#adelais on twitch | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bold-writing · 3 years

Text

The One With Silver Scars || 8 || Bleeding Innocence

Warnings: Swearing, descriptions of abuse, violence.

Words: 2700+

Previous || Next

~8~

All the years spent under the thumbs of her parents, Adelais learned skills that most people would disregard as useless. Among those was sleeping in some of the most uncomfortable conditions. She had slept on the stone-cold concrete of the basement floor, nothing to soften the surface or keep her warm. The drafty space of the attic where she encountered a disturbing number of bugs, only a moldy rug between her and the wood. Forced to stand in one place that would result in punishment if they found she had moved come morning.

Sitting propped against the wall is far from the worst sleeping spot she had encountered so far.

When her eyes opened the sight that greeted her was Claire and Marcia spooned together on one bed and Casey stretched out on the other. It must have been early; she woke at 4 in the morning like she was on a damned wind-up clock. But this was different. She hadn’t woken from the routine she had built up over the years, something had woken her.

That’s when she noticed there was more lighting in the room than there should have been. Only the small lights on the backwall were on, leaving just the faintest glow above the heads of the other girls.

Casting her eyes to her left, she kept herself carefully emotionless when she came face to face with the body of Dennis and Patricia—because it was clearly not them—smiling at her almost manically. Wearing what seemed to be a black and yellow tracksuit, the zipper of the coat undone enough to show a plain white shirt beneath. Legs were crossed and he rested his back against the doorframe so he could face her.

“Hello,” she greeted quietly, trying not to wake the other three.

How many personalities did this person have? Which was the original?

“I’m Hedwig,” he responded. The lisp that altered his words slightly caused her a moment of shock—a child? “How do you sleep like that?” he inquired a moment later, tipping his head to the side as he regarded how she was sitting against the wall—actually quite similar to him, since her legs were crossed, and her hands were tucked together in her lap.

His voice was slightly louder than hers. Doubtless enough to wake the others soon. “Practice,” was her calm response.

Before he even opened his mouth, Adelais lifted a finger to her lips to convey his need to be quiet. He paused at the commend, his smile dimming as his expressed became a mix of a frown and a pout.

“You’ll wake them up,” she explained quietly, using the same finger she had shushed him with to point over to Marcia and Claire.

The scoff he released as more like air pushed between his bottom lip and his top teeth, like someone blowing a raspberry. “So?”

Ducking her head closer to him, like a secret was being shared, Adelais kept her eyes carefully trained on his. “I don’t want to wake them; they’re mean to me.” His expression hardened, finally looking similar to Dennis. “They say I’m crazy.”

Hedwig sucked on his lip, maintaining the sour look on his face. “The others used to be mean to me,” he responded in a much quieter tone. “But Miss. Patricia and Mr. Dennis keep the others away. Now, Miss. Patricia sings to me sometimes—she’s not mad at me anymore.” He smiled, but it wobbled slightly as he tried to mask the turmoil of emotions welling to the surface.

Adelais’s answering smile was sad. “It must be nice to have someone who takes care of you.”

“Who-who takes care of you?” Hedwig shuffled forward, separating from the doorframe to put less space between them.

She shook her head. “No one, I take care of myself.”

With the innocence only a child could have, he frowned at her words. “That sounds lonely.”

“It is. Mr. Dennis has been keeping me company. When he can. I’m sure he’s very busy so he usually has to leave. Does he know you’re here?”

A look of panic came to his face and Adelais knew she had asked the wrong question. “No-no…no, he’ll be angry if he knows I took the light.” Pulling back abruptly, the shifting of the keys next to him on the floor was enough to alert Marcia and Claire, who jerked up with dual gasps of fright.

Hedwig looks over at them, panicked again.

“I was quiet!” he declared to Adelais, his voice still in a whisper. He looked upset, afraid—it was how she used to look when she was younger and had displeased her mother. Waiting for the yelling or lashing to start, punishment for disobedience. “I-I was quiet!”

Nodding her head calmly, she hoped she conveyed assurance with the small smile she allowed. “You were. It’s okay. You did nothing wrong.” Thankfully, the devastated look on his face softened before there was the threat of tears.

Marcia and Claire were whispering Casey’s name, trying to wake up the other girl as well. It drowned out what Hedwig and Adelais were saying to one another, keeping the quiet assurance between the two of them. She half expected Hedwig to leave now that the girls were awake—Casey jolted up with a gasp once she realized there was someone else in the room—but he just turned himself around to lean on the side of the doorframe closest to her.

The upset already forgotten.

Silence stretched for a moment as he smiled at the others. “I’m Hedwig,” he finally declared, so similar to his introduction to her. “I have red socks.”

The simplicity of youthful minds.

His expression shifted then, the smile disappearing as he bit at his lip like someone dying to tell a secret. “He’s on the move.” Looking over his shoulder to where Adelais was still leaning against the wall, the manic smile returned as he ducked his head while supressing a laugh.

Casey’s voice was raspy from sleep. “What?”

The giggle escaped, Hedwig turning his head away. Excited to know something they didn’t. “He’s…on…the…move,” he repeated slowly, drawing out the last word like the last note of a song.

“Mr. Dennis?” Adelais asked quietly, though she already suspected he was talking about someone quite different.

“Nope,” he responded, popping the ‘p’ as grinned at her. Ducking his head, he turned the grin on the other three. “Someone’s coming for you, and you’re not gunna like it.” Next, he faced Adelais. “They make noises in their sleep. I thought you were dead.”

Marcia interrupted quietly, “Tell us.”

He looked like he wanted to, opening and closing his mouth like he couldn’t quite decide what he wanted to say. Instead, he declared “I’m not supposed to say” while turning his head to look out into the other room, where Dennis and Adelais would stand for the few minutes of quiet. “But!” he continued, turning back, “He’s done awful things to people and he’ll do awful things to you. I have blue socks, too.”

“We’re his food?”

Hedwig extended his arms in an ‘I dunno’ gesture, making a face while doing so. He nearly smacked Adelais with his hand as he stretched back but she quickly lifted her leg until her knee was drawn up to her chest. The rush of blood back into her feet set them aflame with pins and needles. She dutifully ignored the sensations.

Casey leaned forward, dawning with realization. “How old are you?”

“Nine,” he declared proudly.

“So you’re not the guy that took us?”

She’s as hopeless as the other two.

Adelais resisted the urge to roll her eyes as Hedwig scoffed at her. When she confirmed that he wasn’t Patricia, either, he made a face. “What are you, blind?” Then to Adelais, slightly quieter, “Is she?”

“No, just ignorant,” she answered just as quietly. “But be careful, she’s smarter than the others.” Hedwig leaned closer to her, nearly falling from against the doorframe, as he met her gaze. Her whispered warning was so quiet, she knew the others couldn’t understand her. He frowned with concentration. “She lies.”

Casey spoke over her, almost drowning out Adelais’s whispered warnings. “You don’t know how they think?”

“No, they don’t tell me much. I just had a hot-dog.” Adelais wasn’t sure if it was the shortness of his attention, or a smart trick to throw someone off the current topic, but the random bits of information was actually clever. Not enough to deter the three teens, but still clever.

“Could you help us, Hedwig?”

Similar to her question earlier, Hedwig recoiled. “No, I’m…I’m not even supposed to be here. I stole the light from Mr. Dennis, but he’ll be back real soon and…I can’t steal the light for too long for he’ll know and get angry.” His concern was real; he knew he would get in trouble for doing someone he was told not to. Yet, the curiosity of a nine-year-old was a powerful thing. “Et cetera.”

Looking between the three on the cots, his eyes darting back and forth, he suddenly reached back and gave Adelais’s leg a playful shove—it was stronger than that of a child, using the strength housed in the adult body he lived within. “See ya!”

“Wait,” Casey blurted out. Hedwig stopped while still crouched at the door, reaching back to grab the doorhandle as he prepared to close it behind him. His attention was caught, however, as he glanced back at Casey.

“Be careful, she’s smarter than the others.”

Looking first at Casey, his eyes eventually drifted over to Adelais. The green of her eyes caught slightly in the light spilling into the room, constricting her pupils to show the ring of hazel around their center. Her lips were slightly thinned, one of the small shows of emotion she allowed. “We heard something,” Casey continued while he was paused in the doorway. “We didn’t understand it before, but now we do.”

Carefully sliding off the cot, she situated herself in the center of the room. Still far from the door, but now in Hedwig’s direct path. The child noticed when Adelais’s eyebrows twitched down—such a small motion it was almost unseen—and remembered Dennis’s face doing the same thing when there was something he didn’t like.

“Do you know what we heard?” Casey asked quietly, baiting him forward.

Adelais knew what she was doing. Hedwig was a child, more easily manipulated when compared to Dennis or Patricia. Dennis scared them too much, and they had only had one encounter with Patricia. Therefore, the nine-year-old made the easier target. It was a sound strategy to try and escape, but the thought of manipulating a child made her stomach clench with discomfort.

He wasn’t just someone pretending to be a child, this was a personality that knew nothing else. It was the same as if she had actually manipulated a little boy that had the body to match the personality. It was clear that he feared the anger of both of the adult personalities, and Casey was setting him up to take the brunt of that anger.

The only reprieve was that they shared a body, there was no way to physically punish him.

But she knew all about emotional and mental torture.

Unfortunately, Hedwig was too young to see those signs and his attention was caught. “What’d you hear?”

“Come here,” Casey prompted. “I’ll whisper it to you.”

Giggling to himself, Hedwig cast one last glance at Adelais before he released the doorhandle. “Okay.” Keeping himself crouched down, he waddled forward on his feet while his hands cradled his knees. Adelais wanted to call him back, to stop what Casey was planning, but perhaps this could be to her advantage as well.

Hedwig stopped just shy of Casey, ducking his head down so she could whisper into his ear.

She couldn’t be sure if it was done on purpose, but Casey’s whisper was too low for Adelais to hear. She was probably mimicking what Adelais had done just a minute before, whispered to Hedwig about Casey. Green eyes keenly watched Casey’s face—trying to read her lips unsuccessfully—and Hedwig’s back. Whatever she whispered was short and prompted Hedwig to lean back.

“You’re a big fibber,” he accused, the playfulness gone from his tone.

“I never lie, Hedwig.”

“She lies.”

His panic was back, bringing with it the slight stutter in his words. “But…but Mr. Dennis said that he followed those two girls for four days, and he said that he knew that they were the ones that-that-that he would want.”

Adelais knew exactly what Casey had told him. It was risky. Casey continued to whisper to him, her voice low and staying between her and Hedwig. But he wasn’t as subtle; listening to Hedwig’s reactions allowed Adelais to piece together what was whispered to him. What lies were spread.

How to counter them.

With the same low, waddling steps, Hedwig backed up a few paces. Putting distance between him and Casey. “N-no…Miss….Miss. Patricia said she’s not mad anymore!” His voice rose with the swell of emotion Casey’s words caused. “She-she sings to me!” Looking to Adelais caused an abrupt swell of anger at Casey to almost choke her. His face was broken and distraught, a tear tracking down his cheek. She wanted to console him.

How often had she cried alone because she had displeased her mother? As a child, she could never understand why they hated her so much.

“I was quiet!” He was yelling now, emotions getting the best of him. “I-I didn’t wake them, you said-you said I did nothing wrong!”

Her body moved before she made the decision, lifting her hands toward him. He waddled forward, still babbling about being quiet, and being good, until Adelais’s chilled fingers gently stroked across his cheeks to collect the tears that fell. She shushed him softly, meant more as a calming sound than to warn him he was being loud. Sniffling strongly, he leaned into her hands as she continued to stroke her thumbs across his cheeks.

“You’re okay, Hedwig. Don’t cry. She’s lying.”

Casey wasn’t about to give up, assuming that the emotional response from him meant that he believed her lie. “I think Miss. Patricia’s still a little mad at you. But if we hurry, we can all get out.”

He pulled from her hands so suddenly they remained in front of her, holding only air. “You lie,” he accused. “She said you lie, you lie!” Adelais only hoped the girls assumed he was talking about Patricia. If they knew she had put the idea in his head, the tension between them would come to a breaking point. “Mr. Dennis made this room safe—it took forever without those nosey-bodies who work here finding out. You can’t get out of here!”

The upset had turned to panic again.

“I have to blow my nose,” he announced before rushing from the small room with the door slamming behind him. Adelais retracted her hands as Casey called out for him, desperately trying to stop him so they could escape. But the lock clicked into place, sealing them inside. She beat Casey to the door, having been right next to it, and watched as Hedwig rushed to the other door and used the set of keys he had been carrying to unlock that one as well.

“Who’s coming?” Marcia was the first to ask, she and Claire getting up from their cot as Casey came up behind Adelais to watch him disappear out the other door.

“No one’s coming,” Claire tried to assure.

“Oh, shut up,” Adelais snapped, glancing over her shoulder as Casey started to pace to the wall near the bathroom. “Clearly someone is going to come here, why else would he follow you two for four days? This wasn’t spur of the moment.”

Claire looked ready to argue again, though there was a distinct hesitation after Adelais’s last enraged reaction. “He said something,” Casey interrupted first, placing her hand on the bare drywall. “He said something about making the room safe.”

Finally understanding Casey’s train of thought, Claire looked around the room. The wall of the bathroom and the ceiling were both covered in bare slabs of drywall, the screws holding them in place still visible. “This is all new drywall.”

Previous || Next

#Hedwig #Hedwig Split #Split movie #Split 2016 #Dennis Split #Dennis #Kevin Wendell Crumb #James McAvoy #James McAvoy Split #James McAvoy Dennis #James McAvoy Hedwig #Original Female Character #Split Imagine #Dennis X OC

39 notes · View notes

spageddiekaspbrak · 6 years

Text

Mando Maraschino

Summary; Eddie was diagnosed with congestive heart failure almost two years ago. He's managed to survive this long, but recently, things have been getting worse. Richie was given 900 hours of court mandated community service. He picked the volunteer program at the hospital and ends up spending most of his free time in the Uris Cardiac Center.

Word Count: 3503

AN: Yo, this is going to be great, lots of jokes and puns. Lots of angst and fluff. I have a lot of OCs in this chapter but don't worry, all of the losers will play a role, especially Stan and Ben. Anywayssss, I don't have many other things to say besides I'm getting an ao3 soon so that's lit. Let's get on with the fic already.

Masterlist

“Eddie!” Adelaide‘s voice floated from outside her nephew’s room, talking over the blaring alarm he was somehow sleeping through and the softer hum of the oxygen concentrator. “Come on!” Nothing. “Come on! Up! Now!” She rapped her knuckles on the door, carelessly. Then again louder when she didn’t get a response. Still nothing; the alarm still going at it, the oxygen too. Her heart dropped like a stone, through her stomach and into her shoes. She threw Eddie’s door open, darting inside. She flicked on the lights, flushing out the pitch black that her nephew needed to sleep.

She heaved a sigh of sympathy and relief. Eddie was curled up in a tight ball in the middle of his queen-sized bed. The sheets were strewn about like he had been thrashing the whole night, some thrown off the bed and others strangling his legs, another wrapped around the poor boy like a nest. His oxygen mask was half off and she could hear him whimpering, wheezing too. He was drowning in his own sweat; his skin was shiny and clammy, hair stuck to his forehead, and his shirt clung to his body with sweat stains all it. His body was caught in a earthquake and Adelaide walked over, turning off the concentrator and sliding the mask off her nephew’s face, setting it on his night stand.

She grabbed his face gently, tapping his hotly flushed cheek with her index finger. “Wake up, baby. Come on, Eddie, wake up.” Eddie opened an eye, halfway. Little, raspy whines echoed from his throat and Adelaide shushed him. “It’s okay, baby.” She scooped him up into her arms, his skin scorching her’s. “We’re gonna bring you to the hospital, baby. And you’re gonna me okay. It’s all going to be okay, baby.” Adelaide cooed, running a hand through his damp hair as an act of comfort. “It’s okay.” She carried her nephew downstairs with no problem, holding back tears.

She managed to get Eddie in her backseat without much problem. Eddie was short and skinny, with nearly no meat on his bones; it was an effect of his strict diets, picky habits, and his condition. He lay across the backseats, the blanket Eddie had owned since he was born laying half-across him. Adelaide wiped her eyes at every stop sign and light. The dry gasps, cries of pain, and teeth-chattering coming from Eddie was too much. She drove a little faster at each whimper, pressing down on the gas a bit harder and chewing on her lip a bit rougher.

Her head was in a whirlwind, storming around a million different things. The driving force being Eddie dying in her backseat. The thoughts fueling it were too numerous and moving too fast to for her to catch or fully process like leaves caught in a hurricane or a kitten in river rapids. What kept her sane and strong through the storm was what the eye held. In the calm, right in the center of the tornado, where Eddie’s weak breathing and crying was drown out, where there was no noise at all but happy voices, sat a happy family. Eddie, without a concentrator, sitting with his arms around Roland, laughing and giggling with his boyfriend. Sonia and Frank, alive, standing with arms around each other, watching their happy son. Adelaide herself, holding onto a faceless person, with a grin on her worry lines free face.

A loud horn drew Adelaide out of her fantasy. Her eyes snapped to the rearview mirror, to Eddie in the backseat. His chest was rising and falling, quick and choppy, but definitely still breathing. “Hey bitch! The light is green!” A voice shouted from behind her and she leaned over to look in her side-view.

A head was retracting into the car behind her, the flash of a blonde hair and a face pricking at something in the back of her head. It was familiar but she couldn't quite place the thought. She flicked her eyes back to the road, digging her teeth into her bottom lip as she pressed down on the gas.

It was another two minutes down the road until she was pulling up to the Uris Cardiac Center at the Scott Children’s Hospital, parking sloppy so she could just get her kid nephew saf. She raced him inside the second her keys were out of the ignition and the nurses she knew so very well got him into a impatient room quickly. Adelaide stayed in the lobby room of the Uris, sitting in a chair as she tried to calm down.

She barely gave herself ten minutes before pulling out her phone and calling Sonia. Adelaide stood up and walked across the lobby, awaiting her sister.

Eddie's mother picked up on the third ring. “Hello? I'm at work right now, why didn't you just text me?” There was the sound of manicured nails on the generic, black plastic keyboards that all schools seemed to have and heavy breathing underneath her accusatory tone and afterwards.

“Eddie slept through his alarm this morning.” Adelaide mumbled, pacing back and forth in the small alcove that held two water fountains. She wrapped an arm around her head, tucking her face into her elbow. She needed to block her eyes from the fluorescents. Something about these particular lights seemed to give Adelaide a terrible migraine. At least, she swore it was the lights, but Eddie always told her she was too stressed.

“So?” Sonia’s voice was suddenly cruel and manipulative, the breathing even heavier than before. The clacking of her keyboard got more vicious and sharp. “You know I'm busy right now. I’m working, so I can support you and my son. So I can pay for everything he needs, and everything you need.”

The emphasis on you nearly pushed Adelaide over the edge. Adelaide exhaled a long breath and managed to stay calm despite the fact that her sister was being terribly rude.

“Sonia, darling, I quit my job and moved here, across the country, to homeschool him. And you know as well as I do that I'm looking for a job here, I am. But with Eddie depending on me all the time, it's hard to find one that will work.” When Adelaide didn't get an answer she continued, “I know you're stressed, but look, Eddie is sick and we're at the hospital.”

“Good for you,” Sonia grumbled.

Adelaide exhaled. “Did you not realize he was sick when you checked on him this morning?” Adelaide let her elbow drop away from her face. A headache had formed despite her best efforts. So she got back to pacing.

“I didn't check on him.” It was brief. Airy. Empty.

“Excuse me?” Adelaide was stopped in her tracks again. Her voice was just as taken aback as she was. She was joking, right? No, no. Sonia was a lot of things, but not a joker. Definitely not a joker.

“I had to get to work, I was running late. It's early hours today!” Sonia defended herself in that oh so recognizable ‘it's not my fault!’ squeaky, high pitched voice.

In, out. In then out, Adelaide, the woman told herself, patting herself on the cheek gently.

“He's more important than anything else, Sonia. Eddie is dying, okay?” Adelaide coaxed, her eyes squeezed shut. “He's going through heart failure. The tiniest cold or concentrator malfunction could kill him. His life is in our hands. Our. One wrong decision, any decision could mean life or death.” Adelaide lectured. Her words were heavy and so was her heart. Everything she said was true. Her life centered around this kid, so did Sonia’s. Eddie needed them, Eddie needed them to focus on him. “He is your son. He is my nephew. His life is in our hands.”

“I don't have time to visit him today. I'll come in tomorrow. Text me with news, I guess.” Sonia said in an even and chilly tone before hanging up the phone.

God, Adelaide wanted to slap the bitch. Hard. The woman stuck her phone back in her pocket and stepped across the tile floor.. She repeated a mantra of reassurance in her head. It's not your fault, it's not your fault, it's not your fault. One repeat for each tile she stepped on. She told herself those three words over and over again.

She continued it even after sitting back down. This time repeating it for every time her leg bounced until she slammed her hand down onto her leg. Come on Adelaide, breathe girly. It’s okay. It’s not your fault.

In the twenty more minutes she sat there without news she had scrolled through her Instagram feed, flipped through Us magazine, and watched half of a YouTube video. Her video was interrupted by a soft voice.

“Ms. Beasley?”

“Oh? Yes, that’s me.” Adelaide looked up, pulling the one earbud she had in, down and away from her ear. Stanley Uris, a comforting face, stood there in his tall, gangly, awkward grace. His shoulders were tight, up towards his ears and his hands were stuck in his long chino pants.

“Eddie’s got pneumonia. They’re gonna put him on antibiotics. He’s gonna have to take his fluids through IV, there’s no way he can drink with how much trouble he’s having with breathing and how weak he is. tube feeding too. They’re nearly positive he’ll need respiratory therapy. And oxygen therapy, of course.” Stanley informed Adelaide, scuffing his foot along the ground.

“So he’s going to be fine?”

“My dad says nothing’s certain. Cause of his you know. But it’s my dad, he’s a miracle worker. And Eddie is a hardass. Pneumonia doesn’t stand a chance against him.” Stan‘s mouth twitched into a smile.

“Am I allowed to go in yet?” Stan shook his head.

“Mary will come get you when you’re all clear. They just want to make sure he’s completely stable and observe him for a little while.” Stan moved closer to Adelaide, squatting down to her level and putting a hand on her shoulder. “You did the right thing. Just hold on a little longer and you can see for yourself.” Adelaide put her own hand on top of his, smiling back at the boy.

“Thank you, Stanley, darling.” Adelaide released his hand only to take his face up gently. She pulled him in closer and down to kiss his forehead then ruffled his hair, carefully not to knock at his kippah. “I’m going to go get coffee and the survival kit. If he asks where I went, let him know, please?”

“Of course, Addy.” Stan nodded.

When Adelaide re-entered the Uris, a venti caffè mocha in hand. She had a pink tote bag, that 7 year old Eddie had picked out the day after getting released from the hospital. He had somehow stabbed himself in the stomach with a pencil and while Sonia drove him to the hospital, she had called Adelaide in hysterics. Adelaide flew in and helped Sonia out. Adelaide got an idea of a hospital survival kit from Sonia’s constant complaints and floundering, Eddie’s whining and his favorite gifts, and her own revelations. So the day after her nephew was released, they went to a strip mall and picked up everything on a list Adelaide had compiled.

Almost two years ago, when Eddie got diagnosed, the kit came in handy. It resided in the coat closet, on the top shelf. When Adelaide had grabbed it earlier, she was sad to disturb the thin layer of dust that had formed on the fabric.

“You’re all set, Ads. I signed you in. Kid’s in ‘04.” Adelaide’s favorite receptionist in the world, Paula, set the sign-in clipboard back on the counter in front of her. “Tell him I say hi?”

“Totally. Thanks!” Adelaide flashed a wide smile, moving down the hallway to Eddie’s room. Paula stared after the other totally oblivious woman, chin in hand, until Adelaide turned around halfway down the hall to wave another thank you. Paula nearly fell out of her chair.

“Hey kiddo!” Adelaide grinned, strolling into Eddie’s room and sitting down in the chair by his bed. Eddie was propped up against a pile of pillows; there were tubes in his arms, nasal cannula in, and he was hooked up to the vitals. He looked exhausted and weak. There were dark circles underneath his eye, contrasting again his tan skin. His cheekbones and collarbones seemed to stick out more than usual. His skin was tight and transparent on his face. His eyes were heavy lidded, halfway closed.

“Addy,” Eddie rasped.

“I got the survival kit. And texted Roland.”

“Is he gonna-”

“He’ll be here later.” Adelaide interrupted, setting the pink tote down on Eddie’s lap.

“Is ma?” Eddie asked, digging through the bag. He pulled out a fluffy throw and socks, draping the blanket across himself he passed his socks over to Adelaide. He moved so his legs stuck out over the side of the bed and Adelaide slid on his socks.

“No, I’m sorry, baby. She’s..,” Adelaide’s stomach twisted with guilt. “She’ll be here tomorrow, I promise.”

Eddie nodded, trying to hide that he was getting tearful.

“I put your phone and stuff in the bag. And it’s got all the usual things. You’re probably too tired to keep talking, so I’m gonna-”

Eddie held out the survival kit washcloth to her and she took it, sighing a smile. She brought it to the sink and wet it. She looked at herself in, nearly unable to recognize the worn face glancing back at her. She wrung out the cloth and walked back to the bed, leaning down to push her nephew’s curls back and kiss his forehead before setting the damp washcloth across his brow.

“I love you so much kiddo and I’m so glad you’re okay.” She stroked her thumbs over his cheeks and he gave her that sweet, glowing smile.

Around 4 o’clock, one hour before Uris closed to visitors, Eddie got his first guest of the day, not counting Adelaide.

The guest’s face was hidden behind a bundle of fake red, pink, white and purple carnations and peonies, but Eddie knew who it was. It was the same somebody who always brought him a craft store bouquet of his favorite kinds of flowers, no matter the occasion. The somebody who wore dorky shirts with science puns or Star Wars posters printed on them. The somebody who has stuck with him during his diagnosis, and the surgeries, and all of it.

Eddie’s heart fluttered and he cooed happily, smiling through his sick, swollen face. He sluggishly scooted up the bed. He rubbed his eyes before giving Roland a happy wave.

Roland lowered the flowers and smiled back at his sick boyfriend. Eddie loved his crooked smile and the dimples he got. And the little crinkled lines he got around his eyes. “Hey handsome, I’m sorry the flowers are so squished and you know, um, ruffled but I rushed here as soon as I could, Adelaide texted me-” Eddie, reclining against the many pillows on his bed, made a little noise and gestured to the television which played an old baseball movie. Roland grabbed the remote and clicked off the movie. “But I’m here now and I would have been here sooner...but, anyways, I uh kinda have another gift, hold on.”

Roland set Eddie’s flowers on the bedside table and dragged a chair over, both boys cringing at the noise. Roland sat down, his chair so close that the side of the bed dug into his knees. He slid the nerdy purple drawstring backpack off his shoulder, yanking it open. He pulled out a envelope. “I mean I guess it’s not a gift, it’s just a thing, I don't know. But um here.” Roland scratched the back of his head with one hand and held out the envelope with the other, his face flushed softly.

Eddie grabbed it, struggling to open the paper without ripping the red material or the content. Roland reached over and stuck his thumb under the flap to pull the envelope open for his boyfriend. Eddie wheezed a thanks which prompted a nod in return from Roland. He pulled out a letter and a paper that was folded into quarters. Eddie started on the quartered paper; he unfolded it and his face broke into a wide grin. It was a comic, sketched in pencil.

There was a sketch of Roland wearing a sweatshirt that was much too small for him, it barely covered half his arm, and a pair of red shorts, staring in the mirror. A little speech bubble came off his head, “I love making fun of my boyfriends while I wear his clothes…”

The next panel had Roland opened mouth and his face scrunched up, mid-laugh. “I drink black coffee. I’m super duper gay. I’m a short little weirdo. I’m so cool and awesome, and cute, and sexy, and-”

The next panel had a door swinging open.

The next Eddie attacking Roland in a hug. “I know you are.”

The final was the two laying in bed, wrapping up in each other and the blankets.

Eddie’s eyes welled up with tears. “It’s not good, I’m sorry. I don’t know, I just- I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have...it was a bad idea. I’m sorry,” Roland rambled.

“Is that my..,” Eddie’s crackled voice faded off, his throat too sore and swollen for him to finish. His finger pointed to the mask on his face and the boxy shape on the ground near his bed in the last panel.

“Your concentrator? Yeah, it is.” Roland reached out, setting his hand on Eddie’s arm, stroking his skin. A tear escaped Eddie’s eyes and Roland wiped it away. He ran his thumb over Eddie’s cheekbone gently. Roland moved in, rising from his chair halfway to press his lips to Eddie’s for a second. “Want me to read you the letter, baby?”

Eddie nodded, clearly tired and tuckered out from just reading and admiring the comic. Roland took the papers from him, setting the comic aside, tossing the envelope in the waste basket, and then unfolding the letter. He smoothed it out, setting it on his knees. Eddie turned over to face his boyfriend, resettling the nasal cannula tubes. Eddie took one of Roland’s hands in his own, intertwining their fingers.

“To the love of my life,” Roland started, reading from the paper covered in his sloppy handwriting. “I love you so much. And I will be here with you through everything, I have been so far and that won’t change. You mean the world to me, you are my universe and my sun and moon. I would run to the ends of the earth for you. We may just be stupid teens in love but I want to spend everyday of the rest of our lives with you because you, Eddie Kaspbrak, are the only one I want. I know you don’t get it, how I can have so much hope for our future and how I could possibly think you are the most beautiful person I’ve ever laid my eyes upon or how could I possibly want to stay with you through all of this , but you are gorgeous and something inside me, maybe my gut or like ESPN or whatever, tells me that we’re meant to be. You stressed stronger than anyone else I know, stronger than anything that will ever come your way. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. I love you to Pluto and back, baby. Or in the words of a treasured vine, I love you bitch, I ain’t never gonna stop loving you, bitchhh.” Roland finally looked up from his paper to see his boyfriend asleep, drool already pooling at one side of his mouth. Roland laughed softly and set the letter aside with his free hand before clasping Eddie’s tiny hand inside both of his. He stroked the back of his boyfriend’s hand softly with his thumb.

“I know it’s not enough, baby. I know you wish I could magically cure you, I wish I could too. And I’m so so sorry, I’m really really sorry. I know it’s so hard and god I worry about you all the time, I lay awake at night crying and fretting over you. I’m so sorry handsome, but I’ll be with you, okay? I’ll always be with you.” Roland brought Eddie’s hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it. “I love you, Eddie baby.”

He sat there for another hour with nothing but the sound of Eddie’s breathing and the hospital machines, with the buzz of the other rooms playing underneath. Eventually a nurse came in and told Roland to go home, greeting him first in recognition. Before getting up, he pulled out a frame with a picture of them outside Paging All the Readers. He set it on the bedside table and kissed Eddie’s cheek one more time before leaving.

Tag List

@wyatt-ohheleft @myqueenshuri @groovy-wyatt @some-raging-fangirl

87 notes · View notes