"ALL RIGHT, SO WHAT'S THE PLAN?" Eddie asked once the five of them regrouped and recuperated from tonight's revelations. Nick was still internally reeling from the reassurance that he was—and had been, in fact, seeing double. He still wasn't sure where it was coming from, though.

"I have to take the kids back home, but you'll continue to stay here and maybe Nick can stay with you for tonight," Steve began, pointing to Dustin and Max as he went on.

"And why do I have to stay with him exactly?" Nick asked before turning to Eddie. "No offense."

Eddie put his hands up in surrender, nodding. "None taken because I don't see why you have to stay, either. There's only so much room in the boat."

"Then why don't you stay in the house?" Steve asked. Eddie refrained from giving Steve a look. "Well, since Reefer Rick is in prison, I can't have the house looking like I'm in there or someone'll think that somebody broke in."

"Can't you just say that you're house sitting?"

Eddie blew out a puff of air, chuckling lightly. "I'm gonna be house sitting for a long time, then."

"I can stay in the house for the night, get out before sunrise to check on him." Nick shrugged, looking around. They all nodded, seemingly agreeing with the notion. Steve started herding the kids and Robin back to the car to get them back home for the night, which left Eddie and Nick by their lonesome.

"Now what?" Eddie asked, looking towards Nick, who shrugged, at a loss. "Are you actually gonna stay in the house, man?"

"I mean, it's not like I can share the boat with you, dude. Talk about cramped."

"You didn't even try."

Nick raised a mischievous brow. "You really wanna see if we both fit?"

Then it was Eddie's turn to shrug. "All I ask of you is to keep your tension in check."

"Like you aren't the one to get turned on by everything." Nick huffed out a laugh and got up, against his better judgement. He eyed the boat and he could already feel himself developing a mild case of scoliosis.

"At least I can keep it in my pants."
"And that would be because you wouldn't have anywhere else to put it." Nick made a "what now?" face, smirking.

"I am not afraid to smother you in your sleep and that I will proudly go to jail for." Eddie pointed a finger at him and Nick smacked it away. Nick looked at the boat again and sighed. "We aren't gonna fit. It's probably just best if you stay in the boat and I sleep on the floor or something."

"Come on, we didn't even try and see."

"I've got, like, four inches on you, dude. I'm gonna get really bad posture when I'm older if I try to fit myself inside that boat."

Eddie sighed. "Well, guess you're shit outta luck as far as sleeping situations go." He sat down, eyeing something in the boat before asking, "I've been meaning to ask: what happened between you and Jason?"

Nick's heart stuttered at the phrasing. Chill out, he thought, not really sure why he did because it wasn't like Eddie had any supernatural hearing—not that he knew of, anyway. "What do you mean?" Nick asked in return.

"When he came storming out of the bathroom all flushed and shit and you followed. . .wait. Did you two—" Eddie's eyes widened at what he was asking.

"Would you put your eyes back in your head, man?" Nick rolled his eyes at Eddie's bugged-out expression. "And no, we didn't. It's. . .complicated, alright?"

Eddie nodded, seemingly understanding. "So, what happened, then?"

Nick pulled in his bottom lip, contemplating on whether or not he wanted to rehash the very weird history he had with the star basketball player to Eddie. Eddie was his friend, of course, but it wasn't like he needed to know this very little blip in Nick's life. Would it affect either of them down the line and bite them in the ass? Maybe. But Nick decided he would deal with it when it came to.

Finally, Nick let out a sigh. "Jason and I, we sort of. . .hung out, for a while."

Eddie let out a huffed laugh and then a snort. "That's it? That's your big secret? I mean, I guess it makes sense. It's not every day someone like you would hang with the A-crowd. Even the other way around. No offense, but what did Jason want with you, anyway?"

"I'm still trying to make sense of it, even now. I don't even know if I can go into detail about it—"

"Please, Jesus Christ," Eddie waved a hand, "spare me the fucking details."

"Sure, but here's how it started. . ."

1984

When 17-year-old Nick opened the front door, he wasn't expecting Jason Carver, of all people, to be standing behind it, let alone know where he lived. Jason had his hands shoved into the pockets of his varsity jacket, looking lost and oddly. . .pathetic? Nick couldn't quite place it. Then, it hit him. Jason was nervous. Nick clocked it when he saw Jason shift his weight between his feet, teetering slightly from side to side and doing his best to avoid eye contact.

"Can I, uh, can I come in?" Jason finally spoke, lifting his head to see Nick sporting a cut across the bridge of his nose. His eyebrows stitched together in worry as he asked, "What happened to you?" His tone took a dip into new territory—it was teetering on the edge of caring, a slow hand reaching out.

"Deer knife accident," Nick shrugged, yet to make a move because he was still hellishly confused, "don't worry about it. Can I ask why you want to come in?"

"Why would you have a deer knife that close to your face?"

"It was either that or accidentally blowing my head off with the shotgun in the backyard. Please answer the question, Jason."

Jason then looked around, teetering a little more before blowing out air through his teeth. "I. . .I don't even really know how to explain this," he let out a short, embarrassed chuckle, "but I've been thinking. . .and you're really the only one I know of that I can talk to about this sorta thing, so—"

"Are you asking for my advice or are you looking for something to do? Because I can give you the advice but I don't think you'll find what you're searching for here."

"I can't really go anywhere else." It wasn't Jason's attempt at guilt-tripping Nick, but after a solid thirty seconds of silence, Nick sighed and nudged the door open a little wider to let Jason in. Once he stepped in, Nick closed the door behind him.

"Is anyone else here?" Jason asked, looking around, taking note of the upsetting lack of family pictures. There was one, though, sitting on the table next to the door—a baby and someone who Jason assumed to be Nick's mother; he could tell because they had the same eyes. The baby's smile practically took up his whole face, dimples carving themselves into the soft flesh of his cheeks. There was a light in the baby's eyes.

"No, my dad won't be back until early next morning since he works the night shift. You want a snack or something?" Nick's voice crash landed through Jason's ears, tearing his eyes from the picture frame.

Jason shook his head, taking his varsity jacket off to hang it on the hook by the door. He stood in the entryway, watching Nick shuffle around as he filed through the kitchen cabinets until he found what he was looking for, which was apparently a water glass as he filled it up from the tap, and walked out of the kitchen, heading up the stairs to his room. Jason followed close behind, tennis shoes squeaking.

"So what did you wanna ask?" Nick asked, turning around and crossing his arms, guarded, water glass on the edge of his desk.

Jason felt a little silly with his question now, but he had to ask. "Do you like movies?" And if Nick was smart, and Jason knew he was, he'd be able to read between the lines.

Nick quirked an eyebrow, and Jason did his best to clarify. "You. . .you just seem like the kind of person who likes. . .movies."

Slowly, Nick caught on, eyebrows raising a bit as his face took on a subtle "oh" expression. Surprised and slightly bemused, Nick nodded. "Yeah, I like. . .movies. I believe the key is finding a movie that you really connect with and that connects with you. Getting the right one, though, is a really, really, good feeling. Why do you ask?"

"I just found myself thinking, ya know," Jason started, trailing off as he tried to find his footing, "and then I thought that I'd see what you're doing, what you're up to."

"Wait, you came all this way to say that you wanna hang out with me?"

Jason knit his eyebrows together. "You sound offended."

"I'm confused. I have nothing to offer, we're nothing alike. Trust me, we wouldn't get along."

"We seem to be doing pretty okay right now, don't ya think?"

Nick raised his hands in mock surrender. "Only because you haven't threatened to punch me yet."

Jason rolled his eyes, but didn't take offense to the jab. "I don't wanna punch you. But. . .but could you help me?"

"How exactly?"

"Just. . .talk me through it maybe?" Jason started pacing, "How'd you manage to shut that voice up in your head?"

Nick laughed. "Who ever said it stopped talking? Look, that voice is always gonna be there, whether you like it or not. Or maybe I'm wrong. But you can learn to quiet that voice down."

"How'd you do it?"

"I kinda just ignore it and let it run its course. Soon enough, it'll get tired of talking until it finds something new to talk about. And the cycle repeats."

Jason nodded, seeming to be taking it all in. "Okay."

"What brought this on, anyway? If you don't mind my asking."

"You," Jason answered.

1986 — Present Day

"So you were, like, Jason's awakening or something?" Eddie asked, still having a hard time wrapping his head around it. Not sure why he wanted to wrap his head around it, but it would put his mind at ease if he could connect the dots.

"I mean, I wouldn't put it like that." Nick shrugged.

"Is there really any other way to put it?" Eddie countered, "Church boy with the preacher father and the heftiest stick up his ass starts thinking about ungodly things and feels like he's securing a one-way ticket to Hell in his mind by toying with the idea?"

"But why me?"

"I don't know if you've noticed, Bender, but you're quite the charmer. Who can resist that soft face and those big doe eyes of yours?"

"I could say the same about you," Nick stated simply, "still doesn't answer why Jason liked me."

Eddie looked like he wanted to poke his own eye out. "Some people just like people, okay? The brain works in weird and mysterious and shitty ways. Have you also considered that you may be attractive to some people? What about Thatcher? Steve's brother?"

"What about him?" Nick raised an eyebrow, still confused as to where this was going.

"Please don't tell me you never noticed him trying to flirt with you. PE was already unbearable enough with having to play shirts versus skins."

"Dude, he's a Harrington; they flirt with anything that has a pulse. That's their type. Where are you even going with this?"

"You're attractive, Nick, believe it or not."

That got Nick's brain to shut up for a little bit, halting and short-circuiting before kicking in again. A red rush crept up his face at the compliment, unsure of what to do. "Huh" was all he said, was all he could say.  "We should probably turn the light out, don't want us looking suspicious in the dead of night."

    "Wait, I thought keeping the light on meant that it'd lessen the chance of the house getting robbed."

    "Edward Christopher Munson, you are currently a fugitive on the run and you wanna keep the fucking light on?" Nick had to keep himself from bursting with laughter.

    "Oy, fuck off and go to sleep, Bender." Eddie lay down in the boat and rolled over. "I regret telling you my government name."

    "Night, Edward."

    Eddie threw up a middle finger in response before Nick turned the light out and all that could be heard was the creak of the boat and the silent slush of the water.

AUTHOR'S STICKY NOTE.
oh my god, an update !
we got a little bit more insight into nick and jason's dynamic and i wish i could say that was all a little plotless side quest but it does play into everything else and whether or not jason puts a target on nick's back while he looks/hunt for eddie. preacher's son has a conflict of interest, yay !!

ne way, tell me what you thought ! i'd love to know <33