[ he'll take the cinematics, he'll be the goddamned cliche because that means he's actually returned. that he actually did something he's only ever played through at the game table, something so ridiculous it felt right to compare it to a fantasy game .
except one thing — this was real. the thought repeats itself over and over again and you know what they say, hear it enough times and you'll actually start to believe it. and steve isn't the only one who's mind goes to henderson, who eddie thought would be the last face he'd ever see and is inexplicably glad that it isn't dustin that came back to fetch him. that it wasn't dustin on that end of the light because he isn't sure he can face the kid now. no, no, he'd rather save the grand reveal when he is absolutely sure he isn't going to keel over from the exhaustion alone.
awareness returns to his state in waves, to the rhythm of a racing heartbeat before the aches and pains pulse with the punishing beat of simply being alive. eddie's eyes follow steve's gaze down, down to the front of his shirt and the sorry condition he's in, and he thinks of saying something coy like like what you see but he'll pocket that for later. steve's hand on the back of his neck is grounding. his own grip travels from elbow to shoulder and holds there, half-way for support as the grin that slides across his face is shit-eating and only mostly sane. ] Yeah. You too. [ crazy. insane. absurd.]
I don't know about you, Harrington, but I really rather not spend another second up in this shitshow. [ it doesn't exactly answer steve's question. will he be able to? god, he doesn't know but he sure hopes so. he huffs an exhale, shaking his head, and entirely ignoring the fact that he would be absolutely fine if steve didn't let go of him right now. because letting go risked the idea of him just poofing out into smoke, like some ghost of christmases past. who the hell knew what sort of tricks vecna would have up his sleeve, or what the extents of it would be. maybe the real test would be getting out, finally taking a big gulping breath of that fresh, fresh hawkins air. ] We can — we can crawl out, you can slap a bandaid on whatever pound of flesh they didn't take — you weren't kidding about that, by the way — and we can just call it a shit day.
[ speaking of which — there's a question he is afraid to ask. he'd much rather keep up the false bravado that let's face it, even he wasn't buying. but he forces his eyes back to steve's, brows furrowing before nodding towards the much-larger portal than he'd seen before. ] Hey — did the others — [ deep breath. why is he getting choked up now? ] — did everyone else make it out okay?
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except one thing — this was real. the thought repeats itself over and over again and you know what they say, hear it enough times and you'll actually start to believe it. and steve isn't the only one who's mind goes to henderson, who eddie thought would be the last face he'd ever see and is inexplicably glad that it isn't dustin that came back to fetch him. that it wasn't dustin on that end of the light because he isn't sure he can face the kid now. no, no, he'd rather save the grand reveal when he is absolutely sure he isn't going to keel over from the exhaustion alone.
awareness returns to his state in waves, to the rhythm of a racing heartbeat before the aches and pains pulse with the punishing beat of simply being alive. eddie's eyes follow steve's gaze down, down to the front of his shirt and the sorry condition he's in, and he thinks of saying something coy like like what you see but he'll pocket that for later. steve's hand on the back of his neck is grounding. his own grip travels from elbow to shoulder and holds there, half-way for support as the grin that slides across his face is shit-eating and only mostly sane. ] Yeah. You too. [ crazy. insane. absurd.]
I don't know about you, Harrington, but I really rather not spend another second up in this shitshow. [ it doesn't exactly answer steve's question. will he be able to? god, he doesn't know but he sure hopes so. he huffs an exhale, shaking his head, and entirely ignoring the fact that he would be absolutely fine if steve didn't let go of him right now. because letting go risked the idea of him just poofing out into smoke, like some ghost of christmases past. who the hell knew what sort of tricks vecna would have up his sleeve, or what the extents of it would be. maybe the real test would be getting out, finally taking a big gulping breath of that fresh, fresh hawkins air. ] We can — we can crawl out, you can slap a bandaid on whatever pound of flesh they didn't take — you weren't kidding about that, by the way — and we can just call it a shit day.
[ speaking of which — there's a question he is afraid to ask. he'd much rather keep up the false bravado that let's face it, even he wasn't buying. but he forces his eyes back to steve's, brows furrowing before nodding towards the much-larger portal than he'd seen before. ] Hey — did the others — [ deep breath. why is he getting choked up now? ] — did everyone else make it out okay?