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Wayne no longer had any reason to stay in Hawkins, the entire town hated his nephew, the entire town still blamed him for those horrible deaths, the entire town looked at Wayne with hatred.
They didn't know Eddie. If they had known him, they would have known that Eddie Munson wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone kill young people in such a way… Wayne knew it wasn't him. But the town didn't. The town would continue to hold onto those thoughts for a long time. So Wayne thought it best to leave that place behind. Anyway, his trailer was… ruined, he needed to move, it was better to leave.
Slowly, he carries the boxes containing his belongings to the car. He and Eddie didn't have much, and some things were broken by the earthquakes and whatever that thing was that opened up in the roof of his house and the police managed to close it with metal plates, just so Wayne could get in and collect his things. It was strange, having to convince the police to let Wayne into his own house. He tries not to think about it too much so he doesn't get even more annoyed with this shitty city.
"Hi Mr. Munson."
“Dustin. Hi.”
During that year, Eddie talked only about his RPG club, his band, and his friends. Wayne loved hearing Eddie speak so excitedly about these things. It had been a long time since he had seen his nephew so happy.
Wayne only wished he had met Eddie's friends under better circumstances.
And not at Hawkins High School, after the earthquake, while Wayne was putting up another missing person poster, and this boy showed up saying that… that he was very sorry. Wayne knew at that moment that he would never see his nephew again.
Now, Wayne was moving. He found out from another of Eddie's great friends how close Dustin was to him, and decided to invite the boy over today. Eddie would appreciate having his things delivered to one of those kids he had so much fun with.
“Come here.” Dustin follows him into the trailer, avoiding looking at the ceiling of the room where the portal is. That place doesn't exactly bring back good memories.
There are several boxes scattered everywhere, in the living room, the kitchen, and Eddie's bedroom. Dustin notices that the posters are still on the walls, as is the guitar. Wayne hadn't finished organizing everything yet.
“Here.” Mr. Munson picks up one of the boxes from the bed and places it closer to Dustin. “These are his tapes. I think Eddie would appreciate it if I gave you this.”
“Mr. Munson, I…” Dustin’s eyes well up with tears and he tries his best to hold them back. “Thank you.”
Wayne nodded, his expression not unlike Dustin's. His nephew was his only family, things would never be the same again.
"His other things will be donated, except for the guitar. If you want to take anything, feel free. I'll... I'll store the other boxes in the car."
"Okay. Thank you, Mr. Munson."
Dustin is alone in the room. It's so strange. He takes a few deep breaths, decides it's best not to linger too long so as not to disturb Wayne, so he puts the tapes aside for a moment and looks at the other boxes. Clothes, some black jeans, band t-shirts, lots of band t-shirts, jackets. In a separate box, Dustin finds his rings and other accessories. It's hard to see this and remember that Eddie is no longer here, and never will be again.
He picks up a ring that catches his eye. A silver ring shaped like a bat, as if the bat were clinging to his finger. It's cute. It's so Eddie. Sometimes Eddie looked like a bat, with those huge, dark eyes, and his exaggerated manner. Dustin thinks that maybe it doesn't even make sense, but fuck it.
Not wanting to stay there too long, Dustin soon leaves, with the box of tapes in his arms and the bat ring on his finger. He says goodbye to Mr. Munson, thanks him once more, and heads home.
📼
It takes Dustin a few days to work up the courage to open the box containing the cassette tapes.
He sits on the floor of the room, near the stereo, and opens the box. The first tape he sees makes his lips tremble slightly. Metallica. Master of Puppets. He takes the tape out of the box and puts it on the floor far away from him. The music is incredible, but he doesn't think he'll ever be able to listen to it again. Dustin takes them out of the box one by one, seeing all the bands that Eddie has mentioned at least once during their conversations.
Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Eddie really liked Black Sabbath. Dio, Slayer, Megadeth, Rainbow… So many bands. So many tapes. That Eddie will never hear again.
Dustin picks up the last tape from the box.
This one looks different from the others.
There's no cover protecting it. No image indicating which band it's from. Dustin flips the tape over and finds Eddie's handwriting there.
“For Steve”
Steve? Steve Harrington? What the hell is that?
Why would Eddie have a tape, a tape he wrote "for Steve" on? That tape couldn't really be for Steve, could it? Why would Eddie make a tape for Steve? They weren't even that close before those deaths happened. Dustin opens the stereo and puts the tape on. Maybe if he knows what songs were recorded on it, he'll find some answers.
But should it?
If the tape is for Steve, maybe Eddie didn't want anyone else to hear it.
Fuck it. Eddie's not here anymore.
The tape starts playing. Dustin takes a while to recognize what song it is, what band it is, but it doesn't matter, because the lyrics… the lyrics seemed too sentimental. Eddie doesn't usually listen to music like that. At least not songs about strange loves. About feeling like an idiot for falling for someone unattainable, someone all the girls like, someone… Why do the songs make it seem like Eddie is in love? If the tape is for Steve… Or maybe Eddie just thought Steve would like these songs, but why would Eddie do that? They weren't even friends.
Listening to the tape was confusing him even more. Eddie couldn't answer Dustin's questions. But maybe… maybe the person Eddie dedicated those songs to could, maybe the only one who could explain why on earth Eddie had a tape dedicated to him, was… Steve Harrington himself.
Dustin doesn't waste another second there, he takes the tape out of the stereo, grabs his bike, and pedals as fast as he can to Steve's house, hoping to find him there. Steve is hardly ever home, he's always out and about with Robin, whether at the movies or handing out resumes around town since they were fired again for missing work. Well, sometimes they have to deal with some Russians and Demogorgons, these things happen, it's a pretty good reason to miss a few days of work.
By some miracle. Steve opens the door when Dustin rings the doorbell.
"Did something happen?" The older man notices that Dustin is agitated from cycling all the way here, but he doesn't look desperate or scared, which is good, considering all the crap that happened a few days ago.
"What does this mean, Steve?!" Henderson holds up the tape with the part that says “For Steve” Pointing it at the older boy, Steve squints to read what's written. He takes it from Dustin's hand and looks more closely, his expression changing from confused to… Dustin can't quite tell.
Steve looks… sad.
Dustin thinks he's never seen him like this. As if Steve had lost something important. Steve always walks around so confident, taking care of everything and everyone, being the responsible babysitter, acting like a jerk sometimes, but he's still amazing and fun. Not like this, with this face that says he might cry at any moment.
Then, he takes a deep breath and makes room for Dustin to enter the house. Dustin sits on the living room sofa, watching Steve close the door and walk until he's standing in front of him, still intently watching the tape.
"Where did you get that, Henderson?"
Ah, of course, the interrogation of the babysitter was taking a while.
“Mr. Wayne gave me Eddie’s tapes. This one was at the bottom of the box.” Dustin analyzes each of Steve's microexpressions, a slight tremor in his lip, the way his eyes seem darker, Steve never acted like this. “What I don’t understand is why Eddie has a tape for you.”
"It doesn't matter anymore, Henderson. He's not here anymore."
"It matters to me."
Since Steve picked up the tape, this is the first time he's looked away from it at Dustin. The boy may have grown up, but he's still the same stubborn little boy Steve met that strange afternoon. Steve takes a deep breath. Thoughtful. He knows Dustin won't leave him alone until he answers something, and if he doesn't, Henderson will play detective and go after Robin, because Robin surely knows all of Steve's secrets.
Steve takes another deep breath. What difference will it make whether he tells or not? Eddie isn't here anymore. If he were, Eddie wouldn't care. He never cared what others thought of him, his tastes in RPGs, bands, and he definitely wouldn't care if they found out he liked idiotic boys with suicidal tendencies.
"Things between Eddie and me... were different."
“Different… Different like?!”
"Different, Henderson. Like Nancy and I."
“But you and Nancy were dating.” Dustin couldn’t understand. He knew Steve had always been a bit confusing, probably a bit off-kilter, that was for sure, but still, it was so hard to understand Steve. Eddie and Steve. Like Steve and Nancy. What the hell did that mean? Steve and Nancy were dating! Boyfriends until Jonathan showed up and the whole Upside Down thing… Eddie and Steve. Upside Down… Dustin tried to connect the dots. He looked at Steve, searching for anything that would indicate what this meant, and only found him staring at that tape, running his fingers over Eddie’s messy handwriting.
For Steve.
Songs about strange romances. Unattainable boys.
'Things between Eddie and me were different.'
Wait. Does that mean… No. Steve and Eddie… No. They had nothing in common. They only interacted because of what was happening, because Eddie was friends with Dustin, and Steve was also friends with Dustin. The two are so different from each other, and Steve… Steve likes girls. Eddie does too, even though Dustin knew Eddie was different from the other boys, he still…
But that makes sense. As for Steve… No fucking way.
“When we separated to sort some things out, I would go check on Eddie at the hideout. We became closer there. It’s strange to say this, but we had a lot in common and…” Steve doesn’t want to say it out loud. It hurts so much to think that he’ll never see Eddie again. Eddie, who was his only joy in those days, even though he spent that time worried like crazy about everything, he still had Eddie. For the first time in his life, Steve didn’t feel alone.
One night was all they needed.
Steve went to check if everything was alright. They smoked together while talking about all that crap and a lot of other things too.
One night was enough for Steve to realize he felt something, to understand that Eddie's strange flirting wasn't a joke. Eddie confessed that he flirted with Steve because it was natural, it just happened, Eddie wasn't blind, Steve was handsome, maybe Eddie confessed that Steve was too handsome, that Steve was his type, since high school. And maybe Steve confessed that he liked the flirting, the compliments, and Eddie's manner.
Maybe, just maybe, Eddie kissed Steve that night.
It really was the end of the world. They were going to the Upside Down, and this time things might not go well. Fighting Demogorgons, Russians, and Mind Flayers was one thing, but fighting a creature with powers… well… Nobody knew what to expect.
Eddie confessed that he was scared.
“If anything happens, tell… tell my uncle that the tapes should stay with Dustin, that my notebooks and RPG books should go to Mike, and…” Eddie takes the necklace with the guitar pick pendant off his neck and hands it to Steve. “This is yours. I have another one to wear in the Upside Down, I want you to keep this one. If we survive, I don’t know how things will be, I think I’ll have to leave this town anyway, so… keep this to remember me by, big boy.”
Steve grabbed him by the jacket and kissed him senselessly all night after that. They both ignored the wetness of the tears in the middle of the kiss. Somehow they knew it was the end.
Even though Steve repeatedly said that nothing would happen, that they were fine, that they would get back together, Eddie seemed to sense that it wouldn't be that way.
Well... He was right.
All that remained were the cassette tapes, that damn necklace Steve wears every day hidden inside his shirt, and the vest Eddie lent him, stored at the back of the closet.
"What I mean is that... Eddie and I were... a little more than friends."
“Oh.”
“Yeah… Oh” Steve looks at the tape. Eddie had mentioned to him that when all this was over he wanted to give Steve something, it sucked that Eddie never had the chance to deliver the tape personally. Steve just knows that the thing Eddie wanted to give him was this tape. It’s a strange feeling. Steve still has to come to terms with the fact that he’s gone, Eddie isn’t coming back, ever again.
“Steve.”
He doesn't even notice when the tears start to fall, he only feels Dustin's body wrapped around him in an embrace and his face suddenly getting wet. Fuck, Eddie. Fuck. Was it so hard not to play the hero? No one would judge him for running away. No one.
Steve misses him so much it hurts.
And there's nothing they can do. Because Eddie is gone.
Forever.
END.