Waking up to an empty side of the bed wouldn't have been so alarming to Eddie if it hadn't been nearing three in the morning.
He had definitely gone to bed with someone, early even, considering that they were both exhausted after a long day.
And yet here he was, tired, bleary eyed and alone.
"Steve?" He murmured, squinting to search the darkness as his eyes adjusted. "Steve? You here?"
He paused to wait and see if a snore or something would give him his answer, it wouldn't be the first time that he'd found that Steve had managed to crash to the floor without waking, but this time he was only met with silence.
With a confused frown, Eddie shuffled across the bed with the willingness of a tired sloth and swung his arm over the side, swinging it back and forth in the hopes to maybe catching Steve with a light slap, only to find nothing.
Dropping his face onto the cooled mattress, Eddie let out a tired groan and then pushed himself up, untangling himself from the covers so that he could stand without the threat of tripping over before he'd even made it off the bed.
A breeze hit him as he made his way towards the bedroom door, the night being deceptively cold compared to the earlier day which had lead him to wearing only boxers and a band shirt to bed, but he could look past the chill by keeping his attention on finding Steve.
"He's probably in the bathroom, calm down, man," Eddie mumbled to himself as he made his way through the dark house, all senses on edge and every creak of the place making his heart jolt.
Yet, despite the attempts at reassurance, he couldn't get himself to believe that Steve had innocently got up to pee.
Something didn't feel right and it was messing with his mind that he couldn't put his finger on what it was.
He looked down at he approached the bathroom door, finding the door ajar with darkness behind it, leaving him with no doubt that Steve was not inside, not that that stopped him from poking his head inside and flipping the light on to check anyway.
Making his way towards the stairs, Eddie felt his stomach drop as ridiculous paranoias and fears started to play in his mind.
What if Steve had gotten lost and couldn't find his way back to the bedroom?
Sure, it was his own house and he'd surely know the place like the back of his hand but Steve had proven to be pretty dopey with silly things in the past.
What if his parents had returned from wherever the hell they had gone this time and had busted them in bed, hauled his ass downstairs and were currently giving him a disapproving talking to?
As if the Harrington's were ever around enough to give a damn about who their son was seeing on any given day of the week, regardless of gender.
Not to mention that the house was silent and downstairs showed no signs of electrical light, only peeks of moonlight hit the floor where they'd failed to pull them closed hours earlier before heading to bed.
However, there was just enough light to catch the shadowed figure that stood in the middle of the living room who made Eddie's heart jump into his throat as he stepped off the last step.
He found himself unable to move, rooted to the spot he could only stare towards the shadow as he tried to calm his erratically beating heart.
Undesirable memories came to play, ones that he wished that he could forget but no amount of therapy he couldn't even afford could rid of.
"Steve?" He called out and though it came out more like a whisper, it sounded too loud in the stillness. "That you?"
As expected, though still to his disappointment, there was no answer from whatever was in that room.
Taking a deep and shuddering breath, Eddie gathered all his bravery and took the first step towards the figure, though a minor sway in its stance made his heart jolt and briefly stopped him in his tracks.
"Fuck man," he whispered to himself, "pull yourself together."
Shaking himself back to reality, he continued his path to the other room, his hand feeling around the door frame until it hit the light switch.
After another pause to steel his nerve, Eddie held his breath and stared towards the shadow as he flipped on the light, flinching at the brightness that he had to squint his eyes to see in to.
"Steve?" He asked, both bemused and irritated as his sight adjusted to the light enough to make out the other man stood in front of the couch. "What the hell? You scared the shit out of me, what are you doing?"
He stared, waiting for a sarcastic answer that never came, Steve merely continued to stand there with his back turned in utter silence.
Or...not quiet, there were faint mumbles coming from him, though nothing that Eddie could make out as decipherable words.
"Steeeeve?" He called out, taking a couple of small steps of approach while leaning to the side. "You with me?"
His heart plummeted from where it had settled back in his chest down to his stomach, a feeling of nausea coming over him as flashbacks of Chrissy in his trailer a couple of years back instantly sprung up, a trauma he had never fully processed coming back to haunt him with a vengeance.
Even worse, affecting someone he had more than a small crush on.
Someone he could truly say he loved.
"Steve...come on, man, you gotta talk to me."
He hadn't noticed a gathering of tears starting to blur his vision until he felt one creep down his cheek, tears he was quick to brush away in a sudden burst of defiant energy.
This wasn't happening again, he refused.
Rushing forward, he rounded to stand in front of Steve in a couple of strides and grabbed his shoulders in a tight grip, giving him a vigorous shake.
"Hey Harrington, wake up! You aren't leaving me like this, we haven't even got our matching tattoos yet!"
He moved his hands from his shoulders to cup Steve's jaw, one hand holding it as the other gave him a couple of slaps.
"Steeeeeve, wake uuuup!"
It took about five strikes before Steve's eyes started to flutter and his head stopped flopping like a rag doll's as he lifted it and stared at Eddie with a blank look in his eye.
Another couple of blinks and he finally snapped back to reality, or at least some form of it, as his eyes cleared and his mouth dropped open to let out a yell that made Eddie jump and yell back at him in retaliation.
So there they stood, like two idiots, screaming at each other so loudly that it echoed around the room, the late hour amplifying the sound further.
Steve was the first to stop the yelling, his eyes darting around as his eyebrows furrowed.
"Wheeeere am I?! Why are we yelling?!"
Eddie's hand returned to Steve's shoulders, his eyes looking over Steve's tired and confused face before he dropped his chin to his chest and let himself catch his breath.
"You're okay, you're not...you're...you're you, right?"
"Huh? Yeah I'm me, who else would I be?"
Eddie stared at him and then shook his head, distracting himself by taking a sweeping look around the room.
"Why'd you come in here? You get thirsty or something?"
Steve closed one eye and brought a hand to rest at the back of his neck as he also took a glance around the room, thinking as best he could with a sleep-addled brain.
"I guess I was sleepwalking."
"You sleepwalk?" Eddie asked, his eyes narrowing a little.
"Yeah, I used to."
"Are you kidding me? I didn't know you sleepwalk, maybe warn a guy!"
He gave Steve's shoulder a rough shove, glaring at him with a conflicting mixture of annoyance and relief.
"Sorry," Steve mumbled, rubbing where Eddie's palm had caught him, "I didn't think I would again, it's been ages since last time."
"Really? You're serious?"
"Yeah, it used to be really bad."
"You scared the shit out of me, you know that? I thought...I thought 'he' was back."
"I get it, I'm sorry, even if I didn't think it would happen again."
Steve moved to wrap an arm around Eddie's waist, giving his side a couple of rubs before he leaned in to press a quick kiss to his temple, unable to avoid catching some of the metalhead's wild bedhead with his mouth.
"I'll make it up to you, with 'that thing' you like," he gave him a coy smile, wiggling his eyebrows, "you know what I mean."
Eddie said nothing, not giving in to Steve's obvious attempt at sweetening him, even when he leaned in and rested his head against his shoulder in a familiar gesture of comfort.
Unfortunately, despite him wanting to be for a little while longer, logic beat emotion and he accepted that he couldn't stay mad at Steve for sleepwalking when it was something that he couldn't control, especially if something was stressing him out to the point of night wandering again after years of somewhat restful sleep.
With a loaded sigh, he reached up and gave the top of Steve's head three little scritches, a soft smile slipping into place as the weight of the moment lifted.
"Come on, King, let's get back to bed, I'm exhausted, we'll talk about your little adventure in the morning."
He nudged Steve's back, unable to stop himself from smiling as Steve padded towards the stairs in a still tired stupor.
Trailing a couple of steps behind him, Eddie paused as he reached for the light switch to take another look around the room, making sure everything was as it should be before he flipped the light off and followed his boyfriend up to bed, even if he wasn't sure he'd be able to fall back to sleep.