Chapter Text
Nightmares weren’t out of the ordinary, not anymore and certainly not after everything he and the rest of them had experienced. You don’t see what they have seen and not have nightmares. Sometimes they leaned more on the mild side, remaining nothing more than gentle flashes behind his eyelids that he would forget almost the moment he woke up. It was the other ones that got to him, the ones so vivid it was like he was there all over again with hands soaked in blood as they tried to outrun death one more time. Those would cause him to rip out of sleep, gasping for breath. He would usually be so thoroughly soaked in his own sweat he’d have to stumble out of bed just to get a towel to sleep on. If he fell back asleep at all, that is, most of the time the rest of the night was spent with him flat on his back staring wide eyed at the ceiling. Nights like that left him exhausted and broken down in a way he felt in the marrow of his bones.
Last night had been one of those nights, to the point he had half expected to have a chunk torn out of him when he’d come to, instead it was just fear and sweat. So he’d stayed awake, staring at the ceiling until it had sort of started to melt before his eyes as the sun began to peak through the blinds and chased away the shadows from his room. He hadn’t been asleep in hours but he still had to come back to himself, back to his limbs. Shaking free of the stiffness, he assumed this was probably what rigamortis felt like. If that did happen to be true then maybe death wasn’t all that terrible, just a few aches and pains as your bones settled in the grave. His head lolled to the side at the sound of thumping, footsteps padding gently towards his room. The knock at his bedroom door was hushed, patient even.
“Good morning Robin.” His mouth tilted up at the corner as she threw open the door, previous attempts at soft approach he could see were thrown out the window as she bounced over and onto his bed.
“Gooooood morning, how’s my favorite dingus today?” Her body flopped next to his, propped up on one elbow as she grinned down at him.
His eyes raked over her face, she was smiling but he could see her eyes were tired, a little blood shot maybe. “You could have crawled in bed here ya know?” Reaching out he tucked a stray bit of hair back into place. “You’ve been staying here for weeks, you don’t have to be so shy.”
She just offered him a small shrug. “Didn’t wanna wake you, plus I got a few hours without waking up. Did you?” She poked at his cheek, almost too hard.
“Some. Not enough, but some.” That was all he planned to offer, so he sat up and stretched his arms above his head until both of his shoulders let out twin loud cracks. He grinned when he saw the sound caused her to visibly shudder. “Don’t you get grossed out by my old man body, that’s rude.”
“Trust me Steve, I’m grossed out enough just by your man body in general.” She teased, knee moving to nudge into his thigh. “Breakfast?”
He nodded, sliding out of bed to rummage in his closet long enough to find a tshirt and slide it on. “Pancakes or eggs and bacon?” He glanced back at her before moving in front of the window and pulling the blinds all the way open. Something he did everyday now, convinced if he let enough light in throughout the day that maybe it would be enough to keep the nightmares away come nightfall. It never worked.
“Mmm why not both though?” She’d yet to move from his bed, just sitting there and staring at him. She always had this look, like she was trying to drill inside his head and catch a glimpse of his deepest thoughts, which honestly was ridiculous because she already knew most of them. But he never questioned her on it.
“Because you won’t eat all of either one then, you’ll stuff the pancakes in your mouth, finish them, then ask for seconds. By then your eggs will get cold and you refuse to reheat them because then they, and I quote, taste like the weird rubbery eggs at school that they only serve on Wednesdays.” It was not the first time this had happened and he knew it wouldn’t be the last. “How about we compromise for the day, we have pancakes and bacon?”
“Steeeeeeeeve……fine.” She scooted off his bed, dragging half his comforter with her and nearly face planting when her feet got all twisted in it. By some miracle she freed herself and after a few almost tumbles towards the door she was upright and beaming. “Feed me.”
“Yea yea let’s go.” He followed her out the door, down the stairs and into the kitchen. It was weird in the best possible way having her live here. He just wished every fucking day it had been under different circumstances. After everything they had been through, he’d watched her work up the courage to come out to her parents. He’d been so proud and so ready to smash his trusty bat against the side of her dads’ face when he’d promptly told her to pack her things and get out of their house. He’d never wanted to kill someone before that moment, aside from Vecna, but certainly never a normal human. And Robin, god he’d watched the shock seep into every inch of her face. He’d taken her to her room and helped her pack, bringing her here, where she had eventually broken down and sobbed herself to sleep.
They hadn’t talked much about it since, he knew she would when she was ready, but for now they had found their own kind of peace. Turns out not only do they make excellent work buddies but fantastic roomies as well. Fantastic roomies that often had horrific nightmares that resulted in way more co-sleeping than was probably normal for most friendships. “Coffee?” He asked, really only out of habit. He was already making each of them a mug before she answered. Even then her only response was a muffled throat noise before she was taking the offered drink and slurping it like some sort of heathen. “Your manners are worse than the boys.”
Her lip curled in disgust, nose scrunching with the motion. “Never compare me to your children, I have far too much self respect for that. Besides, we both know you love me and the feral goblin I happen to be.” Another obnoxious slurp.
“Riiiiight.” His own coffee was bitter, he liked it black. Something about the way it coated his tongue was soothing. He enjoyed how he didn’t enjoy it in a way that he never thought too long about. “So, job hunting today?” They’d been putting it off since everything happened, since the world almost ended for the upteenth time. But his parents weren’t keen on him being jobless so that meant that ready or not, he had to step back into reality. He hated the way she stiffened up when he mentioned it, for reasons all her own. “Robin, it’s ok. We both know they haven’t said anything.”
Her eyes glazed over for just a moment, fingers clenching the mug before she gave a jerky sort of nod. “Right, no I know. It’s just…..a lot? Like I know we technically won and all that but it just still feels like we lost so much.” Her voice softened as she went over it.
“I know, trust me I know. We’re all gonna need more time than what we’ve had to bounce back but I don’t think time is on our side right now so our best bet is to just dive in.” He quirked a brow at her when she snorted at him. “Something funny?”
“Nope!” She made sure to pop the P. “Just, of course the former swim team captain would use a diving reference for life.” At least this time her smile looked genuine.
“Co-Captain thank you, and I stand by it. We’re all alive and that’s really what matters most right now. Max took a beating and I know how hard it was for everyone when she was touch and go but,” He had to swallow against the rising bile because he could barely think about that without his stomach turning “she is healing. Slowly, but surely. We all will.” He had to believe that, he had to believe despite the wounds that had closed up still aching and the nightmares, despite the way sometimes he felt frozen when a light flickered or god forbid he saw a bat, even something that resembled one. He had to believe it, or he’d fall apart too.
There was a long pause, Robin just sat there and took a long sip of her coffee meeting his gaze. “And Eddie?”
He didn’t have to look at her to know she clocked his full bodied shudder at the memory.
Blood pooling beneath his hands and oozing through the space between his fingers as he’d tried so hard to keep any kind of pressure against the older boy. He could still hear Dustin screaming in his ear over and over, begging him to save Eddie. Like it had somehow been something only he could do. The world was falling apart around them, collapsing bit by bit and there wasn’t time, he’d just known there wouldn’t be enough time. Yet for some reason he’d hauled the other into his arms and just fucking taken off, running towards the trailer, stopping only when Dustin had started babbling about the rope being cut. He felt it all freeze just for a moment before he had taken back off running, running towards the road where that other kid had died. Every death had a gate right? So there had to be one, it didn’t matter that he was running in blind or that his own bites were pulling further apart. Not the burning he felt in his lungs or the black tinging the edges of his vision, none of it mattered. There was a gate and he was going to get Eddie through it.
“Steve?”
He jolted, jerking hard enough to feel a splash of still too warm coffee spill over onto his fingers. He looked over at Robin, blinking a few times to clear that fog. “Eddie’s alive. We saw them take him and that guy called Hopper, told him Eddie made it.”
“I know that! Still, we haven’t seen him since then and that’s not fair.” Her eyes looked wet, larger than normal as she stared at him. “It was his first time going through all of this and he got hurt so bad, he doesn’t deserve to be in whatever fucking lab they have him at all alone!”
“Well what do you want me to do about it!? Waltz up to some random government agent and demand they give him back? Then what? Bring him back here to a town that still hates him?” He hated that he was losing his cool, raising his voice. Hated it even more that it caused her to shrink a little further back into her chair. “I want to bring him home, if for no other reason than for Dustin but….but I don’t know how.” His shoulders slumped, eyes burned. He covered them with his hand, pressing against them hard enough to know his vision would blur. “I don’t know how to fix this Robs.” He heard the clatter of her chair only to feel arms sliding around his waist only seconds later. He ducked low, pressing his face into her neck as she hugged him.
“I’m sorry, I know you want to help, that was shitty of me Steve. I just got all inside my own head for a second and I think I was looking for reasons to keep avoiding getting back out there.” Her voice was soothing. He liked to imagine it was similar to how a mother might sound when consoling her child, not that he would know.
“It’s fine, really. We’re all gonna have those moments.” He pulled away, giving her upper arm a reassuring squeeze. “And you’re right, he shouldn’t be dealing with all of this alone.” He took a second to steady his nerves, squaring his shoulders the way he might before facing something from the UpsideDown. “I’m gonna talk to Hopper first, see if he can’t squeeze a little more information out of them before we do anything too crazy.”
Her mouth stretched into a grin, eyes lighting up. “Fuck yea. If anyone can get answers out of those assholes, Hopper can.”
Of course neither of them stated the obvious, that Hopper hadn’t tried before now to find anything out about Eddie and if he had then he certainly hadn’t told any of them about it. It bothered Steve more than it should that Eddie had been taken away like that, not because he didn’t care about the guy but because he didn’t really have the right too. He barely knew him, those too few moments of bonding hadn’t exactly forged an ever lasting connection, except they kinda had? He told himself it was just because he knew Dustin cared so much about him, because what other reason could there be?
“So should we call him now?” Once again Robin’s voice pulled him back out of the mess that was his head, she had her thumbnail pressed to her mouth, half chewing on it.
“I’ll call him later in the day, first we eat and then we have to at least look at the job listings.” He moved to slide past her and head towards the stove so he could get started. Not that he held out much hope of finding anything, the town was still in shambles and more than half the businesses had either been destroyed or shut down. “You wanna see if there’s even a paper out front and start looking while I start the food?”
“Mhm.” A less than enthusiastic response but she still got up and headed into the living room towards the door.
For a minute it was quiet, Steve gathering what he needed to start the pancake batter and making a mental note to stop by the store, well what qualified as the store. It wasn’t exactly stocked and wasn’t always open but it was still standing and did have food. He just hoped it wouldn’t be too long before-
A scream pierced the silence of his house. He didn’t even think, he grabbed a knife from the drawer and bolted towards the front door. All he saw was the front door slamming shut and someone shoving Robin against the wall, hand over her mouth. The intruder had their back turned and Steve had the knife raised. They had a dark gray hoodie on, that’s all he took note of before he lunged.
He saw Robin’s hand shoot up and rip the hand away from her mouth. “STEVE NO!”
He fumbled just enough and the stranger cursed, jerking to the side and tripping over their shoes to land flat on his ass with another slew of curses tumbling free.
Steve felt like his heart was about to burst clean through his ribs, sucking in deep breaths as he made his way in front of Robin, all instincts still screaming to keep her safe even if she had been the one to stop him. He felt her fingers latch onto his forearm, digging in hard but she didn’t try to move. He looked down at the hooded figure. “What the fuck do you want?”
A huff of laughter escaped the other. “Jesus Harrington, I thought I was coming to the safe space not the murder house.” He pulled back the hood and looked up. Brown eyes met Steve’s, dark and full of too many emotions for him to pin down, but the smirk was familiar.
The knife dropped from his hand, clattering dangerously close to his foot, close enough he saw Eddie wince. “Munson? What the fuck, how are you here?!” This didn’t make sense, did they fucking will him into existence by talking about him? At this point he would believe it.
“Wellllll technically looking for a place to hide?” He made quick work of climbing to his feet, brushing his hands over the front of the hoodie before smiling at them, it made Steve’s pulse jump and he swallowed. “I’ve been at whatever fucking prison they took me too this entire time, kept thinking you guys would bust me out and when you didn’t, well I busted myself out!” He looked exceedingly proud of himself.
That caused Steve to shake himself free of his stupor to some extent. “Wait, prison? I thought they had you at a lab or facility to treat your wounds? They wouldn’t let us even see if you woke up, they were at the gate when we escaped and just fucking took you.” He felt Robin’s grip begin to loosen as she moved to stand beside him rather than behind him.
“Yea, we only knew you were alive because one of the guys in charge told Hopper, but that’s literally all we knew.”
Eddie’s lips pursed before he reached up and pulled the hood back. “Yea well I wasn’t.”
Steve could only blink. “You weren’t what?” At a medical facility? Yea, he kinda figured that at this point.
Those brown eyes looked almost hollow when he turned them fully on Steve again. “Alive.”
He saw Robin stiffen out of the corner of his eye, the way she went pale. “What do you mean you weren’t alive? Like your heart stopped and they resuscitated you?”
A moment of silence stretched between the three of them before Eddie groaned, then in a flurry of movement he couldn’t actually see his hand was snatched up and yanked forward. It took him a moment to realize Eddie had grabbed it and pressed it over his heart, where there was decidedly no heartbeat. His gaze snapped back to Eddie’s who looked a little sick now and definitely terrified. “Oh shit.” That’s all he could say.
Eddie grimaced before nodding. “Yup. Oh shit.”
Before he could respond further Robin was shoving him to the side, crowding her way in and putting her hand where Steve’s had just been. “I wanna feel it!” Of course Steve knew the moment she felt the distinct lack of a heartbeat when her eyes got even larger looking and she yanked her hand back. “What the fuck, Eddie are you dead!?”
Eddie shifted his gaze away, shrugging in response. “I don’t know, they kept doing all these tests on me. They wouldn’t tell me what happened to any of you and they just kept saying it wasn’t safe for me yet but...I couldn’t stay there. I fucking had to get out.”
Steve nodded, reaching out to clap a hand over his shoulder, squeezing gently. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, but you’re better off here with us than with them. You can hide out here for now at least until we figure out what to do.” he glanced back at Robin who nodded her agreement. “You might have to lay low from more than just the government though, closemind people of Hawkins and all.” He could feel some of the tension ease out of Eddie from where he still had his hand, watching him nod before smiling.
“I appreciate it, thanks Steve.” He tucked in a breath and slowly let it out before nodding. “So yea I should probably give you a teeny bit more detail on my uh…condition?”
“I thought you just said you didn’t know if you’re dead?” Robin pointed out, brow raised.
“I really don’t know if I’m dead. I don’t have a heartbeat but I can still bleed and shit. I get hungry too along with other working…..functions.” His face flushing as he muttered that last bit. “But I don’t eat normal food and...there are a few things that are just a liiiiiittle different than before.”
“Such as?” He almost wanted to grin, despite the circumstances. Eddie was still very much Eddie and they had all seen enough weird shit he couldn’t imagine being too shocked by whatever it was.
Eddie licked his lips, clearly nervous. “Ok just don’t scream or anything, it’s kinda freaky.” He kinda scrunched up his face, concentrating before he stretched his mouth open. It took everything Steve had to not gasp at the sight of the fangs he saw, two on top and two on bottom. They weren’t crazy long but they were definitely fangs and they looked sharp enough to pierce skin easy enough. If that wasn’t enough he saw Eddie wiggle his fingers at them, showing off the way his nails had lengthened into claws, curling just a hair. “Wicked huh?” At the sound of his voice Steve looked back towards Eddie’s face, he looked nervous and a little scared. He was freaked out sure and a little unsettled, but he wasn’t afraid of him exactly so to prove that he reached out and slid his fingers between Eddie’s, lacing them together so their palms were flush against each other. He looked Eddie right in the eye and smiled, closing his hand around the others’.
“I’m not scared of you Eddie, I don’t know what’s happening but we’re in this together.”
Eddie let out a muted sort of gasp as he nodded, his fingers closing over Steve’s hand and clinging. “Yea ok.” Then with zero warning he lurched forward and threw himself against Steve, arms going around his shoulders and face burying into his neck. It obviously threw him off at first, but only for a second then he put his own arms around Eddie and squeezed. “It’s gonna be ok man.”
He smiled when he felt Robin’s arms cover his as she came up behind Eddie and hugged him as well. “Steve’s right, we have been through so much crazy shit the last few years there’s no way we don’t have this handled.”
Eddie huffed a laugh, warm against Steve’s neck from how closely he’d pressed against it. “Well if Buckley thinks I’ll be fine then it’s gotta be legit, she’d never steer me wrong.” It took a minute but Steve felt him slowly begin to lift his head and pull away, he still looked nervous. “There’s a little more to it than just the claws and fangs though.” He visibly swallowed, tongue darting out to swipe over his upper lip nervously. “I know I said I get hungry for not normal food but like…it’s really not normal guys.”
Steve blinked, he could feel Robin pull away and move to face him as well. “Well, gonna assume here that with having that new set of teeth it’s probably something a little…..fresher?” He’d been trying to be chill but given the wince Eddie offered it was gonna be a sore spot no matter what. “Dude, it’s fine. Dustin kept Dart alive on candy bars, we can handle making sure you don’t starve to death. Just maybe, don’t eat us?” And despite the morbid nature of the joke he was pleased when not only Eddie let out a reluctant chuckle but Robin snorted too.
She reached out and smacked his shoulder. “Not funny Steve, I’ve seen you two chewed up enough for one lifetime thank you very much.” But her gaze softened, hand reaching out to graze the back of her fingers over where she knew his wounds still sometimes ached. “You guys don’t get to be hurt anymore, okay?”
“You’re still injured?”
Steve pulled his eyes away from Robin and refocused on Eddie who looked almost ill, skin going even paler but his eyes tinged a deeper red. He looked more shaken up than when he’d shown them his fangs. “Nah man, it’s all scarred and scabbed but they just hurt sometimes ya know?” He could see that did absolutely nothing to ease the discomfort Eddie was clearly feeling. “Eddie, I’m fine. I’m healing.”
“Right yea it’s just…whatever happened to me, it caused me to heal up a lot faster so I guess I sorta feel guilty you still have to deal with it is all.” He proved his point by lifting his shirt to reveal unmarred flesh, as though he’d never been attacked at all. In a weird way it made Steve jealous, hand instinctively resting over his own shirt against where the wounds on his body were.
“I can get why you feel that way but man, you kinda paid your own price with what’s happening to you. I don’t think you have any reason to feel guilty.” His fingers twitched gently as he felt that familiar ache from the bites, just a gentle reminder they were there and slowly healing. “Besides, it might be a slow process but I am healing.” He felt some tension ease out at the press of Robin’s warmth against him, a silent comfort she always knew when to offer.
“Yea trust me, I’ve been around to make sure knucklehead here takes proper care of himself.”
And really, it was just a moment of carelessness. Not one that was even that big of a deal but it caught him off guard. Robin was so in the moment of trying to reassure Eddie that she made a motion towards Steve as she spoke, a motion that landed her elbow against one of the bites. It wasn’t a hard impact, in fact it barely grazed it but it was enough to sting and drag a muffled grunt from him. He didn’t even have time to move a hand over it or step away from Robin before his shirt was being yanked up. “Jesus! Eddie, calm down man.” But the other wasn’t paying him any attention, focused on the ugly scarring wounds, they were swollen and red. Some still even had a hard time staying closed if he moved too fast.
“This is what you call healing?” Eddie finally lifted his head up, looking at Steve with an expression he couldn’t entirely place. “Did you even go to the hospital? They don’t look like you got stitches, man.” He was still holding Steve’s shirt up, but his free hand was inching towards the wounds in a way that made Steve feel skittish and want to pull away, he hated anyone touching them. So you can imagine his relief and mild surprise when Robin reached out and tugged away the hand reaching towards them, her smile soft as she looked at Eddie.
“He’s been taken care of Eddie, I promise. The hospital had a lot to deal with and we’ve been keeping an eye on each other. Yes, it’s taking him a bit longer to heal but he is healing.” She kept her tone gentle, the way one might speak to an injured animal and she never moved her fingers from around his wrist. “So for now, maybe don’t mess with them too much ok?”
Eddie was silent for a long time before he finally released his hold on Steve’s shirt and nodded. “Sorry guys, sometimes I react before I even know what I’m doing. All this shit happening to me is wild.” At that Steve snorted, drawing both their gazes.
“I mean be honest, you were pretty reactive before all this stuff. I’ve heard Dustin talk about your lunch room table strolls.”
Eddie’s eyes went wide, pupils huge as he looked flat out stunned. “That’s….that’s not the same at all!” He took a few steps back from the two of them, obviously very much embarrassed by Steve’s comment.
“Don’t be shy Eddie, it just means you’re still you! Even if you are a little vampire guy now.” Robin was mad grinning, her whole face lit up with amusement that made Steve feel warm inside to see, a far cry from how devastated she had been not even a half hour ago.
“Shut yer trap Buckley.” But there was no hostility and overall Eddie looked pleased to be teased. Probably a far cry from the treatment he’d received in the last several weeks. Still, they did have a few things that needed to be discussed.
“Not to break up the mood but we do probably need some kind of game plan here guys, who do we even tell about Eddie being here?” The first name that popped into his head was without a doubt Dustin, the kid hadn’t been the same since they’d carted Eddie off to no man’s land. “I mean have no issues hiding you here Eddie, but pretty sure it’ll only be a matter of times before those government dicks come knocking on doors to track you down so a plan would be nice.”
“Steve’s got a good point, we should probably tell Nancy or Hopper for sure, they would be the best ones to help us hide him.” Robin tapped a finger thoughtfully against her lip. “Dustin would kill us for not telling him too.”
“Don’t tell anyone yet.”
Steve looked back at Eddie who in a manner of seconds crumbled in on himself, his face downcast and he looked like he was barely holding himself together. “Eddie, I won’t be able to stop the guys coming after you all on my own.” He knew this had to be hard on the guy and the thought of telling everyone what was happening to him couldn’t be an easy idea to swallow. “We have to tell someone at least, don’t you want to see Dustin?”
“Of course I do!” His voice pitching higher, emotion coating his words. “And we will tell them soon but…I just escaped and I came here because I had to, so I just need a day or two in order to find my balance just a little. Can’t we give it at least a day?” He was wringing his hands together, twisting them around in a nervous flurry.
Steve glanced at Robin and it was enough, the look in her eyes and half little shrug to know what she thought. “Ok, yea we can do that. A day Eddie, but then we have to bring at least a few of the others in on it ok?”
“Deal!” And it was worth it, the nervous twist in his stomach at the idea of keeping a secret like this from everyone, worth it when he saw Eddie light up as though he’d received some unexpected gift.
“Why did you have to?”
Both of the boys turned towards Robin when she spoke, she looked curious and nothing more. It took a second before he even realized what she was referring to but once he caught on he looked back at Eddie who still looked baffled. “She’s got a point, Munson. You said you had to come here, why?” He understands they had traversed the UpsideDown together but it didn’t entirely make sense why he would come here first and not go to Dustin or even Lucas. Both had played just as huge of a role and they were part of his club too.
“Ah well, I would love to be able to explain that, but truth is I don’t know.” He wasn’t looking either of them in the eye, looking almost shy. “I was in that place from the moment I woke up and all I could ever smell was chemicals and the people there. But they smelled gross, pretty sure they wore something to make them smell like laundry soap.” His face scrunching at the memory. “When I did finally manage to escape I could smell everything, it nearly made me puke because it was too much. It took me a little bit to try and sift through it but when I did I was able to lock on one scent that smelled safe, familiar even, so I just ran with my instincts and followed.”
“Which led you here?” Robin’s eyes were wide again, this time what looked to be in fascination. Even Steve had to admit he was a little enthralled with Eddie’s explanation.
“So what was it? What smell led you to Robin and I?” He couldn’t think of anything unusual about his house, but the almost panicked look on Eddie’s face told him there was definitely something. “What is it Eddie?” All he got in return was a mumble he couldn’t make out. “What?”
“I said it was you!”
Steve reeled back, heat flooding his face at the implication. “M-me? You followed my…er…scent?”
“Yea man I dunno, I didn’t know it was you until I got inside! I just followed it and realized I was somehow now at the Harrington Castle, I saw Robin open the door and took my chance. Which leads us here.”
Before Steve could even think to come up with a response to that his thought bubble burst into a thousand pieces when Robin’s delighted little cackle erupted. He turned his annoyed gaze on her. “What, pray tell, is so fucking funny?”
“Eddie, shows up here alive and is clearly some kind of UpsideDown version of a vampire,” At Steve and Eddie’s matching winces she waves a hand around, dismissing them. “Oh hush, that’s obviously what this is. Anyways, he shows up here because he literally followed his nose. That’s great, I love it.” Then she abruptly stopped, her face shifting into a slightly more worried expression as she peered at Eddie a little closer. “Wait, do you like want to eat Steve!?”
Steve blinked at that, without really thinking about it he stepped back just a little and was met with instant guilt at the crushed look Eddie offered. “I don’t want to eat Steve! It was just like a weird pull, like out of all the smells I just knew it would be safe for me if I found that one in particular.”
“Ok listen, this is a lot to figure out and I really have no idea where to start. I am in no way the brains of any of this but as long as I don’t get turned into lunch I say that’s a good start.” He swiped a hand over his face, huffing once before pointing at Eddie. “You better not bite me Munson!”
Eddie held up his hands in defense, looking just a little offended. “Not gonna bite you, trust me Harrington you aren’t my type.” His eyes narrowed at Robin’s little snort. “I really just need a place to stay and maybe, god forbid, some friends because the last few weeks have been a fucking nightmare. I’m exhausted and confused, there have been people day in and day out poking me. Prodding me. Testing me. Doing things to me just to see how my body reacted and for fucks sake I just want to rest!” His chest heaved, body wracked with trembles by the time he was done.
“Ok man, it’s ok. We get it.” This time it was Steve who brought him into a hug. Pulling Eddie gently back against his chest, arms going around the other and just holding him. It felt a little weird to hug another grown man so intimately, or at least that’s what he told himself he should feel. In all honesty it felt normal, natural even to just hold Eddie this way. “We gotcha.”
Eddie shuddered against him, nodding into his neck. “I’m sorry, it’s just been a lot.”
“We get it Eddie, things have been messed up for a few years now. But I had Steve and now you have both of us!” Robin shuffled closer as she spoke, laying her head against Steve’s arm so she could peer up at Eddie, smiling softly.
Steve felt Eddie’s chuckle rumble through his own body at their points of contact and then felt him shift his head to peer back at Robin. “Trust her, she’s got more brains than me at least.” He offered one more quick squeeze before pulling back. “How about for now we just relax and watch a movie?”
Surprise filtered across Eddie’s face before a wide grin split across it. “Yea man, watcha got to watch? I would watch anything at this point, I’ve had zilch when it comes to the entertainment department the last few weeks.”
“Ugh, just please no more Grease, if I have to listen to Danny Zuko sing about that stupid car one more time I swear to god I’ll stick pencils in my ears.” Steve grinned at the drawn out whine in Robin’s tone as she complained.
“Hey it’s a great movie, you just don’t know what good music is.” He was teasing, but it drew a startled snort out of Eddie, causing him to turn and eyeball the other man. “Something funny Munson?”
Eddie just shrugged, leaning his body a little closer to Steve’s as he grinned. “Just think it’s adorable, how you think anything from Grease could be called good music, seriously gotta agree with Robs on this one.” His grin only grew when Robin let out a crow of delight in being sided with.
“Alright sure, gang up on me then.” He pulled back, heading back into the kitchen. “You two can decide on a movie, I’m finishing pancakes.” The bowl of barely started batter waited for him on the counter. He could feel his heart pounding against his ribs and his head was throbbing as he tried to take in all of what just happened. The sound of Eddie and Robin bickering over movies faded to a buzz in the background as he tried to focus on the batter but his skin felt like it had little needles dancing across it and suddenly it felt like he couldn’t get any air into his lungs. Now that he was alone, even if it was just a room away, he could feel every inch of how his body was responding to Eddie suddenly showing up and asking them to keep it a secret. Eddie confessing how he wasn’t just Eddie anymore, which meant he was partly something UpsideDown too. He blinked as he fought away the blurry vision, ignoring the sound of ringing in his ears and the way he could feel every fucking beat of his heart. It was thunderous in his head too, the sound deafening save for the ringing. It was too much, he just needed to focus on the task at hand, sort through the rest later.
He put the bowl down and moved to get a glass for some water, somehow drinking water just felt like the best way to make everything ok again. Only, when he reached for a glass from the cabinet it felt like his fingers couldn’t quite move in the way he needed and the glass slipped right between them. It landed with a shatter on the floor, causing him to wince but doing just enough to shake him free of his own head just enough that he started to kneel and pick it up.
A sharp gasp was shaken from him though when a flurry of movement happened and before he could even really grasp what was happening he found himself seated on the counter, Eddie was in front of him, hands resting gentle on Steve’s hips as he stared at him with those wide eyes. Seconds later Robin came scrambling into the kitchen, stopping just at the doorway when she saw the glass.
“What the fuck happened? Are you ok?” Her eyes darted between Eddie and Steve. She was taking another hesitant step forward, careful to avoid the glass as she made her way over to them.
“Yea, yea I’m fine. I dropped a glass and went to pick it up, didn’t want anyone to step on it but uh…” He made a vague motioning gesture towards Eddie who still looked tense, afraid even. “Eddie, you ok?” He moved slowly, raising a hand to put it against Eddie’s cheek which was shockingly warm. How had he not noticed when he’d hugged him earlier?
“Mhm.” He tilted his face, mooshing it more firmly into Steve’s palm, eyes taking on a slightly glossy appearance. “Heard the sound, got scared.” His speech was a little slower, almost slurred like he’d had one shy of too many beers.
Steve glances at Robin who still looked a little lost. “Robin, could you grab the broom for me? I’ll clean this up and finish cooking mkay?” He spoke softly, smiling at her which seemed to help shake her. The direction pulling her back into action. “Ok Eddie, let me down so I can get this cleaned up ok buddy?” He pulled his hand away and attempted to gently push at his shoulders to try and back him up enough so that he would have space to slide off the counter. However a pressure at his hips stilled him, looking down he saw Eddie’s hands gripping at him. “Eddie?” This time Eddie just offered a soft grunt in return, his eyes never left Steve but they looked more and more vacant.
The phone rang, sound cracking through the odd silence that had started to fill up the house. Steve looked up and watched Robin answer it, the way she mumbled into the receiver and the way she stiffened up. Curiosity burned through him as she reached an arm out, nearly pulling all the slack from the cord of the phone as she offered it to him. He raised a brow, taking it but not immediately bringing it to his ear.
“It’s Hopper.” And that caused him to stiffen, which elicited a small grumble from Eddie in return.
He pressed the phone to his ear and tried to keep his voice even. “Steve here.”
“Steve, we got a problem. But I don’t want the kids knowing just yet. Kid, the Munson boy escaped from where they were holding him, Owen called to give me a heads up.”
“Hey uh Hop.” He started but was effectively cut off.
“ Hold up and let me finish. I know he was your friend Steve but you have to be clear headed if you see him, Owens said he wasn’t the same. They’ve been keeping him for observation.”
There was a pause, he could hear Hopper taking a breath before he continued.
“When they first got him they locked him in a sauna of sorts, they had to be sure. They said it was almost impossible to see inside the room with all of what came out of that boy. They think they cleared most of it out, he’s him a majority of the time but he loses time, goes what they described as feral. He’s attacked several of the nurses that were helping him. Said he just tore right into any part he could sink his teeth into. They would sedate him and when he woke up he had no memory of this.”
“Listen Hopper,” But he was cut off again.
“No Steve, I know you. You’ll want to help him and I get it but he isn’t safe. He’s different, changed somehow. I’m not saying he needs to be locked away forever but we have got to let them...Steve, what the hell is that sound?”
Steve tilted his head to look at Eddie, his pupils slit like an angry cat and teeth bared as he growled. It wasn’t just any kind of growl, it was this weird mix of an animal and the chittering noises that still haunted him, sounds that made the wounds on his sides throb. Eddie wasn’t even looking at him, he had his eyes locked on the phone. Steve looked at Robin who’d gone so pale, eyes wider than he’d ever seen them. He ignored Hop entirely for a second. “Robin, I need you to leave.”
“No Ste-” She flinched hard when Eddie whipped his head around to stare at her, the sound he made only got louder. She took a step back, almost against her will from the looks of it.
“Go. Robin, go now!”
He winced as she made a sobbing sort of sound and dashed back towards the front door, once she was out of sight and Eddie refocused on him he squeezed the phone a little tighter. “Hop?”
“Oh fucking hell kid, please don’t do this to me.”
He shuddered, eyes falling shut as he felt Eddie’s body press closer, the growling now right at his ear. “I’m sorry Hopper, I didn’t know.”
He heard Hopper shouting something but it was too late, the phone was ripped from his hand and quickly followed by a snarl.