𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄, eddie munson

matching wounds

it had only been a week since the events that took place in the upside down. since you guys killed vecna and cleared eddie's name. since all of your lives were changed for good.

you were so worried about eddie and his recovery you hadn't thought about anything else until he was released from the hospital a few days ago. the demobats got him good but luckily, there weren't deadly and you and dustin got him back through the gate in his trailer.

you spent everyday with him while he was in the hospital. you'd update him on everyone else when they couldn't visit, you'd bring your walkman and listen to his favorite tapes with him. sometimes you even slept there, on days where he wasn't doing that great, you wanted to make sure nothing went wrong throughout the night. you came so close to losing him once, and you couldn't imagine doing it again.

you didn't want to stress him or anyone else out, so you took care of your own wounds in private. you had large gash running across your back, and a few spots on your upper arm where the demobats had gnawed at your flesh. you knew if you told eddie about any of these though, he would be more worried about you than himself, and he was in far worse condition than you.

so you tended to yourself on your own. you would clean them in the shower and then immediately bandage them up once you were dry. the one on your back was a little more difficult to reach, but you made it work. you didn't want to be a burden to anyone else after everything that happened.

you almost forgot about them for a few days once eddie had gotten out of the hospital. you spent the whole day at his trailer, upon his request. he had actually made a good recovery and was in really good shape. though, he still had limits on what he could do for a while. he wasn't allowed to drive, or exercise, or do any kind of strenuous activity. and he was still in a lot of pain, with and without medication.

you spent so much time caring for eddie and his wounds, that you forgot to take proper care of your own. and without proper care, your wounds became fragile again, more painful. and since you refused to get medical care, there were no stitches to speed up the healing.

and today you found yourself regretting that.

you were laying in eddie's bed, curled up with the boy watching one of his favorite movies, your head rested on his chest. you lifted your head to look at him. his eyes were glued to the screen until he sensed the movement below him, causing him to shift his gaze to you. he smiled down at you before leaning towards you to place a firm kiss on your lips. he brought a hand up and rested it on your jaw as his other arm snaked behind you and embraced your lower back, pulling you closer to him.

this also caused a sharp pain to shoot through your spine and along the gash that lined your back. you winced at the pain, quickly pulling away from eddie. he looked at you concerned, worried he did something to hurt you.

"hey, hey, are you okay? what happened? i'm so sorry, did i hurt you?" he frantically questioned as your face scrunched up at the pain.

"no. no, i'm fine, eddie." you tried to brush it off. he couldn't find out about your wounds, he would try to immediately drive you to the hospital himself, which would put his fresh stitches at risk, and you certainly weren't letting that happen.

"are you sure? you don't seem fine." he pushed, as you sat up and brushed the covers off of you.

"yeah, ed, i'm sure. i just need to use the restroom." you gave your best fake smile and excused yourself to the bathroom.

as soon as you locked the door behind you, you turned to the large mirror on the wall in front of you and carefully lifted your shirt off. you ran your hands over the bandages that concealed your neglected wounds before slowly peeling them off.