin to his side with a fond smile.

“Course, Henderson,” Eddie says. “I got a bard at my back,” which makes Dustin grin again, before he is bouncing out the door, anxious to get started on clearing Eddie’s name.

Max follows after him with a goodbye and Chrissy also goes to follow, but her and Robin look back at Steve and Eddie.

Steve knows that they will give him a second to talk, distract the two kids, so he can talk with Eddie about where they stand. Because they haven’t made up. They haven’t talked. There was a camaraderie again, but Eddie is also dependent on Steve believing he’s innocent.

And Steve is still too scared that Eddie will throw it all in his face again, get mad. He can’t handle that on top of all the stress about other things. So, he just gives Eddie a soft smile and says: “Look out, okay? See you tomorrow, yeah.”

“Yeah, till tomorrow,” Eddie replies, awkwardly. Steve walks away with an uncomfortable nod and is almost at the door, before Eddie calls out: “Stevie?”

The nickname makes Steve’s heart twist and he turns back with a: “Yes?”

“Thank you for not thinking I’m guilty,” Eddie softly says, looking a little bashful at the confession.

“Of course,” Steve smiles, hoping Eddie will understand. “Sorry that I made you feel like I wouldn’t. It’s really good to see you again. I’m so sorry about what I said back in December. I- I wasn’t in a good space. I didn’t mean it.”

Eddie looks shocked at the confession and Steve wants to hear what he has to say, but at that point Dustin screeches: “We don’t have all day, Steve!”

“Coming,” he calls back, tearing himself away from Eddie without getting a response. Leaving him to wonder if this will be a turning point for them again, if he can make it right or if Eddie will leave him behind when they’ve gotten past all this.

He sees Robin talk to Chrissy, small frown on her face as Chrissy hunches into herself. Mentally he amends, if they get past this.

A/N:

Season 4! We’re here, baby. The girls are talking again <3

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