BU I HE
Rating: G | WC: 587 | Tags: Implied/ referenced character death, crack treated seriously ao3 Full ficlet below the cut!
Dustin took a deep breath before kneeling in front of Eddieâs tombstone. There was a now stained pink cloth in one hand, and a bucket of sudsy water by his knees. The words BURN IN HELL were half scrubbed off, so it just said BU I HE. Soap stung his hands as he dipped the cloth again. He let suds run over the front of the tombstone, then picked back up on his scrubbing.
He let his tears start back up then, too.
Dustin didn't hold anything back. The harder he worked his arms, the louder his sobs became. He didn't care if he disturbed anyone in the other trailersâ hell, he hoped he was. He hoped they were watching as he wiped his nose on his sleeve, as he let himself fall onto the tombstone for support when the emotions just became too overwhelming. Let them see that his grief was the fault of their hatred and prejudice and sleep a little worse for it at night.
Steve watched from the new Munson trailer. They had been playing this game for nearly six months now. Every day he looked out the trailer window, saw the tombstone that had been placed where the old Munson trailer had once stood. Some mornings it didnât have graffiti on it, but it always did by the end of the day. If it wasnât him cleaning it off, it was Dustin, or Wayne, or even Mike a couple of times. No one could stand to leave it there. Eddie was a hero, in so many more ways than the people of Hawkins could understand. They could spray paint all they wanted, it never stayed for long.Â
No matter how hard he tried, how angry he got, how many times Steve threatened them with his bat, they always left more.Â
Dustin's cries grew even louder, and Steve looked over just in time to see him pounding his fists against the dirt, getting himself muddy in the process. Steve didn't go to him, the way he had at first. It was no use, they just had to let Dustin get it out of his system.
âI donât know why you guys still waste your time cleaning it off.âÂ
Steve didn't have to turn away from Dustin to know Eddie was leaning in the doorway, using both his cane and the wall itself to help hold himself up. He didn't need to look to know that Eddie's hair was a wild tangle from his nap. âThe rest of the world thinks youâre dead. We canât just⊠leave it.â
âWayne shouldnât have put it up in the first place.â He limped closer to stand by Steve's side. âJust let âem think Iâm dead and that they're getting away with something. It's not worth the effort.â
âThey just painted Wayneâs trailer before the stone was there.â Steve did look at him then. The scars on his face, down his jaw, disappearing into the collar of his shirt, they were still red but they were at least less angry now. Eddie looked less like Frankenstein's monster than he had that first week when he'd been stitched and bruised, floating in and out of consciousness. The memory had Steve reaching out and sliding his arm around Eddie's waist to help hold him up.
"Besides," he added as he looked back outside, to where Dustin was practically rending his garments in his display of his grief. "Dustin thinks his acting has gotten good enough to win an Oscar someday."










