Chapter Text
Nothing really shocked Eddie, he wasn’t the type of person who let life worry him. He was alive and breathing, a roof over his head and he was grateful for it. His life choices were looked down on, the way he dressed, being held back in school twice, his music choices, the company he kept around him in the form of three friends and a small handful of fifteen year olds and of course his side gig of selling drugs to other students at Hawkins High.
He could have said no, he could have sent Chrissy away and told her not to come back, but the sight of the sad girl had pulled at something inside of him that made him want to help. He understood what it was like to not sleep for days on end, he knew that sometimes drugs could help him relax so why not offer the same relief to her.
He had double booked himself, forgetting that he had told Steve to meet him at his trailer for his usual weekly weed pick up but it was too late to back out now. He hadn’t spent much time with Steve, they only shared an awkward exchange every time they met up, passing drugs and money between them in silence before Steve would disappear again. He would have to just deal with both Steve Harrington and Chrissy Cunningham in his trailer at the same time, the two forces of Hawkins High, even if Steve had graduated. It was a strange sight even for him to admit, a cheerleader stood in his living room and Steve Harrington dressed in a pair of too tight jeans awkwardly making conversation with the nervous girl, small laughs falling from her at his terrible jokes, even she wasn’t immune to the Harrington charm.
It had happened fast after he had exited his room, rambling something towards the two as he waved a small baggy around in his hand, and the next thing he knew he was laid on the kitchen floor, a hysterical Steve Harrington clinging to his chest as they watched Chrissy float into the air, her bones snapping and her eyes disappearing as they uselessly watched.
“Oh my god, what the fuck is that!” Steve screamed out, his voice pulling Eddie back down to earth with a flying crash.
Eddie moved fast after that, his hands pulling Steve up, he would have laughed at no other than Steve Harrington being pulled around like a rag doll under any other circumstances. He barely batted an eyelid when Steve all but hid his face against his neck, quickly moving them out of the trailer and out to his van.
“Steve, you need to stop screaming man” he said, his own voice sounding hysterical to his ears, the unintelligible shouting still falling from Steve, “Harrington!” he shouted, silence washing over them as the loud shout shocked the boy into a frozen silence, the only sound was their heavy breathing.
He reached down and untangled Steves fingers from where they had tangled into the material of his tshirt before manhandling him into the van, quickly slamming the door shut before he started his frenzy again. Taking a deep breathe he stared at the trailer before snapping out of it, running around to the other side of the van before he was driving away.
He had made it 15 minutes into driving without speaking, with no idea where he was heading and potentially kidnapping Steve Harrington while fleeing a crime scene. “What the hell was that, man?” he spoke into the tense silence, the sound of his voice making a terrified shout fall from Steve, “Sorry” he muttered, falling back into silence.
This wasn’t the plan for his night, he had just wanted to kick back with a beer and a joint or two before falling asleep, maybe even waking up to do it all over again the next day. But here he was, pulling up to his suppliers empty house in the middle of shit fuck no where, pulling Steve inside with him.
“Who’s house is this?” Steve asked, his eyes wide as he looked around at the dusty house, jumping away from a spiders web as he all but screamed, startling Eddie.
“Whats wrong? What happened?” Eddie shouted, rushing over to him, watching him flailing around.
“Theres a spider on me!” Steve shouted back at him.
Eddie stared at him, having expected a repeat of the trailer incident, but instead Steve Harrington was in a panic, trying to get away from a spider crawling across his shoulder.
“Fuck, stay still” he sighed out, reaching out to flick the bug away before brushing the cobwebs away from his hair, ignoring Steves protests about touching his famous locks.
“Seriously man? You almost gave me a heart attack because of a fucking spider,” he said with an exasperated laugh.
“They have eight legs,” Steve hissed back, falling over his feet as Eddie responded by grabbing his arm, jumping away from another cobweb as they moved through the house , practically plastering himself to Eddies side. His drug dealer, leading him through an abandoned house and flicking spiders away like they were nothing.
“Just sit down,” Eddie said as they entered one of the bedrooms, watching Steve eye the bed suspiciously before letting out a loud sigh, “If i check for spiders will you chill out?” he said as he moved towards the bed before the other boy could respond, pulling the sheets back to shake them. Once he had declared the area to be bug free, he watched Steve fall down onto the bed, his eyes darting around the dark room.
“We need to talk about what the fuck just happened, Harrington” Eddie said, sitting down on a chair in the corner, dragging a hand over his face. “Any ideas floating around in that head of yours?” he asked, watching Steve muttering to himself, waiting patiently for his eyes to roll back and his bones to snap as he watched him worriedly.
“Maybe the gate is open, no no El closed that, there wasn’t any demogorgons, Dustin will know,” Steve muttered to himself, patting his pockets in the hopes that the walkie Dustin had forced onto him last year had magically made its way from the back of his closet into his jeans pocket.
“What the fuck is a demogorgon?” Eddie said, staring at Steve patting at his pockets, “Im sorry Harrington, did you lose something? Are you about to start floating infront of me, give me a warning to try and hold you down atleast” he said with a dry laugh as he raised an eyebrow.
“Dustin” was the only response he got from the boy before he was falling silent again, his eyes back to the same glazed over stare that he had on the drive over. “Dustin? What does he have to do with this? Dude you really need to start speaking in sentences, i know you’re in shock but fuck you’re confusing and worrying me,” he breathed out, falling back against the chair and closed his eyes.
“Theres another world under Hawkins, it has these huge creatures and a mind flayer that we killed in the mall last year” Steve spoke out, watching Eddies eyes snap open.
Eddie was laughing, tears in his eyes from the force of it when Steve had finished telling him about the last few years of his life, about how he and a group of kids had managed to take on whatever a demogorgon is, how they had watched the mind flayer kill Billy Hargrove asif he wasn’t supposed to know what that was and everything in between.
“Stop fucking with me, man” he finally breathed out, looking at Steves face that was unnaturally calm given the situation and story he had just spilled out between them. “Wait, you’re being serious?” he said with a laugh, falling silent when he just nodded in response.
“Did you name those things after D&D-“ he cut off when he felt a hard kick to his shin, Steve muttering something about a nerd game.