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Eddie will never not worry about Steve. Even years later, Steve will sometimes get quiet and distant. Because sometimes the dark parts of before will bleed through, and Steve gets lost, his attention pulled somewhere far away from the ‘happily ever after’ Eddie worked so fucking hard to build for them. Eddie’s heart always sinks a little when Steve gets pulled down by his dark thoughts. How Steve’s gaze goes distant and glassy, his body going stiff, his breath quickening, and his heart rabbiting. His expression slowly falls, shifting into something haunted as he disappears into somewhere else, disassociating. There but not, like he often was before, when Eddie didn’t have him yet.
It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, Eddie will drop everything, all his focus concentrated on what’s most important. Vital. Steve, his baby, his Little Star. Everything else is secondary.
Eddie will spend however long it takes to bring Steve back from whatever dark corners of his mind tried to pull him under. Tried to take Steve away from the beautiful life that Eddie had so painstakingly created for them. Eddie has done everything and anything to wipe the slate clean and rewrite a new story over it. A better one. Theirs.
So Eddie fights for Steve even if he still spooks sometimes when he’s pulled out of those moments. And sometimes that’s worse because then, for just one fleeting second, that haunted gaze is turned on Eddie. The sight of it always twists his insides and sends them roiling in a deadly mess of emotions. But Eddie is better than any of that and will easily stamp it all back down and greet his love with a kiss. Welcome him back with gentle hands and the whisper soft words of devotion that only he can give. And then, Steve will smile, the light of his Little Star kindled back to life, shining all the brighter.
***
Steve’s not an idiot. He’s really not. Steve has always known there were holes in Eddie’s story. To be fair, none of them were nearly as glaring as Billy’s, but he’s always known they were there. You see, Billy Hargrove couldn’t tell a story the same way twice. The man couldn’t keep his story straight if he tried, and it never seemed like he tried very hard. There was always some integral part of the narrative that seemed to change. Details and timelines that shifted and fractured, and were reformed over and over to suit his needs.
No, Billy’s stories usually came apart with just the slightest bit of scrutiny. The whole thing unraveled with the pull of a single, ill-fitting thread.
Eddie’s stories, on the other hand, were… seamless. Flawless, down to the last minuscule detail. Until you held the whole thing up to the light, that is. Only then could you see the cracks. Those tiny pinpricks of light coming through from the other side.
Those few places where the pieces didn’t fit quite right, where the details were just the tiniest bit off, and the woven threads didn’t line up perfectly. It was always something so small that no one would ever notice. Not even if they were looking for it. Not unless they already knew it was there.
Steve sometimes catches a glimpse of that little bit of light slipping through the cracks. But that small single flaw in the illusion is enough sometimes.
It pulls him out just enough so he can take stock. So he can clearly see the beautiful web that Eddie has spun around then. It pulls him out just enough to see the trap he’s in for what it really is.
But Eddie is too good. He’s so, so good. He’s so fucking smart, and he knows Steve so well. Eddie’s always there to catch him when Steve slips past those carefully crafted snares. Eddie will always catch him with a kiss, with gentle hands and sweet honeyed nothings that pull Steve back under the blissful weight of Eddie’s spell.
It doesn’t take much, really; Steve goes easy. He’s always been easy for Eddie. He loves him so fucking much. Besides, Eddie has built them such a lovely cage.