Breathe ⭐️ Reddie

46

The train car was freezing, but neither Eddie or Stan seemed to mind. Their minds were elsewhere, with Eddie focusing on convincing Richie to leave with him and thinking about how to avenge his father someday. Stan, on the other hand, was wallowing in the fact that his father might try to kill his friends, and possibly him if he didn't make the right choice. Of course Bill's safety was also on his mind, and the fact that Bill was on the run from his father, too.

Eddie shivered and tugged our the jacket that Sharon had packed in his bag, then laid on his side and tried to get comfortable.

"Do you believe in heaven?" Stan asked out of nowhere.

"What?" Eddie questioned, sitting up to make sure he heard right.

"Do you believe in heaven? Like God, angels, kingdom of happiness and all that stuff?"

Eddie sighed deeply, laying on his back. "I don't know. I know there's somewhere better, but I don't know if I believe in a religious type guy in the sky. If there is though, I know that's where my dad is."

Stan smiled and laughed a little. "Yeah, he would be."

They both quieted down for a bit, not thinking, just relaxing. Eddie began drifting to sleep, looking out of the side of the train car at the stars, when Stan pulled him out of his half asleep state.

"Eddie?"

"What?" Eddie asked groggily, not moving.

"My dad always hated your dad for no reason. Probably because you were better than me, I'm not sure. I do know that he was probably the one to kill your father. I'm sorry." Stan's voice was quiet, and Eddie could almost hear how embarrassed he was. How bad he felt.

"It's not your fault, Stan. I'm happy you chose us over the Hive. Your dad may be a psycho, but you're my best friend. You've been a brother to me since I was little, and we grew up training together. I'm not blaming you for our ex-superiors choices."

Stan didn't want Eddie to know he was crying, but it was hard to hide the breaks in his voice. "You mean that?" he asked, almost choking on a sob.

"Of course I do. Now, we need to sleep so we can get back to Hawkins tomorrow. We need to be ready to protect our friends."

Stan sighed and nodded his head, even though Eddie couldn't see him. With that, they fell asleep, ignoring the cold air that blew on and and around them.

•••

The heat in the truck didn't help much. All of the teens still had to breathe on their icy fingers, curling up together to keep from turning into what Richie called "icicles harder than my dick when Eds wears his shorts."

"Out of all the trucks you could choose, we got the one that blasts... little to no heat," Richie said, teeth chattering and he curled closer to Mike and El.

The three in the back all shared one blanket agreeing that Bill should get a coat and blanket to himself since he couldn't share body heat from the driver's seat.

"Th-there were no o-other options, R-Richie," Bill snapped, pushing on the gas a little harder.

They were close to Hawkins, having driven all day and all night, taking shifts and back roads to avoid cops and hoping to throw the Hive off their scent.

Richie pulled the blanket tighter around his shoulders, and El smiled sadly at him. "Are you going to make it, Richie?" she asked, leaning on Mike, who had an arm around her shoulder.

"Nope, and sorry Mikey, but Eds gets everything in my will," Richie responded with a smirk.

"What do you mean? You don't own anything," Mike said with an eye roll, lightly punching Richie's arm.

"I had a duffel bag when I took off. What ever happened to it, Bill?" Richie asked, remembering his earbuds and phone and twelve dollars in change that Eddie teased him about when they first met.

"I'm n-not sure. I th-think Eddie kept it s-somewhere."

"That bitch," Richie said under his breath. "Remind me to yell at Eddie when we meet up with them again."

"You're too obsessed with him to yell at him," Mike deadpanned, making El giggle.

Richie glared at Mike, but shrugged. "Yeah, at least I have the balls to tell somewhen when I like them, unlike you, my dear brother."

"What are you talking about?" Mike asked. "El knows I like her, it's just not a good time."

El nodded in agreement, making Richie grumble irritably to himself.

The sun began to shine into their car, and everyone lunged toward a window to allow the heat to warm them up. It wasn't much, but it was something.

Mike instructed Bill to drive toward a small parking lot, in front of a gaming and video store. It definitely wasn't the lab, so Bill and Richie began to question Mike and El, who told them to wait.

A few hours later, the other teams broke through the woods and saw Bill and Mike sitting in the front of the truck. They all jumped into the back, waiting for the store to open.

Finally it did and Mike jumped out, followed by the other Hawkins kids, except for Will and Jonathan, who ran past the store toward the neighborhoods.

"Where are they going?" Richie asked Mike, following him into the store that had just opened.

"To get backup. Don't worry, we'll be quick and get to the lab to hide," Mike responded, opening the door to the store.

A bell rang throughout, and two people standing behind the desk narrowed their eyes. One was a girl with short hair and a displeased look, while the other was a boy with gelled up hair and a glare.

"What the hell do you want, Wheeler?" the boy asked, brushing his hair out of his face. "And what's with the big group?"

"Good morning to you too, Steve," Mike said, arms crossed. "We need your help. Yours too, Robin."

The girl smirked and jumped onto the desk, sitting on it. "What kind of trouble did you get into this time?"

"We can't tell you here. You still got that bat, Harrington?" Lucas asked.

"Damn right I do. What's the deal?"

Dustin stepped forward. "We're in a bit of trouble with a secret organization hellbent on capturing El. So are you in or not?"

Steve and Robin both shared a look, and, too Richie's surprise, seemed completely convinced. They both ushered the teens out of their store and locked it behind them.

"Meet us at the lab," Mike said as Robin jumped in her car, followed closely by Steve and peeled off, leaving the kids behind in the dust.