A Crack In The Glass (steddie with some Rickie)

bonus oneshot

A/n: Thank you guys for 500 reads! I love all the support youve given this fic, did yall know were number 16 on the #steddie tag not too long ago? Like yall thats awesome! so yeah, heres a little oneshot in celebration. im sorry, its gonna be angsty but cute. Enjoy!

Steve glanced over to Robin, who let out a breath of uncertainty. she was fidgety and shaking, staring at herself in the mirror and biting her lip.

"Do I look ok? do- do i stink? is my mascara smudged?-"

"Robin!" Steve cut her off before her rant could begin. "You're perfect. seriously, there is very little you can do wrong at a graduation." he said, chuckling. "Just walk to the principal, shake his hand, and walk off. it's that simple, ‘kay?" He said, glancing at himself in the mirror. the scar on his neck from the demobats strangling him still haunts him, but now is not the time for him to think back on the stupidity of the things that were done in the upside down.

Though, for just a second, he wondered what it would've been like if he was there to save Eddie instead of with nancy and robin. Maybe they really could handle themselves, after all Steve wasn't much help with them anyways and he would much rather have helped keep Eddie alive than throw flaming alcohol at a monster that was somehow still alive and killing.

scenarios flashed in his head as he felt his throat tightening while tears pooled on his lashes. Robin put her hand on his forearm, while his hand carefully grazed the pink spot on his neck. He swallowed thickly, feeling as if he couldn't breathe from the overwhelming feeling that he could have done so much differently that night.

"Hey." Robin finally said, voice firm but comforting. "It wasn't your fault." She said, oh how Steve hated that she could read him like an open book.

"Yeah, i-i know." He choked up, but wasn't willing to spill any tears, his voice was wobbly and unclear, as his hand dropped to the steering wheel along with his head.

"There's nothing you could have done to make it any different." She continued, as steve tried to tell himself the same words that robin was, which gave him a bit of peace of mind. he sniffled and let out a sigh, looking back up at the unwelcoming school, hawkins high. it was adorned with banners of congratulations among other things. he gripped the steering wheel and sniffled.

"C'mon, let's go."

Steve sat through the entire ceremony with a blank expression, at least till robin got on stage. his face softened to a small smile, a smile of pride. Her face was bright and her smile was bigger than one Steve had ever seen from her. She shook the principal's hand and took her diploma, and walked off stage as the applause sounded.

But from there, he still stayed silent. He didn't clap even when Nancy was called. He just watched the stage, remembering when he graduated and walked the same stage. He seemed to realize that he was going to be all alone next year. Robin was going off to college, and so would nancy. It was always Nancy's dream to go to a good school, get a good education and learn a lot. Steve once had that dream too, until he realized there was basically no way he'd get in with his 2.556 gpa.

The ceremony ended, and Steve was quick to find Robin and leave. He hated that place, actually he hated all of hawkins. Steve hadn't spoken a word besides a congrats to robin, and she understood that it was hard for him to even show up for the graduation, let alone sit through the entire thing without eddie getting to walk the stage just how he wished he could have.

Robin had known of Steve's crush on Eddie for some time, even before Dustin made them genuine friends, Eddie had been Steve's weed plug for the years prior for parties. stupidly enough, steve never had the guts to ask eddie out, so he suffered throughout high school with this suffocating crush on his dealer. robin had told him for a long time to ask him out, and that it was stupid he had yet to do so. and robin still thought it was stupid he hadnt.

Steve parked outside of the Buckley household, looking at robin.

"See you tomorrow?" He asked softly.

"Yeah." She replied. Robin supposed Steve would go to some graduation party in town or something of the sorts, but Steve did not.

Instead, Steve took to the vacant road, and he drove till he got to where he needed to go, he drove till the darkness had set completely in the sky and there was no reason he should be driving this late. He drove till he got to his home.

his hands fidgeted with the old graduation cap that was resting in his backseat from earlier that night, softly biting his lip. He glanced down at it, the back up into the cloudy sky dripping with rain. 

he dropped to his knees next to the tombstone, the words bringing a pang to his heart. he softly set the graduation cap atop the headstone in the rain, and for once he didnt care that his hair looked stupid when it was wet. he pushed back the wet mop from his forehead, smiling and sniffling. he thought about how eddie wouldve said his hair looked stupid but better then usual when it was wet, because thats just eddie.

"You did it, eddie." He said softly, leaning against the grave marker with a soft sob. " '86 was your year."

steve chuckled to himself in the pouring rain, as he brought his knees to his chest. tears and rain flooded down his face as he let out laughs and pained sobs all at once. oh how he mustve looked crazy in that moment, but he didnt care. he didnt care that his shirt and jeans where soaked, he didnt care if this made him look stupid and insane, those things where not his problems.

he was home.
he was with him.

Edward 'eddie' Munson

september 16, 1965

march 27, 1986

"I didn't run away this time, right?"