I Was A Little Miffed That They Cropped Off His Chin So I Edited One On. So, Mind You, That Part Is Fake!!

I was a little miffed that they cropped off his chin so I edited one on. So, mind you, that part is fake!! I just wanted to see what it would look like and tried to make it as accurate as possible but I'm not your usual chin-maker y'know

Moonlight - part 6

Steve's turn

Word count - 1.8k

Part 5 part 4 part 3 part 2 part 1

Steve's always been a good kid. Other than his bottom of the barrel grades, he's been good at sports, instruments, he's easy on the eyes.. he's a dream. Other than the one small fact he's a werewolf. The fact isn't quite small when he thinks about it.

When he was 7 years old, he saw what he thought was a stray dog in his backyard, a big one, like the one his neighbor used to have. He should've known. Should've listened suring summer camp when that counselor told stories of werewolves, should've ran away as fast as he could.

But he didn't. Instead he spent that next month in the hospital, trying to recover from his almost fatal injuries while nurses poked and prodded at him and doctors ran their tests. He still remembers their cold tools and rough hands, their strange smelling gloves and the fear in their eyes when they looked at him, as if they were looking at a monster. And he doesn't blame them. Never did. Because ever since then on the full moon he's been a beast. There are urban legends around the town just about him, about how if you encounter him in the woods during a full moon he'll rip you to shreds and keep you alive for the whole thing, or that he eats babies or something– which he doesn't. He doesn't even hunt rabbits. He just lets himself starve, he's never wanted to hurt something, especially something that never stood a chance against him.

And then that shit with the Upside Down happens, just when he thinks he's finally getting close to Eddie. He doesn't want to spread this to him and rope him in on this. Sure, they're not friends, but they still end up finding each other, not to mention Steve having to patch himself up and deciding to do it at Eddie's place.

So, he avoids the boy again. He watches himself grow more and more pale and gaunt each passing month, the scars on his body seeming like they're spreading. He hasn't been eating or sleeping much, usually getting his rest during class, meaning his grades slip drastically before he graduates, to the point where he barely scrapes by.

And when he meets Robin, she fills a gap in his heart, a piece of himself he didn't know he was missing. She also makes him realize a lot, about the world around him and about himself.He wasn't just friends with Tommy, he didn't want to be just friends with Eddie either.

"I didn't realize you could do that." Steve murmurs when Robin says she liked Tammy Thompson, letting his head thump against the wall.

"Are you serious? Do you not pay attention to the world around you, like, at all?" Robin says with a chuckle, bumping her knee against his. But her smile goes away when Steve runs a hand through his hair, wincing as his fingers run over the wound on his scalp. "Steve?"

"Hm?"

"We're okay, right?"

"Of course we are.. I'm just thinking. About me." Steve says softly, staring up at the ceiling, which he realizes has more stains than the floor. Gross. Robin tilts her head a bit at him, narrowing her eyes as if trying to see into his brain.

"Like what?" She asks, picking at her chipped nail polish as it scrapes onto the floor in maroon colored dust.

"Like.. I always thought we were just best friends– me and Tommy H... But now it all seems different, looking back. I mean, friends don't do what we did. You and I are friends, and I'd.. we'd never. Not at all." Steve says quietly, barely even parting his lips. Robin grimaces, not even wanting to think about what Steve and Tommy could've done to the point Steve thinks they were more than just friends. Everything is different now. The way he had looked at Eddie, the way he thought of him, of his gaze and his hands and his words– the way he'd say his name. It was all so different. So new and amazing.

"You know Eddie Munson? He showed up sometimes and got a plain strawberry cone?" Steve asks and Robin nods slightly, having a feeling where this is going. She slides down the wall a little more, her shoes squeaking on the tile. "Yeah, I know Eddie. He stepped on my sandwich one time." Steve sighs, running a hand through his hair once more. He doesn't even need to say it, Robin just knows.

"Oh." She says softly, echoing exactly Steve's tone from earlier. "Mhm. Oh."

"You could have better taste. I mean, c'mon, Eddie? He's like, three raccoons in a trenchcoat. I saw him eating a can of Spaghetti-O's behind the school one time." Robin says, making Steve laugh, his head falling back again and bumping back against the stall wall, a move he immediately regrets with the way his head now throbs.

"I like that, though.. I can't explain it. I like everything about him. I guess I just like him." He says with a growing smile. He really should've realized sooner, but he supposes now isn't the worst time. Eddie is.. everything. He's everything, simple as that. If others could see Eddie the way Steve sees Eddie, he'd rule the world.

That's when Dustin and Erica burst in, seeing the two almost adults on the ground, laughing at nothing. The rest is a little blurry to Steve, hard to remember and somewhat painful, but it's like he blinks and he's sitting in the back of an ambulance, bright lights and sirens filling the warm July night. Beneath his pounding skull and ringing ears, he hears someone ask him a question.

"Is there a number we can call for you? Someone to pick you up?"

He doesn't quite know who asked it, but his mind goes right to one person, and he hardly takes a breath before rattling off the number he knows by heart. The number that leads to that yellow phone on the wall of the trailer. He knows Wayne is at work, but Eddie might be home. It only takes the boy about 7 minutes to get to the mall, rushing towards the ambulances, somehow immediately finding Steve as if pulled in by a magnet.

"Jesus... Steve, you're okay, right? Are you okay?" He pants out, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he sees Steve, still in his stupid sailor uniform, absolutely beat to a pulp with nothing but a thin blanket around him.

"I've been better." Steve says with a shrug. He feels that skip in his heart, which he's felt before but not to this degree, not at all. It's all for Eddie, he realizes. Every beat of his heart and breath in his lungs, and maybe he's getting ahead of himself but that's just how he feels.Eddie puts his hands on either side of Steve's face, tilting his head to see all of his injuries. "What happened to you..?" He asks, his throat bobbing as he gulps. Steve really can't help but smile as he feels the boy's touch.

"It's a long story, and I don't really feel like shortening it at the moment." He says with a small smile, unintentionally leaning into Eddie's touch before he pulls his hands away to take a step back. Eddie takes a deep breath, fidgeting with his rings.

"C'mon." He says quietly, nodding towards his van. Steve hasn't actually been inside of it before, having to kick away a soda can at his feet, which Eddie quickly tosses to the back. Steve really can't help but notice the little things– things that he himself would do if he were to try and impress someone if he was Eddie. The way Eddie makes his van look somewhat clean so Steve doesn't think little of him, cracking the windows so the smell of weed isn't so strong, turning his loud music down as not to irritate Steve's pounding skull nor his sick stomach.

"The trailer is a bit of a mess– I know you don't care, I just.. you know." Eddie says with a small shrug, running a hand over his face. Steve doesn't even care that he's staring, hours ago he thought he was going to die, he wants to stare at a pretty face while he still can. He's not going to say anything any time soon, but he will eventually. Eventually. Even if eventually never comes, he'll be happy as long as he gets to be near Eddie. Near this boy that actually seems to care for him. He's drumming his fingers on the steering wheel as he drives, a habit Steve has notices. He's always tapping his fingers against something, whether it's his desk or his thighs or, obviously, the steering wheel. Steve doesn't think he's ever been this content to just sit next to someone, music playing quietly as the streetlights pass. Eddie keeps glancing over, clearly worried, but Steve is just smiling.

"You're sure you're okay?" Eddie asks, and Steve just nods a little. "I feel a lot better than I look. I think it's those pills they gave me before you came and got me."

Eddie still looks worried however, and stays practically stuck to Steve as he cleans himself up, scrubbing the blood off his skin before realizing that the bathroom sink probably isn't doing much.

"You mind if I take a shower?" He asks, and Eddie shakes his head. "No.. no, go ahead. Water might be cold at first, you have to turn the hot water all the way and wait for a minute so it heats up." He explains, still looking a bit shaken up.

When Steve gets out, there's a pair of sweatpants and a shirt waiting for him, both clearly Eddie's. He slips them on, looking at himself in the mirror, at how they fit a bit differently on him than they'd fit Eddie. They're the same height, but very obviously different builds. The clothes smell like detergent, but also something else. Something oh so clearly Eddie, to the point that the smell is still there even when the clothes are clean. It makes Steve feel a bit weird about himself, the fact he's smelling clothes because they smell like Eddie, but he hardly even notices he's doing it.

He likes this boy, its true, more than he's liked anybody ever.

This is gonna hurt Steve in the end, isn't it?

But what if there is no end? What if there's actually no beginning? Neither of them truly know what's going to happen, nobody does, especially with the Upside Down existing with a bunch of 13 year olds and about four 18 year olds being the only ones who know about it.

Steve sits down on the couch just a little bit away from Eddie, both of them quiet in the moment. Eventually Steve might say something. Maybe it will be on one of their death beds or over a grave, maybe it will be in a year or a day, maybe it will never happen. He doesn't know.

But until then he'll savor this as much as he can.

Tag list (open!): @manda-panda-monium @gregre369 @she-collects-smut @irregular-child @oatmilk-vampire @cartercaptainofthemoon @fairytalesreality @jhrc666

happy birthday to my precious boy mike wheeler, who has been blessing my drawings since i was at least 13!

2019 (13) -> 2022 (17) -> 2024 (18)

heeeey you're not will wood

steve "mean girl" harrington: u can just say things like that now. what, like its hard?

[more here]

JOE KEERY 

for Dork Magazine 📸 Zachary Gray