januaryember | there's a patch of snow on the ground

(Truthfully, everyone thought everyone sucked in the future in different ways. None of the Losers got off scotch free with this one. After all, Eddie turned into a basket case who essentially married his own mother.

Thankfully for the time being, there were no more future visions to be seen. Eddie had avoided the Ingress since everything had happened though.

That wasn't so far off from his timid aspirations currently. But Beverly would come to learn that soon enough. They were all changing here. In good ways, even though it seemed not so good at the time.

It is a little silly, but Eddie's never done this with just one person and it somehow felt dumb to just do it normally. When Beverly repeats his words, Eddie smiles at her rather broadly, squeezing her hands tightly with his own. It stung a little, the cut, but it was the kind of sting that made Eddie think that the magic was working. He could feel it too, just the same way he'd felt the other promises he had made. He lets go of her hands a second later and frowns down at both their palms.)

We gotta sanitize this.

(At least they got better about that part? Eddie even came prepared with some iodine and bandages. He holds out his good hand to Beverly.)

Here. Give me yours.

[There's something so incredibly purely Eddie in that moment as he brings them both back to reality. She can't help but screw up her nose a little and laugh, not at him, but at the whole situation.]

Yeah- that'd be good.

[She places her bad hand in his, cut up so that he can clean and bandage the fresh wound. She'll watch him work carefully, peering over the top of his head to better see what he was doing.]

Edited 2018-01-07 05:59 (UTC)

(Eddie has long since learned the difference between being laughed at, and being laughed with, that he doesn't feel paranoid that she was laughing at him. He doesn't know why she's laughing, but it gets him smiling all the same.

He's very careful with Bev. Not just because careful was his nature of being, but because she was a dear friend and he was careful with all of them. He pours the iodine out over her cut and gently dabs at it with a clean cloth. Once it's dried up, he rubs an ointment over it to prevent infection even further. Next comes a non-stick gauze, and around that, he wraps the whole thing very securely.)

Let me know when you need that changed. I have this place stocked up on medical supplies.

(Shocking literally no one. He does his hand up with the familiarity of a boy who has done this to himself a whole lot. It's a little awkward one handed, but he seems in control well enough. Once his hand is secure, he stares at it, and then up at Bev.)

I need to tell you something that I realized. That I think gives us all a lot of hope. Cause it's not just me having some dumb kid faith in my friends about the future. There's something really wrong about all our futures. I feel like there's a lot more there than we originally thought.

[She laughs because it's perfect. It's so Eddie Kaspbrak and god damn if she didn't miss him. It was good to have him back.]

Why am I not surprised? [Beverly smirks and takes her hand back.] I have a feeling you'll chase me down if I don't.

[Beverly leans forward, eager to hear what Eddie has to say. His words are enough to stir something inside of her, and she closes her eyes, shaking her head. She can barely remember what she saw, all of them, older. There was something else there when she saw her older self. The fading bruises she'd seen and felt. The sort that you only get one way.

She swallows, opens her eyes, and looks up at Eddie.]

Wrong? How....?

Because you know I'm the only reason any of us will make it out of this station without suffering weird space versions of tetanus. (Eddie grins back at her, looking a little proud of himself. If the banter didn't go to show Bev that things really were better between them, well.)

Oh, trust me. I will.

(There were far more important things to discuss though. Eddie considers her question very carefully. Not so much that he has to think about its answer, because he knows it, but rather that he has to figure out the best way of putting it.)

It feels like somehow It managed to embody our fears and make them manifest in our futures. Like It knew the best how to weaken us all. (Stan kills himself, for Christ's sake. If that wasn't It trying to break apart the lucky seven...)

I think It knew we could beat it a second time if we remained friends. Could you imagine? Our relationships would have been...

(Completely different if they hadn't forgotten each other. Eddie feels oddly shy saying as much, his face going a little pink, and he can't for the life of him figure out why, and he's trying to ignore the face that comes to mind for his own lost future. He sits up a little straighter, looking away from Bev like she might be able to see into him.)

They would have been so solid. They are now, but if we'd kept knowing each other for years after, only getting closer...And if we all had come to be our very best. It would have never stood a chance. But that's not what happened. I think Its magic made us not only forget about each other, but somehow wind up on paths that lead to us being at our weakest, most vulnerable states.

I mean, okay. It doesn't feel right to talk about everyone else's future- but for me, I wind up thinking I'm way sicker than I ever was as a kid-. And I marry this woman who's just like my mom in every way. I'm this weak, useless....(Miserable man.)

It's true! [It feels so good to be back to what she had always been with Eddie. Maybe they were even closer now, only time will tell.

She's silent as Eddie explains. Honestly, it makes sense. It had been able to influence those around it- Henry Bowers, none of the adults caring... It had managed to infect every little bit of Derry and those inside it. It made sense that those things would fester and grow.

Hearing Eddie's interpretation of his life, she frowns, reaching her good hand out to squeeze his. He needed comfort.] You think that's true? [She gets how he knows these things from just a memory, just a vision. She had the same instinct.]

When I saw us... when we all come back... Eddie, I remember I was with someone. Dating some guy and I was afraid of him. in the back of my head I knew it. I'm not afraid of my dad but this guy... He hurt me worse than my dad did. I could feel the bruises.

[Eddie was the only person she could tell this too. He got it, being trapped with a parent like she was.]

that... with your vision... Eddie it can't be a coincidence.

(Maybe they weren't closer right away, but it felt like they were at a different stage now. Like they were about to fall into a closer relationship, and Eddie was honestly glad for it.

Eddie squeezes her hand back, grateful in a way that sank all the way into his core. It's true. Beverly was the one Loser who understood what an awful parent was like. Richie's and Bill's parents were awful in different ways. Ways that Beverly and Eddie would never be able to understand. People always said being loved by a parent could only ever be a good thing, but Bev's daddy loved her in...a way Eddie didn't fully understand, but knew was insidious. Just like the way his mother loved him was controlling, like breaking a bird's wings daily just to keep it close.

So to know that she saw her own devastating future...His grip on her hand is white-knuckled.)

We would never let a man treat you like that again, Bev. None of us. (Eddie swears on it. He might not be strong, but he knew people who were. And he likes to think the Losers had good judgement. If Bev met a boy here, they would all put him through the wringer.)

No, I don't think it's a coincidence. I really do think it's It influencing us. There's just no way. Our lives don't have coincidences, after all. I mean, doesn't it kinda feel like it makes sense- like the seven of us are meant to be together?

(Like that one time that one boy from Bill's stuttering class had tried being in their friend group. The kid wasn't bad, but he just....Didn't fit.)

[There was a good sort of love, the sort that let you blossom and grow. The sort the Losers had for each other. Then there was the toxic love that both Sonia and Alvin had for their children. The kind of love that was so twisted that it became wrong and dangerous.

At least here the children were free from that toxic love.

She squeezes Eddie's hand back, leaning over to rest her head against Eddie's shoulder. He was the first person she'd told- understandably.] Thank you. That means so much- I'm never going to let someone treat me like that again.

[She shivers. She hadn't told the Losers what had happened in her apartment to allow Pennywise to take her, that had shook her so deeply that she was able to be taken by surprise.

She considers this, and again, nods.] Everything all adds up for us. [They all had shitty lives, were bullied and picked on. But they all fit together so perfectly, like a weird puzzle. They were supposed to be together.] I like it so much better when we're all together.

(Eddie didn't just want to save himself from that awful future. He wanted to save them all.

When her head comes to rest on his shoulder, Eddie's almost taken aback by the gesture. But it makes sense considering what they were talking about. He makes a mental note that Beverly is okay to touch like this. He relaxes and rests his cheek against Bev's head, and after a moment, turns to give her a kiss on top of her head.)

Good. You deserve way more than that.

(They all did. They all deserved more than horrible clowns, horrible parents, and a horrible town.)

Yeah. (Sometimes he felt the 'Lucky Seven' thing was a little ironic. None of them were very lucky. But maybe all their luck went to their friendship, and he thought maybe that'd be worth it. He realizes he'd suffer a hundred times over if it meant having all these guys in his life.)

Me too. I hope...(The idea of Ben coming to the station unnerved him a little, but as he continues the sentence, he finds that he means it.)

I hope Mike and Ben show up here sooner than later too.

[Beverly blushes at his gentle kiss. He means no harm- like Richie, he's Safe, someone she can be more touchy with and not have to worry about how it may be construed. Because it's all just mutual.

She didn't have that with any of the others.

As if reading Eddie's mind, she speaks:] We all do. [So did Georgie and Eddie Cochoran, Betty Ripscom, they all deserved so much better than their terrible deaths.]

I do too. I miss them. I missed all of you. I just didn't remember it until I saw you all again.

there's a patch of snow on the ground

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