Guilty Blogging

Mike took a deep breath. “Kas...you were once a great paladin before Vecna took you and twisted you into this half vampire/half human form. But it is not who you are. I know the sword whispers to you. I have a pretty good idea what it says. But you can fight it. You can overcome. Be that great again.”

Eddie had to admit it was a pretty impassioned speech.

“Sir Camazotz rubs his chin thoughtfully and then nods, ‘I will help you end his reign of terror forever,’ and he pulls off the glove of his right hand, showing the blackened finger tips and claws. He holds it out to you to shake.”

Mike reached out and took Eddie’s hand. “We need your help more than ever. With his castle moving every day at dusk, we spend all day trying to figure out where it will land. But you know the pattern don’t you?”

Eddie looked up at Steve and the pair of them grinned. This was exactly what they had planned.

“Kas nods and says, ‘There are twelve regions that he lands in and it’s based on the hour of a clock. Today was the Bone Marsh and tomorrow will be the Sable Wood.”

“God damn it!” Danny growled. “That’s on the other side of the world! There is no way we can get there in time!”

Eddie smiled. “I didn’t mention the other places on the clock.”

The whole table went silent and Steve cackled with delight.

It was Brian who got it first. “Wait a god damned minute. Steven Harrington, have you been doing more than just providing materials for the campaign? Have you been helping our beloathed DM plan the story too?”

The four freshman gasped in unholy glee and they began giggling.

“Oh, god,” Jeff said, throwing his head back. “Yeah, okay. Now I see why Eddie got so defensive about the moving castle. It was Steve’s idea and he didn’t want him upset.”

Steve ducked his head, but didn’t deny it. Eddie just shrugged because to him it wasn’t a big deal.

“That is by far the coolest thing ever,” Mike said wistfully. “Steve gets to use his knowledge of D&D without having to worry about DM’ing to a large group for his first time!”

“Yeah!” Will cried. “Way to go Steve. It’s the little things that you added that made the adventure so much cooler!”

“Oh, gentlemen,” Eddie said, leaning back and putting hands behind his head, fingers laced, “you are looking at the architect of the campaign. I am but its humble builder.”

Steve ducked his head, blushing to the tips of his ears. “He’s exaggerating. I was barely involved.”

Dustin and Lucas gasped.

“Steve! Was that a ‘Lord of the Rings’ reference?” Lucas cackled with glee.

Steve batted his eyelashes innocently at them. “I don’t know what you mean.”

The entire table roared with laughter.

“Well,” Danny said shaking his head, “I don’t know about anyone else, but thank you! This campaign has been the most fun I’ve ever had playing D&D. This not a knock on Eddie’s skills as a DM. He weaves a story like nothing and no one else. But add Steve’s technical know-how and it made for one hell of an epic game.”

Eddie nodded solemnly. “I concur. Steve did a lot of the heavy lifting here. I could spend more time writing a good story because I didn’t have to spend hours and hours upon end trying to find the right balance of fun and challenge.”

Steve’s blush got even darker. “Come on, guys. It’s really not that big of a deal. I have to do something with all the stuff I have and if that means helping Eddie, then that’s the right thing to do.”

“You’re a good man, Steve Harrington,” Jeff said nodded seriously. “And I’ll personally fight anyone who says otherwise.”

Dustin’s grin nearly split his face. “Aww... I don’t think I’ve seen Steve’s face so red before!”

Steve politely excused himself and made a mad dash for the kitchen.

Dustin stood up to follow him, but Eddie waved him down. “He’s just not used to our effulgent praise. Give him a moment to collect himself and he’ll be back out in no time at all.”

Lucas cocked his head to the side. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Steve so... not embarrassed exactly...”

“Flustered,” Danny said with a huff of laughter. “You’re looking for the word flustered.”

Lucas snapped his fingers. “That’s it!”

Mike snorted and shook his head. “I’ve seen him this flustered before.”

“There is no fucking way,” Dustin growled, slamming his fist on the table. “Steve is the epitome of cool!”

“Not when he’s around someone he has a crush on,” Mike said smugly. “He acted like this around Nancy before they started dating.”

“Oh!” Dustin said cocking his head to the side. “That’s what he meant by keeping your distance at first, it’s because he’s actually shy at first and let’s them come to him. That’s why his flirting doesn’t work!”

“As thrilling as this all is,” Eddie said, shaking his head with a fond smile, “I’d like to get back to Sir Michaelis convincing Kas to becoming the Betrayer, please!”

They all settled back into the game and sure enough Steve came back out a few minutes later with cookies.

Eddie smiled up at him and Steve smiled back. Yeah. Steve Harrington was more than okay in his book.

~

Eddie was freaking out. He had D&D in twenty minutes and he had lost his voice. There were only a couple of sessions left and it was too late to cancel this one because he knew that everyone would already be there. He couldn’t even call to explain the situation it was that bad. There was nothing for it, he was just going to have show up and hope everyone understood.

He drove over to Steve’s in silence. He was even too depressed to turn on his music. He pulled up to the house and sure enough there were a shit ton of cars out front and the lawn was riddled with bikes.

He was the last to arrive.

He knocked on the door, pained and waited. Steve answered the door with grin, but it slid off when he saw how upset Eddie was.

“Hey, Eds,” Steve murmured when he saw the forlorn expression and the big puppy dog eyes, “what’s wrong?”

“CAN’T TALK!” he whisper screamed.

Steve blinked at him for a moment. “Ah! Don’t worry about a thing, I’ve got this on lock.”

Eddie wanted to ask what he had on lock, but Steve was sitting him down in his chair at the head of the table, explaining to everyone Eddie had lost his voice, but not to worry, he had a plan. Then he vanished into the kitchen for about ten minutes before coming out again with a steaming mug.

He sat it down in front of Eddie and then pulled up a chair next to Eddie.

“Uh, Steve...” Lucas said exchanging glances with different members of the club, “what are you doing?”

“Simple!” Steve said with a bright grin, “Eddie can’t speak, but I know this campaign as well as he does, so he’s going to give me his notes and I’m going to follow his directions so you guys still get a game tonight!”

Dustin cocked his head to the side. “Are you sure you’re ready to handle all of us?”

“Sure!” he replied. “Besides I’m just the mouth piece, it’s still Eddie’s notes and stuff, I’m just providing the voice.”

They all kinda looked around at each other.

“I’m down,” Danny said with a shrug. “Because the alternative is no D&D and I want to see how Steve can handle it.”

“All in favor?” Jeff asked, raising his hand. And instantly every hand went up. “The ayes have it. Let’s do this, Steve. Show us what you’ve got.”

Steve grinned and Eddie just sat there stunned, holding his mug of...he took a sip and nearly moaned when the flavors of peppermint and honey hit his tongue.

That was when he noticed that somehow Steve had found a blanket to wrap him in, so he snuggled deeper into the warm fabric.

Things were actually going pretty well, until the party turned left when they should have turned right. Instead of going to the base of the volcano where Eddie had planned the fight to occur, they had instead wandered into a marsh.

Eddie was stumped. He had no idea what to do. If they didn’t have a fight here there would be little to no experience for the night, and they needed that to get to the level they needed to be for the finale.

But Steve was on top of it. He was scrambling through the notes and when he found what he was looking for he gave a little cry of ‘Eureka!’

He showed it to Eddie and his eyes went wide, nodding emphatically. That was perfect!

Steve cleared his throat. “I want everyone to make a knowledge nature check.”

Everyone made their rolls and enough of them succeeded for Steve to say, “You recognize the signs of a Shambling Mound. Roll initiative!”

Everyone scrambled to do as they were told. They rattled off the numbers and battle began.

Taylor and Brian shared knowing smirks as Steve crafted a battle that was challenging and exciting.

By the end of the night, everyone was talking about the duo DM and how cool it was. They had something to brag about now. Most people had multiple DMs but how many of them had two at the same time?

Just the Hellfire Club, that’s who.

Afterwards it was just Eddie and Steve, everyone had pitched in and cleaned up, leaving the two boys alone.

Eddie raised up his fourth cup of peppermint tea. “Thanks for this, by the way,” he croaked.

“He speaks!” Steve said dramatically and then waved him off. “It was no trouble, can’t have our DM losing his voice before the finale.” He snapped his fingers. “Speaking of which, since we’re having it here, Erica was wondering if we could deal her in for the last battle. She already has a story lined up with why she’s showing up at the last moment.”

“Sure,” he creaked. “The more the merrier.”

Steve nodded and the paused. “How did you lose your voice anyway?” he said replacing Eddie’s now tepid cup with one that was actively steaming.

Eddie took a long sip of the tea, reveling in its soothing affects. “I may or may have not been practicing my scream singing last night.”

Steve’s eyebrows shot up. “And you thought this was a good idea to do the night before a session?”

Eddie blushed, the red going all the way to the roots of his hair and down the column of his throat. “It’s not usually this bad. It’ll be a little rough in the morning but–” he was forced to stop as his voice ran out of strength.

“But this time it didn’t come back,” Steve finished shaking his head. “You absolute dork.”

Eddie pulled a strand of hair in front of his face and ducked his head. He nodded, then took another sip of his tea, letting the steam hide the red of his cheeks.

Steve leaned on the counter, head propped up on both hands. “Though it did make for a fun session.”

Eddie barked out a rough laugh. “Yeah.”

They sat in warm silence for a while before he muttered, “When you pulled out that Shambling Mound for the marshes, God... I wanted to kiss you.”

Steve sighed wistfully. “I really wish you would.”

Eddie stared at him for a moment, before he got to his feet, setting down his mug. He came around the counter and Steve straightened up.

He cupped Steve cheek and pressed their lips together. Steve let out a shuddering breath of relief before he deepened the kiss. Their hands came up to pull the other closer until they were flushed together.

Steve felt like he was coming home at last. Eddie felt like he was soaring. They were both right.

~

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