[ it probably is for the best that they steve can't actually hear eddie, because the argument would probably go on. and on. and then on some more. steve is full of too much nervous energy, too much stress and anxiety built up back behind the wall of being okay and keeping everyone else moving. simultaneously, steve would probably want to just punch eddie. shove him up against a wall and make him explain - because with all this stuff with venca, the gates, all of it. should he be risking this?

yes. or- whether or not he should, he's going to. he is.

two taps, he can walk. ] Good, good. Okay. [ two more taps, though steve feels a bit like...not that there is hesitation, but that there's something more. the gates, a gate. god - part of steve wants to ask him to just go to the nearest fissure straight through town, but he doesn't know if that's actually going to work. he knows the gates, themselves, are decemated - but if they're going to get through, they should do it at the spots they know a gate had been. he decides to go with the tried and true, ruling out lovers lake, the house, and then-

fuck. is he really going to make eddie go back to his trailer? steve bites his lip, crossing his arms over his chest as he continues to walk - back and forth, back and forth. ] The highway. [ he says the same moment he thinks it. ] Fred- Fred Benson. He died out on the highway- um. You remember the wreck last year? That killed that one student? Can you meet me there? [ they'd talked about fred's death when they were figuring out how to kill vecna. but it's also felt like years since then, years since the scariest thing they were dealing with was the curse itself.

steve comes to a stop, arms still crossed over his chest, waiting for an answer. ]

Could you get there?