Pairing: Steve Harrington x Reader (technically?)
Summary: Steve gets a little taste of the same insecurity he's been letting you suffer in for months because of Nancy... while you rediscover feelings you hadn't thought you would ever get to feel again, with Eddie.
Warnings: Angst, angst and more angst, implied infidelity in established relationship, self-doubt, insecurity, scenes from Stranger Things Season 4, no use of y/n.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
Conscious thought exits your brain.
Quite literally evaporates into nothingness.
All of a sudden, everything is background noise. Everything, except for the strong arms circling your waist.
The warm hand splayed against your back, its heat burning through your shirt till you feel it searing into your skin.
The hard, denim clad chest pressing against your own, strands of long curly hair tickling your cheek.
But you're also aware of your own heart, suddenly doing violent somersaults in your chest. And with that realization, a soft huff of bewildered laughter leaves your lips.
The shock doesn't quite vanish yet, you don't think it can can't as long as his body is still touching yours, but everything else comes rushing back to your head, everything you've been thinking, feeling for the last few hours. Every word. Every wound. Every doubt. Every expectation.
And you don't want to hesitate anymore.
You hug him back, your arms rising to wrap around Eddie Munson's torso, a small smile playing on your lips.
You pull back a second later.
"Good to see you Eddie," you murmur, looking straight into his huge, dark eyes. Somehow, they're even more... brown than you remember. Richer. Deeper.
But then again, you hadn't exactly been looking at him the first time you'd met, had you?
A corner of his mouth tilts up. It isn't a smile, not really. The look in his eyes is too heavy for you to associate joy with it, but the expression somehow feels so much more intimate than anything you've felt in the last few days. Like your presence here, in this place, in front of him, actually meant something to him.
"You too, beautiful," he murmurs back.
You hear rustling behind you. The unmistakable buzzing of voices drawing closer. Robin, Lucas, Max and Nancy.
And Dustin and Steve. Standing there, staring at you. You and Eddie.
But who cares about them.
You take up a position next to Eddie as the others stagger into the clearing, your head high, expression schooled normal and entirely unbothered by the slight rise of your boyfriend's brows and his parted lips.
"When I got to the shore, I tried calling you guys but uhh..." Eddie takes another swig out of the bottle he's holding, and you tilt your head towards him, watching him as he wipes his mouth. "My walkie was busted. Drenched," he finishes. "So I... did the thing that I do now apparently," he grins bitterly. "I ran."
"There wasn't anything else you could have done this time, Eddie-" you begin, but Nancy interrupts before you can finish.
"Do you know what time this was? The attack?"
Annoyance flairs up in your chest, sharp and prickling and all too familiar. Maybe it's just her voice that's a trigger for your brain now.
Or maybe, she is genuinely just that fucking annoying.
Beside you, Eddie starts unbuckling his watch from his wrist. "Yeah- yeah I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked." He throws his watch up at her, and you follow its movement with your eyes, your glare landing on Nancy.
You briefly make eye contact with her, but she quickly severs it to look down at the watch.
You're the only one sitting on the rock next to Eddie. Everyone else is standing around you both in a semi-circle. No one's said anything about it, but if anything.... Steve's eyes haven't left you since your hug with Eddie.
You push down the twisted sense of satisfaction it brings you. Not the time.
"Same time our flash lights went kablooey." Robin confirms.
"Which means... what exactly?" Steve asks, and you look up at him to see he's finally torn his gaze from you to glance at Nancy.
"That that surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick," Nancy replies, looking back at him.
You turn away. "Well we're one step closer," you say, addressing Max and Lucas as you do so. "We know how Vecna attacks."
"And where he attacks from," Lucas adds.
"So now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart." Max states, looking at the ground.
"If he even has a heart!" Robin speculates.
"A stake? Is he like a vamp.... is he a vampire?" Steve asks, all too seriously, his eyes going wide.
You scoff unkindly at him. "It was a metaphor, grow up, Steve," you spit out, rolling your eyes.
"Okay, what is going on with you babe-"
"Have you stopped to question that maybe I just find your ungodly level of idiocy fucking exhausting?" You snap, eyes narrowing at his with every bit of spite you feel right now.
Steve has the nerve to look taken aback. "You've never found my... idiocy... exhausting before-"
"Well maybe you've just finally gone and broken my patience scale then-"
"A bullet... should work on him right?" Eddie cuts in quickly, effectively shutting you up before this could continue any longer. You turn your gaze to the ground, shaking your head.
"I say we chop his head off." Lucas suggests.
"Yeah, I say all of the above-" Nancy butts in, in her kids-enough-let-the-adults-talk voice that makes you want to chuck Eddie's newly acquired six pack of beer at her, "-but we can't do any of that until we find a way to the Upside Down."
"We need El to get her powers back," Max groans.
That makes you chuckle humourlessly.
"Yeah, everything was way easier back then," you say reminiscingly. You look over at Eddie. "We had this girl, and she had superpowers..."
"Superpowers, yeah, Harrington mentioned her before," he smiles, and then catches sight of something over your shoulder. "Hey, uhh- Henderson's not... cursed, is he?"
You follow his line of sight. "Cursed?" A small huff of laugh escapes you. "No no, he's fine."
"Mental?" Steve murmurs from above you. "Absolutely."
You watch as Dustin suddenly stops pacing, before turning around, his expression twisted into one you've seen on him one too many times before. The thrill of a discovery.
And then he launches into a frantic explanation of how 'his compass' was wrong, not him, while he was leading the way to Skull Rock, and you watch with amusement as Steve retorts back in frustration. Such an exchange is basically an everyday affair for you after having dated Steve for nearly a year now... Steve making an endearingly oblivious remark, Dustin mocking him, you joining in but eventually coming to your boyfriend's defense.... but you don't get to dwell on how much of a history that dynamic is now, as Dustin's explanation rapidly turns into a theory about the existence of another Gate.
"But we're nowhere near the Lab," Nancy points out.
"What if, somehow, there's another gate?" Dustin insists. "It would have to be smaller, way less powerful-"
"Snack size Gate!" Robin exclaims.
"How? Why?" Steve questions.
"No idea," Dustin says. "But all I know is that something is causing this disturbance, and the last time this happened, it was a gate. And I hope it is," he adds, eyes glinting. "Because then we'd have a way to Vecna and a shot at freeing Max from this curse!"
And with that, he turns around and begins heading off down a path that leads away from the trail.
"Hey, hey, hey!" You quickly call out after him, standing up. "Where are you going?"
Dustin swivels around. "Eddie's still a wanted man, remember? You remind him incredulously, "We can't just go for a hike in the woods, Dustin!"
You don't know when you started worrying about Eddie more than his own friend. But somewhere between locking eyes with him for the first time in a drug dealer's boathouse, to hearing him call you a goddess over a walkie in the Wheelers' basement, to him hugging you at Skull Rock, you recognized how a near stranger had made you feel more seen and appreciated and actually worth something than your own boyfriend who was supposed to love you had.
And after feeling like an intruder in your own relationship for nearly months now, you were tired of feeling this hollow inside. This invisible.
And you knew that the warmth you'd felt hearing Eddie compliment you wasn't just any random feeling.
You knew the weight of his little nickname for you. Beautiful. You'd never take the word for granted. You knew how such a simple compliment could suddenly become so hard to come by.
It had to mean something.
Eddie meant something to you.
He'd made you feel.... not ugly. For the first time in a long while.
"This little steel capsule might be the key to saving both Max and Eddie." Dustin says. He turns to Eddie. "What say you, Eddie the Banished?"
Your turn your gaze over to the man beside you.
You stare at him. At the ring glinting on his finger. At the long, messy curls falling over his face and his denim jacket. His dark, expressive eyes fixed on the ground.
"I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor."
Once again, you find yourself questioning how one little sentence could awaken so much in you.
"... which, if I'm totally straight with you, I think is a really bad idea. But uhh..." he looks up dramatically at the sky. "The Shire? The Shire is burning."
You have to bite your lip to keep from smiling.
Eddie gets up. And turns to you.
You raise a brow at him, and you briefly see his eyes flick to your teeth still digging into your lower lip.
Before you can feel something about it, his arm's coming up to slide around your shoulders. He squeezes.
Update: Part 6 is out now!
Peopleee so sorry for the wait! As I've said before, I had exams and they're finally over!
Anyways, let me know what you think of the whole situation with Eddie and Steve and how (if lol) you'd like to see this progress further!
As always, likes, comments and reblogs are really reallllly appreciated!
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