Chapter Text
Six months had passed since Vecna attacked, six months of somewhat steady normality, and yet everyone was still seemingly on edge. The Byers returned to California in late April to collect their belongings and settle back in at Hawkins. Joyce claimed California never felt ‘right’, yet Will knew it was because of Hopper and their blossoming relationship.
After all of the murders and the Upside Down, Eddie had to deal with 3 months of police inquiries and being judged publicly, not to uncommonly a blatant hate crime here and there too, and ‘his year’ quickly went down the drain when he was deemed incapable of doing his final exams, yet again being held back for another year. He attended counselling twice a week, not that it helped at all, and often spent most of his days outside his house, trying not to think of what happened back in March.
Everything else continued as usual as the others tried to put their minds at ease: Vecna was gone. End of story - he isn’t coming back.
It was a quiet shift at Family Video, only one person had come in since opening and it was nearing 2 o’clock now. Robin had taken it upon herself to fill the empty hours with teasing Steve over and over, something she did quite often and took great pleasure in.
“Y'know what? I can feel it: the next girl who walks through that door. You’re gonna sweep her off her feet and go flying off into the sunset.” Robin was perched on the counter in front of Steve, making sarcastic puppy dog eyes at him as he tried to busy himself with reorganizing a pile of tapes.
“We are not-” Steve stopped to rephrase himself, “I told you, I don’t want to start another relationship with a girl that w-” Robin jumped in,
“Then what about a guy, huh?” Steve turned to her, dumbfounded, “Don’t think I didn’t see those googly eyes you and Eddie had going on in the Upside Down, Steve. I saw everything. ”
“Those weren’t ‘googly eyes’ Robin, they were just,” Steve rubbed his eyes in exasperation (how much longer was she going to keep this up for?), “He saved my life, okay? Yeah, of course I was gonna be shocked, so excuse me if my eyes somewhat dilated at the sight of him.”
Steve cast his mind back six months to their final fight against Vecna, when he, Eddie, Robin, Nancy and Dustin all tried to take down the monster together while those in Hawkins waited for Eleven.
The five of them had trapped themselves in an empty warehouse in an attempt to lure out Vecna through attacking numerous vines connected to the hive mind all at once. The plan had gone wrong, and now Robin and Nancy were fighting off a hoard of Demobats, Vecna’s clock ticking away in the back of each of their minds.
Eddie was clutching a half-unconscious Steve in his arms, desperately trying to tighten the bandage around his body to stop his bleeding,
“Stay with me, man, just stay with me. I’ve got you, Harrington,” he kept whispering, and yet all Steve could focus on was his stupid hankerchief tied around his head like some bizarre fashion statement. Steve reached up to take the hideous accessory off his head, but in the exact same moment the ladies were overwhelmed, a barrage of Demobats streaming towards the two of them.
Eddie didn’t waste a second, clutching Steve’s nailed bat automatically, standing up and swinging it around as if it was the deadliest weapon ever. He always insisted he was never a hero in real life, and purely a coward, and yet here he was, determination written all over his face as he defended all of those around him. And then? Well Steve couldn’t remember that far, he’d passed out from blood loss moments after the Demobats overwhelmed the group.
Robin muttered a quick ‘not buying it’ to herself, a smug smile flashing over her features, before getting up and sweeping, glancing over at her friend every now and then to no avail: that man was a tough nut to crack.
Hopper came in later that day, approaching the counter cautiously as if he was going to break something.
“If you’re looking to rent out Back To The Future again, I’m sorry to say we’ve just hired out our last copy,” Robin smiled at Hopper, raising an eyebrow when he scanned the surrounding aisles with his eyes.
“Is…” He finally made eye contact with Robin, “Is Eddie here at all?” Robin stood up straight,
“I thought all of his police inquiries were sorted now? He was proven innocent.”
“No, no, this is about something else. Is he here?” He looked around once more. Robin knew she shouldn't pry but gave in anyway,
“First of all, no. Sorry, I haven’t seen him in ages,” She said, dragging out the ‘ages’, “Second of all, why do you need him anyway? Are you guys, like, buddies now or something?”
Steve poked his head around the corner of the office, he had been cleaning up the mess but overheard the commotion outside.
“Private business,” Hopper grunted, turning around to walk out again.
“I know where he might be,” Steve interjected, raising his hand like he was in class. Hopper nodded at him to continue as Steve approached the desk, “He regularly practises with his band at his friend, Gareth’s, house? Either that or he’s at Skull Rock, he kinda hides there now to get away from everyone.” Hopper smiled thankingly, leaving the shop to head out to find Eddie.
As the doorbell jingled when he left, Robin turned to Steve with a smirk on her face,
“And you know this, how?”
“Oh, shut up.” He pushed his hand into her face, forcing her back to her station as he walked back into the office. The shift finished uneventfully, but one thought couldn’t leave his mind the entire time: what does Hopper want with Eddie?
Robin plopped down into the passenger side of Steve’s car at the end of the shift, pulling her knees up to rest her head against, tapping her knees with impatience and boredom,
“Well that was horrible.”
“Pretty much,” Steve agreed, starting the engine and beginning to pull out into the road, “And the best part is that we get to do it all over again tomorrow.” He sarcastically cheered to himself, silently praying for a busy day.
“Wait,” Robin whispered at first, before repeating it as a shout and shaking Steve’s shoulder, pointing out the window with her free hand, “Stop, stop!” Steve did as she said, then stared at her like she had grown another head, brain not processing what she was trying to say until she was already crawling out of her seat, “If I’m gonna have a shit shift I may as well enjoy myself afterwards!” Steve stared out in the direction Robin was running in, mumbling something incoherent to himself before turning the car off again and following Robin across the parking lot to the Arcade.
The atmosphere inside was a stark contrast to that of Family Video; there were sweaty children on almost every game, shaking and yelling at each other as they wasted quarter after quarter on games they’d soon forget even playing. Robin pushed past a particularly entranced group of middle schoolers, one of them shoving her out of the way as she obscured his view of his friend’s game, calling her a foul word as she ran down to a free game in the back corner of the room.
Another curse followed, this time from a taller figure clad in leather and denim, their fist pounding the screen in frustration. Steve could recognize that outfit anywhere. Taking a glance towards Robin to make sure she was safe, he approached the person, tapping them on the shoulder when he was close enough. They spooked for a second at the contact before wheeling around to face him, a relieved sigh leaving their lips when they realized it was Steve,
“Thank God it’s just you, Harrington.” Eddie wiped a hand over his face, a tired look in his eyes.
“Who did you think it was? Hopper?” Eddie gave him a critical look at the mention of the officer’s name before turning back to the game, inserting another quarter into the coin slot,
“To be honest with you, I didn’t know. Kinda been on edge recently with the whole,” Eddie flapped his hands in front of him as if it would help him find the right words, “...’Stopping the end of the world but still being seen as a murderer’ thing.” Steve nodded to himself. In all honesty he hadn’t thought much about how everyone else would still see Eddie as the villain rather than the hero, and it wasn’t like he could correct them either, because who in their right mind would believe the mad ramblings about Demogorgons and Mind Flayers from The Steve Harrington?
“So which game is this?” Steve questioned, hoping to change the topic of the conversation for both their sakes. Eddie looked at him with confusion for a second before answering,
“This?” He tapped the top of the machine, “This bad boy is Dragon’s Lair, it's meant to be practically impossible to beat.”
“And is it?” Steve leaned over Eddie’s shoulder, trying to see what was happening on the screen, a bright light announcing ‘Game Over’ appeared seconds later. Eddie turned sideways, leaning against the machine with a passive-aggressive smile on his face, hand extended towards Steve, silently asking for a quarter, to which the latter obliged,
“What do you think, Harrington?” He muttered a quick ‘yes’ in response, taking a step back to give the other boy space to concentrate.
The two move into a comfortable silence after that, Eddie every now and then cursing as he is defeated time after time by a range of villains throughout the selection of fast-paced quick-battles thrown at him. Steve somewhat started to understand the hero’s plot at the start, but inevitably found his eyes drifting, his mind captivated by the wild expressions Eddie seemed to pull whenever he was in danger, his dark eyes widening whenever he lost, the way he’d bite his cheek to hide his smile when he knew he was about to win a round, and the way his hands dashed over the controls without even looking, like he knew exactly where to put them and had completely control of the situation. He found it entrancing that someone could be so confident and yet level-headed all at once, how someone could be working so hard and still look- He stopped himself, mentally scolding himself for even thinking of another guy like that, taking a note in his head that he needs a girlfriend, and soon; ‘I’m starting to lose it.’ Instead, he rips his eyes away, trying to focus on background objects or spot Robin in a last-ditch attempt to do anything but stare at his friend.
Eventually Eddie breaks the silence after losing again, leaning his back against the machine as if to claim it, glancing at Steve with his signature smile that just screams ‘I don’t care what anyone thinks of me’ ,
“So what brought you to the Arcade, huh? Didn’t really take you for a ‘wasting my life savings on video games’ kinda guy.”
“I’m stuck babysitting Robin,” he thumbed in the direction of her, “again.”
“Always the babysitter, huh?” Eddie smirked, eyes unreadable.
“Always.” He confirms, pausing for a second before popping the question that had been lying dormant in the back of his mind, “Hey, Munson?” Eddie looked at him expectantly, eyebrow quirked,
“Yeah?”
“Do you think I could,” He gestured to the machine, “have a go?”
Eddie’s smirk broke into a genuine smile, laughing to himself at the thought of Steve attempting Dragon’s Lair. Something lit up inside Steve in that moment, like someone trying to get their lighter to work, that brief warmth for a short moment filling him as he watched the other boy genuinely laugh for the first time in forever. He wasn’t sure what it was, but brushed it off and instead tried to push past him to reach the game controls, complaining when Eddie grabbed his wrists with an insistent ‘no’.
Eddie let go then glanced around for a second, eyes locking onto something on the other side of the room before dragging his unsuspecting company with him through a hoard of 12-year-olds. When they finally stopped Eddie jumped in front of him, shaking his hands like a child,
“Ta-da!” He cheered, stepping to the side of the machine so Steve could read the name of it on the screen. ‘Pac-Man’? He thought to himself, recognizing the name but not the game itself.
Upon seeing his expression, Eddie looked between the game and Steve, jaw dropping to the floor before gasping out,
“Don’t tell me you’ve never even played fucking Pac-Man?” his dark eyes widened with realization, “Have you seriously never lost your fucking Game Virginity yet, Harrington?” Steve’s hand quickly raised in disagreement,
“Firstly, please never call it that again,” he saw Eddie grin at this, “and second of all, what's the big deal? Is this like some- I dunno- Crazy game everyone’s mad about these days?”
Eddie took the opportunity to lecture the former about how ‘everyone and their cat’ knew how to play Pac-Man, or at least knew of it. His chatting just kept on going, not caring about how Steve kept on trying to play - and kept on dying - in the game, partly due to his terrible skill of actually surviving, and partly because he found his eyes unconsciously drifting towards Eddie’s lips as he spoke, much like when he decided to explain who Ozzy Osbourne was in the Upside Down.
Steve shook himself out of it quickly, slamming his palm down against the controls as he died again, pointing an accusing finger at his company, “You set me up. This shit’s impossible.”
Eddie looked Steve up and down before rolling his eyes and producing a quarter from his left pocket, muttering to himself as he inserted the coin then stepped up behind the latter,
“You’re causing me physical pain by failing this, Harrington, y’know that?” He joked, reaching forward and placing his own ringed hands over Steve’s that rested on the controls, “Now let’s beat this ‘impossible’ game, shall we?”
That warm feeling was back again, the split second of heat kindling inside of him. It only grew stronger as Eddie’s hands weaved over his own, moving like darts over the controls to avoid all of the ghosts chasing after them. Every few seconds the cold metal of his rings would make contact with his skin, every point of contact causing him to freeze up. It was a bizarre feeling, one that he had only experienced around a handful of people…
He shut down the idea immediately, mentally reassuring himself he was just annoyed that Eddie was poking fun at his terrible gaming skills.
After a few minutes the screen lit up with Victory, Steve left speechless for the second time in one day, and Eddie stepped back. He took a bow before him, his expression just screaming ‘I told you so’ , “No, no, don’t thank me.” He chirped, winking at Steve while his ego shattered. He went to retort but Eddie turned, ushering him over to a new game to see if he could do any better.
Needless to say, every game he played he seemed to be terrible at. At this point he was sure he must be cursed to never win at any game. The two of them continued to jump between games for a while, Eddie even giving in and letting Steve have a crack at his beloved ‘Dragon’s Lair’ (to which a barrage of foul language followed after the first round), eventually meeting back up with Robin at a game that Steve actually didn’t find too tough - albeit he still did horrible - called Dig Dug.
“Well if it isn’t the star gamer.” Robin teased, eyebrows quirking as a scowl made its way across Steve’s features, “Had enough of your winning streak, have you, King Steve?” His scowl deepened at the nickname.
“Your parents are gonna think you’re dead if we don’t get back soon,” He half-joked, trying to change the subject, no longer in the mood to lose any more games, and not doubting that if they waited too long it may come down to it. Robin groaned, pushing herself away from the machine and stretching her arms over her head. Steve turned and beckoned her to follow him out of the arcade, Eddie quickly following suit as not to be left behind.
“Hey, um,” Eddie called from a few meters behind the other two once outside, jogging to catch up with them, “Look, uh, we have a new Campaign in Hellfire Club coming up on Thursday, 4 o’clock? I was wondering if either of you wanted to come?” He immediately regretted asking as the two shared a confused glance, about to speak up to say to forget about it when Robin chirped a quick,
“I have nothing better to do, so why not? You, Steve?” The pressure was now on him. Usually, he wouldn’t hesitate to say No, much like the other times any of the kids tried to get him to be a substitute at the club, but for some reason something was different this time. The thought of watching the Kids and Eddie in their prime, doing something they truly enjoy sparked something inside of him. Reluctantly, he muttered an incomprehensible ‘sure’, Eddie raising an eyebrow and asking him to repeat it,
“I said ‘sure’ Munson, happy?” Eddie nodded in response, expression unreadable, standing for a moment before moving towards his van and saying his goodbyes to the two of them.
While neither Steve nor Robin thought much of the interaction, and in fact both almost forgot it had even happened, that singular ‘sure’ from Steve made Eddie’s heart jump, and the whole ride home he had his mind set on preparing to plan the most gruesome and bloodthirsty campaign yet.