Elliot had known the guy for a few years now, ever since Eddie had stepped into the Spellbound Bar with big eyes and a wild grin. The guy hailed from some small ass town in Indiana, but it was clear to see that he hadn’t hidden much of himself over there.
So many kids blew into California freshly freed from their families, still dressed in clothes their old life had forced them to wear. They always had a sort of fragile, reborn look to them that made all the elder queers reach out their hands, welcome them in.
Eddie, whose last name changed on a daily basis (his drivers license listed it as ‘Henderson’ but there were rumors that it too, was fake) had too large of a wardrobe for all of it to be recently purchased, and moved too comfortably in clothes for them to be new to him.
The guy wasn’t mean. His temperment wasn’t why he was terrifying, really, though the constant high energy he whirlwinded around the bar with often grew too much for some of their quieter regulars.
No it was all the shit he casually talked about. How he took things in stride, and said he had to, given he used to be the president of a D&D club he named Hellfire.
(Hellfire. In small town America. The sheer fucking balls on this dude.)
He regaled them all with tales of his lost sheep and the fights he had with his high school principal long before Angel, the bar owner, agreed to take him on as a busboy--then bar back, then bartender, all in rapid succession.
Always winking as he spun a story about how he was caught flagging once from an out of towner stopping by for gas, the story somehow darkly hilarious.
A lot of people didn’t like southern California, or rather, not the way they thought they would at least, but Eddie took to it like a duck to water. There was no denying the man belonged here, in a way he hadn’t truly belonged anywhere else.
Elliot had been the one to help him find a local metal band. He himself was one of those quieter regulars (and not a musician let alone a metalhead) but he knew people. Could make some connections.
It helped that Elliot did play D&D, and was quick to pull Eddie into his orbit that way. Get him connected to others who loved the game like the metalhead clearly did.
And damn, could Eddie DM.
It was here though, that Elliot first picked up that Eddie’s bluster wasn’t just that.
Watched as his new friend's eyes went hard and flat when the Vecna campaign was mentioned, shut it down with such force that it left the table briefly stunned by the sheer venom in his voice.
How he flinched once, hands reaching for the bat he’d hammered nails into under the bar when electricity had stuttered in a heatwave, lights flickering in the bar.
(The bat itself, and the way Eddie had simply looked at the one Spellbound had as their only defense measure and declared it “fucking useless” had not helped the rough, survivalistic story they were all putting together.)
Winter rolled back round to spring and then summer and whispers about his home life, about how he had to survive with all the rural cow farmers looking and acting like he did, how he obviously knew how to fight was practically old news by the time he first showed up in a cropped shirt.
The scars that decorated his stomach still caught the attention of everyone at the bar, and more than once their little D&D group had tried to map out the shape of them, if only to figure out what the hell could cause such a dramatic injury.
No one ever quite succeeded, but then, no one was brave enough to ask the man himself.
What it did do, was cement the idea in everyone’s heads.
Eddie Henderson/Buckley/Sinclair/Wheeler/and one time even Walmart--was a great guy, and one who could absolutely beat the shit out of almost everyone in the bar, hands down.
Nothing he did over the years ever challenged that. If anything, Eddie only cemented it further, which is the only reason Elliot didn’t bolt the second the two of them came home from a shift and found a stranger in front of their door.
Elliot, 5’4, formerly named Eleanor and still not on T despite making every clawing attempt towards it, wasn’t much of a match for an enraged, pissed off jock.
But Eddie was.
xXx
The jock was the straightest looking man Elliot had ever laid eyes on.
Bruises covered half his face and one eye, and he sported a nose that had clearly been recently bloodied. Judging from the scrapes on the back of his hands he hadn’t gotten them willingly--or maybe was just giving as good as he got.
He was walking wildly back and forth in front of their garage, hands opening and closing, a look in his eyes that spoke of someone not entirely in control as he muttered audibly to himself.
Given the preppy polo shirt, expensive looking shorts and shoes that practically shined, they were so new, he was comically out of place, even with the entire homicidal aura he had going on.
(Given the descriptions of the assholes who had attacked Angel only four nights ago on their walk home, Elliot could only see the man as a monster preparing to attack.)
He slammed to a stop, breath in his throat, entirely unsure of what to do.
Thankfully, Eddie was right behind him.
Eddie, who could probably beat this guy and six others bloody. Eddie who carried a knife. Eddie who terrified Elliot sometimes, but not the same way the idea of getting hate crimed did, Eddie who--
Who was coming up besides Elliot, looking both alarmed and confused and not at all challenging the homicidal rich boy.
“Steve!?” Eddie said, voice high and surprised.
They both watched as the figure spun to face them, crazed look crumbling down to something Elliot couldn’t read.
“Hey.” The supposed Steve said, rather miserably, shoulders hunched right before Eddie shot forward, hands hovering in the air like he wanted to touch but didn’t know where to start.
“What the hell Harrington--did you lose another fight!?”
“I don’t lose every fight you know.” Steve snarked back, sounding exactly like every rich snob Elliot’s ever encountered.
It’d get his back up, except Steve’s entire body was curving towards Eddie in obvious relief. “Henderson exaggerates.”
Which was doubly confusing, given Eddie was supposedly a Henderson.
“Sorry for dropping by like this. Wasn’t close to anyone else, so I didn't know where else to go.” Steve continued, as Eddie finally stopped waving his hands around and instead began herding Steve through the door and to the kitchen.
Confused, Elliot followed.
(What the fuck else was he supposed to do?)
“I thought you were on a cruise?” Eddie challenged, sounding more and more normal as he and Steve traded banter.
“I was. Clearly, I’m not anymore.”
“Steve.” Eddie said, voice almost pleading as he patted the only empty spot on their counter, before turning to fish a bag of peas out of the fridge.
(Had Elliot ever heard him plead like that? Had he thought Eddie even capable?)
Steve jumped up on it like a dog that had been asked to perform a trick, while Elliot hovered in the living room, watching it all go down across the little half wall that separated the two spaces.
“Did I just see pop tarts in your freezer?” Steve asked instead of answering.
“Don’t distract me, you dick. Put this on your face.”
And so they went, instantly and immediately comfortable, two people who clearly had known each other for a long time trading insults and catching up while Eddie tried unsuccessfully to pull what happened out of Steve via an increasing number of ridiculous nicknames.
He’d worked his way past ‘Stevie’ and was well on his way to calling the stranger things like ‘big boy’ by the time Anders came home from her shift at the record store.
Swaned through various other, mildly incriminating nicknames until he saw something that made him start cursing, at which point he rapidly fell down the nickname rabbit hole, landing at a final;
“Come on Sweetheart, you look like someone tried to kill you! Just tell me what happened!”
Jake, who had just waltzed in the front door, blinked wildly.
“Eddie has a guest.” Anders informed him, handing their roommate an open beer from the pile she’d put on the floor as he slammed to a halt.
Took in their intruder so starkly out of place on the kitchen counter, nestled between twin pride flags and a poster for Eddie’s band like a misplaced catalog model.
“I don’t understand what’s happening.” Jake said flatly, as Steve grumbled something lowly at their fearless DM, and Eddie flicked his nose in retaliation.
"He's from Indiana," Elliot offered, the closest thing to an explanation he had. "Same town as Eddie."
He hesitated, then added, "I think."
It was all he’d managed to piece together, the conversation had been all over the place.
“Steven Madonna Harrington,” Eddie snapped finally, spinning to pin his guest with a glare, “you either tell me what happened or I’m calling Robin.”
‘Madonna?’ Anders mouthed at Elliot, as if that was the weirdest part of this entire situation.
Steve kicked at Eddie lightly. “She has finals this week you jerk.”
Eddie slammed both his hands down on the counter, one on either side of Steve’s hips, staring up challengingly.
It put him almost directly in between Steve’s legs, bringing their faces intimately close together.
“And she’s gonna lose her shit when she finds out her platonic with a capital P soulmate ditched off that family cruise he’s been dreading for months, looking like he decided to take up backyard boxing, and then came to my place instead of calling her first--”
“Fine! Fine, you underhanded asshole. Tommy was on that stupid Alaska cruise. Decided he wanted to reconnect.”
“Hagan did all this!?”
“Oh no, this is from my dad.” Steve motioned to himself, a grim sort of amusement curling around the words. “He caught me and Tommy making out. Decided to have a little chat about how he disapproved.”
“That is awful and we are returning to it immediately but first--Steve. Babe.” Eddie stared at him in clear dismay. “Tommy Hagan?”
Another eye roll, this one earning a wince from Steve as it agitated his bruises. “Not the time Mun--”
Eddie coughed loudly right over the rest of whatever Steve was about to say, getting a weird look from everyone around him.
“Henderson.” Eddie corrected softly. “They changed it to Henderson after all the uh.” He paused, as though trying to recall the word he wanted. Went with; “Earthquake.”
That got some glee out of Steve.
“You picked Dustin’s last name? Does he know?”
“Fuck no dude, he’d never shut up about it.” Eddie put a hand on Steve’s thigh, jostling it lightly. “We’re not talking about me right now though. Your dad disowned you?”
“Supposedly.” Steve shrugged, like this was normal and not a huge ordeal. “I’ll check on my credit cards tomorrow, see if he’s serious.”
Eddie’s stare was growing flat, fast. “Even if he isn’t, he beat the shit out of you.”
“Yeah, well, everyone kinda does, I guess it was just his turn.”
“Steve.”
“I’m kidding!” Then, in a far more serious tone; ‘I am sorry about crashing in like this. I can get out of your hair.”
Eddie was already waiving a hand dismissively, head shaking, but Steve plowed forward anyway.
“I mean it. The cruise stopped at a port near here and I needed to get off it before my dad decided disowning me and throwing all my shit over the rails weren’t enough.”
Steve finally looked up, taking in all the people who were watching this play out like a TV sitcom. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your game night.”
“There’s no game, they all live here.” He turned and glared, and got one embarrassed face and two entirely unapologetic ones in return. “They’re just enjoying the show.
‘It’s getting a five star rating so far.” Anders snarked at him. “Might lose a star, if one of the main actors keeps breaking the fourth wall, though.”
Eddie flipped her off.
“You’re not going anywhere looking like this. You are at minimum, staying here for the rest of the weekend.”
“If you’re sure.” Steve said hesitantly. To the group at large, he added; “And no one minds me taking the couch.”
“The couch is a shared communal space.” Eddie shot back instantly, before anyone else could protest. “You’re staying in my room.”
“Oh.” Steve said, like he’d half expected, wanted even, Eddie to make that offer. “Okay.”
“I am so confused right now.” Anders muttered, and Elliot could only nod along because, well.
Yeah.
Him too.
“Come on, let’s get your stuff, I’ll show you around. Keep the peas on your face.”
“Eds, man, I don’t have any stuff. I was lucky to escape with my wallet.” Steve vollied, but hopped off the counter anyway, following Eddie as he was led up the stairs, towards the metalheads room.
“This is the weirdest day of my life.” Jake announced when they’d disappeared.
“It’s not over yet.” Anders said, cracking open another beer. “Give it a bit.”
“How on earth could this get any weirder?” Elliot muttered.
“Well thanks Elliot.” Anders told him flatly. ‘If it wasn’t guaranteed before, it is now.”
“How!?”
“She’s right bud, you challenged the fates.” Jake responded. “We’re in for it now.”
(Given Steve never moved back out, they absolutely were.)
Bonus
“You know.” Eddie said, and his voice was quiet but the house was fucking ancient and not in the best of shape, and thus Elliot heard him loud and clear through their shared wall. “I kiss a lot better than Tommy Hagan.”
“Not letting that one go anytime soon, huh?” Steve rumbled back.
“I’m just saying! If you’re going to get disowned for a kiss, it should be a damn good one and not whatever limp noodle bullshit Hagan does. I saw him with Carol, he kisses like a puffer fish.”
A low snicker, followed by; “He did kinda kiss like a fish.”
“See!?” Vindicated, Eddie grew louder in volume. “I could give you a kiss that would actually be worth all this shit! A proper kiss!”
“You offering, Munson?”
“Well if the good knight Sir Harrington doth allow it--”
An ‘mmph!’ noise that took a moment for Elliot to translate as Steve kissing Eddie, which made this entire fucking day suddenly make a whole lot more sense.
“If you stop all the nerd talk we can take it beyond a kiss.”
“I can do that.” Eddie said, voice breathless. “I can definitely do that.”
“Good.”
Elliot snorted in amusement, before reality of their paper thin shared wall and the fact he was going to hear fucking everything asserted itself.
The so-called Betrayal Scene makes me sick to my stomach every single time. Because damn right it is a fcking betrayal!!! Grace betrays everything they’ve been working for together for years!
And what kills me is that Grace gets to say “I can’t do it.” He gets to panic, break down, run away from the responsibility. Stratt never gets that option. She is just as devastated and terrified as he is, you can literally see it all over her face.
GOD, she does not want to do this. She does not want to force him into that ship. But unlike Grace, she doesn’t have the luxury of collapsing, because somebody still has to act. Somebody still has to make the impossible decision and live with it.
And Sandra Hüller plays this so brilliantly because she never makes Stratt’s suffering loud. She keeps it all so restrained and controlled, but you can still see every tiny crack in her composure. She has to hold herself together while her entire world is falling apart.
And the thing is, for YEARS Grace was probably the closest thing she had to a friend. Someone she trusted, relied on, someone who actually understood the unbearable weight she had to carry every single day while the entire planet waited for extinction or salvation. And instead of meeting her halfway and carrying that burden together with her, Grace leaves her alone with it. Grace gets to unload all of his fear, anger, and panic onto her, and she STILL has to be the one who is held responsible. THAT is what makes me lose my mind every time I watch this scene. Because yes, from Grace’s perspective, Stratt betrays him. But from Stratt’s perspective? Grace betrays her, the mission, years of work, and honestly humanity itself. And on top of all that, she is of course also heartbroken for her friend. She has to sacrifice someone she deeply cares about, become the villain in his story, and still keep going.
As Sandra Hüller’s character says in Sibyl, “Sometimes having a breakdown is a luxury.” And damn well it is for Eva Stratt.
