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Messy Corroded Coffin doodles. They're my babies.

But he knew well enough.

vibrant collaboration

Steve Harrington who doesn't die. No matter what, he'll wake up afterwards. He learned it young when he survived a car crash that killed his mom. And he struggles after her death, not knowing why he survived when she didn't. As he grows up, he can't relax and parties to try and be full of something lighter. But he drinks too much at one party and he doesn't have a good friend to rely on.

As time goes on, Steve dies by Billy and by the Russians. He doesn't really understand but he begins to accept it. But he also becomes more careless. Which is how Eddie finds him.

Eddie had been able to see ghosts since he almost died from his dad. The first ghost he ever sees is his mom and she passes on after getting to hug him goodbye one last time. After that Eddie sees the few elderly people who died at the end of their lives. And the people who died too early. He got stuck as the freak for all the times he's accidentally talked to someone who wasn't there.

He had talked with Benny who was worried about that young girl. Barb who was so mad about being left behind by her friend. But he hadn't seen Will Byers and it made sense when he was found eventually. But he did hear some things from the agents stuck at the middle school who looked torn apart. Eddie learned of the Upside Down earlier but promised Wayne he'd stay out of it.

Until he saw Steve sitting on the edge of the pool, looking at his body floating in the water. There was some blood swirling in the water and it made Eddie sick. But Steve just stared blankly at his own body before sighing and standing. He froze when Eddie locked eyes with him. He glanced at the pool than Eddie. "Hmm," he gave him a small smile and moved past him.

"Wait!" Eddie called afterwards and Steve paused, "aren't you, like, I don't know needing something? Most ghosts-"

"Oh," Steve chuckled, "this won't last much longer." He stated and walked away but before he even reached the door back into the party he blinked away. Eddie let out a scream when Steve's body spasmed and his head flung up out of the water. There was still blood on the side of his face but he was alive. Steve groaned as he pulled himself out of the pool. "See," his came out hoarse and Eddie was just so confused.

it took some time to realize

Written for the @steddiemicrofic prompt ‘shower’

And with special thanks to @griefabyss69 for betaing! 💜

Title from 'Alive' by Engrave

wc: 399 | rated: T (for language) tags: Eddie lives, concert, mosh pit, hopeful ending cw: references to depression [AO3 link]

Eddie feels alive again.

It's a fucking miracle.

It's already a miracle that he is alive and not simply a rotting corpse in the hellscape of the upside down. While his body was dragged out of there, patched back together, and made to breathe and pump blood on its own again, part of his psyche didn't get the memo and decided to play dead anyway.

Most days, he feels like doing nothing but rot – on the couch, in the new house, still feeling like a walking dead guy.

But not today. Today he's standing next to Steve in a sea of people, all screaming along to the lyrics of his favorite song. The infectious energy slowly seeps into him, making him want to be alive and move for the first time in what feels like forever. Then the crowd behind him parts, getting ready to let all hell loose, and he's itching to dive right into the pit – pushing, jumping, moving around with everyone in there – and just be alive with them.

Steve must feel it because he puts his hand on Eddie's arm, giving him a look and a little shake of his head, before he has to turn back around to intercept the first person stumbling into him and sending them back into the romping bodies.

Right, his body still isn't really healed either. It stings a little – but only until the next person comes hurtling towards them, and then it's Eddie's turn to push them back in, and another one right after.

Eventually he's content with being on the edge of the pit, side by side with Steve, protecting the crowd behind them and absorbing the energy of the people colliding together in front of them.

He could have gone without catching a shower of something – it has to be beer, he tells himself – just at the end of the song; it's easily forgotten when the next song in the set is an acoustic version of another masterpiece, when he gets goosebumps from how it makes him feel after being numb for so long.

Especially when Steve shuffles closer during the first verse, bumping his equally moist shoulder into Eddie's and reaches out to link their hands.

And he's never been so alive as when Steve – the miracle worker himself – sings the refrain at him, around the loveliest smile, promising more miraculous things yet to come.