𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐀𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐀𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 - 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓

[Friday, March 22nd, 1986. NOW.]

For a heartbeat, Eddie and you just stared at each other, caught up in that daze of shock and emotion, fingers intertwined.

Memories flooded you, bringing you back to that freezing night in November before everything had changed. The way Eddie had looked at you before his lips had met yours, the sensation of his caresses on your skin, his curls tangled around your own fingers as he'd whispered your name – and the way the look in those umber eyes had changed as you spat those cruel words at him.

"Can someone tell me what the fuck's going on?!", Steve blurted, his voice having risen a few octaves in distress, ripping you out of the past, "Why are you holding hands?! He wanted to kill me!" Steve's voice was high-pitched with residual shock.

Eddie and you jumped apart from the touch as if the other had burned you.

"Well, he didn't," you said, "Obviously."

"I wanted to kill you before," Robin threw in, probably in a desperate attempt to lighten the mood.

Underneath the wide-eyed stares of Dustin, Max, and Robin, who must've burst through the boathouse's door right after you, Eddie slowly let himself sink to the ground in the farthest corner.

He looked horrible.

His eyes were haunted, tremors racing through his body as he hunched over, knees hugged against his chest as if in an attempt to somehow hold himself together.

Your heart bled for him.

In the shell-shocked, tense silence of the boathouse, broken only by the cheerful gurgle of Lover's Lake lapping at the wooden posts that held the boathouse above water, your footsteps on the creaking floorboards sounded too loud as you walked across the space to where Eddie was cowering, that helpless feeling in your chest growing with each step.

Raising a hand to gesture for your friends to stay put, you sunk down on your knees in front of Eddie, careful to keep enough distance between the two of you not to startle him.

"Eddie," you whispered, and at the sound of your voice, he raised his head. Unshed tears were brimming in his dark eyes. "Are you hurt?"

"Of course he's hurt," Robin blurted, anxiety laced in her voice, "You ran him over with your car." Her gaze travelling from you to Eddie, she added, "Sorry we ran you over. Really. I keep telling her to drive slower."

"You did run him over?", Steve gaped, "I thought it was just a little nudge."

"Can you guys shut up for a moment," Dustin chided.

Right now, you weren't sure if Eddie could even hear you.

"Eddie, you need to tell us what happened," you pleaded softly.

For a moment, Eddie just kept staring into the space at his feet, before he choked out, "You won't believe me."

"Try us," Max said quietly, taking a step forward, around Steve who was trying – and failing – to hold her back.

"Remember the whole break-and-enter-vandalism-arson-monster-hunter thing I told you about?", you said softly, and Eddie replied with the tiniest nod.

"Wait, you told that dude?!", Steve gaped, "How the Hell do you even know him?"

"The sex scandal," Dustin explained casually, tone hushed, and from the corner of your eye, you could see Steve do a double take as he blurted, "The WHAT?!"

"Oh, yeah," Dustin muttered, giving him a short glance, "Sometimes I forget you were already graduated when it happened."

"Wha –"