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[camarod]

psycho man

bhargrove#1969

---

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[heatmetal]

Or a flamethrower.

[ just what the actual fuck. ]

Why are they swarming the building?

[camarod]

They're swarming your window. Specifically.

[a beat.] But it's fine. It's cool. We're cool.

[heatmetal]

Great! Just perfect!

[ he's just going to get eaten alone its nbd. ]

[camarod]

- They're regular bats.

[he is reaching, tentatively, for Eddie's wrist. squeezing, firm. hopes it grounding in some way. thinks to stand between him and the window, because that's what he would have wanted someone to do, once.

this is new territory for him. he doesn't know how to be comforting. ] They're just regular old bats, with regular old little teeth. C'mon, look at me Eddie. In the eyes. They're not gonna eat you. I can stay, make sure.

[heatmetal]

[ yeah. they are. little tiny bats. they're not like, little piranhas with wings. he meets billy's gaze, focuses on his grounding touch.

It's not that they're going to eat him. But Vecna always made animals go weird, right? That was the prelude to disaster, wasn't it? Something about rats and flesh monsters and -

God, he hates this shit. He'd rather it go back to just being text on a page. ]

Right. Appreciate that. [ because the bats are less the problem. he can hear... voices, he guesses. words almost. let us in let us in and that feels like something bad waiting to happen. ]

[camarod]

[he used to be a sensitive kid. used to know how to cheer his mom up the right way, used to know all the birthdays of the kids in his classes, used to share all his coloured pencils.

now it's gone. the muscle memory is weak; but he can try, he thinks, to reach for some of it. he squeezes his wrist again, hums under his breath and then chews his bottom lip. thinks. ]

We can do music. Drown out the chatter.

[heatmetal]

[ if it is vecna then music is probably their best call here. ]

[ okay, calm the fuck down, eddie. he feels less like a shaken soda can and more a deflated one, and that's - at least going to guarantee he's not going to do something stupid like run into steve's room, grab a can of hairspray, and do what he used to do when wasps nested around the yard. ] I owe you some music anyway.

[camarod]

Yeah, you do. C'mon.

[he glances at the bats, watches them hover and waver against the light. he wets his lips. ]

You wanna keep calling Harrington? I can go haul his ass out of bed. Make it a party.

[heatmetal]

He's... Yeah, if this is going to be a situation then he should probably be in the know. [ Eddie falters for a minute, tilting his head back. ] But I fucked up, man.

[ Luckily his guitar is no where near the window. He picks it up. ]

[camarod]

[A beat. ]

That I find hard to believe. [finally. finally he gets the juice details -] What happened?

[heatmetal]

Uhhhh...

[ Keeping his back to Billy for a minute as he fiddles with his baby. It's not his baby but the weight in his hands is comforting all the same. There's an acoustic guitar tucked in the corner. ]

I do what I always do and freaked the fuck out. [ his fingers strum along the keys and he drops heavily down onto the bed, sparing the bats another glance. ] Bit his head off for nothing. Fucked up explaining it, too.

[camarod]

[he does sort of wish he could revel in the discord even just a bit. wishes he didn't like eddie so much so he could needle and prod, get some kind of reaction that would be satisfying.

instead, he sits next to him, leans back on his elbows and stares up at the ceiling. cannot believe how goddamn stupid these two are. ]

Can I be real with you?

[heatmetal]

I'd be offended if you weren't.

[ flicking the amp on with his toe and letting his fingers just mindlessly pick a tune. ]

[camarod]

You two are the biggest morons I have ever met.

[he hums again, then tilts his head, eyeing Eddie, chews the inside of his mouth. ] We hung out earlier. [he lifts a brow. ] Good little boys, like I said.

[his foot is tapping. one of them, anyway.] I promised him not to snitch this time. But you're both real honest to god idiots and maybe I'd be jealous of the way you're into each other if you both didn't make me wanna gag.

[heatmetal]

Well, I was in my sixth year of highschool, so that tracks. [ it's said lightly. ] Harrington's taken plenty of knocks to the head fighting supernatural monsters so...

[ it's a little mean and he sort of regrets it. eddie's tongue starts to peak out of the corner of his mouth, the absent playing transforming into a loose cover of ace of spades. he doesn't say anything else for the duration of the song and as the last chord rings, he sighs. ]

You ever just - [ he shakes his head ] get so wound up you think you're gonna burst?

[camarod]

Have you fucking met me?

[king of getting wound up etc. he's still watching; watches the face Eddie's face works, watches the way he seems to radiate all that anxious energy in every muscle. he wets his lips again, nudging Eddie with his foot.]

You need an outlet.

[heatmetal]

You're looking at it.

[ he lifts the guitar up. d&d. hellfire. his band. everything his room is plastered in. ]

It's not that, man, it's in the moment - I make the wrong choice. Every time. Every time.

[camarod]

[he swallows. his own spit feels too thick for his throat. ]

You and me both. [always. an abundance of bad choices that have led him. here. ] This isn't just about Harrington, huh.

[heatmetal]

... Nah, man.

[ his whole life is just one big fuckup. Eddie looks down, keeps his fingers busy. his teeth worry his lower lip, brow furrowing. ]

When my eighteenth rolled around, my uncle told me I needed to start being more careful. Drop allllll the stuff he knew I was doing that he didn't know about... And what was I doing on March 21, 1986? I was selling ketamine to Chrissy Cunningham.

[camarod]

Never done a thing wrong in her life Cunningham? Carver's girl?

[there are few sentences that might shock him, but this does. Billy and the cheerleaders were always - flirty, he guesses. never anything else. he only knows Chrissy's name because of Carver, he supposes. maybe he should feel bad about that. ]

[heatmetal]

Yeah. She, uh... [ he lets out a weak sigh. ] Sweet girl. Pretty. Absolutely terrified to be sitting at that picnic table with me... I should've told her to go home, but she seemed so... sad. Desperate. Said she couldn't sleep, felt like she was losing her mind - a-and she was.

[ his fingers are shaking just a little. ]

Vecna was - he was playing with her, man. She was so damn scared. I took her to my trailer, went in my room to get the stuff, came out with the Special K and she...

[camarod]

[sweet. yeah, he remembers that. kind. he's quiet for a moment, let's Eddie get his bearings, catch his breath. after a minute he rolls onto one elbow, reaches over to squeeze his arm again. ]

That wasn't on you, Eddie.

[heatmetal]

[ his leg is bouncing. head dropping. he still sees it. hears the way her bones cracked. the empty vacant stare in her eyes, how fragile she felt under his hands. ]

I just left her there. [ it's a horrible way to die, because he has no doubt that vecna didn't let her die that instant. he'd let her experience those final moments alone on his dirty floor. alone, broken, and terrified. eddie's shoulders shake. ] She didn't deserve that. A-And if I hadn't, if I'd called for help - [ Vecna would have kept killing. And Eddie would have been free to go. ]

[camarod]

[again, he reaches for that part of him that would hold his mother after a bad fight. remember her hands in his hair, her kisses on his forehead. remembers warmth, vaguely, and knows he can't give Eddie that, not really.

still, he sits up. reaches for the guitar, gentle detangles it from Eddie's hands. places it askew against the bed, opposite the bats. then he works on muscle memory: reaches for Eddie's shoulders to pull him close, flush against his chest. Billy swallows some of that too-thick spit again and hesitates, just for a second, before he soothes one hand down Eddie's back, and then other against the back of his head. he exhales, shaky. ]

She'd still be dead, and that's not on you. It's on him. That thing. What were you supposed to do? Come on.

[heatmetal]

But maybe I wouldn't be.

[ It's selfish to say out loud. He'd given himself gladly to protect his new friends - but he remembers the cold that came after. The blood draining from his body from all these fresh new holes. Dustin sobbing as he promised to take care of everyone in his stead.

Eddie sucks in a shuddering breath, goes easily against the broader man. ]