iris. - steddie

09. sympathy

tuesday march 22, 1986

eddie genuinely hadn't gotten out of bed once since the night before.

he was somewhere on the line between being asleep and being zoned out, he couldn't tell.

all he knew was the sudden banging on the door of his trailer caught him off guard.

eddie pulled himself up, walking over to the door. he expected it to maybe be the people who lived beside him complaining about the volume level of his music last night, or his uncle getting home later than normal.

but no, on the other side stood dustin and all of his friends that were fellow hellfire members.

dustin normally wouldn't go to eddie's trailer, but he didn't show up to their hellfire meeting after school today.

and that was concerning.

even on days eddie skipped school, he still showed up after classes ended to play dnd.

so, dustin had asked around and max said eddie lived in the same trailer park she did.

and here they were, outside his front door.

when he opened the door, all of the kids looked at him in surprise.

eddie looked like a mess.

dark circles rested under his eyes, which were still a little red from crying. his hair was messed up more than usual, and the knuckles on his right hand were forming bruises and had faint dried blood on them.

'holy shit eddie, what happened to you?' mike said from behind dustin, eddie clearly not in the mood.

'mike!' will said in a whisper-yell, flicking him in the side of the head.

dustin just looked from eddie's beaten-up hand back to his face. did he fight someone?

'uh.. are you okay eddie?' dustin said, he was definitely concerned at this point.

'fine. what'd you want?' he replied with a yawn, trying to convince the rest of them he was just tired.

'you didn't show up for hellfire today, and you always show up for dnd.' lucas added.

'fuck.' eddie said, rubbing his face with his left hand. 'i'm sorry, i just— slept in.'

none of them believed that, but it was obvious he didn't want to tell them the real reason.

'..okay, well.. have you seen steve or robin since monday? neither of them were at school,' dustin said, looking back up at the older one.

eddie's expression immediately faltered at the mention of steve's name, will noticing the face he made all too well but keeping quiet.

'st— steve didn't show up?'

'yeah, i called his house during lunch and robin picked up, just saying that steve wouldn't be able to drive us home so we'd have to bike today.'

that only made eddie feel worse. steve obviously felt bad and it was because of him.

he shook his head. 'no, i haven't seen them.'

'oh. well, are you coming to dnd tommorow?' dustin said, sounding hopeful.

there was no way eddie'd want to upset this kid again, he biked down to his trailer to check on him when he didn't show up to their club.

'yeah. yeah, i'll be there tommorow.' he nodded, dustin immediately smiling.

the rest of them gave eachother little high-fives, going back and getting on their bikes.

but, will stayed behind.

eddie was slightly surprised, considering outside of dnd he tended to be the quieter one.

'..what happened with steve?' will said, looking at the older one with a knowing look.

'what'd you mean?' eddie replied, trying to act like the kid hadn't just seen though him completely.

'you made a face. when dustin said his name.' will knew from experience that face. the look of knowing the mention of a person's name hurt but not being able to say why it did.

eddie had no clue how the byers kid knew.

'i— nothing happened.'

will's eyes burned through his skin, but he nodded.

'okay.' he started to walk off, but stopped.

'if something did happen,' the younger one started, a sympathetic tone in his voice. 'i'm the one who knows how you feel.'

eddie's eyebrows raised a little. did he mean what he thinks he meant?

'oh— okay, thanks.' he managed to spit out, shutting the door as will got on his bike with the rest of the kids.

he leaned his head back against the door, letting out a heavy breath. he had to apologize to steve.

when they were on the phone on monday, eddie had written down the number steve called from in case.

so, he dialed the number and after a minute or so of ringing, the phone picked up.

'hello?' it was definitely not steve.

'robin?' eddie said, fidgeting with his rings.

'eddie?' she said, sounding surprised.

'yeah, yeah-' he said, leaning his head against the wall. 'is steve there?'

robin was surprised he even called.

'he's in the shower,' she said, pausing for a second. sure, she wasn't great friends with eddie, but from how steve told her, he was really upset. 'are you okay?'

eddie was taken aback by the question, that sure seemed to be a popular topic today.

'fine.' he said, feeling like he was just repeating himself from his conversation with dustin.

'..he told you, didn't he?' eddie added, knowing the answer already.

'yeah.' robin said, she could hear the masked hurt in the older one's voice.

'shit,' eddie cursed in a whisper, moving the phone away from his face and covering the microphone as he took a shaky breath.

he brought the phone back to his ear, hearing robin again.

'i think you should talk to him.'

eddie didn't reply, squeezing his eyes shut as he nodded a little.

'is he— is steve okay?' he said, robin feeling her heart twist at the absolute worry that was in eddie's tone.

'he's okay, eddie. whatever happened yesterday wasn't your fault, he's just.. overwhelmed.'

robin said comfortingly, him immediately feeling a huge weight lifted off his shoulders. steve wasn't disgusted by him. holy shit.

'i should probably go, if steve finds out i told you this shit he'd probably disown me.' she said, getting a laugh from eddie.

'hey, robin?'

'yeah?'

'thank you.'