His hospital gown felt like a burial shroud, as it could be the last piece of clothing he ever wore if this plan went awry. He allowed no one into the bathroom to help him except Isaac who tied off the strings in the back to keep his bandages concealed for as long as possible. It had been at the point where Eddie caught sight of his mangled back in the mirror that he realized it probably wasn't a good idea going into this without telling someone of higher authority that his back looked like it had been put through a cheese grater, but he was exposing himself already far too much for his liking and he had every right to keep mum on this.
Then, when he had nearly run out of excuses to hold off on the burn any longer, he pulled one last card out of his pocket and called Will to him as he paced the bathroom in case he had to take one last piss. Isaac held the door open for Will on his way out and did not see the venomous look Will gave him.
"Any pointers, Byers?" he asked Will when the boy had joined him.
"I don't remember any of it. The Mind Flayer had already taken over at that point, so I don't remember anything. I have a memory of pain that isn't mine and I know it hurt like nothing I've ever experienced, but I wasn't mentally there for the worst of it. All I can tell you is to hold onto something good, something you care about. It's harder for the monsters to find their way into you if you remember the good times."
"Cool, should be easy then."
"Was that sarcasm?"
"You bet. But I still appreciate the advice."
Will nodded, digging his hands into his pockets and looking like the poor, little lost soul that Eddie would have taken to in an instant and invited into Hellfire Club, but Eddie was no longer a part of that club and Will (according to Dustin, Lucas, and Mike) had lost all interest in D&D since his brother's death earlier that year. It was a sad fact that Eddie didn't think much of how others were suffering these days. He was consumed with his own life, his own problems, and some of those members of the party or else close friends or family like Wayne and Will had fallen by the wayside without Eddie ever giving them a formal apology for his absence and lack of affiliation in the months following the events of Spring Break.
"Hey, look, kid…um…I never got the chance to really say anything about what happened that night with Jonathan and I don't know if any of the others told you, but with everything that's happened, well, I'm sorry. I know it's too late and too little, but I'm sorry. I know what it feels like–"
"No, you don't!" said Will shrilly, suddenly looking incensed. "You don't know what it feels like because your brother came back and mine didn't! We fought to kill Vecna and he and your brother got to come back but Jonathan didn't so you tell me how that's fair!"
"I never said it was fair," Eddie responded, alarmed at this very uncharacteristic outburst from the normally reserved teen. "It's not, okay? I know it's not but since when has Vecna ever cared about what's fair? I'm just saying that Jonathan–he's dead and nothing can hurt him anymore. He died protecting you and he's at peace now."
"Yeah, he's at peace with no chance of ever coming back but your brother is standing out there, pumped full of Vecna and ready for his second chance at life and he doesn't deserve it. Not like Jonathan did, not after everything Jonathan did to protect me."
"Don't do that," said Eddie sternly. "You can't compare their sacrifices. I know how much Jonathan did for you and your mom, but that doesn't mean Isaac didn't do things for me and the rest of the party. This isn't a debate on who deserved to come back because we don't get to decide that. There's no way we could have known this would happen, but it did, so are you saying you would prefer for Jonathan to be here with you now, pumped full of Vecna, and waiting to see if he's gonna evolve into something worse that could possibly kill us all?"
"Do you prefer that?" Will challenged.
The immediate answer was no. Eddie would not prefer to have Isaac here, with him, and alive if it meant seeing him slowly lose himself to Vecna. He would rather Isaac never have come back if he could have spared his brother this pain. If he had known what devastating truths he would find out about Isaac this time around, he would have wished his brother to stay dead. Of course, Eddie would never tell Isaac this, but with Will it was different and not something Eddie could blatantly lie about.
"Vecna's weaponized my brother and made him his lieutenant. I see him standing right there in front of me and I can't believe he's real, but I also know that's not just him. I lost him once and if I don't go through with this, I'll lose him all over again. Him, and everyone else. Now, don't tell me you wouldn't try to save Jonathan if you could if he had been the one to come back and this was happening to him. I know your life's been hell, kid, believe me, I know that now more than anyone, but I need you to stop looking at Isaac like it's his fault because you know it isn't. Isaac did die to stop Vecna and he didn't ask to come back like this. So please, cut him some slack, okay?"
"Do you know how hard that is for me to do? Do you have any idea what I wouldn't give just to be able to hug my brother again? I see you and Isaac and it makes me angry because you have what I can never get back. I want my brother and I will never get to see him again."
It was a plea if Eddie ever heard one. He had wanted that sibling hug himself once when he most needed it and it was denied to him. Max had been there for him to help him move past the hole Isaac's absence had left and though she could never replace Isaac, she had tried to be the next best thing. Eddie wasn't Jonathan and still barely even knew Will, but he recognized a call for help in a boy that reminded Eddie so much of himself at that age.
"Is it okay if I hug you?" he offered and without giving affirmation, Will threw his arms around Eddie in a gripping, shivering embrace. His hands were pressing painfully into Eddie's wounds, but Eddie bit back his groan of discomfort and let the kid hang on for as long as he needed, apologizing over and over again until Will's sobs ran dry.
This kid had been through the ringer more times than anyone and if all Eddie could offer him was a simple hug, being that it was from a guy who was around his brother's age who had also experienced the loss of an older sibling, Eddie would gladly give it as many times as Will asked for it.
"I'm sorry," said Will when he finally let go.
"No, don't ever be sorry for missing your brother. Now, look, I'm kinda spread thin at the moment, but if I make it through this, I want you to call me, okay? Or come over or whatever you need. If you need to talk it out or cry or just scream and hit something, you let me know, I'll come get you and we'll smash up some old radios or some shit. But you don't keep it in anymore, understand? That shit's not good for you and you know I speak from experience. Deal?"
"Deal," said Will appreciatively, and feeling that at least he had done something right in the past few days, Eddie led him out of the bathroom, trying not to think about how he might let the kid down if this burn didn't go according to plan.
Outside of the experimentation room that had been prepped for the occasion, everyone was waiting to say their goodbyes in one way or another. Half of the party had to remain outside, as the adjoining observation room wasn't large enough to house them all. Those who chose to stay behind were all looking at Eddie as if wondering if this was the last time they would see him alive, which was absolutely no comfort at all. Those who were going in with him looked like they were about to send him off to war when in actuality, he would be going to lay down on a table completely naked apart from his hospital gown to be closely observed by a roomful of people, which was far more terrifying.
It was to everyone's surprise when Eddie asked Steve to join Chrissy, Isaac, Max, Wayne, and Eleven as his witnesses but Steve accepted the invitation graciously, if somewhat perplexingly.
Owens and Brenner were already waiting for them in the observation room which had a wide and clear view of the table on which Eddie would be lying like a Thanksgiving day dinner spread. It was centered in the wall-to-wall tiled room and about ten or eleven enormous space heaters had been set up around it.
"I know it doesn't look like much, but we have the generators working overtime to have complete control of the temperature in there. There's more at work than what you see and we'll be gradually increasing the temperature, otherwise we could send Eddie's body into shock. Now, according to Mrs. Byers and Nancy, it took about ten minutes from when the infection inside of Will first started to try and protect the host to when it was forced out, though I understand that that was with some help from Will's friends setting the hub on fire as well. But since we don't have a hub to burn and Eddie isn't necessarily connected to this network like Will was or Isaac is, I think there's a very good chance that this burn is all it will take."
As he always did when entering a state of anxiety, Eddie was chewing on a strand of his hair which he quickly spat out at Owens's conclusion. "Okay, and that all sounds dandy, but I don't want this half-assed," he told the doctor firmly. "You've gotta go balls to the wall. None of this 'whoopsie, didn't make it hot enough, better luck next time' bullshit because I'm pretty damn sure Vecna's not gonna give me a 'next time'."
"We'll give it everything we've got," Owens assured him.
There was no more point delaying, so now it would be time for the see-you-laters and hope that there was a later. Eddie shook hands with Steve who still was looking confused as to why he was there and got an encouraging nod from Eleven. Then Wayne grasped Eddie's shoulders with a look that Eddie suspected was going to precede a "now, do good work out there, boy," speech, but Wayne only seemed to be able to muster a clap of his hand to Eddie's cheek with a strange, fixed facial exhibition like a parent watching their child leave for college.
Eddie turned to Max and tapped his finger to her nose in what was becoming his signature expression of affection to her. He had hoped to garner a small smile out of her like he had the last time he had used it, but she looked like she was working through a toothache and told him stoutly, "Remember, I told you I won't watch it happen again."
"I know." Eddie wasn't about to tell her that she wouldn't see it again because if she was watching him and he didn't make it, that would be a bare-faced lie. "I'm still on the hook for that driver's permit, sealed in blood, scout's honor and all that jazz."
"Don't die."
"I'll try my hardest."
Chrissy was next and to her credit, was dry-eyed, trying to present a strong front for Eddie's sake but he could sense her unease, even if he couldn't see it. He knew he had already asked too much of her even if he hadn't actually asked her; it came with the territory of being his girlfriend that she had had to put up with such a colossal pile of shit, but she stuck with him through it all and if she hadn't given up on him now, she wasn't likely ever to do so. This was not the first goodbye and he hoped it wouldn't be the last, but that nagging voice inside of him asking what if spurred him to choose his next words to her meaningfully.
"I will see you in a few minutes," he told her.
"You'd better."
"Promise." Eddie held her face up to his and brushed his lips lightly against the space between her eyes. "But just in case–I love you, Chrissy Cunningham."
He nearly broke her right then and there, for he saw it in her eyes as he said the words that she was asking him, Why did you have to say that right now? It would only make it that much harder for her to let him walk out of the room.
Finally, it was Isaac's turn and he stood there with his arms crossed, jaw locked, and eyes boring into Eddie's with such intensity that Eddie had a brief moment of worry that he had done something to invoke the wrath of Vecna within his brother.
"One for the road?" asked Eddie innocently, lifting his arms somewhat suggestively and Isaac relented, carefully fitting his arms around Eddie to avoid shifting the gown to reveal his injuries to everyone in the room. Maybe it was Eddie's imagination, but he could almost feel a maddened pulsing from Isaac's chest like a part of his brother's infection was trying to latch onto Eddie's and feed it more power to keep a tighter grip on him. He was surprised that he didn't have to peel himself back from Isaac when he half-expected to find those mutative black veins sticking to him.
"Hold on in there," said Isaac and Eddie could see his Adams apple rise and fall with uncertainty.
"It's all I can do," said Eddie with false bravado.
With one last glance around at these people who were here out of their dedication to him, Eddie stepped out into the experimentation room. He slid himself onto the table and then lowered himself down until he lay completely flat, wondering how exactly the doctors were planning on keeping him contained once the heat started. If the infection wanted a way out, it would just drive him to run for the door and yank the whole thing off its hinges and Eddie was about to comment on the lack of a fail-safe when four lab staff came in bearing tire chains and leather restraints. Without his consent, they slapped cuffs on Eddie's wrists, connected the other ends to the chains, and then bolted the chains to the floor. They did the same to his ankles and then secured a chunky leather weightlifting belt across his chest to keep him strapped down to the table with as many access points as possible.
"We still doing okay, Eddie?" came Owens's voice over the loudspeaker somewhere above Eddie.
"I like this less," Eddie admitted. It was far too soon after his attack by Jason for him to be even remotely comfortable with being tied to anything. He had to work to blot out the fresh memories of being held down across the car hood with the belt lashing at him from behind.
"The restraints are just a precaution. We don't know how much of a fight the part of Henry that lives in you will put up once we start the burn, so we have to be prepared."
"And what if it kills him?" asked Isaac's voice.
"It already tried," said Eddie, jerking his chin at his stomach. "But I think someone who isn't connected to Vecna needs to have final say on this, just in case. So Steve, buddy, I'm counting on you."
"Wait, what? If anyone decides when to pull the plug on this before it can kill you, it should be me," Isaac protested. "And if not me, then Chrissy or Max or–"
"All of you have a connection to Vecna, all of you can sympathize with what's about to happen to me, and all of you will be emotionally compromised. And Wayne's family, so he can't speak from an unbiased standpoint either. I need someone who will make the call based off of what's best for the situation, not me. We can't put the world on hold just to save me."
It felt powerful to say such a thing but inside, Eddie was praying that Isaac would take matters into his own hands anyway and make them stop if it looked like they weren't going to be able to burn Vecna out of him.
His heart rate started to climb as everyone cleared the room and the lights dimmed slightly. He could hear the electric humming of the air conditioning turning off.
"Okay, Eddie, now Will told us beforehand that you may say things that aren't you, so just know that we're gonna have to ignore any requests you may have to bring everything to a halt."
Eddie wanted to lift his middle finger high enough to where the doc could see him but instead he gave the thumbs-up.
"Is there anything else you wanna say before we start?"
"I've actually got a question: is there any possible way that Isaac will be able to feel this heat from the observation room?"
A pause, then, "There might be."
"Then he can't be in there. It'll fight back from inside of him too if it senses that he's close enough."
He could hear Isaac ranting without needing the loudspeaker on and knew that even now, that was partially Vecna talking. Isaac didn't throw tantrums or raise his voice if he didn't need to.
"Your brother's less than enthusiastic about that suggestion," said Owens.
"Isaac, I don't want you watching," said Eddie with a hard swallow. It had comforted him to know that his brother would be nearby, but now he knew that he would be putting everyone in that room at risk if he chanced putting Isaac anywhere near the heat. This was to be Eddie's exorcism, not Isaac's. "Just–just do me this one favor and leave the room, bro. Chrissy will come get you when it's over."
"What d'you mean' when it's over'? I have more right than anyone to be in this room and I'm not leaving and if everyone tries to force me, I swear I will fu–"
"Do you wanna go first with this?" Eddie demanded, glad to be able to turn Isaac's words back on him. When he was met with a stony silence, he gave a snort. "That's what I thought. Go wait in the hallway now. Scram."
A few more choice expletives followed this order.
"He's leaving now," Owens assured him. "Anything else?"
"Yeah, if you can help it, try not to actually set me on fire."
"Noted. Okay, here we go…"
There was a breath before the plunge, a hyper-awareness of every blood cell inside of him, of his heart beating a tattoo against his chest, of a single droplet of sweat rolling down his forehead. He heard white noise coming from a nonexistent source. All the heaters simultaneously turned on and Eddie got blasted with a wave of smothering heat like someone had just shoved him straight into an oven.
At first, he reacted as he had these past few months when exposed to heat such as this and sat there in his own sweat, fidgeting and inwardly complaining, but with no means of bringing himself relief. Then, at the flip of a switch, it was suddenly unbearable and he surged upward. If not for the strap across his midsection, he would have lurched right off the table. His body was fighting back without his permission.
"Okay, that's enough," he said loudly. "I'm burning up out here, doc, let's turn it off."
No one answered him. He sat up as far as he could, which wasn't saying much, but he stared pointedly at the mirror with a newfound sense of urgency.
"Hello? I know you're right there, stop ignoring me because this is actually starting to hurt."
Still, nothing. Instead of a reply, Eddie could almost see a red film filtering throughout the room as if they had deliberately cranked up the heat another ten degrees.
"Hey, this shit isn't funny, turn it off now. Owens? Brenner? Hey, dickheads, turn it off, dammit. Turn the goddamned thing off."
His skin felt like wax underneath a lit candle and was shocked to find that he wasn't melting into a puddle of human remains where he lay. The table absorbed the heat from the air and reflected it back onto him, setting his belt injuries aflame. His body went into full survival mode and he strained at his right cuffed wrist to try and break the chain holding him down by sheer willpower. He didn't know what sort of sick game those doctors were playing with him, but he had already raised the white flag and they were ignoring the conditions of surrender, which was unsportsmanlike conduct at its finest.
"When I get out've here, I swear, I'm gonna kick both of your asses. Max! Chrissy! Somebody make them stop it!"
He could see his bare legs glistening with sweat and unless his eyes were deceiving him, his leg hair was literally burning off of him like someone had lit a torch across them and singed every individual strand off, leaving the skin red and raw. A foul odor hit the air and for one mortifying moment, he thought he had pissed himself, but realized it was his overactive sweat glands expelling the rancid scent of body odor from every pore on his body.
"Steve, get me out've here. Get me out now!"
"You have to keep fighting it, man," came Steve's apologetic voice.
This did nothing to keep Eddie level-headed. If anything, it made him even more irate.
"You go to hell, you piece of shit, get me out've here!"
It was almost indiscernible with how much moisture was dripping into his eyes, but as some dripped out, he knew he was at the point of a breakdown. He needed to get out. There was no alternative; he needed it all to stop now or–or, he didn't know what, but he didn't want to find out..
"Chrissy! Chrissy, please!"
Why wasn't she listening to him? Why would she abandon him now, when he most needed her? Why would she let him face this alone and let these doctors inflict such pain on him? Did she even care about him at all?
He was pulling so hard with all four limbs to try and break out of the cuffs that he could feel the metal cutting into his skin at all points of contact. Instead of blood, however, he saw black excreting from the wounds.
A thrumming voice in his head commanded him to act now and prevent any further harm from coming to this body, this temple to Vecna. His body was not his, but a vessel through which Vecna needed to work and he was charged with protecting it.
His body was violently jerking about now, caught in uncontrollable spasms that nearly capsized the table. He was sobbing for mercy for someone, anyone to hear him. His insides were shriveling, his mind collapsing in on itself. This was too much pain for any living being to endure.
"Eddie, we're getting there, just hold on. Please, just hold on, babe."
He didn't recognize that voice, only that it was female, and it was telling him to do the exact opposite of what Vecna had just commanded of him. What did this female know? She wanted to purge him of the power that was granting him a more meaningful life than anything ever could. She wanted this power dead, wanted this gift to disappear. She wanted him dead.
"Turn the fucking heat off, you bitch! I'll fucking kill you!"
They all wanted to watch him succumb to it. They didn't care what happened to the body of the host. He was expendable, disposable, worthless to them.
"Let me out! Let me out of here, you motherfuckers! Fuck you, fuck all of you!"
"Eddie!"
He didn't know whose voice was calling that name, didn't know whose name that was. He didn't know who he was or what he was, only that he was dying. He had failed to preserve Vecna's power and the price of failure was his life.
He was lost in pure agony. The strap across his chest snapped and like a contortionist, his body lurched upward in one last vital attempt to escape. His throat was ripping, shredding itself with the impact of the expulsion of screams. The two-way mirror beside him shattered, sprinkling glass everywhere.
There was fire sparkling before his eyes in brilliant, swirling patterns as the flames descended upon him, engulfing his body and cloaking him in a dance of red, orange, yellow, and white tendrils.
Hold onto something good.
He existed. He had to have been something or someone at some point in this existence. He had to have a memory of being alive, even if he couldn't recall what he had once been. But how was he supposed to sustain a memory of goodness if he couldn't even make sense of words?
Hold on, Eddie.
Eddie. A name, an identification, a purpose. Gifted to him, whoever he was. Eddie was him and he belonged to that name. He heard it on an endless loop as dozens of voices repeated it, louder and louder like a gong being struck right next to his ear. He could discern voices now and match them to faces, even if the names wouldn't come to him just yet.
You're almost there, Eddie.
He saw a heart-shaped face with dazzling green eyes. He saw vivid red hair fashioned into two braids and a smattering of freckles. He saw prominent cheekbones and heavy brown eyes that were just like his.
A scene played out before him: simple, unexciting, practically boring in recollection. A group of people sat on a puke yellowish-green threadbare carpet around a heavily scuffed coffee table. They were talking amongst themselves with no real purpose other than to fill the silence. Each of them had a paper plate with a slice or two of pizza.
He saw a person–no, a man–no, Eddie. He matched the name to the body and saw himself sitting beside the girl with the heart-shaped face, her hand in his under the table. On his other side sat the red-haired girl and across from him was the man with eyes to match his. He heard their names come to him as if brought in on a light and pleasant breeze: Chrissy, Max, Isaac. His family. And then more names came: Dustin, Steve, Robin, Nancy, Lucas…
They were all there. They were alive and whole and they were there.
He reached for them…
Somewhere, he knew he was screaming…
He slammed back into his body as an eruption spewed out of every facial orifice. A terrible, overbearing black shadow ejected from his body in full flight and as he vomited out the last of it, the breath was driven from his lungs, dousing him in complete darkness.
His world did not stay dark long enough, for all too soon, he felt a harsh white light creeping under his eyelids and he squinted to bring everything into focus. The first face he saw was that of Sam Owens peering over him and holding his head up off of the table.
"Welcome back," said the doctor with a grin of genuine consolation.
"How long was I out?" asked Eddie, though it hurt to speak after destroying his vocal chords just minutes ago.
"About forty-eight seconds."
"Tell me it worked."
It had to have worked. If it hadn't, he would prefer that they just kill him now.
"I think we got it all, kid."
"Good, because I don't want to do that again."
Owens stepped wisely out of the way as Chrissy climbed over the remnants of the broken two-way mirror and practically fell on top of Eddie, wiping the perspiration from his face with a damp towel. He noticed that she and Owens both were also sweating, most likely as a result of being exposed to the heat when Eddie broke the mirror barrier between the two rooms.
"Hey, good-looking," he said meekly.
"How do you feel?"
"Sweaty."
"That's not an answer."
"I feel like I'm glad to see you and that I think I said some pretty horrible things to you and everyone else in that room."
"That wasn't you," said Max, joining Chrissy with a shaky smile.
"Which one of you called me babe?" It might have seemed like a joke to them, but when he had heard it, he veritably could not tell who had spoken to him, only that the voice he had heard had been female. Of course, he knew it wasn't Max, but his humor was coming back to him and every bit of his old self that he retained was a good sign.
"It was Steve," Max jested as Steve appeared over her shoulder.
Eddie couldn't lift his arm, but he opened his hand and Steve took it, understanding the gratitude Eddie put into the squeeze as he thanked him for not pulling the plug.
"Can somebody get me out of these things now?" he asked, jingling his chains expressively.
The orderlies returned to let him loose and he saw that he had not been imagining the cuts around all four limbs from the exertion of fighting to free himself. The cuts weren't deep, but they were bleeding just enough for Owens to insist on having Eddie bandaged up before allowing him to leave the room. As Eddie sat with his legs dangling off the table while his cuts were dressed, Wayne came into the room looking white as a sheet, a far cry from his normally sunburnt and wrinkled skin color.
"You okay?" Eddie asked him.
"After all've that, you're askin' if I'm okay?" Wayne repeated, pulling up on Eddie's eyelids to check his eyes for signs of–being human, or something.
"Was it that bad?" Eddie wondered.
"Did you ever see The Exorcist?" asked Max.
"Yeah."
"Well, it was nothing like that. It was worse."
"Except you came out of all of this brand spanking new and shiny," said Steve. "Seriously, dude, you just lost every strand of hair on your body apart from your head. It's like you jumped into a vat of wax and all the hair just peeled off of you."
"That just means it's gonna itch like hell when it comes back in," said Eddie as the orderlies finished with him. "And now that I'm fresh out of the oven, I think I'm gonna shower off and go to bed for the next couple centuries, so if you'll excuse me, doc."
Leaning on Steve to help him get his bearings at least until the room stopped spinning and his legs didn't feel like Jell-O, Eddie followed Chrissy out into the hallway, expecting to see the rest of the party. Instead, he found Isaac on his stomach, face-down, laying in a small crater in the floor where the cracked tile bowed out around him. There was black liquid pooling out from his mouth.
"Jesus…"
Wayne dropped to his knees beside Isaac and shook him and Isaac's eyes fluttered open.
"What happened out here?" Eddie asked him.
"I could feel him getting angry," Isaac moaned, holding his stomach. "It burned. The louder you screamed, the worse it got. I tried to hold it in…broke the floor…and passed out."
"Your hand," said Chrissy in concern, motioning at Isaac's left knuckle which was bitten down to the bone and bleeding. As Isaac held the damaged hand up to his eye, he flicked out his tongue and then spat sideways and Eddie saw a bit of skin and blood come out of his black saliva.
"Let's get you checked over, just in case," suggested Brenner, taking hold of Isaac's arm to help him to his feet. At Brenner's touch, Isaac's eyes rolled over in white and then snapped back to normal before he let out a frustrated shout and punched the tiled wall with his injured fist. He yelped and held his hand to his chest to nurse it as his legs gave out, but Brenner kept hold of his arm and Owens stepped in to grab his other.
"What's wrong with you?" asked Max. "What happened while we were in there?"
"I just told you," said Isaac through clenched teeth. "Vecna's pissing up a storm right now, so that means I get the full blast of it. He knows what just happened and he's more aware of things now. He's not more powerful, just angry. So that must mean it worked, right?" He looked to Eddie hopefully. "It's all out of you?"
"Looks that way," answered Wayne.
"Feels that way," Eddie assured him. "Feels different, at any rate. My concern now is for you and that hand and the fact that you're puking up black."
"I just ingested too much Vecna, I'll be fine," said Isaac unconvincingly.
"All the same, we're gonna have you looked over," said Owens. "That isn't a request, either. Eddie, I'll send someone to your room later to let you know if there's any follow-up to all of this, but you get yourself some rest, okay? I'll see that you're left alone otherwise."
Thanking the doctors for their help, Eddie watched them half-carry Isaac into a neighboring room for re-evaluation and as a precaution, Eleven tagged along. With a wordless expression, Eddie asked Wayne to stay with Isaac for insurance, and his uncle followed the doctors and Eleven. That left Eddie to climb the stairs to the second floor with Chrissy as his support since Max, and Steve had gone to inform the rest of the party that Eddie was now in the clear.
He didn't know if he should be feeling differently than before and his inability to tell if there was a difference concerned him. If Vecna had been slowly seeping into him since the night before graduation or even at the point when the portal swallowed Isaac, Eddie had been living with this thing inside of him for three to four and a half months and the presence had just become the norm, just a part of him that only worsened and became noticeable once the Upside Down opened into Hawkins. If no one had ever told him that he was playing host to a bit of Vecna's soul, he wouldn't have known because he still felt much like himself. It was only when he discovered the truth of it all that he became intensely aware of gradual changes he had noticed in himself. So now that he no longer had to worry about being part human, how was he supposed to know if he was entirely back to normal? What was the new normal for him after everything he had been through?
One quick way to establish a baseline for that new normal was to hop in the shower.
There was no lock on Eddie's door, but Chrissy took a chair from the next room and propped it under the handle to prevent anyone from bursting in unannounced while Eddie carefully stripped off his gown, climbed into the shower, and directed the faucet to his head. He turned the knob to cold but was only able to withstand the icy downpour for a few seconds before he had to switch it to lukewarm, which was an extremely good sign if he could now no longer tolerate Arctic temperatures in his showers. Standing stationary to not wet his bandages, he stayed under the spray until he was certain that he had used up the daily allotted disposable water supply for the entire building and then without bothering to dry his hair, secured his towel firmly around his waist. He let himself out into the main room, only to find Chrissy halfway through changing out of her sweaty clothes.
She stood in only her underwear with her back turned to him but at the sound of his footsteps, she looked over her shoulder and saw him watching her then slowly, deliberately unclipped her bra and let it fall away to reveal herself to him for the first time. Instantly, Eddie felt himself harden as he drank in the sight of her and he was overcome with longing to touch her, hold her, cherish her.
They had been waiting for this, not just for the sake of sex, but to re-establish something Eddie felt they had lost in past months. He had never once been with her intimately and been free of the doubts and uncertainty that came with hosting Vecna. He had never fully given himself to her, nor had she ever fully let him see her as he was seeing her now. He was now unsullied and she was now confident.
Abandoning any reservations he might have had regarding the energy needed for this or if he was in any fit state to be performing, he crossed the room, seized her, and jammed his mouth down on hers. Her hands massaged into the back of his head as she accepted his kiss and let her lips part to admit his tongue. They stood there, grappling at one another, trying to touch as much of the other as possible before Eddie ripped the towel away from his body, curled an arm across the small of Chrissy's back, and lowered her down onto the mattress.
His erection was prodding against her thigh and he could feel her nipples harden, pressed as they were against his hair-free chest. He caressed one of her breasts, kneading the soft flesh and enjoying the yearning moans she was giving him as they stayed locked by the lips. She chewed at his lower lip and he closed his mouth around her tongue to suck on it in the way he knew she liked.
Venturing a hand between them, he found the sensitive nub of flesh that he had never touched before but knew would elicit the sort of response from her that she often sought out of him. Pressing the padding of his thumb against her there, he began to rub in earnest and she whimpered slightly, squeezing her hand against his bare backside to ask for more. He complied all too eagerly, working her here until he had her wet, gasping and bucking toward him in a quest for more.
He had no condoms, a fact both of them seemed to realize at the same time, but Chrissy took hold of him below and guided him to her entrance all the same. She was ready for him, well-lubricated, and throbbing. He could feel her heat opening to accept him and with one solid thrust, he buried himself to the hilt within her, filling her with every inch of him. With one hand planted on either side of Chrissy's head, he began to pulse, grinding his hips down against hers as she nestled her thighs on either side of him to anchor him in place.
His face was buried in the crook of her neck as he maintained his rhythm. Her fingers had entangled themselves in his hair and she held him there. Lifting herself just an inch or two off of the mattress, she joined her ankles across his lower back to give him a new slant of penetration. He could feel himself touching something deep within her, nudging against a spot that made her eyes widen as she gave a startled cry.
Every time he pulled out slightly, he rubbed against that sensitive area on her and the friction was starting to become too powerful for her, judging by her needy pants. His body was protesting every movement, his adrenaline starting to fail him as all of the wounds and injuries from the past seventy-two hours collectively asked him to give himself a much-needed rest and just stop, but he had been waiting too long for this and knew Chrissy had been waiting longer, so he had to see it through to the end.
She gasped out to him that she was close, on the edge and ready, needing to fall. Her grip was a suctioning pressure on him at all points of contact, her inner walls contracting around his length and drawing out a desperate groan from him. He angled himself at the proper point to hit that deep, erotic spot within her and thrust upward. Her mouth dropped open and her pupils dilated as her back arched off of the floor and her wave of ecstasy swept over her. He could feel her shattering around him, feel her insides quivering as her inner muscles milked him one last time before relaxing in the afterglow. Eddie wasn't far behind her and with a few more moments of frenzied plunges into her, he felt his climax upon him. His thoughts were foggy, clouded by the euphoria of being inside of her, and he almost didn't make it in time but with one final thrust and an almost pained gasp of relief, he withdrew, coating her stomach in his release.
The last of his wits remained to prevent him from collapsing on her, but it was a close thing. Her breasts were pressed in tightly against his scarred chest and he lay his forehead down between them, kissing at the sweaty skin and embracing the warmth of her. Slowly lowering himself onto one shoulder, he lay down beside her and trickled his hands down the curve of her spine. She entangled her legs with his and cupped her arms under his armpits to grasp his shoulders from behind, nuzzling her face into the hollow of his throat.
He smiled into her hair, mentally flipping Vecna the middle finger because the bastard had tried to claim her but Eddie would fight for her, whatever it took. She was his.
