Hell's Book of Random One-shots

A Casual 3am Adventure - Steddie - Stranger Things - Request

Waking up to an empty side of the bed wouldn't have been so alarming to Eddie if it hadn't been nearing three in the morning.

He had definitely gone to bed with someone, early even, considering that they were both exhausted after a long day.

And yet here he was, tired, bleary eyed and alone.

"Steve?" He murmured, squinting to search the darkness as his eyes adjusted. "Steve? You here?"

He paused to wait and see if a snore or something would give him his answer, it wouldn't be the first time that he'd found that Steve had managed to crash to the floor without waking, but this time he was only met with silence.

With a confused frown, Eddie shuffled across the bed with the willingness of a tired sloth and swung his arm over the side, swinging it back and forth in the hopes to maybe catching Steve with a light slap, only to find nothing.

Dropping his face onto the cooled mattress, Eddie let out a tired groan and then pushed himself up, untangling himself from the covers so that he could stand without the threat of tripping over before he'd even made it off the bed.

A breeze hit him as he made his way towards the bedroom door, the night being deceptively cold compared to the earlier day which had lead him to wearing only boxers and a band shirt to bed, but he could look past the chill by keeping his attention on finding Steve.

"He's probably in the bathroom, calm down, man," Eddie mumbled to himself as he made his way through the dark house, all senses on edge and every creak of the place making his heart jolt.

Yet, despite the attempts at reassurance, he couldn't get himself to believe that Steve had innocently got up to pee.

Something didn't feel right and it was messing with his mind that he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

He looked down at he approached the bathroom door, finding the door ajar with darkness behind it, leaving him with no doubt that Steve was not inside, not that that stopped him from poking his head inside and flipping the light on to check anyway.

Making his way towards the stairs, Eddie felt his stomach drop as ridiculous paranoias and fears started to play in his mind.

What if Steve had gotten lost and couldn't find his way back to the bedroom?

Sure, it was his own house and he'd surely know the place like the back of his hand but Steve had proven to be pretty dopey with silly things in the past.

What if his parents had returned from wherever the hell they had gone this time and had busted them in bed, hauled his ass downstairs and were currently giving him a disapproving talking to?

As if the Harrington's were ever around enough to give a damn about who their son was seeing on any given day of the week, regardless of gender.

Not to mention that the house was silent and downstairs showed no signs of electrical light, only peeks of moonlight hit the floor where they'd failed to pull them closed hours earlier before heading to bed.

However, there was just enough light to catch the shadowed figure that stood in the middle of the living room who made Eddie's heart jump into his throat as he stepped off the last step.

He found himself unable to move, rooted to the spot he could only stare towards the shadow as he tried to calm his erratically beating heart.

Undesirable memories came to play, ones that he wished that he could forget but no amount of therapy he couldn't even afford could rid of.

"Steve?" He called out and though it came out more like a whisper, it sounded too loud in the stillness. "That you?"

As expected, though still to his disappointment, there was no answer from whatever was in that room.