[She's pretty sure being freaked out by It would be considered normal and healthy to any sane person in existence. But she's also aware there are plenty of people - possibly even people who are here, who won't believe in things like what he's described. Hell. A couple weeks ago, she would have been one of them. She's kind of ashamed of that fact now.
Everything is uncertain, but that's always been true. What she's certain of, is that if It or a Sound Eater, or anything else with ill intent comes toward anyone in this house, she will go down fighting with everything in her. And thanks to "Hot Dog," she's learning how to actually fight. She'd still rather have a nailbat like Steve's, but beggars can't be choosers.]
It's fine. [She doesn't generally cry in front of anyone, but mostly because for a long time there hasn't been anyone to cry in front of. Not safely, anyway. Not without ridicule.]
I don't think you're a cry-baby. [She shrugs a little, nonchalant.]
(It couldn't be helped. Eddie would have been reluctant to believe someone prior to IT too. Although if it had been one of his best friends, he would have believed them. A near-stranger though? Maybe not. Between his own weird experiences and the experiences back on the station, Eddie knew just about anything in the universe was possible.
Eddie might be a coward, but he knew he'd die for anyone in this house too. Max just tolerating him alone was enough to make him feel closer to him than he had before. He knew that he had felt that special connection for a reason. She really was special, wasn't she? It makes Eddie smile, even if it is a little wobbly.)
You really are Losers Club material. (It's about the biggest compliment he could think of, and he hopes she realizes that by now.)
I...I think I feel better. (Talking about things sometimes...weirdly helped. Maybe Elizabeth had been right after all about why people went to shrinks.)
You...You have nightmares too? (He gently pushed. It wasn't to deter from himself. But it was one of those things where Eddie wasn't so good at just focusing on himself. Max didn't have to tell him anything if she didn't want, but Eddie figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.)
[Max hasn't had a best friend in a long, long time. Once her mom got involved with Neil, it hadn't taken long for all the friends she did have to slowly disappear. Billy scared the shit out of them. It was some kind of game to him, she's pretty sure. So when Lucas and Dustin had approached her back home, she'd brushed them off initially. Partially because she knew Billy would never allow her to have friends in Hawkins, and partially because she didn't know how to even do the friendship thing anymore.
She'd been trying, though. Mike's dismissal had stung in more ways than one, but it was still a minor sting compared to the damage her stepbrother's done. She's used to it. She knows she's not great at this. She'd started opening up to Lucas just a little at home, not in any great detail, but he'd caught on to her meaning quickly. She's not sure really what, if anything, would have come of all of that. If they would have become better friends, or more, or if Billy would have wound up killing them both when he found out. Truthfully she's a little afraid to find out the answer.
So to hear Eddie's easy acceptance of her as one of his friends - Losers Club - and she knows what it means because Bill had filled her in - is probably the nicest thing she's heard in a long, long time. A genuine smile threatens to break through when he tells her he thinks he feels better. And then he asks her about nightmares of her own.
Max hesitates a second, then shrugs, moving to sit down on the edge of his bed.]
The quiet's...really weird. It's never this quiet at my house. Like...ever. My step-family yells a lot. {And that is putting it lightly.]
(Gosh. Eddie knew that she wasn't so certain about her own place in her friend group, but it hadn't really occurred to him that she might not have a best friend. If it had...
Eddie couldn't imagine his life without Richie or Bill in it. Without his very best friends. They were what made him even half way brave. In any case, maybe it didn't matter. It was clear that they were going to have something unique here, something close and honest. When she sits on his bed, he sits down next to her. Doesn't touch her just yet. Instead, he focuses, and just like that, it's as if his shaking and crying from before had never happened.)
Oh. (It's not a dismissive Oh. It's a quiet, acknowledging sound. He scoots a little closer, letting their legs rest together. Eddie doesn't need to be told it's the bad kind of yelling, or tha it was putting it lightly.
He knew too many adults who were cruel, and he feels his heart burn with a quiet hatred for them. Maybe not all adults, but most he'd known...)
What kinda stuff did he yell about? Did you get in trouble a lot?
[Eddie, in a lot of ways, reminds her of Will, so when he sits beside her, legs resting together, it doesn't bother her. With others, it might have. She notes that he's definitely calmer now than he had been, and she's glad for it. No one enjoys being upset. Nightmares suck.
Max is quiet for a moment, pensive expression on her face.]
Mostly my stepdad yells at my stepbrother. Sometimes at my mom or me, but not as much as he yells at Billy. [She wonders if the name will click for him from their first meeting. She won't think much of it if it doesn't though. A lot's already happened between then and now.]
My step brother is - they sorta turned him into this like, bodyguard or whatever, because they think since I'm a girl I can't take care of myself. He takes his role very seriously.
[There's no mistaking the bitterness in her voice now.]
He's angry all the time. He hates me and he hates my mom.
(It's a subtle sort of thing that Eddie will remember when it counts to remember. He doesn't reach out to her. In some way, he thinks, a girl initiating touch was a lot different than a boy. And Max didn't seem like the hugging type, but Eddie watched, waited, knowing enough about Bev to know when it might be okay, or maybe even wanted.
People who thought 'yelling' parents was just an annoyance never had parents who yelled, honestly.)
My mom yelled a lot too. (It isn't to deter the conversation back to him. No. It's to say that he understands, that he gets it. Having a life that's controlled? Eddie understands that on a nearly crippling level. He grimaces, even, at the idea of her step brother ghosting her.
Billy.
The name does ring a bell if only because Max made a point of it when they first met and that isn't something Eddie forgets. Bullies were almost as bad as adults, after all.)
I dunno. You seem like you can take better care of yourself than most kids our age. (He's not trying to flatter her either. Eddie frowns hard then.)
Why does he hate you? What, he blames his dad yelling at him on you? That's bullshit. Is that the Billy you told me about from before?
[She glances at him sideways when he says his mom yelled a lot, too. She nods slightly, knowing he's signalling his understanding rather than a desire to deter the conversation.
His comment about her being able to take care of herself makes her smile faintly. But then they're back to the main problem.
Billy.]
He hates that his dad married my mom. Hates that I exist period. [She shrugs a little, gaze growing distant as she stares at the names on his wall.]
It's whatever. It's not like I don't hate him, too.
[He's certainly given her plenty of reasons to hate him. She shrugs, pressing her lips together.]
Sounds like he's a real cocksucker. (Eddie never understood people like this. People like Henry Bowers and Bill Hargrove who took all their anger out on the people around them. He sat back a little, staring hard at the floor as he thinks.)
He's a fucking coward. (Eddie says this at last with a surprising amount of aggression coming from someone so small and so soft spoken. Except Eddie was rougher than most people realized. Both in personality and tongue.)
People like him are fucking cowards. They're angry cause they can't do shit about the situation they're in, so they take it out on the people they know they can control. The people they know they can hurt. He can't fight your step-daddy, so he's gonna fight you instead like a fucking coward.
(His nostrils flare and his hands shake with genuine rage. Like Bev's daddy. Except sometimes Eddie was positive that that man was not a coward. Oh no. There was something rotted in his very soul that had him hitting a little girl so hard she went black and blue in the face. Eddie felt a rare sort of rage inside of him and he got to his feet and turned around, staring at Max with bright gray eyes.)
I can't fight but I swear to God, if he shows up here, he'll regret it. Okay?
[It's not like Eddie's wrong. She gets it, why Billy does what he does, even if he'd never voice it. She's smart enough that she's understood, almost from the beginning, why Billy takes his anger out on her. Because there's no one else around consistently to take it out on. If he tried to take it out on her mom, his dad would double down on him, but her mom and Neil aren't around enough to notice what's happening under their roof. And Max has gotten good at hiding things.
She nods her agreement, leaning into him almost unconsciously.]
He is a coward. He's just like his dad. [She hates Neil every bit as much as she hates Billy. Sometimes she even thinks she hates her mom for marrying him in the first place. For dragging them through all the screaming fights, all the broken dishes, the hateful words and the bruises. She doesn't understand why her mom is okay staying with a piece of shit like Neil Hargrove.]
I'm learning.
[Her voice is hushed and she looks at him sideways.] That guy I went to see in house 6 when I first got here. He's teaching me. I'm gonna learn so if Billy does end up here, I can handle it.
(Eddie quiets his anger for Max, and at her leaning, he moves an arm to wrap it around her shoulders and pull her snug against his side. Maybe it would be too much but he thinks maybe it'll be okay. Eddie didn't get why people like Bev's mom or Max's mom stayed with awful men either. He didn't get a whole lot about the world. He just knew a lot of it was ugly and twisted.
'Hot Dog'. The name resonates instantly and Eddie gives a slow nod. Frank and David....They seemed...Kind. Eddie was wary to think such a thing, but honestly, after the help Frank had given them already...He knew deep in the pit of his belly that it was okay to trust them. Even if only a little bit.)
You don't have to handle it alone.
(Eddie would do his best to keep her safe too. On top of that, he knew his friends would never tolerate that sort of thing. They didn't with Bev and they wouldn't with Max. They were strongest together, not scattered apart left to defend themselves on their own terms. He squeezes Max a little tighter.)
[She's only slightly surprised by the gesture at this point. It's been a long, shitty night for both of them. She exhales slowly, letting her eyes drift shut.
Max doesn't know Frank by anything except "Hot Dog" and she's never met or talked to David. She's still wary, but he didn't strike her as the kind to hurt kids, at least. She appreciates what Eddie is saying. If Billy shows up here, there'll be trouble one way or the other. She just hope it doesn't happen.
Odd as it is, this place is safer for her in a lot of ways that Hawkins isn't.]
Thanks, Eddie. [Her voice is hushed and she leans her head against his after a moment.]
Sure. Don't gotta thank me really. You just let me bawl like a baby on you.
(Granted, he hadn't cried that bad, but still. There was no coming out of this without being...tighter than they had been.
Similarly, this place was safer for Eddie too. Maybe the adults weren't perfect, but he had a feeling they wouldn't tolerate certain things. He half way thinks that if Henry Bowers showed up, Frank would put him in his place no problem.
At least he hoped so.
Eddie wraps his other arm around her and finally just gives her a small, harmless kiss on the top of her head before resting his cheek there.)
Anytime though. If you got shitty dreams, I'm always around, okay?
[She shrugs. She's pretty sure if she'd been having the kinds of nightmares Eddie's been having, she'd probably have woke up crying, too. She's cried over less, even though she hates crying.
It's weird, kind of, for anyone to hug her. But it's also kind of nice. She'll never say that out loud, though. She can't afford to get too soft. Still, she doesn't pull away when his other arm wraps around her.]
You, too.
[This. This is what friends are for, right? This is what she's been missing for such a long time now.
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chiming
no subject
Date: 2018-02-23 03:15 am (UTC)From:Everything is uncertain, but that's always been true. What she's certain of, is that if It or a Sound Eater, or anything else with ill intent comes toward anyone in this house, she will go down fighting with everything in her. And thanks to "Hot Dog," she's learning how to actually fight. She'd still rather have a nailbat like Steve's, but beggars can't be choosers.]
It's fine. [She doesn't generally cry in front of anyone, but mostly because for a long time there hasn't been anyone to cry in front of. Not safely, anyway. Not without ridicule.]
I don't think you're a cry-baby. [She shrugs a little, nonchalant.]
no subject
Date: 2018-02-23 04:51 am (UTC)From:Eddie might be a coward, but he knew he'd die for anyone in this house too. Max just tolerating him alone was enough to make him feel closer to him than he had before. He knew that he had felt that special connection for a reason. She really was special, wasn't she? It makes Eddie smile, even if it is a little wobbly.)
You really are Losers Club material. (It's about the biggest compliment he could think of, and he hopes she realizes that by now.)
I...I think I feel better. (Talking about things sometimes...weirdly helped. Maybe Elizabeth had been right after all about why people went to shrinks.)
You...You have nightmares too? (He gently pushed. It wasn't to deter from himself. But it was one of those things where Eddie wasn't so good at just focusing on himself. Max didn't have to tell him anything if she didn't want, but Eddie figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.)
no subject
Date: 2018-02-23 05:20 am (UTC)From:She'd been trying, though. Mike's dismissal had stung in more ways than one, but it was still a minor sting compared to the damage her stepbrother's done. She's used to it. She knows she's not great at this. She'd started opening up to Lucas just a little at home, not in any great detail, but he'd caught on to her meaning quickly. She's not sure really what, if anything, would have come of all of that. If they would have become better friends, or more, or if Billy would have wound up killing them both when he found out. Truthfully she's a little afraid to find out the answer.
So to hear Eddie's easy acceptance of her as one of his friends - Losers Club - and she knows what it means because Bill had filled her in - is probably the nicest thing she's heard in a long, long time. A genuine smile threatens to break through when he tells her he thinks he feels better. And then he asks her about nightmares of her own.
Max hesitates a second, then shrugs, moving to sit down on the edge of his bed.]
The quiet's...really weird. It's never this quiet at my house. Like...ever. My step-family yells a lot. {And that is putting it lightly.]
no subject
Date: 2018-02-23 06:09 am (UTC)From:Eddie couldn't imagine his life without Richie or Bill in it. Without his very best friends. They were what made him even half way brave. In any case, maybe it didn't matter. It was clear that they were going to have something unique here, something close and honest. When she sits on his bed, he sits down next to her. Doesn't touch her just yet. Instead, he focuses, and just like that, it's as if his shaking and crying from before had never happened.)
Oh. (It's not a dismissive Oh. It's a quiet, acknowledging sound. He scoots a little closer, letting their legs rest together. Eddie doesn't need to be told it's the bad kind of yelling, or tha it was putting it lightly.
He knew too many adults who were cruel, and he feels his heart burn with a quiet hatred for them. Maybe not all adults, but most he'd known...)
What kinda stuff did he yell about? Did you get in trouble a lot?
no subject
Date: 2018-02-23 06:13 pm (UTC)From:Max is quiet for a moment, pensive expression on her face.]
Mostly my stepdad yells at my stepbrother. Sometimes at my mom or me, but not as much as he yells at Billy. [She wonders if the name will click for him from their first meeting. She won't think much of it if it doesn't though. A lot's already happened between then and now.]
My step brother is - they sorta turned him into this like, bodyguard or whatever, because they think since I'm a girl I can't take care of myself. He takes his role very seriously.
[There's no mistaking the bitterness in her voice now.]
He's angry all the time. He hates me and he hates my mom.
no subject
Date: 2018-02-23 07:50 pm (UTC)From:People who thought 'yelling' parents was just an annoyance never had parents who yelled, honestly.)
My mom yelled a lot too. (It isn't to deter the conversation back to him. No. It's to say that he understands, that he gets it. Having a life that's controlled? Eddie understands that on a nearly crippling level. He grimaces, even, at the idea of her step brother ghosting her.
Billy.
The name does ring a bell if only because Max made a point of it when they first met and that isn't something Eddie forgets. Bullies were almost as bad as adults, after all.)
I dunno. You seem like you can take better care of yourself than most kids our age. (He's not trying to flatter her either. Eddie frowns hard then.)
Why does he hate you? What, he blames his dad yelling at him on you? That's bullshit. Is that the Billy you told me about from before?
no subject
Date: 2018-02-23 10:04 pm (UTC)From:His comment about her being able to take care of herself makes her smile faintly. But then they're back to the main problem.
Billy.]
He hates that his dad married my mom. Hates that I exist period. [She shrugs a little, gaze growing distant as she stares at the names on his wall.]
It's whatever. It's not like I don't hate him, too.
[He's certainly given her plenty of reasons to hate him. She shrugs, pressing her lips together.]
Yeah. That's the one. Hargrove is his last name.
no subject
Date: 2018-02-24 09:09 am (UTC)From:He's a fucking coward. (Eddie says this at last with a surprising amount of aggression coming from someone so small and so soft spoken. Except Eddie was rougher than most people realized. Both in personality and tongue.)
People like him are fucking cowards. They're angry cause they can't do shit about the situation they're in, so they take it out on the people they know they can control. The people they know they can hurt. He can't fight your step-daddy, so he's gonna fight you instead like a fucking coward.
(His nostrils flare and his hands shake with genuine rage. Like Bev's daddy. Except sometimes Eddie was positive that that man was not a coward. Oh no. There was something rotted in his very soul that had him hitting a little girl so hard she went black and blue in the face. Eddie felt a rare sort of rage inside of him and he got to his feet and turned around, staring at Max with bright gray eyes.)
I can't fight but I swear to God, if he shows up here, he'll regret it. Okay?
no subject
Date: 2018-02-24 09:13 pm (UTC)From:She nods her agreement, leaning into him almost unconsciously.]
He is a coward. He's just like his dad. [She hates Neil every bit as much as she hates Billy. Sometimes she even thinks she hates her mom for marrying him in the first place. For dragging them through all the screaming fights, all the broken dishes, the hateful words and the bruises. She doesn't understand why her mom is okay staying with a piece of shit like Neil Hargrove.]
I'm learning.
[Her voice is hushed and she looks at him sideways.] That guy I went to see in house 6 when I first got here. He's teaching me. I'm gonna learn so if Billy does end up here, I can handle it.
no subject
Date: 2018-02-25 02:38 am (UTC)From:'Hot Dog'. The name resonates instantly and Eddie gives a slow nod. Frank and David....They seemed...Kind. Eddie was wary to think such a thing, but honestly, after the help Frank had given them already...He knew deep in the pit of his belly that it was okay to trust them. Even if only a little bit.)
You don't have to handle it alone.
(Eddie would do his best to keep her safe too. On top of that, he knew his friends would never tolerate that sort of thing. They didn't with Bev and they wouldn't with Max. They were strongest together, not scattered apart left to defend themselves on their own terms. He squeezes Max a little tighter.)
You got us, okay?
no subject
Date: 2018-02-25 04:48 am (UTC)From:Max doesn't know Frank by anything except "Hot Dog" and she's never met or talked to David. She's still wary, but he didn't strike her as the kind to hurt kids, at least. She appreciates what Eddie is saying. If Billy shows up here, there'll be trouble one way or the other. She just hope it doesn't happen.
Odd as it is, this place is safer for her in a lot of ways that Hawkins isn't.]
Thanks, Eddie. [Her voice is hushed and she leans her head against his after a moment.]
no subject
Date: 2018-02-25 06:46 am (UTC)From:(Granted, he hadn't cried that bad, but still. There was no coming out of this without being...tighter than they had been.
Similarly, this place was safer for Eddie too. Maybe the adults weren't perfect, but he had a feeling they wouldn't tolerate certain things. He half way thinks that if Henry Bowers showed up, Frank would put him in his place no problem.
At least he hoped so.
Eddie wraps his other arm around her and finally just gives her a small, harmless kiss on the top of her head before resting his cheek there.)
Anytime though. If you got shitty dreams, I'm always around, okay?
no subject
Date: 2018-02-26 08:43 pm (UTC)From:[She shrugs. She's pretty sure if she'd been having the kinds of nightmares Eddie's been having, she'd probably have woke up crying, too. She's cried over less, even though she hates crying.
It's weird, kind of, for anyone to hug her. But it's also kind of nice. She'll never say that out loud, though. She can't afford to get too soft. Still, she doesn't pull away when his other arm wraps around her.]
You, too.
[This. This is what friends are for, right? This is what she's been missing for such a long time now.
Belonging.]