revivalproject | +1 Babysitter

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+1 Babysitter

WHO: Steve Harrington
WHERE: Wandering in town and at the diner
WHAT: A Babysitter named Steve enters the chat
WHEN: Post sports day. He'll be devastated he missed it
WARNINGS: S4 Stranger Things spoilers but nothing else.

[Welcome to Even Stranger Things]

Steve still wasn't entirely sure what had happened to him. One second he was asleep in the hellscape that was now Hawkins, and then he was in some sort of alien city? The floating orb thing had explained it to him, kind of, but he didn't know if he could trust that information. After all, why would a group of aliens looking to hurt them just outright say that? It would be stupid. So who fucking knew what this whole thing was about.

Not to mentioned they were all kidnapped. That didn't seem like great behavior, all considered. Definitely not a super first impression.

But it didn't seem like he had a lot of say on it. He was here now and it was up to him to make the best of it. At least he had his bat. Steve rested it against his shoulder as he walked around the area, just getting the layout. Not that he was absorbing all that much, of course. He kept stopping short, seeing some sort of weird animal or strange looking building. Finally though, after his wandering, he saw something that looked more familiar. Someone to talk to, maybe. Another hostage?

"Hey! Wait up!" Steve runs to catch up. "Hey, I'm new here. Are you...uh. Kidnapped too?"

[Boy's Gotta Eat]

It's been a long few days of trying to get his bearings and settling in. Steve finally stopped bringing his nailbat with him but that didn't mean his guard is down. He'd had enough moments of thinking things were fine only to have a monster pop out of nowhere to ever be truly relaxed. Besides, he is still a hostage, nevermind that the aliens are pink and sort of adorable in an oblivious, Eleven sort of way. Have to stay on his toes.

And that means he really needs to get some food.

Steve saw the diner on the map and ventures out early in the morning. He isn't sure how he is going to pay or what sort of food will be in there, but he's finished the protein bars he'd gotten from the replicator and is starving. Beggars can't be choosers.

"Hello?" He walks inside and looks around. "Uh. Here for the food? As long as it's not like, alien worms or something like that?" Although he's hungry enough that it maybe wouldn't matter.

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"The guy was creepy...so you let him take your blood?" Steve looks at Eddie in much the same way he suspects Dustin looks at him when he confuses Lord of the Rings with Lord of the Flies. "Dude. I am not sure that was a great call. What if he's like, cloning you or something? Or using your blood for like...some sort of real satanic ritual?"

He doesn't really think either are happening but who really knew?! This place was weird. Anything could potentially happen. There were lightning mice!

"Whatever. We're getting that weed back. No parents here means we can smoke the whole bag without worrying about anything." Except...you know. Anything else that could happen here. "You point him out to me when you see him. We'll figure out some deal."

"I mean...I all ready let some other doctor lady take my blood so-" Is that better? That's not better, is it? But it's done now.

He snickers but nods. Man, why had he never gotten high with Steve before? Right, because they didn't like each other then. And it was always Tommy who bought from him. "What, you gonna get it back for me? Like he's the school bully who took my lunch money?" Eddie laughs.

Steve grins and shrugs his shoulder. He speaks around a mouthful of food, halfway done with his own plate and eyeing whatever on Eddie's hasn't been touched. "I mean, why not? I am sure my friends stole your money at least once in your life. Consider this me making up for it. And then taking advantage of it immediately after by smoking the gains."

He laughs himself and finishes the mystery meat with a few large bites and leaning back in his seat before gobbling down the rest.

"Also, dude. You gotta stop giving your blood away. What's up with everyone here wanting it so bad?"

"At least," Eddie agrees, nudging over the rest of his plate with a smirk and nursing his coffee, "I might've started over charging to even things out a bit. But don't let me stop you, man. You get it back, we can light up together. God it's been forever."

That's met with a laugh and a shrug, "I dunno man, between them and the bats, it must taste pretty damn good or have the cure to cancer in it or something."

The mention of the bats is enough to take some of the wind out of his sails. He doesn't want to ruin the moment though so instead he just forces on a smile and finishes up his food to cover up whatever that mask couldn't. "Tommy H used to complain about your prices all the time dude. He could afford five times more but he was cheap as shit." Just another reason Tommy H sucked.

"God. It's been so fucking long since I've smoked. I hope the aliens got the good stuff. But really, it could be cut with oregano and I probably would still be good. Pepperoni blend."

Eddie's so used to dark humor as a coping mechanism that he mostly doesn't notice, though he's vaguely aware that Steve's...off. "Cheap as shit, but lucky for ~me~, not a lot of competition in Hawkins," he agrees with a wink.

He laughs, more eager to get the stuff now that he has someone to share it with. "Same man. Not sure I've gone this long since...ever?"

Steve looks at Eddie and some other rumors come to mind from his time in high school. Anyone to the south of party-scene popularity was rife for mocking back then. And Munson? He was fucking Florida. The rumors had been almost nonstop: he was a satanist, he was a witch, he was a druggie, a criminal, a queer. The list went on. Steve had never questioned any of them until he knew Eddie better. Now he knew most of that was bullshit but still...there were some he wasn't entirely sure about.

"Was... Did you do more than weed? I know you sold harder shit..."

Ah. Eddie sees the question coming before Steve even gets it out, and tries to keep up that casual attitude.

"Sometimes. Not uh...you know-" Not a junkie. Like his parents. But he's known plenty of junkies who've insisted otherwise, so it's hard to say. "...That uh...that's what Chrissy was there for. Harder shit. Was gonna take some with her."

Chrissy. No one talks about her. That first victim that deserved better. The one that dragged Eddie into the mess that would ultimately kill him, and all because he was looking to help.

"What were you gonna take with her? I mean. I bet you were doing that so that she would be cool about the whole thing. She didn't strike me as someone who even smoked cigarettes." It was just such a kind thing. Unconventional, sure, but kind. And wasn't that Eddie in a nutshell?

"Uh, Special K?" Eddie looks doubtful whether Steve'll know that one by name or not. He still feels guilty about it, not that any of them would have known how to help her, even if Eddie had tried to talk her out of buying and into actually talking to someone about what was bothering her.

He nods though. "She uh...she didn't seem convinced weed would be strong enough. Guess she was right about that." Fuck- does his voice strain a bit there. "But yeah, you could tell she'd never done any of this before and she was going through it. Don't normally sell that kind of stuff to first timers, but...figured if I babysat her... I'd take some too so she'd know it was safe or I wasn't trying to mess her up or anything... I dunno. It was stupid, I just wanted to help her."

Steve could hear the strain in Eddie's voice and his heart broke for him. For a second he wanted to just reach out and take the guy's hand, but he had no idea if they were there or not. Besides, sometimes grief and blame like this was as much a prison as it was a cocoon. Strange how that worked.

"There's... there's been a lot of times in this whole mess where I've felt helpless like that," he says softly. "Will. He got possessed, once. It was horrible trying to see everyone beg and plead to bring him back. I couldn't do anything but watch. And then with Max? God. Floating up in the air at the graveyard? I can't imagine what that was like for you, Eddie. You didn't even know what was going on. At least we...we had some warning."

He leans forward finally and just rests his hand between them, not reaching or touching but giving Eddie the option if it's one he wants.

"You did...everything you could, man. You were bringing a knife to a gunfight and didn't even know it was happening. You were amazing. If it was anything other than fucking magic demons, she would have been fine. And she was lucky to have you there, looking out for her. Okay?"

He never did get to meet Will, but the stories the kids had told painted a pretty good picture of the kid, even before he heard about all the real shit they'd been through.

"You've been doing this since he first went missing," Eddie realizes, wondering how the hell any of them are holding on this strong still when he feels like he's going crazy on a daily basis. "...I thought I'd lost it," he admits, "I knew no one was going to believe me. I didn't even believe me."

He presses his lips together and looks at that hand, glancing away again, leg bouncing beneath the table. He moves his own hand a little closer along the table, until a knuckle barely grazes Steve, but even that small bit of contact helps.

He looks...doubtful, lifting his gaze. He left her there. He tries to listen to the more rationale side of his mind, the one that echoes Steve's words, and he makes himself nod, even if he doesn't fully believe it still. "Mm."

Steve exhales. "I came in pretty late compared to the kids and Nancy. Basically just for the fight and to swing the bat. And yeah, I thought I'd lost it too. After it was over I tried real hard to just put it behind me. Didn't work."

Steve lets their hands touch, a gentle pressure.

"And dude. I wish...so fucking much you hadn't been dragged into this. I wish you'd been able to just graduate and never know about the Upside Down or any of this shit. But... Because you were, man? Chrissy didn't die alone. And she would have. Alone and terrified and without anyone giving a shit.

"She may not have known you were there at the end but she knew before. She knew someone cared enough to be with her and look out for her. That's... That's important."

"Never would have guessed the shit they'd been through when I first saw them," Eddie says, unable to keep a fond smile from his face. They weren't just the future of Hellfire, they were the future of Hawkins. Maybe, if Vecna didn't manage to destroy what was left of it, they might make the place less of a shit hole.

Eddie nods, trying to keep Steve's words in the forefront of his mind rather than the haunting words of Chrissy's ghostly form, and he tries to smile to show he's okay. "...way to bring shit down, Munson," he mutters with a laugh.

"You can't be happy and smiling all the time, dude. It's just not possible. Not without like, all the weed you own, at least."

He kicks his foot out to nudge at Eddie, hoping to kick him out of the funk.

"We don't...really talk about it. The shit we go through. At least not until one of us is drunk in a bathroom, I guess." Inside joke with himself. Not really funny but still. "If you want to, ever, I'll be there. I don't mind. It's probably a better idea than bottling it up anyways..."

That sparks a look like Eddie's prepared to accept that as a personal challenge. How the hell else are you supposed to get through all this shit?

But his expression softs at the nudge and he nods.

"Yeah, man. That'd probably be good... For both of us. But uh...not today. Might need to get drunk first."

"I heard there is like this weird fruit or something that makes you drunk. There's apparently one of the ships here that just has a dispenser of it like a soda machine." After everything they've been through, Steve would actually like to get completely drunk sometime soon. Unless the weed came first.

"God, this place is fucking weird..."

"Heh- I haven't tried that one yet. We should look for it," he says with a grin. "Least I don't think I have, dunno what Cayde makes his stuff out of. He's the uh...robot-guy who runs the bar."

"Weirder than home?"

"There is a bar? Holy shit. Why haven't we been going there every night?" He knows the answer: unlike Eddie, he'd needed to take it easy until Billy took care of his lingering wounds as well. Also, it'd been just a couple days. Maybe getting wasted was a Friday activity.

"I mean. Kind of? Home was normal except for the hell dimension and monsters. This is just...overall weird. And there's no television."

"Gotta save some things," Eddie laughs, "If I show you everything all at once you'll be bored in a week. It's not like we can hop in a car and drive off to Indy when we run out of shit to do." And Steve's still still recovering.

"Fuck man, I miss tv. Movies. Just something to watch and not have to think."

"I could put on a dance for you," Steve offers with a laugh. In his seat he does something that is some bastardization of a hula and disco. Thank God none of the kids could see him here, he'd probably never live it down.

"Sorry, that's the best I can do. I heard you were the drama kid so any plays or whatever has to be your thing."

"..." Eddie gives him a long stare, blinking slowly in a move that is definitely stolen right out of Harrington's own handbook, but he can't help but chuckle. "And this is the man who has the girls of Hawkins drooling over him," he teases.

"That is why you should come out to the new Hellfire Club like I've been saying," Eddie presses eagerly. He's been trying to sell Steve on in since that very first night. "It's where I get to do my most dramatic presentations."

Steve had heard Dustin and Mike raving about Eddie and his weird game things. How he was so good at it. How he was able to make the game come alive or whatever. At the time he'd been jealous and annoyed to hear about another wonderful thing The Freak could do. But now? Now he'd be lying if he said he wasn't intrigued.

Screw it.

"Yeah, alright, Munson. I'll try one. Just one. And it better be all it's been hyped up to be or, you know. False advertising. Taking you to court."

Honestly, Eddie didn't expect Steve to ever cave, and he looks surprised and elated to have convinced him. Which means he's also learned that Steve might be nettled into doing just about anything if he pesters him enough, which is good information to have.

"I have less here than I did back home, the hell you gonna get if you win?"

Steve thinks for a minute before a wide, devilish smile comes over his face.

"Tears for Fears. One song: Everybody Wants to Rule the World. No complaints."

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the_freak - 2023-05-09 13:07 (UTC) - Expand

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+1 Babysitter

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cw: drugs

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