MATILDA, eddie munson.

049.

"my clothes aren't exactly shining," he joked lightly. "it's my honor, really. i'd do it a thousand times over if i had to. but, please, don't actively put yourself in a situation where you need rescuing."

"i'll try not to," she told him, walking through the door into the wheeler's house.

"any updates? we're kind of shitting ourselves over here, guys.."

'hi,' nancy wrote back.

"hi? hi!" dustin exclaimed. "what happened? is tillie okay?"

'yes,' the brunette replied, making dustin cheer happily. 'exit?'

"exit? oh, right, how to get you guys out of there. we think watergate isn't the only gate. that there's a gate at every murder site," the curly haired boy explained.

"does anybody understand what he's talking about?" nancy asked, earning shaked heads from the rest of them. she sighed, drawing a '?' to dustin.

"seriously? how many times do i have to be right on the money before you guys just trust me?" the boy screeched.

"jesus christ," steve commented. "this kid's gotta get his ego in check."

"it's his tone, right?" eddie nodded along.

"i know," steve agreed.

"okay, so how far is your trailer?" nancy interrupted the two, directing her question to eddie, of course.

"seven miles," eddie and tillie answered together.

"nancy?" robin added to the conversation. "uh, i know your house here is, like, weirdly, creepily frozen in time and shit, but haven't you always had bikes?"

nancy had a look of realization on her face. "the garage.."

hastily, the five of them headed out to nancy's garage and pulled out four, perfectly intact bikes.

"so, who's sharing?" steve queried. "there's five of us, only four bikes."

"me and mattie, obviously," eddie replied, walking over to grab one of the bikes. "is that even a question?"

steve raised his eyebrows and shrugged. "guess not."

the other three clambered onto their bikes, whilst tillie and eddie tried to figure out the best way to sit.

"no, because you're too short," eddie replied, dismissing her idea of her sitting at the back. "you won't be able to see shit and it will be awkward for us to talk."

"so, what then?" tillie sighed, getting more annoyed by the minute. all she wanted to do was to go back to hawkins and sleep the day off.

eddie sat on the bike as one normally would, before gesturing for her to sit on his lap. she was going to question it, but decided not to and simply climbed on, resting her head against his shoulder. he wrapped his arms around her waist and gripped the handlebars, creating a safety feature which prevented the blonde from falling off.

"comfortable?" eddie asked, receiving a small nod.

"ready to go?" nancy asked.