Chapter Text
It was already 12:30 am and Steve was drunker than he should've been but that's never stopped him before. It's been a bad night, the night before had been full of night terrors, and clutching the vest he has yet to return, and the rest being paranoid and sleep-deprived. Robin had asked if he was alright at work and he lied to her, he feels bad but he would rather do that then have her worry, have anyone worry. They had all been through so much he dosen't want to burden them with his own issues. He started drinking as soon as he got home, first a beer but it has now escalated to finishing half a bottle of vodka. It usually isn't this bad, just drinking till he passed out but it's not working this time, sitting on the floor, leaning his back against the kitchen cabinet. It's dark, the power went out when a bad storm came through. Maybe that's why he can't sleep, and maybe that's why he can't hear knocking on the door or someone climbing through a window he forgot to lock.
"Steve?" He gets startled out of his thoughts and frantically tries to stand, getting up too fast causes him to drop the bottle that explodes all over the kitchen floor and loses his balance, falling on his hands and knees, glass digging into his skin and the burn of the alcohol. He brings his hands around his torso and curls into himself, he's crying and there's hands lifting him to his feet and pulling his hands away from him. Who is it, what is it? He can't see but he can feel it gently lead him up the stairs and into the nearest bathroom. He's being sat on the edge of the tub and against the wall to his side. There's light now, being shined down onto him, he can see his hands and knees, shards of glass and blood dripping down from them, he can see a shape, and a hand being pressed against his cheek, wiping a tear away. The hands are rough and he can see a tattoo on the person's forearm. Bats... "Eddie?" He asks, the person's hand now moving his face towards the others.
"Hey, Steve? What were you doing? God, what the fuck, you're drunk, why didn't you call me?!? How much have you had to drink?!" Too many questions Steve thinks, he doesn't answer just gasping when he's being pushed into the tub and being drenched with barely warm water. He can feel Eddie pulling pieces of glass out of his knees, it doesn't hurt too bad, he's just staring at Eddie while water is running down his face. Eddie looks angry, he's speaking and his voice is getting a little loud but Steve has no idea what he's saying. Eddie has moved to his hands, being rougher this time. Steve is speaking now, saying sorry like a kid who just got caught making a huge mess. He can't help it, he feels like his dad is yelling at him again when steve got into his work papers when he was a kid. "I'm sorry, I promise I didn't mean to".
" Enough crying, Steve. I'll give you something to cry about soon" he can hear his father say. He's pulling his hands back, trying to get away, he doesn't want to get hit again, he's raising his voice "IM SORRY, PLEASE DON'T" there's hands on his shoulders. There's a voice again.
"STEVE, calm down, I'm not gonna hurt you, come on just breathe, you're okay, it's okay" he's being pulled into a hug, it's tight but not enough to feel suffocating, it's pleasant. He's sobbing at this point, grabbing onto eddies arm like it's a lifeline. Eddies whispering in his ear telling him it's okay and nothing's going to hurt him. It works in calming him down enough for Eddie to finish pulling the glass out of steves hand and finding some gauze to cover his hands and knees. Helping him stand up Eddie lets Steve lean on him, soaking his clothes in the process.
"Shit I didn't even think about your clothes, sorry man."
"It's okay" Steve slurs trying to push himself to stand up on his own, ultimately failing.
"Do you mind if I undress you? I don't want you sleeping in wet clothes, dude"
"You trying to undress me, eds?" Steve is grinning, trying to seem flirty but it comes off as a little pathetic and they both know it but neither of them says anything. But there he is letting Eddie strip him in his own bathroom and grabbing the towel off the wall to wrap around his waist. He let him lead him to his room and grab the baggiest sweatshirt he owns and a pair of shorts.
"Seems like you don't know how to dress a man, Munson" he laughs to himself when he looks in the mirror, he looks back at Eddie who was now undressing and grabbing clothes from his closet. A blush rose to his face though if anyone was to ask he would've said it was the alcohol. He's full-on staring now, looking at all of the tattoos that fall across eddies back, he's thinking so hard he doesn't notice Eddie has now moved to be in front of him till he's speaking. "What?"
"I said how much have you had to drink, Steve"
Oh, how much has he had? A few bottles of beer maybe? He can't remember. "I don't know uh.. What? Maybe a couple of beers? I uh"
"Jesus man, I caught you with a half bottle of vodka, and you're saying you only had a couple of beers?"
"Yeah?" He's being moved and pushed down on the bed.
"You need to sleep this shit off, I'm not gonna be surprised if you're still buzzed in the morning" he starts walking out the door when steve asks where he's going. "To clean up the mess you made downstairs just go to sleep"
"Promise me you'll come back"
"What?"
"Promise me"
"Yeah man, whatever I promise I'll be back"
And he keeps that promise, he's back within ten minutes and Steve is still where he is, watching the door when Eddie walks back in.
"Jeez Harrington, did you sit there this whole time?"
"Yeah" it's faint but it's still heard over the rain. Eddies next to him in seconds, pushing him to lay down and Steve complies. Eddie stands up straight with his hands on his waist looking around.
"What am I gonna do with you, Stevie"
"Sleep with me"
"Huh?" Eddie is starting at him now, Steve feels squeamish under his gaze
"I mean, what did you even come over for?" He's starting back at him, and now Eddie starts to feel squeamish.
"I...well, the power went out and my uncle isn't home and I wanted to make sure you were okay because... I don't know man, I just came here, do I need a reason to come see you?"
"You wanted to come to see me?"
"Yeah man, Robin called earlier and told me you looked like shit and I just wanted to check on you. I was.. We were worried." Steve has his head down, fumbling with the wrap-around of his hands before Eddie is sitting on the edge of his bed and grabbing his wrist.
"Why were you drinking anyway, you have work tomorrow don't you?"
"No, I'm off.. And I just needed something I guess."
"Scoot over"
"What?"
"I said scoot, man" Eddie gets under the covers with him and they're sitting next to each other, Eddie is staring at him and Steve can't meet his eyes. "Tell me what happened" Steve can't, his lip is quivering and he's trying to keep his breathing leveled. "Steve" Eddie has his hands on him again, pulling him into the second hug he's had that night and just lets Steve cry on him, running his hands through serves hair telling him to just let it out and it'll be okay. He doesn't deserve it, Steve thinks, none of it, nothing that has been given to him by his friends, he was a horrible person and yet they treat him like family, and it makes him cry harder. So they sit there for what feels like an eternity with Steve clutching onto Eddie like a child does to a stuffed animal after a nightmare. "You feel any better, sweetheart?" Eddie says against Steve's head, he's rubbing circles with his thumb on serves waist. It's comforting, and Steve just about melts. "Yeah, I'm sorry for crying on you," he says, voice hoarse from crying. "Don't apologize, Steven, don't ever apologize for this, got it?" His voice is stern but sweet and Steve just nods. "Do you want me to get you anything?" Steve shakes his head "can we just sleep?" "Of course, darling" it feels nice to be like this, to be with him, being taken care of. Eddie is sliding down into the bed, pulling Steve with him. Steve misses the feeling of eddies arms around him and he almost whimpers at it. Steve is facing Eddie and Eddie is bushing a piece of steves hair behind his ears. " can you, can you hold me, please?" Steves's voice is barely audible but Eddie heard him clearly. Pulling steve into his chest and wrapped his arms around serves torso, rubbing circles into his back. "We'll talk about things in the morning, alright sweetheart. Just get some sleep" Eddie is placing a kiss on steves forehead and pulling him in closer. He doesn't remember when he fell asleep but it was nice being comforted for a change.