Living In A World On Fire (Steddie)

He's All I've Got

Steve parked next to Eddie's van in front of the trailer across the street from Max's. He wondered how long Eddie had lived here because he had been to Max's to drop her off or pick her up when she was hanging out with the boys a hundred times it seemed. He had never noticed Eddie's van, but then he would have no reason to notice it if he wasn't looking for it. It was mostly non-descript and didn't stand out in any way. He got out of the car and went to the door. It was almost ten o'clock and Steve wasn't sure he should knock this late, but he could hear quiet music coming from inside, so he went ahead and knocked. There were footsteps, then the curtain over the window in the door fluttered, and a moment later, Eddie opened the door. He looked surprised to see Steve, but he stepped to one side and let him in anyway.

Steve looked around as Eddie went to the radio on the kitchen counter and turned it off. It was small and slightly run down, but it was tidy. There were trucker hats and mugs adorning the walls that Eddie's uncle obviously collected. There was a small sofa, a recliner, a foldaway bed in one corner, and a little Formica table with a mismatched pair of chairs near the front door. Eddie turned back to face Steve, his arms folded over his chest, and he just looked at him, waiting for him to say something.

"How are you?"

Eddie just shrugged. Steve didn't know what else to say. He could say that his friends were worried about him, and he was checking up on him, but that would be lame. Even if it was the truth. Eddie was almost twenty years old. He didn't need a bunch of fourteen-year-olds sending their babysitter to check up on him.

"If you're here to cop," Eddie said quietly. "I'm out right now. But I'm going to try to get out to Reefer Rick's this weekend to stock up."

"No," Steve said. "I'm good."

"Then what do you want?"

"I'm just here because . . ." He hesitated and Eddie raised an eyebrow at him. "Would you believe Dustin sent me?" At that, Eddie smiled. But it was a sad smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "He said you quit Hellfire, and your band, and you've been missing a lot of school, and he's worried about you." Eddie sighed heavily. "So are Mike and Lucas. And to be honest, I guess I am too."

"I'm fine."

He didn't sound convincing. He sounded tired, worn out, stressed. He didn't sound fine. Nor did he really look fine. He was pale and thin. Not that he was never not thin, but he seemed thinner than Steve remembered him being.

"Eddie?" The voice was quiet and weak and came from down the hall past the kitchen where Eddie was standing. And it was followed by a wracking cough that Steve could only imagine was as painful to whomever was coughing as it was to hear it. "Who was at the door?"

"I'll be right there, Uncle Wayne." Eddie unfolded his arms and turned to go down the hall. After a moment, Steve went after him. Eddie hadn't asked him to leave, so he figured he might as well follow. There was a bedroom at the end of the short hallway where Eddie's uncle was laying. He looked frail and sickly, barely able to hold his head up. "It's just a friend of mine," Eddie said quietly as he knelt next to the bed.

This had obviously been Eddie's bedroom at some point, Steve assumed. There was a Corroded Coffin banner on one wall, Judas Priest, Metallica, and Motorhead posters on another. And there was a beautiful black and red guitar on the wall above the desk. But if Wayne was sleeping in here now, Eddie must sleep on the foldaway in the living room.

Steve turned his attention back to Eddie and Wayne when Wayne started coughing again. It was a deep, aching cough, and when he pulled the handkerchief away from his face, Steve caught a glimpse of blood in it. The lung cancer. From the looks of him, it looked like it was killing Wayne. The last time Steve had seen him, in the hospital, he hadn't looked nearly this bad.