banished (steddie)

just decoys.

It had been a single week since Eddie Munson, the so-called Satanist who saved Hawkins, had died. Most people were happy about it. They didn't have to hear him in the lunchroom, obnoxiously standing on the tables and yelling nonsense. They didn't have to see him drive his van into the trailer park at 3 in the morning after getting drugs from his dealer and didn't have to close their windows at night due to the fumes coming from his room. However, was it worth it? Was it worth him dying for people to finally enjoy life?

Steve was the one who had found him; his bruised and torn-up body was covered in his blood, sweat, and tears. His spear and shield by his side were torn up and bloody as well. Not only his tears but the tears of his best friends. The best friends who, even though they had just recently met him, cared for him. Wanted him to live. Wanted him to strive to be a better person. Wanted to see him prove everyone in Hawkins wrong about who he was. Unfortunately, things don't always work out.

Steve had been lying in his bedroom ever since he arrived back from the Upside Down. He drove Max to the hospital, and everyone else home. He was just the caregiver. The adult of adult of the group. Nobody asked if he was okay if he was hurt, or how he felt. He had his injuries; his neck was covered in a thin, dark line of his skin, that couldn't heal itself. He, too, experienced the pain of the demobats, and there were scars on every part of his body. It just reminded him more of what happened. He felt like a failure. Steve was supposed to be the hero, and he couldn't even do that. If anyone was supposed to die that night, it was him.

"Told you not to do it. Told you not to be the goddamn hero, Eddie. I told you."

Steve muttered harshly as he gazed up at the textured ceiling above. He couldn't stop replaying Eddie's death in his mind. The blood rushed out of his mouth and body. His tears gently ran down his face. His beautiful, beautiful smile slowly fading.

"Oh, shit. Shit! Shit, shit, shit, shit."

"That's not gonna hold! Let's go! Let's go!"

"Come on! Quickly!"

"Ah! Eddie, come on! Eddie, come on! Let's go!"

"Eddie, you're so close! Eddie! Let's go!"

"Eddie. Eddie! What are you doing?"

"Eddie, no! Eddie! Eddie, stop! Eddie, stop! Stop! Stop! Eddie, what are you doing?"

"I'm buying more time."

"No! Eddie, please!"

"Eddie! Eddie! Oh God! Oh God, Eddie."

"Bad, huh?"

"No. You're gonna be fine. Just gotta get you to a hospital, okay?"

"Okay. All right. All right. I think..."

"Come on."

"I think I just... I think I just need a second, okay?"

"Okay."

"I didn't run away this time, right?"

"No. No. No. No. You didn't run."

"You're gonna have to look after those little sheep for me, Steve. okay?"

"No, you're gonna do that yourself."

"Nah, man. Say, "I'm gonna look after them." Say it."

"I'm... I'm gonna look after..."

"Good. 'Cause I'm gonna graduate. I think it's my year, Harrington. I think it's finally my year. I love you, man."

"I love you too."

"Eddie... Eddie? Eddie?"

"Eddie! Come on."

"Eddie!"

Steve began to sob, and he sunk onto his knees in front of his bed. His shaky hands covered his tear-stained face.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't save you. I am so, so sorry. It should've been me. It really should have... you were a good person. You had so much potential, Eddie, why did you have to ruin that?"

He spoke softly like he wanted to believe Eddie could hear him. Their interactions with each other during the last week or so weren't anything special, but Steve was glad that the two met. He felt a certain way about him. Steve felt that if Eddie were still alive, they could make something work. Steve had only thought about being in a relationship with Eddie. He was different than all the rest of the stupid jerks in Hawkins. Eddie understood him and knew how he truly felt.

"Don't try to be cute or be a hero or something, okay? You guys are just decoys."

"Don't worry. You can be the hero, Steve."

"Absolutely. I mean, look at us. We are not heroes."

Steve didn't know why Eddie didn't listen to him and it drove him crazy. He didn't know if Eddie wanted to die or just get away from the guilt of Chrissy's death. Eddie knew he was going to die that night, and he didn't try to run away or fight the bats off of him once he got too far in. He didn't try anything to save his life. He wanted it to happen. He wanted to prove that he wasn't a coward.

"I guess I couldn't accept the fact that Steve Harrington was a good dude. Rich parents, popular, chicks love him. Not a douche? No way, man. No way. That, like, flies in the face of all the laws in the universe and my own personal Munson doctrine."

Steve let out a loud yell and stood up. He opened his bedroom door and walked downstairs, his hands balled up into a tight fist. Steve knew he couldn't make the situation better, so why not just drown it out? He opened the refrigerator door in his kitchen and took out a handful of beer bottles. They weren't his, they were his dad's, but he didn't care. It softened his emotions and made him feel nothing. Steve popped open one of them and sat the rest of them on the counter.

A loud thud, shattering of glass, and sirens were heard throughout the house. The static of a radio came in from the front door and a few men came into the kitchen with a stretcher.

"Is he dead?" A voice asked, and another was speaking to the radio. The owner of the voice picked up the boy and lowered him onto the stretcher gently. He reached his hand down to the boy's neck and gently pressed two fingers onto the side of it.

"No, not dead. Close to it, though; let's hurry." Wheels turned, doors slammed, and sirens resumed blaring.