𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲

sixteen. WORTH IT.

   

     RHYS NOW watched from behind a tree as a man took off his workbelt, something about needing a five minute break and heading into one of the porta-potties placed nearby so he carefully crouched and rushed over to where the man set down his work belt, carefully taking out the radio from the pocket.

He rushed back off into the woods, running to get back to Skull Rock as quickly as he could. He finds Eddie sitting up, looking all around frantically, "hey, hey, I'm right here." He waved and Eddie feels a sense of relief wash over as he slowly stood up. "You scared me." He says and Rhys just wraps his arms around him. Eddie hugs back instantly, closing his eyes as he sighed. "I was so worried."

"I'm sorry..." Rhys whispered back, pulling back slightly from his arms. "I got you something." He smiled and then raised the radio in his hand as Eddie chuckles. "Where'd you even get this?" He asked as he flipped it on, some men's voices coming through, talking about construction. "Oh... you know... uh, stole it." Rhys nods and Eddie chuckles, flipping the switches to get to the right frequency.

Eddie suddenly crouched down, making Rhys' eyes widen as he stepped back before sitting onto his knees in front of Eddie who raised the radio. "Dustin? Can you hear me? Anyone?" He said into the mic as Rhys just stared at him. "Eddie. Holy shit, are you okay?" Dustin replied pretty quickly as Eddie was grateful, looking up at Rhys before looking down, covering his face. "Nah, man. Pretty... pretty goddamn far from okay." He says and Rhys just rubs his arm gently with one of his hands.

"Is Rhys with you? Where are you both?"

"Yes, Rhys is with me. And we're at Skull Rock. It's between Cornwallis--" "and Garrett. Yeah, I know where that is." Steve spoke from the other end as Dustin looks up at him. "Hold tight. We're coming." The Henderson then says as Eddie closed the radio and sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Hey, everything will be okay." Rhys says quietly and Eddie looks up at him.

"Yeah?" He says and Rhys nods, smiling softly. "Yeah..." He says and Eddie sat down, leaning into Rhys' body as the blond's arms go around him. At some point while waiting, Rhys got a little bored, glancing at his boyfriend. "Do you know why this spot is popular?" Rhys whispers to him suddenly and Eddie looks up at him. "No, why?" He whispers but a small grin is on his face, proving he does, and Rhys leans down, pressing a kiss against Eddie's lips.

Eddie kissed back with just as much as passion, Rhys slowly laying down onto his back as the Munson hovered over him, his arms around Rhys' neck as the Campbell's arms are around his waist. In the middle of making out, Rhys suddenly pulled back, "I hear someone." He whispered and the two scrambled up to their feet, Eddie going ahead as he climbs up a rock, Rhys just standing there, staring.

"Come on," Eddie ushered him and when they got to the top of the rock, Rhys spots Dustin, Steve, with Robin and another girl he figured was Nancy not far behind them along with Max and some boy he did not know. "That's Nancy. And that's Lucas." Eddie whispers, clearly noticing Rhys' confusion over the two additional people. "Right." Rhys murmured as Steve and Dustin were closer now, "oh, boom! Bada bing, bada boom." Steve moved through the bushes, pushing the branches.

"There she is, Henderson. Skull Rock. In your face, man. In your stupid, cocky little face." The man in the yellow sweater says as Rhys just glanced between the two. "Doesn't make sense." Dustin says, staring at a compass as Eddie and Rhys glance at one another, unsure whether or not to make them known to the two other males. "Yeah, yeah. Even with it staring at you right in the face, you can't admit it. You just can't admit you're wrong, you little butthead." Steve says, his hands on both of his hips.

Eddie jumped down then, standing up straight as Rhys watched him with a little smirk, rolling his eyes. "I concur." He says and the two others quickly turn to look at him as Rhys carefully crawled down the rock. "You, Dustin Henderson, are a... total butthead." He says and Dustin looked relieved at the sight of Eddie, rushing over. Rhys is taken back by the boy pulling them both into a small group hug.

"Jesus, we thought you two were total goners." He says as Rhys just awkwardly pats Dustin's back, glancing over at Eddie who just patted the Henderson's back gently. "Yeah, me too, man." Eddie glanced at Rhys before looking over at Steve. "Me too." He said quietly as Dustin now pulls back, glancing over at the Harrington who just nods softly, smiling faintly at both Rhys and Eddie. "Right. So, did you get the food we were promised?" Rhys asked.

"Uh, duh." Dustin says right away, pointing towards Nancy and Robin who finally reached Skull Rock. "Oh, is that for us?" Eddie pointed to the brown paper bag in Nancy's arms. "Yes." The Wheeler smiles, handing it over. "Thank you." Rhys bows slightly, Robin smiling at the similarities between him and Eddie, but then faded when she saw his bruises.

"Woah, what happened there?" Robin asked as she pointed around her face then at Rhys'. "He got beat up by Jason and his friends for me, which was unnecessary..." Eddie says with a pointed look at the blond who glanced back at him. "I'd say worth it." He said, shrugging before they went back under the Skull Rock, Eddie crouching back down again.

Rhys sat down, his legs crossed as they ate their food and Dustin bombards them with information and also questions about what happened to them. Eddie started explaining as Rhys drank some water from the two canisters of water inside of the bag. He hands the other one to Eddie who takes it, "when we got to shore, I tried calling you guys, but, uh..." Eddie takes a swing from the water canister.

"The walkie was busted, man. Drenched. So, uh, I did the thing that I do now apparently, I ran." Eddie says with a smile, chuckling as Rhys glanced at him, frowning a bit. "Do you know what time this was? The attack?" Nancy asked. "Yeah, no, I--I know exactly what time it was." Eddie said to her, reaching to his wrist watch with shaky hands so Rhys reached out himself, taking it off quickly for him with no effort. "Right, so the walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked." He said as Rhys then tossed it to Nancy who flinched but caught it.

"9:27." She tells them when she read the watch. "Same time our flashlights went kablooey." Robin says and Rhys furrows his brows. "Which means what, exactly?" Steve asked. "That that surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick." She says, looking to the two men sitting together, Rhys was absentmindedly playing with the chains linked together on Eddie's jacket sleeve. "Well, we're one step closer."

Nancy tossed the wrist watch back which Rhys clasps back onto his boyfriend's wrist. "We know how Vecna attacks." Robin says. "And where he attacks from." Lucas says, his hand on his hip. "So, now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart." Max spoke up.

"If he even has a heart."

"A stake?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

authors note cutting the chapter off at that bc i'm stressing a bit too much about the chapters being too long or being too short... 🙂