INTO HELL [e. munson]

nine.

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ the monster and the superhero ·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚

LILA INSISTED ON STAYING WITH EDDIE UNTIL MORNING WHEN EVERYONE ELSE WOULD BRING SUPPLIES. The pair sat in the rowboat together, straight across from one another in eerie silence. Until Eddie lifted up his shirt to show a tattoo on his waistline, right above where his pants stopped. Her initials, LM, in crooked black lettering.

"Why would you do that?" Lila asked.

Eddie shrugged while saying, "I got bored."

Another silence ensued. The water splashing below the shed could be heard, and both were too stubborn to fill the silence with anything else.

Eddie was the one to give in after twenty minutes, finally asking, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You never asked," Lila shrugged. She knew what he was talking about, referencing the Upside Down. Lila would never admit she'd wanted to hide it from him, at least not to him.

"You think I'd know to ask about something like that?"

"No, the mall fire. You knew I went through it, but you never asked."

"So, you were stuck in a Russian facility for a day. Then almost died from Billy Hargrove being taken over by the Mind Flayer until he sacrificed himself. All within a couple of days?"

"Precisely."

Eddie went silent for another moment before bursting out, "I didn't know you were some badass. Like Dio level badass."

"That's what you're thinking about right now?" Lila wasn't sure how to feel. Here Eddie was being terrorized by the very thing she suffered last summer, and this is what he thought. Lila almost wanted to be angry, until she realized he needed this. To be happy about something other than thinking of what his future holds. Unfortunately for Lila, both their futures now hung in the balance. Her future of leaving Hawkins behind with him was slowly slipping through her fingers, and she couldn't figure out a way to grab hold.

"Better than thinking about anything else. I just kept thinking about it, and you being nervous about the whole thing. I feel like I should've listened."

"That's stupid," Lila snapped, "No one could've known what was going to go happen." Lila paused slightly and noticed Eddie's face. She had never once seen him so torn up over something. "Listen, if you need to talk, I'm here."

"Can you just..." Eddie, who was normally slightly bold in his word choice, simply pat the space beside him. Lila stood up, moving next to him, as she let him lean his head on her shoulder.