GIVE BRAIN A HORSE-- (I'm joining the horseposting, haha.)
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“…Master Brain. What is that?”
Brain, for his part, didn’t seem particularly concerned with the situation. He wasn’t even looking at Sigurd, calmly petting the—the creature he’d apparently decided to lead into Headquarters. “A horse.”
“…Right. I…suppose I can see that.” Sigurd had the vague urge to rub his temples. Or shake Brain, maybe—but then, he supposed he probably wasn’t supposed to do that to a Union Leader, so vaguely-strained questioning would have to do. “And…why is it here?”
“Followed me.”
“From where?”
Brain finally looked at him and grinned, smile just a little too sharp for his liking. “Don’t worry about it.”
…He was going to have to file an incident report later, wasn’t he.
“Master Brain,” Sigurd said, trying very, very hard to keep his voice level and failing, “you didn’t…steal this, did you?”
“Not as far as you’re aware. Her name’s Lux, by the way.”
“Master Brain—”
“She belonged to Romulus and I owed Remus a favor.” Brain shrugged, like that was a normal thing to do, but Sigurd guessed he didn’t really know what the Union Leaders had done on their off-time. (It was such a strange image that it threw him for a moment. The Union Leaders, engaging in petty theft and pranks? It didn’t fit the image that had been built up in the stories.)
“What would Master Ephemer think,” Sigurd started, trying to get his train of thought back on track, “if he found out you’d stolen someone’s—”
“He’d help, probably.” Brain tilted his head, looking thoughtful. “Maybe not successfully.” Gently, he tugged on the horse’s halter, and it took Sigurd a moment to realize he was bringing her closer, wait no he didn’t know how to act around horses— “She’s not going to hurt you,” Brain said, face crinkling in amusement that seemed sincere rather than the strained sort of thing Sigurd usually saw. “Look, just pet her. She’s pretty gentle.”
The horse nosed his shoulder with a quiet snort, and Sigurd side-stepped a little, hands pulled in. It made her nervous, apparently, because she pulled her head back quickly, ears flicking and hooves tapping an unsteady sort of beat. Brain shushed her, and she calmed quickly, but Sigurd stared at her with trepidation.
…Of all the things the Union Leader had done, this was probably one of the strangest. He’d ditched meetings, harassed the Founders, and generally tried to stick his nose in places he probably shouldn’t, but those all felt some degree of normal. Frustrating, but Sigurd knew how to deal with that. He wasn’t sure he knew how to deal with a horse.
But he looks happy, something in the back of his mind whispered, and—so he did. Brain wasn’t watching him; his expression had gone soft, hand carefully stroking the horse’s muzzle. He looked more relaxed than Sigurd had ever seen him.
He could feel something in him crumbling, and he knew he was going to regret this later, but he sighed, his whole body sinking with the sound. “Well,” he said, resigned, “do we need to find somewhere to hide her?”
Brain glanced at him, head cocked and eyes narrowed.
“…We’re just taking her to the meeting, aren’t we.”
(It was almost worth the odd stares and whispers throughout the meeting to watch Brain introduce the horse to his new-found friends later. Almost.
The fact that Brain apparently didn’t know how to ride the horse, however, felt a little more vindicating.)
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When Eddie is introduced to Jonathan, they both give each other a look that says “if you say anything, you’re dead” and naturally, Nancy clocks it immediately.
“What was that?”
“Nothing,” they said at the same time, only growing the suspicion.
“Seriously? Do you know each other already?”
“No!”
“Yes, but-“
They glare at each other, but Eddie speaks up again.
“He bought from me a couple times. No big deal.”
Nancy looks between them, shakes her head. “There’s something else going on. But we’ve got bigger problems.”
And they did.
For months, their problems seemed to get worse by the day. It was a great distraction.
But honestly, anytime Eddie spent more time with Jonathan, it got harder not to say how they actually knew each other: a make out session in a bathroom at a party when Jonathan was yearning for Nancy.
He told Steve eventually, had to with the way he kept finding ways to avoid being around Jonathan and Steve got suspicious.
“If he said something to you about us, I’ll take care of it. He doesn’t get to say shit about what makes us happy.”
And Eddie couldn’t have Steve lose another fight, so he told him.
“So wait. You and Jonathan…”
“Made out. Yes.”
“Like…with tongue?”
Eddie rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I remember tongue being involved.”
“And hands?”
“They were there too.”
Steve puts his hands on his hips, lifts one to wipe over his face, then settles it back on his hip. “And you liked it?”
“Considering at the time my options were Jonathan or the girl in Hellfire who insisted I wasn’t gay because I looked at her during campaigns, yeah. It wasn’t the worst thing I’ve been through.”
Steve huffed. “Yeah, but like. Compared to me-“
“Oh my god.”
“What?!”
“I cannot believe you’re jealous of Jonathan Byers. Again.”
“I’m not! I’ve never-“
Eddie raised his brows. “Never? Not once?”
“That was different!”
“That was worse.”
“I dunno, finding out your boyfriend has made out with the only other guy in Hawkins who’d be up for it is arguably worse.”
Steve pouted for hours. Eddie let him.
It was cute, alright?
And when he got over it, they made out for hours in his bed.
Steve, of course, was the one who told Nancy.
In his defense, he was very high, and Nancy had been pushing him all night, from the moment she caught wind that he might know how they knew each other.
Eddie went inside to grab them all water, and she pounced.
By the time Eddie got back, Steve was half asleep and Nancy was smirking at Eddie.
“You could’ve just said.”
“He’s never getting high for free again.”
“He’s your boyfriend.”
“He’s back to being a paying customer, too.”
Nancy laughed, startling Steve into opening his eyes. He smiled up at Eddie, no clue he’d just given up one of their secrets.
“Hi, baby. You know Nancy didn’t know about you and Jonathan?”
Eddie glanced over to see Nancy rolling on her side, laughing hysterically.
“Yeah. I’m sure that was on purpose. How about we get you to bed, superstar?”
He managed to get Steve onto the couch, where he immediately passed out.
Nancy hugged him, kissed his cheek, like she always did before leaving.
“It’s not a big deal, you know. He’s mentioned that he isn’t only into women. We’ve talked a lot about the Argyle situation.” She walked towards the door. “Steve will get over the jealousy eventually. It’s not like Jonathan wouldn’t have made out with him if he could have.”
She left before Eddie could respond.
Eddie suddenly understood exactly what Steve was feeling.
“Not gonna happen,” he mumbled to himself before joining Steve on the couch and pulling him close.
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