It still hadn’t quite settled in yet, that Henry was missing. She’d spoken to the police with her mother when he had first been reported missing, she had been there when they searched her house for any information, she had made and printed the missing posters herself; but she was still half expecting Henry to come home from school with his usual smile and tell her all about her day. He had been the one constant thing in her life, aside from their mother, but her shifts at the hospital were so irregular even her company wasn’t constant through no fault of her own. She had lost the consistency of Steve months ago, anyways. But Henry… he had always been there, and now that he wasn’t she didn’t know what to do. “Do you think people care?” She broke the silence with the thought, one that she let slip without thinking. She paused, a moment to wipe her eye with the heel of her palm, before she tilted her head to look at Steve. “Those people earlier, who were… laughing,” She flinched slightly. It wasn’t funny. “They don’t care, does everyone think it’s a joke or something?” Flora had a fair share of people give their sympathies to her, but just as many people had laughed too.
Steve’s words were kind, but she did have to thank him. She was taking his time that he would’ve otherwise spent with Carol and Tommy, or with Nancy… she didn’t know exactly what the Wheeler girl was to him, and part of her didn’t want to. It left a crushing feeling in her chest the first time she had seen the two of them together, and tried not to focus on it since. But it didn’t matter anymore – none of it did, really. “Thank you anyways,” She told him, tone soft. And after a pause she looked at Steve again, a sad smile on her lips. “He really missed you being around,” Of course, it was hard to explain to her brother why Steve had started being around less and less, until not at all. It had been hard to tell her brother that ‘Of course he still cares about you’, when it was upsetting her just as much. “I’m glad you’re here. I don’t think any of my other friends know him as well as you.” It felt a little bitter with the context of their friendship over the past few months, but it was the truth.
Florence looked away from the window and back at Steve as he spoke, and smiled a little tearfully. “Yeah, smart little nerds,” She repeated, and it was true. Henry had never played Dungeons and Dragons like she knew some of the other kids did, but he was incredibly good at math – much more than she was – and he spent a lot of time in the arcade playing Sinistar. Her brother was incredibly smart, and she was sure that he would be fine if he simply got lost in the woods. Even if he would be lonely, cold, and scared. But she tried not to think about that, refused to, and blinked a few times before she focused back on Steve as he continued talking. “I guess… he’s a smart kid, if he’s around then I’m sure he’s fine,” And she couldn’t comprehend the thought of that not being the case. Of Henry not being in Hawkins, of him being taken by someone, of him being dead. Just the thought of it made her feel nauseous, and she frowned as she pushed the thought from mind, and focused on Steve instead, nodding at his words. “Yeah, we’ll find them.” She breathed out, determined that they would.
She stared at the arcade for a moment, bottom lip bitten between her teeth. Someone must have seen Henry – it was impossible that he had disappeared without a trace; no witnesses, nothing left behind. The police had found Will Byers’ bike, so where was Henry’s trail? Her eye’s left the arcade and back at Steve as he stopped walking, and for a moment she regretted asking. It wasn’t the time to talk about it, even if it was a conversation long overdue. But, feet rooted to the ground as she stared at him, her head nodded a little at his answer. “You promise?” Her voice was small again, but she couldn’t help but ask. Steve was kind, and maybe he wouldn’t have told her if she did something wrong, just left it unspoken so that he didn’t hurt her with words. She had always been sure that Steve wasn’t hurting her on purpose by the drift between them, and maybe she should have reached out more herself… but it hurt that if it wasn’t on purpose, he didn’t notice how much it upset her. Her eyebrows scrunched slightly, head tilting towards him. “You were never an asshole, Steve,” Even if it did hurt, it wasn’t like he had been spiteful or anything. Flora sighed, fingers playing with the corner of the posters again. It was true, he probably should have made more of an effort. But she couldn’t blame him for making new friends. “Tommy and Carol seem… cool,” Not at all, but she wasn’t about to be rude about his friends. “And Nancy seems nice,” She sighed, glancing towards the arcade before back at him. “This probably makes me really selfish, we came out here to look for Henry,” She sighed as her expression fell. “But I really miss you.”
Eddie held onto her tightly as they hugged, wanting to offer the best comfort that he could. He felt her relax in his arms, which he was thankful for. She was fine; she had been able to drive to his trailer – even though he was against that sill – and she had no major injuries. But he could imagine that it would take her a while to get over what she had witnessed. The fire, the people that had died… Billy. He had only ever heard bad things about Hargrove, but regardless of if he was a shitty guy or not, she had still seen it. She had seen someone die – he couldn’t imagine how that felt. And he didn’t want to bring it up to her, not after she had been smiling and relaxed, but he didn’t think that she was okay. Eddie always cared about her, he’d cared ever since they had met, but he was really going to put in the effort to make sure that he would be there for her whenever she needed him. Eddie had always cared about her, and in the past few years maybe he had started caring about her as a little more than a friend. But any feelings he had aside – Ophelia was his friend and he would be there.
A soft smile worked it’s way onto his lips as she whispered against his neck, the sensation sending a slight shudder through him. “Thank you,” He had chuckled in response, and squeezed her in the hug in only a way that he could, but it meant more than that to him, and left him with a sweet feeling that had the smile stuck to his face like it wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. “I’ll always be yours too… when I’m not Metallica’s number one fan.” He was grinning as he leaned his head against her’s, a chuckle shaking his body slightly as he held her. As she let her head lull against his shoulder he stayed quiet, and just let her relax against him. He kept the movement of his palm over her back, rubbing between her shoulder blades, helping to ease any leftover tension from her body. It was nice, just being able to hold her. It was calm, and different to their usual time spent together. But a good difference, nonetheless. One that Eddie would only look back on in fondness. The kiss to his cheek only made the softness worse, and the grin he wore melted into a kind smile that he met her with once she had pulled back. “A travesty?” Eddie raised his eyebrows, a scoff passing his lips – much more Eddie Munson than kisses on cheeks, but those lines had been blurred a long time ago – before his head tilted at her. “What’s your favourite, then? And if you say mint then you really are sleeping on the porch.” He teased.
At the promise he chuckled, grinning at her again. “Thank you, I’m honoured, really,” He told her, even though naming the teddy bear had been at his request. Going to the fair probably would have been the best option; no fires, no deaths, no injuries. And as much as Eddie would have loved to have spent the night with Ophelia playing dumb fair games and winning dumb prizes, she wouldn’t have ended up on his doorstep and the atmosphere wouldn’t have become whatever it was between them in his trailer. He frowned slightly as she winced at the sting from the wipe, and settled with gently rubbing his thumb along her wrist comfortingly. The wipe couldn’t have stung that badly and he doubted that she needed comforting through it… but it was nice to touch her, and he hoped it was nice for her too. “I’m not exaggerating at all, dunno what you’re on about,” He teased, and chuckled. “I suppose it means you do,” He nodded, glancing down at his shirt before back up at her. “As long as you don’t think it’s too nerdy for you.” He chuckled.
Maybe it was just a fluke, because she was shaken up and he was the only one there. Maybe the morning would roll around and it would be back to how it was between them, completely platonic. Maybe Eddie was crazy for even thinking about past that night when all they had shared was a kiss. But, at least for him, it felt like the feeling had been brewing for much longer than that night, and it felt good, a relief to finally get a semblance of his feelings off his chest. A smile curved at his lips as he heard her words – gone was the awkwardness and apologies from before. Completely certain that they were okay, and that it wasn’t something to apologise for, Eddie grinned at her words with a nod. As soon as she had leaned towards him his hand was against her neck again and he was leaning in the rest of the way, relaxed as he kissed her. The closeness allowed him to smell the smoke from the fire, but it was more than that. It was the warmth of her skin, the softness of her lips against his own, the feeling that swirled deep inside him that told him that this kiss wasn’t just a throwaway. Being mindful of her head, his free hand lifted and brushed hair away from her face, before he leaned forwards and his forehead was pressed to hers with a sigh, lips still ghosting over hers. “Definitely not a fluke.” He whispered, smiling uncontrollably.
