I said before that these aren't always in chronological order and that it's fine to read in whatever order, but I figured I'd specify where this one falls. It's after last chapter, but before 'Darker Days' and 'Break'. I think Break is going to end up being the chapter that falls much farther ahead than all the rest of these stories. Also, the next few chapters at least will be chronological. I may stick with that method from now on, but maybe not. Whenever I write all the ideas I have I'll probably rearrange the chapters so they are in chronological order, but not until then. Anyway, enjoy!

Eli trudges home after another long day of school, grumbling to himself all the while. However it isn't the school part that has got him irritated. In fact, school was pretty okay today. He was able to talk to Steve more than usual and they finished their tasks in gym so quickly that they were allowed to slip off to the library and just chill together in the back. No, the terrible thing is that he now has to come home.

"Eli?" his mother calls from the living room.

"Yeah, I'm home." He hopes that will be the end of it and he can go to his room without having to deal with another lecture or invasion of his privacy. After their first night out creepslaying, more specifically him wrecking her car, his mother has refused to let him out of the house after school. Only on the weekends is he allowed more freedom and even then it takes a lot of convincing. Lies.

"Come here."

Eli sighs beneath his breath and rolls his eyes before changing course and heading to her. He reaches in his pocket, ready for the words that always come next.

"Phone." She holds out a hand and looks hard at him.

Eli drops it into her palm, but shakes his head nonetheless. "It's been a month, mother. And there's never anything on there. I don't text people. I don't have any friends."

"You can say that all you want, it's not going to make a difference." She scrolls through the history on his phone. "You wrecked my car and this is your punishment. I don't want you making any plans, especially not with that boy."

Eli scoffs and crosses his arms. "Even if we were friends, it's not like you'd ever find any evidence on that phone."

She snaps her head up. "Excuse me?"

Eli looks away. "Nothing."

"Listen here." She points a finger at him. "You may be smart, but you're not smarter than your mother. Don't make me take your phone away completely."

Eli's eyes widen. "No! You can't do that. I need it for school," his voice cracks even more than usual.

"Then watch yourself." She hands him the phone back.

Eli snatches it away and clutches it close to his chest. "Yes, mother." He bows his head. "I'm going to my room now." He scurries away before she has the chance to go back on her leniency. He slams the door behind him and the sound reminds him so much of how Steve entered his room that first day. He huffs. Steve hasn't been back since.

He throws himself onto his bed and hurries to open messenger. He fingers fly over the keys as he types away. 'Sorry I didn't meet up after school. Had to go home right away. Mother got mad last time I stayed after.'

A soft ding sounds a few seconds later. 'No offense, but your mom needs to take a chill pill. She's like some kind of jailer.'

'She's just worried about me I guess.'

'You guess? Is poster boy Eli getting tired of mommy's rules?' Steve laughs and puts in the matching emoji.

'Shut up. This is a problem. If I can't leave the house then we're never going to be able to creep slay again.' His heart sinks at the mere thought.

'Just leave.'

'What? Are you crazy? She'd find out for sure and then we won't even be able to text like this.' Eli grimaces. That's an even worse prospect than no creepslaying.

'Wuss.'

Eli sticks his tongue out at the screen, as if Steve can see it. In all honesty Steve probably expected as much and is visualizing it without Eli saying anything at all.

There is a long space of silence where Eli isn't sure what to send back. Really the only thing he can do is call Steve names right back and he doesn't want to squabble. Then his phone dings again. 'Well, I'm going out. If you change your mind, I'll be in the woods. Some people were talking about monsters. Prolly just a bear, but whatever.'

Eli groans and flops his head into the pillow. It just isn't fair. It's the creepslayerz, not the creepslayer. He is missing way too many missions over his mother being freakishly protective and suspicious. Yeah, ok, she's right to be suspicious for once, but that's not the point! He needs to get out of here. Just for a few hours. His brow creases as he thinks hard on it. No way is he getting out before six. But maybe…maybe he can manage it after dinner. She rarely checks on him after that.

So for what feels like an eternity he waits. The hours stretch on for days in his mind and he is on the verge of imploding when finally, finally his mother calls him for dinner. He is extra careful not to step out of line and even leaves his phone in his room to prove to her he is not waiting for any kind of secret message. They talk heartily about school, her work, and trips they have planned for the future and she never stops smiling. Good. This is definitely in his favor.

He leaves the kitchen with a skip in his step and launches into action. He pulls on his black shirt and pants and snaps the helmet on around his chin. He hurries to the window, but stops with his foot on the sill. His eye catches on his phone. He'd like to believe she won't come up here period, but if she does she will definitely thumb through his phone. He grabs it and deletes all the messages. For good measure he sends a decoy text to Toby. 'Be there in ten.' He'll think it's weird and ask about it later, but he'll get over it. Anything to throw his mother off the trail. Better to blame Toby than suspect Steve.

With that he slips out the window and jumps off the side of the roof. He makes his way across town and to the woods on his bike. It takes thirty minutes, way longer than if he had gone on Steve's Vespa, but he wasn't going to interrupt Steve's creepslaying just so he could shave off a handful of minutes. Besides, his mother has keen hearing, especially when it comes to vehicles now. If she heard anything remotely like a motorcycle she'd be up and in his room before he could even get out the window. So biking is fine.

He creeps through the woods, keeping an eye out for any creatures as he searches for Steve. Like Steve said, even if there are no monsters, there are still bears that live out here. And if he was attacked now Steve wouldn't be here to save him. Then again, even Steve probably couldn't do much against a bear. He chuckles to himself. He really puts too much faith in Steve's strength. He's no trollhunter, just a human, just like him.

After another few minutes he sees a figure ahead of him. Steve. He moves a little faster. As he comes within reach, he extends his hand and touches Steve's shoulder. "St-"

Steve snaps his hand up, seizes Eli's arm, and twists with all his might as he pivots to face whoever it is. His eyes catch fire and his lips are a snarl.

Electric pain shoots up Eli's arm and he screams.

Steve starts and jerks his hand back as if he just touched a hot iron. His eyes widen and horror contorts his expression. "S-Sorry, I didn't-I mean, I-" He breathes deeply in and out. Terror strangles him and his hands shake.

Eli cradles his arm and shrinks away from Steve. He tries his best to swallow his whimpers. He has never felt such crippling pain. Even when those boys beat him senseless, it was nothing like this. Did he break it? He peeks timidly up at Steve. Steve looks like he is an inch away from a panic attack. He clearly didn't mean to do this. Then why? "Steve…?" he ventures.

"I…" Steve's heart pounds in his ears. His head spins as his world tilts hard on its axis. All he can do is grasp for the smallest bit of security, a horrible crutch. "It's your fault!" Anger flares in his eyes. "You should have known better than to sneak up on me," his words are harsh, but there is a note of distress in each word.

Eli ducks his head. He doesn't know what he is supposed to say to that. Sorry? He didn't really do anything wrong, not to deserve this pain. Moreover, since they became friends, Steve has told him over and over again not to be so sorry for everything. Saying it now might just make Steve madder.

Steve lets out a shuddery sigh and crosses his arms in a way that looks more like he is hugging himself as he looks pointedly away from Eli. He can't bear the look on his face. "What are you even doing here?"

"You said if I changed my mind I could come. And I didn't feel like being a wuss." He ekes out his best attempt at a laugh, anything to lighten the mood, but it verges on sounding like a sob. His stupid arm. It just hurts so much.

Steve goes rigid, his eyes widen, and he feels suddenly sick. The air becomes so much thicker. Wuss. It was an innocent comment when he sent the text, but now, framed in this way, the word makes his lips curl in disgust. "Yeah, well, I changed my mind!" he snaps. "So go home, Pepperjack."

Eli's expression crumbles. Pepperjack? He hasn't called him that since their first night as Creepslayerz, at least not when there is no one else around. He bites his lip with force, a last ditch effort to redirect the pain in his arm and keep his emotions from welling over. "Why are you being so mean?"

Steve is cut to the quick by Eli's pitiful voice. "Please, just go," his own voice wavers. Any more of this and he is going to crack. He can feel it. His façade will crumble under the weight of the guilt.

"I can't," Eli whimpers. "I rode my bike. And my arm…it hurts so much." It will take at least an hour if not more to make it back to his house like this.

Steve presses a hand to his head. "I really am just like him."

Eli blinks. "Him?" He has a sneaking suspicion he knows exactly who him is. All that has transpired here put together with Steve's behavior before they formed the Creepslayerz, it leads to a horrible conclusion.

Something between a laugh and a sob passes Steve's lips. "I am. Horrible. Hurting people…people who care about me. I did it before and I'll do it again." He grips both sides of his head and his words descend into a babbling mess, "Brute, savage, cruel, vicious, just like him, daddy's little monster."

Eli stares wide eyed, frozen. Steve is spiraling and about to crash and burn. But he has no idea what to do to stop it. He probably wouldn't hear him anyway. It's like Steve is locked in a battle with his own mind.

"No." Steve bursts out.

Eli jumps at the sharpness.

"I'm not," he insists. "I'm. Not." Tears prick at his eyes. He hasn't cried since he was a child. "I didn't mean to. I didn't like it. It wasn't fun. It's not the same. I'm not like him."

Eli can't bear this. He scrambles through all the knowledge in his head to try and find a way to end this. He thinks back to that first night, when Steve was freaking out over the gruesome. He was unresponsive at first, but he did break through to him. "Steve." He snaps his fingers an inch from Steve's face.

Steve jerks to attention and his gaze snaps to Eli.

Eli lets out a breath. It worked. "Steve, it's alright. I know you didn't mean to hurt me. Ok?" He holds his breath and prays that this helps ground Steve.

Steve blinks and tears shake free. He starts and wipes at his eyes in an attempt to scrub away the slightest sign of weakness. "Stupid…eyes…" he grumbles.

Eli looks to the side. "So…will you take me home?" This outing has been a disaster. All he wants to do is get home before his mother finds out he left, if she hasn't discovered it already.

Steve feels so small in that moment as Eli refuses to look at him. Eli hasn't been this tentative toward him since they formed the creepslayerz and seeing it hurts more than any physical blow ever could. "Eli…" he whispers. "I really am sorry." He lifts a hand as if to touch Eli, but can't bring himself to follow through. He doesn't deserve the privilege. "It wasn't your fault. I just…" he searches for the right words, a way to say it without saying it.

"I know." Eli smiles sadly as he returns his gaze to Steve. "But you don't have to push me away when it happens. That just hurts more."

"I just…don't know how to do anything." He shakes his head. What a stupid way to say it.

"Emotions are hard." Eli shrugs. "I mean, if they weren't, my mom wouldn't make a living as a therapist." He half laughs, but sombers quickly. "You just have to work on it. And if you want, I'll always be here to help." He offers a genuine smile.

"How are you real? You…you're just too good of a person." Anyone else would have ditched him the moment he laid a hand on them and they certainly wouldn't offer to stay by his side and help on top of it.

"You're good too," Eli insists. "I've seen it." He lays a hand on Steve's arm. "Don't let a few slips make you think otherwise."

Steve smiles. "Thanks, pepperbuddy."

Eli beams. That is by far his favorite nickname.

"Wanna go home now?" He definitely isn't in the right headspace to be out hunting for creepers now anyway.

Eli nods and he turns away, heading toward the end of the woods. "Oh." His eyes widen as he realizes something. "But you have to drop me off a few blocks away from my house."

Steve raises a brow and watches Eli curiously as he follows. "Why?"

"My mother can hear motorcycles a mile away now. So thanks for that."

Steve grins from ear to ear and laughs. "Your house really is a prison." One he supposes he'll have to get used to breaking into. It will be far easier to do that than sneak Eli out. Because not seeing Eli is not an option anymore, and he's getting real tired of their school cover shtick. So, sometime…he'll definitely have to give it a shot.

They won't ever go here on the show, but if you ask me, Steve would almost definitely have this kind of reflex when it comes to people coming up behind him without announcing themselves. Maybe in the show he wasn't even physically abused, I don't know, but I wanted to play with the idea. I hope you liked it as much as I do. Please review!