The thought of you

Ch. 7

"Why would we be mad? What did you guys do?" She shouted.

"Nothing Jesus Christ! Just...don't hit any of us?"

"You say that like there isn't only two people."

Steve gave her a glance before walking to his own bedroom where Eddie was waiting.
"They're down there. All riled up just for you, Eddie."

"Oh you shouldn't have!" He joked.

"Oh but I did. Don't worry, I don't expect anything in return." Steve held up his hands and waved a tad.

"So they're down there. Do they know why they're in your house?"

"Uh, no. I thought I'd let you have...oh, uh, Let me go first so I can make sure they don't squeeze the life out of you."

Eddie gave him a look but allowed Steve in front of himself and followed him downstairs.

-

"If you hurt him I will give each of you stitches and pop them. Don't squeeze too hard." Steve lectured before moving out of the way for Eddie.

"Is that..."

"In the flesh." He finished for Lucas.

Lucas, Mike, Robin, Henderson, and even Steve hugged him. Though Steve and Dustin knew about Eddie, they really hadn't hugged him. Well, Steve had, but only once, on the night of his arrival, but that hug was an 'in the moment' hug.

"How the hell are you here?"

"Well, I woke up and went to my trailer it hurt like a bitch so I laid down and took a nap. Woke back up, found a way out and walked the woods for a bit. My body hurt, a lot, so I looked for a place that would have meds or beer, found Steve's shed, went in, rummaged, and got tackled by his highness." His curly hair brushed the floor as he slowly and cautiously took a bow.

"So...Steve knew? How long have you been out?" The girl with a strawberry blonde, shoulder length bob asked.

"I'm not sure," Eddie looked over at Steve, who was desperately looking for anger in the other party members body language, not being able to find any.

Steve snapped back into reality with an unsure, "about five months..?"

Robin gasped as if she was inhaling for life, "that's like...Almost half a year! You're just telling us!?" She yelled.

"Well, one, I didn't know if Eddie would want me to tell you guys. Two, he was wanted. Dead or alive. You guys may have gone and said something to someone and BAM a rumor turned true. "

The party sat for a moment before gathering themselves once again and discussing everything.

Steve was hit with a sudden realization; Eddie could go to the hospital now.

"Ed's! Get a jacket or something, we're taking you to the hospital. You can get your injuries looked at properly."

He looked up and grinned, "Ed's..? Okay...Stevie. These stairs still hurt like hell to go up and down. Would you be a darling and come help me?" He faked a pout and rubbed his leg as if it was in the most unimaginable pain.

Steve gave an unamused glare, nonetheless he got up and helped Eddie.

The rest of the party looked at them with confused or amused looks, but soon proceeded as normal.

-

Steve walked Eddie over to the staircase and walked upstairs right beside him, his hand hovering behind Eddie in case something happened.

"So, you're calling me 'Ed's' now? I didn't realize that you had an attachment to me that held so tight. I didn't take you for one to give nicknames. I'm flattered." He dramatically batted his eyelashes after his teasing tangent.

"Really? I seem to remember someone calling me Stevie. I could be mistaken, but I don't think I am. Now, make sure you've got what you need. Put something on. You can't just walk around the hospital in that shit show." He deadpanned.

"Your words...they ripped my heart, leaving nothing but an empty frame of what once was." Eddie overdramatized with a theatrical scene.

"Get some clothes on, Munson."

"What happened to Eds?"

Steve almost let himself think that Eddie was being serious and was actually upset about the fact he called him by 'Munson' and not the nickname just given to him, but he managed to convince himself that Eddie was teasing. Eddie didn't know Steve too well anyways.

"Funny, Munson. Go get something on."

Eddie looked almost hurt. He gave a confused furrow of his face eyebrows and shook his head. He gave a final glance back at him before going to the room that Eddie had claimed as his own.

-

Steve told the others they were going need to head out because he was driving Eddie to the hospital, with no idea how to explain his injuries. He knew he was bringing his bat though.

" 'Kay. Let's go." Eddies voice cold and sharp, though Steve hadn't picked up on it very well.

Steve nodded and they made their way to the car.

"So, how are you feeling now that you're a free man?" Steve attempted the small talk on their way to the hospital.

Eddie shook his head slightly and continued to look out the window, a solemn and traumatized face reflecting off the glass.

"Are you okay, Eddie?"

"Why wouldn't I be, Harrington?" He snipped without removing his fixated stare on the fading remains of a sunny day.

"Well, you just seem...upset? Are you upset? Did I upset you?" Steve began to panic. He hadn't meant to upset anyone. In fact, the last thing he wanted to do was to offend or upset someone. He didn't like the thought of him upsetting someone. Definitely not someone who would be staying with him for a while.

"You're sending mixed signals, Harrington. I don't know what you mean by some of the stuff you say, and the other stuff I'm scared I do know what it means. But right now, I'm tired and I'm hurting, Steve. Let's just get this shit over with." He said with a quiet and sad tone.

Steve was upset. He didn't like that Eddie was hurting. He didn't like that Eddie didn't understand him. He didn't like that he had upset Eddie.
"Yeah. Sorry." Steves voice was shaky, the thought of hurting others terrified him.

A/N: I wanna apologize for the LATE update. I'm using my phone to write and the update was having issues on IOS. I couldn't open the app. I already explained this on the other Steddie thing I'm writing but I thought I'd say it here too.