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rottenaero · 10 months

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CW: Injuries, talk of death

Roommates part 8

Ao3(More content, but is a chapter behind)

Part 1

Part 7

The walk to the Wheelers takes what could’ve been hours, but only felt like minutes. Steve couldn’t recall much of what happened during it, the tripping, the talk with Eddie, yeah, sure.

But nothing much after that stands out. The ground doesn’t shake again. The lightning is surprisingly tame. His sides hurt like hell but that’s not surprising.

He has to lean into Eddie to keep his balance while Nancy opens the front door. When is creaks open and he goes to walk in, the bites scream at him,

He sucks on his teeth as the wound throbs, and his hand tightens around his flashlight.

“You good, man?”

Steve looks up and meets Eddie’s eyes, “Yeah, fan-freaking-tastic. Ten out of ten, no complaints.”

The metalhead shakes his head, “Seriously, I need to know if we need to grab some medical stuff while we’re here. Not like I know how to use it, but…” He trails off, before offering his hand.

“I’ll be fine, let’s just focus on getting the guns.” He grabs his wrist for a second, just to give a reassuring squeeze before walking inside, ignoring the burning heat that lay underneath the bandages.

Eddie follows behind him, muttering something about just take the damn hand, and he tilts his head his way to give a glare.

Eddie’s palms immediately raise up, “I didn’t say anything. Did you say something? I didn’t hear anything.” He laughs-awkwardly, before jogging to where Nancy was standing by the stairs.

“Might be time to get a maid, Wheeler.” Robin breathed, glancing around. Steve took notice of the way she swayed to Nancy’s side.

“Let’s just go, I don’t want to be here longer than we have to be.” The brunette mutters, before jogging up the steps. Eddie and Robin followed almost immediately, and Steve planned to too,

Except right after the third step he heard something. A voice.

He couldn’t make out what it was saying, but he had no doubt it was Dustin. Even the echoey way it resounded couldn’t shake that underlying tone he always had.

He walks back down. “Dustin?” He tries. It comes out quiet in the large house. He tries again. And again. A little louder and louder each time.

Finally, he says fuck it.

“Dustin?!?” Steve yelps, looking around. He can still hear him. “Dustin!”

He turns wildly, the voice is moving, like he’s pacing. “Dustin can you hear me?! Dustin!”

“Dus-Hello?? He- Hello?!”

“Maybe he does have rabies.” He barely hears it, thinks he imagines it, then Nancy’s calling his name.

“Steve, what are you doing?”

He whips his head around, along with his flashlight, which causes a yelp from Robin.

“He’s here,” He starts, breathless, “Henderson, that little shit. He’s here, he’s like- In the walls. Just listen-“

There’s silence.

“Dustin?”

“Dustin!! Dustin, Dustin? DUSTIN!! Can you hear me?!” He screams, and finally the sound reverberates.

A few seconds later he can hear it again, the voice,

The voice that is, again, undeniably Dustin’s. By the way Eddie’s face lights up he can tell it’s not just him hearing it.

Then it’s Nancy’s turn to start yelling his name, as she starts moving around.

Steve follows Eddie to a set of curtains as he pulled them open, which, did he really think he’d be there. “Alright, either this kid can’t hear us or he’s being a total douchebag.”

Eddie nods, “Oh yeah, wouldn’t put it past him to ignore us cause he thinks he’s funny.”

“Will found a way.”

“What?”

She’s quick to move around, trying to click on a lamp. “Will, he found a way to speak with Joyce through the lights.”

“Lights…Switch, try the switch.”

Nancy huffs, “It’s not working.” She tries a couple more times, and Steve turns away, pointing his flashlight around before it settles on the giant ceiling light.

Which is glowing, some sort of glittery haze around it. “Guys, you seeing this?”

He barely hears it when Nancy approaches the light, too fixated on the way it looks, how there was an air of warmth around it. She puts her hand into it, and specks of white and orange dance around her fingertips.

“Woah.”

Every time Steve completed another round on the pedal, his side would flare up.

Which means, his side flared up quite a few times on the way to Eddie’s trailer. It was like a warning, every time the chain against the wheel clicked. His eyes glazed and he could barely make out the road ahead of him, just following the dark figures moving ahead. Autopilot mode.

He went on it a lot, usually at work, washing dishes, cooking, he’d zone out.

It was perfect for the moments that he was overwhelmed, the world would fizzle out. Sometimes he did it when he was bored, just to make time pass that bit faster.

He shouldn’t be doing it. Not here, not in a place when any second a demo-dog could come,

And was the clicking his bike or was it the noises it makes as it circles in?

It’s warning.

A conversation.

He’s weak right now, they’d head for him first, they’d be fine. The guys would be fine.

He whistled, three short ones, just in case. The blurs ahead of him take a sharp right, and when he attempts to follow, his hand slips right off the handlebar.

When did they become slick with sweat?

With Steve’s momentary confusion, he doesn’t notice the bike tilting, how he’s still pedaling on autopilot.

It falls, he slides.

His left-hand goes forward, a sad attempt to block the fall.

He doesn’t register the crunch, or the gravel skimming his palm.

He registers his side ripping open further.

The white-hot. The grating scream he fights to keep in. The blood seeping out of it.

He looks up. His eyes are still blurry, why are they still blurry? Is he crying? Not here, not now.

He looks up, and sees it.

See’s the thing that keeps him up at night. The reason why he bought a new clock that doesn’t tick for the trailer.

A demo-dog, or rather three, are staring at him from the woods. Their flower petal mouths are shut, for now. One points its head into the air, it’s slow, like a dog smelling something.

The bites tinge, and it looks directly at him, letting out a chittering noise.

Blood attracts demogorgons.

Steve shuffles, grabs his bike with the hand that he didn’t fall onto, and jumps on.

The blurs ahead haven’t noticed his fall yet.

He’s bleeding.

They’re still pedaling.

There are more clicks, from behind him, the beasts.

No one would notice.

There’s the padding of footfalls on the edge of gravel some ways back.

He can’t help it.

Steve turns the bike around with his right-hand, and pedals away.

There are no shouts of his name. He thankful.

They haven’t noticed.

There’s clicking though,

And it’s different from the one on his bike, and he’s reminded of two years in the bus. The noises the beasts made as they circled in.

Low, guttural, predatory noises.

It’s behind him but it feels like it’s everywhere.

This time, he’s not on autopilot.

Hard to be when you could be caught, torn apart at any moment.

Although,

He’s already being torn apart.

The skin under his bandages stretches and suddenly they aren’t just under his bandages cause they’re ripping open further.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He gasps for air, and he can’t get enough, even when it feels like his lungs are about to burst.

And is this how he’s gonna die?

Steve Harrington, the badass babysitter, the brute force, the tank, dying because he couldn’t pedal a bike fast enough after falling off.

Would this be a hero's death? Because honestly, they didn’t even know he saved them.

The road cuts off to a neighborhood he knows only has one exit, and he takes a sharp turn off the side of the road.

There’s a bike path down this way, one that years ago, he used to ride along with Tommy. He cuts through the woods.

There’s screeching being him, and he’s sure that the pomegranate red mouths have opened. That it’s too late to hope. “Fuck.” Steve mutters.

It’s at that moment he goes over a particularly large bump, and the bike goes flying.

He’s not holding on tight enough, not with one hand.

It doesn’t land right, and now he’s back on the ground. THe creatures slow in front of him.

“Fuck!” He lets out, louder this time, and he inches away. He tries to use his left arm as momentum, but it doesn’t move.

The crack, the break.

He’s gonna die.

Please, I just told Eddie.

What will they think?

That he ran away?

‘Just like you always do, Harrington!’

How much of his life before the upside down had been spent running?

From his parents, the fact that he was a massive douche, away from who he is?

Is he crawling backwards?

Just like when he was born.

One of the demo-dogs gets tired of waiting, and sprints forward.

Eddie was a bike kid before he got his van. He loved them. Always riding around town when he was younger, anything to get away from Al. He liked how it felt when the wind blew against him.

It was easy to get lost in the familiar feeling of pedaling, easy to forget where he was, or that there were people around him.

He just biked to his trailer. Just like he had done those days after school in fifth grade, when his dad was out.

Him and Wayne would sit together on the couch and listen to whatever records he had, mostly Elvis Presley and John Lee Hooker.

Wayne, who probably thought he was serial killer.

“Christ…” Eddie muttered to himself, and slid to a stop at the trailer came into a view. He heard a few tire squeals and he grinned.“Alright Stevie, let’s get back to our world.” He turned his head back to get a look at him,

And his heart stopped.

“Where’s Steve?”

Nancy glances behind her, and her eyes widen. “He was- He was following us, he definitely was.”

Eddie turns to Robin, brows furrowed. “ You were in the back with him for a bit.”

Her hands were shaking, and she staring at the ground. Like she had seen a ghost. “You don’t think something took him, like Barbara?”

“Holland?” He asked, even though he knew exactly who she was talking about cause there was only one Barbara. “What? Of course not, he’s a fighter, so we would’ve heard it, right?”

Except,

Eddie couldn’t have heard it. He was too far ahead, daydreaming. And with the lightning starting back every two seconds it was hard to hear much.

Nancy gasps, “Blood.”

“What?”

“Blood.” She repeats, turning pale, or at-least, he thinks she did, it was hard to tell with the light.

“The demo-creatures love it, and if he’s bleeding through the bandages-“

“They would’ve smelt it…” Eddie murmurs. He feel goosebumps rise on his skin. “The bike, the peddling, would’ve made it worse, and- Shit-!” He’s about to hop on his bike when Nancy grabs the handlebars.

She looks contemplative, “He knows the way to your place. Maybe they… Maybe the chased him and he’s gonna lay low. He’s smart, he’ll be okay.”

“Yeah…” Robin nods, “Yeah, he’ll be, he’ll be fine.” She huffs, and walks into the trailer. Eddie is more skeptical.

“He could still be hurt! We biked far.”

Nancy ignores him, and follows Robin.

“At what point could he have left us? Was it early on? What if he got caught-“

“Eddie, he’ll be okay. We need to go.” She hisses, and grabs his wrist, dragging him inside.

He bites his lip, “Fucking, fine.”

He looks up to where the entrance to the real world is, to see something poking through it. The elastic webbing or whatever was covering it snapped, and drips down.

And there’s the kids.

And Dustin who is smiling triumphantly. “Hi.”

Eddie waves his fingers, ��Hey man.”

They get through the gate with the help of Dustin’s rope. He eyes them all suspiciously when they’re through.

“Where’s Steve?” He asks.

Nancy shifts uncomfortably, Eddie glances to the ground.

Robin lets out a sniff, “He’s, uh. When we were biking, he ran off. We didn’t see it, don’t know what happened.”

Erica moves forward, “What?”

Nancy crosses her arms, “He was bleeding, before he left. Not a nosebleed but, if one of the demogorgons or something caught a whiff…” She trails off, and Dustin glares at her.

“That bastard left so you wouldn’t get hurt.”

She nods.

“And why was he bleeding?!”

“There were these- these fucking bat things. They dragged him through the water portal and used him as a chew toy.” Eddie’s voice is wobbly, and he doesn’t realize until the words are out.

He’d just gotten the guy,

And now the guy has disappeared to who knows where.

The guy could be dead.

“Fuck.” He whispers to himself, and rubs incessantly at his eye. He can’t cry right now, not in-front of Dustin.

But Steve had left.

He’d left them so they wouldn’t have to face whatever was chasing him.

“Eddie, you okay?”

He couldn’t be dead, surely not, he’d lived through this how many times? Not this time.

No way.

“Eddie?” Lucas asks again. He looks up. “Yeah?”

“Are you okay?”

“Oh shit! That’s right! You two are dating!” Dustin yelps, and Eddie flushes, “You aren’t supposed to know that yet.” He hisses.

Robin’s eyes widened, “Whoa, when did this happen. I mean, I know he’s liked you, for like, ever, but is this recent or has he been lying?”

“They’re dating?” Lucas looks astonished as he stares at Eddie. Erica huffs, “Obviously, you weren’t sitting by them during the basketball game. Anyways, this is not what we should be concerned about.”

“Right, yeah.” Lucas starts, “Are we gonna sit here and wait?”

Eddie is quick to nod. “Yeah, definitely. Plus it’s easier to keep an eye on red.” He says.

“Speaking of, how are you doing?” He turns his head to her.

She’s pale, and her music isn’t playing anymore. “Shit!” Lucas is quick to grab for the walk-men, but she shoves his arm away. “Turn it back on, we can’t repeat what happened before.” He scolds.

She doesn’t listen, in fact she takes the headphones off around her neck.

“I don’t-“ She starts, before pausing to breathe. “I don’t, like, feel him anymore.”

“That’s great!” Lucas shouts, before wincing, “Right, not supposed to shout in a wanted mans house.”

She shakes her head, and looks to Eddie.

“Before this all, did you notice any signs, in Steve, I mean.”

What?

“What do you mean?”

“Headaches, nightmares, nosebleeds.”

He thinks back.

And yeah.

Yeah, okay.

He sees where she’s coming from.

It would make sense, why nobody heard it, cause by the times his bones would have snapped they would’ve been too far ahead.

But that’s not what happened.

Because Steve’s alive. Because he would’ve told them if he was worried. He would’ve at-least told Robin.

“How long ago did yours start?” He asks.

“After Billy died, just before school started again and I started seeing Ms. Kelly.” She states, twirling the cord of her head phones nervously.

He nods, “His shouldn’t be Vecna related them, he’s had them since he lived with me, a result of the concussions. For the nosebleeds, he said he’s broken it a couple times, and nightmares?”

Eddie shrugs, “I don’t blame him for the shit you guys had to go through.”

“If you’re sure.” Nancy mutters.

“I am, Steve’s not stupid. He may not want Wayne and I worrying, but if he was truly worried about something, he woulda told us.” He states.

“Especially if he thought he’d die, he’d say goodbye first.”

She nods, tilting her head to face the floor, causing her brown curls to hid her face like a shield. “Got it.”

Robins at her side in less than a second, bumping their hips together.

“Hey, the dingus’ll be fine. He’s made it this long being a super awesome monster-fighter.”

“Alright,” Nancy huffs. She seems put at ease by Robin. Her posture relaxes, and she shifts closer. “If you say so.”

Oh,

Steve would love this when he comes back.

Max interrupts the sweet moment. “Okay, but still. I’m sure even if you had the effects before, you could still be affected. The thing that sets the events set in stone is the visions.”

She turns to Eddie.

“He ever zone out? In this past day, at-least.”

“He used to, cooking and shit, not today though, as far as I know. Look why are you-“ He pinches the bridge of his nose. “Stevie is fine, maybe it’s just a freak occurrence that you don’t feel this guy anymore.”

Her brows furrow. She glares at him. “I don’t like the idea that he’s been killed either, but I’m just trying to bring up a what-if.”

“Whatever.” He mutters, and crosses his arms. “But there is no way in hell that’s what happened, he would’ve told us.”

“Or maybe he wouldn’t have.” She snaps.

“Maybe he ran away so we didn’t have to see him die. He’s always been the backbone. He brushes off our worries and hate when people show concern for him!”

“Shut up!” Dustin yells, and all eyes turn to him.

“Be quie-“ Lucas starts, but he's cut off.

“Steve isn’t fucking dead, he’ll be back. He can’t be dead.” His voice is wobbly, and his eyes are misty. Eddie almost reaches out an arm. Max scoffs and leans back, and he realizes that her eyes are wet too.

And Eddie forgot. Forgot that she almost died yesterday, that she knew Steve too. She’s trying not to get her hopes up.

Eddie wishes he could do that.

Act like he doesn’t care.

But he can’t.

Not when he cares so goddamn much.

Because Steve’s alive, and she’s acting like he isn’t. That he won’t be coming through that portal anytime soon.

He can’t deal with it.

He wasn’t gonna make this hour or two they wait for Steve anymore unbearable than it has to be.

He can’t deal with her theorizing right now.

He can’t deal with the fact Dustin is stifling tears by pinching his sides.

Or Luca’s worries that Max should keep the headphones on just in case,

The way that Robin and Nancy are looking at him,

Eddie stands up, “Come get me when he comes through. Need a minute.” He passes the kitchen on the way to his room, and his eyes pass over a note on the fridge.

‘Eddie, do your own chores.

Steve, make sure he does his part.

-Wayne.’

Eddie slams the door to his room shut behind him.

He needs to do something to occupy himself.

He catches sight of one of Steve’s Swim-Club T-Shirts in his closet and snatch it.

“Shower seems like a pretty good idea.”

I thought the last chapter would be the longest at 2k words, but this ended up being like 3,500 so…

#stranger things #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie #eddie munson x steve harrington #steve harrington x eddie munson #stranger things ficlet #steddie ficlet #robin buckley #nancy wheeler #dustin henderson #max mayfield #lucas sinclair #erica sinclair #crisisinverted17 #crisisinverted17's roommate au

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rottenaero · 11 months

Text

Part 7 of the roommates idea!

This stands at the longest part so far, at 2k words.

Ao3 -(Includes about 6 chapters instead of part one so I’d recommend reading there, but Tumblr updates faster.)

Part 1

Part 6

Part 8

CW: This chapter includes the demo-bats, and if you’ve seen canon, you know how that goes.

He feels it, every inch of the ground dragging against his back, the debris squishing it’s way into the now raw and chafed flesh.

The intense stinging is almost enough to distract him from being let go,

Almost.

Steve gets up slowly, looking forward. Trees, forest, dry lakebed which is, yup, much higher up than the original lake. There's a dock with broken boats and-

It’s definitely Lover’s Lake, just wrong. A strike of lighting catches his attention and he turns around. The sky flashes red, and he squints at the movement he sees in the distance.

Is that a bat?

He steps backwards, glancing around and-

There's another one.

He spots a boat close by and rushes towards it, grabs the oar sitting inside, and when one of the flying creatures get to close, he slams it to the ground with the head of the paddle.

The motion moves some of the scuffed skin on his shoulders, he winces at the feeling.

That wince gave the bats enough time to swoop in, and one grabbed his neck with it’s tail.

Steve let out a choked gasp as he fell to the ground from the sheer force it pulled him down with. He grasped at his neck, trying to wiggle some room to breathe.

More beasts circled around him, watching, taunting.

The bat around his throat began trying to drag him and he swiped at it with his free hand.

The other creatures took it as their sign to strike, tiny teeth biting into his stomach. He kicked his feet, hoping it would scare them off.

(It didn’t)

His eyes squeezed shut when he caught sight of some flesh being pulled up, eaten. He grit his teeth together and his vision blurred, stay awake stay awake stay awake.

The bet on his left got hit off by a oar.

It scrambled to fly away.

He blinked and looked up.

Nancy.

She huffed as she aimed the oar to hit the other bat eating at him.

Robin stomped a foot onto the start of the one’s tail that was choking him.

Eddie stood near his legs, wide eyes flicking between him and the girls, and around the area.

The bat that had ran before came back, swiping at Eddie, who hit it with the paddle in his arms.

Another swooped in towards Nancy and latched onto her back, Robin shrieked, turning towards her and trying to pull it off.

Steve’s eyes watered as his arms struggled to claw the creature off his neck, it was too close to his head, too close too close too-

He bit it’s tail.

Blood, thick and chunky, filled his mouth, it tasted like iron.

It screeched and let go, attempting to fly away, he didn’t let go.

Steve flipped his body onto his stomach, and began to stand up. He turned, and slammed the thing into the ground.

His mind barely registered its screams and cries, or the others defeating their bats, and kept throwing its body to floor.

Up, down, up, down.

It stopped moving, and he placed his bare foot on it’s body, using his full weight. As he pulled it’s tail upwards, it stretched out as far as it could.

The bat squealed, and then it’s body snapped.

The blood from earlier dripped down his chin, mixing with the spit and dribble already in his mouth. He threw the lower half of the creature’s body over his shoulder.

“Steve! Oh my god…” Nancy yelped, and she rushed towards him. She glanced down towards the wounds. His hands hovered over them.

Eddie gagged, “Jesus H. Christ, Stevie what the fuck.”

Nancy looked up, “ Are you okay?” She asked. He almost snorted if it weren’t for the immense pain in his sides distracting him. “Probably took about a pound of flesh, but aside from that,”

He casted her a glance, “Yeah, never better.”

Robin crouched down over the upper half of the beasts corpse, nose scrunched as she flashed a light over it.

“Uh, do you guys think these bats have rabies?”

His brows furrowed, “What?”

She sighed, “It’s just that, rabies are like my number one greatest fear, and I think that we should get you a doctor like really soon, because when the symptoms set in you’re already, like, dead.”

“Robin, not helping.” Eddie said from behind Steve, placing a hand tentatively on the road rash lining his back. He hissed.

Screeches and squeals bounced through the air, and the group collectively looked up, spying a swarm of more bats.

They all perched on the edge of the gate, looking in or, guarding it?

“Alright, there’s not that many.” Steve panted, putting himself in front of the group. “We can take ‘em, right?” He didn’t know if he was assuring himself, or Eddie who was shrinking towards the back. Hell, he didn’t even know if it was an assurance.

More screeches filled the air, and another group of bats appeared.

“You were saying?”

“The woods, come on!” Nancy yelped, as she began to run to the side. Steve began to follow after her, barely making out Robin saying something about running.

They made it to Skull Rock before Steve had to stop. He leaned against the rocks and gritting his teeth at the pain.

“Shit! Steve, hey, hey it’ll be okay.” Eddie’s voice filled the air, and he appeared in-front of him. His arms were held up, like he didn’t quite know where to put them.

He turned his head. “We have any bandaid? Or anything close really-“ Nancy began to rip off the hem of her shirt before he stopped talking and passed it to him.

He muttered a quick thank you before he bent down. Steve lifted his arms up, and grinned.

“If you wanted to get on your knees for me, all you had to do was ask.” He huffed. Eddie made a high-pitched noise in the back of his throat, as he began to wrap the shirt around his middle. Steve hissed at the cotton touched his wounds, and ran his hands through his hair.

“Jesus, Steve! PG-13, please.” He squawked, “Also, definitely not while you’re bleeding out, God.”

His smile widened, before falling because ow that fucking hurts, “So, some other time?”

Eddie’s nose scrunched, and he tugged on the end of the fabric, checking it was secure before tucking it under the other bundles. “Shit, sure.”

Nancy let out a puff of air and- Oh yeah there are other people here.

One being his ex-girlfriend.

Great.

Robin sent him a tiny thumbs up.

Eddie stood up and backed away, climbing up onto the rock. “So, basically, this place is Hawkins, just with monsters and nasty shit?” Robin affirmed him before tutting, “Oh yeah! Don’t step on the vines! This place is a all hive-mind.”

“A- What?”

Steve snorted, “All the creepy crawlies around here, step on a vine, you’re stepping on a bet you’re stepping on- Vecna.” He huffed.

Eddie made his way back down, “Well, shit. That’s totally not fucking creepy at all.”

The name pinged in the back of Steve’s mind for some reason.

Vecna.

Vecna, the guy was meant the be the villain for Eddie’s last campaign, he was meant to make a comeback before Steve had-

He winced.

Eddie had been so excited to end the campaign, and he ruined it because he wanted to bring him to Lucas’s game.

Fuck.

Robin started speaking and he looked up at her, “ Everything from our world is still here, right? Except the people.”

He shrugs, “As far as I understand it, yeah.”

“So, theoretically, we could go to the police station and steal guns and grenades and whatever we need to blow up those bat things guarding the gate!” She grinned.

“I highly doubt the Hawkins PD has grenades, Robs. But guns, yeah, sure.” He huffs.

Nancy perked up, looking between him and Robin, and moving to his side, “We don’t have to go all the way downtown for guns, I have guns, in my bedroom.”

Eddie gives her an incredulous look.

“You…Nancy Wheeler, have guns, plural, in your bedroom?” Robin cackles, “Full of surprises, isn’t she?”

Nancy ignores her, “A Russian Makarov and a revolver.” Shes says crossing her arms.

Steve snorts, “Yeah, you almost shot me with that one.” She turns to look at him. “You almost deserved it.“

Her blue eyes bore into his, and the intensity reminded him of Eddie.

Eddie who just slammed his battle vest into his chest, looking between him and Nancy with something akin to-

Oh.

Was that jealousy?

“For your modesty, sweets.”

Before he had the chance to tease Eddie, the ground began rumbling throwing him off balance.

He fell backwards, grunting as Eddie fell on-top of him.

When the ground stopped, he sat up, not getting far with half a human on him.

“So guns seem like a pretty good idea to me.”

“Yeah, me too.” Eddie huffed.

“So, what are we waiting for?”

“Eddie!”

The metalhead slowed down, waiting for him to catch up. He grinned, “Eddie, hey man, uh…” Steve trailed off before puffing out some air.

“I just want to say thanks, for saving my ass back there.”

Eddie scoffed, bumping his shoulder, “Shit, you saved your own ass. I mean, that was a real Ozzy move you pulled back there.”

His brows raised, and he grinned. “Yeah?”

“Hell yeah!” Eddie exclaimed, pulling a strand of brown hair in-front of his face, like a shield. “Kinda had me all hot and bothered.” He said, fanning a hand near his head.

"Mhm."

“Seriously! You are dangerous, Stephano. Charisma stats like that? What’s a fair dungeon master to do?” He asked, glancing at Steve from the corner of his eyes.

Steve smiled, cheeks flushing.

“You could ask me out? Instead of dancing around it.”

Eddie gasped, letting go of his hair and giving a scandalous look. “Oh but I want to be wooed! Roses and all!” He hopped around, arms spread wide.

“Make it a dream, get some chocolates, take me to Enzos, confess your undying love.” Eddie snickered.

Steve raised an eyebrow, “Am I in a lot of your dreams?”

“Meh, only when you’re not in my bed, if you are then it’s my fantasies.” He finished with a flourish, gesturing broadly. He cackled, before cutting off abruptly and bringing a hand up toward his neck.

“That may have been a little- I promise I don’t- God why do I do this…” Eddie mumbled, massaging his forehead with his other hand. “I’m such a freak man, forget I said anything.”

Steve frowned and nudged his shoulder, “Hey, no, don’t do that man. You’re not- That’s cute, really. I like when you ramble, and do your dramatics.” He assured, laying a hand on the older’s shoulder.

Eddie huffs, “You’re so fucking unbelievable.” He stated, dragging both hands down his face before turning his body fully towards Steve, who stops.

He rests both hands on Steve’s arms, rubbing his thumbs in circles over the denim, “So goddamn unbelievable.” He mumbles, before leaning in and kissing Steve.

On the mouth this time.

A real kiss.

He leaned into it, cupping Eddie’s face, and humming when his arms moved back to connect behind his neck.

They disconnect after a few seconds, they are still in the upside down, and if they got too far behind they could get lost.

“Wayne’s gonna be excited, said he was tired of my pining. The band however, will be pissed, because they’ll have to listen to me talk about you twenty-four-seven.” Eddie snorted, stepping carefully over a vine.

The effort was apparently futile because not even two seconds later the ground started shaking, and fell backwards onto it.

Eddie gritted his teeth, “Here we go again.”

#and then they kiss #gasp #stranger things #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie #eddie munson x steve harrington #steve harrington x eddie munson #stranger things ficlet #st4 #robin buckley #nancy wheeler #stranger things fic #steddie fic #steddie ficlet #ficlet #crisisinverted17 #crisisinverted17's roommate au

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rottenaero · 3 months

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Announcement to my followers following my Steddie Roommates fic, it’s been completed!!

This is my first ever finished story on ao3, and I’ve learned a-lot about writing while making it. My chapters have become longer and I’ve become better while making it.

Anyways, thank you for reading, and enjoy this 7,000(Almost 8,000) word update/end.

#stranger things #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie #eddie munson x steve harrington #steve harrington x eddie munson #rottenaero #crisisinverted17's roommate au #rottenaero’s roommate au

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rottenaero · 8 months

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Roommates part 9

Part 1(Less content than ao3)

Part 8

Ao3

This chapter has about 7,500 words, so uh, warnings in advance.

CW: Description of injury, Vecna Vision(I’m not going to be too specific as not to spoil it), mention of fake vomiting(no actual vomit)

Steve was used to the whiplash.

One second, he’d be fighting demons from an alternate dimension, the next he’d be back to his regular life, whatever that had been at that moment.

But he watched as the demodogs paused.

Heard it as the clicking ceased.

Not just the clicking, it was almost like the entire upside down stopped what it was doing. An unsettling quiet blanketed it, and he scooted backwards, hoping to get away before the creatures snapped out of whatever trance they were in.

He feels his hand throb, as he stands up, hanging it done was definitely not doing it any favors.

Steve brings the bike up with his non-injured one, still watching the demo-dogs as he kicks off and pedals away. They don’t follow.

He makes it to the trailer, thankfully, though he doesn’t know how seeming as his sides are still split, and even he can smell the iron. The make-shift bandages are doing much to shield the bleeding either, holding on by a thread.

Even though he’s far from the demo-dogs, he still feels his heart pounding. Quick and fast against his ribcage.

He shoulders open the front door, cradling his broken arm gently as he does so.

He eyes the rope.

Two things on his mind.

What the fuck?

And,

How the hell am I supposed to get up there?

His side twinges, and he lets out a loud grunt as he leans against the doorframe.

There’s an echoey yelp, and for a moment he wonders if something followed him. He wouldn’t be shocked.

A yell of his name by a familiar voice quickly trumps that thought.

“Steve?!”

He grins, wobbles his way to the middle, where he heard Dustin’s voice. He looks up, and his brows furrow at how freaky seeing his trailer from the ceiling was.

“Hey man, don’t suppose you have-“ He hisses at a particularly sharp sting from the bites. “-Have an elevator, huh?”

He’s guided through a one-armed climb, well, not really guided, just told to use his legs. The hem of Nancy’s shirt falls off on the flip, and the oxygen feels like fire on the wound. He feels nauseous, the lights blurring together.

Before it all kinda-

Goes away.

He’s falling still, a little too long in his opinion, before he feels a soft mattress beneath him.

Definitely not the one that he’d seen on the other side.

He blinks, glances around.

Plaid surrounds him. Wall, curtains, bedsheets.

This isn’t the trailer.

His hand, which should be injured but isn’t, ghosts over the wallpaper until it meets a wooden door, a metal knob.

Steve twists it, pushes forward.

Let’s the familiar hallways refresh in his mind.

There’s a voice filtering from downstairs, cold and flat. He avoids the stairwell, instead pushing forward to the bathroom. Don’t come up, don’t come up.

The door opens, and Steve is met with the outside.

With his pool.

That wasn’t the back-door-

A figure is sitting on the diving board, legs swinging idly. Back and forth, back and forth. Repeat.

He takes a step forward, and the person seems to sense the motion.

Without turning, she speaks. “Do you remember what you did, Steven?” Her voice shifts as she continues, turns gravely, but he knows it’s still her. Still Barb.

“Or have you already forgotten?” The body falls forward, into the pool. The lights surrounding shut off.

“When I kill someone, I never forget.”

“I never killed Barb.” He says. The water ripples, and he watches it.

He knows what’s happening.

Something crawls out of the dark, he tries to step back but it wraps around his leg.

Drags him in.

The waters thick, and in the back of his mind he hears something screaming. It’s not water!

Then he’s back.

Back out. The feeling on his skin leaves him, and he looks around.

Around at the red.

The debris, the doors.

He hears the pendulum swinging back and forth.

“You’re friend Nancy, she’s been looking for me,”

A voice drawls, a voice he assumes is Vecna.

“Eleven too, I need you to give them a message.” His side twinges.

“All of them.”

The shower was nice, just what he needed to calm down and to get the dirt and grime from five days on the run off his body. He finally got to wash his hair for the first time in forever, and that part of his routine was enough to feel normal-ish.

He had grabbed an extra tee beforehand, one he rarely wore, and used it to dry his hair. It was by then that he noticed the noise.

He hadn’t expected it to be silent, but, well he hadn’t expected screams of bloody murder.

Yells that sounded a lot like Steve’s name and-

Eddie slams open the bathroom door to Dustin about to knock. “Tapes! Tapes tapes-“

“Dustin what the fuck is going on, is Steve bac-?”

“Where THE FUCK are Steve’s tapes?!”

“My room, but-“

Before he could finish that sentence, Dustin and the rest of the little hellions are hijacking it to Eddie’s room.

He only has a second before his brain connects the dots, but when it does, he rushes to follow them. “Slipping Through My Fingers, ABBA!” He almost shrieks. Not even a second later Erica is barreling her way back through the hall, tape in hand. She hands it to Max who jams it into her now empty walkmen. Robins preparing to climb back up with it when a voice stops her.

“Steve! He’s back, oh god!-“ Nancy says, and Eddie makes his way to the gate’s area.

He looks up, and watches.

Watches as Nancy helps Steve back through, the shirt that was previously wrapped around his stomach falling away, now stained dark red. If the bats were bad before, they look like hell now. Stretched open with pieces of skin hanging.

He lands, and Eddie stares at his arm.

Broken, very much broken. He takes a shaky breath as he takes a step forward.

Doesn’t register Max putting her Kate Bush back in, or Dustin’s “Holy shit! What happened to you?!” He takes a couple more steps until his hands are hovering over Steve’s stomach, unsure of what the hell he could even do to help.

“Jesus H. Christ… What did you do?” He looks on the verge of collapsing, but smiles anyway, even if it comes out more of a grimace. “Hey Eds.”

Nancy lands on the mattress, and is quick to stand up. She glances at Steve, eyes wide and afraid, before looking elsewhere. “We need to move, we made too much noise.”

Max offers her place up, with Erica watching through the window and waiting to signal a clear.

Eddie doesn’t process much of it, just runs across the gravel when he’s told, and walks into the redhead’s trailer.

Steve comes in next, and he’s quick to be by his side.

He waits until Max is inside, and asks about a first aid kit.

“Bathroom.”

“Great, great.” He mutters, “Where is that?”

She rolls her eyes, “We have the same layout, same place as yours I guess.”

He nods, tugs Steve’s non-broken arm in the direction and quickly objects Dustin’s request to come with.

He shuts the door behind them, lets the younger sit down on the toilet seat, shrugging off the denim jacket that, in the middle area, has thoroughly soaked blood. Meanwhile Eddie grabs a red box from under the sink cabinet. He moves to a crouch down in front of the other, pulling the antiseptic wipes out and ripping them open.

“Twice in one day, this is really the King treatment, huh?” Steve teases, a lax grin lining his face, but it quickly disappears when the wipe touches his skin. He hisses. “Ouch.”

“Suck it up, buttercup. This is what you get for being a dumbass.” Eddie snarks, but he can’t manage any malice, just keeps dabbing at the wound even when the tiny paper turns red.

“Not like I chose to be eaten by bats, and chased by demon dogs…”

“Is that what broke your arm?!” He asks, and his dark brown brows furrow. He rips open another wipe packet.

“No, I broke it by crashing the bike.”

“Jesus.”

Once the bites are mostly clean, he eyes the limply hanging skin.

It’s disgusting.

“I don’t know what I should do about that.” He says, glancing up at Steve, who hums. “Cut it off, cover it, or sew it.”

Eddie frowns. His voice raises. “Red? You have a sewing kit somewhere, maybe your moms?” After about a minute, the door opens a little bit, and a hand delivers a tiny box.

He grabs it, quick to grab a needle and thread some embroidery floss into it, turning toward Steve when he’s ready.

“This might hurt.” He warns.

The jock bites the inside of his cheek when the cold metal pierces through the throbbing skin, providing temporary relief before it’s quickly tugged away by the feeling of yarn running through him. He tries to stay still, but he can’t help the slight winces as the skin is pulled together.

“Jesus, your skin is freezing…” The metalhead mutters when his pinky brushes against it. Funny, because it doesn’t feel like it. It feels like a furnace inside his stomach, like someone pressed a hot pan to it.

Eddie hands him the instant cold-pack from the first aid kid once he finishes the first bite and ties it off. Tells him to trigger the thing and put it on the wound to hell the swelling.

“You’re quite the little surgeon.” Steve jokes, hands clenching the cold-pack when the needle goes through. Eddie hums, “Not really. I’m just using the stitches I used for my vest.”

The younger winces, glances at the denim from the corner of his eye. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I know how much that thing means to you.”

“Nah, it’s cool. Way more metal now.” Eddie says, and it’s silent for a moment. Steve lets his eyes wander over the metalhead’s crouched form. His eyes are focused, tongue poked out of his mouth the way it is when he’s being precise.

It reminds him of when he’d paint his minis. Sitting in front of the trailer’s living room window, curtains drawn and using the natural light to illuminate the space.

It’d take hours just to get a few done. Steve’d sit by him the entire time, watching him work, occasionally choosing a vinyl to put in the record player.

Eddie hadn’t ever painted them in his room. His room was reserved for sleeping in later, shared joints, chaotic school mornings where Steve would have to rush him awake. He’d let the metalhead change out of whatever clothes he had on, usually one of Steve’s own T-shirts, while he made coffee for Wayne and him, setting aside orange juice for Eddie.

His eyes drift down, down to the shirt he was wearing. Hawkins Swim Team it read in big bold letters. Steve could picture the text on the back, Steve Harrington, 1982. He’d been on it in ‘83 and ‘84, but the shirts those years looked the exact same. No use in getting more, not even to sleep in, since he didn’t even wear a sleep-shirt.

A pat on his shoulder makes him blink, and he looks back up at Eddie’s face. He’s got a small grin, his dimples pulled back. “Stitches are done. Turn around.” Steve obliged.

He doesn’t mention the staring, not like he usually would. If this a different time, one where he wasn’t patching him up, then Eddie’d probably say something dumb, like “Like what you see?”

Steve can’t blame him, he’d probably say the same thing, cheesy as the line was.

He feels stinging on his back, hisses slightly. He’d broughten the wipes back out, now cleaning the road rash. It was probably for the best, there was definitely all sorts of dirt in the broken skin.

Didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like hell though, Steve dare says it hurts worse than the stitches.

Eddie pats him again to signify when he finishes, and throws the used wipe into the kit, “Turn back around, give me your arm.” He grabs a roll of elastic bandages, wraps it gently yet firm around the break. The next roll he grabs it white. Gauze, something distant in Steve’s mind tells him.

He holds onto the end as Eddie rolls it around his stomach. It’s uncomfortable, feels a little stuffy when he’s done, but he can manage. It was definitely worse before.

“You are all done, Stevie.” Eddie says, and he reaches for the battle vest before standing up, handing it to him.

“Do I get a reward for being so good? Sucker? Tootsie pop?” Steve asks, smirking as he tilts his head to the side. He shrugs the denim over his shoulders as he waits.

Eddie runs his eyes over the guy’s face, stares for a second before leaning in, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips. When he leans back, he grins. “That good enough?”

Just to be a shit, Steve shrugs and stands up, preparing to snark, but instead feeling lightheaded at the sudden movement. He trudges on anyway. “Eh, would’ve preferred the sucker.”

“Asshole.”

“Dickwad.”

“Virgo.”

“I’ve had sex before.” Steve says, and Eddie snorts. “Virgo, not virgin.”

“I know what a virgo is! Let me rephrase- At least I’ve had sex before.” The metalhead grasps his heart, fakes being shot.

“Ooh, ouch. That hurt, sweetheart. Do our times together mean nothing?”

“Our two kisses?”

Eddie scoffs, backs up and allows a faux snooty expression to fall onto his face. “I should’ve let you bleed out.”

Steve leans his head forward, “Good luck trying to find someone else to annoy.” His vision blurrs for a second, and he sways. A hand slithers under his arm and over his shoulder. “Shit, Stevie. Let’s get you some water.” He hums, water sounds nice.

Eddie drags him to the living room, sets him gently on the sofa, and heads towards the kitchen. Robins by his side by an instance, looking him over. “You okay?” He gives her a blank look, and she winces, crouches down in front of him.

“Right, stupid question. Super stupid, I just mean, you’re not gonna die, right?” He snorts, shifts his broken arm so it's sitting on his lap. “Nope, can’t get rid of me that easily, Robs.” She smiles, pats his lnee reassuringly before standing up, Eddie taking her place with a water bottle in hand.

He uncaps it, hands it to him. Steve takes it gratefully, chugging the thing. Water droplets drip down his lips, gathering together at the bottom of his chin. The bottle is lukewarm, but he could care less, it’s the best thing he’s ever drunk.

When he finishes, he crunches the plastic together, setting it on the tabletop to the side of him before looking up. Everyone stares at him, waiting.

“Right, uh, I guess there's some questions.”

“You think?” Erica asks, utterly unimpressed from two cushions beside him.

“Yeah, but before all that. That uh, that guy? Vecna, in the vision he showed me, something happened.” He swallows, although there’s nothing in his mouth. Even though he just chugged a whole bottle of water, he still feels parched.

He fills a hand on his, glances to Eddie, who’s frowning. He doesn’t speak, just keeps his hand there.

Steve’s eyes zero in behind him, on the large grandfather clock, before turning back.

He doesn’t say anything about it.

“He mentioned Nancy, says you’ve been looking for him. Told me to give you and El a message.” He closes his eyes. Takes his hand out from under Eddie’s.

“There were four gates, they were spreading across Hawkins, and they met in the middle. The whole town was fucked. There was this big dark cloud, and it was swallowing it whole. A bunch of those monsters, an army of them really, coming into our world. He uh,”

His brows furrowed. “Vecna he’s…He’s Henry Creel, or One, or something. He’s like Eleven, and he’s going to destroy Hawkins.”

“Four chimes, Vecna’s clock. It always chimes four times.” She looks up, meets eyes with Steve. “Four exactly.”

“I heard it too.” He says. His bites give a sharp sting and he winces.

“He’s been telling us his plan this whole time.”

“Four kills…” Lucas mutters. Steve turns his gaze to him. “Four gates, end of the world.”

“If that’s true, then he’s only one kill away.” Dustin says, and everyone's eyes dart to Max or Steve.

Eddie stares at him, before his eyes land on the ground. “Jesus Christ…”

Max starts walking to the phone, presumably to call El, or that’s what Steve thinks anyway, he might’ve heard her name one or twice outside the closed door of the bathroom.

He leans into Eddie’s side, let’s his hand rest on his back. “Hey man, it’ll be… It’ll all be okay, alright?” The metalhead’s head snaps towards him. “No! No it’s not gonna be okay. You could die from Vecna, I’ve seen it, twice. If you don’t, something could go wrong when we try to kill him. Even if whatever plan we come up with works perfectly? I’ll still have the murder charges.” He hisses.

“We’re fucking screwed, so screwed. We wouldn’t even have the trailer because there's still that fucking gate in it. What if it infects the real world?” His eyes widened. “What if your bites get infected? Or the bone heals wrong, or-“

He must not realize his hands were flailing about, because when Steve grabs his wrist, he stares at it like it personally offended him.

“Jesus Eds, have a little hope. Super-girl will help defeat Vecna, and then you’ll be cleared, and my bites will be taken care of. We have people who take care of the aftermath, okay?”

Eddie looks a bit relieved, and he’s about to respond when Max comes back in. “Anything?” Dustin asks.

“No. Rang a few times then went to busy signal.”

The metalhead slams his eyes shut, furrowing his brows. He leans away from Steve, almost like he’s going to get up. And he does.

Steve lets him, he needs his own moments alone sometimes. “Maybe you punched it in wrong, try again.”

“I didn’t punch it in wrong.” She hisses. He lets his body fall against the back of the couch. “Well, I don’t know-“

“I think she knows how to use a phone.” Dustin interjects.

He hears the sound of cabinets opening and shutting, before Eddie’s back at his side with another water bottle and some painkillers. He takes them, opening the cap of the pill bottle and shuffling about five into his hand.

Eddie stops him before he can down them with the water. “Hey, woah. That’s a bit much.” He says, concerned.

“It’ll be okay.” Steve assures before opening up the water and swallowing them.

He looks back at Dustin, who is staring at him with his arms crossed. “I’m just saying, she could’ve typed it in wrong.”

There’s an audible ringing for a moment, before he hears the clack of a phone being slammed back into place. “Same shit.”

“How is that possible?” Lucas asks.

“I told you, Joyce has this telemarketer job. She’s always on the phone, Mike won’t stop whining about it.” And Steve nods at that, he sorta remembers Mike moaning about not getting to talk to El.

Max’s brows pinch together, “Okay, but this lines been busy for what, three days now?” She sighs, takes a step towards Dustin. “No way, somethings wrong.

“She’s right, it can’t be a coincidence. It can’t be.” Nancy starts, everyone's eyes dart to her.

Steve really hopes she’s about to go on a monologue that’ll somehow explain everything, and knowing how crazy smart she is, maybe she will. “Whatever's happening in Lenora is connected to all of this, I’m sure of it.” She makes her way to the window, looks outside.”But Vecna can’t hurt them. Not if he’s dead.” She turns back to them, gaze challenging.

“We have to go back there, back to the upside-down.”

“What? No no no no…”

“Nope! Absolutely not.”

Steve and Eddie disagree in sync, and Steve stands, starts circling Nancy. He feels a bit dizzy at the motion, maybe from the bloodloss, although it could be the fact he felt twenty pounds heavier coming back through. He pushes on anyway.. “Let’s think this through.”

“What is there to think through?!”

“We barely made it out of there,” He says, and gestures to himself with his non-broken hand. “I barely made it out of there.”

“Yeah, and that’s because you’re a reckless idiot and we weren’t prepared. This time, we will be, we’ll get weapons, and guns, and protection. We’ll go through the gate, find his layer, and kill him.”

“Or he’ll kill us.” Steve hisses, and Eddie nods along. “The only reason Steve’s alive is because he wanted him too. You didn’t get the music to him, right?”

Something minute in Steve agrees.

Because demo-dogs don’t stop like that. They were called away the last time he saw them, by the mindflayer, but they don’t stop.

They wait, wait for the prey. Just like they waited for Steve at the junkyard. Wait for them to make their first move.

“He’s not scared of us.” The jock says instead of mentioning that, and Robin stands.

“And for good reason, we were wrong about Vecna-“ She pauses. “Henry- One-“ She turns her head to Steve. “Sorry, what are we calling him now?”

“One.”

“Vecna.”

“One.”

“Henry.” Nancy hisses.

“Right, we’ve learned something new about-“ She takes a breath, “-Vecna, slash Henry, slash one. He’s a number like Eleven only a sick, evil, male, child-murdering one with really bad skin, but-but my point is-…”

She stops to breathe after bumbling on, “- He’s super powerful. He could turn us inside out with the snap of his fingers, it’s not a fair fight!”

“So then why fight fair?” Dustin inquires. “You’re right, he’s like Eleven, but that gives us an upper hand. We know Eleven’s strengths,” He raises his hand in emphasis on the next part. “And weaknesses.”

Erica scoffs, “Weaknesses?”

The curly-haired boy rolls his eyes, “When El remote travels, she’s in this sort of trance-like state. I bet the same is true with Vecna.”

“It explains what he was doing in that attic.” Lucas says. Eddie looks over to Steve. “Attic?” He asks.

“Maybe later.” Steve whispers.

“Exactly, when he attacks his next victim I’ll bet you he’s back in that attic, physical body defenseless.”

“Defenseless?” He raises his brow, glances down at the gauze which has a tiny red stain starting. “What about that giant army of bats?”

“Right, true, we’ll have to find a way past them, distract them somehow.”

Eddie starts to stand up, “And uh, how do we do that exactly?”

“No idea.”

“Gotcha.” He sits back down. Steve would laugh if this were some other situation.

Dustin continues on, “But once they’re gone, he doesn’t stand a chance. It’ll be like slaying sleeping dracula in his coffin.”

“That sounds all good in theory, but there’s no pattern to Vecna’s killings. At Least not one that I can decipher, we don’t know when he’s going to attack next. We don’t even know who he’s going to attack next.” Robin stresses.

“Yeah we do.” Max and Steve speak at the same time, and he glares at her. “Absolutely not.”

“Steve-“

“No way, a teenager isn’t going to do this.”

“Yours was a one-time vision! You didn’t have the symptoms before!”

He eyes the clock in the corner, doesn’t notice when Eddie stands and bumps his shoulder lightly. “Hey, is there something you wanna share?” His eyes are wide, scared, worried.

Steve hums, looks back to Max. “I guess not, but that’s- It’s incredibly stupid. We could just try with me-“

“We don’t have time to just try. The second Vecna knows what we’re doing he won’t let us get away a second time. I can still feel him, I’m still marked. Cursed. I ditch Kate Bush, I draw his focus back to me.”

“Max…” Lucas whispers, his voice brittle. She turns her gaze towards him. “You can’t, he’ll kill you.”

Her lips turn into a thin line, hesitating, before taking a deep breath. “I survived before, I can survive again. I just- I need to keep him busy long enough so that you guys can get into that attic. Then you can chop his head off, stab him in the heart, blow him up with some explosive Dustin cooks up-“

She huffs, “-I honestly really don’t care how you put this asshole in his grave just-….Whatever it is, whatever you do, try not to miss.”

“Okay…” Eddie sighs, stands up. “We need weapons, right? Red, where are your magazines?”

“Gonna beat him up like a fly?” Erica asks.

“No- Just hush, magazines?” Eddie asks again, and Max points to a bucket in the corner, and he grabs a random one from two months ago.

He begins flipping through it, and Steve reclaims his spot on the couch. “What are you doing?” Eddie doesn’t answer, and Steve tilts back. He looks at Robin, and makes a twirly cuckoo motion with his finger.

He gets a light smack to the knee, “I saw that asshole.”

About two minutes later, Eddie stands up, slams the paper onto the table. Steve follows him, leans over his shoulder to look at the paper. “Check this out, The Warzone.” Everyone surrounds the table, curious.

“I’ve been there once, it’s huge. They’ve got everything you need for, uh, well killing things? Basically.”

“You think fake Rambo has enough guns there? And, is that a grenade? I mean, how is any of this legal?” Robin asks.

“Well, lucky for us it is, so…This-This place. It’s just far enough outside of Hawkins, as long as we steer clear of the main roads, we ought to be able to avoid cops, and uh.” The metalhead grins, “Angry hicks.”

“If we’re trying to avoid angry hicks, maybe we shouldn’t go to some store called The Warzone.” Erica states, staring at Eddie like he was stupid.

Nancy hums. “Normally, I’d agree but we need the weapons, so it’s worth the risk.” Lucas agrees.

“But is it worth the time? It’ll take all day to bike there and back.” Dustin states.

“Who said anything about bikes?”

Steve’s brows furrowed, “What you got some kind of a car you’ve been hiding from me?”

Eddie stands up, leans into his space, grins. “It’s not exactly a car Steve, and it’s not exactly mine, but it’ll do.”

His grin widens, if that’s even possible. “The Kents Winnebago.” He singsongs before turning to Max, and before Steve can even object he’s asking about a ski-mask.

Eddie looks absolutely ridiculous in the Micheal Myers mask, sneaking around the trailer park.

It’s so dorky, so fucking dorky.

Still, Steve can’t help the smile as he leads them to the back of the winnebago, sliding open the window. He gets in first, taking a second to help Steve-(and take off the mask)-before making a mad dash to the front, locking the door as he passes it.

He opens the toolbox they’d brought along when he gets there. Takes out the pliers and holds them with his teeth as he pulls out some wires.

Steve leans over his shoulder, watches as he cuts two of them. “Huh, didn’t know you could do this.”

“Yeah, well, while everyone else was playing catch with their dads, our dear old Al Munson was teaching me how to hotwire.” The metalhead huffs a laugh. “Now I swore to myself I wouldn’t end up like he did, but now I’m wanted for murder, and soon,” He pauses, trying to spark the ends of the two wires together. “-Grand theft auto, so I’m uh, really living up to that Munson name.”

Robin appears behind them suddenly. “Hey Eddie? I’m not sure I love the idea of you driving.”

“I’m just starting this sucker, get Wheeler up here to drive.” Steve goes to complain, but notices the shift stick. Not enough arms.

“Hey big boy, how about you sit down, huh?” Eddie suggests, gives him a quick peck on the cheek before the wires spark, and the engine hums. He slides into the passenger seat, watches as Eddie runs to the one behind him, and Nancy takes his place at the wheel.

The owners have noticed now, banging rapidly on Steve’s window. He flips them off as Nancy hits the gas, and they fly forward as fast as a winnebago can go.

He hears Eddie’s near hysterical laugh from behind him. Loud, boisterous. He finds himself laughing too, and once they get to the main road at a slower pace, he stands up, joins Eddie in the back.

He doesn’t question it when almost immediately Robin takes his seat, smiles lightly at her on her way by.

Steve sits down, setting his broken arm on his lap. He shoulders Eddie lightly. “Your hairs a mess, what the hell did you do when you got back here?” He asks.

“Uh, some headbanging. That was cool, right? The whole hotwiring thing?” Steve snorts, shoulders him again. “You’re such a nerd.”

Eddie crinkles his nose, “Freak, Steve. Important distinction.”

“Yeah, whatever nerd.”

“You guys are disgusting, I’m gonna throw up.” Erica says, face scrunched and staring at them from the couch.

“Hey! We’re adorable, right?” The metalhead turns to look at Steve, who’s brows are furrowed. His voice is low when he speaks.

“Did you tell them??” He hisses. Eddie’s face turns sheepish. “Dude!!”

“I’m sorry! Dustin already knew apparently, and he shouted it when we didn’t know if you were coming back because I was worried- I didn’t tell them, just- maybe- confirmed it?” He huffs at the end.

“Of course it was Dustin.” Steve sighs. He shuts his eyes and leans backwards.

“Are you mad?”

“No, wish we could’ve waited till we told Wayne though. Think that poor man deserves to know for putting up with our bullshit.” Eddie hums along, grabs Steve’s non-hurt hand when he’s done.

“We’ll tell him after we kill Vecna, and get you some medical help.”

“So you’re not on team me dying anymore?”

He gets a light whack to his knee. “I was never on routing on you dying.” He scoffs. Steve shrugs.

“Seemed pretty adamant something would happen earlier.”

“That was just a small freakout, totally fine now.” Eddie waves him off, before putting his arm on the back of Steve’s seat. He rests his hand on his shoulder. “So, you excited for save the world part four?”

“I won’t be doing much saving with this.” Steve says. He raises his make-shift cast.

A sudden swerve of the winnebago has Steve clicking a seatbelt over his shoulder.

“Jeez Nance.”

He doesn’t get a response. He shifts so he can look at the driver's seat.

There's a bump, Nancy’s frozen still. The winnebago is facing the edge of an overpass.

“Nancy? Hey!”

The entire thing is silent, no music playing. He looks to the back, everyone else is still too. He tries to undo the seatbelt.

It doesn’t budge.

“Nancy!”

He looks out the front windshield, right on time as a thin metal fence crushes under the front of the winnebago.

He feels his organs slush, and suddenly times not frozen anymore, there's screaming, ear-shattering screams.

He feels the impact as they hit the ground, just for a second before-

“-Steve?”

He blinks.

“Huh?”

Eddie snorts, “Dude I called your name five times.”

Steve just smiles, tugs on his seatbelt like it’ll even help in that scenario. “Sorry, I zoned it, what were you saying?”

“We were talking about who all's going in hick-central.” Erica states. She looks him over condescendingly. “Congratulations, you made the list.”

“Who else is going in?” Steve asks, and Erica grins proudly. “Me, Robin, Nancy, and Max.” She says, Max nods her head.

“It’s too dangerous for known Hellfire members to be walking around.” The redhead explains.

“What about you guys? I’m sure you have to be on the news by now for-“ He cuts himself off, looks between all of them. “What did you guys do exactly?”

“Erica slashed some cops tires and we all biked away. But this is outside of Hawkins, they’ll be fine.” Dustin chimes. He looks considerate for a moment. “Plus, if we were worried about that, you wouldn’t be able to go in.”

“Uh,” Steve starts, “And why not?”

“While we were at the Wheeler’s, the cops may have…” Dustin clicked his tongue.”…Inquired about you.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“Wayne.” Eddie hisses, eyes wide with understanding, and he turns to the jock. “You tell him anything about where you were going? Or did you just leave?”

“Fuck. Fuck.”

“Jeez, that’s not a good look when someone just died in that trailer.” Dustin states, and Max elbows him. He shrieks, turns to her. “What?! It’s not!”

“You’ll be fine, we need to go.”

The winnebago halts to a stop, just on time, before Robin and Nancy appear from the front. “Who’s all going in?” Nancy asks.

Her question is answered when Steve, Erica, and Max all stand up simultaneously. She nods approvingly, and heads to the door.

Eddie grabs Steve’s wrist before he can leave, turning it around and pressing a kiss to his knuckles. “Be careful in there, Stevie. Try not to break any more bones.” The young snorts, shoves him lightly.

“I’ll try, stay out of sight, okay?”

“Mmm, gotcha.”

There’s some retching noises, and they look toward Robin, who’s fake gagging.

She stops, stares at the. “Oh, sorry, you’re so adorable together.” She turns away, and Steve can see the slight shake of her head, hear her fake whisper ‘No they’re not.’

“Thank you Robin, for your continuous support.” Steve says in a monotone voice, patting Eddie’s shoulder before making his way out of the vehicle.

The shelves are- thankfully- stocked. He’s got a plan for how he wants to do this.

Erica, Max, and Nancy will group together for a bit, and Robin and him will take one of them each when Nancy needs to grab her gun.

He’d just put on one of the many army green shirts, and was putting the battle-vest back on while Robin was dumping kerosene containers into their cart like milk cartons.

Steve slips the denim over his shoulders, grabs another container to set in the basket when Robin makes a shocked noise. She stands stock-still.

He looks to where she’s looking, follows her gaze, and sees a red-head with a sunhat which-

Vickie.

It’s gotta be.

And even though he fully supports the small crush on Nancy, she is still with Jonathan so-

“What are you gonna do Robin? Just stand here and gawk at her-?”

“Shut up.” She hisses, successfully quieting him. She takes a step forward at the same time someone walks up behind Vickie.

They grab her shoulders and she lets out a shout, turning around. A smile lights up her face.

Steve’s brows furrow at the familiar face, and he turns to look at Robin. He can’t see her face, but he knows it must be bad.

He sighs, sets a hand on her arm when the pair in front of them kiss. “Robin, hey, no-“ She turns, ready to run away, but his grip tightens and he turns her towards him.

Her eyes are watery, her breaths already coming in labored. He stares at her, just for a second, before engulfing her in a hug to the best of his abilities.

“It’s okay Robs. For your eighteenth birthday? I’ll take you to Indianapolis. And we’ll find you someone good. That’s only if they don’t swarm you before then.” When her breathing calms down, he pulls back a bit to look in her eyes.

“You’re a catch, okay? She’s just stupid. That guy over there? Total douche. Graduated my year, and he was the worst.”

Robin snorts, and he grins. “She’s just got terrible taste.” He states.

She smiles condescendingly, pats his shoulder, “Worse than yours.”

Steve scoffs, shoves her lightly. She shoves him back. The pair don’t notice when Vickie looks their way, stares for a little too long.

They’re still pushing each other around when Nancy comes to collect them.

Erica goes along with Robin, and Steve takes Max to the alcohol section.

Even if she was a highschooler now, Steve still didn’t trust her alone in this store.

He looks over the bottles, looking for plain vodka, while she stands beside him with her hands in her pockets.

“Do you have your ID?” She asks, brow raised in question, and he slips the card out of his back pocket.

“How the hell did that stay in there?”

“These-“ Steve gestures to his lower-half, “-Are my skinny jeans. They’re tight on the ass, so the pockets hold stuff good.”

“Bet Eddie likes them.” She jokes as he finally grabs a bottle. He sputters while starting to dump a bunch into the cart, before calming himself. He forgets how much these kids act like shitheads.

“Yeah, yeah he probably does.” There’s some footsteps, someone probably entering the aisle, Steve doesn’t look up, just continuing to put bottles in. He huffs after a second, glances at Max. “Can you help me out? Only got one hand. And sooner we leave this place, sooner you can see Lucas.”

“And sooner you can see-“ She eyes the person, at least that’s what he assumes for a second before looking back. “…Eddie.” She whispers, before helping load some up.

“Mhm, and sooner things can go back to normal.” He eyes the cart. “I think we have enou-“

A hand on his shoulder startles him, and he turns his head.

“Steve?”

His eyes widen, lips pursing into a line. “Wayne.”

Wayne has a basket of his own, the only contents being a six pack of cheap beer, a pocket knife, and a magazine. His eyes are slightly watery as he stares at Steve.

“Where the hell have you been? I’ve been- I thought somethin’ happened to you.” His voice is gruff, like he hadn’t had to use it alot.

“I don’t- I’ve been staying somewhere else.”

“The hell happened to your hand? And what’s that mark on your neck?” He asks.

Steve backs up. Not paying attention as Max moves the cart away. “It’s nothing. Just some asshole. I’m fine.”

“Jesus christ.” He glances at the cart, at the girl holding it. “What’s going on?”

“I-“

“Steve, Max!”

All three turn to the end of the aisle. Robins standing there, wide-eyes darting between all of them. Ericas by her side. “We need to go. Jason and his jock-gang are here. We’re leaving.” She glances at Wayne, just for a moment, before they’re all making their way towards the register.

“Stay safe, Wayne. You see anyone with a Hawkin’s letterman, avoid them.”

“Steve-“

He takes the basket from Max, pushing it forward with purpose.

They need to leave.

As soon as they’re out the door, Nancys following behind them, and Robins hounding on him. “Who was that?”

“Wayne Munson.”

“Shit.”

“He was in there?”

Steve doesn’t answer, instead he slams open the winnebago door.

“Start us up, Eds!”

The metalhead scrambles to stand, running to the front. Steve eyes the trash can lids Dustin has, brows furrowed, even as Erica throws him a box of nails.

He feels the engine rumble to life underneath him, and Eddies back in the back of the winnebago in an instant. This time he sits on the couch, shutting all the curtains and patting the seat next to him while looking at Steve imploringly.

He sits down, doesn’t watch as Nancy makes her way to the driver’s seat, or as Robin follows her. Instead he listens to Dustin complain about having to wait until they’re at the clearing.

Eddies complaining about having to listen to Dustin complain. Erica tells both of them two shut up.

They’re laughing, and it’s nice. Distracts them from the fact they’ll have to fight literal monsters in a few hours.

He doesn’t talk to Max or Lucas much on the ride over, not wanting to interrupt their moments.

Steve lets them whisper to each other all they want, not wanting to think about how Max will be bait soon.

His head twinges at the thought. Makes him a little nauseous. Somewhere deep-down inside he hopes Vecna takes him instead, not wanting Max to hurt.

They’re about halfway there when Steve finds himself dozing off. It makes sense that he’d be tired. They hadn’t slept before leaving. Hell, nobody had slept since last night, he’s shocked they made it this far.

He gives Dustin strict instructions to wake up when they get there, catching the way Eddie’s eyes are half-lidded even when he seems energetic.

His head leans backwards, and he feels shifting next to him. Feels a head rest on his shoulder. Feels a blanket tug over his lap.

He thinks maybe for now,

Maybe for now they’ll be okay.

Just for a little bit.

He wakes up to a kink in his neck and Dustin viciously shaking him. There’s yelling as Eddie insists on letting him sleep, another reason why Steve didn’t allow him to be the person to wake him up.

He blinks, pats Dustin’s arm. “Jeez man, no need to be that aggressive.”

The curly-haired boy scoffs, crosses his arms. “You sleep like the goddamn dead.”

“Yeah, well the dead can be woken up gently.” Steve states, as he props himself up on his right arm, letting his left sit on his stomach. He stares at it, at the elastic bandages and the crooked angle.

“We should’ve gotten a splint and sling at War Zone.”

Nancy stands up from where she’s been-

Actually, he has no idea. She might be organizing the bags? Whatever it is, Robin was sitting next to her, doing the same thing.

“We didn’t have enough money.”

“We had enough for your hundred dollar shotgun.”

“Could’ve stolen it, we’re already criminals.” Eddie grins, shoves Steve in the side gently. Steve smiles back.

The sweet moments ruined when he's smacked in the face by an unknown object.

He looks up at Erica, who’s grinning with her arm outstretched. “Oops.” She shrugs, before letting it fall down to her side.

Steve eyes the purse, glances back at Erica who looks utterly unimpressed. “There's your sling, now hurry up so we can get shit done.”

He stands, pulls the purse on over his left shoulder, and slides his arm onto the pouch. He hears the vehicle's door open, and looks up.

Mostly everyone has filtered out, Eddie staying, waiting by the door for him.

He’s got a big grin that shows off his dimples. He bows, gestures to exit as he does so. “After you.”

The steps down jostles his arm slightly, and he presses his lips into a thin line. There’s a sharp tinge from his stomach, and he wonders if there’s any painkillers in the Winnebago.

He doesn’t go back in to check, instead heading towards where Nancy and everyone was gathered. Eddie jogs to catch up beside him.

Once they’ve joined the group, Nancy clears her throat.

“Robin, Dustin, you’re making the Molotov cocktails. Rip up those shirts, leave a little hanging out of the vodka bottles. Erica, Lucas, you’re making spears. Find some sticks, and wrap knives to them tightly with rope. Eddie, Steve, you’re on shield duty. Hammer nails into the trash lids.” She turns her head towards them, only for a second, before turning back to the group as a whole.

“Max, you’re with me. When we’re all done, we’ll discuss the plan as a whole, for now, get your supplies and get to work.”

She heads towards where all the bags are sat, and Eddie wraps a hand around his waist.

“It’s you and me, Stevie.” He says, and the younger leans into it.

He wishes that this was a different day, one where they weren’t going to fight some kid-murdering psychopath, but the fact of the matter was that it wasn’t.

Eddie tugs him along, to the plastic sacks, and crouches down, hands dropping to a random ones opening to look for nails. Dustin passes him the box with them as Steve grabs a trash-can lid with his right hand, and manages to grab the second one as well.

He sits down in a random spot nearby, and a few moments later the metalhead follows. He’s got two crates that he got from who knows where. They’re stacked atop each other, the top one holding the hammers and nails.

He sets them down, and they get to work.

This took way longer than expected to actually post(it's been done for a few weeks.) Mostly cause I've been procrastinating, and have moved on from stranger things. I'll try to get the last chap out, but it may not be up to par, sorry</3

#stranger things #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie #eddie munson x steve harrington #steve harrington x eddie munson #stranger things ficlet #steddie ficlet #crisisinverted17 #crisisinverted17's roommate au

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