𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲

eight. KILL VECNA.

     

     IN THE morning, before the sun rised, Eddie slowly sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He hadn't fallen asleep, he couldn't. So much happened in the span of 48 hours, he watched his friends win one of his D&D campaigns, watched someone die in his trailer, came over to Rhys', smoked weed and hooked up with him, got found by Dustin and his friends, found out about this world beneath Hawkins, got friendzoned repeatedly by Rhys, the hints couldn't be any clearer now.

Rhys doesn't want him. But still, he couldn't help but gaze at a sleeping Rhys, the way his hair fell before his face as he slept soundly. Eddie didn't like his dreams, he always sleeps good next to him, but tonight was different. Flashes of him and Rhys laughing, cuddling and kissing together, turned into flashes of Rhys staring at him in disgust, annoyance and anger, then flashes of Chrissy's death that had him rattled, jittery and paranoid. He didn't like it.

Now the sun is nearly rising, some hint of sunshine coming from the horizon that made Lover's Lake look beautiful. But his eyes are still on Rhys. He pushed the blonde hairs out of the way and leaned down slowly, at eye level with Rhys as he brushed his face gently before he got up and out of bed quietly.

He grabbed a couple of snacks and a couple of beers, heading to the boat shed where he sat on his chair and ate, watching the sun rise from the big opening leading into the lake. Rhys woke up around 9, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and slowly sitting up to find himself alone when someone loudly knocks on his front door so he groans, getting out of bed.

"I'm coming!" He shouted loudly when the knocking is persistent. "What?" He said angrily when he saw it was the same group of teens from last night. "Good morning." Steve held out a cup of coffee he quickly took. "Thank you." He murmured and took a small sip. "Is Eddie up yet?" Dustin asked him, smiling and Rhys shrugs. "Yeah, probably." He says because he can't come right out and say yes, Eddie was awake because Rhys woke up all alone, that would mean telling them that Eddie moved from the shed to the house for the night.

"Then come with us."

"Why?" Rhys crossed his arms and Dustin smiled faintly. "You seem to be the one person who keeps him calm or smiling, the times he was talking about what happened, he looked seconds away from breaking down but you were there, and helped him... so," the curly haired boy nods his head to the side. "Come on." He demanded before walking away.

Rhys sighed but complied, walking side by side with Dustin to the boat shed with the other three following behind. When they open up the door, Eddie flinched and shouted, "Jesus," raising his broken beer bottle again Rhys thought he had confiscated the night prior. "Delivery service." Dustin raised the two bags.

"Good morning to you too, Eds." Rhys sighs, crossing his arms. The brunette sighed, glancing out the window before glancing back at the five staring faces. Eddie now sits at the boat again, stuffing his face with Honeycombs as if the box was gonna grow legs any moment and run from his sight. "So we got, uh, some good news and bad news." Dustin says, sitting on a chair with Rhys next to him and Steve standing to the other side of the Henderson.

Across, Robin stood by Max who's sitting on an old container Rhys never uses anymore. "How do you prefer it?" Dustin asked as the long haired brunette glanced up. "Bad news first, always." He then took a sip of his Yoohoo chocolate milk as Rhys just stared at him. "Alright, bad news. We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you. Also, they're, uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy." The boy tells Eddie who was staring at the ground.

The Munson quickly glanced up and looked at him. "Like, 100% kind of convinced." Max adds so Eddie glanced over at the redhead next and Rhys sighed. "And the good news?" Eddie looks at Dustin with a hopeful look, glancing towards Rhys for a split second.

"Your name hasn't gone public yet. But if we found out about you, it's a matter of time before others do. Dirty Harry, you might wanna keep your friends in check." Robin tells them, looking from Eddie to Rhys who sighs softly. "And also, once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you." Robin says, looking at Eddie. "Hunt the freak, right?" He looks up at her.

"Exactly." The short haired girl says and Eddie glanced away. "Shit." He says and looked at Rhys who immediately turns to look at Dustin. "So, before that happens, we need to find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence." He says and Rhys nods. "Right, yeah, no piece of cake." He says right away sarcastically. "Yeah, pretty much." Dustin nodded.

"Listen, Eddie, Rhys," Robin said and caught both men's attention, "I know everything Dustin is saying sounds totally delusional, but we've actually been through this kind of thing before. I mean, they have a... a few times, like Steve said, Rhys." Robin looks at Rhys directly who furrows his brows together a bit as Eddie glanced at Steve who nods as confirmation and Rhys did the same with Max who just nods softly, glancing down.

"And I have once. Mine was more human-flesh-base, and theirs was more smoke-related, but bottom line is, collectively, I really feel like we got this." Robin says confidently and Rhys scoff-laughed softly. "Right." He mumbled but Steve spoke up, "yeah, see, we usually rely on this girl who has super powers." Both Eddie and Rhys look over at the nineteen year old. "But, uh, those went bye-bye, so, uh..." He trails off. "So, we're technically in more of the--" "kinda..." "brainstorming phase." Max helps both Steve and Robin explain it to them.

"Brainstorming." Steve pointed at her and snapped his fingers. "There's... there's nothing to worry about." Dustin says, looking at Rhys then over at Eddie. "Totally." Rhys whispers then looked over at Eddie who's eyes meet his, raising his eyebrows slightly.

Sirens wailing in the distance catch their attention. "Shit." Steve whispers as Rhys quickly got up. "Tarp." Robin pointed. "Tarp, tarp." She added and Eddie rushed to pull the tarp over himself as the others rush to the front, looking out the window where police cars and an ambulance speed on by.

As they left to go check what was going on, Rhys bids them goodbye and says he's got Eddie watch, that they have nothing to worry about before they left. But on their way out, Dustin handed over a radio and told him what frequency that they would be on, to contact them for emergencies and whatnot.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

authors note i realized eddie literally is alone for two whole days before jason and his lil minions came looking for him so at least i have that, to like, "freestyle" and whatnot instead of watching the episodes and thinking of what to write and all of that nonsense

+ anyways sorry everyone for not updating yesterday and also earlier today, so here's a sort of late-ish chapter