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Dustin broke into the hospital. He had called steve at 2 in the morning so that he could drive him to the hospital. He doesn’t care, he needed to see Eddie. He hasn’t seen Eddie ever since the… incident. A couple days before, Steve actually had gone to see Eddie, along with Robin. Nancy couldn’t visit him, which she didn’t tell them why. But anyway, Steve remembers which room Eddie was in, so he gave that room number to Dustin.
Room 162. Edward Munson.
Dustin’s stomach dropped when he finally reached Eddie’s room. Scared to see what they did to Eddie. If he had bandages everywhere… IV tubes everywhere… if he had gotten skinnier. Dustin couldn’t handle the fact that Eddie was in the hospital. He almost fucking died. He could have lost him. He could have lost Eddie. Now that, is to much for Dustin to process. His brain hasn’t been functioning mentally ever since Eddie has been in the hospital.
What if his heart just stops. What if he never wakes up again. What if he cant move at all. Will he ever get to stand again? Will he ever get to play D&D again? Will he?
One thing Dustin hates about himself is that, he overthinks everything. Every single fucking detail. And then he tries to not accept his thoughts, to block out the negative thoughts. But somehow, they always come back, it doesn’t matter if he blocks them out with positive thoughts. They will always come back. And that’s fucking wrong.
Dustin slowly opens Eddie’s door, scared of what he’s about to see. He holds his breath for a good second and closes his eyes. Once he’s fully in his room he opens his eyes and…
there’s Eddie Munson.
He can already feel the tears coming. But he knows he needs to be strong.
its fine Dustin, he’s only sleeping. Look at his heart rate monitor… his heart is beating. He’s alive, Dustin says in his head.
He is okay. He’s not going anywhere.
At least for now.
Dustin sees a chair next to Eddie’s bed, so he sits on it. The room is dark. But luckily, he has his flash light. He’s just staring at Eddie’s broken form. He has so much he has to say.
Like “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for not being there and preventing this from happening. I’m sorry I didn’t talk you out of it. And now your in this hospital bed, and God knows what’ll happen next…”
I don’t know if you’ll even…
Dustin sighed and wiped a tear that has fallen onto his cheek. He decides to sleep in the chair. He doesn’t know why he slept in the chair. I mean as long as he was with Eddie, he actually can sleep now knowing his heart is beating and he’s okay.
That’s all that mattered really.
About an hour into sleep (on that chair which is not comfortable at all) Dustin awakes to heavy breathing. It took Dustin a few moments to figure out what the hell is going on.
Where am I? What the hell- oh wait… never mind. I know where I am, but who’s breathing so heavily?
He soon realized that Eddie was having a panic attack once he was fully awake.
Dustin put his hands on Eddie’s arm, carful of the wires and other important medical stuff that was in the way. “Heyheyhey!” Dustin said panicked. “Shhh, shh, Eddie its me!” Dustin looked at him in the eyes. Eddie’s eyes were really wide. Much like how his eyes were when he saw the army of bats flying to where he was tied up on the ground ready to eat him alive.
His breathing grew louder, “What happened?! Am I dead?! Where am I?!” Eddie said, scared. “What? No, Eddie your alive. I promise. It’s me. Y’know, Dustin… Henderson?” He said, hoping Eddie remembered who Dustin is, if he didn’t well then, Dustin is screwed.
Eddie exhaled loudly. “D-Dustin?” He said, voice become less louder. “Dustin is that you?” Eddie asked, his voice became weak.
“Yes, its me buddy.” Dustin said reassuringly. He griped one of Eddie’s arms and with the other hand he placed it on top of one of Eddie’s knee caps. “What… what happened? What is this place…?” Eddie asked trying his best to look around.
“We… we’re at the hospital, buddy. Do you remember what happened?… at all?” Dustin shook his head towards the end of his sentence.
“What? No, I don’t remember anything. I don’t remember any-“ Eddie cut himself off. He noticed the wires and bandages on him and then it starts to all come back to him.
Yes, he does remember. Unfortunately. He doesn’t want to remember it.
He remembers climbing up the rope back into the real world, but then stopping and looking at Dustin. Then getting down and cutting the rope and buying more time. He remembers Dustin screaming his name like a lunatic. He remembers telling him, “I didn’t run away this time, right?”
He remembers being tied down to the ground as the bats make their way to eat him alive.
God, those damn bats. He hates those fucking bats.
Eddie’s hands start shaking. The memories are all starting to set in. Tears start to make their way to his eyes. He moves his hands to cover his face. His whole body is shaking. “Henderson… tell me, that those… bats aren’t here.”
Dustin’s eyes widened. “Hey, buddy don’t worry, they’re not here. They’re long gone. I promise, okay?” Eddie starts sniffing.
“Hey hey… Eds, don’t cry okay? Your safe, I promise. Those bats aren’t gonna hurt you anymore.” Dustin whispered gently. He ruffled the top of Eddie’s head comfortingly.
Dustin then grabbed both of Eddie’s hands away from his face. He then tucked some hair behind his ear. “You are safe Eddie. I promise.” Dustin smiled softly. Putting one hand on his cheek and kept holding one of Eddie’s hands in the other one.
Dustin’s thumb wiped the tears off his cheek. Dustin’s just so glad he’s safe now. He remembers before their battle with the demobats and all the other Upside Down shit, him and Eddie were play fighting.
“Hear me now, there will be no more retreating! From Eddie the Banished.”
“Man you’re really ready for bat-tle!”
“Do you get it? Battle. B-A-T.”
“No?”
“I though I had some good ones-“ Eddie leaps forward tackling Dustin. “What are you doing?” Dustin asks.
Eddie then pushes him back. “Son of a bitch!” Dustin runs into Eddie playfully. Eddie screams as Dustin runs into him. Eddie’s hand reaches for Dustin’s behind.
“No wedgies! No wedgies!” Dustin yells.
“Never change, Dustin Henderson… promise me?”
“I wasn’t planning on it.”
“Good.”
“Hey, Eddie?” Dustin asks. Hand no longer on his cheek. “Yeah?” Eddie looks over to where Dustin is in his chair beside him.
“I just wanted to let you know that I… I didn’t change.” Dustin tells him, voice becoming a little quiet. Eddie smiles softly. “Don’t worry, kid. I know you didn’t change.” Eddie gives Dustin a gentle look.
“Yeah and I…” Dustin looks off to the side before looking back up to Eddie. “I never stopped believing that you would wake up. That you would come back. At night I would just hope to God that you’d come back. My mom, she caught me crying over you one night, I just couldn’t handle it anymore. I needed you back Eddie. We all did. I don’t know where I’d be if you died.” Dustin’s eyes tear up at the word “died.”
“Hey, I’m not going anywhere. If your friends with me, that means your stuck with me for eternity. Just remember that, Henderson. Okay?” He grinned. He placed his hand on top of Dustin’s where it was on his bed. “And even when I do die… I’ll still come back to haunt you, trust that.” He patted his head and leaned back against the pillow. Closing his eyes and then reopening them to look at Dustin and smiled softly.
Dustin smiled back. Eddie would be alright.