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redamancy

The Byers house has hit a quiet lull when Eddie finally slips free of the nest, hovering at the edge of it for an endless moment as he waits to see if Will stirs awake next to him. Memories of the nightmare, of Will's trapped and thin whimpers of distress, are enough to keep Eddie carefully still, his lungs growing tight and burning as he holds his breath, his eyes pinned on his sleeping mate as he waits to see even a flicker of a change in his expression. When Will does not so much as twitch, Eddie rises slowly to his feet.

He rolls his shoulders to work the stiffness out of his muscles as he unlocks the door and slips into the hallway, nose twitching at all the familiar scents that cloud the space. Though he knows everyone under this roof, he never came over to the Byers house to spend any amount of time; he usually went to stay with Wayne instead, wanting to be close to his uncle in case the world came crashing down on their heads overnight.

And as things grew more and more tense with Steve, it seemed safer to put some distance between the two of them so they didn't crash into each other and explode.

Eddie thinks everyone might be sleep until he sees a shimmer of blue light at the end of the hallway. When he steps out of it, he finds Dmitri sitting on the couch in front of the television, the volume nearly muted and a glass of amber liquid and ice in one hand. Whiskey probably. It's been a long year, and Eddie cannot even imagine how much stress he's been under to go straight from working at a Russian prison to all this mess.

Without turning around, Dmitri addresses him. "What are you doing up this late, pup?"

"Didn't check the clock, so I didn't know it was late." Not quite true; Eddie doesn't have to check a clock to feel that night has swiftly come upon them, which means Will must have been fucking exhausted. How much sleep has he actually gotten since he came home?

"It is just after two in the morning." Dmitri tilts his head back to catch Eddie's eye as he hovers at the end of the hall; his eyes are stark, cold, and they seem to pierce right through Eddie better than words ever could. "How is Will? We have not seen him since you came earlier today. You are lucky Hopper was able to calm Joyce down."

Ah. Eddie winces slightly and walks the rest of the way into the living room, ignoring the empty ache in his gut. He can get something to eat in a minute. "Sorry. I wasn't really thinking about that. He's just been tired, so I thought he should get some sleep."

"Has he been?" Dmitri takes a sip of his drink, looking thoughtful for a moment as he settles back into the couch cushions. "He is very quiet and often keeps to himself, so it is not always easy to gather precisely what his mood is from time to time."

That sounds like Will. Eddie wonders if he should tell Dmitri that Will had a nightmare earlier, but he stamps down the thought as soon as it comes, burying it under every other emotion he has. No fucking way is he going to betray Will's trust like that. "He's been through a lot. I get it. Give him time and I'm sure he'll open up when he wants to."

Eddie takes a seat on the loveseat, half-tempted to stretch himself across it like a cat, but he doesn't want to risk falling asleep away from Will. While he was hungry enough to wake up and try to come out to the kitchen to get something, he doesn't actually want to be away from his mate for any long length of time. Being close to him is addictive, as it turns out; a warm, pleasant buzz under Eddie's skin is already trying to draw him back down the hallway to their den. If it's always like this, he'll never feel lonely again.

And it should settle in deeper once he marks Will. They haven't really discussed the finer details of that, but it usually happens during sex, so it makes sense that they haven't. They can worry about that later when Will is more comfortable talking to him about it.