Peaceful bliss, just moments away (Stranger Things)

Fred

Eddie rings the doorbell, feeling a little unsure now that he's on Steve's doorstep. Steve invited him, so it's okay, right? But that was in another loop. He might think differently now that Eddie's showing up at his house in the middle of the night.

The door opens. "...Munson?" Steve's hair is mussed and he's shirtless, the hair on his chest on full display. His sweatpants are hanging low on his hips, like he just rolled out of bed.

Eddie doesn't remember what he was going to say. Sure, he's seen Steve shirtless a few times now, but always in the gloomy lighting around the lake or in the Upside Down. The porch light is bright enough that there's no shadows obscuring Steve and there's no bat wounds marring his skin. It makes Eddie's brain short-circuit.

Chrissy speaks up after a moment of awkward silence, glancing at Eddie, "We need your help."

-

"Wait, so you've both died... how many times now?"

"I lost count," Eddie says.

"Jesus," Steve mutters, pacing in front of Eddie and Chrissy where they sit on Steve's couch. "And you were killed by this Vecna guy?"

"I was," Chrissy confirms.

"Well, I mostly died from driving into a tree," Eddie admits.

Steve stops pacing, turning toward Eddie with a dumbfounded look. Then he shakes his head. "Okay, so you're not allowed to drive."

"But that was on purpose! To reset the loop. Aside from the first couple of times, I mean."

"I'm driving," Steve says firmly. He returns to pacing, thinking it over. "So there's three others we have to save, right?"

"Fred, Patrick, and Max," Chrissy confirms.

"Then we take out Vecna?"

"In theory," Eddie says. "We always lose someone to the bats, though." He shoves thoughts of those deaths out of his mind. He's not sure he'll ever get over them.

Steve nods, still lost in thought. "We'll come up with a different plan, then. For now, Fred doesn't get targeted until tomorrow?"

"Right."

"Then we should get some sleep. We'll get Nancy tomorrow and she can help us with Fred. You guys can stay here tonight."

-

Eddie ends up in Steve's bedroom again, borrowing some of his clothes, but this time he pushes Steve toward the bed. "It's your bed, man."

"Come on, when's the last time you got some decent sleep?"

"Last time I was in here." Eddie realizes how that sounds when Steve's brows shoot up, and he adds, "Just sleeping, Harrington. You'll have to try harder if you want me in your bed for any other reason."

Steve lets out a startled laugh, then pats the bed. "We'll share the bed, okay? Just sleeping, Munson," he says with a little smile.

So they both wind up in the bed, but neither of them can sleep. Eddie rolls over to find Steve already facing him, wide awake. They're so close Eddie can feel Steve's breath on his face.

"Are you okay?" Steve asks. "This whole thing... it's pretty messed up."

" I'm pretty messed up," Eddie says with a grin. It falls away from his face after a moment and he adds, "Yeah, it's not easy."

"Did you want to talk about it?"

"I..." Eddie knows Steve is being genuine, is the thing. He's gotten to know him pretty well now-has gotten to know all of them, really. "It's weird. Having to go back to zero every time with you guys."