𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲

twenty-seven. PHASE ONE.

     THE GROUP of nine get prepared, got into their gear, went over the plan while all standing outside the vehicle. Halfway through Nancy, Max and Robin going over the plan, Rhys got nauseous all of the sudden and felt like his heart was beating out of his chest.

"Rhys, you okay there?" Max suddenly asked and suddenly all eyes were on him. "Y--Yeah." He quickly answered and Robin came to his side, grabbing his arm. "Hey, don't sweat it, okay? You're doing surprisingly better than my first year last summer. I was on drugs and vomiting and pouring my whole heart out to Steve Harrington of all people." She said and laughed as she spoke.

"Oh... right." Rhys just blinked at her as Eddie came to his side as well, grabbing his boyfriend's hand. "Good?" He asked and Rhys glanced all around at the staring faces. "Yep. Yeah." He nods quickly. "Okay. Then let's head on out." Nancy announced.

On the drive, it's quiet. Too quiet. Dustin, Eddie and Robin were sitting together in a row in the back as Lucas, Max and Erica waited to get dropped off at the Creel home. Nancy, like as before, in the passenger seat as Rhys sat on the chair behind the driver's seat, often glancing over at Eddie in the back.

When the RV stopped, Nancy turned around to look at the others. "We're here." She told Max, Lucas and Erica. Lucas looks at Max who had been staring out the window this whole time, nodding his head, she quickly understood and got up. Rhys looked up as Max gathered the things and had taken off her headphones. "Good luck, Red." He tells her and she glanced over. "Thanks." She whispers.

"Yeah, good luck, Max. Remember." Nancy told her and she nods. "Don't derail from the plan. Got it." Max quickly said as Lucas and Erica are the first to leave the van and she follows after them. Rhys had that queasy feeling come back to him before he quickly got up and sat at the table when the RV began moving again. Eddie, as he always did, came over to sit by him, grabbing one of his hands.

"Still good?" He whispers and Rhys nods, squeezing Eddie's hand in his gently. "When we make it out of this alive... can you come live with me?" Rhys looks at him and Eddie glanced up. "Seriously?" He whispers and Rhys just nodded, smiling faintly at him.

"Yeah." He whispers and Eddie smiles wider. "I'd love that. But I'll have to run it over Wayne first." He says and Rhys chuckles. "I'm sure Wayne won't mind. I mean, you're an adult." He says and Eddie shrugs. "Yeah, but just to let him know. You know?" He asked and Rhys nodded softly, staring at him.

Again. The fleeting moment of one of them saying it to the other. It's perfect. Just three words, eight letters. Rhys can totally say it. But instead, he just looked down at their hands, brought it up to his face and pressed a tiny kiss to the back of Eddie's.

At the woods nearby the trailer park where Steve parked the RV, he and Nancy turn to the others. The Wheeler softly smiling at how Rhys and Eddie were cozied up together again and Steve was staring at them. The two got up and Robin sat across Eddie as Rhys got up and Dustin took his spot.

Nancy ran through the plan by letting them know all was gonna go down, before turning and standing at the front for a couple of moments. Almost as if she was thinking. "Rhys?" She quickly spun around and he glanced up after previously staring at the floor.

"Yeah?" He says and she sighs. "Are you sure about this? 100%?" She asked and he glanced around to see they were all waiting for his answer. "Yeah... if Eds' in, I'm all in... for him. I don't know any of you." He says and then sighed. "There's also something I should've mentioned. Uh, a friend of mine, she--she was there that night, when Billy died and the chief died. Uh, she's been real messed up over it since, enough to start using. Everyday. I mean, it is constant. And I--I love her to death, she's like one of my best friends. And I wanna get rid of whatever caused it. Same for Eddie." He looked at the Munson who's staring.

"Okay." Nancy whispers quietly, taking a deep breath after what was basically a huge declaration of love Rhys has for Eddie, in more words about other things and other people than directly, but everyone knew and understood what Rhys was trying to say.

"Okay. I wanna run through it one more time." She says, looking down. "Phase one." She says. "We meet Erica at the playground." Robin tells her, "she'll signal Max and Lucas when we're ready." Nancy looks at her. "Phase two." She says. "Max baits Vecna." Steve answered. "He'll go after her, which'll put him in his trance." He adds and Nancy looks at him.

"Phase three?" She asked. "Me, Eddie and Rhys draw the bats away." Dustin gestured to the two on either sides of him, Eddie shaking his head gently as Rhys smiles at the pair. "Four." Nancy glanced around. "We head into Vecna's hopefully newly bat-free lair, and..." Robin raised one of the molotovs which she then shook gently in her hand. "Flambe."

"Nobody moves onto the next phase until we've all copied. Nobody deviates from the plan, no matter what. Got it?" Nancy says as she glanced around at the other five. "Got it." They all say in sync before getting ready to leave, Rhys looking at Eddie who took his hand instantly, grabbing both of their spears.

They walk through the woods and into the trailer park Max and Eddie reside in, running to the Munson trailer where Steve walked in first, flipping the light off as they all look at the ceiling where the Chrissy gate was. Rhys felt bad for calling it that, but they were all those, the Chrissy gate, the Fred gate and now the Patrick gate. He worries Max is next, despite not even knowing her personally.

"Be careful." Dustin tells Steve who pats his arm gently. "Thanks, buddy." He says as Eddie is shutting the door behind him and Rhys. "Here goes nothing." Steve says, climbing up. He does the same as Rhys, holding himself through the gate before flipping over. He looks up at the two girls looking through the gate, as was Rhys who had a scrunched up face.

Nancy is smiling faintly as Robin raised her hands. "Whoo," she mutters sarcastically. "What does he want us to do, applaud?" Robin asked as Nancy glanced at her. "I'll go next! I do it better!" Rhys said and climbed up. "Can't argue with that..." Eddie says, staring as Rhys flipped over and landed more gracefully than the first time, smiling up at his boyfriend.

Steve now brings Eddie's Upside Down mattress so Rhys held up the rope before letting it land on top of the laid down mattress. Nancy gets ready to go next, taking off her gear and Robin drops down to give her a lift. Nancy now falls to the mattress, Steve holding out his hand. "Gotcha." He says and pulled up Nancy with no effort. Rhys grimaced, watching them pause and stare at one another.

"Don't you have a boyfriend?" He interrupted so Nancy quickly turned away as Robin tossed over her gun bag next, grabbing it before Eddie fell through next. Rhys held out his hand to the boy who smiled quite smugly up at him. Eddie's shield and spear is tossed through next along with Rhys' own of the two weapons. Robin came through the gate next, yelping when she landed on top of the mattress.

Rhys watched as Steve and Eddie pulled her up. Her bag of molotovs and other shit is thrown over next, which she takes, along with another spear and shield which Eddie took, then lastly but not least, Dustin Henderson who quickly sat up, panting heavily before Eddie and Steve grab him by the front of his sweater and pulled up onto his feet.

authors note i kinda live for rhys being anti-stancy LMFAO idk why 😭 he doesn't even know these two, just two key details, they dated before and nancy has a bf

+ three chapters left <3