Not Real. (Kas Theory - Steddie.)

Cold Sweat. (003)

(Author's Note; hihi, mentions of d3@th & bl00d. enjoy your read.<3)

April 6th, Sunday, 1986. Munson's Trailer & ???
5:08 AM.

Steve was awake early, driving around Hawkins as Robin & Dustin slept in separate guest rooms in his house. Steve ended up stopping by Eddie's trailer & parking somewhere in front of it.

He woke up in cold sweat, his whole body aching-

Steve stood on the porch with his hands in the pockets of his grey jacket. One of his hands left them & knocked on the door. "Mister- Mister Munson..?" He quietly said.

Blood was everywhere. He was so confu-

The door slowly opened for Steve to see a depressed Wayne. There was a blue tarp on the ceiling of the trailer & Steve pressed his lips together at the sight of the inside.

Baseball caps were hung on the walls, posters & discs everywhere. "Harrington..I appreciate you checking on me, boy. But, I'm okay." Wayne said. "How are you holding up, son?" He asked.

Steve shook his head, his lips quivering, tears running down his face. "Not good.." He quietly replied. Wayne invited him inside as Steve sat down on the couch, immediately breaking down. His heart ached.

"Harrington? HARRINGTON! I'M HERE-"

Wayne sat next to the boy, hugging him as he pat his back. Steve felt comfortable with Wayne. He was quite nice & treated Steve like his own son. The two would always check up on each other every day, seeing how they were doing. If one was okay then the other wouldn't be. It was just this pattern that happened over & over again.

"I've never seen someone care so much for my boy. Thank you, Harrington. I genuinely appreciate you caring for him." Wayne quietly thanked him, his voice shaky. Steve looked up at him, sniffling. "I'm so..so sorry. I wish I could've done something to save him, I'm really sorry mister Munson." Steve apologized.

Wayne shook his head. "Hey, son. Don't apologize. It wasn't your fault. We're both here for each other." Steve nodded & tried his best to stop the tears from coming down again.

Steve sat there, bouncing his leg like crazy. "I just wish he didn't die with the whole town thinking he was a murderer." Steve said as he leaned back into the couch, relaxing a little.

"That's one of the things I don't like." Wayne replied, standing up to go get something from Eddie's room. Steve only sat there in silence, waiting for him to come back. Wayne came back with a notebook full of drawings.

He set it down onto the coffee table. "I've never looked through it, but you can." Wayne softly smiled. Steve reached over to the notebook & realized which one this was.

He flipped through the pages quite fast, ignoring the regular school notes. He found the exact page from that exact day & smiled a little to himself as he looked at it. The page was quite wrinkly & turning a little yellow with grease stains on it.

S+E<3
Steve Munson
Eddie Harrington

But, something was off about it. The one with Eddie's name & Steve's last name was a little bit messy. It had two r's this time. He really did fix it. Steve smiled at the little detail & grazed his finger over the writing.

"Harrington, answer me. Please! I'm here-"

Steve started to cry a little bit again. "Fucking hell, why can't I keep it together?" He asked himself, wiping the tears before they even got the chance to land on Eddie's notebook.

Steve noticed that the blue tarp slightly started to move & his eyes immediately darted up to it. "Hey, mister Munson?" Steve suddenly began. "You can call me, Wayne, y'know. But, what's wrong?"

The boy furrowed his eyebrows a little. "Does that tarp usually move..?" He asked. Wayne looked up to the tarp that was now completely still. "Sometimes," Wayne replied.

"GODDAMN IT, UNCL-"

Steve nodded & just shook it off as a normal thing when it clearly wasn't a normal thing. Suddenly, the lights started flickering. The boy immediately started to panic, standing up in immediate response to the flickering.

Then it stopped. He sighed & rubbed his face in frustration. He thought he was finally going crazy after everything. "Wayne, I'm gonna go home. Thank you so much for letting me come over." Steve smiled a little.

Wayne stood up & nodded. "Alright. Just know you can come by any time, okay, son?" Steve nodded & gave him a weak & forced smile. Steve left the trailer & walked to his car, quickly getting in & driving off. He was getting his hopes up too much. But he knew that he was gone.

That he was dead.

Steve got home to see Will, Mike, Lucas, & Dustin all together in the living room. "I'm sorry, I invited them over, I should've asked first-" Dustin randomly started apologizing. "Woah, what are you freaking out over? The party's always welcome here. You know that." Steve reassured him.

Dustin nodded & all of them went back to talking. Everyone was always awake early & sleeping extremely late. Steve slipped off his jacket & just threw it onto one of the kitchen counters.

He swung open the fridge & snatched a can of beer, opening it & immediately starting to drink it. He hadn't even eaten dinner or lunch yesterday. He was only living off of beer & cigarettes. It was awful.

Sometimes he would eat, but when he did, it would be junk. Just chips & candy. Even popcorn. The lights in his kitchen started to flicker just like at the trailer. It would grow brighter only to become dull.

S.

Steve's eyes slowly widened. He was in disbelief. There's no way he was correct. There's absolutely no way that he was alive & okay. Dustin saw him die in his arms.

O.

Steve stared at the light, picking at the skin of his fingers after setting the beer can down. Was he really alive? Was he really there? There was no fucking way.

S.

The boy's eyebrows furrowed. He decided that at some point, when Wayne was gone to work at night, he would go to his trailer & take that tarp off & climb through the gate. He wanted to know if what he was seeing was real. If he was genuinely alive.

He had to be, right?

———————
Word Count; 1036.