#its my first steddie fic okay i just wanna do my boys eddie & steve justice

[fuckin-sick-bih]

"Just" Allergies

Fandom: Stranger Things (I guess Eddie Lives AU?) Summary: The pollen count is high, Eddie forgot his allergy meds, but he just feels... especially bad for some reason. Steve thinks he's caught a spring cold on top of the pollen flare. (Steve lowkey has the kink) CW: Mess Word Count: 2.7k (I tried to keep it short okay? I did...) MINORS DNI

Make sure you take your allergy meds today, kid. News said pollen is high.

Wayne had even reminded him and Eddie, like the damn fool he was, had still forgotten. Now he was paying the price. Even sitting in the stuffy theater, Eddie still felt like his eyes were itchy and swollen and the persistent tickle from his consistently leaking nose was torturous. And his throat felt like something was scratching it. Rubbed by sandpaper and just uncomfortable. Especially torturous while trying to run his campaign.

He brought his hand up to rub subtly at his dripping nose with a sniff, metal rings on his left hand scraping roughly against the rims of his nostrils. His abused nose was bright pink from the day of just such repeated actions but not a single member dared comment least Eddie unfurl his wrath upon them.

Right now, he wanted nothing more than to go home, pop some allergy meds, shower, and maybe  fall asleep watching some movie on the couch. Either that or fall asleep to the radio.

After the whole… Upside Down, Eddie couldn’t do silence anymore. It suffocated him.

A voice started to filter into his congested brain, “Eddie? Eddie!? Earth to Eddie!”

Of course, it was Dustin…

Eddie sniffed thickly and pinched the bridge of his nose, “Yes, oh Gurdis, our folk hero wizard?” he asked dramatically with an attempt at a smile for the freshie. Said smile flickered as the tickle in his sinuses began to work its way down.

“It’s just… we’ve been trying to ask if you wanted to call it here for the night, but you didn’t seem to hear us… You’ve been pretty distracted today. Is everything okay?” Henderson asked softly and Eddie felt his body tense.

Was he that obvious? “I’m f-ihhh” His breathing hitched, and Eddie sat up from where he’d been resting his chin on his hand behind his dungeon master screen. His chest expanding and deflating a few times as he held up a finger to indicate ‘one second’.

“Hiih- ihh! IxXG’HT!” He pinched his nose between his pointer finger and thumb of his opposite hand. “Ugh fuck…” There was pressure mounting in his head with every one of those stifled sneezes he’d done today.

As he turned to look at the rest of the Hellfire club, Eddie saw concerned faces and he pouted slightly. “I’m fine.” He said grumpily and rubbed roughly at his nose again with his ringed fingers. “Just allergies.” Another, thick sniffle punctuated his statement before he continued. “Fine, I guess we’ll wrap up here and continue next time.”

More concerned faces exchanged looks. Eddie never ended Hellfire early. Never. Really, Eddie was starting to feel like utter shit. His nose was running like a faucet now and Eddie really just needed to go home. “I’ll see you guys later.” He began to pack up his things, fumbling slightly in his rush to get moving and get home.

Everyone began to disperse except for the runts it seemed. They only came closer as Eddie was shoving things into his bag at top speed, wrist pressed up against his nose to try and stem the stream. Sniffling could only do so much for him now.

“Eddie? Do you need anything?” Mike asked softly and adjusted his bag on his shoulder, making Eddie stall as he glanced at the kids.

“Yeah, we can bike to the store and drop some things off if-” Dustin started only for Eddie to promptly cut them off before Lucas could join in.

Eddie jerked the zipper closed on his own bag and threw his bag over his shoulder, wincing ever so slightly as it pulled at the still tender and pink scars on his middle. “You runts are cute, but I don’t need anything other than like… a handful of Benadryl, a shower, and a bed.” He joked, ruffling Dustin’s curls much to the younger boy’s distain. “Don’t worry about me, kids. I’ll survive. I always do.”  

It came out more… hollow than Eddie had intended for it to, but he still turned on his heel and left with a wave. “See you freaks Monday!” He called, fighting the urge to cough after the yell.

It wasn’t until he got into his van with a shiver that he thought… That can’t be normal. Shivering and coughing weren’t part of his usual allergy routine. Speaking of allergy routine…

“Ehh- IGH’XTSh! Hah! k’HXXt! Ehh…eh? EPT’SHZXXGHT!  Fugk m’be!” Eddie shouted in utter frustration and despair, slamming the steering wheel with his open palm. He felt like garbage.

Garbage left to rot under the hot sun. Fuck maybe he was warm… The walk from school to van had been a swim through the pollen, but this didn’t even feel like just allergies anymore. He wanted to just lean his head back and cry, but he held back, started the van, cranked the heat, and pulled out of the school parking lot.

When he arrived home, Eddie dragged himself from his van to head inside. Wayne was already out for the night and Eddie had the place to himself, thank god. He was fumbling through the medicine cabinet when a knock at the door startled him and had him dropping the pill bottles in his arms. “Jesus!” He swore loudly, coughing into his elbow afterwards.

Once the pill bottles were set back on the sink’s edge, Eddie went to go see who was at the door. He sniffled and wiped his nose with his wrist, rubbing said wrist against his jeans afterwards. “Hello?” he said, cracking open the door to find none other than Steve Harrington.

“Hey, Eddie, uh- hope this isn’t too weird. Dustin radioed to say you were acting… weird and to bring you some stuff and check on you.” Steve admitted and tilted his head a little as he took in Eddie’s complexion. “You look like shit.”

Eddie let the door swing the rest of the way open and stepped back to invite Steve in. “Wow you really kdow how to charb a guy, Harri’gtod.” He said, cringing at the sound of his own voice.

Steve gave him a genuine smile after that, “Well, I’ve been known to flirt.” He teases but does reach out to grab Eddie’s arm after he’s closed and locked the door. “Talk to me.” His voice is quiet as he directs Eddie to the couch to sit with him.

If Eddie were a stronger man, maybe he wouldn’t have teared up and started crying in front of his crush but god he felt so fucking awful… He falls face first into Steve’s chest and outright sobs.

Steve drops the bag of goodies on the floor to lean forward and wrap his arms around Eddie to comfort him. The crying does nothing to help his congestion and Eddie has to fish the bandana out of his back pocket to blow his nose before he can even attempt talking to Steve.

“Nose won’t stop running, feel so fucking congested though… eyes are itchy and swollen…” Eddie pauses to wipe his nose with the bandana again, sniffling some more as his nostrils twitch. There’s a tickle starting to build and he’s trying to ignore it. “Throat’s sore… not just like itchy but real sore… Makes me cough. A-And I can’t s-stop sn-heeh… eh- ehh-! EhhXXGHT! N’GHXT! XXGHT!” His fingers shot up to pinch his nose to make sure he didn’t sneeze on Steve. “That.” He sniffed.

A frown crossed Steve’s features and he feels Eddie’s forehead with the back of his hand as well as his palm. “You’re maybe a little warm. Think you picked up something and got stuck with early spring allergies, man. That sucks…”

Eddie sniffled thickly and tried to clear his throat without starting a coughing fit. “Fuck. That’s just m’by luck…” His congestion was already starting to return before his hand shot up to pinch his nose without warning. “Ihh’GXHT! Fuck!” He swore and snuffled back some of the mess threatening to slip from his nose.

As Eddie looked up at Steve, he noticed a blush darkening over his features. He wriggled his nose to try and keep the tickle at bay for another few minutes and sniffed. “What’s with the blush, Harri’gtod?” He questioned with and cleared his throat again, raising a suspicious brow at the other.

“What?” Steve choked out, trying his best to sound nonchalant and failing miserably. “Nothing. I’m not blushing. Just worried about you. Shut up.” He insisted and went fishing in the bag for a fresh box of tissues, tearing it open to pull some out before handing them to the darker haired man. “Here. Blow. You can’t even say my name right.” He teased.

This time it was Eddie’s turn to blush, and he snatched the tissues from Steve to valiantly blow his nose into them. He grimaced and wiped his nose, nostrils twitching and flaring as the tickle was fanned into a flame from the blowing.

“Ihhuh… Ih-hih-!” Eddie fumbled desperately for new tissues and felt Steve pressing some into his hands. He immediately collapsed into them with unstifled, gut wrenching sneezes. “HiiiIGSHEW! IISHXEW! Eh… EhhT’XHSEW! Oh fuck- ow…” Both of his arms wrapped around his middle protectively as the scars ached from his sudden jarring movements.

“Bless you,” Steve whispered softly, frowning with worry as he moved forward to gently take Eddie’s arms. “Hey, hey.. what’s wrong, Eds?” Anxiety threaded it’s way through Steve’s tone like a tightly laced boot.

Eddie shook his head and pressed his wrist to his leaky nose again, rubbing his nose against his wrist which he held still. “Guh… s’dothi’g…” He tries to insist.  “Just the bite scars. They’re still te’der sobetibes.”

Something more than concern crosses Steve’s features and Eddie finds himself being pulled into a gentle hug. He tries to push Steve off him and the other quickly lets go.

“What? What?” Steve asked urgently. “What’s wrong?”

With a laugh that turned into a dry cough, Eddie shook his head. “Dod’t do that. You’re godda get sigk too, du’bass.” He teases Steve and snuffles once again before rubbing at his nose with his rings again, eyes fluttering as his nostrils flared. “Argh… Fugks sagke… fugki’g allergies baki’g everythi’g idtchy… Iihh’pxxght! Ugh… Sorry sduck out.”

Steve only rolled his eyes and yanked Eddie back into a hug, trapping his arms so he couldn’t rub his nose anymore. “I won’t get sick. Hanging out with those kids has like- totally boosted my immune system.”

Again, Eddie raised an eyebrow at Steve. “That… sou’ds like total bullshit.” He sniffled thick and gurgling, feeling Steve squirm in the hug as he smirked at him. “Add you sure are a squirber. You sure everythi’g is okay? Oh, shit you’re dot like- a gerbaphobe or sobethi’g are you? Fuck, I’b sorry!” He starts to scramble backwards, falling with a thud off the couch and onto the floor before Steve can catch him.

“No no, Eddie! Relax!” Steve insisted, shaking his head some. “I’m fine. Seriously. It’s cool. Not a germaphobe. Sniffle, sneeze, cough, all you want. It’s- it’s fine.” But his face was coloring up a bright tomato red and Eddie knew something was up. Though he still accepted the hand which helped pull him back up onto the couch.

“Sure, whatever, Harri’gtod. Just dod’t yell at m’be whed you get sick.” Eddie sniffled again and groaned, grabbing a blanket off the back of the couch to wrap up in.

Steve smiled a little and pulled the blanket up over his head to really cocoon him in. “Chilly? You got a hot water bottle? I can fill it up for you?” He offered but Eddie just shook his head some.

“N’do, it popped last year whed I was curled up arou’d it with that flu that went around. Did you get that?” Eddie explains and continues to rub his nose with his hand, rings still abusing his poor red nose despite the freshly opened box of tissues right there.

Thankfully, Steve plucked him a few tissues and pressed them into Eddie’s hands. “Ugh, I did. That was awful. I was stuck in bed for a week. Ended up with a pretty bad sinus infection actually.” He recalls for Eddie and adjusts the blanket for him to keep him all tucked in and cozy. “Anyway, you need meds. I brought meds.”

Eddie blew his nose into the tissues Steve had pressed into his hands and swiped at his leaking nose some more. The blowing caused the tickle to resurge with a vengeance, “Hiihh- Eh? EH-! EhhGXXtsh! Hiii’tGXHTsh! Ngh… uh? Huh… Fugk… HEPT’SHHXXGuh!” A flurry of failed attempts at stifling.

A few more tissues were grabbed before Eddie could question Steve. “Huh? Beds?” He questioned, not quite following until he saw Steve pulling allergy and cold medication from the bag he’d brought with him. “Shit. Stevie, you didd’t have to get all that… I have sobe stuff…”

“Is it still in date?” Steve challenged with a knowing smile, having peeked into the Munson medicine cabinet once before when looking for pain pills for his own demo-bat bites. Not a damn thing in there was still in date.

A soft grumble left the curly haired man, and he shuffled around to rest his head against Steve’s shoulder instead. Steve got him out some allergy medicine first while Eddie pointedly rubbed at his itchy eyes. “Stop that. You’ll make it worse.”

“Itches.” Eddie complained petulantly.

“I know, but this will help. I’ll maybe get you a washcloth to help if you’re good and take your meds.” Steve bargained to which Eddie huffed through his mouth and accepted the allergy pills. “Didn’t know what all to get you. Dustin just said you were sneezy and looked like crap.”

The sniffly Munson managed a chuckle and wriggled his nose at the mention of being sneezy. “Yeah. S’true. I get sdeezy whed I’b sick too… so polled plus cold is just ode fucked up Eddie.” He sniffled, mostly for dramatic effect but it sounded far soupier than he intended, and he grimaced. “Guh..”

Steve seemed to shift in his seat, eyes locked onto Eddie, but he did make a noise of sympathy. “Damn, Eds. I’m sorry. You must feel like shit… and here I am stalling.” He shook his head and got out a dose of cold medicine, a syrup this time.

The sight of the cup of syrup made Eddie wrinkle his nose and whine, “Are you fucki’g serious?” He complained with another sniffle and a rub at his nose with his knuckles, red nostrils starting to twitch again. “I’b dot swallowi’g that.”

“Yes. You are.” Steve said matter-of-factly and held the cup close to Eddie’s lips, making him pull his chin in and mouth away from the cup.

“N’do way- n’dope…” Eddie mumbles but his breathing starts to hitch, his mouth falling open, and Steve takes the opportunity to tip the syrup into his mouth. The surprise taste of the syrup only seems to make his nose tickle worse.

He does the only thing he can think and covers his face with his hands as he pitches forwards with sneezes. “HiiXXTSH! EIXXTHUE! Ihh.. eh-! … IiiHXXTSHhuh!” Eddie groans softly at the mess he can feel on his hands, having flung them up so as not to sneeze on Steve. “You’re a bodster, Harri’gtod… ugh… tissues?”

Steve seems to swallow hard, his face scarlet once again, before he fumbled for the tissues. He plucked out several which he gently pressed into Eddie’s face and hands. “Sorry, didn’t realize you were so sensitive.”

“I’b dot!” Eddie says indignantly.

The blonde just laughs and tucks Eddie back into the blanket again, letting him clean himself up. “Sure, Eds.” Steve says as he grabs the TV remote to put something on for them to watch, thankfully keeping the volume low.

It was only ten minutes later that Eddie was fast asleep with his head in Steve’s lap while they watched Wheel of Fortune. Steve’s fingers idly playing with Eddie’s soft curls as Eddie’s stuffy snores filled any of the lulls in noise from the TV. Like a comforting background hum. And soon Steve was out like a light too.