Work Text:
Turn around.
Every now and then I get a little bit lonely,
And you're never coming 'round.
Turn around.
Every now and then I get a little bit tired
Of listening to the sound of my tears.
Turn around.
Every now and then I get a little bit nervous
That the best of all the years have gone by.
Turn around.
Every now and then I get a little bit terrified
And then I see the look in your eyes.
Turn around, bright eyes.
Every now and then I fall apart.
Turn around, bright eyes.
Every now and then I fall apart.
It’s cloudy.
Warm.
Summer heat, storms in the distance.
Steve’s heartbroken, he’s painfully sad.
And worse, everyone knows they’re fighting this time. Everyone knows, because Eddie’s staying with Jonathan for a few days.
Some space will be good, Eddie had said before turning away blindly, leaving. Walking away, stepping over the bottlecap on the floor. Few days.
It’s been a week.
Steve is hollow, he’s numb.
Makes breakfast, lunch and dinner for Max, hangs out with her and the others whenever he can. Makes home home. Carries on, but inside…
He’s in agony.
It feels like death.
He would know.
Steve’s got a ring on his finger that curves like a question mark, neck horribly bare, love in his heart and blood, but he’s alone in bed every night.
On the roof, he smokes and stares at the sky.
Moon’s almost at that perfect halfway point, waxing.
She whispers her sympathies in the language of light. He can’t understand exactly, not without Eddie nearby, but he knows the flavour of her love as it shines through the growing clouds.
It’s not enough to make him feel better, though.
This stupid fucking argument and tomorrow… god, tomorrow they’re supposed to be getting married. This big, looming thing that’s gotten more and more difficult as time went on. What had started casual, became a bone of contention between them. Little things they didn’t say, space between them for the very first time and then last week, it all blew up.
There’s never space.
They’re never not touching, or loving, or kissing.
Until Eddie walked away.
Tears roll down his temples, the sky above achingly beautiful, even despite the clouds.
It’s nineteen eighty eight. Steve Harrington is twenty three years old and he’s supposed to be marrying Eddie Munson tomorrow.
But now… now he’s alone.
Only the moon and stars, no monster, no Eddie.
Just Steve.
And he knows it’s crystal fucking clear where this all began.
It started with Hopper.
*
Nine Months Ago
‘No, no. Absolutely not. That’s completely final.’
Hopper glares, arms crossed. Max snorts, tries to smother it, but she fails dismally and the others follow suit. Steve’s making coffee in the kitchen, Eddie perched high. Robin and Nancy are braiding El’s hair.
‘Dad,’ the little superhero chastises, brow raised. ‘You cannot say no. Everyone is laughing.’
‘I’m not laughing,’ he says, deadly serious. ‘It’s a small town and you’re already pushing the boundaries of what people will accept.’
‘Uh, excuse me!’ Max says, scowling. ‘Who exactly are you talking about?’
‘Probably not me,’ Lucas guesses sagely, patting her shoulder. ‘Or Dustin.’
‘Whoa, so, you’re making it a queer thing?’ Mike demands, outraged. ‘That’s gross! We said right from the start, no bowing to smaller minds!’
Hopper groans, pinches between his eyes. ‘No, it’s not—’
‘And you’re the one who said united we stand, divided we fall!’ Robin chimes in, gleefully stirring it up while Nancy rolls her eyes.
El gives her Dad a look. ‘Love is love, you always say that.’
‘And I mean it,’ he says quickly, looks like a man who took a wrong turn and now cannot reverse out. ‘But a wedding is a whole other thing. It’ll be a beacon to attract narrow minded bullies, talking shit about the sanctity of marriage.’
Eddie chuckles low and soft, it’s more Little Bit than Eddie, Steve can tell. ‘They wouldn’t dare.’
‘Believe me, they would. And maybe not to your faces, maybe not on Harrington land where mortal men fear to tread, but those whispers will become yelling and let me tell you, yelling is how most violent crimes start.’
Steve gives Hopper a look of his own. ‘Don’t scare the kids.’
‘I’m being honest.’
‘You’re being cynical,’ Eddie points out, hops down from his place, taps Max on the nose as he passes her by. ‘We run this town, don’t we Sunshine?’ He wraps himself around Steve from behind, nuzzles over the scar and growls gently. ‘Gonna marry you no matter what he says, baby boy. Promise. Even if it’s just you, me and the moon.’
‘Oh god, please not the full moon,’ Nancy utters, sounds mildly horrified. ‘If it’s the full moon, I swear, I’m rescinding my offer as head groomsmaid.’
‘It’s obviously not gonna be the full moon,’ Eddie says loudly, but then whispers something salacious into Steve’s skin that makes him giggle before a loving bite is pressed there.
Steve serves up coffee for the adults, snacks and juice for the kids. Hopper waits for Steve to sit down before he goes on.
‘I’m happy for you both.’ It’s unexpectedly soft, genuine. Steve is always a little taken aback whenever Hopper’s kind. ‘But a gay wedding—’
‘Steve’s bisexual,’ Robin points out quickly.
‘Right, fine, queer then. Whatever. A less than straight wedding in a town like this will attract attention, that’s all I’m saying. I’d actually recommend you, him and the moon.’
Eddie snorts. ‘Defeats the object when you suggest it.’
‘And we want to dress up!’ Dustin informs Hopper fiercely. ‘I for one have made plans!’
‘It would need to be small, discreet, for safety reasons.’
Dustin, Will, Mike and Lucas share a look before Mike admits, ‘There’s nothing discreet about our plans.’
‘Exactly. Not to mention the attention you two draw on a near daily basis as it is!’ Hopper points out, looking between Steve and Eddie. ‘It’s too dangerous.’
‘Well, so am I,’ Eddie shrugs. ‘And we’re getting married no matter what, so I guess you’re gonna do whatever you gotta do.’
Hopper sighs, drinks half his coffee in one go. ‘Am I…’ He gestures vaguely, says, ‘Involved?’
‘Like… you wanna marry me too? Because four’s a crowd.’
The kids snicker and Robin giggles and Nancy grimaces, but grins. Steve strokes the back of Eddie’s neck, over the scar he made with his teeth.
‘No, never mind,’ Hopper says.
Steve wonders if maybe he should have asked.
If maybe… fuck, he doesn’t know. Asked Hopper if he wanted to walk him down the aisle or some shit. The moment is awkward and while common sense tells him that Hopper would probably die before wanting to be asked that, Steve still feels bad.
‘Everyone’s involved, it’s a family wedding,’ he says boldly. ‘And look, we’re not making a huge thing of it. But we’re not hiding it.’
Gently, Hopper tells them, ‘I wish you would.’
‘Well, sorry,’ Max says, crossing her arms. ‘No one’s hiding shit. It’s a wedding and the whole town’s gonna hear about it, so I suggest you start backing up those rumours about the weird psycho family no one wants to mess with.’
‘Yes, this is a good plan,’ El agrees, dropping a kiss to her girlfriend’s hair. ‘We saved this town many times. They can be tolerant.’
‘And look, whatever else,’ Steve says with a shrug. ‘It won’t even be legal, so. People are gonna be getting mad about a party, that’s the worst of it.’
Eddie looks at him, frowns. ‘Baby, it doesn’t need to be legal to be real.’
Steve sighs. ‘I know, I’m just saying—’
Eddie shivers before he pulls him close and pushes his hair back, dark eyes seeking. ‘What laws can hold us, can bind our love or cleave us apart, hmm?’ he demands softly, nosing against Steve’s jawline and that is absolutely his monster. He’s coming out more and more during the day lately, slipping into Eddie’s consciousness, like a mood or a feeling. Max looks on fondly, all the kids do. Will makes the little bit sign to Mike when the kid wrinkles his nose questioningly, always last to catch on. ‘What foolish humans would dare encroach where we spilled our blood and seed in the earth that night? We will end them, swift and vicious. Use their meat to make rich soil and sow all our love to blossom and bloom. I’ll make you a rose garden over the bodies of those who would come to hurt us.’
He kisses Steve, who smiles and kisses back.
‘I know, baby,’ he says against his lips while Hopper clears his throat, but the others are exceedingly used to it. ‘I’m just saying, it shouldn’t be a big deal if it’s not even legal.’
‘It’s a very big deal. We have plans.’
‘Don’t we all,’ Dustin chimes in happily.
‘OK, well for now, let’s just tone them all way down and I’ll feel around for potential reactions,’ Hopper says, gets to his feet, having reached capacity. ‘Thanks for the coffee.’
‘You’re welcome,’ Steve says earnestly, his monster making a happy mess of his jawline. ‘And I get where you’re coming from.’
‘No, we do not,’ Little Bit rumbles.
Hopper rolls his eyes. ‘See you at home, sweetie,’ he says to El, then glances at Max. ‘You too, firecracker.’
‘Nicknames mean love,’ Little Bit reminds Steve when Hopper leaves. ‘He loves our Daughter Sun. What will it make Jim Hopper to us when they are married?’
The ensuing uproar makes Steve laugh so hard his ribs hurt.
*
Turn around
Every now and then I get a little bit restless
And I dream of something wild.
Turn around.
Every now and then I get a little bit helpless
And I'm lying like a child in your arms.
Steve tries to sleep alone in their bed.
It’s spacious, empty. The house is quiet and dark. He’s not afraid of the dark anymore, hasn’t been for a long time but he’s adrift without Eddie.
Pillow to his chest, farcical comfort, he whispers, ‘I thought you’d come tonight.’
There’s no reply. Max is down the hall, she’s safely in her room and before she went to sleep, she asked him what was happening tomorrow.
Steve was honest, he always is with her.
I don ’t know, sweetie.
Everyone’s been patient, hesitant. Even Robin has shown incredible restraint, not demanding what the fuck was wrong, why couldn’t they just talk it through?
The hall is booked, the plans are made, caterers confirmed earlier that morning.
Everything is ready.
Except them.
Steve knows exactly when that started. This mindset, this fracture between them.
And as he gives up on sleep, heads downstairs because he can’t bear the lingering scent of the man he loves in the soft cotton of their bed, he sighs to recall it.
*
Six Months Ago
Steve’s in hospital.
He despises hospitals.
Knows he is very much not alone in this sentiment but he can’t hide how much he hates being there.
Eddie frets hard, he’s prone.
Blames himself because he was the one driving, like it was even remotely his fault. The roads were icy slick, and the truck lost control. It hit the car, passenger side and Steve got bashed up, broken ribs and wrist. They haven’t done the x-ray yet, but he can tell. Knows when his bones are cracked.
‘Please stop pacing,’ Steve utters quietly. ‘I’m OK, just please stop.’
Eddie sits down, head in his hands. ‘It was my fault.’
‘It was the driver’s fault and the roads were icy, it happens.’
‘Not to you.’
Steve rolls his eyes. ‘Well, sadly yeah, to me. I’m gonna be fine. It’s probably already healed.’ He still has the taste of Eddie’s blood on his tongue, one of the first things they did when they were alone.
He thinks it hasn’t, not yet. Painful, sore, makes him tender all over and coughing is agony, but it will heal.
Eddie makes a small sound of despair. ‘You smell broken.’
‘I know, baby, it’s OK, c’mere.’ He reaches out with his good hand, feels instantly better when they’re touching again. ‘I’m sorry it scared you.’
Eddie looks up, incredulous and harshly pale.
‘It didn’t scare me, it fucking terrified me. I thought you were dead.’
Steve tries to smile. ‘You’d just bring me back.’
But it’s the wrong thing to say, no levity between them to raise the vibration. Eddie just stares, eyes dark.
‘Don’t know that I could this time, Sunshine,’ he says very quietly. ‘Where would I go to find you?’
Steve drops his gaze, throat thick. ‘I’m fine. It’s nothing.’
‘What if you’d broke your neck?’
‘Eddie—’
‘What if you went where I couldn’t follow?’ he sobs, wrought with the worst kind of sorrow; brittle grief that formed too fast before it was needed, nowhere to go now, but shatter and sink into skin. Insidious almost-trauma, Steve knows the marks a close call leaves behind.
‘But I didn’t, baby. I’m here, see? I’m right here.’
‘Promise always,’ Eddie utters when Steve brings their faces together, noses rubbing lightly. ‘Promise always.’
‘I… I can’t promise always, Eddie.’
Neither says anything after that.
They touch and hold and Eddie bites his wrist again, feeds his red to Steve. He cannot bear the scent of his mate broken. Steve wouldn’t know, but he thinks it must be unbearable. He drinks the blood, thinks he just needs time, but whatever he can do to make it better for Eddie, for the kids when they come rushing in with balloons and gift-shop cassettes and Three Musketeers bars, he’ll do.
Later, when the doctors show him the x-ray results, they tell him he’s extremely lucky. Nothing’s broken.
Only Steve knows something is.
Just not his bones.
*
Turn around.
Every now and then I get a little bit terrified
But then I see the look in your eyes.
Turn around.
Every now and then I get a little bit angry
And I know I've got to get out and cry.
Steve gets maybe two hours sleep in the armchair downstairs. TV left on mute, snowy static after one AM, but it was better than nothing. It’s been a long time since he needed light and sound to fall asleep.
Steve opens his eyes, looks around.
It’s raining outside.
Figures.
It’s his wedding day and it’s pouring rain.
He doesn’t ever really think about it, the weather. Never lets himself worry or wonder, though Little Bit often speaks of it, whispering riddles and love poems about blood and earth and all the flowers he wants to plant where Steve is ripe.
Eddie will wrap himself around Steve from behind, hold him close and make daylight. He always makes Steve warm and bright.
But not today.
Steve rubs his face, feels old.
He’ll need to cancel everything.
God, the fucking fight they put up to even get the hall booked in the first place. The endless row of tiny battles where the town took a stand, exactly as Hopper predicted, and each little refusal just made everything that much harder.
Steve doesn’t even believe in god, but he thinks marriage and religion are perhaps too closely intertwined in small minds to untangle from their book of rules they pick and choose. Shrimp eating hypocrites, as Robin loudly calls them.
He almost smiles.
Almost cries.
This can’t actually be happening, can it?
They can’t be broken up.
But Eddie’s not here.
He stayed away.
Didn’t come back.
Max trails inside the living room.
Steve looks at her, sees the sympathy and sadness, reads it writ large in her lovely features. She sits on the arm of the chair and he wraps her up in a hug, their fingers linking.
Sister, daughter, she’s his family.
He exhales shakily, tears spilling no matter how hard he tries to keep them at bay. Like the rain, he’s heavy with things that run wet. ‘Looks like it’s just you and me, kiddo.’
Max wraps her arms around his neck.
‘He’ll come back,’ she tells him.
For you, maybe, he doesn’t say. It’s true, though.
Eddie has been seeing Max throughout the week. Taking her out for milkshakes, to the new movie theatre in town. It’s probably the most painful thing about it all.
That Eddie’s made plans to carry on, he’s not just let the world crash to a halt the way Steve would like it to.
‘It’s OK,’ he says, but he’s never meant anything less. ‘I guess it’s for the best anyway. Look at the weather, huh?’
‘That’s you,’ she points out evenly.
He says nothing.
Max lives with them, she’s part of their little unit. She talks to Little Bit, she helps him collect shiny things, she’s learning guitar from Eddie. He pierced her nose last Christmas. Max is their kid, she’s kin.
So, she knows things the others maybe don’t.
She’s in the thick of it.
Lightning flashes and thunder rumbles a second later. It feels like a cosmic condemnation.
Steve has never missed Eddie more.
But he kisses the inside of her wrist, says, ‘Let’s make breakfast.’
*
Two Months Ago
They’re having breakfast.
On Sundays, it’s family day. They make this huge deal of it, massive amounts of homemade food, fresh flowers from the yard, all kinds of juice and special coffee. Eddie makes soup for lunch later on and they hang out, play games, catch up. Only the full moon ever interferes.
This full moon was… somewhat different than the others, but Steve finds himself healing faster and better each time. So this Sunday, he calls Nancy to let her know breakfast is on, despite the full moon drama on Friday night.
He’s almost entirely healed and Eddie’s wings and tail are gone again, though that always makes Steve sad.
So they host family day for those who are free and he knows by now, they’ll be getting visitors anyway.
Eddie is so clingy after the full moon and Steve can’t help but relish all phases of their love, but this one is especially sweet. Eddie reaching out to constantly touch him, seeking skin and the sensory haven of home they make from one another’s vessels.
He feeds Steve little treats from his fingers, kisses it into his mouth even when Steve squeals and protests. Thick chunks of mozzarella, soft, savoury sweet potatoes, fresh spinach, lets him taste the sauce from the wooden spoon and tells Steve he has never loved anything the way he loves him.
The kids arrive together. Lucas, Erica and Dustin come running in first. Hugs, happy greetings and all the inappropriate questions that Steve passes right off to Eddie, like always. Mike and Will come in next, they’re carrying bags of groceries. Nancy’s little ritual, she likes to bring food after the full moon. Steve always thanks her and kisses her cheek. Unnecessary gesture, that makes it all the lovelier somehow.
Will hugs Steve as soon as he sets the bags down. They always hug tight, these two. Steve never lets go first.
‘Everything’s OK?’ the kid whispers, taller than Steve now, but he’ll always be a child to Steve Harrington.
‘Of course,’ he assures the boy, hand on his cheek before he winks. ‘Though I think Hopper’s gonna swing by.’
Mike yells, ‘Whole town is on fire with rumours of what happened! Is it true?’
Steve sighs, catches Eddie’s gaze. His boyfriend, fiancé, is trying really hard not to laugh.
‘Why, what’d you hear?’
Erica sets down a campaign folder. ‘Uh, only that Tommy Hagan nearly got eaten by the demon Eddie Hetfield.’
Lucas smirks. ‘Yeah, just that. No biggie.’
Steve rolls his eyes. ‘He did not.’
‘He got cut up, though,’ Dustin says, helping himself to juice. ‘Twelve stitches, I heard.’
‘So few,’ Eddie utters with faux regret.
‘Anyway, don’t worry about that. Get stuck in,’ Steve says.
‘Yeah, and help us come up with an alibi,’ Eddie teases, but then he sees Max and El. His smile is so beautiful, it makes Steve’s heart flip over. ‘There she is!’
Max and Eddie always hug like they’ve not seen each other in weeks after the full moon. Meet in a huge, messy clash-cuddle where he lifts her off her feet, twirls her around and she laughs, lets him every time even though she’s probably getting too old to be twirled these days.
Steve goes over, joins them. A three person hug that’s always technically four, but it’s the best feeling in the world.
‘Missed you,’ she whispers to them both.
‘Missed you,’ Steve declares, kissing her cheek as Eddie sets her down. He turns his attention to El, hugs her after he takes the overnight bag from her fingers. ‘Hey, sweetheart. You hungry? Got French toast with that fancy cinnamon, just for you.’
Nancy and Robin come last.
Robin and Steve speak their strange little language of silence and gestures.
Heard tell there was trouble.
Fill you in later.
You look good.
And you, Empress of my Heart. Coffee?
They’re halfway through the long breakfast, music playing in the background, everyone gets a chance to choose, when Joyce and Hopper turn up.
‘Mama J,’ Eddie greets, kissing her cheek and then snickering when she whispers something to him, her eyes sparkling with loving admonishment. He looks over his shoulder, catches Steve’s gaze. ‘It wasn’t me!’
All the kids gasp.
‘Knew it, I knew it! No, yes I did!’ Mike insists. ‘I knew it! Don’t take this away from me, I said it was Steve!’
‘On the front porch, with a knife,’ Max mutters with a snicker.
‘OK, that’s quite enough!’ Hopper says by way of a greeting. Man looks resigned as fuck. ‘So. Who’s gonna tell me what the hell happened to Tommy Hagan?’
Eddie tells the story.
He’s really the best equipped, so dramatic, so hilariously uncaring of how goofy he is. Involves Mike and Lucas for the re-enactment, uses a banana for the knife prop.
‘Is he pressing charges?’ Steve asks, when Nancy is wiping her eyes from laughing so hard. Eddie is once again reasoning with the kids why they’re not allowed to see him during what they call wing day.
Hopper drinks coffee, shrugs. ‘Surprisingly enough, no. He was pretty much silent when Powell took his statement, his parents are going off, though. They got the local priest involved.’
Eddie looks over, suddenly serious. ‘What?’
‘Yeah, some choice words were thrown around. It’s all fine, though. I smoothed things over and Tommy refused to press charges. He didn’t even name you. It was all his parents. His father was raving.’
‘About what?’ Eddie asks. Steve watches him, feels his concern as if it were his own, can always feel when his love is afraid. ‘About us?’
‘Well, yeah. It’s more of the same shit that gets whispered, just… not whispering anymore.’
Nancy snorts. ‘Hagan fucked around and found out. They should be grateful it was only Steve and a knife.’
Hopper looks at Steve. He doesn’t say anything, but Steve can feel the emphasis. This little I told you this would happen, only without any smugness.
‘Anyway,’ Joyce says, putting a cassette of her own in. Fleetwood Mac bursts to life, halfway through Gypsy. ‘No charges are being pressed and he’s headed back to college anyhow. It’s all fine, ain’t that right, Hop?’
The kids are all looking at him.
Everyone is.
Hopper seems to realise it, at last.
The older man smiles and winks at El. ‘Course it is. Pass the fancy bread and syrup, I’m starved.’
*
Turn around, bright eyes.
Every now and then I fall apart.
It’s just the two of them for breakfast.
The radio plays on low, crackly and intermittent.
Steve’s got this suit. It’s hanging upstairs
He’s not gonna get to wear it.
The storm rages outside, but he just feels tired.
Like he wants to go to bed and sleep until he’s twenty four and things just have to be better by then.
Instead he eats with Max, drinks coffee.
‘I’m gonna go talk to him,’ she says at one point, decisive and determined.
‘No, honey,’ he sighs, staring at his food. ‘If he wanted to be here, he would be.’
‘This is bullshit. He can’t just—’
The phone rings loudly from nearby, perched on the wall. They look at each other before Max goes to answer it.
‘Hello?’ She frowns immediately and Steve tries not to let his mind go wild. ‘Yeah, I’m his sister, what’s… what do you mean? Why? No. No you can’t do that! You—oh, you’re so fucking dead.’
She hangs up with a smack.
Steve winces. ‘That good, huh?’
Max’s cheeks are stained red, murder in her eyes that reminds Steve of a certain someone. ‘The hall cancelled.’
He snorts, clears the plates. ‘Not like it matters.’
‘No, but they didn’t know that! They cancelled on purpose!’
‘It’s OK,’ he tells her tiredly.
‘No, it’s not. We’re gonna sue. And like, break windows. It’s malicious.’
Steve stares ahead, can’t really see anything.
‘Yeah, people can be. But it really doesn’t matter.’
Her eyes are overbright with unshed tears. ‘It matters to me!’
Steve looks over, smiles for her. ‘OK, then we’ll break windows later, yeah? I’ll help you choose rocks.’
‘Steve.’ Her voice cracks. ‘You’ve got to talk to him. I can’t… I can’t bear that this might actually be real.’
His heart threatens to break a little.
Strong, nourished, it can withstand a lot these days. Not like before, when he was fragile, weak, deprived. Back when he’d blast Springsteen and dance and scream and make mess to feel not alone.
But it can’t tolerate his girl crying.
He brings her into his arms, face to chest.
‘It’s gonna be OK.’
‘I love you guys,’ she whispers. ‘Don’t want it to be like this.’
‘I know, but it’s nothing to do with you, sweetheart. It’s just…’
She pulls back, looks at him. ‘What? What happened?’
*
One Week Ago
‘I want you to use it.’
Steve’s back is against Eddie’s chest, so he feels when he says it as much as he hears it. The moon is thin above, just past new. The stars are bright, sky dark and rich.
They’re on the roof.
They love to be on the roof.
Steve looks up at Eddie. ‘Use what?’
Eddie doesn’t answer at first, but he reaches down, grasps the bottlecap between his fingers and exhales heavily.
‘This.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I want you to use it, to not be human. Please.’
Steve sits up, doesn’t look away from Eddie. He’s nervous, asking for this. Little cracks that have grown and splintered and they’ve ignored them because it’s been stressful the last few weeks, months.
‘Eddie, what the hell?’
His fiancé sighs harshly, the kind of thing where Steve is proving him right about something bad. ‘We never talk about it.’
‘We never need to.’
‘You almost died.’
‘I always almost die! It’s like my party trick!’
Eddie glares, cold and flat. ‘That’s not funny.’
Steve softens, trying to stay where he’s open, not climb to higher ground where he knows this could escalate. ‘Baby, I know you’re still upset about the car wreck.’
Eddie makes a sound of disgust, shoves to his feet. ‘I’m not upset, don’t use domesticated fucking language for what I feel when it comes to you.’
Oh, he’s already mad.
Steve half rolls his eyes. ‘Say it how you feel it, then.’
Back to Steve, Eddie puts his hands in his hair.
‘I can’t lose you again.’
‘You won’t.’
‘You’re fragile. Breakable. It’s not fair. I can’t worry about it forever, that can’t be… I don’t want that.’
Steve shakes his head. ‘Eddie, that’s selfish.’
‘I know. I know it’s selfish and gross, but I was given that power for a reason.’ He turns around, eyes wild and dark. Steve thinks of what Eddie had told him about the quarry that day. The skies, the rain, the sound his body made when it hit the water. How brave Little Bit was going under, how only the bottlecap had gleamed just enough for them to find him. ‘I want you to use it so you’re always safe and nothing can hurt you.’
‘Baby—’
‘I can’t marry you unless you do.’
Steve blinks. ‘What?’
‘You don’t get it,’ Eddie mutters, looking out across the horizon. The trees, this town, Indiana. ‘I can’t lose you and survive. I just can’t.’
‘You’re not gonna lose me. Your blood heals me, it fixed me, it always will!’
‘Then just use the bottlecap! What difference does it make?’
‘Because I don’t want to live forever!’
The words seem to echo, but they don’t.
Harshly spoken, a truth Steve’s never said aloud before.
The space between them feels so vast.
Eddie seems so betrayed. ‘Steve….’
‘I can’t live forever, I won’t. That scares me more than anything, being alone.’
‘You wouldn’t be alone.’
‘We don’t know that! What if something happens to you and I get left behind, huh? No kids, no Little Bit? I couldn’t handle that. You know I couldn’t. You’re being so selfish asking this without us even talking it over first!’
‘I lost you once. I can’t lose you again.’
‘I lost you too.’
‘Before you loved me. You’re the whole world to me, don’t you get that?’
Steve makes a face. ‘I think I do get it, actually, thanks. And I’m not dying, I’m right here!’
‘But not always.’
He moves closer to Eddie, desperate to close the gap between them but Eddie takes a step back. ‘Some things are always, some aren’t.’
‘Like me and you, huh?’
‘That’s not fair and how dare you say that?’
‘These fucking people are gonna come at us with pitchforks and bibles! I know you don’t wanna see it, but they are. I’d know, believe me! And I can’t… unless I know you’re safe, always, I can’t take the risk.’
‘The risk of what? Saying you’ll love me now and forever?’
Eddie looks away. ‘I was so fucking stupid to propose.’
‘Oh, that hurts,’ Steve utters softly.
‘Not because of that,’ Eddie says quickly and finally, finally he looks at Steve, actually seems to see him. ‘Baby, no. Not that, obviously not that.’
A ragged little breath forces its way out, punched and heavy with wounded weight. ‘Yeah, well, actually, nothing is obvious right now, Eddie. You’re saying you won’t marry me unless I become immortal!’
‘They’re gonna come for us.’
‘I don’t care!’
‘I do! I care!’
‘Then trust me to take care of myself! I managed it without you once, y’know!’
‘That’s debatable.
‘Oh, fuck you. No, really, fuck you, man. You go fuck yourself now.’
Steve swings easily down off the roof, isn’t careful like he should be because really, truly, fuck you, Eddie. He climbs inside with the ease born of familiarity.
Their Tower, their high place of the castle they made together from ruin and wreckage. Laughter, love and blood.
It’s home.
Every corner has a memory, good or bad.
They are carved into the walls, seeped into the wood, they’ve bled themselves here, all around.
‘Steve, listen.’
‘De ja-fuckin’-vu,’ Steve mutters, turns to face him, jaw tight. ‘You have no right asking me this a week before we’re due to get married!’
Eddie’s eyes flash. ‘People like this are dangerous. I hear whispers about shit they’re planning for the day. You’re human, you’re so… baby, you break so easy. It’s driving me crazy and I just want to protect you.’
‘I don’t need you to protect me!’
‘You’re mine to protect!’
‘But not to control!’
‘I would never—’
‘I mean, why don’t you just do it for me, if it’s so important, huh? Get the bottlecap, give it a shake or whatever the fuck and boom, immortal Steve!’
‘I’d never do that.’
Shame burns low in his gut, knows that’s true and to even suggest it is unworthy, but Steve is flailing. Everything is upside down, he can’t get level.
‘No?’ Steve’s bottom lip trembles. ‘You’re the one who gets to choose what breaks and what doesn’t, aren’t you? You’re the one who’s fucking divine?’
Eddie blinks, astonished. ‘How can you throw that in my face?’
‘How can you give me an ultimatum one week before we’re supposed to get married?’
‘Because I love you, that’s how! I love you beyond the meaning of the word and you know it!’
‘Yeah? I really don’t feel it right now.’
Eddie shakes his head. ‘I shouldn’t have waited this long, should have told you before.’
‘When I got hurt in the car wreck?’
‘When you were broken by a fucking machine, yeah, Steve. I should have told you then that I can’t bear to live the rest of our lives in fear of you going before me.’
They look away from each other, opposite sides of the room where they birthed horror and love and Steve kissed his wings, took the bottlecap, named the monster.
‘Let me talk to him.’
Clipped and calm, like Eddie knows how much this will hurt, he says, ‘Little Bit agrees with me.’
Steve’s lips part, looking back swiftly. It’s like a knife in his heart. ‘No. No, he wouldn’t. Let me talk to him. Little Bit, baby, you don’t agree with this, right?’
Eddie closes his eyes, jaw clenched.
Silence.
Steve blinks tears down his cheeks. ‘Oh, fuck you both then,’ he utters on the back of a shuddering, painful breath.
‘Steve… I’m sorry.’
‘I don’t want to live forever and if you don’t wanna be with me as a human, then I guess that’s pretty clear.’
‘It’s not that, I love you, we love you exactly as you are. You’re so beautiful and perfect, but baby you’re breakable. These people are all looking at us now. These people who drive cars, who buy guns, who go to church to feel good about being cruel. I’m scared, all right? I am terrified of losing you. I want you safe and we have this gift, this little choice we get to make.’
‘I get to make. Me. It’s my body. My life.’ Steve swallows thickly, eyes wet, everything hurting. He yanks the necklace hard, the cord gives at the back. ‘And I don’t want what you want.’
He throws it down.
It might be the worst thing he ever did.
It’s light, barely makes a sound when it hits the floor.
Wood soaked with their blood and love and all the memories of their time together.
And now another.
Maybe the last.
The bottlecap lays between them.
Eddie wipes his eyes, looks away.
‘I’m uh, gonna go stay with Jon. Some space will be good.’ He steps over the bottlecap, doesn’t look at Steve. ‘Few days.’
Steve barely holds himself together long enough to hear the door shut downstairs before he bursts into tears.
*
And I need you now tonight,
And I need you more than ever.
And if you only hold me tight,
We'll be holding on forever.
And we'll only be making it right,
'Cause we'll never be wrong
Together we can take it to the end of the line
Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time
All of the time.
Robin is mad, but she’s the best friend in the entire world, so she doesn’t show it. Only hugs Steve as soon as he opens the door to her. She’s dripping wet, smells of her and Nancy’s house.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she tells him fiercely, softly.
‘It’s OK.’
It’s not.
Nothing has ever been less OK.
She pulls back. ‘This isn’t OK.’
He laughs, wishes it didn’t turn into tears quite so quick. ‘No shit.’
‘Where is he?’ Max asks Robin when she’s inside, the storm raging outside.
‘He just came over,’ Robin admits, sitting down heavily. ‘I left.’
Steve appreciates the solidarity, even though he can see how hard it is for her, being in the middle like this.
‘Was he… OK?’
‘Don’t worry about him, babe. Please. Let’s just figure this out together first, yeah?’
Steve sighs. ‘No need, they already cancelled everything.’
‘What?’
Max scowls, braiding her own hair. Habit whenever she’s mad. ‘Got a bunch of phone calls. Shit went wrong, apparently. The hall lost all power, the caterer got four flat tyres or whatever the fuck. Real weird, huh?’
‘Are you serious?’
Steve groans, drops his head in his arms. ‘Can we please not?’
‘Sorry, sorry,’ Robin says quickly. ‘I’m just. Oh my god, I’m so mad.’
‘We’re gonna throw rocks later.’
‘I’m definitely there for that. God, fuck this town. The amount of times we saved the place! Anyway. Doesn’t matter right now. He really didn’t… come by? Nothing?’
Steve swallows hard over something sharp.
‘Nothing.’
‘I can’t believe that.’
‘Yeah, well. Here we are.’ Steve looks up, he’s so heartbroken he’s sopping with it. Heavy and drowning. ‘I’m sorry you didn’t get to wear your special dress.’
She laughs and then bursts into tears right along with him. They hug, side by side at the island.
Max grabs her jacket and keys. ‘Back later, love you.’
Steve’s protests are weakened with tears, he feels awful but nothing in this world is going to stop her doing what she needs to, rain or no.
‘I’m going to fucking murder him,’ Robin declares as soon as Max is gone, wiping under her eyes.
Steve sighs. ‘No, you’re not. You love him too.’
‘Yeah, I do, but this… this is gross! He’s never like this!’
‘I guess fear makes people do some truly awful shit,’ he says dully. ‘Anyway. I don’t know what to do about the kids.’
‘Do you seriously think he’s not ever gonna come back?’
‘I… like, when I search myself, no. I don’t think that but…’ He looks around, tries to laugh, cannot. ‘He’s not here, is he?’ She grips his hand tight, sharing in his grief. ‘When you saw him, what did he look like?’
Robin sighs, shrugs. ‘I slipped out before I came face to face with him, but he had… bags.’
Steve goes cold. ‘What?’
‘Like. Big ones, duffel bags, you know.’
The silence that ensues is so painful, Steve thinks his insides are bleeding. ‘He wouldn’t just leave, would he?’
‘Honey, I don’t know what happened, but I can tell you,’ she says, voice trembling. ‘That I’m not gonna leave, all right? No matter what.’
He takes what comfort he can from it.
‘I can’t live without him.’
‘We’re gonna figure this out, together.’
Steve opens his mouth to make a joke (a real shitty one) about the last time they tried to figure something out together and where it landed them, when someone knocks at the door.
He sighs.
Isn’t ready for Nancy or Joyce or god forbid, the kids come calling to tentatively ask what’s happening, if it’s still on.
‘I can’t deal with them right now,’ he says. ‘Can you?’
‘Of course. Just gimme a sec.’
Robin goes to the door, opens it.
The quiet is likely on purpose. Whispering and telling whoever it is to just give him some space, some time to… what? Completely fucking fall apart?> Go scream into the storm and wish he could die?
He sobs, hands over his eyes, elbows on the sturdy island they eat at every single day. ‘I can’t do this.’
Robin yells suddenly, tone warning and stern.
‘Eddie, I’m not fucking kidding!’
Steve looks up so quickly he cricks his neck, winces against the pain, but it’s nothing because his heart is lurching heavily, thrown side to side like loose furniture in a stormy ship.
‘I know, Robs, I need to talk to him, just please let me—’
Eddie freezes, words dying as soon as he comes into view, locks eyes with Steve.
He looks wild.
Bedraggled and rain soaked, he looks like when Steve first found him outside.
Eyes dark, skin pale.
He looks how Steve feels.
His curls are dripping. Steve gets to his feet.
Robin comes inside, looks between them.
‘You want me to stay?’ she offers Steve, means it.
He debates. Has no clue what Eddie’s here to say.
He wants to believe it’s not what he dreads.
He’d give anything to trust like he did one week ago, before the cracked bone finally gave out.
‘Could you give us a few minutes?’ he asks, holds her gaze so she knows he means it.
‘Yeah,’ she says, gives Eddie a glare for good measure. ‘My day’s wide open now, after all. I’ll be in the den.’
He waits until she’s gone.
Eddie can’t look away from Steve, who feels the rising tide of tension like a wave come to kill and drown.
The island is between them, so much is between them.
History and hurt and happiness.
Love in all the ways they run wet.
Scars that healed, bonds that formed.
Death they defied.
‘I uh…’ Eddie begins, voice giving out. ‘This is really fucking hard.’
Oh my god.
He’s come to do it face to face.
To break up, for real.
Steve turns, but knows his expression gave him away completely when it crumpled, can’t help it.
He won’t survive it.
Cannot.
This agony is like death.
Steve Harrington would know.
‘Just say it and go.’
‘Steve, I. Look. Can I come closer?’
‘Why?’
‘Please? I won’t touch you.’
Steve nods, can’t give his assent any other way.
Eddie moves cautiously closer, brings all the scent of the storm inside. Dressed in black, just how Steve loves him.
They’re close enough to touch but of course they don’t. Maybe they’ll never touch again.
Oh, please, no.
He can’t.
Eddie takes a deep breath and Steve can’t begin to shield himself against the pain of the man he loves most letting him down gently.
But it’s not Steve he lets down.
It’s himself.
Eddie gets on his knees.
Steve almost flinches, blinks rapidly.
‘What are you—?’
‘I’ve done nothing to deserve you. I’ve fucked up. I hurt you. I was selfish and unreasonable and I let fear come between us. I fucked up so bad, Steve and I am so sorry.’
Steve takes a step back, feels like he might fall unless he grips the marble of the island. ‘Wh-what?’
On his knees, Eddie looks up at Steve, eyes red as tears fill and fall. ‘It scares me, how much I love you. It’s… it’s not like how it should be, I think. Not like how I love the kids, or the girls, or even Wayne. You’re the world. You are my world. That’s not romance or hyperbole. And I’m scared of losing you because I remember how it felt before.’ He drags his hand over his face, mouth twisting. ‘I had no right asking you to do that and it was disgusting of me, no two ways about it. This is all me. I’m the monster. I hurt you.’ His composure cracks, sorrow pinching everything together as he sobs. ‘I am so, so sorry baby. I’m so sorry.’
Lip wobbling, heart in abject flux, Steve shakes himself. ‘And like, what? I’m j-just supposed to forgive you?’
‘No.’
‘You left me all week.’
Eddie closes his eyes, tears rolling. ‘I know.’
‘You didn’t call and you-you still saw Max, like it was permanent! You didn’t come last night. I waited for you, did you know that?’
‘I knew. I was there. I watched you to make sure you were safe.’
Steve can’t breathe. Anger so bright it leaves him night blind, clashing hotly with something like relief that gives him strength again. It comes like air, like he’s been slowly choking to death this last week and didn’t even realise.
‘Fuck you,’ he utters, leaves.
*
I don't know what to do and I'm always in the dark.
We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks.
I really need you tonight.
Forever's gonna start tonight,
Forever's gonna start tonight.
Once upon a time I was falling in love,
Now I'm only falling apart.
There's nothing I can do
A total eclipse of the heart.
Once upon a time there was light in my life,
But now there's only love in the dark.
Nothing I can say,
A total eclipse of the heart.
Eddie follows him out into the rain.
Into the woods.
The storm is all around them, it’s inside Steve.
He is the storm.
It’s the first time he’s ever truly felt it.
He walks fast, can’t run and when Eddie catches up, pulls him around, Steve smacks him across the face.
Eddie rocks to the side, eyes closed.
The rain must make it sting.
‘How could you do this to me?’ Steve demands, breathless and small, but so angry it’ll light up the skies across the whole earth, even the moon will see it. ‘You just left me here while you got some fucking perspective, huh?’
He goes to smack him again, furious beyond anything he’s ever felt in his whole life but Eddie catches his wrist that time, stops him with gentle restraint because he is the monster, he’s the strong one, isn’t he?
‘I had to make sure you were safe, I had to watch to see who came to hurt you!’
‘The only one who hurt me is you!’ he screams, shoving away hard.
‘Tommy’s Dad has been watching the house!’ Eddie yells right back. ‘He’s been in his fucking truck with a twelve gauge on the front seat, did you know that? No. Because you don’t see danger where it concerns you, do you? You only see the kids and Robin and Nancy and…’ he laughs bitterly. ‘Me. Your default is to put yourself dead last and what I did was fucked up and gross but you went over the side of that quarry without a second thought, Steve!’
Steve squares up, breathing fast. ‘Nothing’s worth risking the kids.’
‘You are worth everything!’
Lightning hits a tree nearby. The strike is incredible, the air flash fries, and every hair on Steve’s body is raised, but he’s not afraid.
He’s so mad it’s spilling over the sides.
‘So there was a risk and you ran! You hid in the trees and watched me fall apart from a distance, huh? You fucking coward!’
‘I know I am. I’m a coward and I’m not brave like you because I cannot be in this world without you and that terrifies me, right down to my core!’
‘You think I could live without you? Is that it? You think I have it so fuckin’ easy because you can’t get hurt? I still remember your eyes from when you were dead and I left you behind. It pulls me apart that one day, I’m gonna go somewhere and you both might not be able to come with me right away, but god fucking damn it, I’m not running! I’m here, in our house in this god forsaken town that hates us because this is where we made home, you and me!’ Eddie sobs, shakes his head but Steve takes hold of his face, won’t let him look away. ‘And you know what I would never do? Is ask you to take that fucking bottlecap and make yourself human. Never.’
‘I know.’
‘So what right do you have to ask me?’
‘None.’
‘Damned right, none! You fucking bastard for making me choose like that! You don’t do that, we don’t do that!’
Eddie cries, tears and rain mingling and it’s above them, the eye of this storm. Steve holds his face, his lover in despair, lightning in his blood because love catches like energy when struck, when pushed.
‘We don’t do that,’ Eddie echoes weakly.
‘We don’t ever do that, no matter how hard it is. People who do that… I’m not gonna live like them. And I know you’re scared,’ he goes on, voice breaking. ‘I know you are. I don’t wanna go anywhere without you either. I want to stay with you, no matter where we are and I know we will.’
He brings them close, foreheads touching, noses brushing.
‘I know we’ll find each other,’ he whispers. ‘Because there is nowhere you could go, Eddie Munson, where I would not find you.’
They’re crying when they kiss.
Lightning flares bright enough to blind, but their eyes are closed, drowning in the rain and the worst of all things they left silent the last nine months.
It’s anger, it’s sorrow, it’s the breadth of things they can’t contemplate because they’re still just kids. Twenty three and finding their way with every step. Fucking up, making mistakes, wrong turns.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Eddie pants into the kiss. ‘I love you so much, could never be without you, wanted to die this whole week away from you.’
Hands in hair, clinging like they’ll fall to pieces if they let go, it’s an ugly embrace beneath the wide gaze of a curious storm. They kiss and they grasp, desperate with the ferocity of a thousand cuts.
‘You hurt me,’ Steve tells him.
‘I know I did, I felt it.’ Oh, he sounds so wretched. ‘Don’t deserve you, Sunshine. God, I don’t, but I can’t help loving you the way I do.’
It’s not perfect.
It’s not.
This love is strewn with imperfections. It’s unsightly, inconvenient, monstrous and wild. It takes them from the normal world, forges a new one, it confronts harsh truths that don’t go down easy. It’s wrought from death, this love.
The iron backbone is bloody reincarnation.
Eddie is a monster.
Steve knows this.
Has known it ever since that time he tried to go kill Tommy, told Steve to have a nice bath, he’d be right back.
He knows he’s a monster.
Loves him for it, not in spite of it.
But monsters don’t feel things like others do.
He slams his eyes shut, swallows what’s mostly ego, seeks his centre.
‘I’m here, now. I’m here with you, in this moment and baby, that’s all we have. All we have is now. You leaving me for some potentially less painful future makes no sense when we know how quickly life can end, how fucking brutal things can get. I know you were scared, but it wasn’t right what you did. I don’t want to live forever, not like that. I’m not scared of dying, only being without you.’
His eyes are screwed tight shut, jaw lax as he cries in Steve’s embrace and Steve wants to love it all better, but he needs to say this.
Needs it heard, beneath the storm.
On the earth where they first kissed, bled, came.
Where he once promised to always be there.
But it’s built on sand, that promise.
Because they both know one day he’ll be gone.
Eddie too.
But he can make a new promise, here and now.
‘Look at me, baby. Listen for me?’
Eddie looks up at him, so desperate, so lost.
Steve takes a deep breath. ‘You’re gonna hate me for this.’
Eddie laughs, tears spilling anew. ‘Can’t be more than I hate myself.’
Steve kisses him again, just once.
‘I promised to always be here, you remember?’
I ’m here.
Promise me always.
I—I promise I ’ll always be here.
Promise harder.
Eddie, I promise I ’ll always be here for you.
Not for me, just here. In the world.
I will always be here.
‘I-I remember.’
Steve holds his gaze. ‘I won’t always be here. I can’t make that promise for you, baby. One day, I’ll be gone and the world will be without Steve Harrington.’ Eddie cries, shakes his head, but before he can plead otherwise, Steve touches their lips, says, ‘But I promise, I’ll always be with you. I’ll be with you, no matter where. This world, the next. I’ll find you and I’ll love you, Eddie Munson. That’s my promise. That’s my vow.’
Eddie kisses him in lieu of something else, Steve can feel it. He feels the give, the sorrow, the submission.
It’s not the promise Eddie wants. Steve’s monster is greedy for absolutes, for promises set in immortal stone and stark extremes, but Steve can only give what he has and he feels the moment Eddie accepts it.
Kisses him instead of screaming.
Instead of howling to the fiery skies like the wild thing he truly is.
The kiss hurts, draws blood.
Steve gives it gladly.
Angry still, injured still.
But life is so painfully short and all they have is now.
Now.
Now.
He forgives what he can, lets perish what he cannot.
‘It’s enough,’ Eddie whispers when they part, lips red and ripe, rain rushing over them like the sea. ‘It—it’s more than enough, I’m so sorry.’
‘I forgive you.’
‘You shouldn’t.’
‘Yeah well, I’m told I have really bad survival instincts, so, y’know.’
There’s no levity or humour to be had on this day when they should be getting married, but instead they’re crying and bleeding and Hawkins is pounded by a storm Steve made in his heart.
Magic is never what he thinks it should be.
Maybe that’s what makes it magic.
‘I’ll keep you safe in other ways,’ Eddie promises, caresses Steve’s face, noses gliding back and forth like animals. ‘Every day with you is a gift and I promise I won’t ever waste it, not again.’
‘I love you.’
‘Love you, so much more.’
‘How much more?’
Eddie rolls his eyes. ‘Oh, you know. Just a little bit.’
‘Let me talk to him.’
‘You are. We’ve been sharing since the night I left.’
‘Little Bit, you’re gonna be brave for me?’
Eddie drops his gaze, like he’s ashamed. ‘Brave for you.’
‘That’s my monster,’ Steve whispers, licks in deep for another kiss, loving with wet mouths and rain slick lips. Eddie responds like he’s ravenous, like he wants to crawl inside. Steve feels like he wants to consummate the promise here and now, swear their love beneath the lightning and the skies.
‘Kinda sad we didn’t actually get married today, though,’ he gasps when they part, fingers in hair, bodies pressed so hard together there’s not an inch of space between them. ‘But it’s OK. They all cancelled anyway.’
‘Uh yeah, about that,’ Eddie says, wincing. ‘I may have had… a plan.’
Steve pulls back, blinks rainwater out of his eyes.
‘What’s that now?’
‘I. OK, look, let’s get out of the rain?’
‘No, you tell me right now.’
‘Right, um. I forced them to cancel everything this morning. I cut the power to the hall, I slashed the tyres of the caterer.’
‘You what?’
‘I couldn’t take the risk of some fucker like Tommy’s asshole father lurking with a gun, but,’ he adds swiftly when he sees Steve’s somewhat thunderous expression. ‘I did all that with a plan in mind.’
‘What plan?’
‘Well, OK, uh.’ Eddie chuckles nervously, eyes bright. Steve thinks he sees a little moonstone catching the lightning when Eddie drops to one knee right there in the dirt. He holds Steve’s hand, rubbing the ring that’s already there. ‘Steve Harrington, would you marry me today?’
*
Turn around, bright eyes.
Turn around.
Robin gets headaches when it rains.
It’s not the biggest deal, but it does sort of mean that she really comes to dread whenever Steve is sad because… well, they don’t talk about it, but look.
The skies don’t lie.
She’s in the kitchen now that they’ve left to go do whatever they need to outside. Outside is really best, especially when they’re like this. Plenty of space to make mess and do god only knows what.
Deep down, she doesn’t think they’re actually going to break up. She believes, hopes, that they’re outside right now making out in the rain, which is very much their ride or die style.
She’s an optimist, even with a headache.
That, or she’s gonna smack Eddie around the face.
The phone rings and she answers it without thinking, it’s basically her second home.
‘Harrington residence, you’d better not be some narrow minded motherfucker calling to tell us that the flowers died overnight or some such—’
‘Robin, that you?’
‘Nance? Yeah, it’s me, you OK?’
‘Yeah, I’m OK, baby, did they make up yet?’
‘They’re outside in the rain.’
‘Of course they are.’
‘Are they gonna, though? That’s why Eddie came, for sure?’
‘Yeah, of course. He’s been doing all kinds of real shady shit last night to keep Steve safe or something, I don’t know, he was out of it this morning, but listen. I’m with the kids, we’re almost all set.’
The front door opens with a bang. Robin peers around. She can’t see, but she hears them making out, feverish and desperate.
Then…
‘You want blood, yeah? Want my blood, you must be so hungry for it? Uhh, that’s it, wanna give you everything.’
‘Gonna eat you alive from the inside out, Sunshine, you ready for me?’
Robin wrinkles her nose. ‘Oh, gross, they’ve definitely made up. But baby, set for what?’
Nancy Wheeler huffs a sigh, snaps at someone to put the dragon head down or else and then says, ‘For the wedding, take two.’
*