Dear Billy

[the_freak]

It was risky, hanging around the hospital like this when pretty much all of Hawkins was still convinced he was to blame for all of this, but Eddie felt like he owed it to Max to visit. It was rough seeing her like that. And he couldn't help the gnawing guilt that if any of them should have lost to this thing it was him. Each of them meant so much to so many people, and here he was, bruised and bandaged, but alive. And the only person who might have cared to know it had to think he was dead. It didn't seem fair.

He ducked outside for a smoke, keeping his head down, but people were too preoccupied with the mess that had opened up under them to be worried about hunting the Freak. As far as they were concerned the Munson boy was dead, and good riddance.

Trying to get the damn smoke to light, Eddie grew still, eyes suddenly catching a familiar set of piercing blue ones, and seeing that moment of recognition in them he paled. He abruptly turned tail, walking aimlessly around the side of the building and praying silently he'd only imagined that look of recognition.

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[the_freak]

"Very comforting," Eddie mumbles, all ready half asleep. He's maybe been pushing it a bit, and evidently he isn't all that wary of Billy or Hargrove murdering him in his sleep, because not long after he's out cold.

[playingtough]

It seems Hargrove's thought of sleeping with another warm body close worked. Billy had no nightmares through the night. No waking up screaming, no kicking, no fighting. There was something different at least.

Maybe it was because he had gone months without some sort of interaction, or maybe he had gotten cold. But somewhere in the night, Billy had turned over and moved in his sleep. It started with him tucking his head under Eddie's chin, then to getting part of his face between the pillow and the teen's neck. But he was quiet, settled, blissfully unaware of his position which could almost be considered intimate.

[the_freak]

Likewise, Eddie slept soundly, not waking as Billy got closer through out the night, and when he does finally yawn and shift as the daylight streams in through the window he freezes up in surprise.

Cheeks pink, he finds himself looking over Billy's peaceful face, and he tries to even out his breathing to keep from waking him.

[playingtough]

His legs have wiggled around Eddie’s, one arm thrown over him too. Billy sleeps soundly, with really only a light snore coming from him. When Eddie stiffens, it makes him shift. He felt it.

Grumbling, the blond pushes with his body until Eddie was on his back and Billy could lay more on him. The change in position at least stops the snore. But this version of Billy is probably the furthest from whatever Eddie thought of him. He rubs his cheek on the metalhead‘s chest before shifting again. Waking up. A soft groan and the eyes start fluttering open.

[the_freak]

Oh- okay- Eddie doesn't see much choice but to allow himself to be pushed into place, blinking in surprise and confused amusement as Billy uses him as a human pillow. Who the hell is he to object?

"...hey?" he greets with a soft laugh once he sees those eyes flutter open.

[playingtough]

Billy feels soft. Because this is Billy, not Hargrove, and he’s warm and comfortable. It had been a long time waking up as either of those. Eddie gets space as he sits up, rubbing the sleep from blue eyes. Light dances over his curls and skin and he looks to the other.

"…What happened last night? You wanted… to talk to me and I think I passed out. 'M sorry. Was it important?"

[the_freak]

God, why's he have to look...angelic? Eddie wets his lips, glancing away.

"...Nah," Eddie dismisses, flashing a small smile, "Nothing big," he assures, "You needed your rest. Feeling any better?"

[playingtough]

Those eyes narrow in on the pink tongue wetting lips. Billy doesn’t say anything when Eddie glances away. He had thoughts, but there was something in his mind tugging like they needed to be taken out of the forefront of his mind. Maybe they did.

A smile, a nod and he lays back down next to the other. Very close to him. Human contact is nice and Eddie seems okay. He keeps helping with the passing out episodes he’s been having. "I think I’m still tired but I can’t tell if I am or if it’s the tired I feel all the time."

As far as Billy knew, his body should be recuperating energy when he passes out. "…maybe we can go get my car today."

[the_freak]

"You've been through a lot, it's going to take a while," he assures with a shrug. Which is partly true.

Interest sparks in Eddie's eye at the mention of the car. He's admired it in the past, always wanted to get his hands on the thing.

"You know where it might be?" he asks, "We could do that."

[playingtough]

When was the last time he saw his car? Fragments of memories try to leak through. A mall parking lot. Racing towards the kids Max hung out with. Getting it hit by a different car - Harrington. "…junkyard probably. Maybe they fixed it up thinking it’s abandoned."

Curls frame his head as he turns it to look at Eddie. "I’ll have to go back to my house to get the deed to prove it’s mine." It’s the only thing that had really been his that he valued like he did the jar of shells.

[the_freak]

"Shouldn't be too hard then." Junkyard workers generally aren't too fussed as long as they get their money. Probably won't concern themselves with the walking corpses looking to retrieve the car.

"We can see if it's still there. If not it might be at Max's place."

[playingtough]

"I think I kept them hidden in my room." But they had already gone to the house once. All that was really in there were the shells but it wouldn't hurt to check, right?

"Okay. We'll check the house, then wherever Max lives if it's not there." Right. Neil and Susan were divorced. Did Eddie say that his dad skipped town? Here was hoping. Maybe he was out on a business trip to the city. Small hopes.

He gets back to his feet and stretches out, then ruffles through his short hair with a hand. "Maybe we can get something to eat, too." One of them was going to have to get a job, before Billy ate them broke.

[the_freak]

Yeah, Harrington's cash wasn't going to hold out for long, and Eddie wasn't able to get a REAL job even before being a wanted criminal.

"Road trip. Sweet. God it's like you're eating for two," he teases, but nods. They'll have to grab something. Hell, he's hungry too.

[playingtough]

He'd have to get a job at some point. Maybe the junkyard could hire him on as a mechanic. Junkyards didn't ask a lot of questions, and a lot of them hired some shady people as it were.

Billy doesn't get the joke, but he smiles all the same. A smile like a warm California sunset, even with as thin as he is. "I do like eating. The blond gets dressed quickly (taking a moment to snap the stray snipped hairs from his shirt) and pulling his boots on. "We'll go to my house first. The house was empty but that doesn't mean they found my stuff."

He got the shells from his house, which was the most important thing. "...We have cupcakes, right?" Maybe he could have one later.

[the_freak]

"They're supposed to be for your birthday," Eddie notes with a smirk, tugging on his jacket but nodding, "They're your cupcakes though, can have 'em whenever." Wait is today- Eddie looks at his watch- forgetting again that the stupid thing is broken.

[playingtough]

Billy thinks about the date. It was a little early for it, wasn't it? But he had missed it last year, so maybe it was okay to celebrate it a little early. Something to keep in mind for later. He wants his car first.

"It's the twenty-eighth. Officially we can have them tomorrow." Because he at least remember Eddie talking about the date, though it feels... distant. A lot of his memories are like that, so Billy doesn't question it. A hand runs through his curls and he heads out to the car.

[the_freak]

"Because we're both known for doing things 'officially'," Eddie teases lightly.

"I won't tell if you don't. But we should save at least one for the day."

[playingtough]

When Billy turns his head, his eyes are bright at the idea of having the cupcakes early. "Who're we gonna tell anyways, Eddie?" he teases back, smirking as he settles in his seat.

"There's probably a cake candle leftover in the house somewhere. And I have a lighter in my jacket." He thinks about where the things could be at. The house was practically empty when they were there yesterday. Candles might be in a drawer in the kitchen. As for the deed to his car...

"There's a floorboard in my room. Can be pulled up using a knife or something. The deed is in there." Along with some other stuff, but that wasn't the important part.

[the_freak]

"You'll have to think of a good wish." They can use all the luck they can get.

"Wanna grab anything before we head out?" he asks, grabbing out a slice of bread for himself and just tearing into it dry.

[playingtough]

"My life back might be a good one," and he follows Eddie into the kitchen. He grabs his own bit of bread to munch into for the moment. Filling, and it settled into his stomach well enough that he wouldn't see it a second time. "This'll be fine. We should get something on the way back though. Bread is not going to cut it for too much longer."

And to add to the point, his stomach growled its agreement. He heads out of the house and to Eddie's heisted vehicle of choice.

[the_freak]

"Be a hell of a wish. You'll have to hope the world's really pulling for you," he teases.

Climbing into the car, Eddie has to work his magic to get it started again and off the go.

[playingtough]

"It was apparently pulling for me to stay alive," he points out with his own little smile back.

The drive back to the former Hargrove house is quiet aside from the music. Once they're there, he leads them back inside once again after checking to make sure that no one was really watching. Billy leads them to the kitchen and starts hunting through the drawers.

"Should be some little birthday candles somewhere in here. And maybe some lighters and maybe matches. You can go through anything, I don't fucking care."

[the_freak]

"That's a big one. If it's not pulling for that one you're pretty much boned," Eddie agrees with a laugh.

Back at the house, Eddie ponders at the odds and ends left behind, wondering which things made the cut for the move and why. "Not like anyone else is using any of it, we might as well take anything that could come in handy."

[playingtough]

While the house was empty of furniture, it was clear that the rest of the family was quick to move out. Maybe Neil went back to California. Did he and Eddie talk about it already? He can't remember. Being out in the open is weird again.

The kitchen has some little trinkets and knick-knacks left about. Magnets on the fridge (the bank Neil and Susan worked at; a magnet for the zoo), some slightly rusty scissors, and a drawer filled with odds and ends. Batteries that may or may not have charge; some phone little twistie ties; unused birthday candles. Only the numbers 5 and 2 were left though for those, and an assortment of stick ones around them. It was something at least.

"Take whatever you want."

Billy heads into his room. It's empty, with rectangles on the wall where his posters had once been up. There's a lingering smell of cigarettes and cologne despite how long he's been gone. He wastes no time going over to the back corner that his bed covered up, and pried up a board to get into the hole underneath. A shoebox covered in duct-tape to protect it was removed and he opened it--

And let out a relieved sigh. The deed hadn't been touched. Phew. "I got it, Eddie. The deed is still in here."

[the_freak]

Eddie starts grabbing everything. Never know when it might come in handy and it's not like anyone's going to miss it. It feels a bit like the old days working with his Old Man, but he pushes that thought aside and finds a worn bag to shovel the odds and ends into.

He hears Billy's voice and wanders in after it, looking around the room and trying to picture it as it had been. "Any other fun secrets in there?" he asks with a teasing voice, trying to sneak a peek at the box.