Chapter Text
The first thing he notices when he wakes up is the smell of antiseptic and, truly, Eddie Munson never imagined there would be a heaven let alone going down the rabbit hole to imagine what it would smell like.
The second thing is the dreadful, burning ache that creeps into his awareness.
He doesn’t remember anything after that.
-
‘Heaven would be quieter,’ Eddie reasons with himself the next time he’s aware. His head is clearer and the ache that was once a roar has dulled to something he can almost manage, but the beeping that must be his alarm clock might be the thing that sends him over the-
His hand swipes through the air to hit the alarm- or at least he tries to- mostly he just makes a soft groan and shifts slightly.
‘-ddie?”
God, he is so fucking tired.
“Eddie- oh my god!”
The first thing Eddie sees in heaven is Steve Harrington bracketed over him, looking panicked as his eyes dart over Eddie's face, a flutter brushing just so against the curve of his cheekbone before he notices the damned lights blazing out from behind him like a halo. Steve rushes out of view and suddenly Eddie is alone in deep water again and fighting to follow Steve with his eyes. He’s not ready to be alone again, not now- it’s-
The world around him swims into view, but not until the shrill alarm stops that Eddie realizes that no, he’s not dead, and a few things become clearer.
Eddie is in a hospital bed.
Steve Harrington is looking at him like he’s a ghost, barely away from the bed with one hand on the nurse call button and the other reaching for the sheets like a lifeline, a paperback fallen from his fingers.
Suddenly a wash of sensations drenches Eddie, suddenly aware that it feels like his skin has been peeled back, and every damned nerve is exposed. It feels like lightning is shooting though his head and his eyes- his god damn -
‘It’s okay, it’s okay-’ Steve is suddenly right in front of him again, a hand coming up to curve around Eddie’s brow, blocking out the piercing light. “Max did the same thing-she told me how overwhelming it was later- We’ve been waiting for you,”
Steve Harrington is close enough that he fills up every inch of Eddie’s vision, smiling like the fourth of July at Eddie Munson of all people. He was Eddie. Eddie ‘The Freak, trash, a god-damn drug dealer’ Munson he-
He was the only thing that Steve was looking at.
“Welcome back,” a voice says, startling Eddie but simply making Steve turn his smile away, the hand touching him never leaves or waivers from blocking out the burning fluorescent light until suddenly they’re off. Steve pulls away just enough so that he can see the Doctor and Nurse that have come into the room, already reaching for the clipboard at the foot of the bed.
The warmth of Steve’s hand is suddenly wrapping around Eddie’s, and he can’t help the way he drops his head to look at the way his own hand is cradled so gently in the other man’s, like he’s afraid to break Eddie with the barest squeeze.
“I’m Doctor Ellis Wells,” she continues like Eddie isn’t completely lost. “I’ve been your primary physician for the last 10 weeks; It’s nice to finally meet you.”
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His eyes start to feel heavy after only a minute or two, Dr Wells explaining that he’d been in a coma on top of healing several fractured ribs, severe concussion, and a broken tibia. His hands are stiff and sore, but she assures him that it will fade eventually.
“You’re going to be in a cast for a while longer,” She’s saying, smiling softly as the nurse points to something on one of the machine’s beside Eddie, making her nod. “but everything seems to be healing okay, and it shouldn’t be another 10 weeks before we have you out of here.”
He can feel his eyes close once, chin ducking toward his chest, but he struggles against it. The hand wrapped around his tightening to hold him steady.
“I can’t-” Eddie starts, his heart hammering even as he starts to drift, panic stirring sluggish in his stomach, but Steve brushes a thumb over his soothingly and tries to ease the way.
“It’s okay, Eds,” he says softly, and how long has he been holding Eddie’s hand? “You can sleep, next time you’ll be awake for longer. You’re safe here and it’ll be easier next time.”
Eddie trusted Steve enough to follow him into the Upside Down, so Eddie can trust him here. He manages a little nod, even though it makes him dizzy, he lets his eyes close.
The conversation becomes unrecognizable within a minute, but the sound of Steve’s voice chatting with the Doctor, the warmth of his hand in a room that feels too cold, let’s Eddie drift off with only minimal terror.
---
His Uncle is sitting at his bedside the next time he wakes, reading glasses hooked over his ears as he reads some kind of auto magazine that looks like it has been dogeared too many times. Eddie just spends a minute watching him, noticing the way the lines in his face are deeper than the last time he saw him, the morning before he went to school and everything went to shit. The morning before Chrissy was murdered in their trailer and he was thrown into the fight for his life.
“G’morning Uncle Double U,” Eddie says quietly, just like he did when he was a kid and his uncle used to pick him up to take him fishing, or to baseball, or to-
To everything he loved once upon a time, back before everything imploded in his life and his Uncle had to start taking doubles to support a kid he didn’t plan and all Eddie had left of his Mom was an acoustic guitar and a vague knowledge of what drugs he shouldn’t fuck with.
“-you ever scare me like that again,” His Uncle is saying, standing at Eddie’s bedside in the time it took for his thoughts to stubble around, looking somewhere between relief and fury as he takes Eddie’s face in his hands.. “You let other people preform those damn, idiotic heroics, you hear me?”
He sits down on the bed beside him, Uncle Wayne’s body sagging as he runs a hand over Eddie’s head.
“You scared the shit outta me, son,” he sighs, shaking his head a little even as a wry smile pulls at one corner. “But I’m so damn proud of you. That Harrington boy told me exactly what a hero you are.”
He has never doubted his uncle loves him, but the pride is something new.
It makes a lump form in his throat that Eddie can’t speak around, just nodding his sore head instead as he takes in the look he hasn’t seen on his Uncle’s face in far too long. Not since he started getting into fights at 14, coming home with black eyes, and getting truancy notices from skipping school.
There’s a long moment of silence before his Uncle ruffles his hair again gently, standing up and saying something about getting the doctor, but Eddie has finally clued into what feels so damn strange about everything that keeps happening. His Uncle is gone down the hall as it dawns on him.
His hair is gone, the last line of defense that keeps the world away, gone. Someone shaved it clean off while he was out. Eddie brings a hand up to touch in a growing panic, the other weighed down by IV, only to brush against strands far too short to run his fingers through.
“What the Fuck-” he exclaims, freezing. “What The Fuck.” Without thinking he needs to see it, so he tries to get his legs to work- to swing him out of bed- but his right leg is too damn heavy with the cast on it, and there’s the surprising pull of a catheter and-
“Eddie-”
Fucking Harrington is here.
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Steve’s voice is calm in spite of the way Eddie is shaking, crossing the room in an instant and placing his hands on Eddie’s shoulders to press his back gently against the Mattress and keeping him from trying to bolt again. He arranges the blanket’s over Eddie’s lap after he breathes for a moment, like Steve has done it a thousand times instead of just this one time that Eddie can recall.
“They had to shave it,” Steve leads with, sitting down in the place his Uncle had been a few minutes before and letting go. There’s a few books abandoned on the floor, but he can’t focus enough to read the titles. “Max’s too. They needed to monitor your brainwaves, which is weird I know, but they needed to make sure you had a chance to wake up or- “
He shakes his head, eyes blinking rapidly like he’s trying to clear something away.
“It doesn’t matter. It looks fine, okay?” Steve’s eyes search over Eddie’s face as he cracks a reassuring smile that looks a little sad, if he’s honest. “It’ll grow back because you’re alive and that’s the most important part.”
Their eyes meet, and suddenly the unspoken “You almost weren’t” is loud and clear in Eddie’s mind, even if Steve never said it.
A nurse hurries into the room, Eddie’s Uncle two steps behind.
“Good morning Edwin,” She tells him, grabbing the chart from the end of the bed. “It’s nice to finally have you up. I’ve got some questions for you-”
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Steve leaves when the tests start, giving Eddie’s shoulder a squeeze before he stands to go. The weirdest part is his Uncle clapping Steve on the shoulder and smiling at him warmly, even as he glances back over his shoulder as he turns to go.
“See you tonight,” he calls, finally leaving as Eddie is showing the nurse that he can wiggle his toes and he can touch his nose. It’s demeaning but she is smiling as she makes notes, so Eddie let’s it slide as she writes.
“Why is Steve here?” He asks, rounding on his Uncle when the nurse finally goes to grab a doctor to run some more through tests. “I mean- when I woke up he was here, and he’s here again? Where is here? What happened after the-”
He freezes for a second, glancing at his Uncle because how much does he know? He doesn’t want to get sent to the looney bin after this, he wants to go home-
He sucks in a sharp breath.
The trailer they live in sounds like the absolute last place Eddie wants to be maybe ever.
“I know everything,” His Uncle explains, holding his hands up for a moment to stop him in his tracks. “We’re in Chicago at Mount Sinai Medical Center, and Steve Harrington is here because someone has needed to be here with you and Maxine in the few hours Suzie and I caught up on sleep. He’s been here for almost 9 weeks.”
Susan is Max’s Mom and they’ve been neighbors since they moved in last year. Exactly how many hours have they been together if she is Suzie now?
’Suzie, hey?” He asks, even though he’s panicking a lot about other things.
Eddie gets a sigh and a head shake for his troubles, his Uncle looking exasperated but fond.
“Sorry about your mop, kiddo,” Uncle Wayne says in return, ignoring his teasing because that’s what they do in this family. “I know you were proud of it.”
Immovable object meets unstoppable force.
So Eddie just sighs and gives in.
“Sucks,” he agrees, mouth twisting as he looks at the tubes entering the crook of his elbow, a loose corner of tape sticking up that would be tempting if he could get his stupid fingers to grab it.
He ignores the scolding his Uncle mutters because a Doctor comes in, different from the one he’d met before with Steve, trying to ignore the twisting in his stomach along with it.
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The last thing Eddie expects is to see Max to be popping wheelies in the hospital hallway, uncovered arms covered in long surgical scars worn proudly, when they finally are heading back to his room.
He’d spent all afternoon doing test after test with a parade of doctors, the final one being an MRI that was nearly impossible to sit through. But they’d given him something to relax him so they got it on the second go. The clanging and the tight space had been horrible, but the feeling in his body was worse.
It’s almost like he was knit back together wrong, because everything hurts and it feels like he’s strung too tight. All he wants to do is crawl back into the horrible hospital bed and wrap himself in the sheets. Maybe if he covered his head and slept for another week things would feel a little normal again.
His uncle is pushing the wheelchair he’s in and he just keeps smiling at Eddie, so he has been resisting snapping at everyone to get their hands off even though a million people he doesn’t known have touched him today without asking.
“Eddie!” Max yells, throwing herself toward him with a spin of her wheels, making a beeline that has the nurses smiling fondly, even if they look harried. “You’re awake! Steve said you woke up last night but that I couldn’t come until today but I tried to come this morning-”
Their wheelchairs are side by side now and he’s aware how different their chairs are: His is a normal hospital one, and hers has a short back and strange wheels. She moves it like an extension of her body- almost like her skateboard- but she hesitates for a moment, eyes searching his - looking for his surprised little nod- before she throws her arms around his shoulders, Shorn hair soft against his cheek as she hugs him too tight.
“But you’re here!”
God, Max has been through hell, but she’s still got that same cheeky smile, and maybe it’s going to be okay.
“Yeah,” He croaks out, finally cracking a smile. “We both are. Pretty surprising, huh?”
Eddie doesn’t know why, but suddenly they’re both laughing and breathless, two kids from the worst possible place making it through the worst possible thing, and they’re both still here.
She hugs him again, and they both cling.
------------------------------
He finally gets to eat something when Max leaves. She promises to come back tomorrow when she’ll be there for PT, and her Mom is reminding her that the cab is there to take them back to the house.
All of those things make no sense to Eddie, but the promise of food does.
He was surprised when his Uncle gave him a tight hug and said he’ll be back in the morning, planning to head with the Mayfields.
“I’ve been here for 12 hours a day for 68 days, kiddo,” he had squeezed Eddie’s shoulder, “I learned pretty early on that I need a shower and some real sleep if I’m going to keep going. They’d kick me out soon anyways, but Steve will be back after dinner for the night shift.”
So now it was just Eddie, the tube they have have running through his nose to his stomach, and a rotating crew of staff who keep coming in to check machines and take blood and-
“You need to start small,” The nurse tells him, sliding a plate of jello onto the table that flips up on the hospital bed. Her name tag says Tiffany, which freaks him out a little, but the Minnesota accent tells him to trust her. “I can promise that the first few days after wakin’ up from a coma aren’t very fun, sweetheart.”
He really doesn't feel like eating, but he does feel like he could do without the thing going from his sinus into his stomach and she assured him it was the first step.
“No chance, Darlin’” Tiffany says, when he asks about it. “When your body starts workin’ all the way right, then the Doctor will take it out. But until then we need it to keep some skin on those bones.”
He sighs, but does what she asks and opens his mouth, letting her scoop a spoonful of cool whip and jello into his mouth.
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After dinner Eddie begs for a shower, citing how he just woke up from a coma, and a ‘Please? Please, my friend is coming back?’ which Tiffany raises an eyebrow at, but inclines her head a little anyways.
“That boy barely leaves,” She says conversationally, hands busy taping a garbage bag around Eddie’s cast, “He has been here every night for the last 9 weeks- did you know he arrived four days after you did; all beat to hell. They told us what you kids went through with that damn Serial Killer. And in Hawkins Indiana no less!”
Tiffany tuts her tongue and shakes her head, helping transfer him to a shower chair (The whole situation had been horrible, but this takes the cake) but she waves a hand at his embarrassed flush.
“I’ve been bathing you for weeks, Darlin’,” She turns on the shower. “I’m just glad there’s conversation this time.”
If Eddie had super powers like Steve’s friend, that girl, he’s sure his would be melting straight into a puddle on the floor every time he got embarrassed.
Tiffany is all business as she washes his hair, magic hands making quick work of lathering and rinsing, It used to take way longer and Eddie is desperately trying not to think about how short it is. And, although the hot water on tile does a good job of dampening the sound of Tiffany's arguably hilarious chatter, it’s not enough to keep him from hearing her sing Steve’s praises.
“Your boy was walkin’ through that door every night at 9PM sharp, his lil’ walkman in hand and a book to read. He’s charmin’ too, always ‘Please and thank ya’s’ and asking if he could help with the two of yas.” Tiffany helps Eddie with a towel when the water turns off, a flush heating his cheeks in a way he needs to blame on the heat of the water. Although the shower felt practically magical, he could’ve honestly done with 5 minutes alone with his thought, honestly.
“Pretty as a peach too,” She continues without pause, stepping close to help him dry off, much to Eddie’s mortification. “I told him that he could be my kid’s step daddy if my husband kept bein’ an ass. An’ he told me that his 6 kids were enough of a handful.”
Tiffany chuckles to herself as she dries Eddie's hair gently, carefully squeezing some of the water out of the curls beginning to form. She hums a little as his hand drifts up to run through his hair, as much as it can, Her eyes catching his in the mirror over the sink.
“Steven told me you’re quite the musician when you’re not laid out.” Tiffany’s smile is kind, making it all the way to her eyes, rimmed with electric blue shadow. “Told me how you run an improv club for those sweet kids back in Hawkins who don’t fit in at school.”
She doesn’t mention his failing grades, drug dealing habit, or the lack of a high school diploma. Which probably means that Steve has been talking out his ass about Eddie.
“He talked about your smile, too,” Tiffany’s catches him by surprise, the knowing warmth of her half hidden smile calming his immediate panic. “That you get dimples when he says somethin’ stupid.”
Eddie wishes he’d responded with something other than sputtering, but he’s too exhausted to come up with any sort of cover that makes sense. Tiffany helps him into a clean gown, eyes twinkling as she takes off the cast cover. He can’t help but wonder if everyone can read what Eddie has been trying to hide, or if Tiffany is just a special case.
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He’s dozing when Steve arrives, his voice carrying into the private hospital room through the half open door as he chats with the nurses.
“Go get that pedicure, Diane,” he’s calling over his shoulder. “You nurses need to look after your feet- don’t give me that look, you know I’m right.”
And then he's closing the door with a soft click, the sound of his shoe soft but clear against the lino before he settles into the chair next to Eddie's bed, twisting the top off of a green thermos and pouring himself a cup before he even sits down, book cracked open and reading before even a minute has passed.
"We got paid off, didn't we?" Eddie asks in the quiet, dark eyes open and staring at Steve when he looks up, surprised. "Or the government is paying for all of this? Right? Because my Uncle would never have been able to afford any of this, and Max's wheelchair was top of the line and I could see the scars on her arms. And apparently the doctors think it’s some kind of miracle that I woke up at all." It all comes out in a rush as Steve puts down the coffee, putting his book face down, spine spayed out as he stands. Eddie wants to blame the fact that his hands haven’t stopped shaking- on top of the new-normal stiffness - since Tiffany left on the terribly long day he has had. But it’s probably more from being alone. "They covered up everything that he did by writing it off as some stupid normal murders, right?"
"Pretty much right on the money," Steve says evenly, book forgotten. "Except Number one was technically a serial murderer."
Eddie rolls his head to look up at the ceiling, thoughts racing around his head too fast to sleep. He isn't expecting the bed to dip beside him, but suddenly Steve is close enough to touch.
"Guess I need to fill you in, huh?" His smile is conspiratorial, but sad, and his voice stays soft enough to stay in the space between the two of them. But it’s his eyes that make Eddie's heart beat double time. "We all survived- you barely- but we did. Dustin is a badass and improvised a flamethrower with a bottle of your hair spray from your trailer and a lighter."
Steve's hand runs through Eddie's hair gently, barely a brush of his fingers, like somehow he forgot that they’ve only been ‘friends’ since they saved the world together.
"You scared the shit outta me," Steve admits, eyes unwavering on Eddie's in the dark. "We barely got you out when things went sideways. Then, when we did, you crashed and I had to do CPR on you for like 15 minutes until the army arrived."
Eddie can feel a shiver run through him as bits and pieces flash back: Dustin racing to his rescue, the crack of bone as they fell from the Upside Down. Steve, covered in blood and screaming at him to stay awake-
He's not expecting the hand to land on his chest and start running over the fabric soothingly.
"Eddie," Steve interrupts the circle of his thoughts, hand so hot it feels like a brand in the cool of the hospital room. "You’re spiraling, man. In for ten seconds, C'mon-"
Eddie's breath shudders but he manages, shoulder slightly hunched as he tries to follow instructions Steve gives him, his voice a lifeline from the encroaching darkness. He doesn't really feel like himself right now, and even though he used to think himself a coward he wasn’t terrified like- like he didn’t know who he could trust not be some monster wearing a human face.
"That's the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," Steve explains, because Eddie is apparently mumbling under his breath. "Well, probably. I'm not a doctor, but at least 4 of the kids are in therapy for it right now. I've been seeing a counselor here too. It'll get easier; you just woke up."
"Great," Eddie croaks, unable to keep the wry smile off his face even as he falls apart, because Steve just keeps smiling at him like he’s worth something. "Sounds like I've got so much to look forward to, Harrington."
"You're going to make it through this," Steve insists, ignoring the sarcasm that Eddie wields like a shield, the hand that was on his sternum sliding up to cup his cheek, never breaking contact. "We're all making it through this: I'm not losing you again."