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sabbathbloodysabbeth · 6 months ago

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Supernaut (Chapter 2)

Ahh here’s the next chapter to Supernaut! I’m so excited to share it with everyone and here’s the link to the ao3 :)

“Hey kid,” Wayne’s voice is rough and gravily as he talks. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other, that movement alone causing the trailer to make loud creaky noises. Wayne leans over at a slight angle, on the same side he was leaning most of his weight on, to peek into Eddie's room.

Eddie knew Wayne wouldn't just push his way into his room without permission. They each respected the other's boundaries too much to do that. Wayne had always preferred just peaking into his room to see if he was alright or needed anything, and if the door was closed Wayne knew not to bug him. It had been a working system for a while now.

”Yeah, Wayne?” That was the go-ahead for Wayne to slightly push the door open so he could talk to Eddie face-to-face.

“I'm about to head out, need anything?” He asks as his eyes wander the room like he always did. It was a habit he had picked up from the army, always scanning a room to confirm that there was no danger. This is why Eddie wasn’t surprised when his Uncle raised an eyebrow at the numerous medical books and articles on his bed.

Similar to the door situation, they had created a system of just not asking. It would be much harder to explain than just ignoring it. Typically Eddie was doing research like this for a DnD campaign. Not for someone whose life depended on it. (He was being dramatic, but from how Steve Harrington looked he wouldn’t be surprised if his everyday life depended on what to do and not to do with the information this book was giving him.)

Eddie furrows his eyebrows, moving a hand to rub at his face. His eyes are beginning to strain from spending numerous hours reading. He had a small headache and his stomach growls from not getting up to grab lunch. He was starving but was too focused on the research to pay attention to such human problems. But he didn’t need to bother Wayne about that, Eddie knew how to fend for himself.

“Nope, not that I can think of.” Eddie hums gently. He wiggles around in his spot when he begins to feel what parts of his body fell asleep, such as his ass.

Eddie offers a small smile to his uncle, who simply gives him a hand gesture to get the boy to go back to whatever he is doing. “Alright, see you in the morning kiddo.”

When Eddie knows his Uncle is safely in his truck and out of the driveway he dives back into his research. Chewing his lip and pencil as he kept scanning and reading intensely when he found something that could mean something and be understandable.

As time progressed, he was beginning to realize that some medical stuff contradicted itself. One paper said not to sleep for twenty-four hours after a concussion and the next said to get as much rest as possible, even within the first twenty-four hours. Eddie makes sure to take note of this.

“Keep an eye on the patient for repeated vomiting, worsening headaches, visual problems, problems sleeping, trouble balancing, dilated pupils, and problems walking. To have a speedier recovery make sure the patient avoids any physical activity that can lead to another concussion, along with driving, watching too much television, using any illegal substances, or consuming alcohol. If anything worsens you should see a licensed professional immediately.”

The more he read the more concerned Eddie was for Steve Harrington. He hadn’t paid much attention to the guy but from the short time he had talked to him, he was checking off a decent amount of things that were “noteworthy” and serious enough for a doctor to get involved.

Eddie doesn’t even bother writing that all down, instead he pulls a highlighter out and highlights the entire paragraph to read to Steve when he sees him next.

He didn't care if the library yelled at him for "Ruining" their book. He's sure that the next person who would be checking this out would be another Steve Harrington. Another Steve Harrington who didn't have time to read over three hundred pages worth of nonsense that doesn't even give any new knowledge. Just common sense like avoiding getting hit in the head. It didn't take a supersonic genius to figure that one out, Sherlock.

Eddie secretly hoped the next person who needed this book, like Steve does, could just skim through the book and find that paragraph.

He figures that he has done enough for the night, and learned all he could to help Steve Harrington. So he allows himself one dramatic flop into his bed before grabbing a leftover joint off his side table. After all of that reading, he deserved one.

However, what he didn’t like to admit was how much anxiety he currently felt over Steve Harrington.

*****

The next day Eddie got up and ready for school much faster than normal. On average, he was out the door by the second period and on campus for the fourth. The perfect time to show up to school as his lunch was fifth.

Today though he had some motivation to get to school on time. He had finished his research the night before and was eager to share it with Steve. (And collect his money of course.)

He had all his research collected and in a normal schoolbag, an item he rarely brings to school. Before he started dealing his drugs from his lunch pal, he used to carry them around in a bag. But it had clashed with the whole metalhead image and was more inconvenient.

He was only bringing one now because of the number of research articles he had snatched. He was a clumsy fool and probably would lose everything if he didn’t secure it in a bag.

Eddie was eager to share all the information with Steve as soon as possible. It had only been a week since he made the deal with the other in the library, but with everything he learned that still felt like it was too long of a wait.

So he sucked up it and woke up much earlier than he typically would and raced himself to school. He was hoping if he got to school early he would be able to catch Steve in the parking lot and pull the bandaid off quickly. Then afterward drive back home to sleep until lunch period.

Much to his disappointment, Steve’s car was nowhere. Eddie groans as he taps his fingers on his steering wheel, distracted by looking for Steve to notice a familiar figure walking up to his window.

Gareth's loud knocking makes Eddie jump, completely startled by the sudden noise. Eddie snaps his head to look out his window to see an agitated Gareth peering up at him. His fists were clenching tightly around the straps of his bag and Eddie was confident he could see the flames of hellfire in his eyes.

Eddie makes an over-the-top face at the other as he turns his head back to look behind him before pointing at himself. “You want me?” he mouths out to the other.

"Munson!" Gareth's yell could easily be heard through the glass, which was just a little scary as Eddie had ‘Escape’ by Metallica blaring at full volume.

Eddie quickly moves to lock his door but the boy seems to catch onto what he is trying to do and quickly pulls the door open. Eddie nearly falls out head first but quickly regains balance by grabbing Gareth's shoulders.

When Eddie was confident he wouldn’t get a concussion, he looked back up at Gareth who was visibly annoyed.

"Hey there buddy!" Eddie's soft accent pops out from the current excitement at hand.

"Eddie, why are you here?"

"Where?-" Eddie tries to start but Gareth begins to scrunch up his nose, which is never a good sign and Eddie is quick to change what he's about to say, "Oh here! In this fine establishment? Well, I am here to learn Gare bear like any other kid here. You know this is going to be the year I graduate you know? I should take it a bit more seriously shouldn't I?" He was pulling all of that out of his ass and Gareth knew that as well.

Gareth keeps a blank expression on his face and now Eddie isn’t so sure his chances of avoiding a concussion were one to none. He needed to defuse whatever this bomb was and quick.

“Eddie you never show up to school before the fifth period.” Gareth squints at him, “Hell you haven’t woken up past fourth period since the first day of school. So tell me, why are you here this early and why the hell did you not pick me up? I live just up the road from you dude.” His face was a light red, from either being incredibly angry with Eddie or from the mile walk between his house and Hawkins High.

Eddie opens his mouth to say something but is quick to put his most charming smile on as he hops down from his van. He was secretly grateful he didn’t toss his bag in the passenger seat or else Gareth would have been even more suspicious of him.

“Gary, if we drop this and never bring any of this situation up again I shall award you with whatever you want in the campaign tonight.” That was a pretty steep offer but Eddie really didn’t want to seem like a dick friend. He honestly forgot Gareth this morning.

His offer seems to work in his favor as interest sparks in Gareth's eyes. Gareth is about to say something when from the corner of Eddie’s eye he sees the exact vehicle he was hoping to see moments prior.

Eddie can’t help but visibly cringe when he realizes that the book recommended a person with a concussion doesn’t drive for a couple of weeks. And from context clues, Steve Harrington had a concussion.

“Eddie?” Gareth speaks louder this time, moving his head in front of Eddie's vision so that he could see him. “Hey did you hear me?” His voice is now growing slightly concerned as he turns his head to look where Eddie is looking. It was very out of character for Eddie not to pay attention to what he was saying. They were best friends after all.

Gareth also sees Steve, the only person Eddie could be looking at step out of his car. From the limited view Eddie had, Gareth looked even more confused. Which was exactly what he was hoping to avoid by getting this whole transaction done sooner rather than later.

Eddie quickly glances back at Harrington, who is stumbling over his feet as he places a hand over his right ear wincing about something. When it was clear the other wasn’t going to fall on his face Eddie turned his attention back on Gareth slightly confused.

“Huh?”

“You alright dude? You're not normally this distracted,” Gareth points out warily as he keeps glancing between Eddie and in the direction of Steve.

“Yeah, yeah. I am completely fine my dude.” Eddie awkwardly sticks up two of his thumbs before he moves backward to shut his door. Cursing when he realizes he just locked his key in the van.

“Fuck!” he curses as he quickly turns to smack at his door.

“Eddie!” Gareth groans loudly. Moving to the back of the van to kick the back door at a slight angle resulting in it popping open pretty easily. A trick that Eddie purposely implemented just in case of emergencies. (Just like this one) Don’t ask him how he did it, not even he knows.

“I forgot about that.”

“Eddie, are you going to tell me what's seriously going on?” Gareth squints at his friend. Eddie opens his mouth to only shut it again when he remembers Steve didn’t want him bringing anyone else in on this whole thing.

Taking the hint that Eddie wasn’t going to tell him Gareth sighs, “You aren’t dealing again are you?” He asks in a hushed whisper, his right hand gesturing to the backpack that was on the van floor just a few inches from them.

Eddie opens his mouth trying to act offended but he can’t. If he was Gareth he would think he was dealing again too. Opening his mouth again, he groans loudly when he realizes the only way he could convince the other boy he wasn’t selling was to bring him in on the whole Steve Harrington ordeal.

He moves quickly and shoves Gareth into the back of the van, like he has done multiple times in the past. When he was sure the other was safely in the back he hops in and joins him. Grunting gently as he feels a rip in his pants grows bigger. He quickly shuts the van door and looks back at Gareth. He was being dramatic but boy did he enjoy putting on a show for people

“You can’t tell anyone else what I am about to tell you, not even Freak or Jeff,” Eddie says seriously.

“Oh my god, did a deal go wrong with Steve Harrington?” Gareth gasps. “He’s not going to snitch on you, is he? Oh my god Eddie you can’t afford to go to jail.” Gareth hisses out as he stays in a hunched stance, already coming up with the scenarios that Eddie could have possibly gotten himself into.

“I did not partake in any sort of drug deal with Steve Harrington. There was a deal but it didn’t involve drugs, it involved books.”

“Books?”

“Yeah, you know? The thing with pages and you're supposed to read?” Eddie says partly sarcastic before he moves to the bag to unzip it. Not bothering to pick it up off the floor, he just peels the bag back a little to show Gareth the book Steve had requested him to read and the pages of notes he took to share with Steve.

“He’s going to pay me a hundred dollars to read this, which I already did and is the reason why I missed practice last night,” Eddie explains.

“Why?”

“Gareth have you not seen that boy's skull, It's two dents away from being a crushed can.” Eddie exaggerates.

“No, I mean why help him read a book? He’s an asshole jock?” Gareth's eyebrows are pinched together, there is no malice behind his words just curiosity.

“Well young Gare, sometimes you will have to help a jock in need. In this case, dire need, and hope it can benefit you in the future. And I’m getting a hundred dollars, I would be a moron to say no.” Eddie comments before pausing as he answers more seriously.

“And I don’t know, he looked pretty pathetic in the library. And you noticed how he was walking. He nearly fell on his face just from getting out of the car. What would make me and any other jock different if I didn’t help him learn more about his injuries? If I can possibly prevent him from accidentally killing himself by giving him the information he needs then I’m willing to do that.” Eddie rambles out.

Gareth listens intently, before pointing out the obvious., “Why doesn’t he just go to the doctor?”

Eddie shrugs, “No clue.” He admits before an Idea pops into his mind.

“Hey, is your mom still a nurse?”

“Is your mom still a whore?” Gareth shoots back.

Eddie squints at the other boy before commenting, “You know you could have just said yes like a normal person.”

“Eddie, when has this friendship ever been normal?”

***

Throughout the day it seemed like some invisible figure was shoving Steve and Eddie closer than normal. Eddie was slowly becoming convinced that they had their own personal invisible man afoot.

When Eddie happened to be going down one hall Steve happened to be coming up the same hall. When Eddie was leaving a class Steve was awkwardly entering it. (Eddie had completely forgotten that Steve was in his third-period class, maybe if Eddie showed up to school more often he would remember small details like this.)

For one, Eddie was glad he was seeing the other everywhere but on the other hand, he was nervous the other was going to figure him out. After all, it was in their contractual agreement that Eddie didn’t tell anyone what he was doing for Steve. And what did Eddie do? He blabbed his mouth to fucking Gareth. Who wouldn’t tell anyone, but it still nerved Eddie that he broken an agreement.

When it was finally his lunch period he was more excited about getting to his table than what he normally was. He purposely swings his metal lunch pal back and forth with a relaxed and cheerful smile as he skips his way to the designated nerd table.

He had a great campaign planned out for tonight and was excited to share it. He pulled up a chair, even though there was enough room to sit on one of the benches. If he could he would drag the homemade throne from the musical room and sit on that instead. But he’s already gotten in trouble for that.

As he waits for the other boys to join him he pulls out his lunch, carefully pushing his stash of weed to the side in there. Most of the kids in the area smelt like weed anyway so he wasn’t too worried about being sniffed out. Though he had always been worried about being jumped by the basketball team at one point. But other than that, Hawkins High was one of the safer sides of town he could get away with just carrying his stash around. Surprisingly. It also wasn’t like the teachers knew what they were sniffing out for. And if they did know they didn’t care as most times they were buying off from Eddie anyway.

“Hey, Eds.” Jeff greets as he sits down in his normal spot, leaving the seat right next to Eddie free for Gareth. If anyone loved routine it was Gareth.

“Hey Jeff,” Eddie hums back with a mouth full of pbj. With each bite, he could taste small little flakes of weed that he didn’t bother cleaning out from the sandwich bag before placing his food in it.

He has the great thought of possibly turning a PBJ sandwich into an edible when he catches sight of Steve coming into the cafeteria. Steve was shakily holding a lunch tray as he walked away from his normal seat with Tommy Hagen. Which was a strange behavior as the two had been two peas in a pod for as long as Eddie could remember.

What was also out of the ordinary for the Harrington boy was how he avoided eye contact with everyone in the room. From across the lunchroom, Eddie could see that the boy's color was still very off, the bruises on his face had only gotten worse with time instead of better and he was still stumbling over his feet a little.

Eddie doesn't stop staring, figuring that enough people are watching Steve that Harrington wouldn’t make eye contact with him. He keeps watching as Steve’s head lifts and he begins to glance around the room, looking for a place to sit. Eddie doesn’t get a chance to look away, caught off guard when Steve’s eyes meet his. They make intense eye contact for a couple of minutes, and Eddie nearly drops his sandwich in the process.

Steve looks away before Eddie can and sits down at an empty table as if he’s never seen Eddie in his life. Or currently had a deal with him. The entire interaction was weird.

Eddie relaxes a bit before Gareth and Freak finally join them.

“Hey boys,” Eddie grins. “You ready for tonight?” He can't sit still as he's reminded of the exciting campaign he has in store. He doesn’t stay seated in his chair for long as he climbs into the chair and crouches awkwardly. He keeps eating his sandwich as if he wasn’t acting like a fucking Goblin, and listens to the boys ramble excitedly.

It doesn’t take long before he hears a tray being dropped across the lunchroom. The banging noise echoed over everyone’s voices. He tilts his head curiously to see who the victim is. He almost lets out a groan when he realizes it's Steve Harrington.

From where Eddie sat he could see Steve bending over and picking up the tray. A decent amount of eyes were back on him again as he waddled to put the tray at the tray station. From the corner of Eddie’s eye, he could see Gareth's head turning to look at him. Eddie knew what the other was going to tell him to do, there was no point in looking at the other but he still does.

Gareth's face was pulled up in concern as he glanced between Jeff and Freak to make sure they weren’t looking before mouthing out a “Go help him.”

Eddie squints at him, mentally sending Gareth the reasons why he shouldn’t go help him. One is the fact that if he left after Steve that would give the other two boys a bad impression of what Eddie is doing. Like Gareth, they would most likely assume that this was another drug dealing situation and freak out at him. And when they found out that wasn’t the case they would next assume that Eddie was in some weird homoerotic relationship with Steve Harrington and he is pretty sure that would be pushing the line of their acceptance to his queerness.

Even though he had remotely no interest in the guy.

Eddie rolls his eyes when Gareth just glares at him more. He tries to think fast about what excuse he could use to get away from the table. He glances at Gareth's drink and thinks it's the perfect escape. He purposely reaches over while the two guys aren’t looking and pushes the open bottle of water to spill all over the table and into Eddie's lap.

Eddie jumps up with a groan, putting on a show. “Gareth, you clumsy bastard,” he says dramatically as he tries to wipe the water from his shirt and his crotch area. Jeff and Freak look between him and Gareth, completely clueless as to what is happening. Dare Eddie say, unexpecting even?

Eddie was mentally hyping himself up after that stunt, believing that if this was a dexterity check he just rolled a goddamn d20 like a total natural. In his mental gloating, he nearly forgets that there was a purpose behind dumping Gareth's water all over himself.

“Uh, I’ll be right back. Imma go to the bathroom—”

Fuck. Eddie may have mastered dexterity but he sure didn’t master common sense. He simply could have just said he had to go to the bathroom. Instead, he made a mess of things and now had wet pants for no reason. From how Gareth looks at him now, it’s fair to assume he was calling Eddie some creative name choices. And a dexterity god was not one of them.

Eddie chuckles, smiling awkwardly before speeding out the lunchroom doors and away from that ungraceful situation. He prays to the metal gods that neither Freak nor Jeff brought up what just happened during DnD tonight.

He glances up and down the halls quickly, hoping to catch sight of Steve. It doesn’t take long to find him as Steve appears around the corner to head towards Eddie. Good, great–this was very convenient. Eddie could tell him what the book said, get paid, and be on his merry way.

He eagerly moves down the hall, “Hey Harrington,” He says a bit louder so that Steve can catch what he is saying. There is no response from Steve, who hasn’t looked up from the floor since turning the corner. As Eddie moves closer he notices how the boy is holding his ears, as if he were trying to squish them into his skull.

Eddie pauses for a second and mentally revisits some of the symptoms of head injuries. Some hearing loss was one of them, along with random sporadic ringing noises. He wondered if that was the issue Steve was having now. Eddie keeps walking towards the boy carefully, not wanting to spook the other. When he was in reaching distance he carefully poked the other's shoulder to grab his attention. But even being that careful Steve still jumps and flinches away from him.

Steve looks up, appearing very disoriented. His color is off, and he looks seconds away from throwing up all over Eddie’s new sneakers. “Hey, you okay?” He asks concerned.

“What?” Steve asks loudly. “Sorry can’t hear you over the loud ringing,” his face pinches up, looking even more distressed.

Eddie was starting to feel uncomfortable, his anxiety was rising in his chest and he didn’t know what he was supposed to do to help the other now while he couldn’t hear him. He glances frantically around the hallway as if anything could help Steve, before deciding the best thing to do was to stay calm.

He turns his attention back on the other as he moves his hand in a ‘follow me’ gesture, and leads the other to his van. It probably looked suspicious, but he was sure that being outside would help the other a lot more than being cramped inside.

Steve looks even more confused as Eddie gestures for him to get in the back of the van. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you.” Eddie snorts as he hops into the van first. Hoping that would ease some of the other's anxiety.

Eddie sits on the ground, watching the other curiously. Steve looks around for a moment, and at this point Eddie’s confident that the confused goldfish was his new signature look.

Steve awkwardly climbs in and Eddie moves forward just in case. Watching the other stumble in clumsily before Eddie closes the door behind him. Steve shifts his body around as if he didn’t know what to do with it and Eddie is quick to take the lead again. Waving his hand for the other to sit down once more.

Steve looks around the van, taking in the setting while Eddie waits for the other to be able to hear again. Hopefully, it would be soon, but he was willing to wait if necessary.

When Steve finally turns his head back to Eddie he opens his mouth, wincing a little before he points to his ears. “Sorry, my ears tend to ring louder when I'm in loud places,” he comments as he rubs at them again.

Eddie nods his head and takes note of that before it quickly grows awkward. “So, why did you bring me into your van?” Steve asks confused. A light chuckle falls from his lips when Eddie starts to move around to grab the bag. Remembering what they were in here for.

“I finished the book,” He says simply. “And I did take some notes, figured I could tell you the summary if that's cool with you?” He says as he grabs the stack of notes he wrote.

Steve has an unreadable look on his face as he nods his head carefully. Eddie takes that as his queue and takes a shaky breath as he begins to read off all of the information. Even pulling out the book to read the highlighted section. By the time he’s finished reading it all Steve’s face was pale again. His eyes looked watery and Eddie couldn’t tell if he was going to be sick in his van.

Steve's hands shake in his lap a little like he was somewhere else. Eddie pinches his eyebrows before hesitating over his words. “I think it would be a good idea if you went to see a Doctor Steve,” he comments. “I know a guy, his mother is a nurse and I can easily take you over and get you checked out and-” Eddie rambles but Steve shakes his head no with a slight sniffle that they both choose to ignore.

“Nah, I’ll be fine. Handled worse than this.” He laughs bitterly. Eddie furrows his eyebrows, concern taking over him again as he opens his mouth again but shuts it again when he realizes there is no point in trying to persuade Steve Harrington. He had already made up his mind.

“Alright, I see I can’t change your mind.” Eddie chuckles, unsure what he's supposed to do in this situation. But he can’t help himself as he comments, “But please, for the love of god don’t play any sports this season man. I don’t want to hear about how Steve Harrington died on the court.” He was fidgeting with his rings as he said this, shifting his eyes anywhere but on Steve.

“I’ll be fine, no plans on dying either.” Steve laughs gently. His whole demeanor had changed, from being the most vulnerable Eddie had ever seen him to being the most closed-off a person could be.

Those were the last words Steve said to him before he hopped out of the van and left to go back into the school. And in his place, where he had been sitting were two one hundred dollar bills.

#Eddie is going through some emotions throughout this #he’s conflicted #but no spoils #steddie #stranger things #eddie munson #steve harrington #steve x eddie #strangerthings #steve stranger things #eddie and steve

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