✧ sequel to the death says hello microfic that i wrote ages ago and just straight up forgot to post whoops, have some steve doing his best ✧
"Come on, come on -"
Steve skulks around the neighbourhood, muttering under his breath. He doesn't know if breathing in Upside Down air matters anymore considering they already - well, it wasn't the air down here that almost killed him.
Steve woke up with a gasp, gulping down air like he hadn't tasted the ashes in hours.
"Steve! He's awake! Guys, guys -"
His eyes blearily scanned the room, messy with supplies (black blood stains everywhere), and found Robin right next to him, gripping his hand tightly enough it hurt. Dustin was laughing right into Steve's chest, which was definitely covered in snot and tears but he hugged them both anyway.
Apparently the venom was a late-bloomer and only caught him the night after everything went down, in his fucking sleep, like some grandpa. God, he hopes he gets to be a grandpa before he almost dies again.
Then again, considering the fact that he argued to come back to the place that's tried to killed them like twenty times in the past three years...
He's probably got enough grey hair enough to count anyways.
But he couldn't let them hold him back, not when he knew, when he had a gut feeling that Eddie. Wasn't. Dead.
Dustin stared at him blankly before his face scrunched up into the most pissed-off expression Steve's ever seen from the kid.
"Are you fucking kidding me? Steve, you - no, fuck you, get -" He shoved himself away and stomped out of the room. "Fuck off!"
Steve sighs. He should have been more - tactful about how he said it but - he knows, somehow, he just can't explain it. Maybe he's wrong but - but it's his gut that made him run back to the Byers' house way back then, it's his gut that made him stick with the kids when Dart went missing, it's his gut that made him talk shit at those fucking Russian interrogators and he's made it through every time. So he's trusting his gut.
Fuck.
What was that?
Spinning around, Steve arms himself with his axe. It's a different weight than the bat but he thinks it's like, narratively appropriate or whatever.
Something leaps at him and he swings, chopping at a massive demodog. Fuck, is it a pack?
There are more, surrounding him, he's ready, but they stay back. He wants to flinch at their growls but he can't, he has to find -
A creature, almost like a demogorgon, crawls through the crowd of dogs. Steve's grip on his axe tightens as it slinks closer and looks down at him and it's -
"Eddie!" Steve almost laughs but - "Eddie?"
But his gut tells him to run away.
With an animalistic roar, Eddie-not-Eddie lunges at Steve. He dodges, barely remembers not to swing, and runs back. The - the not-Eddie growls, maybe at him, maybe at the dogs, and circles around Steve like some kind of messed up predator.
"Come on, Eddie," Steve hates begging, he hates it, but he has to. "I don't know what happened but -"
Eddie snarls, lunging again and Steve barely dodges, and he begs, and Eddie almost gets him and he dodges and it keep going on and on.
It takes ages, they keep circling each other while the demodogs watch like some messed up gladiator battle. It's fucking frustrating.
"You piece of shit," Steve pants, but Eddie's breathing heavy too which means it can't be hopeless. "You just gonna let Vecna tell you what to do, huh? So much for sticking it to the man -"
The demodogs shriek, throwing Steve off so Eddie can leap at him and they're on the ground.
"I came here," Steve grits his teeth, ignoring the sparks of searing pain running up his back as Eddie digs him deeper into the ground. He pushes back, the axe held between them. "For you, jackass. Because Dustin needs you. He - agh - he looks up to you."
Eddie somehow tosses the axe away and Steve has to grab his hands before they can claw at his face.
He doesn't say anything.
The dogs howl.
"Are you listening to me, Eddie?" Steve yells, pushing back against Eddie's grip. His jaw aches and he pushes up as hard as he can, until they're nose-to-nose, hands shaking against each other's. "You're Dustin's hero!"
He just keeps snarling, not even flinching at the sound of Dustin's name and something in Steve snaps.
"So fucking act like it!"
Steve smashes his head onto Eddie's, stumbling back as the creature falls to the ground with a howl. Shit, at least his ears aren't ringing too hard.
"What the fuck, Steve?!" gripes a hoarse voice in front of him and Steve would laugh out of sheer, crazy relief for it. "What was that for?"
"Shut the fuck up, Munson," Steve inhales shakily. Fuck, he shouldn't be this weak from a headbutt, right? "You're the one who...who -"
"Wh - woah, easy, I gotcha." Something's holding on to him. Maybe he's holding on to someone? He doesn't know, everything's too heavy, too foggy. It all blends together. "Steve? Hey, hey, stay with me, come on!"
"Gotta get up," Steve mumbles as the light fades away. He thinks he feels someone's hand in his hair, familiar but cold.
You'll need more grey than this, Steven.
And then nothing but darkness.
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Small Life Update
Been a while since my surgery and I'm happy to say I'm doing MUCH better now. No more periods that make me feel like I'm dying and no more chronic pain, etc., etc. I did start hormones last month and my body has been going through so changes with it (mostly gaining weight) but all things considered, I much prefer this to my pre-surgery life.
Some other news though is that I will be moving late summer/ early autumn. I can't sustain myself alone where I live and I make minimum wage. My city has seen a boom in houses being built and most of them selling for half a million or more, you know, normal American things. But of course, this makes other workers like myself have to leave. I'm lucky enough though to have a place I can move to without worrying too much. A lot people don't have that right now, and while it sucks I gotta move, I also feel incredibly grateful to have that.
I won't be drawing as much or be able to take commission work for a little bit though. I might open commissions again before I move to help save for moving expenses, but right now I need to focus more on going through all my shit.
That's all for now, thanks for reading!
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