When news of the Starcourt mall being rebuilt finally got around town there were a lot of mixed reactions. Some thought of it as disrespectful, or distasteful, for those that lost their lives in the tragic accident and others saw it as a means to replace a bad memory with better ones, so not shortly after the announcement did building begin and within a record time of only five months, Dr. Owen’s and his branch of the government were to thank for that speedy build no doubt, it was up and running once more which meant the return of Scoops Ahoy. Now the decision to work there and Family Video wasn't one Steve Harrington willingly decided on, but if it wasn't for his “emotional support lesbian” dragging him back there he probably wouldn't have even bothered reapplying. However, he would admit, more money meant he could finally finally leave his parents house. Not like they were ever there to begin with but having his own space was something he has wanted for awhile now, especially with the events that happened over last spring.
Vecna was gone. The gates were closed. Hawkins was once again a safe ordinarily boring ass town with only thing to worry about being "satanic cults" corrupting the youth. But even that was short lived and squashed down once Jim Hopper returned from the dead and took his place as Chief once more and those pesky murder charges were erased with the framing of Jason Carver. Wasn't hard to get this story to stick. His teammates saw how erratic he was. How unhinged and out of control he had become after hearing about Chrissy, so fabricating that he hunted Eddie Munson down and held him at gunpoint wasn't too far from the truth. Minus him fumbling into a gate after them and getting caught in a hoard of Demobats trying to escape of course, but not important.
Technicalities and miniscule details conveniently chosen to be left out by Hopper, the man who's been dealing with this kinda shit since '83.
So by the time the summer of '87 rolled around and things had finally started to look up for this town, it wasn't surprising that people were still talking badly about Eddie. What was a surprise to most people was Steve Harrington being hauled in by deputies for fighting on numerous occasions. Whenever anyone dared to bad mouth the metalhead, Steve was magically there to defend his honor despite the latter barely showing himself to the town anymore since graduating. Steve wasn't the only one, a few of the kids had gotten pulled into the principals office for the same thing; once or twice Nancy fucking Wheeler was one to be dragged in for actually breaking some woman’s nose at the super market for saying something not so nice about their friend.
It wasn't as if the metalhead completely cut everyone off, he would show up to their gathered events and get togethers but not as often as they would all like him to be. This was, after all, the first time Eddie had to deal with the events of an Upside Down episode while everyone else was on their fourth or third roundabout. So isolating himself wasn't exactly strange but with how close-nit this group was they would've much rather prefer to be there for him than know he's dealing with God knows what all on his own.
So maybe Nancy was in fact hiding a bit of information of her being in contact with the older teen more than any of them knew. Why Eddie chose her to confine in was a mystery even to himself but she never questioned it, and let him sneak into her place and cry for hours about everything. She didn't judge him, didn't make him feel weak; she never even questioned it when it slowly became routine for the two. His opinion on her during high school was thrown out the window the moment he saw her dawn that shotgun. She didn't ask questions or interrogate him about why he would show up, she would just let him in and lead him up to her room where she had tea ready. It was a friendship that Eddie never thought to have.
Sneaking up to a girl's room honestly was something Eddie never expected himself to be doing, especially the girl being Nancy Wheeler . Tonight of all nights was a hard one. He tried to sleep back at his place, a 'We're sorry an interdimensional demon from another world tore your trailer into pieces, here's a house now shut up.' gift. At least his bedroom was still in tack and he was able to pack it all up before the government came and demolished the entire thing. Silver linings or something his Uncle Wayne had said while they stayed in a hotel for a bit. So since he struggled with sleeping he frequently found himself here, again , in the bedroom of Nancy with a hot cup of tea in his hands just staring down into the liquid.
"You're more fidgety than usual tonight," her voice broke the silence finally. "Was it another nightmare? How bad this time?"
Eddie scoffed with a shrug doubled with an eye roll. "Detective Nancy strikes again everyone."
It was Nancy’s turn to roll her eyes now, lightly shoving him with a small smile. "Eddie. I'm serious, was it bad?" Nancy could see how his shoulders tensed, how his hands gripped the mug too tight and shook. His leg bouncing and his teeth chewing at his bottom lip. She reached out to squeeze his knee, smiling softly when he looked up at her. "How bad this time?" She asked again, her voice softer.
"I-I…," he cleared his throat trying to hide how his voice cracked. He shifted next to her, fidgeting with his rings as he stared down into the mug. "It was like I could actually feel it this time, you know? Like I was really there, back in the Upside Down, but I wasn't myself? I was something else. Something horrible. As if those bats did something when they tore-," he took in a shuddered breath, swallowing hard, twisting one of his rings around. "I felt his body go cold as I drained the blood from him, Nance. I wake up with the taste of blood in my mouth, with how it felt to shred into his skin. I-I-..."
Nancy grabbed both their mugs, setting them on the nightstand and pulled the older male closer, squeezing his hands tightly with both of hers. "Listen Eddie, you know as well as I do that that place is gone. Forever. El locked it up. We defeated Vecna and everything the Upside Down threw at us. No gates will open again, no creature is coming back out to ruin our lives. You're breathing and alive, and so is Steve ."
"Yeah, but what if I wasn't meant to survive Nance? What if- what if that bat attack was supposed to like, kill me or I was supposed to be some creepy vampire servant thing to Vecna? Like Kas in the actual lore of D&D." Eddie was shaking even more now as he met her gaze, tears bubbling at the corner of his eyes. "Why am I the only one-"
"You're not the only one." She cut him off immediately, but her tone was still gentle as it always was. "We all have these nightmares. Hey, don't scoff at me, I do have them."
"The badass gunslinger Nancy Wheeler has nightmares? You walked into that creepy house with literal guns blazing and shot the fucker up. How?" Eddie sounded so pathetic.
"The visions he showed me, Eds. They are still as vivid as the day I had them. They're more gruesome and just-," she swallowed, shaking her head, hugging him tight. This was about him, not her own nightmares. "My point is, we all struggle, Eddie, but we have each other to lean on. Like I've explained before, we all help out. It's why I offered my place to you six months ago when I found you on the porch breaking down. No one should go through this alone. No one. I'm not saying it's going to go away but it makes it easier to handle if there's others that went through what you did around you to keep you grounded. Trauma bonding I think Robin called it at one point."
Eddie knows she's right. Knew she was right. She was always right. He just didn't want to seem weak and frail in front of everyone else.
Especially not to Steve.
"You know I will always offer my place, always, but we miss you. We miss that stupid smile and that contagious laughter. The kids miss their dungeon master." Nancy smiled, rubbing his back.
Eddie chuckled lightly, smiling. "Nancy my my, you know the terminology?"
"What? Did Mike never tell you I dressed up for their campaign once?" She smirked at him.
The older male laughed, a genuine smile on his face now. "That's the best, oh my God. Really?"
"Yeah yeah, then I got too old for his dumb stuff, dating and whatever, but I still remember some things." She moved to sit beside him, bumping their shoulders together and holding his hand. "So, tomorrow, why don't you join Jonathan and I? We're heading to the mall."
Eddie pondered on the offer, reaching for his mug again to swirl around the contents a few times before taking a small sip. He needed to stop hiding. Stop running. These people who risked their lives to get him home, to make sure he stayed alive and cleared his name deserved the real him, not this scared boy who’s taken residents within himself. He owed it to the kids to not hide away anymore. Maybe if he showed himself Dustin would stop calling his house every hour. Wayne would appreciate that. He did miss Steve.
“Alright.”
Nancy raised an eyebrow to him, waiting for him to continue.
“What time are we going to the mall tomorrow?”
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Steve never thought he'd ever be walking back into this building again let alone dawning this ridiculous uniform and the atrocious hat once more. The memories of that summer hit him like a truck when he looked at himself in the mirror of his bathroom this morning. And much like last time, those god awful shorts were too tight for him. He wanted to personally punch whoever decided to make these because clearly they didn't take into account of people having muscles or whatever. The shorts were suffocating and whenever he lifted his arms up the shirt would ride up, clearly not long enough. It was humiliating.
He promised Robin he would give this a week, if it proved to be a nightmare like last time he was quitting and sticking with Family Video. She was the only reason he accepted the job in the first place, something about how they owed Scoops Ahoy for their budding friendship or whatever. And yes, that dumb ice cream shop did give him the best friend he could have ever ask for while drizzling trauma on top of nearly being beaten to death by fucking Russians. If he ever hears another Russian transmission he might drown himself in Lover's Lake.
Just the thought of that lake alone could bring up other memories he'd much rather ignore, but considering his body still dawned scars from being dragged into Watergate it was hard to forget let alone ignore . For a long while after the events of last spring, he wore makeup to cover the one on his neck, or even turtlenecks until a few breakdowns due to the influence of California weed he finally just stopped hiding it all together.
Now ignoring the stares and whispers got easier as time went on, coming up with stories of how he got the scars was always a fun thing. After a while he just stopped explaining, much like how he stopped going on random pointless dates with girls whose names he never remembered. It all seemed meaningless once you've saved the world for like the fifth time and all you could brag about was being the king of Hawkins High. It was barely even a footnote in the grand scheme of everything.
He couldn't actually brag about his achievements, his accomplishments; the reason why he isn't this huge douchebag anymore no matter how badly he wanted people to see him. The real him; not some image he has to slap on to make sure he doesn't ruin what the Harrington's worked so hard on to mold him into. A persona he couldn’t stomach to follow through with anymore. Nancy was right about one thing when they were dating, it was all just bullshit. Utter bullshit. Dustin was right too, none of that high school shit even mattered; hell, he knew that more than ever now.
Steve's best friend was Robin Buckley, a girl he wouldn't have hung out with in school and the mere thought of that made him sick to his stomach. He loved Robin so much and picturing his life without the hyperactive spaz was something he'd rather not do. Everyone who came into his life means the world to him now. Without having just one of them made his life incomplete.
Those six, sometimes seven if Erica graces them with her presence , nuggets changed his entire life for the better. Dustin Henderson the most, the little shit was like a brother to him. Is a brother to him. He'd kill a thousand demodogs for that butthead. Max Mayfield, damn that kid had fire; not only was she brave enough to stand up to that freak Vecna but she came out of it with a few broken bones and partial blindness. She was 100% a damn badass in Steve's book, and like a little sister to him.
Jane, Steve thought Eleven was a cooler name, Hopper, now that kid deserved a vacation for like- three years or something. Someone so young shouldn't have had to deal with everything she has, but shit was she amazing. That kid is the reason they're all alive and safe now, so as far as he was concerned, she earned free ice cream for life on top of free movies. Now his opinion on Mike Wheeler was… well the kid had his moments he supposed but he was a smart mouthed little fuck who had no respect for literally anyone. Maybe Steve was a bit biased with his favorite nugget being Dustin, but Mike was just a pompous little fuck.
Then there was Will Byers and Lucas Sinclair. Poor Will, that kid suffered through so much, too much for someone so young, but getting to watch him finally live and grow was something Steve was honored to witness. When the Byers moved back it was like their little found family was finally complete again and it wasn't till nearly a year later that everyone was able to enjoy it. After everything with Vecna, Steve took it upon himself to help Lucas with basketball, training him and making sure he didn't fall into the pit that was being popular. He knew the kid struggled with it and dealing with what they had to do in the spring of '86, he reminded him that being a cool kid wasn't everything.
Now in the midst of all this, his crazy babysitter single mom life, he was struggling with "finding" himself. Which sounded really really pathetic and all around sad for someone who was barely twenty. It wasn't like he was having a panic attack about this, it was exactly more so he was just conflicted and extremely confused over how this was happening. Especially when he was so certain about his sexuality his entire life.
He's liked women, always has, so when this sudden attraction began bubbling up he was more or less a little freaked out. Not disgusted or anything, just so confused and stressed out because this never happened before. Well, okay, maybe he used to look at other guys in the locker rooms occasionally but that was something normal… right? It was simple curiosity and nothing more to it because he was Steve "The Hair" Harrington, King Steve of Hawkins High, he couldn't have any attraction towards guys. He figured that curiosity was squashed when he got his ass beat by Billy Hargrove. The fact he was oddly turned on by that encounter did weird him out for months, what kind of masochist was he for getting his rocks off to some racist douchebag beating his face in.
So when the bullshit of last spring happened, the rush of everything, he didn't expect getting close to Eddie Munson let alone feeling attraction towards him. It didn't help that the other male was flirting with him constantly, even in the middle of them possibly dying the damn guy kept at it with the compliments and the lingering stares and that gorgeous smile. Steve didn't want to leave Eddie with Dustin, knew that something would've gone wrong and he was right. If they showed up any later Eddie probably would've been dead, it was a miracle he survived all those bites and the massive amount of blood loss to begin with, but Steve dragged that metalheaded idiot out of that hellish nightmare and bandaged him up himself.
The events following their escape from hell seemed all too unreal. They couldn't rest yet, they had a bigger fight ahead of them. Vecna wasn't dead but wounded, he wasn't going down without a fucking fight. If you told Steve they would've fought some otherworldly dragon he probably would have laughed in your face but he stopped being surprised by what the Upside Down threw at them, despite what seemed like impossible odds they did it. They won. They came out victorious and everyone was closer than ever. It was strange how fighting interdimensional monsters could bring a group of misfits together, but Steve wouldn't have changed it for the world. It's the shared trauma Robin would say.
Steve was pulled out of his thoughts by Robin smacking him in the forehead with his scooper. "Ow Robin, what the hell!?!"
"Earth to dingus! I've been trying to get your attention for the last twenty minutes, are you alright?" There was a hint of concern laced in her annoyed voice. It was always there when he zoned out.
He rolled his eyes, shifting on his feet as he leaned against the wall. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine, just… thinking."
She squinted at him. "That didn't sound very convincing, you do know that right?"
Steve sighed loudly, rubbing his face while pushing himself off the wall to snatch his scooper out of her hand. "I'm fine , I swear. Just- didn't get much sleep last night is all. No big deal."
"Can't sleep without a metalhead's chest to rest your pretty little head on, huh?" He didn't have to look at her to know she had that shit eating grin plastered on her face.
"I'm not going to respond to that."
Robin's laughter filled the small shop once more as she moved to sit on the stool, letting her feet swing. "C'mon Steven, you only ever spill out your heart when you're intoxicated or high. You're not… ashamed of these feelings, right?"
He could tell she was being serious when the volume of her voice dropped a bit, her hands fiddling with a strand of her hair. Steve looked up when she did their eyes locking in a conversation that needed no words, but he knew this question needed a response. That they needed to talk about this. He moved over to lean on the wall by Robin this time, grabbing her hand and giving it a light pat.
"You were literally the one to help me through this when I found out I was bisexual Robs, I'm not ashamed at all, I'm just… nervous." He chewed at his lip, scuffing his shoes against the ground.
"And what exactly makes you nervous?" She squeezed his hand, peeking up to keep a lookout for customers.
"A small part of me is still afraid of what people would think. People like Tommy H. And yes, I know it's stupid, that I shouldn't care what people think about me anymore but I can't help it Robs. It's something my shit parents have engraved in me since I could remember so it's really hard to just- not care." Steve was rambling at this point. "I'd love nothing more than to grab his stupid face and just kiss him in front of my folks, flip them off and run. But I can't . I can't do that and I hate it because running into danger to kill monsters is easier than handling this and I hate it. I want it to be easier to handle but I just… I'm scared."
Robin would always listen to him go on and on for hours, she was his best friend and wouldn't judge him ever so he knew her silence wasn't anything to worry about, she was just mulling over what he had just word vomited and began plotting her next words carefully. She turned their hands over a few times, tapping her foot against the metal of the stool in front of her, chewing on her bottom lip before she gave his hand a squeeze.
"I know when people say I know how you feel they really don't, but in this case, I do. I've wanted so badly to not care what these shitheads in this town would think about if I walked around holding another girl's hand or kissing her, but you're right, it isn't easy. Getting the courage is so so hard." Robin sighed, leaning her head against his arm. "But you can do this, you can ask him out and it would work out in your favor. And I swear if you say "we don't even know if Munson likes guys" ," her voice took on a different tone as she mocked Steve's voice. "Eddie Munson likes guys. He fucks guys. No straight man would act how he does around you."
Steve had to scoff at that rolling his eyes. "The way you sound so sure is astonishing. You never want to admit you're wrong huh?"
Robin barked out a laugh, grinning widely. "My gaydar is always right on the money and Eddie Munson is a homosexual. Plus he always has that handkerchief in his pocket."
"Please don't phrase it like that ever again, shut up." Steve was chuckling now, a small grin on his face. “Wait, what does the handkerchief have to do with him being gay or not?”
She hopped off the wall and held her hands up, her smile widening across her face. "Okay, okay, but he absolutely likes you. I swear. He’s into guys and that hanky has a lot to do with him being gay."
Steve wasn't going to argue further, he tried once and Robin didn't shut up for six hours. He didn't want to deny if the other male liked him, but it didn't make any sense that Eddie would like him . Especially considering, despite what they went through, Steve in high school was a dick to Eddie and those like him. Why would someone as carefree and amazing as Eddie ever like Steve 'The Hair' Harrington? It made no sense.
Robin looked like she was going to say more when a bell dinged alerting them to customers. Her eyes all but shone when she saw Nancy Wheeler strolling in followed by Jonathan Byers and Eddie. How she managed to drag the metalhead out of his house was beyond her but she was happy. She glanced at Steve who all but instantly relaxed seeing the older male, that had Robin smiling.
"Well Steve, don't be rude, greet our customers." Robin whispered and shoved him towards the counter.
He stumbled but caught himself, clearing his throat and straightening himself out before he put on his customer service voice. "Ahoy there travelers! I didn't see ya there. Would you guys like to set sail on this ocean of flavor with me? I'll be your Captain, I'm Steve Harrington."