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Lots of people like hickeys. Love bites, love licks, whatever you want to call them. Their all one in the same thing; people sucking on your skin. The vast majority of humans enjoy it! The kinky freaks a little more perhaps. You can probably understand, even if you’ve never gotten a hickey. The stimulation, the hurt—Its nice. However, y’know what's NOT nice? Getting your stomach feasted on by weird upside-down bat freaks! No, it did not feel like a hickey at all—something Steve knew quite a bit about. No, it felt exactly like how it sounded. Like tons of little teeth tearing into your flesh. Eating it, spitting it out—ripping you the fucking shreds. While this was happening, when the bats had gotten the best of Steve and he’d fallen to the ground, weird tentacle around his neck; Steve looked up at the sky. It was a bit hard to focus exactly, there was blood pooling at his sides and Steve thought he might pass out at a certain point in the midst of being strangled. The sky in the upside-down was dark. Like in the morning. Just before it bright but just after it's been dark. Then there’d be flashes of red red—like blood—and so therefore the clouds were a bit pink since they were close to transparent against the bright red sky.
Steve felt himself slipping. Felt the blood pooling at his sides and spreading out away from him—symbolizing the loss of life he was experiencing. Showing Steve the reality; he was dying. His face hurt, lots of oxygen being cut off. Steve could feel the tentacle crushing his throat, the little cartilage pieces that made up his throat crinkling and snapping and buckling as the bat monster strangled Steve. Blood rose up his throat, it stayed in his mouth for a while until his mouth filled up and spirted out. This is how he was going to die. After surviving three other waves of the upside-down and its bullshit, after being interrogated and beaten to a pulp by a bunch of Russian assholes. Even after the mind-fucking-flayer. A ton of monster bats kill him. Makes sense, he guessed, this would be it.
They say that when you die, your brain shows you a flash of something. For some it's their life, for some it's an alternate universe where they live to distract themselves from their impending fate. For Steve? None. His brain didn’t make him feel ‘better’. Steves brain just filled itself with horrible feelings and words and made the pain of his wounds feel like measly scraps compared to what was going on in his head. If he hadn't been crying before, he was now. Steve closed his eyes and let the tears stream down the side of his face, mixing with the blood bubbling from his mouth. They were right.
“STEVE”
It seemed like that voice was a figment of his imagination. Steve had already given up trying to get free. His arms lay limp by his side as his body convulses, trying to suck air through his crushed throat and into his strangled and tortured lungs. Steve has resigned to his fate. But, as he opened his eyes—to take a last look of the world, this world, surely—Steve spotted people running towards him.
‘Probably some weird humanoid monsters’ Steve thought. ‘Come to finish me off properly’
But then—after some loud banging and screaming, which he couldn’t make out one hundred percent of the time. Steves vision was burring a bit—One of the humanoids dropped to their knees at Steves side and it was clear to Steve. Those curls which bounced as his dropped down to the bloody ground, those lip which were usually is such a loose smile and were now in a firm frown and were moving—speaking to Steve, those dark eyes which looked at Steve with clear concern and shone with tears. It was clear. It was clearly Eddie Munson.
“Harrington?” Eddie’s wavy voice asked. Steve didn’t like Eddie sounding scared. It wasn’t right, Eddie should be happy and laughing. Not scared, not crying. Not for Steve. “Stevie?” Eddie asked again. He held his hands above Steves stomach and his eyes darted around Steves torn-to-shreds body—He seemed to not know what to do.
The girls, Nancy and Robin, caught up then. “Oh my god, Steve” Robin exclaimed as she and Nancy ran to Steve. He seemed unresponsive but he heard everything. Steve just couldn’t speak. Eddie looked at Steve as if the most precious and wonderful thing in the world was being broken. Steve felt hands cup his face and he mustered up strength to look into the eyes of whom was touching him. Eddies beautiful eyes.
Nancy sat next to Eddie, by Steve’s knees and began ripping her shirt so that she could fashion a bandage from it. Eddie was almost useless, he just kept staring. Robin too, she stared from afar with her hands over her mouth. When Nancy successfully ripped the cloth from her shirt, she told Eddie and Robin to help hold Steve up. Eddie couldn’t look at the blood still gushing and rushing out of the two giant gashes in Steves stomach but he also couldn’t allow Steve to die. Eddie grabbed Steve under his armpits and lifted him up, Robin rushed over and Eddie let her take one arm and he took the other arm and they both hooked Steves arms over their shoulders. Steves head lolled forwards, blood spilling out, then backwards to look at the sky.
Steve heard a quiet ‘sorry Steve’ before something tight was pulled and wrapped against the holes in his stomach. It didn’t hurt, the adrenaline was going strong, but it made blood projective out of her mouth. It almost got onto Nancy but she dodged it.
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The four eventually got to a cave. Steve was way more lucid now; he’d been getting more clearheaded as Eddie and Robin almost dragged his body along. Now, Eddie and Robin sat Steve gently down in the cave so that they could hide from the gross bats who’d tore into Steve. Eddie was next to Steve, looking at his rings. He looked sad, that wasn’t right. Steve couldn’t stand it. He scooted himself closer to Eddie with his feet—Which were cut up and bleeding and raw, not to mention dirty. Just like the rest of him—and planted himself next to Eddie. Eddie said nothing and watched as Steve laid his head into Eddie lap. Eddie looked down at him for a second, just shocked. But then began running his hand through Steves hair—petting him, basically.
“Are you okay?” Steve heard his gravelly and broken voice ask. Eddie looked down at Steve like he was crazy, but his expression quickly changed to sad again. Eddie lowered his hand to trace the under part of Steves eyes. Steves eyes were bloodshot, blood vessels having popped when he was strangled. Along with red spots under and around his eyes—petechiae. Eddies fingers ventured down to Steves lips now, which were swollen and splitten from being dragged and beaten into the ground. Eddies thumb traced Steves lips, avoiding the hurt parts. Then down to Steves neck, he traced the bruise that the bats left. Steve only looked back up at Eddie, question in his eyes. Eddie brought his hand back up to Steve cheek, leaned down and kissed Steve.
Steve knew he’d be okay then and only then. He’d be okay.