[ STEDDIE ] can you keep me close? (can you love me most?)

Part One

“It’s all over, I promise. Their base was destroyed and the majority of them were killed. You’re safe now.”

Doctor Owen’s past words replayed over and over in Steve’s mind, a stabbing reminder of what should’ve been true. Steve had spent more than a year trying to convince himself of it. He’d woken up in a sheen of sweat countless times, whispering to himself that the Russians were gone - that he was free. 

Bullshit.

“We know you know about the portals to the other dimension, Steve Harrington,” the Russian in front of him leered in a thick accent, the man the others referred to as Konstantin. “You will give us their precise location or we will kill you and everyone associated with you. Do you understand?”

Steve let out a garbled sob, his own blood coating his throat. Welts from whips were strung across his back, making the slightest movements agonizing. He was sure at least three of his ribs were broken and god, he swore he could feel one of them pierce against his organs with each strangled inhale. He tried to look up at Konstantin, but the relentless pounding in his skull was effectively making him blind in one eye. He knew he’d developed head injuries over the years, but hadn’t dared tell anyone that the headaches were sometimes so intense that he lost his vision and he couldn’t hear out of his left ear.

If he survived this, maybe he’d finally tell someone.

“I told you.” Steve’s head fell forward, his somewhat still-drugged body unable to hold it up any longer. The only thing that kept him from face-planting was the crude rope restraints that tethered him to the splintering chair. “They’re closed. All of them. Vecna’s dead. There’s no-”

Konstantin took the whip in his hands and lashed it across Steve’s forearm, forcing a wrecked scream from his bloodied lips. The tears began to fall harder as waves of raw anguish crashed into Steve.

“You lie!” Konstantin hissed, baring his rotting teeth. 

“No, no, no, no, no,” Steve mumbled out in a hopeless beg, dark spots beginning to cloud his remaining sight. 

Steve heard the crack of the whip and shot his head up. “Please! Please! It’s true! Fuck, I promise, I’m telling the fucking truth!”

Slowly, Konstantin lowered his weapon and Steve nearly sobbed again from the relief.

“Sir.” Steve tried to turn his head around to see the person coming in behind him, to no avail. He heard the metal door swing open with a shrill creak before slamming shut once again. 

The man stepped around Steve, shooting him a look of raw disgust, before turning to Konstantin and murmuring, “We can’t find Munson.”

Oh, thank god.

“Hawkins is a small town,” Konstantin spat. “He is a freak of nature, a black sheep, and yet you still can’t find him? Pathetic, Iosif.”

Iosif stiffened and nodded curtly. “My apologies. We will continue searching.”

“My men are certain this Munson was infected by something in the other dimension. He can surely lead us to what we seek,” Konstantin paused to glare at Steve. “I thought this sorry excuse for a man would be of some help, but it seems not.”

Steve barely registered the insult, everything in his mind focused on Eddie. His name replayed like a chant in Steve’s mind, a solemn prayer as though the thought of Eddie alone could save him from the torture. He begged the universe to keep Eddie safe, to keep him as far away as possible from Steve and all his shit. Eddie wasn’t “infected”. He was just some guy that happened to sell drugs to the wrong girl at the wrong time. He deserved to get away from Hawkins, away from all the bullshit, away from Steve.