Right Side Up (Steddie)

Some Kind of Monster

The next morning, Steve helped Mike and Lucas bring in the packages of meat they'd bought for Eddie. He then sent them to check on Dustin's progress while he put everything away. They'd brought back more than he thought they would for the money they had. He had laughed when they'd shown up with Holly's red wagon hitched to the back of Mike's bike filled with raw meat wrapped in butcher paper. Now it was all laid out on the kitchen counter, and he was trying to decide what to put in the refrigerator and what to freeze.

Steve looked up when Eddie shuffled into the kitchen. He was wearing two sweatshirts, a pair of sweatpants, and three pairs of socks and had his arms wrapped around himself for warmth. He wouldn't look directly at Steve, and he kept his distance, across the room with the kitchen table between them. Steve watched him for a long moment until he finally looked up at him from under lowered lashes.

"Are you hungry?" Eddie nodded. "Mike and Lucas brought food you can eat." Eddie lifted his head and sniffed the air. He thought he'd smelled something. That was why he'd gotten out of bed and come downstairs. He took a tentative step towards Steve but then hesitated as fear flashed in his eyes. "Come on, it's okay." Eddie took another step. "We've got steaks, a roast, lamb chops, some liver, deer," he said as he pointed to the different packages. "There's even a beef heart."

Eddie's eyes widened when Steve said that. Steve picked up the paper wrapped heart and held it out to Eddie. Eddie reached for it and took it then took several steps back, like he was afraid Steve would take it from him.

"Thank you," he said hoarsely.

"I'm going to just..." Steve came around the counter. "I'm going to go in the other room. It's a little early in the morning for me to watch something like this."

Eddie nodded and when Steve was out of the room, he tore the butcher paper from the heart and sank his teeth into it, tearing chunks from it and eating them quickly. It only took him a minute to consume the entire heart. He then lifted the paper and licked the blood from it and his hands. When Steve finally came back in the kitchen, Eddie was at the sink, having just washed his hands, and was drinking a glass of water. He turned to face Steve and frowned at the bandage on his neck.

"Was that enough," Steve asked. "Or do you need more?"

"I'm fine," Eddie answered. "Thank you." When Steve took a step closer to him, Eddie took a step back. "Don't."

"What's wrong?"

"I don't want to hurt you again."

"You won't," Steve stepped closer, and Eddie stepped back, but he hit the kitchen counter and had nowhere else to go. Steve closed the distance between them and reached to cup Eddie's cheek in his hand. "That's what the butcher store on my kitchen counter is for. If you get hungry, there's plenty for you to eat besides me." Steve laughed but Eddie frowned. "Hey, it's not that bad. I'll heal." He kissed Eddie's forehead then moved his hands to his shoulders and rubbed up and down his arms. "Are you warm enough?"

"Yeah," he answered. "Why are you helping me?"

"What did you want me to do," Steve asked. "Leave you out there to fend for yourself?" Eddie shrugged. "You know, if someone else found you, you'd be in jail right now. And I'm pretty sure they wouldn't feed you raw cow hearts." Steve laughed and Eddie finally smiled.