Chapter Text
In the last six months, Eddie ‘the freak’ Munson wouldn’t have even considered in his wildest nightmares, the hell he’d endure at the hands of the jocks of Hawkins high, the police who were meant to serve and protect (okay, maybe he could believe the bullshit they put him through) and of course let’s not forget the hellscape that is – or is it now was? He’s lost all track of time – the upside down. From Vecna to the demobats that used him as their own personal chew toy. But hey, at least he didn’t run this time... right?
So, he didn’t run; but fuck, he motherfucking died. Sure, looking back it was pretty metal to be munched on by demobats but when you’re lying there in Dustin Henderson’s arms you realise – dying really isn’t as metal as he’d once thought it to be. He’d planned to sacrifice himself from the minute he found out about the upside down; how the monsters were responsible for Chrissy’s death. He was never going to be a hero, cutting the rope and buying the guy’s more time; it was a selfish act. What was the point of coming out of the upside down alive? No matter what way you swung it, Eddie Munson will forever be branded a murderer, regardless of his, quite clear, innocence.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to live per-say, it was more that there was no point. He was down to his last few quarters in the game of life and really, why not just bow out now? There wasn’t some grand prize waiting for him at the next turn. College? He was a 20-year-old high school senior, you do the math because he sure as hell can’t, maybe math was invented by Vecna. A wife, 2.5 kids and a white picket fence? He would like everyone who personally believed he’d one day marry a beautiful woman to tell him what about his personality gave them that impression so he could change it, immediately. He was without a doubt, extremely gay. Always had been and always will be. The closest he’d ever get to kids is co-parenting Wheeler, Sinclair, and Henderson with King Steve; just the thought of it brought butterflies to nest underneath every single damn bat bite – but that’s not going to happen.
Not after the high and mighty King left him to rot in the vines and otherworldly dirt that felt like glass on his skin as he lay there, looking into Dustin’s eyes saying his last words. He died mere seconds after that.
Death, in its entirety, was pretty chill. Blackness and nothing else. Sure, there was no decent music, or even thoughts but it was nice; it was quiet. Until it wasn’t. Until he woke up, no longer in the darkness but very much in the fluorescent lighting of a morgue. It should have bothered him, generally speaking, that no one shat their pants at him surging up right on the cold metallic slab. To be honest, it was as if they were expecting it. Which, in hindsight, they probably were.
They’d found him two days after he died when they finally managed to trek through the hellscape. Turns out, he still had life in him, but it was described as Sleeping Beauty or Snow White. Suspended animation. They couldn’t transport him to the lab or the hospital since there were still murder charges against him. Once he woke up, they were ready to issue the statement, but another month had to pass with him being kept in everything from the morgue, the basement of Hawkins lab and even the abandoned floor of the hospital that still had the destruction from the Mindflayer attacks. This was, of course, due to the absolute shit show that erupted the day he woke up. Vecna wasn’t dead, hell descended upon the town and all he could think of was the fact he couldn’t help. Now he was alive, the pain from the bat bites were unbearable. The heroes of his Hellfire club were out there saving Hawkins once again and he was lying in a bed surrounded by the aftermath of a previous otherworldly attack. Of course, there was also King Steve.
Steve ‘the hair’ Harrington, King Steve, babysitter extraordinaire, Steve ‘I’m actually bisexual Munson’ Harrington.
Yeah, that last one was new. As in, two days before he died new. It’s all Eddie’s fault actually and as much as he would love to sit there and say he regrets it and that it was just an ‘we could die literally at any minute so let’s just kiss and fuck before we do’ kind of thing; it most definitely wasn’t. Actually, scratch that; it was all Dustin’s fault. He was the one that wouldn’t stop droning on about how amazing Steve was and apparently, he was droning onto Steve about how cool Eddie was so in hindsight, they were both pretty jealous of each other. Then jealously turned into mentally circling each other like dogs, then to Eddie throwing Steve against the wall with a broken bottle to his throat, which he still replays in his mind just due to the hitch in Steve’s breathing and eyes dilating. He doesn't wear a black handkerchief in his back left pocket for nothing. Then came what Eddie likes to call ‘Ozzy-gate’. The moment all the blood in his body rushed, firmly, south as he watched Steve bite the head off a demobat.
Then Nancy had to ruin it by flirting with Steve, so Eddie threw his vest at Steve to break that shit show up. Something in the younger man’s eyes, that he couldn’t quite place, made him think that he wasn’t actively going to join in the flirting. Once they exited the Upside Down to sleep, re-group and talk strategies, Eddie was the one to drag Steve into the bathroom to get him cleaned up. Nancy had done a great job bandaging him up with what little she had but Eddie wanted to make sure he was okay, wanted to do it properly. That’s when it happened.