Rock Steady (Steddie)

Vecna Made Me Do It

Eddie buried his head under his pillow when his uncle knocked on his bedroom door. Wayne had been out the night before with his buddies, so Eddie had dipped into Wayne's liquor cabinet and now he was hung over. He just wished that Wayne would let him sleep. Wayne didn't care if Eddie drank beer, he bought it for him sometimes. But his liquor cabinet was strictly off limits. Last night, though, that hadn't mattered to Eddie because he had wanted to escape. No, it was more than wanting to escape. Eddie had needed to escape. The dreams had come back and the only way to keep them away was oblivion.

Eddie rolled over, away from the door, and burrowed deeper into his bed, clutching the pillow to his head as Wayne knocked again and the door opened a crack. "Ed, you've got company." Eddie just grunted. "Friend of yours at the door. Get up."

Wayne left him alone, leaving the door cracked a bit and Eddie sat up slowly, his head throbbing. He held his head in his hands and raked his nails across his scalp. He regretted drinking as much as he had, and he'd known last night that he would, but at the time, knowing he wouldn't dream had far outweighed any ill side effects he'd known he'd suffer.

He took a chance and opened his eyes. Just his luck, it was a bright, sunny day and pain shot through his eyes. He groaned quietly as he got out of bed. He was still in his jeans from the night before, so he put on a shirt and his shoes to go outside.

When Eddie stepped outside, he closed his eyes against the sunlight and stumbled down the steps to where Steve was waiting, leaning against the hood of his car. He propped himself against the hood as well, his head down, shielding his eyes from the sun. Steve elbowed him in the ribs and Eddie gave him a sideways glance, ready to say something shitty about the elbow jab, but stopped when Steve held his sunglasses out to Eddie.

"Thanks." Eddie took them and slipped them on his face. "What time is it?"

"Almost one." Eddie shook his head. He wasn't sure what time he'd passed out; it felt like he'd only been out a couple of hours. But according to Steve, it had been closer to ten. "How much did you drink," Steve asked. Eddie just shrugged. "That much?"

"I lost track about ten o'clock."

"What did you want last night?"

"I don't know," Eddie answered, not wanting to tell him the truth, that he had nightmares about his parents. "To get drunk and pass out."

"No," Steve said. "I mean, what did you want when you called me?" Eddie looked up at him confused. "You weren't making a lot of sense and I couldn't understand half of what you were saying, you were slurring so bad."

"When did I call you?"

"You don't remember?" Eddie shook his head. He had no memory of calling Steve. He remembered wishing he wasn't alone, that he had some company, but he honestly didn't remember calling Steve. Hell, Steve would have been the last person he'd call just to have someone to hang out with. "It was around midnight."

"Man, I'm sorry," Eddie grumbled. "I don't remember, and I don't know why I called you."

"That's cool." Steve pushed himself off the car. "I just wanted to check on you and make sure you didn't have alcohol poisoning or something."

"Nah, I think I'll survive." Eddie stood up as well. "Thanks." He reached for the sunglasses he was wearing and gave them back to Steve.

"See you around, Munson."

Eddie nodded and watched him drive away before going back inside. When he stepped into the dimness of the trailer and his eyes adjusted to the more comfortable lack of light, he started for his bedroom.

"Ed, can I talk to you?" Eddie rolled his eyes. The last thing he wanted or needed right now was to talk to Wayne. He turned back towards the sound of his uncle's voice. "Come have a seat." Eddie joined him at the kitchen table and tried to smile, but only grimaced instead. "You want to explain that?" Wayne nodded towards the kitchen counter and Eddie sighed when he saw the broken glass, the half-eaten can of ravioli, several spoons, a can opener, and an empty Jack Daniels bottle lying on its side.

He shook his head. He kind of remembered eating the cold ravioli out of the can. Though he didn't remember why he had used multiple spoons. "Vecna made me do it," Eddie mumbled, his foggy memory starting to clear.

"Excuse me?" Eddie shook his head. He knew better than to repeat that. "You going to replace it?"

"I'm too young to buy liquor," Eddie answered sarcastically.

"Boy, if you're going to be a smart ass with me, you ain't too big that I won't whoop your ass." Eddie dropped his eyes and just nodded. "What have I told you about getting into my liquor? It's one thing for you to have a beer occasionally." Eddie just nodded again. "Look at me, Eddie." He raised his eyes to his uncle. "I promised your momma and daddy I'd look after you and I'm trying my God damnedest to keep you out of trouble. But you ain't making it easy on me. You're too damn young to be hitting the hard stuff. So, lay off it before one of us ends up regretting it. You understand me?"

"Yes, sir," he replied meekly.

"Good." Wayne stood up. "Now clean up this mess. I ain't your damned maid. If you're man enough to drink like that, you can damn well clean up after yourself."

After cleaning the kitchen, Eddie headed towards his bedroom, at the door he stopped and turned to look back at his uncle, sitting on the couch and reading a newspaper. He appreciated everything his uncle had done for him since his parents had died and everything that he let Eddie get away with. Like drinking beer and selling drugs and staying out until all hours on school nights after his band played. He had to admit, he really did have it easy. Wayne was never hard on him. And it made him feel like shit whenever Wayne had to scold him or discipline him for something stupid he'd done. It didn't happen often, but when it did it was, more times than not, stupid.

Not that Eddie was all that well behaved, because he wasn't. He usually just hid it better and Wayne never knew half the shit Eddie got up to. Eddie drank a lot more than his uncle was aware of. Pretty much any time he was out with Jeff and Gareth, he was getting drunk. He also did a lot more drugs than his uncle knew about. Wayne had no problem with weed; they even smoked together on occasion. But sometimes Eddie needed something stronger, and he had no problem dipping into his stash. It meant less to sell, but his sanity was worth more than what money some pills and powders would bring him. Lastly, he was a lot more sexually active than he ever let Wayne know. He swore to Wayne that he was always safe, but sometimes he forgot to be careful. Those were the only three things Wayne ever got onto him about. So, Eddie kept those stupid things to himself.

And now he regretted disappointing Wayne like this. But the last few nights his dreams had been a lot more vivid and lingered a lot longer once he was awake. He had been willing to do whatever he could to keep them at bay.

"Wayne?" He looked up from his paper. "I'm sorry."

"I know, son." He went back to his paper. "Hope you feel better."

**********

After school on Monday, Eddie took a trip out to the liquor store near The Hideout. It was out of his way, but they knew him there and would sell him beer after Corroded Coffin shows. Eddie knew that his uncle hadn't meant it when he asked Eddie if he was going to replace the bottle of bourbon he'd drank. But Eddie had made up his mind that it was the least he could do. It took him a fair amount of talking, but he was finally able to convince the clerk to sell him the bottle.

When the clerk finally relented, Eddie quickly grabbed a second bottle for himself. The clerk gave him a skeptical look, but Eddie offered him an extra ten bucks. He hesitated but eventually took it and sold Eddie both bottles.

Eddie took the bottles home and stashed one under the seat of his van. He wanted it for after the Corroded Coffin show the next night. He left the second bottle on the kitchen table for his uncle. He hoped there wouldn't be any questions from his uncle about where he'd gotten the bottle. He didn't want Wayne to know that there was a liquor store that was willing to sell him alcohol on a regular basis. The less Wayne knew about that, the better off Eddie was.