Beds and Rings || Steddie ||

14 ~ Maybe this time I'd have a hero (part 1)

EDDIE'S POV
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It takes what feels like forever, but we finally make our way down to the abandoned building. It stands in pretty good condition, apart from the various plants growing between the paint-chipped bricks.

I look back at Steve who's smiling mockingly at my awe struck face before I push the double glass doors open dramatically, spreading my arms out slowly to reveal the inside.

"Behold," I announce to the endless rows of mostly empty shelves that stretch out in front of me into the darkness.

Steve brushes past me, placing his hand on my shoulder as he does. He walks along one aisle which is bare apart from a few canned foods and rubbish scattered across. The building is cold and dark, with the only source of light coming from the huge windows plastered along the front of the store.

"Hey, why d'you think there are all these sticks here?" I hear Steve yell from across the store.

I stretch my neck out far enough from behind the cereal aisle to see what he was staring at. It was a large pile of sticks stacked loosely on top of each other in a way that made it look like they had once formed a tee-pee of sorts. I could see something poking out from underneath but I couldn't entirely tell what.

And then I realised why this place had felt so familiar.

"Holy shit, holy SHIT," I shouted from across the store, running towards Steve and practically leaping on to him.

"Jesus Christ Eddie, what the hell's the matter with you?" He scoffed at my transparent excitement.

"This, Stevie, is the great Eddie Munson's very own secret fucking hideout."

"You? Where hiding out here? In a pile of sticks?"

I give him a look.

"I was around 8, I think, and whenever my dad was being a real dick, I would always run off down here," I replied, rummaging through the sticks and branches to uncover whatever was underneath.

"And for the record," I add, picking up a stick and throwing it backwards towards him, "these used to be something much more impressive."

"What are we talking here, like a full on Castle Byers?" He asks, kneeling beside me to help me toss aside the sticks out onto the blank, untouched floor behind us.

"Byers?"

"Oh yeah, you don't know Will yet, do you? When this shit is all over I'll take you to meet him. That kid would love you, dude."

"I think Mike's mentioned him a couple of times. The way he talks about him though..." I smile, "They really need to get their shit together, huh?"

Steve laughs and looks back at me, and I have to stare back at the floor so he doesn't see my cheeks turn pink.

"Yess! Here, look," I say, pulling out an object from under the sticks and shoving it just under Steve's nose.

He snatches it from my hand and squints his eyes to read the print, (which concerns me because it's quite big print and honestly not that hard to read,) tracing his finger along the letters as he does so. His ring that was once mine dragging along the page as he went.

I snatch it back from him and laugh, "Geez Harrington are you really that blind?"

He pushes his hair back and huffs.

"Its 'The Tomb of Dracula vol 1 6: The Monster of the Moors'. I used to be obsessed with this baby," I say, staring at the graphic on the cover. It was an image of Dracula hunched over protecting the lifeless body of a girl while a huge beast towered above them. Steve smiles.

"Wow so you were a nerd even in childhood. Noted," he teases.

I grab him by the arm, leading him to the end of an aisle and crouch down, leaning against the metal shelves. Steve does the same. I start to flip through the comic, the colours and words race under my thumb, and a wave of nostalgia hits me.

When I was little I was so lost and scared, so terrified of my dad and the bullies that hung around waiting to hurt me, calling me names. I felt so powerless, I felt like her, the damsel in the comic, waiting for someone to come save me. I looked over to Steve. It was happening again now, the bullies and the danger. But maybe this time...

...Maybe this time I'd have a hero.

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A/N
Hey so it's been awhile 😭😭 definitely not like 10 months idk what your talking about- I ALSO kinda forgot about this fic lmao
HOWEVER- I will not be abandoning the fic!! I will work on it until it's done (hopefully it won't take another 200 years) Anyway a bit of the reason it took so long is bc I was trying to focus on pretty much wrapping up the story in this one part. I've decided on splitting it up and it will work much better this way (there is probably 2-4 more chapters coming) ANYWAY this is getting long so um ENJOY ILY 🫶