idiot - steddie

Sixteen

Our whole group was stood around in an awkward huddle that was supposed to be a circle, but due to the confined spaces of our stolen vehicle, was just a wonky oval.

Eddie was standing beside me at the dead back of the RV. Dustin in front of us sitting at the worn out booth, a barely working light hovering above his head with Eddie's arm blocking the light from spilling across the tablecloth by situating his hand on the side of a cabinet above Robin, who was staring up at Nancy at the head of the car, "Okay. I wanna run through it one more time." The curly-haired girl spoke as a distant owl hooting came from somewhere outside our whimsy van. She turned around from staring out at the glistening night sky, her eyes trailing across the floor to Robin. "Phase one." She said.

"We meet Erica at the playground." Robin replied, her eyes staying glued to hers while the trees rustled in the outside world behind us, making the hair stand up on the backs of all of our necks and make us even more nervous and on edge than we already were. "She'll signal Max and Lucas when we're ready." She finished it off with, adjusting the red hat on top of her head, which completely nuked her bangs and made her forehead stick out like a sore thumb. I had made sure to remind her of that fact over the course of this evening.

"Phase two." Nancy looked away from Robin and towards me, though I didn't meet her gaze. I just dragged my eyes away from any human around and stuck them onto a patch of carpet that had been torn out, revealing the wooden floorboards underneath. "Max baits Vecna. He'll go after her, which'll put him in his trance." I muttered, my foot bouncing up and down with anticipation. I wanted to get on the road, through that stupid little gate, and get this whole "saving the world shit" over with. I had been doing it since '84 and I wasn't gonna quit another job because a natural disaster hits earth because of this Upside Down charade.

"Phase three?" Nancy asked persistently when she turned her gaze away from the top of my head to Dustin. Who was rather eager to answer her over-asked question. "Me and Eddie draw the bats away." He said with a grin itching at his lips, and Eddie mirrored that same smile, removing his hand from the cupboard it was resting on to grab his head and ruffle his hair up, shaking his head back and forth as Dustin giggled and fought his best to get Eddie's hand out of his hair.

I couldn't resist the small smile that begged to be let out as I looked at the two's brotherly behavior. As much as I hated to admit it— maybe Eddie and Dustin being good friends wasn't so bad after all. Maybe it was a good thing that Dustin had another parental figure besides me in his life, and I couldn't blame him for liking Eddie as much as he did. Because I liked him too. A lot. Like, a lot a lot. Like I'm talking I would sell the whole earth to buy him a ring— I should probably stop.

I sucked on my teeth as Robin followed up to my last statement, "Four. We head into Vecna's newly bat-free lair, and.." she shook the glass of gasoline in her hand, looking to Nancy without turning her head in her direction. "-.. flambé." She stopped the liquid's movement inside of the bottle, causing it so slowly slide down the sides and fall into a still position at the bottom of the flask. Nancy nodded at her, turning her eyes down to the floor. "Nobody moves on to the next phase until we've all copied. Nobody deviates from the plan, no matter what." She looked over at me and Eddie, her head shaking with each syllable. "Got it?" She said, looking over my shoulder to Dustin and Robin, her pupils glistening in the bright starlight hovering over our vehicle. "Got it." We all replied in unison, our voices clanging against each other.

After that short meeting almost everyone got to their feet— everyone being Robin and Dustin—, and darted out the door after the person in front of us. My stomach still hurt like a bitch, which didn't make the glory walk to Eddie's death camper any more enjoyable, but at least there was something to protect it from getting more infected than it already was.