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A long time ago, in a land far, far away…
The kids had gotten restless in the quiet after the gate had closed. They had too much energy, and not enough places to creatively use it. Unfortunately, this meant that they spent more time than usual bothering Steve when he wasn’t at work. (And sometimes when he was at work. The other officers were endlessly amused.)
The first weekend that he had to himself, he planned to spend it looking at apartments that he could (finally) afford and maybe getting drunk with Robin to commiserate their lack of significant others. It was a perfectly good plan. He was decently excited about it. He was much less excited when he stepped onto the front porch of the Byers’ house and found his car surrounded by teenagers.
“What are you dipshits doing here?” he asked, placing his hands on his hips. Will had the decency to look embarrassed, but the others looked completely unapologetic. Dustin was grinning widely at him like he knew he’d already won whatever argument was about to take place. (And damn him, but he probably had. Steve couldn’t say no to him.)
“Steve! Just the guy we were looking for,” Dustin said loudly, walking over to grab his arm and pull him towards the car. Steve let himself be tugged along, only because he knew it was the best way to hurry the conversation along.
“We need a favor,” Lucas told him, looking just a little sheepish about it. Steve raised his eyebrows but stayed quiet, waiting for the details to come. He wasn’t disappointed.
“Hellfire is meeting today, but it’s not at the school,” Mike told him, crossing his arms. He looked just as annoyed by the whole situation as Steve felt. “Our parents won’t let us go without “adult supervision”, and Nancy refused.”
“Why couldn’t Jonathan do it?” Steve asked, turning his gaze to Will. It hadn’t escaped his notice that Jonathan’s car was suspiciously absent. He’d bet everything he owned that Will had asked his brother the night before, and Jonathan had left early enough to escape any more begging.
“He had to work today,” Will told him unconvincingly, which really just confirmed Steve’s suspicions. “We really want to go, Steve. Please?”
The problem was, Steve really loved these kids. They’d grown on him through the years of saving their lives and driving them places. Driving them to this weird meeting of theirs wasn’t even the weirdest thing he’s ever done for them. Not by a longshot. It wasn’t like they didn’t do things for him, too, when they could. He knew he wasn’t going to be telling them know. He also knew that he wasn’t going to just give in the first time they asked. He couldn’t let them think that he was going soft.
(They knew. There was no way that they didn’t know. Max called him a pushover all the time.)
“What even is Hellfire?” he asked, scowling. He shifted his keys to his other hand, unable to keep still for a long period of time. It had been that way since the first life-threatening situation. (Since before that, if he was honest.) Nancy had told him once that it was a stress thing.
“Dungeons and Dragons, duh,” Mike rolled his eyes. “What did you think something called Hellfire would be?”
“How am I supposed to know? I can’t keep up with your nerdy shit,” Steve snapped back. Unfortunately, he happened to choose that moment to glance over at Dustin and Will.
Dustin was still grinning, obviously having realized by now that Steve was just stalling for time. His hand was on the passenger door handle, and he was just watching Steve argue with Mike. Will was standing right beside him, and it was immediately clear that he had not realized that Steve was a giant pushover who would be driving them anywhere that they asked to go. He had hunched into himself a little, and his eyes were on the ground in front of him. He was the picture of defeat. It was that more than anything that made Steve sigh in exasperation and stomp over to the driver’s door. The locks clicked, signaling his own defeat.
“Get in, shitheads. Where is this thing?” he asked, yanking the door open. He climbed in and shoved the key in the ignition as the kids scrambled to get in the car. Dustin slammed the door extra hard in his excitement, and Steve shot him a glare that he ignored.
“New Haven,” Dustin told him as his seatbelt clicked into place.
“New-” Steve turned to stare at him in disbelief. There was no way they’d been biking to New Haven every week, and this wasn’t the first time he’d heard them talking about the weird club. “How the hell are you a part of a group that meets in New Haven? That’s two towns over!”
“It’s usually at the school!” Lucas said quickly. “Eddie is out of town, but we convinced him to still hold a campaign today.”
“How the hell were you planning on getting there?” Steve asked, looking at each of them in turn. The only one who didn’t look at him like he was stupid was Will. “You didn’t even ask your parents, did you? You told them I was taking you and they agreed.”
“I did ask Jonathan,” Will promised. “He drives me places sometimes, and I thought maybe… but he really does have to work.”
“What time?” Steve asked, trying to hide his sudden amusement. He wasn’t surprised in the slightest that Jonathan hadn’t wanted to drive. Steve had no clue what he was going to do for a few hours in New Haven, of all places. He’d never been there in his life.
“I don’t know,” Will said after a few seconds, and Steve knew that was a lie. Jonathan’s usual shift didn’t start until three in the afternoon, and it was just barely nine in the morning. He was willing to bet that Jonathan was hiding out somewhere with Nancy until the two of them could be sure that Steve had caved and they’d already left.
“You guys are the worst, and I don’t like you,” he informed them as he turned back forward. He shifted the car into gear and started to drive, ignoring the small whoops of joy from the backseat.
“We love you, too,” Dustin assured him.
The ride was full of quiet talking while Steve concentrated on directions. He knew how to get to New Haven only because his father had business lunches at one of the restaurants there. He had to go through Fort Wayne to get there, and there were too many small roads to get lost down. That didn’t mean he wasn’t hearing some of the conversations happening around him, of course.
“Do you think there will be goblins this time?” Lucas asked quietly, sounding more excited than Steve had heard him in a while. “Last time he said something about the cave being inhabited, but it didn’t seem like it was something big.”
“I was thinking Minotaur,” Will said just as quietly. He was still a little hunched in on himself, but Steve recognized that as him being more claustrophobic than defeated. He glanced back in the mirror at the teens every few minutes to make sure that they weren’t doing anything they shouldn’t be, and Will never seemed to be frowning.
“No, definitely goblins,” Mike said after a few seconds. He sounded thoughtful. “Eddie doesn’t like Minotaurs, remember? He told us in the first session, and there have never been Minotaurs before.”
“What if he’s been trying to throw us off this whole time?” Will asked, raising his eyebrows. Steve fought back a smile when Dustin twisted around in his seat to join the discussion.
“You’re all wrong,” he told them, grinning smugly. “I’ve got it all figured out. That’s how we’re going to win this time.”
“Oh?” Mike asked, crossing his arms. “And what do you think he’s going to throw at us, then?”
“It’s an Aboleth,” Dustin informed them, receiving loud groans in response. “What? It totally is!”
“It is not,” Lucas argued, sounding just as exasperated as Steve usually felt when they talked about things like this. “That doesn’t even make sense. Why would there be an Aboleth in the cave?”
“Why wouldn’t there be?” Steve asked before he could stop himself. They were driving into New Haven already, so it wasn’t like he’d have to listen to them talk about it for much longer. He might as well enjoy stirring up the chaos.
“Steve,” Mike said, sounding very over the whole conversation. Steve coughed to hide the laugh he couldn’t contain.
“He’s got a point, though,” Will chimed in, cutting off whatever snotty comment Mike had been about to fling at him. “Why couldn’t it be an Aboleth?”
“They don’t live in caves,” Lucas pointed out. Will shook his head, starting to get more animated than he’d been on the entire drive.
“Eddie never said that whatever it was lived in the cave!” he pointed out. “He just said there was something in the cave. It’s gotta be something decently strong, right? Or he wouldn’t have built up so much hype for it.”
“Exactly!” Dustin exclaimed. He glanced over at Steve, but didn’t try to bring him back into the conversation. Steve appreciated that. “Look, all I’m saying is that we should be prepared, because that’s what we’re facing today.”
“I’m going to enjoy saying ‘I told you so’ when you’re wrong,” Mike informed him pointedly, but the argument dropped there. Steve was pretty sure it was because he was pulling into the driveway of the address Dustin had rattled off to him. He was pretty proud that he’d only gotten lost twice the whole time he’d been driving. (It was a bonus that the kids had been too distracted to realize he’d made wrong turns, even the time he’d had to pull into a driveway to turn around.)
He recognized the white van parked in the driveway as the one that was usually parked at the trailer across from Max’s. Somehow, he hadn’t put it together that Hellfire Eddie was Eddie Munson. He was blaming it on the fact that he hadn’t been prepared for any of this when he’d stepped outside that morning, and had therefore not really been paying as much attention to details as he should have.
“You should come watch!” Dustin told him, grabbing his arm again. He let go as soon as Steve gave him a pointed look, but the excited smile never faltered. “Eddie puts on a really good campaign. Even you would like listening to it.”
“Eleven listens sometimes, but we haven’t convinced her to play,” Mike commented from the backseat. Steve was suddenly very aware that he had four sets of eyes staring at him. Even Mike seemed excited.
“You might even want to join,” Will offered, smiling softly. It was an expression that Steve usually saw him giving to Jonathan, and it did make him consider going inside… for a few seconds.
“Nah, this is your thing, not mine,” he told them. “You guys go get your nerd on, and I’ll pick you up in three hours.”
“What are you going to do?” Will asked. Thankfully, he didn’t look too disappointed.
“I’m going to get breakfast, for a start,” Steve shrugged. “I was planning on picking something up at the diner this morning before you guys ambushed me. Maybe I’ll do some shopping. But I’ll be back in three hours, and you guys will be ready to go.”
He wasn’t pleased to see that none of them really seemed to be taking him seriously. He already knew he’d have to drag them all out of the basement of this random house in three hours, and he wasn’t looking forward to it.
The last time he’d seen Munson, it had been when he’d saved Max from her stepfather. They hadn’t really spoken, and Munson hadn’t been around any of the times that Steve had gone to check on Max after that. It was better that way, that’s what Steve kept telling himself. He remembered what he’d been like in high school, how he’d treated people like Eddie ‘the freak’ Munson. He couldn’t imagine that Eddie wanted to talk to him any more than he wanted to talk to Eddie.
He was so busy thinking about it that he almost missed the kids scrambling out of his car to go knock on the front door. He rolled down his window quickly, shouting out just before they disappeared into the house. “Three hours! I mean it!”
“Bye Steve!” Dustin shouted back, and then he shut the door before Steve could say anything more.
Steve had to resist the urge to bang his head on the steering wheel a few times. Those kids drove him absolutely crazy, and he knew that they knew it. The worst part was that if they asked him to do this again next week, he knew he’d say yes… and he knew that they knew that, too.
Three hours later, much to his lack of surprise, the kids were not waiting patiently outside for him when he pulled back into the driveway. His trunk was noticeably full with various things he’d found on his ‘adventure’ through Fort Wayne in an attempt to kill time. He planned to use the threat of returning the gifts he’d bought as a way to get them out of the house as fast as possible. He didn’t anticipate the door opening as he brought his fist up to knock.
There, standing on the other side, was Eddie Munson himself. “Hey dude, the kids are just packing up. I heard you say three hours, so I made sure they were finished before then. They’re not thrilled with either of us right now.”
“Uh,” Steve replied, blinking in surprise. That was probably the most they’d ever said to each other. “Thanks, man.”
“Yeah, sure,” Eddie told him, watching him warily. Steve wasn’t sure what Eddie thought he was going to do, here. “Thanks for bringing them by. I was glad that they found a way to make the campaign continue today. Being here is… not my ideal weekend.”
“They didn’t give me much choice,” Steve said after a second. He thought about asking what Eddie was doing in New Haven of all places, but he stopped himself at the last second. “They’re pretty stubborn.”
“Don’t I know it,” Eddie grinned, shaking his head. He’d relaxed a little when Steve didn’t lash out at him, and it helped Steve to relax in turn. This conversation was the strangest thing to happen to him in months. “Still, you didn’t have to. So thanks.”
“I didn’t do it for you,” Steve said before he really considered his words. It wasn’t what he’d meant to say, really… but he couldn’t take it back. Eddie’s shoulders hunched up, and his small smile disappeared. “I just…”
“It’s fine,” Eddie said, turning to look over his shoulder. “They’ll be out any minute, if you want to wait in your car.”
The door shut in Steve’s face before he could reply, and he let out a quiet groan of frustration at himself for being so… so awkward. He didn’t know how he’d managed to befriend Jonathan Byers of all people, but he couldn’t have a normal conversation with Eddie Munson.
He didn’t say a word about the failed conversation when the kids finally climbed back into the car, and none of them brought it up, either. He did catch Dustin watching him occasionally, though, and he didn’t like the look of contemplation on his face. That was the look that meant Dustin had a plan. Dustin’s plans never ended well for Steve.
A fair maiden spins the tale of a pure-hearted bard…
Steve had started to visit Robin on the evenings she worked the closing shift at Family Video, because there was about an hour after he got off that she was still working there. Sometimes he’d stand up by the counter and talk with her. Sometimes he’d watch her work with customers and reminisce on when it had been his job, too. Sometimes he’d jump in and help her stack movies, which she was always grateful for. The one thing all of these days had in common was that it was just the two of them, just like old times.
Steve was not expecting to walk into Family Video on a Thursday night and see Eddie Munson in the bright green vest behind the counter. The look on Eddie’s face told Steve that he was just as unexpected. They stood there staring at each other, Eddie behind the counter and Steve just inside the door, until Robin’s voice snapped them out of it.
“Munson, where did you put the new arrivals? I was going to shelve them, but I can’t find them,” she called from somewhere in the back. Eddie’s eyes snapped away from Steve, and Steve felt himself let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
“They’re up here!” Eddie shouted back. “I brought them up to make sure the barcodes work!”
“Great!” Robin called. A few seconds later, she appeared from the back. As soon as she saw Steve, her face lit up. “Harrington! Great, you can help me figure out what genre these are.”
“That’s not my job, anymore,” he reminded her with a little smirk. “But I’d be happy to watch you figure it out.”
“You’re such a shit,” she told him fondly. He dodged her hand when she reached up to ruffle his hair, already laughing quietly. He’d forgotten all about Eddie Munson being there until he cleared his throat nervously. When Steve looked over at him, he was glancing between him and Robin with a strange expression on his face.
“What, uh,” he started, but then he stopped himself. Robin stared at him expectantly, but his eyes were on Steve when he finally continued. “What brings you here, Harrington? Looking for something specific?”
Robin glanced between them once before her lips twitched up into a half smirk. “Steve here is the love of my life. He came to save me from boredom. I forgot to warn him that I wouldn’t be alone tonight.” She tossed an arm around Steve’s shoulders, having to stand on her toes to do it.
“You two are…?” Eddie asked, gesturing between them with a little frown. Robin started to nod, but Steve cut her off before he could really think about it.
“No,” he told Eddie, frowning a little. “Does it matter?”
“Steve,” Robin hissed, her face flushed. He remembered too late that the two of them were supposedly dating to the rest of the town, and he could feel the blood draining from his face. He really hadn’t meant to screw that up so badly.
“Huh,” was all Eddie said. Before Steve could come up with a way to fix it, Eddie had disappeared into the back.
As soon as he was out of sight, Robin smacked him as hard as she could in the chest. It didn’t really hurt him, but she had to shake her hand out right after. “What the hell was that? Now what are we going to do?”
“I’m sorry,” he told her quietly, reaching for her hand. She let him take it, but she squeezed his hand so tightly that he worried she’d bruise it. “He just… gets under my skin.”
“He said a whole two words to you,” she pointed out angrily. He let her drag him along as she started to pace, never letting go of his hand. “He asked one question, and you let that get under your skin?”
“I-” he started, but she cut him off.
“Eddie is actually a pretty cool guy,” she informed him, turning to glare up at him. “He’s only been working here for a couple of days, but he’s been great. You’re not usually like this, unless something is wrong. Is something wrong? Is there something I should be worrying about, other than potentially having to explain to my parents why I’ve been lying to them about dating you for months? Because if there is, you have to tell me. It’s best friend privilege to find out when things are wrong first, and I thought-”
Steve cut off the nervous rambling before she could work herself up too badly. “Nothing is wrong, Rob. I promise.”
“Okay. I don’t believe you, but okay,” she said after a second. She looked a little calmer after that, though. “But seriously, what are we going to do?”
Steve gave it some thought, but he didn’t like what he was coming up with. All he could think about was how the kids talked about Eddie like he was the greatest thing in the world. He knew for a fact that the kids were a good judge of character (not that he would ever tell them that he thought so), but he didn’t really want to have to trust Eddie Munson. Still…
“Look, the kids trust Eddie,” Steve sighed. “They talk about him all the time. I tend to believe the things that they tell me.”
“Mhm,” Robin agreed, watching him carefully. He ignored the strange look on her face and pressed on.
“I think we can trust him,” he finished. “We should just explain why we’re lying to everyone.”
“You want me to tell him my biggest secret?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. “I just met the guy two days ago.”
“No, I don’t want you to tell him your biggest secret,” he promised. He really didn’t want to share his best friend with anyone else. “We’ll tell him it’s easiest for both of us to avoid the expectations of others by ‘dating’ each other. We’re completely platonic, but we’ve been letting everyone assume otherwise.”
“Steve, we actively told my parents that we’re dating,” she pointed out. Her lips had twitched up into a smile. “I don’t think that lying to him will help our case.”
“Fine. What do you think we should do?” Steve asked. He wasn’t pouting. He wasn’t.
“I’m going to tell him the truth,” she said after a moment. “The whole truth. You said the kids trust him, and I know that you trust them. I trust you. That’s good enough for me.”
Steve opened his mouth, then closed it as he tried to come up with an argument for why that was a bad idea. Unfortunately, he had nothing. “What if he reacts badly?”
“We’ll deal with that if it happens,” she shrugged. She was openly smiling up at him now. He wasn’t sure what he’d done to get rid of her irritation, but he was glad that she wasn’t mad anymore. “Get out of here, Harrington. I’ll tell him all about it while we close up. Meet me for breakfast before your shift tomorrow.”
“Yeah… okay,” he agreed after a second. She shoved at him to get him to leave, and he did- after one last glance towards the back. Eddie wasn’t in sight.
“You’re jealous,” Robin announced as she slid into the booth across from him at the diner. He didn’t even glance up at her. “C’mon, admit it.”
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” he informed her. “And I don’t know why you want to have a conversation like this in public when we both know it’s going to end in an argument and thrown food. You’re going to get us kicked out and banned.”
“If they haven’t banned the kids for throwing fruit one too many times, they’re not going to ban us,” Robin pointed out with a grin. Steve rolled his eyes, finally looking up at her. His eyes narrowed when he saw her shit-eating grin aimed at him. “Eddie told me about your trip to New Haven.”
“When did you even-” Steve started, but Robin cut him off.
“Listen, those kids love you. You know that,” she told him. Her grin faded to a fond smile, and she reached over to squeeze his arm. “Just because they have a new older friend doesn’t mean they’re replacing you.”
Steve felt himself tensing up, and he didn’t try to hide it from her. She knew him better than anyone else, other than maybe Dustin or Max. She’d see right through him. “I never thought they were trying to replace me, but thanks for putting that thought into my mind.”
“Uh huh,” she rolled her eyes. That fond smile stayed. “I’m not replacing you, either. Munson is cool, don’t get me wrong…”
“I don’t see-” Steve started, but Robin cut him off again.
“Munson is cool, but he’s no Steve Harrington. He’s not my best friend, and he never will be. That right belongs to you, Mister Too-Cool-To-Be-Insecure.”
“I’m not insecure,” Steve said immediately. He was aware that it was maybe proving her point, but he couldn’t help himself. “And I wasn’t worried about losing you, or the kids.”
“Sure,” Robin agreed. She gave his arm one more squeeze before shifting her attention down to her menu. He should leave it alone, and he knows it. Unfortunately, he couldn’t stop himself from being curious.
“How… how did he take the news?” Steve asked after a minute or two of silence. Robin’s eyes snapped up to his, and her small smile returned.
“He was fine with it,” she assured him. She glanced around the diner, making sure that nobody was listening in- even though nobody would have guessed what they might be talking about. “He… he said we’ve got a lot in common, actually.”
He really wasn’t sure what she meant, and she wouldn’t quite meet his eyes anymore. “Like… the same taste in women?”
“Something like that,” she said after a long pause. Her smile was too amused for his liking, so he looked down at the menu in front of him instead of watching her. “Don’t worry, okay? I’m still yours.”
With many daring rescues and heroic journeys…
Max didn’t hang out as much with the whole group as she used to. Steve started to notice her absence shortly after she returned home to her mother, but he wasn’t really worried about her. He’d checked on her mother every couple days during the two weeks he’d given her to get her shit together. She didn’t have an easy time of it, but she’d done exactly what he’d told her to do. She’d poured out the last of the alcohol in the house, and she hadn’t bought more. He’d witnessed her shaking through withdrawal, and he’d held her hair back more than once as she’d been sick from it. So he knew that Max wasn’t avoiding the group because of her mother.
Lucas had assured him a couple of times that the pair were still happily together. He was always smiling when Steve was around, and always talking about Max regardless of what conversation topic might be going on around him. So he knew that it wasn’t anything to do with avoiding Lucas.
Dustin was the one who mentioned that none of them had found Max at her trailer, lately. They’d been talking about who all needed a ride to the arcade, and Steve had just casually asked if he should swing by Max’s trailer. Dustin rolled his eyes and huffed, but wouldn’t explain himself until Steve bribed him with extra quarters. (He was worried, okay?)
“She’s never home,” Dustin grumbled. “I don’t know where she goes, but every time I’ve gone over with Lucas, she’s not there. Her mom doesn’t like us much, so she won’t tell us where to find her. I just know that if you don’t radio her first, she won’t be there.”
That was how Steve found himself driving over to the trailer park after his shift on a Tuesday afternoon. Max’s mom’s car was in the driveway, so he parked on the street. He was glad to see that she was home; he’d been meaning to check in on her. She didn’t really like him, but she’d gotten used to seeing him around. She was a lot more pleasant now that he’d helped her through some of her worst days than she had been when he’d very first spoken to her about the drinking. Well… sometimes she was. Sometimes she lashed out at him for things that weren’t his fault.
She answered the door fairly quickly, and the pleasant smile she’d been wearing disappeared the moment she saw Steve. “What do you want?”
“Nice to see you, too,” he told her sarcastically. He could see that she was resisting the urge to roll her eyes, and it gave him a little bit of satisfaction. (Maybe he’d never really forgiven her for putting Max in danger. Maybe he never would.)
“Didn’t say that,” she grumbled. She stepped aside to let him in, though. The inside of the trailer was the cleanest that Steve had ever seen. There was no sign of anyone else being home. “If you’re here to check on me, you should know that I’ve kept my promise. I haven’t been drinking. I’ve been caring for my daughter.”
“Is she here?” Steve asked, getting right to the point. He was pretty sure he knew the answer; she would have come out to see him by now if she was there.
“No,” Susan replied, crossing her arms. “Is that all you wanted?”
“Where can I find her?” he asked, copying her stance. If she wanted to play it that way, he’d play. He wasn’t leaving until he figured out what was going on.
“She’s with a friend,” Susan shrugged. Her arms remained crossed, and her expression was completely closed off at that point. Steve had a sinking feeling that Susan didn’t know where her daughter was. Until… “She goes there while I’m at work. I don’t like leaving her here alone. She has nightmares, sometimes, and I think being in this place doesn’t help her any. I’ve only been home for about ten minutes, so I haven’t gone to get her yet.”
“You got her a babysitter?” Steve asked incredulously. “She’s fifteen.”
“Seems to me that you babysit several fifteen year olds, don’t you?” Susan pointed out casually. Steve only just managed not to flinch. “But no, that’s not what this is. He lives across the street, and she said he helped her when… when Neil showed up. She feels safe there, with him.”
The sinking feeling didn’t go away. “Munson?”
“Yeah, that’s it. Eddie Munson. You know him?” Susan asked, raising her eyebrows. “I suppose that you would. Max has told me that he’s a big influence on her little friends. Aren’t they the ones you babysit?”
“I’m going to go talk to her. I’ll send her home when we’re done,” Steve told her. He turned on his heel and headed for the door. He even managed to get the door closed before Susan could get out a parting shot.
Eddie’s van was in the driveway. Steve didn’t know how he’d missed it when he very first arrived, but there it was. He stood by his car for a full minute, just staring at the trailer in apprehension. Robin had made it very clear over the last several weeks that Eddie Munson was a good guy and Steve needed to pull his head out of his ass. The kids still hadn’t stopped talking about the guy’s campaigns. It should be perfectly easy to go knock on the guy’s door and ask for Max. He already knew she’d be happy to see him. So what was holding him back?
(“He’s a freak, Harrington. Did you see him staring at you? He’s always staring. Sometimes it’s you, sometimes it’s Chrissy… I caught him staring at Carol, once. Remember the black eye he had last week?”
“Are you sure he’s the only one staring?”
“Can’t help looking at the freak. There’s something so… unnatural about him.”)
It took him an extra thirty seconds when he reached the door to knock on it. He counted the seconds until the door was yanked open… sixty-seven. He could hear the sound of heavy metal music being turned down in another room as Eddie freaking Munson stared down at him from the doorway.
“Yes?” Eddie asked. His tone wasn’t as snappish as it had been the last time they’d spoken. Steve wasn’t sure if that was because he’d been having fun with Max just a few moments ago, or if it was because Robin had been saying just as many nice things about Steve to Eddie as she’d been saying about Eddie to Steve. He gave himself one fleeting moment to hope that it was the latter.
“Is Max around?” Steve asked, trying to keep his own voice light and not accusatory. He was glad that Max had a place she felt safe enough to go to when she didn’t feel safe in her own home. He was glad that Eddie was taking care of her when Steve couldn’t. It still left a bitter taste in his mouth that one of his kids didn’t tell him that she was having a hard time.
“Yeah,” Eddie replied after a second. “I’ve been keeping an eye on her. That okay with you, King Steve?”
Steve flinched at the old nickname, and Eddie gave him a surprised look that disappeared after only one second. “Look, man, I think we started off on the wrong page. I’m not… I’m not that guy anymore. I’m just Steve.”
“Uh huh,” Eddie said, raising his eyebrows. “But I’m still that same freak. I haven’t changed. So why do you expect me to believe that you have?”
“What, I can’t grow up after high school?” Steve shot back, crossing his arms. He needed to calm down. He wasn’t sure what it was about Munson that put him so on edge, but he needed to get over it. For the kids’ sake if nothing else. “You can believe me or not, that’s up to you. But I’m not going anywhere, and it’s looking like you aren’t, either. Wouldn’t it be better to get along, at least while the kids are around?”
“You really care about them, don’t you?” Eddie asked. His stance had softened a little, to Steve’s surprise. He didn’t look as angry as he had when he opened the door.
“Yeah,” Steve agreed without hesitation. “They’re my kids, you know? Of course I care about them. I’ve been keeping them alive, and the little shitheads occasionally return the favor.”
If Eddie hadn’t looked confused before, he certainly did now. His eyebrows were raised in disbelief. “Your kids… sure, Harrington. Because that makes sense.”
“Look, is Max here or not?” Steve sighed. “I told her mom I’d get her home after I talked to her, and we’re not exactly on good terms right now, so…”
“Yeah, I heard about that,” Eddie said carefully. He shifted the door to close it a little more, but he’d stepped closer. Shielding Max from whatever he was about to say, if Steve had to guess. “I guess I should be thankful that the great Steve Harrington showed up to save the day. I was less than a minute away from going over there myself, and I’m not exactly made for fighting.”
“You would have done just fine,” Steve shrugged. “There wasn’t much of a fight at all. They were surprised to see me, and Hopper showed up right after I did.”
“Hopper showed up because you got Max over here to call him. You had to go all the way in, get past the fighting parents, and get her out again. And from what I understand, you did it while carrying a fifteen-year-old who was sobbing into your shoulder. That’s not a small feat,” Eddie pointed out. Steve really wasn’t sure what he was trying to say, here.
“Yeah… okay, sure. What’s your point?” Steve asked. Eddie just raised his eyebrows. “Look, anyone would have done it. You said yourself that you were about to do it. I don’t see what the big deal is.”
“Those kids idolize you,” Eddie told him suddenly, watching him intently. Steve couldn’t read the look in his eyes. “They talk about you every time they hang around with me. Dustin turned one of my side characters into you.”
“... What?” Steve asked.
“Yeah, man,” Eddie continued as though he hadn’t just rocked Steve’s entire worldview. “It’s to the point that I know more about you now than I did when we saw each other every day at school. Not that I pretended to know anything about the great King Steve, but… you know.”
“Yeah, I know,” Steve replied. And he did. “They talk about you, too. I can’t say I ever knew much about Eddie ‘the freak’ Munson, but I feel like I do now. Or at least… I know all about your nerdy games.”
“Campaigns,” Eddie corrected automatically. He was actually smiling now. Steve felt his own smile forming in return. “Alright, Harrington. I see your point. Neither of us is planning on going anywhere, so we might as well make an effort to get along. So… friends?”
Eddie held out his hand, and Steve just looked down at it for a few seconds. Apparently he hesitated long enough that Eddie had started to second-guess himself. He started to pull his hand back, and Steve quickly reached up to grab it. “Friends,” he echoed. As soon as they’d let go of each other’s hands, the door was yanked open.
“It’s about time you two losers start getting along,” Max grumbled, shouldering her way around Eddie. Steve watched her hesitate for a second on the top step before giving Eddie the quickest hug known to man. He looked stunned for a few seconds before he schooled his expression into something normal. “Come on, Steve, I’m hungry.”
“What, Munson doesn’t feed you?” Steve asked, glancing up to give Eddie a warm smile. It was returned hesitantly. “Fine, I’ll take you for food. But then you have to go home. I really don’t feel like arguing with your mom again.”
They made it all the way to Steve’s car before he looked back over at the trailer, only to see that Eddie was still watching them. He lifted his hand into a small wave, and Eddie waved back. Steve was smiling when he backed out of the driveway, and he didn’t think very hard about what was making him happy.
Until all that was left was…
The thing was, Steve remembered quite a bit about Eddie Munson from high school. He knew that Eddie was supposed to graduate the year before him, but ended up being held back. He knew that Eddie’s parents had kicked him out for some reason, and he lived with his uncle in an old trailer. He knew that Eddie had never dated anyone at Hawkins High- or if he had, it had been a well-kept secret.
He knew what everyone used to say about Eddie, too. Tommy used to love speculating about Eddie ‘the freak’ Munson whenever he was in earshot, and Steve… Steve had never tried to stop him, whether he disagreed with what was being said or not. He’d stood by and watched and listened as all of his ‘friends’ had torn Eddie down in the hallway every single day.
He’d watched as Eddie Munson braced himself for the insults and possible injuries every single morning when he walked through the hallway to his locker. He’d watched different guys taunt and jeer at him, watched that hunted look grow on Eddie’s face every single day, and he’d done nothing at all. In some ways, they treated Eddie worse than they’d treated Jonathan.
If he’d learned anything over the last few years, it was that Jonathan didn’t deserve to be treated that way. He was a better guy than any of Steve’s old friends had ever been, and he was a better guy than Steve could ever hope to be. That was why he’d finally gotten over Nancy choosing Jonathan over him. Jonathan deserved that happiness. Steve hadn’t earned it. He hadn’t treated either of them right. He knew that.
(It still stung every time he saw Nancy smiling at Jonathan like he hung the moon. He still made his excuses to leave every time she started laughing at something Jonathan had said or done. He would probably never fully be over the love that he’d felt for her. He knew that Jonathan knew it, but neither of them were willing to talk about it.)
If he could acknowledge that Jonathan was such a good guy, it stood to reason that Eddie probably wasn’t anything like what the assholes from high school used to say about him. It helped that the people he spent the most time with never shut up about him anymore.
He’d listened to Dustin talk about how Eddie had given him advice on what to give Suzie for her birthday for thirty minutes last week without interrupting him. He’d listened to Robin talk about the advice Eddie had given her on what to say to find out if Vickie (the girl Steve had spent days trying to convince Robin to just ask out, because obviously she was interested) was really into her or just treating her like a friend. He’d listened to Max spend an entire lunch talking about how Eddie had braided her hair and given her a few records to listen to when her trailer got too quiet during the day.
That last straw was Jonathan. It was supposed to be a rare night at the Byers residence when it would just be Steve and Jonathan until pretty late. Jonathan had offered to rent a couple of movies if Steve agreed to cook dinner. Steve had the pasta almost completely finished when Jonathan finally got back, and he wasn’t alone. Steve had just turned to greet him when he saw Eddie freaking Munson following him through the door. His mouth snapped closed, but he managed to keep the frown off of his face.
“Hey man, Eddie was just getting off his shift and I thought it’d be nice for us to have another guy friend. He’s only staying for one movie. Did you happen to make extra food?” Jonathan asked, leaning in the kitchen doorway. Eddie stood behind him, shifting his weight awkwardly and avoiding Steve’s gaze.
“Yeah, sure,” Steve said quietly. His voice was steady, which was good. He wasn’t sure what would have happened if his voice had been too loud or too shaky. Jonathan gave him a happy little nod and went to put whichever movie he’d chosen in. It would be fine, he was sure. After all, they’d agreed to be friendly for the kids. One movie night wasn’t going to hurt anything. They could do this. He felt better the more he thought like that.
“Listen, I can go,” Eddie said, stepping into the kitchen. Steve couldn’t quite read the expression on his face. “Jonathan said you’d be okay with this, but…”
“Nah man, it’s fine,” Steve said quickly. “Make yourself at home. I’ll get out an extra plate. The more the merrier.”
Eddie didn’t look convinced at all, but he wasn’t questioning it. He gave a short nod and turned to leave the kitchen, but Steve stopped him before he even realized what he was doing. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” Eddie said, sounding more guarded than Steve would have liked. “I’m an open book.”
“Why did you let them walk all over you, in school?” Steve asked, leaning back against the counter. Eddie regarded him coolly, and his confidence faltered. He hadn’t meant to ask that question to begin with. They’d been getting along just fine… why did he have to bring up bad memories? “I just mean… I know you pack one hell of a punch, man. I’ll never forget the two black eyes Tommy had after he went too far in our junior year. You could have put a stop to it any time, but you didn’t.”
“Why didn’t you?” Eddie shot back, crossing his arms. “The great King Steve could have made them stop at any time, but you just watched it all happen.”
“I never joined in,” Steve pointed out, but he knew how flimsy that was. It was something he questioned himself about every single day. Why did he let things go so far? Why did he never speak up, until it was Nancy? What made him suddenly start caring?
“That’s supposed to make me feel better? You never stopped it, but hey! At least you never joined in,” Eddie snorted. His stance softened immediately after, and all the fight seemed to bleed out of him. Maybe he was remembering that they were supposed to be getting along, or maybe he was just tired. “I could handle whatever accusations and insults they threw at me. The shit they said to me was nothing compared to the shit my own parents had said to me before they kicked me out. But just because I could handle it doesn’t mean that whoever they would have targeted next could have. Sure, I could have put a stop to them messing with me, but I was never going to be able to stop them from going after whoever was next on the list of ‘freaks’. It’s not like you were going to take a stand.”
“I couldn’t,” Steve told him, looking down for a few seconds. It’s the same thing he told himself every time these thoughts plagued him. The same excuses that never worked on his own mind. “Do you think I liked listening to them lay into whoever they decided was beneath us that day? Or that I bought into the things that Tommy said or did?”
“Well, yeah,” Eddie shrugged. “Didn’t you?”
“No,” Steve said firmly. “I wouldn’t be friends with Jonathan now if I believed the shit they used to say about him, would I? As much as it sucks, we all had a part to play in high school. Tommy really is that shitty, but I… I was expected to be a certain way, and deviating from that path wasn’t an option for me.”
“Because you were scared?” Eddie asked. It was almost a taunt; Steve was pretty sure it had started out as one, but the look on Eddie’s face now was just sheer curiosity.
“Because the moment that I did change who I was, I lost everything,” Steve informed him, crossing his own arms. He hadn’t necessarily meant to mirror Eddie’s posture, but he felt defensive and he needed a way to ground himself in the moment.
“You seem just the same to me,” Eddie said after a few seconds, but he didn’t seem as sure anymore. “Still as high and mighty as ever, King Steve.”
“Stop calling me that,” Steve snapped, anger surging inside of him. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that I’m not that person anymore before you get it through your thick skull! King Steve was a shitty persona that was created in an attempt to make someone proud who never cared in the first place!”
“Whoa,” Eddie said quietly, holding his hands up in surrender. “Shit, okay. Message received. No more joking about your status.”
“Is it?” Steve asked, forcing himself to relax. It was hard to make himself calm down, but the last thing he wanted was to get into a shouting match. “Are you finally done blaming me for the things that we can’t change now?”
“Yeah,” Eddie said after a few seconds. “For the record, I understand what you mean about having to play a part. I tried it for a while myself, before I got held back the first time. I’m not an idiot, you know? School work doesn’t come easy to me, but I’m not dumb. My parents just didn’t get that. Uncle Wayne does.”
Steve nodded, finally starting to feel like they might be on equal ground. He wasn’t really sure what to say, though. He knew all about shitty parents, but he didn’t think that Eddie wanted someone to commiserate with. He seemed perfectly happy as he was, content to be himself no matter what it cost. Steve was infinitely jealous of that.
“What about you, though?” Eddie asked. Steve gave him a questioning look, and Eddie’s lips twitched up into a half smile. “Are you done blaming yourself for the things you can’t change?”
“That’s… complicated,” Steve said carefully. The truth was, there were some things that he would never forgive himself for. He was happy with the person that he was becoming, but he would never be proud of the person he had once been. He would never look back at his time in high school fondly. He’d never have a good memory of time spent with his parents. He couldn’t even look back at his relationship with Nancy without cringing, because he’d been trying so hard to be anyone other than himself.
“Because from what I can tell, Steve Harrington, the person you are now isn’t half bad,” Eddie continued softly. “You were a grade-a asshole in high school, there’s no denying that. But look at you now.”
“What about me now?” Steve challenged. Eddie’s half smile lifted into a full one. “I’m just… me.”
“Yeah, you are,” Eddie agreed. “You’re the Steve who ran into the trailer of two fighting adults with a known history of violence to save a teenaged girl. You’re the Steve who drops everything to drive a bunch of kids to New Haven because they’re excited to play a game that you don’t even like or understand. You’re the Steve who carries around a full first aid kit because you spend all your time around kids who keep getting themselves into trouble. You’re the Steve who goes out of his way to make sure that Jonathan’s little brother is comfortable and happy in his surroundings, because you know he’s been through hell and you want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“How-” Steve started, his eyes wide in surprise.
“When I told you those kids talk about you all the time, I wasn’t kidding,” Eddie shrugged. “Some of that was shit they told me, and some was my own observations. You can’t tell me that I was wrong about any of it.”
“You weren’t,” Steve confirmed. “But that doesn’t make up for what I used to be.”
“I never said it did,” Eddie nodded. “You can’t make up for that. It’s done, it can’t be changed. You’re doing a damn good job of being a better person, though. I think you deserve a little forgiveness. So…”
“I’m sorry,” Steve said quietly, recognizing where the conversation was headed. He hadn’t realized how badly he needed to talk this through until it was happening. Who would have thought it would have come from Eddie Munson, of all people? But he and Jonathan were best at pretending it had never happened, and he knew that to bring it up would mean lots of awkwardness and probably avoiding each other for days afterwards. At least with Eddie, the avoidance would just be because they didn’t have a reason to see each other.
“I forgive you,” Eddie assured him. His smile had turned almost fond, and he held out his hand for the second time since they’d known each other. This time, Steve didn’t hesitate to take it. “Now, what’s for dinner? I’m starving!”
They didn’t talk about it again for the rest of the evening, and it was never brought up when they saw each other around town afterward. The very next time they ran into each other, though, their eyes met and they shared a small smile of understanding before moving on with their lives.
The end.
(Or is it?)