The sun shone brightly through the window, one of its rays peeking through the curtains to hit Eddie directly in the eye. He tried to move, to shift his body slightly to the side so that he could keep sleeping, but found his movements restricted by a weight on his shoulder.
He had slept in Nora's room the night before. They hadn't done anything other than heavy kissing and some light groping - as much as he wanted to, he wanted her to heal fully before they went further - but the reminder of their evening as he looked down at her sleeping face pressed against his torso brought a bright smile to his face. Two days had passed since their first kiss and Eddie had never been happier, despite the still ongoing search for him and the hellish and frankly still unbelievable Upside Down situation they had going on.
If he wasn't too broke to afford drugs, he would have assumed he was hallucinating.
Pressing a kiss against Nora's forehead as she began to stir, he waited for her to open her eyes, unable to keep the smile from his face.
"Good morning, sweetheart." He whispered as she blinked owlishly at him.
As beautiful as she was, she had never been as attractive as when she just woke up, with her hair an unkempt mess on her head and a slightly confused look on her face as she rubbed her eyes.
"Morning, honey."
"How are you feeling?" He asked as he played with her hair.
Nora made a considering noise at the back of her throat and rolled off his shoulder onto her back to pull her shirt up and look at the wounds on her abdomen. The scratches on her face had faded to faint pink lines and Eddie took a peek under the quilt to evaluate the rest.
"I feel good." She replied. "They don't hurt and they look like they're healing nicely."
Indeed, the stitches had been removed the night before and the scabs had shrunk, now surrounded by new and shiny pink skin. They still looked awful though and Eddie grimaced at the hardened crusts that dotted his girlfriend's abdomen. She laughed at his face and shuffled closer to him, rising onto an elbow as she lowered her face to his in a kiss.
Immediately, the butterflies in his stomach and the smile on his face returned as he cupped her cheek, his lips moving with hers. They kissed heatedly until he felt the familiar warmth spreading in his lower abdomen and had to pull back, and Nora settled back into her pillow happily.
"You're a tease, you know that?"
She laughed, hiding her face under the covers until her blush had receded. Slowly though, her smile faded and her eyes unfocused, Eddie's own grin disappearing shortly after. He knew what she was thinking about. With her injuries healing so well, it wouldn't be long before she spoke to Chief Hopper about Vecna. He had to be put down, Eddie knew that, and he also knew he would go to the ends of the Earth to keep this girl safe, but he wished it didn't have to be them.
Sure, Hopper was strong, he was capable and he was more than willing to face off against monsters from alternate dimensions, but he couldn't do it alone and his firepower was nowhere close to Nora's. The young man was still in awe at the sheer force of the explosion that Nora had created two nights ago, and he knew that Vecna couldn't be defeated without her. He only hoped that El, at least, would be kept out of it as he knew the other kids would.
"When are you seeing him?" He asked softly, a small smile on his face.
Despite wishing this task on someone else, despite his fear at going back to the Upside Down, Nora was the bravest, strongest and most stubborn girl he had ever met, and he was proud of her.
"He's expecting El's diving gear to come today, so he'll be dropping by later."
"He's not just going to try and close the gate?"
Nora shook her head firmly, still staring off at the wall. "He knows I'm right." She stated, and that was enough for him.
The day passed excruciatingly slowly for Eddie. He had been kicked out of the basement the day before for being too distracting, so he instead had to occupy himself while Nora worked. He watched TV, he experimented with his cooking, leafing through the cookbooks knowing that anything he made that they couldn't eat would get given to the neighbours. Their 'house arrest' was still active so the rest of the Party wouldn't be able to visit and he was left completely alone.
It made him wonder just how they would prove his innocence and clear his name once this was all over. He was going mad stuck in this house, unable to leave or even go in the garden out of fear that he might be seen. He wanted to do things with his life, things he couldn't do as a man on the run from the police.
He wanted to graduate high school, he wanted to date Nora - as in, actually take her on dates - and if you had asked him just a week ago, he would have said that he wanted to run far away from Hawkins and the people in it. But now he wasn't so sure. Now there were people in it that were worth it, and more importantly, that thought that he was worth it. He had fought and bled with Steve and Robin; Lucas had endangered his own life to ensure he was kept safe and out of sight, and Nora had opened her home, opened her heart and risked her life for him.
He didn't know what he wanted to do.
Finally, just after 3pm, the sound of cars coming to a stop in front of the house could be heard. As always, he went to wait out of sight from the door as Nora bounded up the stairs into the living room and pressed a kiss to his cheek before heading to the door. Only when he heard the Chief's gruff voice did he allow himself to come forward and settle on the sofas with them, surprised to see the man accompanied by Joyce and their children.
"How are you feeling?" Joyce asked as she hugged the younger woman.
Nora broke the hug to greet her adoptive father and smiled. "I'm good, there's no pain at all and I have full range of movement."
"Good, that advanced healing of yours is doing its job." Hopper responded, taking a seat in the armchair.
"You have enhanced healing?" Eddie interrupted, surprised at the new information. Then again, El had secondary abilities so why not Nora?
The girl in question rolled her eyes and sent a fake glare over Hopper's way while Will and Eleven sent an amused smile at him.
"That's a heavily debated subject." Nora replied. "I don't think I do."
"But you can't deny you heal faster than most." Hopper pointed out, a small smile on his face at the familiar argument.
"Advanced healing was Number 4's thing and none of us shared abilities! Besides, there is no way Dr Brenner wouldn't have found out and have me exercise it."
They all must have had the same thought as all the room's occupants grimaced at the same time. They could guess how one would exercise a healing ability and none of them wanted to think of such a thing happening to someone they knew and loved so much. It was bad enough that they made Nora and El harm others with their gifts, the thought of someone hurting them for science or to gain an upper hand in the war was sickening.
"Point is, I'm getting better and I feel great." the woman continued, ignoring the sudden silence in the room. "So: the gate. What are we doing?"
Hopper and Joyce exchanged a nervous glance and everyone turned towards them in anticipation of their answer.
"Vecna needs to be killed." Hopper began slowly and Nora nodded once in agreement. "So Joyce and I are going to go down there and deal with him while El waits on the boat for us to come back. Then we close the gate."
"You're not going alone." Nora responded immediately. "You'll never defeat him, and that's not even counting what you'll have to fight before you get to him. At the very least, I'm coming with you."
"And me." Eddie added.
He had promised Nora that he would be with her every step of the way and he meant it. Even traipsing through the woods at night and crossing gates into alternate dimensions he had said. He wasn't going to go back on that now.
"No." Hopper shook his head and leant forward to place his elbows on his knees. "No, I need you to stay here and keep an eye on Will. I don't like how Billy reacted to us closing the gates yesterday and Will has an even stronger connection to the Mind Flayer."
"Then we call one of the others. Steve can babysit, he does it very well in fact. He'll make sure nothing happens to Will. I'm coming with you."
"Nora honey, we'll be fine on our own." Joyce intervened. "We each have an arsenal in our trunks and we all know that bullets can kill anything down there."
"Not if he can get into your head before you can pull the trigger!"
"If he can do that then why haven't there been any deaths since he tried to get Max? Huh? He's weak. We can handle him without you. This is not a debate, Nora."
The kids and Eddie were watching the trio argue like it was a tennis match, heads swivelling to each person as they spoke with nervous expressions as they took in the barely hidden fury on Hopper and Nora's faces. The young woman stood suddenly, her hands clenched at her sides.
"We don't know that!" She shouted. "We don't know why he hasn't attacked anyone in the past two days but we can't just assume! For all we know, he scouring the town for El and I! You don't know a single thing about him and you want to just risk your lives on the basis of a theory that can't be proved until it's too late?"
"We do know him, Nora." Joyce responded softly, her hands clasped in her lap and a pleading expression on her face. "Thanks to you kids, we know enough for this."
"Yeah? Then where is he?" The woman challenged. "What, you're just going to go down there and search the entire town? How long will that take? You better hope it takes less than a week because that's how long Will lasted before he almost froze to death!"
"And you do know where he is?"
"In fact I do."
The room was silent as Nora and Hopper faced off, each silently challenging the other. They were at an impasse, Hopper was silently demanding she tell them where to find Vecna and Nora was similarly refusing, standing tall with her head held high, glaring at the man she loved as a father. Eddie wanted to backtrack and say that it was fine, they would wait here with Will. He wanted to stand beside Nora and hold her hand. He wanted to take El and Will and run away.
Thankfully, the two hotheads weren't the only ones involved and Joyce came to the rescue, leaning forward and looking up at Nora earnestly.
"Where is he, sweetie?"
Just like that, the spell was broken and Nora softened her features as her eyes met the older woman's and the others in the room all let out a relieved breath.
"I'm sorry Joyce but you're going to have to take me with you to know that."
"Goddamn it Nora!" Hopper cried, and just like that the tension was ramped up again.
He stood from his seat to match his daughter's stance and Joyce jumped up as well, placing herself in the middle of the two. By the look on Will and Eleven's faces, this wasn't something that happened very often, but Eddie imagined that when they did face off, it was explosive. Both of them had tempers, both of them were stubborn and both were fearless. That could lead to some pretty extreme arguments.
"You don't get to dictate this!" The man shouted. "What are you going to do, just hold information hostage? You're going to get this entire town killed!"
"Maybe! Maybe I don't give a shit about anyone in this town. They can all rot for all I care! Everyone that means anything to me already knows how to survive Vecna." She threatened in response. "Or maybe I plan on just sneaking out! You have no fucking clue what you're doing -"
"You watch your tone with me, young lady -"
"OR WHAT?" Nora screamed.
Everyone in the room jumped back in fright as her hands burst into flame. There was a pause, everyone watching Nora in fear as she panted and glared at Hopper, and El rose to her feet slowly, eyes flitting between the two apprehensively. Eddie imagined she was preparing herself to intervene if Nora made any further moves to harm the man, but he knew that the woman would never do that. She may be angry, she may be furious even, but he had spent enough time with her to know how she worshipped the man that had took her in and offered her a place of safety after years in the Upside Down. Nora would rather die than watch Hopper get hurt.
"Or what, Hop?" The woman continued softly, keeping her eyes on him and ignoring the rest of the occupants of the room. The fire slowly faded, receding down her arms until the flames died out completely. "You have been everything I ever wished for in a father. You took me in, you comforted me, you helped me learn the ways of the world and are still teaching me today. But I won't allow you to control me. I won't allow you to order me around, no matter how much I love and respect you."
Her voice was quiet, the anger had faded from her eyes and instead she looked at him with a kind of vulnerability, reminding Eddie that all those horrible things she had experienced in her life hadn't ended all that long ago.
"I submitted to the house arrest because I was too tired to argue and in the grand scheme of things, it didn't matter much. But I've already spent far too many years of my life being forced into compliance. By your own laws, I'm an adult. I was an adult before I even stepped through that gate and met you. So, I am going back. The only question is if you'll let me come with you or if I have to go alone. Because after everything you've done for me, I'm not letting you put yourself in danger to correct a mistake I made seven years ago."
No one spoke, everyone just stared at Hopper to see what he would say. His own expression had softened while she spoke, turning into something pained and conflicted. The man closed his eyes and sighed heavily, and when he opened them again Eddie was alarmed to see a slight shine of tears reflecting the light.
"I never wanted to control you." He said quietly. "All I ever wanted was for you to be safe and happy." Pausing once more, he lowered his head in a single reluctant nod. "Alright. You're coming with us."
It was like a breath of fresh air had blown through the room.
Will and El sighed in relief and reached out to grasp each other's hands, Eddie and Joyce smiled up at the pair, happy that they had come to an agreement, and Nora burst into tears and ran into Hopper's arms.
Father and daughter held each other tightly, whispering to each other while the others watched on. Eddie felt for them, he really did, but he was unimaginably proud of Nora for standing up to a man she revered so much. It must have been hard for her to argue with him like that, just as it must have been hard for El to prepare to use her powers against her sister to protect their father, close as the three of them were.
Speaking of Eleven, the teenager was sliding up to him with a grin that sent a momentary shiver down the young man's back. He stared at her for a few moments, waiting for her to speak, but she just kept looking and smiling up at him.
"What?" He finally demanded, repressing the urge to fiddle with his rings.
"I know about you and Nora." El responded smugly.
Eddie let out a small sigh of relief. He didn't know what he was expecting the girl to say, but that maniacal grin had him preparing for something so much worse. Of course El knew about him and her sister, they were the closest pair of siblings he had ever seen, not to mention Eleven could reach out and talk to Nora whenever she wanted.
"Ok... that's nice?" Eddie replied, unsure what kind of response she was expecting.
"Hopper approves."
The young man hadn't actually considered the Chief, and his eyes flicked back to the duo hugging just a few feet away before turning back to the girl beside him.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. He says you need to stop dealing and get out of high school though." Eleven replied.
Right. He had figured that dating the Chief's daughter would mean that he would have to stop any illegal activity but he hadn't actively thought about it, too preoccupied with the fact that he actually got to date and kiss Nora to focus on whatever came with that privilege. It's not like he had ever particularly wanted to sell drugs, he just needed money and had no skills except for his music, which wouldn't get him anywhere in Hawkins. That was one of the reasons he had wanted to leave.
That said, he hadn't considered any other options considering he already knew music was his dream. He had no interest in anything else. But no, he definitely couldn't keep dealing if he wanted to be with Nora.
"And I need my name cleared." Eddie commented.
Eleven nodded, looking back up at him. "It's nice that you're with Nora. You're like her Mike. She looooves you." She giggled and the young man balked a bit.
"What? No she - I mean - she likes me, but..."
The young girl frowned at him and Eddie had to remind himself that this was a fourteen year old girl that was still learning about life. At her age he thought relationships and love were an immediate all-or-nothing type thing too, and she had been imprisoned by a mad scientist for the first eleven years of her life and then again by a concerned parent for the following two, so it was no surprise that she thought that two people who kissed were automatically in love.
"I like everyone in the Party." Eleven replied. "But I can't kiss them because I love Mike. I can only kiss Mike and he can only kiss me. Are we allowed to kiss people we like?"
Eddie did not want to be having this conversation. This was Hopper's job and Will was watching them with barely contained giggles, but the poor girl just looked so confused... the young man sighed and looked up to the ceiling before turning his attention back to Eleven.
"Look." He began. "There are different types of like and different types of love. You and Hopper love each other, but not in the same way you and Mike love each other, alright?" He waited for Eleven to nod her understanding before he continued. "Sometimes you can like someone romantically and be their boyfriend or girlfriend even if you don't love them. The love usually comes later. Once you've been together for a while. Get it?"
Eleven was looking up at him with slightly furrowed brows, like she was trying to assimilate what he had said, and he watched her closely, hoping he didn't have to say anymore because he just absolutely was not qualified for this.
"So you don't love Nora?"
Turning his eyes away from her to look at his girlfriend, Eddie considered his response. Nora and Hopper had finally separated and her smile, the way she moved her hair out of her eyes, the drying tears on her cheeks... they all enthralled him. Just the same as her scars and her tattoos and the expression on her face when she was focused on one of her pieces of work. The fire she unleashed, the way she swung her axe.
"I'm absolutely fucking smitten, that's for sure." He eventually responded. "But not in love yet."
"Yet?"
Looking down at the teen beside him with a small smile, he found her grinning up at him mischievously, the exact same expression she had on her face when she first accosted him.
"Yet."
Grin widening, Eleven lifted herself up onto her toes in what Eddie could only guess was excitement. "Good! I'm going to tell her that I need to be her maid of honour."
"What? No, El -"
Thankfully, Nora and Hopper chose to finish that conversation and turn their attention back to the others in the room at that exact moment and Eddie didn't know whether to be relived or scared by what Hopper said next:
"Alright." He called. "We're going." Hopper's eyes moved to meet Eddie's, his face set in the stern Chief of Police expression he had seen so many times before. "You're staying here, Eddie. You have no reason to come with us and I need you keeping an eye on Will, ok?"
Looking over at Nora to try and gauge what she thought of this, he saw a regretful expression on her face. She must be just as reluctant as he was to argue with Hopper about this, so he just nodded his cooperation.
On the one hand, he was glad he wasn't going back there. It was a cold, desolate and dangerous place that he just wanted to never think about again.
On the other hand, he had promised Nora he would stick by her. But as long as she wasn't completely alone and she was fine with the arrangement, then so was he. Besides, Hopper was much better back up than him. He didn't know enough about Joyce to judge her, but the arsenal of guns in the back of her car were a point in her favour too. He knew Nora would be safe. He just didn't really want to let her out of his sight. But the choice was out of his hands.
The trio prepared to leave, Nora grabbing the spare axe as hers was at the bottom of the lake, and Eddie allowed himself a kiss despite the audience. They both ignored El's squeal and Hopper clearing his throat, and then they were gone, leaving Eddie and Will alone in Nora's living room.
They stayed were they were for a few moments, just watching the door and listening to the cars as they drove away.
"So, uh... why exactly do you have to be watched?" Eddie asked once they had been standing still and silent for a few moments.
Will jolted back to reality and rubbed his arms self consciously.
"Um, I was - I was possessed by the Mind Flayer a while ago." The boy responded.
"Right, I remember you saying."
"Yeah, well so was Max's brother, and when Nora and El were closing the gates he felt something from the Mind Flayer. So we just need you to watch me and - and potentially tie me down if you notice me acting weird?"
"What, because you might still be possessed?"
Will simply shrugged. The Dungeon Master sighed to himself, cursing the fact that he thought he would actually be safe here. He wondered when he would catch a break - when they would all catch a break. Will was a nice kid, always enthusiastic during their games and his kind and caring nature was clear for all to see despite his desire to sink into the corner and not be noticed at times. They all deserved better, Eddie thought, but soon enough the gate would be closed and this would all be behind them he hoped.
"Well." Eddie remarked. "I don't know about you but I consider our house arrest over. How about I call the Party over? We can hang around together until those three get back."
Smiling, Will nodded and made his way over to Nora's phone.