you know when Steve got attacked by those bat things and the show barely touched on it? how about instead of Nancy, Eddie patches him up and after they leave the upside down Steve starts crashing and he has Eddie there to take care of him. Ifff you want
if? if?
do you even know me
---
The last thing Steve remembers is saying, "I think I'm going to pass out."
Since he's horizontal, he's guessing that's exactly what he did. It's sad that the past few years have basically trained him to know how to handle this situation.
He'll need aspirin, a drink (preferably a beer, but water is better), and a first aid kit.
As soon as he figures out where he is.
The room he's in is small but familiar. He struggles to sit up to get a better look when Eddie Munson strides in-- bandages in one hand, a gatorade in the other.
"Welcome back," He says, plopping down in the chair next to the bed and scootching it forward. "Here, gotcha some fuel."
"Thanks." Steve croaks. He takes the neon blue drink and downs almost half of it in one go. Then he realizes that the reason this looks so familiar is because it's Eddie's room, just Right Side Up.
Christ, his life is so fucking weird.
He lays back down and tries to blink the bleariness away. "How long was I out?"
"Uh, less than half an hour?" Eddie tugs at a lock of hair. "Definitely less than an hour. Have to be honest, everything seems to be happening like all at once. Sit up and lemme see your battle scars."
Steve hisses as he struggles upwards. "What, you know first aid?"
"I contain multitudes, Harrington." Eddie smiles, and peers at Steve from under his lashes, which are surprisingly long.
Wow, he must have lost more blood than he thought. He looks away before saying, "Yeah, I'm getting that."
"Good, 'cause this is gonna suck."
He starts cleaning Steve's wounds with antiseptic, using gentle but firm touches. "Yeah, yup. This sucks." Steve hisses through his teeth and tilts his head back. "This really sucks."
"Yeah, but you know? The ladies are going to dig the scars. It's going to look metal as fuck."
That is something he hadn't considered, but it doesn't exactly inspire warm and fuzzy feelings. The Upside Down has stolen so much from his life. Peace and a feeling of safety. Sleep. Relationships. And now, the evidence of this fuckery is etched into his skin forever. "Sure." He clenches his teeth as Eddie finishes up disinfecting the bat bites.
Man, he better not have rabies.
Eddie pauses and sits back in his chair for a moment. His dark eyes examining Steve's chest in a way that makes him feel warm. It's probably the antiseptic.
"Alright. Gonna wrap these up nice and tight. You ready?"
"You know what, at this point? Go for it."
Eddie claps his thighs before standing up and leaning over Steve, unraveling the bandages. "Arms up."
It also sucks to lift his arms, but Steve complies. This might not be so bad, he thinks, if this was all over. He wishes he could end this for Nancy and Robin, and yeah, Eddie too. Poor guy has been through enough. They all have.
"Hey, uh," he peers up to look at Eddie, who is sticking his tongue out in concentration. "Thanks. You didn't have to do this."
"I'm not gonna let you bleed out, man,"
Steve laughs. "Yeah, alright. But uh." He doesn't know what he's trying to say. Thing is, usually he's the one taking care of everyone. Or trying to, at least.
Somehow, Eddie gets it. He finishes tying off Steve's bandage and grins. "We're a team now, Harrington. Better get used to having me around."
The warm feeling returns and only intensifies as Eddie holds his gaze. This is starting to feel like a habit. Or an addiction, his mind supplies unhelpfully. "Thanks." He says again, albeit quieter this time.
"You just let me know if you're ever in need of my services again, Steve," says Eddie. And then the bastard fucking winks before backing away. "You better finish that gatorade. We still got work to do!"
Steve is left sitting on Eddie's bed, basically shirtless and totally gobsmacked. He unscrews the top of the gatorade and sips at it, but it's not quite hitting the spot anymore.
When he hears Eddie laugh in the other room, he feels his own face flush. He squeezes his eyes shut.
Its not that i have a bad memory its just that all my storage space is being used up by MCR lyrics and remembering the entirety of my fucked up childhood
i've been rewatching stranger things season three and drowning in stobin feels, as one does, and one thing that's very important to me is that steve's crush on robin is real. he's not projecting or misinterpreting his own feelings; he really was into her for real. and i feel like treating it like it's not that kind of takes away from the beautiful moment between them in the bathroom at starcourt. steve's speech to her is closer than a love confession than anything else, and watching robin react to it is agonizing. because she likes him. she really does. and who among us has not had a man we liked express romantic interest only to turn on a dime into cruelty the moment it became clear that he wouldn't get what he wanted?
that's why it's so, so important to me that steve actually meant what he said, and he still took the rejection on the chin, and immediately pivoted to teasing her and making her laugh and proving that he still loved her, for her, even if she was never going to want him back in the same way
give me eddie who calls everyone pet names so casually that the reason steve gets tipped off about eddie’s Thing For Him is because he just calls him steve.
i’m talking calling robin sugar, and chrissy princess, and any of the kids big guy or my man.
but eddie is so hyperaware of His Feelings and the fact that he already let one ‘big boy’ slip that he overcorrects and only ever addresses steve by his government name.
steve is jealous at first but the way eddie’s eyes always go a little crazy and he’s constantly clearing his throat before he addresses steve kind of show his hand.
@SteveTheHair: GUYSS I WENT TO SEE A BAND AND. THE GUITARIST IS CURRENTLY SHOWERING IN MY APARTMENT ???!!! We’re gonna watch Notting Hill and he’s CRASHING HERE before. Before driving to the next city BC HES ON TOUR???
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@jonthecameraguy: what the fuck are you doing NOW
@bucklerobbuck: let him be... he's like if y/n was a person...
Stardew Valley AU where Eddie is a "burnt out at 27" former rock star who impulse buys a farm in Hawkins Valley for a change and finds he actually really enjoys fixing the place up and getting ridiculously wealthy on cauliflower
Steve is a local who had dreams of being a pro football player but they just...never went anywhere and he somehow ended up local carpenter instead because he likes seeing the appreciation on people's faces when he finishes a job for them
And obviously Eddie needs help fixing up the house, he doesn't know what he's doing there, and Steve spends the whole time talking about the locals until Eddie feels like he's also known them for years and not, like, a week
Anyway Eddie keeps finding increasingly ridiculous jobs around the farm that just can't be done without Steve's help and at some point they kiss about it
Steve, despite knowing it's very much probably not going to happen, messaging the Corroded Coffin band socials to ask if they'd maybe wanna turn up to his DND obsessed kid brother's stag do for a 'surprise campaign' his friends are cooking up cause it'd make his entire year to have his favourite band and favourite DM rock up to his stag do, might even outshine the wedding.
And of course, Eddie HAS to go to this thing, he's gotta, they get tons of random as shit messages, but rarely have they been invited to a DnD stag do.
so they say yes.
And they go, and dustin maybe loses his shit a little but in a good way.
And maybe Eddie should have paid a little more attention to this Steve's account because holy shit has he just found his future husband?????
A parent that welcomes you back home after things have fallen apart. A best friend whose voice alone who can make you relax. A spouse who convinces you to stay in bed an extra hour and leave the dishes for later. A stranger who sees you tired and gives up their seat on the train. Augh. The humanity of it
"I don't need you to banish yourself. Ascension is based on ability alone. I only want a duel."
"I don't want to fight you," Xie Lian said.
"Why not?!" Lang Qianqiu shouted. "It's not like we've never fought before. Life or death, the outcome doesn't matter, let's just put an end to this!"
Xie Lian said plainly, "No reason. But fight me and you will surely die."
