Right Side Up (Steddie)

I Guess We're Golden

For the next few days, when Steve woke up in the morning, Eddie was gone. There would be a fresh wrapper in the trash from whatever Eddie ate for breakfast, and Eddie would be gone, on foot, presumably through the woods. Steve, not sure what to do, called Dustin to let him know what was going on. Steve tried to play it off when he talked to Dustin, tried to make it seem like he was just mentioning it in passing, but inside he was worried about Eddie's state of mind.

When Eddie would come home in the evenings, just as the sun was starting to set, he wouldn't say much to Steve. He'd come in, eat something, but never in front of Steve. He would make Steve leave the room, usually after some snide comment about not subjecting him to the horror of seeing Eddie consume raw meat. Then he'd take a shower and go to bed. But not in Steve's bed. Eddie now slept on the chair every night and Steve laid in bed watching him, missing the feel of him curled up against him. It had only been a couple of nights, but Steve had gotten used to holding Eddie while he slept. He looked forward to it. But now, he'd lost that, and he didn't know why.

Eddie also seemed to have mastered the art of brevity. When Steve tried to talk to him, he gave the shortest, simplest answers he could. Just a single word if he could find one that would suffice. When Steve asked if he was okay, or if something was wrong, Eddie would smile when he answered. He assured Steve, in as few words as possible, that he was okay, nothing was wrong.

But something had to be wrong. Eddie walked, ate, and slept. Nothing more. So, Steve, not sure what else to do, just went about his own life. He kept Eddie in the back of his mind. When he went to the grocery store, when he went to return the books he'd borrowed from Robin, when he did laundry, when he talked to Dustin. He was always thinking about Eddie.

Friday evening when Eddie came in, Steve didn't even say hello. He just pushed a plate with a raw liver on it across the counter towards Eddie and left the room. Steve had already eaten so he went to the living room to watch television for a while and let Eddie eat alone. When Eddie was done eating, he went upstairs and Steve sighed when he heard the bathroom door close, just like every other night. But half an hour later, when he came out of the bathroom, instead of going to the bedroom, Eddie came back downstairs.

Eddie sat down on the couch with Steve, not as close as Steve would have liked, but it was better than the distance that had been between them for the last several days. A few minutes later, Steve stole a glance at Eddie and realized that Eddie wasn't watching television with him, he was watching him, and he had a piece of paper clutched in his hand. Steve pointed the remote control at the television and turned it off then turned on the couch to face Eddie.

"I found a house."

"Is that where you've been going every day," Steve asked eagerly, hoping they could finally have a conversation. "Have you been scouting out the empty houses around town?"

Eddie didn't answer his questions. "There's a cabin in the woods. It doesn't look like anyone has been there in years. It's far enough away that no one will come snooping around."

"Nancy said she'd get Robin and the boys to help clean up wherever you chose."

"Nancy," Eddie sighed and rolled his eyes. "Right."

"Hey, what the hell?" Eddie started to stand up, but Steve grabbed his arm and pulled him back down onto the couch. "What have you got against Nancy?"