CHAPTER XXX:
girl talk

( March 1986 )

      "SO, UH, THIS PLACE IS LIKE HAWKINS, BUT WITH MONSTERS AND NASTY SHIT?" Eddie questioned while standing on top of a sloped boulder.

      "Pretty much," Nancy answered while helping Steve up. Eddie nodded beginning to take a step down but Nancy interrupted him. "Watch out for the vines, it's all a hive mind."

      Eddie's face twisted, "it's all a what?" he asked.

      "All the creepy crawlies around here, dude. They're, like, one or something. Step on a vine, you're stepping on a bat, which means you're stepping on Vecna," Steve simplified.

      Paling, Eddie muttered, "shit," before cautiously inching down.

      Cleo stood beside Robin, a lopsided grin on her features while she watched Eddie carefully come down. Robin glanced at her, an amused smile suddenly taking over her face. "You're drooling," she nudged her.

      Cleo blinked feeling her cheeks heat up, "am not."

      "Mhm," Robin hummed before a lightbulb went off in her head. "Everything from our world is still here, right? Except for people, obviously."

      "As far as I understand, yeah," Nancy answered.

      "So, theoretically, we could go to the police station and steal guns and grenades and whatever we need to blow up those bat things that are guarding the gate?" Robin asked.

      "Yeah, I highly doubt that the Hawkins P.D has grenades, Robin. But, guns, yeah, sure," Steve said.

      "Well, we don't have to go all the way downtown for guns," Nancy spoke up lost in thought. "I have guns, in my bedroom."

      Cleo smiled to herself at Nancy's declaration of owning weapons while Eddie hopped down from the boulder he had climbed. "You, Nancy Wheeler, have guns, plural, in your bedroom?" Eddie asked disbelievingly.

      "Full of surprises, isn't she?" Robin commented.

      "A Russian Makarov and a revolver," she answered.

      "Yeah, you almost shot me with that one," Steve spoke up from behind her.

      "You almost deserved it." Cleo, Robin, and Eddie shared slightly disgusted and out-of-place looks with each other at the sight of Steve and Nancy's interaction.

      Shrugging off his vest, Eddie threw it into Steve's face to get him out of his staring daze. "For your modesty, dude."

      Just as the group was going to continue on with their journey, the ground began the shake tremendously. Robin fell into Cleo's arms as the two of them moved around trying to gain balanced footing until Cleo inevitably fell into Eddie causing the trio to fall down. Cleo supported Robin with her injured arm, careful to not touch her where she had been hurt but holding her at the dent of her elbow, and her left hand had gone to Eddie's under-thigh to hold on for comfort and stability while his right arm secured around her torso.

Once the earthquake stopped, the group of five all took a moment to compose themselves and relax their muscles before moving on. "Yeah, so guns seem like a pretty good idea," Eddie spoke first.

"Yeah, me too," Robin agreed.

"Definitely," Cleo groaned from her spot of leaning to the side on Eddie's thigh.

"So what are we waiting for?" Steve rhetorically asked while clicking on their flashlight and beginning to walk into the forest.

"COULDN'T WE HAVE TRIED A ROAD, OR SOMETHING A LITTLE LESS CREEPY?" Robin dreadfully asked while stepping over a vine.

      "I think we're getting close," Nancy reassured. "We're almost out of here, don't worry."

"I hope so," Cleo nervously said while itching at her neck. "It feels like there's always something crawling on me. Do you think there are mosquitoes here?"

      "Blood-sucking mosquitoes?" Robin questioned.

      "Mosquitoes already suck blood but what if they suck, like, a deadly amount?" Cleo theorized.

      Feeling Cleo's paranoia like an aura, Robin suddenly overcame the same worry and felt slightly itchy. "Now why would you say that to me?"

"Eddie," Steve called out from behind the girls to the metalhead who hadn't paid him any attention. "Eddie, hey, man." He finally got his attention and they began walking beside each other. "Listen, I just, uh... I wanted to say thanks." Eddie gave him a confused look. "For saving my ass back there," Steve elaborated.

"Shit, you saved your own ass, man. I mean that was a real Ozzy move back there," Eddie complimented.

Steve thought for a moment before questioning it, "Ozzy?"

"When you took a bite out of that bat," Eddie added. Steve didn't catch on. "Ozzy Osbourne?" Nothing. "Black Sabbath?" Zip. "He bit a bats head off onstage." Steve still had nothing. "Doesn't matter. It's very metal, what you did. That's all I'm saying."

"Thanks," was all Steve said.

"Henderson told me you were a badass, insisted on the matter, in fact," Eddie changed the subject.

      "Henderson said that?" Steve asked, a hint of surprise in his tone.

      "Oh yeah. Shit. Kid worships you, dude. Like, you have no idea. It's kinda annoying, to be honest," Eddie went on. "I don't even know why I care what that little shrimp thinks, but, uh, guess I got a little jealous Steve. I guess I couldn't accept the fact that Steve Harrington was actually a good dude."

Eddie debated on whether or not he should go on with the matter, he spared a glance ahead to see Cleo chatting away with Robin, no doubt talking about any random thing to take their minds off of the situation. But he continued on.

"Rich parents, popular, chicks love him." Eddie cast an unintentional glance up at Cleo. "Not a douche? No way, man. No way. That, like, flies in the face of all the laws of the universe and by my own Munson doctrine. Still super jealous, by the way. Which is why I would have never jumped in that lake to save your ass," Eddie admitted. "Not under any, uh... normal circumstances."

      A branch snapped in the distance and the two boys halted their conversation and walking to shine the flashlight in Steve's hand in the direction of the sound.

      "Nope. Outside of D&D, I am no hero. I just turn heel and run. At least that's what I've learned about myself this past week," Eddie said sounding somewhat ashamed.

      Steve nudged his shoulder, "give yourself a break, man-"

      "See," Eddie cut Steve off and held him back. "The only reason I came down here was because those ladies," he pointed ahead with his pinky, "came in straight after you. Even Dora, who is deathly afraid of large bodies of water," he broke his eye contact with Steve to look at the girl who had kissed him.

"Now, I was too ashamed to be the one who stayed behind. But Wheeler right there, she didn't waste a second. Not one second. She just dove right in. Now, I don't know what happened between you two, I honestly believed something was going on between you and Cleo for a moment there until about an hour ago, but if I were you, I would get her back. 'Cause, that was as unambiguous a sign of true love as these cynical eyes have ever seen."

A moment passed between the two, Steve pondering his thoughts on Eddie's words. "Wait, me and Cleo- what happened?" Steve's new thoughts came to question but just before Eddie could let one syllable fall past his lips, the ground shook again.

"Okay, second on my list of least favorite things, earthquakes. Seriously, I'm unsteady enough as it is," Robin rushed out from ahead of the guys in her group with Cleo and Nancy.

      Holding her right hand away from the ground, Cleo had situated herself on the ground to avoid any more shaking being inflicted on herself. "I agree, and my list is very long!"

      Ignoring the two girls, Nancy moved from her spot of holding onto a rotting tree and began running.

      "What the hell?" Cleo questioned loudly.

      "Nancy? Where are you going?" Robin called out to the moving girl as the ground began to steady.

      The two girls ran after Nancy, as unbalanced as they naturally were, and found her staring at her house in the distance. The boys had soon followed to join the trio while they all took a moment to acknowledge what seemed to be a scarlet storm brewing just above the Wheeler resistance.

      "Come on."

NOTE. ya girl published that fic i mentioned in the last chapter‼️ its a more normal fic without any of the upside down or vecna and its just eddie with a stingy scholar girl ( shameless self promo )