AS THEY now head to Reefer Rick's, Dustin and Steve once again in the way back as Max sat between James and Lucas in the backseat, Nancy and Robin up in the front, the Buckley spoke up, "not to be a wimp, but can I sit in the car? 'Cause this is totally and royally gonna suck." She tells their driver.
"It'll be fine." Nancy just insisted. "I just can't see to see those dull eyes of Eddie's break again. I really, really can't." The blonde girl replied, looking away. "Hey, I think he has cute puppy dog eyes." James defended Eddie as Steve looked at him right away.
"Puppy dog eyes?" Max giggled quietly and James looks at her, smiling. "Totally." He says and Steve raised the six-pack of beer bottles. "At least he can drink himself into feeling better, right, James?" That felt like a jab at James' coping mechanism who now glanced back at Steve, giving a mean look before turning away. "That's what my mom does." Max says, her arms crossed and James felt a tiny pang of guilt, glancing down at his lap.
He was just the same as Max's mom. "Why don't we give it a trial run? Hey Eddie, uh, good news first this time. We got you some Dustin approved junk food and that six-pack you requested. Oh, yeah, and we found Vecna. Only the bad news is that he's in that other, darker, much scarier dimension that we told you about, and the gate's closed, so we have no way of getting to him. Like, he's entirely shut off to us, so basically you're screwed." Robin rambled and James just lets out a sigh.
"And no, I knew you were already screwed. But now you're like, doubly, triply screwed." The Buckley added on quickly and the Hopper looks over at her. "Maybe we don't put it like that..." He suggested, crossing his arms. "We're one step closer to finding Vecna. That's what we say, that's what's important." Nancy tells them and James just nods softly.
"See, Robin? Positive spin can make all the difference." Steve says and James scrunched up his face. "Uh-huh." Is all Robin replies with. "Oh, shit." Nancy says so James leans to the middle a bit to see up ahead, only to see the crowd and the cops gathered together.
Nancy parked the car quickly and they all hopped out, "come on, this way." James walked around the news reporter van, standing on the driver's side and peering at the officers, well, Chief Powell and Officer Callahan. "Reporting a homicide here on the lake. Officer Callahan here and myself arrived first on the scene. We made our way to the shore of Lover's Lake, about ten yards from that house you see behind me, it was where we found the victim." A split second, James worried it was Eddie.
"An 18-year-old Senior from Hawkins High, Patrick McKinney." As they described the body's state when they found it, James realized why that name sounded familiar as he looked to Lucas right away and saw the look on his face. The moment they named Eddie as a person of interest, he immediately turned his head back around to look at the police chief.
"What the fuck?" He says right away. "This is not good. This is really not good." Steve says. "Dustin? Can you hear me? Jamie?" The radio goes off and they all turned away from the crime scene as James rushed to Dustin's side. "Eddie. Holy shit, are you okay?" The Henderson spoke into the radio right away.
"Nah, man. Pretty... pretty Goddamn far from okay." Eddie replied and James sighs, grabbing the radio from Dustin's hands. "Where are you, Ed?" He spoke into the radio. "Oh, Jamie! I--I'm at Skull Rock, do you know it? Well, I--I mean, obviously, you would know it because it's popular for--" "making out." James says, glancing up to see Steve is staring at him.
"Yes, yes, I know where it is." He then said into the radio. "Cornwallis and--" "Garrett." Steve cut off James, nodding before they all walk back to the vehicle. "Hold tight. We're coming." Dustin told Eddie through the radio before they all hopped into the car, same seating, and Nancy drove off, away from the crime scene.
After ditching Nancy's vehicle on the side of the road, the groups were split into pairs again, except for James and Steve who are once again stuck with Dustin. James didn't mind it at this point, it really did feel like they were Dustin's dads and the curly haired boy didn't seem to mind either as he was more than happy to give the "dad" title to both of them.
He wasn't so sure why Steve had such a problem with it though. Dustin had his compass out and knew where Skull Rock was based off of it but both James and Steve knew they were going the wrong way. "Dude, I'm telling you, you're taking us the wrong way." Steve says. "It's north, I'm positive. I checked the map." Dustin replied and James just sighed quietly.
"You do realize, um, that Skull Rock, it's like a super popular make-out spot?" James asked and Dustin glanced back at the two with a grin. "You boys frequently visited?" He asked and James' face burned warm as he glanced away. "No. Steve just knows because he bought every naive girl he's dated before me there..." He said as he rubs the back of his neck.
"Whatever, James. I'm just saying it wasn't popular until I made it popular. I practically invented it." Steve said and James turned the other way. "Where are you going?" Dustin asked and James pointed. "The right way." He said as a response as Steve follows. "Yeah, stop whining. Let's go, just trust us." He says and Dustin followed anyway, sighing.
Dustin was a little behind as James kept glancing at Steve, the little memory of meeting Steve at Skull Rock crossing his mind. "Stevie, someone's gonna catch us." James whispered but Steve kept kissing his neck, his hands on James' lower back as he was holding his boyfriend against the rock. "Relax, J," Steve whispers, pulling back before smiling widely.
"We're all good and if anyone shows up, we'll say we're waiting for dates." He says and James scrunched up his face. "You think anyone will believe I get dates?" He asked and Steve grabs his face gently in both hands. "You got a date with me." He says and James just leans closer. "Because you're easy." He says but he's joking as Steve rolled his eyes.
"Just shut up and kiss me." Thinking of the quiet laughter that ensued after in between their kisses made James smile faintly before glancing over at Steve who was staring straight ahead. He glanced away, pursing his lips as he thinks of the rest of that night. Meanwhile Steve was thinking about the way James answered Eddie as quickly as he could, as quick as he use to with Steve. He's filled with self-doubt and insecurity ever since it happened.
"Hey, what's on your mind?" James asked suddenly and Steve glanced over at him. "Nothing." He looked ahead again and started walking faster. "Come on, I think we're almost there so you can see your new boyfriend." He says it in a bitter tone and James doesn't get a chance to say a thing as Dustin rushed ahead of him, groaning. "Are we really almost there? Because I feel like we're going the wrong way." He called out to the Harrington.
Steve pushes the branches out of his way, "oh, boom! Bada bing, bada boom." He says, crouching over. "There she is, Henderson. Skull Rock." Steve says, glancing back at Dustin and James right behind him. "In your face, man. In your stupid, cocky little face." He says and James sighs. "Doesn't make sense." Dustin looked up at the rocks.
"Yeah, yeah. Even with it staring you right in the face, you can't admit it. You just can't admit you're wrong, you little butthead." Steve said as James glanced around in search for Eddie when the boy jumped down from behind them. "I concur." He tells them so they quickly spun around. "You, Dustin Henderson, are a... total butthead." He says and James chuckles softly, staring at Eddie in relief.
"Jesus, we thought you were a total goner." Dustin now embraced him and Eddie softly pats his back, looking up at James and Steve. "Yeah, me too, man." He says as he takes notice of how annoyed Steve looked and how relief and smiley James appeared to be.
"Me too." Eddie says as Dustin steps back. "Here..." James walked over and held out the paperbag, smiling. Eddie smiles back, "I got you more of that cereal you liked and some actual food not just junk." He says and the Munson just nods, looking down at the bag. "And the beer?" He asked as Robin appeared by his side, raising the six-pack of beer.
"Oh, thank God for you, Jamie." Eddie said as he grabbed the beer and the bag from Jamie and Robin. "Oh, thank Steve, he's the one who had the fake I.D. for the beer." James said as everyone just watched the pair. "Oh, thanks, I guess, Harrington..." Eddie walked over and James watched him carefully as he crouched down and looked through his stuff.
"When I got to the shore, I tried calling you guys, but, uh..." Eddie opened up the canister of water, leaning his head back to drink from it. "My walkie was busted, man." He says. "Drenched. So, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently." At the sight of Eddie's smile, James couldn't help but smile too before it fades and he glanced down. "I ran." Eddie then chuckles. "Do you know what time this was? The attack?" Nancy now asked him.
"Yeah, no, I... I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked." Eddie holds up the watch he had slipped off his wrist before holding it up to James who was the closest standing to him so he reached over and grabbed the watch from his hand, their fingers brushing.
"9:27..." James read the watch, looking over at Nancy. "Same time our flashlights went kablooey." Robin tells them right away. "Which means what, exactly?" Steve looked at his ex-boyfriend who now fidgets with the broken watch in his hand. "That that surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick." Nancy says, looking at the boy in the yellow sweater.
"Well, we're one step closer." Robin says and James looks at Eddie, holding out the watch which the boy took back. "We know how Vecna attacks." James says, staring at Eddie who's looking down at the stuff he'd gotten. "And where he attacks from." Lucas says and James glanced over at him and Max.
"So now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart." Max looks up at the older teens. "If he even has a heart." Robin says. "A stake? Is he like a vamp--Is he vampire?" Steve asked, sounding confused at first then shocked as he looked over at Max.
"It was a metaphor." Max tells him. "Uh, bullets should work on him, right?" Eddie asked. "I say we chop his head off." Lucas says and James shrugs. "I'd say all of the above, but how exactly so we do any of that? We need to find a way into the Upside Down first." He explained. "We need El to get her powers back." Max says, her arms crossed and Eddie glanced up.
"El?" He says and James nods. "My sister..." He says and Eddie just stared up at him. "Oh, yeah... you mentioned her before." He said and glanced away. James looked at Steve who's already staring at him. "Hey, uh, Henderson's not, uh, cursed, is he?" Eddie said, looking at Steve then at James.
"Cursed? No. He's fine." James says as he shook his head, watching Dustin who's been pacing for the past few minutes. "Mental? Absolutely." Steve just tells Eddie who he now looked over at. "Boom!" The curly haired boy suddenly yells which caused them to flinch and look over at him right away.
"Bada... bada... boom." He says and James just furrows his brows, confused. "I was right. Skull Rock was north." Dustin pointed to the big rocks and James sighs. "Seriously? This again? I swear to God, this is Skull Rock!" He gestured to the giant rocks. "Uh-huh." Dustin nodded with a wide smile. "You're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong. James and I have been here before!" Steve let it slip up. "Yes." Is all Dustin says as Eddie glanced up at James.
"And no." Dustin said at the same time so James tilts his head to the side. "What do you mean?" He asked as Steve said, "oh, my God," and covered his face. "This compass worked correctly when we left the Wheelers'." Dustin held up the compass and James sighs, sending a look to Steve. "It was correct when we got in the car on Curly. But it started to slip the further east we went. Now it's way off." He then explained to the rest of the group.
"When I was leading us here, I wasn't wrong. The compass was." Dustin held up the compass in his hand and James looks at Steve right away. "So you're using faulty equipment, dude. You're still wrong." He gestured to the younger boy. "Wait, no. It wasn't faulty, was it?" James looked over at Dustin right away.
"Yeah, you remember when I told you?" Dustin grinned widely and James nods as the curly haired boy then pointed at Lucas. "Lucas, do you remember what can affect a compass?" He asked and Lucas points at him. "An electromagnetic field." He answers and James chuckled. "Yep." Dustin says.
"Sorry. I must've skipped that class." Robin says, confused. "In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power." Dustin said but Steve is still confused. "The kids found the gate El opened up using the compasses... Don't you keep track of everything Dustin tells you?" James asked, softly hitting Steve's arm.
"There's a gate." Lucas says suddenly. "We're nowhere near the lab." Nancy says, looking from Lucas to Dustin. "But what if, somehow, there's another gate?" Dustin asked her. "A gate that we don't know about." James grins, looking at Dustin who looked at him, nodding.
"It'd have to be smaller. Way less powerful." Dustin says and Robin looks at him. "Snack-size gate." She says and James chuckles. "How? Why?" Steve asked and Dustin shook his head. "No idea. All I know is that something is causing the disturbance, and the last time we've seen anything like it, it was a gate." He says and James snaps his fingers.
"See?" He whispers to Steve who just gave him a look. "And I hope it is because then we'd have a way to Vecna. And a shot at freeing Max from this curse." Dustin then walks away. "Where are you going? Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Eddie's still a wanted man." Steve gestured to Eddie on the other side of James.
"Yeah, we can't just go for a hike in the woods." James says, crossing his arms. "This little steel capsule might be the key to saving both Max and Eddie." Dustin says and James glanced down at the boy still crouched down.
"What say you, Eddie the Banished?"
They all turn back to look at Eddie, well, James didn't have to, his eyes are already on Eddie. "I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor," he says and James smiles faintly at the Lord of The Rings reference, "which, if I'm totally straight with you, I think is a really bad idea." He says and Steve nods in agreement.
"But , uh, the Shire... the Shire is burning." He says and Dustins starts hopping up and down with a wide smile. Eddie then stood up, looking at Dustin, "so Mordor it is." Eddie brushed past Nancy and Steve looks at James. "What is Mordor?" He says, confused.
James chuckles softly. "Oh, Stevie, you're so cute." He walked off but Eddie scurried back past them, picking up his radio and water canister. "Get your stuff, dude, let's go." Steve tells him and Eddie came to walk between them. "So you two are frequent visitors of Skull Rock, huh?" He's smiling a bit too big.
"Oh, me--me and Steve?! No, no, no, no... no, no, no." James said quickly as Eddie stayed walking between them. "Wow... seven no's. Cool." Steve walked ahead and James sighed. "I'm sorry about that. It's just really weird with Steve and I." He whispers and Eddie just glanced at him before his gaze returns to the floor to focus on where he's walking.
"No, that's okay... I'm sorry for being nosy." He says and James just chuckles, shoving him gently. "Yeah, right." He whispers and Eddie chuckled as well as Steve glanced back at them, glancing between them both.
authors note lmao i love jeddie but i'm so sad one half of them sadly dies so i kind of have to stick with steve ig 😔
this nearly reached 3k words but thats bc i was so giddy over jeddie 🤭🫶
+ it's 7 am and i'm publishing this half asleep. anyways update for this but none for papercut bc i prewritten a lot for this in comparison to papercut (there's no chapter ready)