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+ and then the door the cabin slams behind the couple, leaving steve standing in the woods scratching his head in pure confusion. jealousy of steve makes the most sense for eddie's behavior, but deep down he knows it isn't the true cause. something else is going on here, and as he sprints back for +

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steve harrington. @kingofpcin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

+ walkie." 'she's /fine/, steve.' eddie turns back over his shoulder with that same gaze, and steve freezes, swallowing the lump in his throat. something is definitely wrong here, but /what/? "you should, like, get her some boppers or something. so she doesn't faint from hunger." 'go home.' +

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steve harrington. @kingofpcin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

+ himself that he can, for once, just breathe and things will be all right. but those eyes . . . demona's voice brings steve back to the present, and he nods, a little too vigorously, backstepping so he can detour around back to his beamer. "yeah, okay. i'll check back in later with the +

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steve harrington. @kingofpcin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

+ should. though, given what steve has seen, perhaps it is justified, in some way. perhaps he's just paranoid this whole thing isn't over, and that the other shoe is going to drop and plunge them back into the upside down for another fight. perhaps, steve just needs to step back and convince +

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steve harrington. @kingofpcin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

+ is the reason for the behavior. there is a darkness about eddie that has never been there before, and the threatening way he's looking at steve is starting to make his skin crawl. if anything, he almost feels like prey staring down its predator before it strikes, and it unsettles him more than it+

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steve harrington. @kingofpcin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

+ himself. at least, the eddie that steve knew anyways. he'd been flirty and carefree, like he'd been with steve since the upside down, but now . . . now was not that, and while steve understands why eddie would have been upset seeing him with demona like he was, part of steve does not believe that+

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steve harrington. @kingofpcin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

the last time steve had seen eddie had been with the metalhead had come to get the metallica tape he'd asked steve for, and things had been vastly different that night. the unspoken thing that had been lingering between them had been much more prevalent than it is now, and eddie had been more +

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steve harrington. @kingofpcin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

+ threatening in nature. steve's seen it once before, but he doesn't want to believe it. they'd saved eddie, so why would they have any reason to worry now?

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steve harrington. @kingofpcin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

+ stand before he releases her - right into her fiance's arms. 'thanks, but i got it from here.' he fixes steve with a look he's never seen before, and his blood runs cold for a moment. it isn't even a look of jealously, but something . . . else, behind brown and red tinted hues that is almost +

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steve harrington. @kingofpcin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

+ he doesn't release her, though, partly from panic and party because he's not sure if she can stand on her own yet. 'what. are you doing, harrington?' "she-- she tripped, man. this isn't--" eddie takes a step towards them, and steve eases his grip, turning back to demona to make sure she can +

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steve harrington. @kingofpcin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

+ her footing, the door to the cabin swings open, and eddie emerges from the shadows. steve's stomach drops as he does so, a lump suddenly forming in his chest, and it does not occur to him that he and demona are in a . . . compromising position, until eddie looks at how steve is holding the rebel.+

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steve harrington. @kingofpcin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

+ the dark circles beneath her eyes, the way she was even more pale than usual, and how she'd been dizzy when trying to stand were all signs of something more sinister going on, steve just isn't sure what that is. and he does not get a moment to figure it out, either, as the moment demona regains +

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steve harrington. @kingofpcin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

demona trips, and steve instinctively jumps to catch her, his arms encircling her waist as she grabs onto his shirt. he hadn't seen the root either, but he's not entirely sure it was the root that had tripped her, either. she'd been off from the moment he'd arrived, and in truth, she looked sick. +

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steve harrington. @kingofpcin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

+ hadn't been gone long, and suddenly steve doesn't want to be there anymore at all. "i think munson beat us." he glances at demona, making sure shes still steady. "but with the way he drives, i'm not surprised."

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steve harrington. @kingofpcin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

"nope. just gotta live here, man. that's enough to be in a club all on its own." the cabin comes into view, and steve's steps slow slightly, gaze flickering from the building to the van sitting in the driveway next to his beamer - the van that hadn't been there before. wherever eddie had gone, he +

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steve harrington. @kingofpcin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

+ too many people depending on him for anything else. "at this point i think it's just the hawkins special, you know? we could start a goddamn club."

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steve harrington. @kingofpcin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

+ them as they've ignored him for most of his life. between the nannies and the being left alone for weeks at a time to fend for himself, it's a wonder steve made it as far as he has, but he also had never been given much choice in the matter either. in hawkins it is thrive or die, and there are +

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steve harrington. @kingofpcin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

"hey, don't feel bad. my dad thinks i'm a piece of shit too." it's said so casually that one would think steve doesn't care anymore, that his parents have all but disowned him for choosing not to go away to college so he could stay close to nancy, but it does bother him. he's just learned to ignore+

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steve harrington. @kingofpcin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

+ but in her current state, he's not going to let demona trek back to the cabin alone. so, with a heavy sigh, he nods, opting to stick close to the blonde in case she should lose her footing again. "you're too stubborn for your own good, lewis. you know that?"

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steve harrington. @kingofpcin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

+the metalhead as much as possible. not that he dislikes eddie, if anything it is the opposite, but everytime steve's seen him since saving him from vecna, things have been . . . odd, in a way steve can't (or won't) explain. he'd just wanted to check on the gate and check on demona, not see eddie, +

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steve harrington. @kingofpcin.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

steve's concern for demona is evident, but the moment she mentions dragging him with her to see eddie, his hesitation is even more so. yes, eddie and demona live here, but he'd known the former was not home when he'd come out to check on the gate, and in truth, he'd hoped to avoid interacting with +

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steve harrington. @kingofpcin.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

+ steps towards the blonde, watching her somewhat suspiciously. she's always been pale, but she's even more so now, and with the other things he'd noticed earlier . . . "maybe you should sit down and we can, like, radio eddie or something?"

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