Chapter Text
"Steve!"
Steve's garbled name comes in through the walkie talkie Dustin forced him to wear for emergencies. Just the fact that he's using it causes a pit to form in his stomach. "Yeah?" Steve radios through trying to stay calm.
"Steve!!"
"YEAH!?!" Steve yells this time because this isn't doing anything good for his nerves.
"Eddie's heart stopped," Dustin finally sobs over the walkies. Steve freezes, as does Robin and Nancy, before his heart starts beating like a jackhammer. "He won't wake up!"
Steve's brain has to reboot before he can finally respond to Dustin. "Dustin, start doing chest compressions, I'll be there as soon as possible," Steve's voice cracks at the end so he quickly clears his throat. "You guys good to get back?" They just nod their head before he takes off.
"Where are you?"
By the time Steve gets to Dustin and Eddie he's almost 99% sure it's too late, but look at Dustin sobbing and Eddie's lifeless body gives him enough energy to fight for that last 1%. Steve slides to his knees next to Dustin and takes over trying to restart his heart.
"Come on Eddie, come on man," Steve mutters to himself, not worried Dustin will hear anything over his own sobs. "You can't die on me now. We were just getting started, what about the movie this Friday?" Just thinking about their plans going forward makes tears well in his eyes but he blinks them away.
Steve stops for a moment to perform mouth to mouth. In Steve's opinion it would have been so much better if the first time their lips touched was laying in Eddie's about to have the most mind blowing sex of his life. Except here they are on the ground in the Upside down trying to save Eddie's life.
It's been too long, there's no way that Eddie can come back after this long without a heartbeat, but Steve won't give up. Steve collects all his remaining strength, ready to give his final attempt at saving Eddie, and slams his fists right over Eddie's heart. After a few seconds of complete silence Dustin's sobs come back in.
They sit there in their grief for a few seconds before they start hearing gurgling and look to see Eddie choking on the blood in his throat. Steve quickly turns Eddie's head to help clear his throat to breathe. He's alive!
Steve chokes on a sob as he lays his forehead on the side of Eddie's head, as said boy continues to breathe heavily as the blood leaves his throat. When his breathing seems to calm down he turns to be on his back once more, staring up at Steve.
"Hey, Pretty Boy," Eddie says in a raspy voice, giving a tight-lipped smile. Steve just sobs at hearing his voice, he was so close to never hearing it again. That's when he realized that Eddie was still bleeding out.
Steve quickly rips his shirt off and tears it to strips to use to stop the bleeding from his chest. As he frantically tries to stop the bleeding he feels Eddie's hand settle on his side, caressing it softly in comfort. Steve almost sobs again, he's supposed to be comforting Eddie not the other way around.
"You're gonna be alright, I'm not going to let you die," Steve states, his voice cracking on the last word before his voice softens. "You can't die."
At that moment Dustin is finally able to pull himself out of his shock and fear panic attack. "Eddie!" Dustin yells falling down by Eddie's head. Eddie's hand still doesn't stop his movements.
"Hey, man," Eddie greets normally, as if any part of any of this is normal. "How's it goin'?"
Dustin laughs through his tears. "Not great," He responds, placing his hand over Eddie's heart feeling it beat.
"Too bad," Eddie says, chuckling a bit but stops when pain shoots through him and he gasps for breath. "My day's been great." Eddie wheezes when Steve ties a strip a little too tightly. Dustin glares at him while Steve gives Eddie an apologetic smile.
"I bet," Dustin responds, rolling his eyes before going serious. "Don't do that ever again."
"But-" Dustin cuts Eddie off before he could argue.
"No," Dustin demands, grabbing the hand not touching Steve. "You are not allowed to throw your life away, EVER again." Dustin stares at Eddie intently.
"I had to protect you," Eddie whispers, it wasn't something he regretted. He would do it all over again to save any of the party members.
"I don't care," Dustin responds clearly upset. Up to this point Steve had agreed with Dustin but if it was between him or the kids he would gladly give his life. These kids have people who love and care for them, they have so much ahead of them that Steve wouldn't want them to lose their chances. "And you," Dustin pauses, pointing at Steve. "Don't go off sacrificing yourself either."
"Come on kid," Steve scoffs, tying the last strip to stop the bleeding. He combs his hand through Eddie's hair. "I don't have much going for me, your life and future is far more important than anything I could do with mine." Eddie squeezes Steve's side, making him meet his eyes.
"Stevie, don't say that," Eddie sighs, his eyes containing a sheen of tears that have yet to spill over. "I couldn't live without you."
"Then don't make me live without you," Steve's voice rises, he just wants to pound on Eddie's chest and knock some sense into him. But that would be a terrible idea.
A hand settles on Steve's shoulder and he glances over to see Dustin staring at him with tears streaming down his face. "Steve," Dustin whispers in a broken voice. "You need to stop throwing yourself into danger. I know you want to protect us but we need you, we don't want to lose you."
Steve lets out a pitiful laugh. "You guys don't need me," Steve sighs, grabbing Eddie's hand from his side and kissing his knuckles. The hand quickly returns to its place. "You guys are-"
Dustin cuts him off, "Of course we do! You're like the mom of the party!" Steve looks at him weird. "It's true! You drive us around, you get us snacks, and you worry about us all the time!" Steve just sighs.
"Why can't I be the dad?" Steve asks exasperated. Why is Dustin like this?
"Cause," Dustin pauses. "Eddie's the dad." At Dustin's words Steve's face goes red and he covers his face with his hands to hide from them. Eddie and Dustin chuckle at his embarrassment.
"Who made these decisions?" Steve groans, peeking out when he feels Eddie nudging Steve's back forward. He leans over Eddie slowly.
Dustin watches them with a smirk. "Max," Dustin answers and Steve huffs because of course it was her. "She said that you would totally bottom." Steve chokes and freezes, but he's close enough that Eddie can wrap his hand around his neck and pull him into a kiss. It's nice but it doesn't help that Eddie is chuckling slightly.
Steve pulls back pouting at Dustin before slapping Eddie's shoulder lightly. "You jerk," Steve exclaims, folding his arms and looking away.
"Stevie," Eddie says, patting his side to get his attention. "I think it's time we go."
And that's when the sound of the thunder and quaking of the ground jolted Steve out of their little world. Something was happening and it wasn't good.
"Alright, Eds, let's get you out of here," Steve says quickly checking the strips and they seemed secure. So, Steve stands up and with Dustin's help they slowly get Eddie to his feet.
"I'd make a joke right now, but I'm currently in so much pain," Eddie groans as they start heading back to his trailer to get out of there. Steve kisses his temple and it appears to give him enough energy to keep going.
When they reach the trailer they all stare up at the hole wondering how this was going to work. "His is gonna hurt," Dustin states and Eddie looks at him like nah duh.
"We'll just have to make it work somehow," Steve says, leaning Eddie against one of the trainer walls and grabbing things from around the trailer. First he grabs a table and moves it under the hole, then he grabs the sturdiest chair in the place and sets it on top of the table. and lastly he grabs some of the thickest books he can find, stacking them on top.
"Think that'll work?" Steve asks, stepping back to admire his work.
"Probably the best we're gonna get," Eddie says, groaning as he shifts and his chest aches as though the bats are still eating him. "Now let's hurry, I think I need a hospital, as much as I don't want to go to jail I prefer it to death.
"I'm sure we can make a deal with the government to get the accusation dismissed," Dustin says, helping him away from the wall, even with his own limp, and against Steve's side.
"Okay, I'm gonna go first and put the mattress back and try to stack it with pillows and blankets to make the fall as soft as possible," Steve explains cupping Eddie's cheek. They stare at each other for a moment before giving Eddie a quick kiss on the lips.
He quickly gets up the stack of items and pulls himself through. He lands, doing a forward roll to avoid major injury. Then he's rushing around once more to get all the softest things around. It's not a lot but it should be better than before. Eddie might start bleeding more but now Steve will have more to stop it than just his dirty, torn-up shirt.
"Dustin, buddy, I know you're hurt too but can you help him up the stack?" Steve asks and Dustin agrees instantly, probably already suspecting he'd have to.
Eddie's face appears at the hole and gives a nervous smile which Steve returns. "Here we go," Eddie whispers to himself before pulling through the hole. As soon as he hits the mattress Steve is at his side.
Eddie groans loudly in pain, gasping for air. Steve wants to quickly move him into his own bed so he lifts him up and carries him to the back room. Steve kisses his forehead to head back out for Dustin. As he walks in Dustin's landing on the mattress grabbing his leg in pain.
"Your turn," Steve says, hefting Dusting into his arms and taking him into the bedroom as well and placing him next to Eddie.
"Now, you two will stay here as I find first aid and pain pills," Steve says sternly and walks out of the bedroom.
"Top cabinet!" Eddie calls out before groaning at the action.
"Thanks!" Steve calls back before grabbing what he needs and filling up cups of water. As he walks in he frowns at the sight of his two boys in so much pain. Maybe he is the mom?
"Yay," Eddie says softly, quickly taking the pills and chugging the water.
Steve chuckles as he goes about checking Eddie's wounds. A couple of them started bleeding again but overall not the worst it could have been. He removes al, the strips and gets a wet washcloth to wipe away the dirt and germs so it doesn't get infected. Eddie gasps in pain every time Steve touches his chest but this is something that must be done.
This next part is what Steve has been dreading. The pouring of the alcohol to get rid of the germs already inside.
"Bite down on this," Steve says, placing a folded towel in Eddie's mouth. Eddie looks at him confused before Steve picks the bottle from off the ground, Eddie's eyes go wide. As soon as the alcohol touches his wounds he screams from behind the towel. He screams so much he passes out. Steve quickly checks his pulse and sighs in relief before wrapping his chest with actual gauze.
Steve then turns to Dustin who is looking at Eddie sadly. "Is he going to be okay," Dustin asks quietly, as if not wanting to wake Eddie from his sleep.
"He should be alright now, I just didn't want to take the chance of it getting infected," Steve responds and Dustin just nods. "Alright, now let's check you out."
Dustin gulps loudly before responding nervously, "Yeah."
Steve moves so he's next to Dustin's feet, slowly he touches his injured one and Dustin hisses. "From that alone I wanna say it's broken." Dustin nods. "Okay, there isn't much I can do with that but let's elevate it." He hurries out to the living room and grabs a couple pillows off the mattress, stopping by the freezer to grab ice packs. "I think these'll also help."
Steve stacks two pillows and carefully maneuvers his foot on top. Steve carefully puts the ice backs over Dustin's sock, and he gasps in relief and pain. They sit there in silence as he gets used to it.
"Thanks," Dustin whispers, his eyes squeezed closed.
"No problem," Steve responds, standing up and walking to the other side once more, looking down at Eddie.
There's still enough room on the bed, so he lays down next to Eddie but far enough not to touch him and jostle him.
Eddie nearly gave Steve a heart attack when he almost died. It was just getting good and he had to go and get himself almost killed. Steve knows he had a good reason, protecting Dustin, but at this point Steve wants him in his life no matter what. Death won't stop that. Vecna won't stop that.
Steve's blood boils at just the thought of Vecna. Steve wants him to be dead so bad but the fact that they didn't find the body puts a pit in Steve's stomach he doesn't like one bit. Everyone is in danger and Steve will do his best to save them all.
He loves them too much to let any of them go, especially Eddie. Steve kisses Eddie's forehead softly and falls into an empty sleep, careful of the man beside him.