#cleryc

“When’s the last time you slept?”

Max looked down at her wrist, as if she were looking at a watch. Calculating the amount of time since she was able to sleep last. “It’s Thursday? ... I think I slept Monday? Three days ago?” She was no longer talking to Will, but herself. Trying to remember the last time her body was more exhausted than it was afraid. Three days, it had been three full days, and she was getting there. Dull blue eyes, made their way to Will, widening at the realization that she just admitted to him how long it’s been. Normally she avoids the question. The art of distraction is something that she is not lacking in.. -- but right now, she was too tired to notice, before it was too late. 

“No.. -- uh..” Now she was trying to backtrack.. Will was smarter than that though, she wouldn’t be able to pretend the previous words never left her lips. “... I’m fine Will.. Really.” It was a lie, but maybe he’d believe her? Maybe he wouldn’t notice the bags under her eyes. The slouch in her back. The way her feet were dragging as she walked. Maybe she looked fine? 

Will Byers ( @cleryc​ ) gets a starter from Mike Wheeler!

            The tension was palpable since the incident at the roller rink, Mike knew he has been an asshole; if anyone else spoke to Will the way he did, he would have have lost his shit. He hates how different everything feels, hates that Will left, that he lost him all over again, of course it wasn’t his fault, none of it was, but after he left Hawkins nothing felt okay. He wasn’t good at talking about his feelings, sooner bottle them up and push them down, letting it spill out in anger and bitterness for the emotions he doesn’t know how to express. No one ever taught him. Communication, something that was practically taboo in the Wheeler household, all his dad did was work and drink and sleep, his mom cried a lot, when she didn’t think anyone was listening. Which only reinforced that idea in Mike’s head that emotions were something you kept private; something you didn’t burden anyone else with, something to be ashamed of.

        It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk to Will, he did, he missed him in ways he could never have predicted and that was just the problem wasn’t it? He’d drunkenly cried to Billy about it once, when he’d picked him up at 1am, drunk and bruised and feeling more than a little sorry for himself. Confessed things he didn’t understand, things he hated about himself; that made him feel dirty and wrong for feeling. Things he had never admitted aloud before, because what they meant terrified him. And he had a girlfriend. Guilt compounded on top of shame that left him angry, and confused, and another twenty different feelings he couldn’t even put a name too.

“   you know, i really hoped i'd never see this place again   ”

Duh, of course, it was illegal. Lots of fun things were exceptionally illegal, taking drugs, underage drinking, arson (in the form of letting off fireworks in abandoned buildings), stealing from the supermarket, and vandalising school property. All things that Eddie had done at one point or another. He still did some of them because life was boring without risk, and he didn't want to lead a boring life, especially since he only had one, which Vecna temporarily ended, but he didn't want to think about that right then.

He threw another Red Vine over to Will (yes, he paid for these ones), his new potential partner in crime, where they sat in the remaining pitiful woodland of Hawkins. Unfortunately, much of the greenery had been taken over by death and decay and showed no signs of slowing down anytime soon. If Vecna had his way, the whole world would perish beneath the disease, and it was up to a bunch of nerds and kids to somehow stop that. Jesus fucking christ, they were all so dead. Eddie swiftly shoved some more candy in his mouth to soothe the internal dread that flared up. That kept happening; he wished it wouldn't if only to allow him to keep up appearances in front of the others.

"It's not like many folks are still around the town to stop us, kiddo. It'll be like taking candy from a baby. If the baby were an industrial warehouse full of salt. But that's what your sister needs, right? It amplifies her superpowers?" Honestly, he figured they'd be thanked for it in the end if it brought them one step closer to wiping Vecna's face out of existence. And Byers was a great choice to get it on this with because no one would suspect him with his sweet little face and polite demeanour. But in his experience, the quiet kids were always the ones the surprised people the most. There was a lot more to Will Byer's than met the eye. He just knew it. Normal kids didn't survive in hell and make it out to the other side twice. Nah, this kid had badass written all over him, even if he himself didn't get that yet.

Another Red Vine headed Will's way once Eddie saw he was done, and he took one for himself, chewing on it while wild ideas formed in his squirrely head. "We'll be like Gandalf and Radagast going to raid the tomb of The Witch King of Angmar or something for dark artefacts. Ain't that shit hot enough for ya, Byers?" He pointed his finger at his companion, lips curved into a daring smile. "If I clear out all the shit in my van. We could pull a huge fucking haul, dude. Vecna would be pissing his tighty-whiteys---or whatever he wears...flesh, I guess." A shudder ran through him from intrusive images that Eddie did not wish to imagine again. "But my point stands. Illegal or not. Jane is gonna need what we can get her, and I say you're just the man for the job. So what say you, Will The Wise?" Eddie finalised, brandishing one of the Red Vines like a twirly wand.

                                    ↪     ᵗʰᵉ 𝑫𝑼𝑺𝑻𝒀 𝑻𝑶𝒀𝑩𝑶𝑿 .

@cleryc​ asked: i’m not usually like this ,  i’m sorry .

                    EDDIE   FELT   HIS   BROWS   FURROW,   HEAD   TILTED   IN   TURN.   HE   hoped   he   didn’t   make   the   younger   one   nervous.   That   was   the   last   thing   he   wanted.   With   everything   that   had   followed   him,   though,   he   wouldn’t   hold   it   against   the   young   teen.   Or,   maybe   it   wasn’t   that.   Maybe   there   was   something   else.   His   looks?   Perhaps.   Eddie   wouldn’t   know   unless   he   was   inside   that   youthful   brain.   Even   then   that   idea   made   him   shudder.   The   stories   shared   between   Dustin   and   Max,   this   kid   didn’t   need   anything   else   in   his   head.

            LIPS   WERE   DRAWN   DOWNWARD   AS   HE   THOUGHT,   RINGED   FINGERS   LIFTED   to   the   back   of   his   head   to   give   a   nervous   scratch   of   his   head,   “   Don’t   sweat   it,   man,   ”   he   heard   his   voice   echo   between   the   shared   space,   “   I   don’t   know   how   you   usually   are   either...   ”   a   small   tease   with   lips   turning   upwards   into   a   grin,   “   However,   I   heard   good   things   at   lunch.   Your   little   shitheads   of   friends   like   to   talk   when   they   get   excited.   ”   his   hand   dropped,   and   then   stuffed   both   of   them   in   pockets.

TEXT MEME / ACCEPTING / @cleryc

~~📷~~ He knew things had changed since they'd moved away from Hawkins--- had it been a good decision? at that time, it had seemed like it was. Their family needed a break. But was it better for him? Yes and no...

Moving out of Hawkins had meant moving away from everything he knew. Everything he'd built up the last few months, years....he had to leave it behind. Had to leave Nancy behind. And Will had to leave his friends behind too. It had been hard for both of them.

But--- Will still had Jane....who did he have? no one once again. Until he met Argyle. He learned him how to relax --with a little help---. Mae him help forget about everything for a while.

He didn't touch his camera aymore. he didn't really know why...maybe because it reminded him too much about his previous life. His Hawkins life.

But one thing he didn't want to change....that was his big brother role. Even if he felt like it's also changed a little. Those words meant a lot to him.

"I'll always be me. I'll always be here for you. No matter what".

quote starters || @cleryc

He can't help the way something in his ribs gives a very sharp squeeze, at the kid's words. He looks down at the young Byers boy, with a heaviness in his heart that reaches up into his weathered blue eyes, too. He's too goddamn young to have seen as much as he has, in his short life. When he was Will's age, he'd been stealing beer and cigarettes from his pa, living and loving without a goddamn care in the world. Will's survived horrors that most of the world couldn't ever imagine, and in that boy's soft heart, he fears he's a monster.

Hopper is nothing short of patient, and sympathetic, as he reaches one gentle hand to settle the weight of it on top of Will's shoulder. He gives him a kind squeeze, willing that some sort of comfort could be passed to him through the touch.