[ getting back to things is easier than it should be, with how everything has changed. with how they all didn’t come home. dustin has barely left his home, the government is still crawling through hawkins like the city itself has turned into a lab, and yet aspects of the town just. keeps going. like how he and robin had gotten the call two days after the “earthquake” asking if they were leaving town or if they could in.
turns out everyone who wasn’t mass-high tailing it out of hawkins really needed entertainment, and what better than the movies? between that and the rest of the staff leaving town, steve and robin have been working pretty consistently, and honestly? steve is kind of appreciative of it. it gives him something to do, something to keep busy, something to get him to think about anything else other than what he’s been thinking about. the gates, the failed mission, max, eddie. steve feels like he’s been sick for days, with how his thoughts can’t quite stop, how he can’t quite sleep.
he’s at work when it happens - when the door opens and the bell chimes and he and robin stop whatever conversation they were having to greet whatever customer and-
steve’s heart stops as eddie munson walks through the door.
the store closes after that, shuffling them all back into the back room, and steve just kind of watches. robin offers water, mentions how everyone has to know, how she can’t believe how this is possible, and steve feels a bit like he hasn’t quite caught up.
eddie is alive. eddie is alive and here. eddie looks like shit, like he literally just climbed back out of the gate, blood still caked on his clothes, covered in dust and grit and whatever else is in the air of the upside down. and he looks like shit, gaunt and off and wrong but he’s here and steve almost can’t believe it. can’t take his eyes off of him for more than a second because he’s not sure he’ll still be there when he looks back.
robin says something about going to get the kids and steve should be more worried that the only car she has access to is his but she looks at him and says watch eddie and steve feels relieved, more than anything else, that he doesn’t have to leave.
as the bell chimes and the door locks and robin is gone, steve turns to eddie expecting to say something. anything. dude or this is insane or what the fuck? but before he can say a single thing, eddie is on him. faster than he has any right to be, really, but steve’s not even thinking about that. instead, he’s thinking about how familiar this is - eddie shoving him back against a wall, eddie twitchy and a little shaky, eddie close and threatening (somehow even now) - but also very, very different. like how eddie’s mouth is on his neck, how cold he feels where he’s holding steve’s bicep. ]
The fuck, man? [ did he just say he was hungry? right as he pressed his tongue to steve’s throat? he tries to shove back against him, hands curling over eddie’s shoulders, but even as he pushes back he finds eddie a solid wall. powerful, strong, unnaturally so.
steve’s heart rate spikes, but he’s not afraid. not really, somehow. it’s just- he doesn’t know what’s going on. ] We might uh- we have snacks. At the register. [ his fingers curl into the fabric of eddie’s jacket, unable to get leverage to push him off. somehow, he ends up leaning his head back against the wall, subconsciously giving eddie more of his neck, or maybe just trying to look across the room. ] We can get something there- shit.
no subject
turns out everyone who wasn’t mass-high tailing it out of hawkins really needed entertainment, and what better than the movies? between that and the rest of the staff leaving town, steve and robin have been working pretty consistently, and honestly? steve is kind of appreciative of it. it gives him something to do, something to keep busy, something to get him to think about anything else other than what he’s been thinking about. the gates, the failed mission, max, eddie. steve feels like he’s been sick for days, with how his thoughts can’t quite stop, how he can’t quite sleep.
he’s at work when it happens - when the door opens and the bell chimes and he and robin stop whatever conversation they were having to greet whatever customer and-
steve’s heart stops as eddie munson walks through the door.
the store closes after that, shuffling them all back into the back room, and steve just kind of watches. robin offers water, mentions how everyone has to know, how she can’t believe how this is possible, and steve feels a bit like he hasn’t quite caught up.
eddie is alive. eddie is alive and here. eddie looks like shit, like he literally just climbed back out of the gate, blood still caked on his clothes, covered in dust and grit and whatever else is in the air of the upside down. and he looks like shit, gaunt and off and wrong but he’s here and steve almost can’t believe it. can’t take his eyes off of him for more than a second because he’s not sure he’ll still be there when he looks back.
robin says something about going to get the kids and steve should be more worried that the only car she has access to is his but she looks at him and says watch eddie and steve feels relieved, more than anything else, that he doesn’t have to leave.
as the bell chimes and the door locks and robin is gone, steve turns to eddie expecting to say something. anything. dude or this is insane or what the fuck? but before he can say a single thing, eddie is on him. faster than he has any right to be, really, but steve’s not even thinking about that. instead, he’s thinking about how familiar this is - eddie shoving him back against a wall, eddie twitchy and a little shaky, eddie close and threatening (somehow even now) - but also very, very different. like how eddie’s mouth is on his neck, how cold he feels where he’s holding steve’s bicep. ]
The fuck, man? [ did he just say he was hungry? right as he pressed his tongue to steve’s throat? he tries to shove back against him, hands curling over eddie’s shoulders, but even as he pushes back he finds eddie a solid wall. powerful, strong, unnaturally so.
steve’s heart rate spikes, but he’s not afraid. not really, somehow. it’s just- he doesn’t know what’s going on. ] We might uh- we have snacks. At the register. [ his fingers curl into the fabric of eddie’s jacket, unable to get leverage to push him off. somehow, he ends up leaning his head back against the wall, subconsciously giving eddie more of his neck, or maybe just trying to look across the room. ] We can get something there- shit.