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It’s late, Steve’s sat upright in his bed, waist covered by his duvet but it’s not warm like it should be. Sometimes when Steve’s alone in the house he grew up in, no matter what he does, it’s cold. Not the kind of cold you can get rid of by putting on the heating and snuggling up by the fire. It’s the type of cold which comes from the house being so empty, so dark and lonely, with hardly any warm memories in to keep it feeling cosy.
Steve gets up out of bed, he puts on his warmest pyjama pants and grabs the blanket off his desk chair and heads for his car.
This has become routine for Steve when he can’t take being in his house alone any longer. Since Vecna it happens a lot more frequently, this little ritual of his isn’t just him going to sleep in the backseat of his car -where although it’s physically cold it’s warm in all the right ways- it couldn’t just be that, no, if Steve’s in his car he might as well drive.
He grabs his keys from the bowl on the way out the front door. He plonks himself down in the driver's seat tossing the blanket in the back. The first stop on the Harrington late night drive, the Henderson household.
Dustin is always the first one Steve checks on, on nights like these not because he’s the most vulnerable -lord knows he’s more capable than Steve sometimes- but because Steve’s soft spot for him always wins out. He knows the Wheelers and the Sinclairs live closer and it would be easier to check them first but Dustin is like the annoying little brother he always wanted but never got.
When Steve pulls up to the curb outside the Henderson home all the lights are off as expected. Miss Henderson’s car is parked neatly in the drive, Mews II sleeping comfortably on the roof. They're fine. Just as they should be, even so, Steve waits a little while out front.
The next stop after Steve is content with just how much nothing is going on in Dustin’s home, is to Robin Buckley.
Steve makes his way slowly to Robins, she’s definitely asleep by now, can never make it past midnight when she sleeps over.
On his way Steve winds down his window letting the late summer air whip around him as he drives, the night air is cool on his skin keeping him alert and awake even through the tiredness that's creeping in.
When he pulls up outside the Buckley’s bungalow nothing is out of the ordinary, he had kind of hoped it wouldn’t be, not that he wants something supernatural to be happening, he just wished Robin was awake so he could knock on her window and chat shit all night long but she’s not and that would definitely wake her parents.
So again that leaves Steve in his car surveying Robin’s home to make sure everything’s in order and that she too is safe and sound sleeping in her own bed.
Steve sits and watches her sleeping home until he’s satisfied that nothing is going to change out of the blue and starts up his car again.
Steve's next stop is the Sinclairs which also means the Wheelers as they live next door to each other.
Doubling back on himself from Robin’s is quick, there’s nothing on the roads at this time of night in Hawkins, bar the odd sixteen wheeler that rattles down Main Street.
Steve pulls up at the curb between the Sinclair and Wheeler homes. The Sinclair home is shrouded in darkness just as Dustin’s had been, nobody’s awake at half one in the morning, good.
The Wheeler’s would be in full darkness too if it wasn’t for the light coming from the living room window, Steve knows it’s probably Ted passed out on the couch. He'd snuck passed him enough times in his sophomore year to know that, but still, he pulls up closer just to check.
He can’t really see in the window from across the lawn but from what he can see the TV is on, playing something that looks like a shopping channel and Ted’s Lazyboy it’s fully reclined. Everything is normal, they're all safe and sleeping.
Steve’s trip out isn’t over just yet though he still has one more place to go before he finds a quiet spot by the woods to park up for the night.
Forest Hill is his final stop. It’s the farthest from his house and the closest to his usual spot in the woods. So Max is his final ward he checks.
The drive from the Wheelers to Forest Hills goes as uneventful as the rest of his drive, though the cold is now nipping at Steve’s bare arms so he cranks his window closed to get the car warm before he sleeps.
Pulling up through the gravel road to Max's home is loud in the stark stillness of the trailer park.
Steve scans the few trailers he can see making sure he’s not woken anyone driving up, Max's trailer is completely dark only being illuminated by the streetlight across the road -the one that’s right outside the trailer opposite, Eddie’s trailer- he waits a minute just to make sure he’s not woken max or her mother up.
Then he waits a bit more, looking over at Eddie’s trailer, there are no lights on either and Steve doesn’t spot Wayne’s truck out front, so it’s just Eddie in there Steve thinks and waits a little longer looking at Eddie’s sleeping home just because he can.
But it’s not sleeping for very long. As his eyes scan the only side of the trailer he can see from the middle of the road a light flips on, in what Steve knows is the living room.
Shit. Something is wrong, why else would Eddie get up at, Steve spots the clock on his dash, gone two am.
Eddie swings open his front door and looks at Steve’s car through tired squinting eyes, he makes a ‘what’ gesture with his arms and shakes his head. Steve just sits confused in his car.
After a moment of nothing but them staring across at each other Eddie throws up his hand and makes his way, barefoot, across the grass and gravel to Steve's passenger side window. Knocking on the window he hunches down to see through it.
Steve’s stuck in a bit of a stupor just watching Eddie like he's going to scold him for being out so late and when Eddie motions for him to roll the window down he does, leaning over the passenger seat and rolling it down as fast he can from the weird angle.
“What are you doing sitting in the middle of the road at-“ Eddie then glances at Steve’s dashboard clock, “-two in the morning, Steve?” Eddie asks, voice tired like he’d just been sleeping, which he must have been, Steve mentally scolds himself for waking Eddie.
“I- err- I couldn’t sleep in my house so I thought I’d go for a drive,” Steve mumbles, not entirely the truth but not a lie either.
“So you're here because-“ Eddie’s sarcastic tone evaporates as he leans on the open window of Steve’s car, eyes catching the trailer in front of him, his voice softens, “because you're checking on Max.” He says with a small tired smile on his face.
Steve flushes, he's hit the nail, pretty much, right on the head. “Yeah… Well, all of them actually.” He corrects.
Eddie laughs quietly through his nose, still smiling lightly at Steve. “So where to next? Buckley’s for a sleepover?”
Steve shakes his head, “no, I already checked on her.” He laughs a little at himself, he must sound deranged checking on people in the middle of the night.
“so, home then?” Eddie says through a yawn.
Steve shakes his head again, quickly this time like it will shake the thought of sleeping in his own house out of his head, “no, I was just gonna-“ he trails off pointing to his backseat with his head.
Eddie’s eyebrows jump and then set into a crease in the middle of his forehead, his smile gone when he asks, “you were gonna sleep in your backseat?”
Steve brushes the question off with, “ yeah, I’ve done it before, a couple times.” A couple of times which is probably somewhere in the low twenties by now.
Eddie eyes up Steve’s backseats and the lowly blanket that sits there half in the footwell. “That can’t be comfortable.” He says, sounds like it was more to himself than to Steve.
Steve replies anyway, “I’ve slept in worse places.” He tries to laugh but it comes out a little like self pity.
Eddie’s frown deepens, “I’m not letting you sleep back there, man, you can take my couch.” Eddie points over his shoulder with his thumb toward the trailer.
Steve’s eyebrows jump this time, “really?” He asks, Eddie’s couch really would be heavenly compared to his backseat.
Then Eddie sighs, “no.” Dragging his hand down his face as he says it.
Steve’s about to amend that is fine and he’s perfectly content sleeping in his car when Eddie speaks again.
“Wayne will be home soon an’,” Eddie huffs, “we can share my bed, come on,” he says as he straightens up, slapping the roof of Steve’s car lightly and turns to head inside. Before he reaches the steps up to the porch he adds, “you better park up before you come in through, don’t want anyone dinging your car now do we.”
Steve sits in his car for a moment wondering if he really should take Eddie up on the offer but then Steve realises he’s not stupid and he’s not going to turn down a bed -that’s not his own- in favour of a stiff neck and cram in his legs. And Apparently, Eddie’s not taking any protest on this, so Steve does as he’s told and parks his car next to Eddie’s van.
When Steve makes his way to Eddie’s front door he’s not sure if he’s allowed to just walk in so he timidly raps on the door and waits.
Eddie opens the door seconds later with a bemused look on his face, though he steps aside to let Steve in.
When the door is closed Eddie sceptically looks Steve up and down, “your wearing pyjamas.”
Steve tills his head at Eddie, “yeaaaah?”
Eddie shrugs, “just didn’t think you were a pyjamas guy.” He says turning around and heading for his bedroom.
What exactly is he supposed to wear when he plans to sleep in the back of his beemer? He thinks but still follows close behind Eddie into his room. Steve can’t help himself from commenting on Eddie's attire as they walk though, “least I’m wearing pants.” He says to Eddie’s back.
Eddie stops and turns just inside the threshold of his room, Steve still on the other side, “I wasn’t exactly expecting company, Harrington.” Eddie says with a sly look on his face.
Steve stops dead in front of Eddie and presses his mouth into a harsh line, “right, sorry.” He breaths.
Eddie’s face then softens, “I’m just teasing, Harrington, come on.” He says ushering Steve into his room.
Eddie then goes to get back in bed but stops short of touching his mattress. “I’m gonna get you your own blanket,” he says, stalking out of his room to the cupboard just outside it, “Gareth tells me I’m a blanket hog, so.” He shouts from the hall, Steve imagines he ends his sentence with a shrug. Returning with a thick fuzzy red blanket he presents it to Steve like it’s a sword to a king, “for you, my league.”
Steve huffs a laugh and takes the blanket from Eddie, “thanks.” He smiles.
Eddie then climbs into bed snuggling himself up in his covers and Steve tentatively does the same on the opposite side, back to back with Eddie.
After a beat of silence, Steve shuffles around so he’s facing Eddie’s back and whispers “Eddie?”
Eddie hums sleepily in reply.
“Thanks for letting me sleep here, I’ll try not to wake you up next time.” Steve whispers to the back of Eddie’s head.
Eddie then noisily and with a lot of jostling turns so he’s face to face with Steve, “it’s fine Steve, but there’s gotta be no next time.”
Steve’s brows draw together, how could Eddie tell him not to check that the people he cares about are safe? “I have to, I’d never get to sleep if I didn't know that everyone was okay, Eddie.”
Eddie’s face goes slack, “no, I didn’t mean-, I meant you can’t sleep in your car, Steve. Next time don’t sit in the road and wake me up with your engine. Just knock, doesn’t matter what time or whatever, man. I don’t want to think about you sleeping all cramped up in your car.”
Steve’s not sure what to say, it’s not like he and Eddie are really that close so he says, “you don’t have to do that, I'm fine with the car.”
Eddie shakes his head, “no, I do. And besides, I enjoy the company.” Steve can see Eddie’s smile even in the dim moonlight of his room.
“You're serious?”
“As a heart attack.”
Steve smiles too, “okay, thanks… again.”
Eddie breathes deep, closing his eyes and says, “Now sleep.”
Steve tries. Closing his eyes just like Eddie but his brain won’t shut up. Something about being here in Eddie’s home is cosy, unlike his own house. It feels actually lived in and warm in the same way his car does but better, even if the memories that are keeping it that way aren’t his own.
Here, in Eddie’s bed Steve, for the first time tonight, feels safe like being bundled up in Eddie’s red blanket on his cheap mattress is the most comfortable he’s ever felt. That’s what Steve falls asleep to the thoughts of; Eddie’s toasty trailer.
The thought that this place that he’s never slept in before is more home than his own house ever has been.