Chapter Text
"Like I'm supposed to care about a championship game!"
Eli tried his best to hide his amused smile as he listened to Eddie rant about Dustin and Mike's request to postpone Hellfire Club at lunch, but he could tell that he'd failed when Eddie stopped in the middle of the hallway and looked at him with that offended look he pulled off so well, "Are you laughing, Mayfield? These kids are bleeding me dry and you're laughing!"
The dramatic devastation in the other man's voice only served to widen Eli's smile further, amusement coursing through him at the memory of the melodramatic speech his boyfriend had given to the entire cafeteria just a few minutes prior and he turned to face the man, already prepped to make a joke about inviting one of the other basketball players to stand in for Lucas when he froze in his tracks. That amusement was wiped away in an instant when he turned to face Eddie, caught off-guard by the fake pout on those lips he'd kissed just this morning before school and he found himself wishing that he could plant one on him right there in front of all of Hawkins High. But he had been the one to set up the boundary that they didn't change how they acted around others outside their main circle and he planned on sticking to it.
His silence had gone unnoticed, however, Eddie stepping even closer following his sudden pause and whispering conspiratorially, "What are the chances you could drag Max along?"
"Unless you mean drag in the literal sense, I'm not sure that'll do anything beyond piss her off," Eli replied immediately, thinking of how the other girl had snubbed him every time he'd tried to make plans or hang out with her in the last few months, "I don't know what's going on with her between the headaches and the moodiness and the not sleeping. It took two weeks of nagging her about her nightmares for her to finally make an appointment with Ms. Kelly."
The amusement and fake indignation that'd been on Eddie's face melted away the second he heard the concern in Eli's voice and he reached forward to squeeze his boyfriend's arm, wishing above everything that he could hold him. "Max's gonna be fine, trust me. She's tougher than most of the people in this town, me included," he assured Eli, barely looking up when the bell rang to signal the start of their next period, "Tell you what, I'm meeting with a customer after Hellfire but I'll swing by afterward so we can all watch something together. I'll even let the Zoomer pick!"
As if on cue with the end of their conversation, Ms. Sumter swung open one of the classroom doors just a few dozen feet down the hall and stepped out with both hands on her hips as she stared down Eddie with a positively venomous look, "Mr. Munson, will you be joining us for class this morning?"
"Wouldn't dream of missing it!"
Seeing as the hallways were completely empty beside the three of them, Eddie decided to take a chance and leaned in to press a single chaste kiss to the corner of Eli's mouth before sprinting to catch up to where Ms. Sumter's door was swinging closed behind her. Eli tried his best to hide the blush on his face and the grin that was permanently stuck on his lips as he slipped into his own classroom, but he knew it was no use when it came to his boyfriend.
++++++++++
Though it'd hurt to see the downfall of the character Eli had been playing for well over a year now, as well as the fall of the majority of those left in their campaign, the matching proud smiles on Eddie and Erica's faces at the end of the Cult of Vecna had made it well worth it. Erica had gotten their party a victory that was over a year in the making and stood at the end of the table with a look of elation after making her critical hit, soaking up the chorus of cheers from everybody around her all capped off with Eddie's excited shout from the end of the table, "That's why we play!"
Hugs and claps on the back and high fives were exchanged amongst the rest of the players, but Eli was already drifting to the head of the table to pull Eddie into a loose hug. He gave Eddie a bright smile when he pulled back and said, "We're gonna have to start inviting Lady Applejack along on more adventures, she certainly fits in with our merry band of misfits."
"That she does," Eddie agreed with a matching grin of his own, throwing an arm around Eli's neck and pulling the man in to kiss his forehead chastely before calling across the room to Erica in the same DM voice he'd been using mere moments ago, "What say you, Lady Applejack, to joining our party in their future endeavors?"
"Yeah, I think I could make that work," she replied casually, though the grin that pulled at the edges of her mouth betrayed her joy at the prospect of being invited back.
"You can be one of the guinea pigs for when Eli finally takes over as DM," Gareth joked, laughing good-naturedly at the glare Eli sent his way and raising his hands mock-defensively as he said, "Hey, I'm looking forward to it!"
"Yeah, yeah, just remember who my teacher's gonna be," Eli responded with a downright sadistic smirk as he squeezed Eddie around the middle before pulling away and moving back to the other end of the table. He came to stand by the youngest members of the group, setting a hand on Erica's shoulder and looking around at each of them before asking, "Alright, show of hands, who am I driving home?"
All three of them raised their hands immediately, Dustin being the only one with the decency to look at least a little sheepish (given he lived the farthest away from their trailer park), and Eli looked to where Eddie was still waiting at the end of the table, "Meet you at 10?"
"Meet you at 10."
He gave the man a playful salute and turned with a flourished wave towards the door as he announced, "Lead the way, lads, Lady Applejack gets shotgun and the radio for saving our asses tonight."
++++++++++
By the time he arrived home, roughly 10 minutes late because Mike's mother insisted on stopping Eli to tell him about her son traveling across the United States for the first time in his life and how anxious she was about the whole ordeal, he was exhausted. He leaned back against the front door the moment it was shut and let out a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger before he could even register Max sitting a few feet away from him.
He nearly jumped out of his skin at the girl's quiet, "Hey."
"Oh, Christ, I didn't see you there," he breathed, holding his chest dramatically as he tried to get his pulse back down before saying, "Sorry I was late, Hellfire ran a little over and Karen Wheeler refused to let me leave until she'd practically described Mike's entire flight schedule to me." He flopped down onto the couch cushion beside his sister and leaned his head back, closing his eyes as he pulled in a deep breath and relaxed back into the cheap linen fabric before asking, "Has Eddie come over here yet?"
"No, was he supposed to?"
"He wanted to come have a movie night with the both of us, it's been a while."
"As opposed to just making out with you alone in your room?"
With that, Eli fully lifted his head off the back of the couch and opened his eyes to look over at Max, furrowing his brows at the girl when she met his eyes, "Just cause him and I are together doesn't mean he doesn't love you too."
Max sat in silence for a couple moments after he finished talking before finally nodding in acknowledgment, sitting up straighter on the couch so she could peer out the living room window to the driveway directly across from theirs. "Well, either way, I don't think he's gonna be joining us tonight. He peeled out of here in his van about a half hour ago," she said casually but Eli immediately stood from where he'd been seated and used his fingers to part the blinds to get a better look at the, in fact, empty driveway across from them, "Probably just got sketched out dealing with Chrissy Cunningham, of all peo-"
"Chrissy Cunningham?" Eli cut her off immediately to ask, turning his head sharply to look down at where Max was beside him and found her already turned to face him with a startled look on her face.
"Yeah, the cheerleader. Blonde wi-"
"I know who she is, Max, I don't know why the hell she would be anywhere even near here. Or why he wouldn't tell me," he cut her off again, finally flopping back down in his seat with a huff and furrowing his brows in confusion as he continued, "Her boyfriend has been tormenting Eddie for years, it's hard for me to believe either of them would ever be caught dead around one another."
Max nodded seriously for a moment before looking to Eli and saying, "I don't know why she was over there, but if it helps any, Chrissy seems pretty nice. I don't know why she's dating a douchebag like Jason Carver but I don't think she's anything like him."
"I hope not. Eddie deals with enough bullshit from this town as-is."
There was another long beat of silence, during which Eli got that feeling in his gut that something was going left unsaid and before he could even ask Max to clarify what she actually saw, the girl was quietly speaking beside him. "I was feeding the dog when I saw them pull up in Eddie's van, I didn't know what they were doing together so I didn't say anything but," Max stopped and Eli watched her take in a breath before looking back out the window to the empty parking space where Eddie's van sat most of the day, the burnout marks clear in the gravel driveway now that he was looking for them, "he was alone when he left."
The hairs on his body all seemed to stand on end at once and Eli felt the weight of dread settle in his stomach like lead. Don't be dramatic, he told himself, he probably got sketched out and left her to get picked up by someone. Drug deals go wrong all the time.
"She might've had one of her friends come get her after I got back and we didn't notice, it's not like we've been really keeping watch."
Max nodded once but her face seemed just as unnerved as he currently felt, "Yeah, probably."
Eli stood from the couch and lightly ruffled the top of her hair as he passed her to go to his room, hopeful that he'd catch even a few minutes of sleep before dawn.
++++++++++
Eli didn't wake up the next morning so much as he just sat up from where he'd been lying in bed, finally watching as the first rays of sunlight peeked in through the window facing Eddie's trailer and began illuminating his bedroom in the soft light. He was too caught up on the sight of the driveway across from his house, still empty of Eddie's van but now Eli could see his uncle Wayne's truck parked beside the trailer and the man himself sat on the porch with a cigarette in hand.
He was throwing open his bedroom door and tearing his way across the house to the front door before he could even take in the scene further, focused so single-mindedly on making sure Eddie was okay that he passed by Max's sleeping figure on the couch without a sideways glance.
That single-minded focus was derailed by the distant sounds of police sirens that stopped Eli dead in his tracks on the front porch, his face pale as he looked between Wayne's downturned head and where the red and blue lights were tearing over the hill to enter their trailer park. He didn't even think as he broke into a sprint down his front steps and across the small gravel road between their trailers, coming to stand in front of Wayne at the same time his head raised from where he'd had it pressed into his palms. Whether he was alerted by Eli's presence or the sirens that were growing louder by the second, he was unsure, but he didn't waste a second asking, "Where's Eddie?"
For the first time in two years of knowing the man, Wayne looked to him with red-rimmed eyes that seemed equal parts scared and lost and Eli felt fear like he'd never experienced it before. He felt that same sinking feeling he'd gotten facing down the Mind Flayer just a few months prior, the hairs on his body standing at attention and his stomach twisting in a way that made him nauseous.
His body moved before he was even consciously aware of it, running up those three stone steps he'd traversed a million times by now and throwing open their front door so hard he heard the door knob hit the wall with a sharp 'thwack!'
Nothing else about the scene registered in his mind besides the single mangled body lying face-down in the center of their living room floor, the green and white cheerleading uniform immediately recognizable in a way that had tears forming in his eyes. His stomach roiled like he was going to vomit as he slammed the door shut behind him and stumbled down the stairs, raising his head just in time to watch his mom and sister appear in their trailer doorway across the road as the cop cars finally arrived, trailing a flurry of dust behind them.
Max's eyes widened as they met his in a way that made him certain that she understood what he was trying to say without a single word exchanged:
Eddie's in danger.
++++++++++
As soon as the police had dismissed Eli from questioning, given the fact that Chief Powell had literally watched from his car as Eli ran from his house to the Munson's trailer, the man had come to retrieve Max and his car keys. He didn't say a word to her as he waved for her to follow, simply leaning down to kiss their mom's forehead when she opened her mouth to ask where they were going and answering her half-formed question with a simple, "Heading to Dustin's so we don't get blocked in when the camera crews come, we'll be back before dark."
With that, he swung the door closed behind him and dropped into the driver's side of his car only to find Max already in the passenger seat, her arms crossed over her chest as she said, "We're never back before dark."
"Yeah, well she works overnights and doesn't need the extra stress. Seatbelt."
He tore out of the driveway the second he heard the signature click and immediately took off in the direction of Dustin's house, familiar with the route from the number of times he'd driven the younger home from Hellfire. They drove in complete silence, Eli focusing as he pushed his car to speeds he'd never dared to drive in their small town before and Max replaying the disjointed occurrences she'd witnessed last night over and over again as if that would help her parse out what exactly had happened.
However, even relaying everything she'd seen to Dustin and Eli had only served to confuse all of them more.
"Chrissy Cunningham? You're sure it was Chrissy?"
"Trust me, I wouldn't have been sure of it either if Max hadn't told me the night before that she'd seen Chrissy go in and not come out," Eli confirmed, dropping his head into his hands from where he was sitting on Dustin's bed and pressing his palms into his eyelids to try to erase the image of her mutilated body that was haunting him still, "It was her."
Dustin stopped to look down at him, eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he asked, "Then why didn't you tell the cops all of this?"
"Because even if his name isn't on the news or anything yet, I guarantee you Eddie is suspect #1 right now," Max answered for him and when Dustin looked over at her, she continued, "plus, I know he didn't do it."
Something about her tone made even Eli raise his head to look at her, his eyes narrowed as he opened his mouth to question her but Dustin asked before he could get a word in, "How?"
Eli had assumed that it was for the same reasons that he knew Eddie hadn't done it, the same reasons that motivated him to go to Dustin of all of the people in Hawkins for help: they knew Eddie. They knew that beyond the tough exterior, the leather jackets and the drug use and the heavy metal music, was one of the kindest people any of them had ever met. Eddie had turned the outcasts of their school into a family, embraced all of the things about them that others shunned and took interest in their lives and the things they cherished in a way that showed just how much he loved people.
He was caught off-guard by the seriousness on Max's face when she looked between the two of them, seemingly gathering courage before answering. "After I saw Eddie and Chrissy go into his trailer... something happened to the lights. They started flashing and the TV started flickering in and out like there was some type of disturbance and when I got up to fix it, I heard this," she trailed off for a moment, her eyes stuck on some random spot on Dustin's wall as if the scene were actively replaying in her mind before she added, "awful scream. Eddie's always loud, it's not like it's the first time I've heard him from outside his trailer, but I've never heard him scream like that. And I've never seen him so... scared."
She'd barely gotten out the last word before Eli was scooping his car keys up from where he'd dropped them on the corner of Dustin's dresser and waving for both kids to follow after him without a word. Dustin flung his bag over his shoulder before he and Max fell in step close behind, only stopping for a moment to assure his mom the same way Eli had done with his own mother a few minutes prior.
Eli could only hope that he could return them all as safely as they were promising.
++++++++++
"Hey, Steve," Dustin called out as soon as they entered the Family Video, making a beeline for the counter where he and Robin were watching the news of what was happening at the Forest Hills trailer park since the Mayfields had left.
Steve half-turned to face them from where he was leaning back against the counter and pointed to the broadcast, "You guys seen this?"
"How many phones do you guys have?"
Steve turned his focus towards where Eli and Max were standing behind Dustin, continuing on like the younger hadn't spoken at all as he said, "Someone was murdered in your nei-"
"How many phones do you have?"
Dustin stressed every syllable, fully leaning against the counter and meeting Steve's eye in a way that must've conveyed at least some of their urgency because Steve finally answered, "Two, why?"
"Technically three if you count Keith's in the back," Robin chimed in, quickly cut off by both hers and Steve's shouts as Dustin threw his backpack off his shoulder and directly over the counter before following with his own body shortly after.
He didn't say a single word nor answer a single question as he took a seat at the computer set up behind the counter, already typing by the time Steve asked, "What are you doing, man?"
"Setting up a base of operations here," Dustin answered nonchalantly, not looking up from whatever he was typing into their computer even when Steve went over to try to physically pull him from it, simply swatting the man's hands away.
Eli rolled his eyes at the boy's antics before pulling Max over to the entrance to the area behind the desk so they could start making phone calls once Dustin had retrieved the numbers. As soon as they had shoved themselves into the cramped space, Robin looked up from where she'd been arranging the tapes Dustin had knocked down and Eli immediately raised his hands in a placating gesture as he stated earnestly, "We wouldn't be bothering you like this if it wasn't serious, we need to get Eddie's friends' phone numbers so we can find him."
Steve looked down at Dustin from where he was still trying to pull the kid off their computer and gave him a sour look as he asked, "Oh, Eddie? Your new best friend, Eddie, who you think is cooler than me because he plays your nerdy game?"
"Ooh, I'm picking up on a note of jealousy, Harrington," Eli pointed out mock-seriously from where he was behind them, his eyes scanning the computer as Dustin looked through their rental database for any familiar names or addresses.
Dustin turned around to face Steve as well, narrowing his eyes at the man as he defended himself, "And I never said that!"
"Seriously, you guys, maybe on a Monday you guys can play around like toddlers but it is Saturday, it is our busiest day!"
Dustin didn't even see that response fit to turn around for, continuing to stare at the screen as he said in a voice that verged on bored, "Look, Robin, I can totally empathize with your point but this cannot wait until Monday."
The woman straightened from where she'd been picking up tapes and papers that'd slammed to the floor behind the desk, throwing her hands up in exasperation as she asked, "What, cause calling all of Eddie's friends is an 'emergency'?"
"Correct," Dustin nearly shouted at them, his frustration mounting until he turned to face Max and asked, "Can you just fill them in on everything while I do this?"
Max nodded in agreement as Eli replaced where she'd been standing by his side, instead pulling Steve and Robin into the breakroom where Keith's other phone was so she could explain everything that was happening away from others that may be listening in. Eli and Dustin tasked themselves with creating a master list of anyone in Hawkins that they'd ever heard Eddie talk about or who they'd heard talk about Eddie, something that Eli knew would be a daunting task due to his work as a dealer.
Once they had all three of the phones plugged in behind the front desk and the other three members of their group helping them make phone calls, everything went by much more smoothly than Eli had even thought possible. However, that didn't stop his increasing frustration as he hung up his third phone call in a row where the person had reliably informed him they hadn't seen Eddie in nearly a year.
All of that melted away when he heard Max's voice repeat in confusion from behind him, "'Reefer Rick'? No, does this Reefer Ri-"
Eli didn't even let her finish her question before pressing the switch hook on the phone she was holding and saying with relief in his voice, "I know Rick."
"Do you know where he lives?"
He gave a single curt nod as he fished his car keys out of his pocket, "Yeah, I've picked Eddie up there a few times when he's been too drunk or high to drive, I remember it."
Dustin and Robin both hung up the phone calls they'd been on once they saw Eli rounding the front desk with keys in hand, not willing to waste a moment as he shot Steve a look that communicated the urgency of the situation when he saw the man flirting with a girl their age a few aisles away. Dustin gathered up the backpack he'd thrown behind the counter when they'd come in and each of them filed out as Steve replaced their spot behind the counter to finish up the girl's rental, insistent upon keeping up his charming façade regardless of the high stakes of their situation.
Eli and the others followed closely behind the girl as she left the store, Steve rounding out the back of the group so he could flip their sign to 'Closed' and lock the front door while everybody piled into Eli's car. By the time he arrived, he was crammed into the backseat beside Dustin and Max without a second to buckle himself in before Eli was tearing out of the parking lot towards the direction of Lover's Lake.
++++++++++
When they'd pulled up outside of Rick's house just a few minutes past dark, Eli was barely able to wait long enough to put the car in park before jumping out and going to the door to knock as loud as he could, cupping his hands around his mouth as he called out, "Rick? Eddie? It's Eli, is anybody home?"
He continued knocking and calling out to one of the men he hoped was inside as he watched the others pile out of his car, flicking on their flashlights as they quietly made their way up to the front door beside him. Max, Robin, and Steve each partially circled the house with their flashlights in hand, pointing them up into the windows to try to get a visual on anyone or anything that might be moving inside.
Eli's increasingly frantic shouts and knocking were finally cut off by Max's voice calling to them from just a few feet away from the porch, an almost nervous, "Hey, guys?"
Each of the members of their group moved toward her, their eyes traveling to where the beam of her flashlight was illuminating the partially opened front door of Rick's boathouse with clear apprehension. Eli, however, was too focused on helping Eddie to even allow that same fear to sink in, already flicking his flashlight on where he'd been loosely holding it in his right fist and moving towards the boathouse with a speed that forced the others to follow.
He didn't even circle the front or sides of the building before pushing the metal front door open, immediately calling his boyfriend's name into the darkened space and waiting for a moment to hear any response. The only sounds that greeted him were the gentle sloshing of the lake hitting the dock where Rick's boats sat and his friends' quiet footsteps on the wooden porch as they made their way behind him, their flashlight beams preceding each of their entrances as they tried their best to stay silent.
Steve, of course, was the one to inevitably break that silence with a quietly muttered, "What a dump."
The others didn't even dignify that a response, slowly running their flashlights along every square inch of the place in search of either Eddie or any potential signs that the man had been there earlier that day. Eli was at the point of panic that he would take a singular Spaghetti-O's can or beer bottle as a sign of life if it offered the chance that he'd see his boyfriend ever again.
However, the sounds of Steve using a wooden oar he'd grabbed from the wall to smack against each of the tarps covering Rick's boats drew all of the attention away from their tasks, instead now focused on where Dustin and Steve were bickering at each other again as the younger hissed, "What are you doing?"
"He might be in here."
Dustin looked unbelievably annoyed as he pointed at where Steve was still driving down the tip of his oar, "So take the tarp off!"
"If you're so brave, you take the tarp off!"
Eli shot both of them a positively venomous look from where he was on the other side of the dock, leaning forward from where he was bent next to one of the beams near the center of the room and reaching out to yank the tarp off the boat to the right of the one Steve was currently assaulting. He had expected the noise to maybe startle the man, or (hopefully) even startle both him and Dustin.
What he hadn't expected was the figure that shot up from the place he'd disturbed, throwing the tarp backward so hard that it came back to partially cover Eli as the person moved forward with a speed that startled everyone and pinned Steve to the same wall he'd retrieved that oar from. By the time the movement had settled and everyone's lights were focused on that same figure, Eli had thrown the tarp off himself only to look up and see Eddie. His back was turned to Eli from where he was pinning Steve to the wall, but Eli would recognize his boyfriend's curly brown hair and the Dio vest that he'd stitched together himself anywhere.
Dustin was the first to run forward with a shout, "Woah, woah, woah, Eddie, stop!"
Eli used the initial commotion, both the panicked shouting and the sounds of the tarp being thrown off Eddie, to step across one of the boats in the center. It rocked slightly under his weight, especially given the one next to it was still swinging from where Eddie had sprung out of it, but it held him long enough for him to step down onto the opposite side of the dock a foot or so behind his boyfriend.
It spoke to Eddie's panicked state that he didn't notice his presence in the slightest.
"Eddie! Eddie! It's me," Dustin called for the man again, only lowering his voice when Eddie's wide eyes finally focused on him and only him, "it's Dustin. This is Steve! He's not gonna hurt you, right, Steve?"
Steve seemed to be caught between what to do, simultaneously not wanting to nod with the broken glass currently pressed into his jugular and not wanting to talk for fear of scaring the spooked man even further. He finally settled on a whisper that was little more than an exhale, "Right, yeah."
"Steve, why don't you drop the oar?"
The man gave Dustin a slightly exasperated side-eye at that, unsure why he should be the one dropping his weapon when he was the less pressing threat in the room right now, but he followed what the boy said and dropped his oar without further protest. However, the sound of it hitting the dock only seemed to startle Eddie even more and Steve tried to retreat further into the wall behind him as that broken glass was pressed flush against his skin now.
Panic shot through Eli so fast that it felt like he'd been dunked in cold water as he watched the broken edge of that bottle press even further into Steve's throat, wanting so badly to reach out to hold Eddie right now but knowing that touching him right now would only spell disaster.
Thankfully, Dustin did much better under pressure, only slightly raising his voice as he reasoned with Eddie, "He's cool, he's cool!"
He heard Steve whisper the same thing even quieter than he'd spoken before but Eddie didn't seem to register what either of them had said as he asked in a voice that was strained, broken from stress, "What are you doing here?"
"We were looking for you."
"We're here to help," Robin added sheepishly, trying for a smile that came out much closer to a wince when the older man looked over upon hearing a voice besides Dustin's.
"Eddie, these are my friends," Dustin held out his arms to indicate to the girls he had on either side of him, first to Robin then to Max as he continued, "You know Robin, from band. And this is Max, Eli's little sister, the one that never wants to join us for DnD."
It seemed to register in Eddie's mind then that Eli was missing from the picture, evident in the panicked look in his eyes as they strayed from Dustin to take in even more of the room, but Dustin realized what that look meant immediately. "Eli was the one that brought us here, he's the one that told us you were in trouble," Dustin kept his voice much softer than it had been when initially introducing the rest of the group, knowing that anything concerning Eli would do the job better than any placating voice could hope to.
"Where is he?"
"Right here, sweetheart, I'm right behind you," Eli crooned comfortingly, the pet name one that they'd hardly used around one another but he saw the tension bleed out of Eddie's shoulders the second it left his mouth regardless, "We didn't mean to scare you, Steve didn't mean to scare you, we just want to help."
Eddie pulled back from where he'd been holding Steve like he'd been burned, sending that broken beer bottle clattering across the wooden deck as he turned fully and practically fell into Eli's outstretched arms. Eli leaned back against one of the beams as he slowly lowered both of them to the floor, keeping his arms around Eddie's waist and shoulders in a hold that was so tight that neither man could take in a full breath without separating from one another. All the while, Eli was leaning forward and murmuring in his boyfriend's ear softly, "It's okay, Eddie, you're safe. We're here to help, we're gonna do whatever it takes to help."
He made eye contact with Robin over his boyfriend's shoulder as she bent to take in deep breaths with Steve, his eyes genuinely concerned as he made the 'OK' sign at her in a roundabout way of asking if Steve was alright. She gave the man a barely-there nod as she reached out her hand to hold Steve's shoulder, helping him partially lower himself to a sitting position against the wall he was pinned to less than a minute ago as he caught his breath.
Dustin came to stand just a few feet behind Eddie, slowly lowering himself into a crouch to not startle the man as he said, "Eddie, we just want to talk."
"We want to know what happened," Robin added earnestly, following Dustin's lead as she came to crouch just a few feet away from where he and Eli were hunched together.
Eli's heart broke at the shaking he felt wrack Eddie's frame as he pulled away just a few inches from where he'd been hiding his face in Eli's chest, turning slightly to face the others with tears in his eyes as he sniffed, "You won't believe me."
"Try us," Max challenged immediately, knowing full well that the people in this room were probably the only people in the whole of Hawkins who would stand a chance of believing him. Not only because they were all, in some way or another, connected to Eddie but because they'd all seen things beyond most people's wildest imaginations.
++++++++++
Eddie had separated from Eli somewhat when he had started explaining everything that'd happened to the group, though he kept their hands linked together on the dock between them where they sat still. The story started the same as he and Max had concluded: Chrissy came to Eddie looking for drugs (what or why she was looking was never brought up), he brought her back to his trailer when he realized he didn't have all of his supplies with him, and he came back from his room to find her in some... catatonic state.
"Her body just, like, lifted up into the air and, uh... and she just, like, hung there. In the air," Eddie recounted, his eyes fixed on some far-off space in the room and haunted by the images he was replaying in his mind, "And her bones, uh... she-"
The man cut himself off mid-sentence, a whimper leaving his lips as his hand involuntarily tightened where it was held against Eli's and his boyfriend wanted so badly to pull him into his arms. He knew that he needed to say this though, not only to get it off his chest but to let their group know what they were up against this time.
The look in his eyes when they finally opened again was a familiar one, a blend of helplessness and disbelief and fear that he'd seen in all of their eyes at least once before, that he'd seen in Max's eyes only a few months prior as Billy had lain dying in their arms. He had hoped this was all behind them, that the other members of their group could die never having to experience any of the horrors of the Upside Down again and wishing to leave the ones of their group who'd never witnessed it untainted by its monstrosities.
"Her bones started to snap. And her eyes, man, it was like there was something... something, like, inside her head, pulling," Eddie's voice shook even more as he started describing the specifics, seeing and hearing each detail again in his head in the perfect clarity that had been haunting him all day, "I... I didn't know what to do, so I... I ran away. I left her there." He turned his head away from where he'd been facing the group this entire time, trying subtly to wipe the tears that'd streaked down his cheeks and gathered in his eyes while he was talking before turning back with a sardonic, "You all think I'm crazy, right?"
"No, we don't think you're crazy at all," Dustin said honestly, his voice still gentle and his eyes reflecting what they all felt.
"No, don't bullshit me, man! I know how this sounds," Eddie raised his voice hysterically, more tears falling down his cheeks as he made an effort to keep his eyes from meeting theirs.
For the first time since Eli had decided to keep this side of his life from Eddie, he regretted not telling him. Not because he thought knowing would make what he witnessed any easier, Eli wasn't disillusioned enough to believe anything in the world could make that easier. But, he reasoned with himself, at least Eddie wouldn't have felt so completely alone. At least he wouldn't have felt the need to run off without telling Eli or Max what'd happened or where he was going for fear of being called crazy. Or even worse, for fear of being accused of doing the exact thing that had scared him into running.
Eli wanted so badly to reassure him, to tell him that they'd seen things just as crazy if not even more insane, but it was Max's voice that cut him off, "We're not bullshitting you, Eddie. We believe you."
Eddie blew out a sharp breath and curled in on himself even further, his eyes cast completely to the side as they seemingly were still replaying everything he'd detailed to their group just a minute ago. "Eddie, there are things we've been keeping from you these past few months, things that we've been keeping from the rest of Hawkins to keep everyone... safe," Eli explained softly, reaching out his free hand to rest on Eddie's cheek and pulling the other man to face him, "but we need you to keep an open mind because Hawkins is different from anywhere else in the world."
Eddie looked so lost when he finally raised those big brown eyes to meet Eli's, his voice quiet when he murmured, "How?"
"You know how people say Hawkins is... cursed? Well, they're not way off," Dustin stopped for a moment in consideration, his brows furrowing as he explained, "There's another world, another world hidden beneath Hawkins. Sometimes it... bleeds into ours."
Eddie narrowed his eyes from where they'd focused on the younger boy as he spoke, confusion in his voice as he clarified, "Like, ghosts and shit?"
"There are some things worse than ghosts," Max stated definitively, the look in her eyes telling the story of all the horrors she'd seen spawned from that other world. Flesh-hungry dogs devoid of faces and mind-controlling beasts with the ability to reanimate flesh, plumes of smoke capable of possession and creatures with a hive mind strong enough to decimate an entire fleet of soldiers with little warning.
"These monsters from this other world, we thought they were gone but they've come back before," Dustin continued, his voice grim, "That's why we needed to find you."
Max nodded in agreement, "If they're back again, we need to know."
"Was there anything else... strange that happened when you were with Chrissy? Anything you heard or saw?" Eli grasped Eddie's hand even more tightly in his when he asked, knowing that Eddie would have to dig even further into those unwanted memories to pick up on the minute details, "They could've been small spores in the air, chittering noises, anything out of the ordinary."
Upon seeing Eddie starting to shake his head, Dustin leaned forward slightly and described, "It would almost look like dust, swirling dust."
"No, man, there was nothing you could see or, uh... or touch," Eddie answered immediately, shaking his head even more vehemently before that distant look settled into his eyes again, "You know, I tried to wake her, man. She couldn't move. It was like she... she was in a t-trance or something."
"Or under a spell," Dustin suggested.
"A curse."
Dustin's eyes grew wider in realization, "Vecna's curse."
Steve finally spoke from where he'd been silent at the back of the group, his eyes furrowing as he looked between all the other members of their group and asked, "Who's Vecna?"
"An undead creature of great power," Dustin explained gravely, his eyes only getting wider as the gravity of the situation began to set in, "A dark wizard."
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