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ihni · 2 days ago

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Hole talk

For the @metalsandwichbingo, square C1, prompt "Stuck". Rating: General (I think), 6,7K.

Summary:

Billy, Steve and Eddie fall down a magical hole, and talk about stuff. Yup, that's the fic.

(On AO3 here)

”How the hell do we always end up in these situations?” Billy said, kicking angrily at the stone of the walls around them. The stone walls between which they’d been trapped for half an hour now, since they were swallowed by a hole in the forest floor while checking out some weird markings on some trees that someone had discovered and started spreading rumors about. After they’d dusted themselves off and made sure there were no broken bones, they discovered three things in quick succession: that the hole above had almost grown over with foliage once more which only let in a tiny amount of light, that there were some strange vaguely glowing markings on one of the walls, and that there didn’t seem to be a way out.

“Bad luck?” Steve suggested while feeling along the walls for the fourth time, looking for something he’d missed on the first three rounds.

“Luck has nothing to do with it,” Billy grumbled, glaring at the opening above them. “It’s this fucking place. Hawkins fucking sucks, guys, I’ve been telling you –“

“Yeah, and you never shut up about it,” Steve mumbled, as if Billy wouldn’t hear him in the enclosed space they were in.

“Guys,” Eddie said from where he was running his fingers over the markings on the stone. “No fighting.”

None of them acknowledged him, but instead of continuing their argument they both turned their attention to where he was trying to get a good look at the symbols etched into the wall. “Have you figured out what those mean, yet?”

Eddie made a face. “No, but I’m pretty sure Steve was right when he said it’s some kind of magic.”

Steve turned to Billy with a smug smile, while Billy threw his head back and groaned long and loud. “Fucking magic? This fucking place, I swear – isn’t it enough with monsters and Russians and human experiments and alternate dimensions?”

“Hey now,” Steve said, trying to placate him. “You can’t just lump magic in with all that stuff, magic can be used for good –“

“Oh shut the fuck up, just ‘cause your grandma was a witch –“

“Hey!”

“Guys,” Eddie tried to interject, but again he was ignored.

“What? You just told us she was, like ten minutes ago!”

“I said she used to dabble in magic. We don’t say ‘witch’, that’s … offensive.”

“Oh yeah?” Billy said, walking up to him and getting too close. “How about bitch then? That a term you can relate to?”

“Guys!” Eddie tried again, and when Steve gave Billy a shove so he stumbled back and Billy made to retaliate, he got between the two of them and put a hand on each of their chests to keep them separated. “Goddammit, this isn’t helping. Why are you like this? If this thing is magic –“ He motioned to the space they were in and the vaguely glowing symbols on the wall, “– and I mean, it sure seems like it, then we need to work together. Fighting won’t get us out of here, okay? So just …” He gave them both a little shove so they took a step back. “Keep it in your pants, yeah? You can pound each other into the dust – or just pound each other – when we’re out of here.”

“And just how do we get out of here, oh wise one?” Billy said, sarcastically.

“Well, we obviously can’t climb,” Eddie said, managing to not look pointedly at either of the other two, who had spent the first ten minutes of their captivity trying to scale the walls and had nothing but scraped hands and knees to show for their efforts.

“’We’, he says,” Billy muttered. “I didn’t see you try.”

“Oh, like I would have succeeded where you two failed?” Eddie said. “If you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly the athletic type. You’re the jocks here, okay, so you’re the brawn in this scenario.”

“That would make you the brains,” Billy said with a smile that was more a show of teeth than an expression of joy. “So brain us out of here, genius.”

Eddie glared at him, but continued. “Like I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, we can’t climb. No one is likely to come look for us any time soon.” He turned to the symbols on the wall. “The answer must be there, somehow. But … I don’t know what it means.” He looked down, as if loathe to admit that.

“So what do we do, then?”

Silence followed, and then Steve spoke up. “I guess we … wait for something to happen.”

“Oh, awesome,” Billy deadpanned. “Because waiting for something to happen in Hawkins has worked so well for us in the past.”

~~~

Hours passed. The light from the overgrown opening above grew dim, and then disappeared entirely when the hour approached midnight. Strangely enough the space they were in still allowed enough light for them to see each other; it could be due to the glowing symbols on the wall, or the fact that they’d gotten used to the darkness. They’d tried and failed and tried again to climb out of the hole, and had even tried standing on each other’s shoulders to reach higher, to check for handholds or something hidden that they might have missed – all without anything to show for it but short tempers and bruises. So now they were sitting on the floor (which was solid stone under the layer of dirt, and which they could not dig through – because yes, they’d tried), their backs against three different walls. No one had chosen the wall that held the symbols.

The space was just large enough that their feet didn’t touch in the middle when they all sat with their legs splayed out.

Eddie was fiddling with the scrapes on his elbow – which he’d gotten when he’d been talked into climbing on top of the other two, courtesy of being the lightest – and he yelped when Steve threw a pebble at him.

“Stop that,” Steve said with a frown. “It’ll scar.”

Eddie let out a hoarse laugh and patted his sides. “Like one more would matter! If you haven’t forgotten, Stevie-boy, I’ve got a torso full of ‘em.”

Raising his eyebrows, Steve pulled down the collar of his shirt somewhat and motioned to the marks around his own throat. “Yeah well, at least you can hide yours.”

A beat, then they both turned their heads as one to look at Billy. Billy, who was wearing a Henley under his jacket; who hadn’t worn an unbuttoned shirt since he got out of the hospital. Who was now resting against his chosen wall looking as casual as if he was lounging on a couch. He didn’t even look up as he said, “Yeah, we all know that if we’re having a scar-off, I win.” For a second, there was tension in the air, until he huffed out a laugh and said, “Besides, Eddie’s little boo-boo won’t scar.”

Eddie’s face split in a grin. “Great.”

“It’s way more likely that it’ll get infected and he’ll die from that.”

The smile fell. “Come on –“

“Or maybe tetanus. Have you taken your shots, Eds?”

“You are such an asshole,” Steve said, arms crossed over his chest but not without a hint of wonder in his voice.

Billy grinned. “That I am, and just imagine – you guys are lucky enough to be stuck in here with me.”

His comment dissolved the last of the earlier tension as all of them smiled a little at that, momentarily amused. A minute or so passed in silence, before Billy let out a deep sigh.

“Okay but seriously,” Steve, who also seemed to have had enough, said. “What do we do?”

“Sleep?” Billy said.

“I mean, what do we do if …” Steve licked his lips and looked down at his lap. “If we can’t get out. If no one comes for us.”

“Die,” Billy said bluntly, raising his hands defensively when the other two glared at him. “What? Those are the options. We get out, or we die.”

“You don’t sound too worried,” Steve said, still with a disapproving frown on his face.

“Let’s just say I’ve been there, done that.”

While he winked at a scowling Steve, Eddie buried his face in his hands. “Ugh, this sucks.”

A pause followed, as at least in this, they seemed to agree. Then Billy spoke up. “There’s one thing we haven’t tried yet …”

“What’s that?” Eddie asked.

“I mean,” Billy said with a considering look. “If it really is magic we’re dealing with …”

He was quiet for long enough that Eddie had to prompt him into speaking again, a hint of impatience in his voice. “Yes? What?”

“Hey, pretty boy,” Billy said and stretched out his leg to bump his shoe against Steve’s. “Your grandma ever say anything about sacrifices?”

“Sacrifices?”

Eddie groaned. “I do not like the sound of that.”

But Steve’s eyes lit up and he worked his way to standing. “Oh wait, shit, that makes sense actually.”

“What?” Eddie snarked. “There are no goats here to sacrifice, if you haven’t noticed.”

“Well, we have you,” Billy snarked back. “And last I heard, virgin sacrifices are high in demand.”

A growl. “Fuck you.”

“For our freedom? Sure. You offering?”

“Shut up, both of you!” Steve interjected. “First, I feel like I should point out that that’s offensive to the magically inclined and my gran would smack you over the head if she heard you talk like that. Second, from what she told me, there actually is an element of sacrifice to magic –“

“Your time to shine, Eddie.”

“Shut up!”

“I swear if you two don’t stop it, I’ll sacrifice you both right now!”

Eddie and Billy snapped their mouths shut as Steve raised his voice – and then glanced at each other and started giggling-

“Careful Stevie, I heard that kind of language is offensive to the magically inclined,” Eddie said smoothly while Billy guffawed.

Looking heavenwards, Steve sighed. “I hate you both. Can I finish?”

“I don’t know. Can you?”

“I swear to god …”

“Sorry, sorry,” Eddie said and gestured widely with his hands. “Please, continue.”

”Balance, okay? She said it’s almost always about balance.”

Eddie frowned, in confusion this time. “But you said ‘sacrifice’ …”

“I think she meant it as the same thing,” Steve huffed, and then deflated. “But I don’t know. It’s not like we talked a lot about it. My parents thought she was mad, and she died when I was ten. I just remember her saying that there had to be balance, and that all magic was basically a matter of give and take, in equal measures.”

“So, what?” Eddie said. “We need to use magic to get out of here, but to be able to do that, we have to … give something? Is that what it means?”

“Well at least you have something to bargain with,” Billy said. “Mr. Virgin.”

“I swear I will smack you.”

“Don’t,” Steve commented dryly. “He likes it.” While Eddie raised his eyebrows in incredulity and Billy grinned lewdly, Steve stood up and walked up to the glowing figures on the wall. He put his hand on them and frowned. “Maybe they’re instructions?”

Billy, who was busy warding himself against the pebbles Eddie was throwing at him, was momentarily distracted and asked, “Instructions for – ow! – Instructions for what?”

“I don’t know.” With a deep sigh, Steve went back to sit back down. “It was just a thought.”

~~~

Another half-hour passed without anything eventful happening.

“We should try to do something,” Billy huffed.

“We’ve already tried everything,” Steve sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“Not everything –“

“I swear,” Eddie snarled, suddenly on his feet and looming over Billy, fingers like claws as he pointed at Billy’s face, “If you’re about to crack one more virginity joke –“

“Jesus, Munson,” Billy murmured, hands up in surrender. “Chill out. It’s just a joke.”

“Maybe it is to you!” Eddie yelled. “Everything’s a joke to you, huh? Well guess what, for some of us, it’s not something to joke about. For some of us, getting laid isn’t just something that just happens! Some of us has gone through school a fucking loser, okay, and if you weren’t aware; no one wants to fuck a loser!”

Steve and Billy glanced at each other, and Billy made a face. “I didn’t mean –“

“And the thing is that Hawkins isn’t exactly a cultural hub, so if one person thinks that you’re a loser, suddenly everyone thinks that you’re a loser. And even if you really, really like someone, you can’t make the first move because if experience has taught you anything, it’s that you don’t have the social standing to approach them without people laughing at you or pushing you down or throwing you into lockers!”

Now both Billy and Steve winced. “I’m sure –“

“So naturally, it doesn’t happen, and then it continues to not happen, even though it happens to everyone around you, and by now even if someone does show any interest in you, you’re pretty sure it’s a goddamn trap and they’re going to use that opportunity to make fun of you or, or hurt you somehow!”

“Hey!” Steve said, standing up too. “No one would –“

“And then of course you start hanging out with fucking jocks,” Eddie continued, sneering, and motioned to Steve and Billy both. “And they’re gorgeous and confident and they can get anyone they want, and they prove it, like, all the time so they fuck their way through half the school, and then they start hooking up because why not, right? And then, then they start flirting with you, and you start to really wonder what the hell their angle is, since you’re such a fucking loser!”

By now, all three of them were standing up, but where Eddie was still pointing at Billy in a rage, Billy was just standing back by his wall, a gobsmacked expression on his face.

“Eddie –“ he said, but didn’t seem to find anything else to say. “I’m –“

“Don’t, Hargrove,” Eddie said, a bitter note to his voice. “Just …” A deep breath, as if trying to calm himself. “Lay off the virgin jokes, okay?”

“Okay.”

Steve walked up to Eddie and put a hand on his shoulder, face falling when Eddie shrugged out of his grip and backed up a step. “Hey, Eds. He didn’t mean anything by it.”

“I didn’t,” Billy confirmed in a low voice, not moving from his spot by the wall.

When Eddie just huffed and refused to look at any of them, Steve wet his lips and bent his head to try to catch his eye. “Hey. Eddie. Is this … Is this why you don’t wanna …? You know. Fool around with us?”

Eddie gave a half-hearted shrug and refused to meet his eye. Meanwhile, Billy raised his head up in his corner. “Wait, that’s why you don’t wanna have sex?”

Steve facepalmed and let out a sigh. “Billy …”

“No, wait, let me get this straight,” Billy continued, drawing himself up where he was standing. “Eddie here thinks that no one wants to fuck him because he’s a loser, meanwhile we’ve spent months trying to make it abundantly clear that we would both gladly fuck this particular loser!” He gestured between them and then added, as an afterthought, “Or, you know. Get fucked by, whatever.”

“That’s not the problem!” Eddie bit out. “Didn’t you listen?”

“I did,” Billy said with an unexpected wrinkle between his eyebrows. “And I don’t like what I’m hearing.”

Steve took that opportunity to put his hand back on Eddie’s shoulder, and turn him so he was facing him. When Eddie looked up, he was met with Steve’s wide and earnest eyes. “Do you really think that we would do something like that? Trick you, or … try to hurt you somehow? After everything we’ve been through, the three of us?”

It was Eddie’s turn to sigh, the air leaving him along with the rest of his anger. “No. Of course not, I – No.” He dragged a hand down his own face and leaned back against the rock wall, letting it support him. “I just … Listen. I haven’t had a lot of good experiences with jocks before you guys came along, okay? And I haven’t had a lot of good experiences with … people making sexual advances. And you guys have to admit that the setup is pretty … unusual.” He motioned between the three of them once more. “Not exactly a normal constellation, here, you know?”

“Fuck normal constellations,” Billy murmured from his corner, which made the corner of Eddie’s mouth tick up in a ghost of a smile.

“I just. I want to trust you guys,” Eddie said, but even as he said it, he shook his head. “No, that’s not what I meant. I mean I do trust you guys. I do. And I wanna be with you. Both. I just. Have some … issues, I guess.”

“Well,” Billy said, “Welcome to the club. We all have issues here.”

Steve, meanwhile, had put his arms around Eddie and pressed a kiss to his temple. “You should have said something earlier, Eds. I’m sorry if we’ve ever made you think –“

“You haven’t.”

Billy came up on the other side of Eddie and punched his other shoulder, albeit a considerably weaker punch than he was capable of. “We wouldn’t do that to you. You may be a loser, but you’re our loser, and we want to fuck you.” He was pinned by two incredulous looks, and rolled his eyes as he added, “Or get fucked by you. I already said.”

“What Mr. Sensitivity over here is trying to say –“ Steve started.

“Hey!”

“– is that hurting you is the last thing we wanna do.”

“Yeah,” Billy piped up. “Unless you like it. We wanna make you feel good.”

“Not everyone’s a masochist, Billy.”

“Some of us are.”

“Oh my god, please stop talking,” Eddie interrupted, face flaming. “I trust you guys, okay? I trust you not to hurt me. And I’ll probably want to have sex with you at some point –“ he pointed at Billy when Billy opened his mouth to speak, “– not while we’re stuck in a magic hole in the ground in the middle of the woods –“ he ignored Billy’s disappointed little ‘aw’ and continued, “– so now that that’s all, you know, out there, can we please talk about something else now? Literally anything else?”

“No, wait, go back to the magic hole–“ Billy said with a mischievous smile, and backed off giggling when both Eddie and Steve reached out to smack him. “Hey!”

Steve followed after him, but Eddie stayed where he was and stared straight ahead, not even looking at the others as they play-fought only a few steps away. His eyes were wide and his mouth fell open.

“Guys?”

The grunts and giggles from beside him abated, and when he repeated himself, they stopped altogether.

“What?”

Eddie just pointed at the glowing text on the wall. “Do you see what I’m seeing?”

Steve and Billy looked to where he was pointing. “The glowy symbols on the wall? Yeah.”

At that, Eddie tore his gaze away from the wall. “What do you mean? You can’t read it?”

“Wait, you can?”

Walking up to the wall, Eddie dragged his fingers over the first part of the symbols. “Not all of it, but this part? I can read this.”

“Well, spit it out! What does it say?”

“It says, ‘Shed your masks’.”

~~~

They spent a long time discussing whatever this new development meant, and whether it had any impact on their chances of getting out of here. But after going through their confinement again and finding that nothing else had changed, and after emptying their ideas of what this new information could mean without getting anywhere, they ended up where they’d started; each one sitting with their back to their chosen walls, occasionally glaring at the glowing symbols. The night was at its darkest, and no light at all was coming in from the hole above them.

“I fucking hate magic,” Billy grumbled for what must have been the twentieth time.

“We know,” Eddie and Steve said in chorus, without moving.

“Cryptic goddamn motherfucking runes –“

Perhaps in an effort to get Billy to shut up, Eddie spoke up. “Okay, let’s go over this again. If it’s not about a sacrifice, and it’s not literal – because we’re not wearing any masks – then maybe it’s instructions, like you said, Steve. Or a … riddle?”

“I’m terrible with riddles,” Steve commented while Billy just huffed.

“It has to mean something,” Eddie said. “It has to mean something that I can read it, and you guys can’t. Are you sure you can’t –“

“Yes,” Billy and Steve said at the same time.

“Only you seem to have acquired the magic rune-reading ability,” Billy added, slightly sarcastically. “Lucky you.”

“I can only read the first part, though,” Eddie said, frowning and fiddling with the hem of his jacket. “And that hasn’t proven to be very helpful.” He turned to Steve. “Is there anything you can think of that your grandmother might have said? Anything at all, maybe something you didn’t know was useful or –“

It was Steve’s turn to huff out a frustrated breath. “For the hundredth time, no! I’ve already told you, she died when I was ten and my parents thought she was mad so we didn’t even go there that often in the first place.”

“Yeah, but maybe they’ve said something or –“

Standing up and pulling at his hair, Steve growled out, “I don’t remember, okay? I last spoke to my grandmother almost ten years ago and I cared more about her cookies than her magic, okay? Sorry to be such a disappointment but I don’t remember me and my grandma ever discussing how to escape magic people traps in the middle of the forest. I guess my memory isn’t all that it should be after all those hits to the head I’ve taken!” Billy winced from his corner, but didn’t interrupt. “ So I’m sorry that you’re stuck down here with such a useless descendant of a witch!”

“I thought ‘witch’ was offensive,” Billy piped up, and threw his hands up and mimed zipping his mouth shut when Steve whirled around to glare at him.

“Hey, now,” Eddie said, also with his hands up. “That’s not what I meant at all. I just … You’re the only one who’s had any kind of experience with magic. The two of us,” he motioned between himself and Billy, “we don’t know shit.”

“Well neither do I!” Steve exploded. “I never know shit!”

“That’s not true –“

“I’m slow, I can’t read properly, and I only barely graduated. Dad wants me to work for him but I can’t even hold down a minimum-wage job. The only thing I’ve been somewhat decent at is fighting monsters and getting us out of bad situations but in case you haven’t noticed, there are no monsters here that I can hit over the head! I can’t get us out of this, because I’m stupid and useless!”

For a couple of seconds after his outburst, silence reigned in the space they were in. At least until Billy spoke up. “You’re anything but stupid and useless, pretty boy.”

Steve snorted self-deprecatingly. “Yeah, that’s why you call me ‘pretty boy’; because I’m smart. Clearly my best quality.”

“No,” Billy said, getting to his feet too and walking up to Steve, taking his face between his hands. “I call you ‘pretty boy’ because that’s what you are. You are pretty. But that’s not all you are. Where the fuck is this insecurity coming from, huh?” Steve gave a half-hearted effort of escaping his grip, but Billy held on. “Who cares if you can’t read? Fuck reading! That has nothing to do with how smart you are. And you are smart, you’re the one who thought that this thing might be magic in the first place.”

“Yeah,” Eddie said, getting with the program, “and at least you graduated on your first try. I failed twice before I graduated, and even then I only made it because you guys helped me. Both of you.”

“But I –“

“And!” Eddie added, “Losing the job at Scoops was so far from your fault, it’s not even funny. Remember the big meat monster? Because that whole mall thing was the meat monster’s fault.”

“Of course I remember the meat monster,” Steve grumbled. “I was actually there for it.”

“As was I,” Billy added. “You, however, weren’t.”

“My point still stands,” Eddie said, ignoring them. “And besides, you don’t want to work for your dad and you got a new job after that all by yourself anyway so it doesn’t matter.”

“Thanks to Robin.”

“Okay, so? You work well with other people. You’re a good team player or whatever. Billy, say something motivating about team players and sports metaphors and shit.”

“What?”

“Like, I don’t know. Isn’t it important to be a team player instead of … running the ball yourself or something? To score … goals? You win if you work together? Go team? Shit like that?” He rolled his eyes. “Come on, you’re the jocks here, you know what I’m trying to say!”

“I really don’t,” Steve said.

“Nope,” Billy agreed, “but please continue, it’s very amusing to listen to.”

“I hate you guys.”

“No you don’t.”

Billy pulled Steve into a one-armed hug and then let go. “I think he’s got a good point somewhere in there, though. No man is an island.”

“What?”

“Forget it. Point is, you’re smart.”

Steve sighed and took a step away from the others. “You don’t have to say that.”

“Yes I do,” Billy insisted, “because you obviously don’t hear it enough. There are many ways to be smart, and book smarts is not for everyone. Who cares about that anyway? You are people smart, and rational smart, and fighting monsters smart. You care so much, and you always want to help, even if … even if people don’t deserve it.”

“I can’t help now, though.”

“And that’s not your fault,” Eddie said. “Who in their right mind could have predicted we’d fall down and get trapped in a magical hole?”

They were silent for a heartbeat or two. “I mean,” Steve said, “this is Hawkins, so we probably should have expected something like it.”

Eddie snorted out a laugh, and next to him, Billy cackled. “Right on,” he said. “Fuck Hawkins.”

“Or maybe fuck in Hawkins?” Eddie dared, grinning when Billy’s eyebrows shot up on his forehead and his face split in a delighted grin.

“Now that’s the spirit, Munson!”

Steve didn’t join in their banter, instead he looked over Eddie’s shoulder at the glowing symbols on the wall. “Hey Eddie, I thought you said it said ‘Shed your masks’?”

“Yeah,” Eddie said, throwing a look at the symbols. “It does.”

“No,” Steve said, “It says ‘Acknowledge your real selves’. Right here.” He pointed at a section of the wall, and Eddie walked up next to him, frowning.

“I can’t read that. It’s still gibberish to me. Up here, though, it says ‘Shed your masks’.”

“Huh,” Steve said. “I can’t see that. But down here, it says ‘Acknowledge your real selves’.”

“It’s all still gibberish to me,” Billy said, scowling at the symbols. “But I’m happy for you guys. Apparently, all that’s needed to be able to get partial magic-reading powers is to have a meltdown.”

“Should be easy enough for you then,” Eddie grinned. “You dramatic bitch.”

~~~

Unfortunately, this new readable section wasn’t any more helpful than the first one had been, and they were still no closer to figuring out a way out of there.

“Maybe it’s less about the … well, meltdowns, and more about … opening up?” Steve suggested.

Eddie, who was back in his spot by the wall, raised his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“I mean … You and I, we both … revealed something about ourselves, I guess?”

They were silent as they thought that through, and then they both surreptitiously glanced at Billy, who startled a bit and then splayed his hands out on his chest. “Hey, I’m an open book!”

“M-hm,” Eddie said.

“Sure,” Steve added.

“An open book, written in a language no one can read,” Eddie said, and both he and Steve snorted while Billy glared at them.

“That’s bullshit. You know everything there is to know about me.”

Eddie actually laughed out loud at that. “Are you kidding? Just getting you to admit your favorite pizza topping was like pulling teeth!”

“It’s ham and pineapple.”

Steve let out a gasp. “You said it was pepperoni!”

“… I lied.” Billy made a show out of peering at the glowing symbols, and then fell back against the wall. “Nope, still can’t read it. So that’s strike one against the ‘opening up’ theory.”

Eddie pointed a finger in his direction. “You’re not taking this seriously.”

“Oh I am,” Billy assured them. “But I’m not about to air all my dirty laundry on the off chance that this magical cell will let us go if I say the correct secret out loud.”

“Aha!” Eddie exclaimed. “So you admit you have secrets?”

“Of course I have fucking secrets,” Billy scoffed. “Everyone has secrets.”

“Well then it wouldn’t hurt you to share with the class.”

“It might.”

“Come on!” Eddie said, frustrated. “If it’s really about balance like Steve says, then it must be up to you! Steve and I have both already shared something about ourselves.”

“Yeah, your low self-esteem. I don’t struggle with that.”

“Fuck you, Hargrove. You’re the only one who’s left!”

“Well tough shit, Munson. Guess we’re stuck down here for the foreseeable future, then!”

“Shut up, both of you!”

They fell silent at Steve’s shout, and turned to look at him. He sighed, and rubbed a hand over his face. “Fighting won’t help us, we know that much. Listen. It’s almost morning. We’re tired, and no one’s gonna come looking for us until the sun is up anyway. What do you say we try to get some sleep, and try to figure out a way out tomorrow? Who knows, maybe there’s something we’ve missed in the dark that we’ll be able to see in daylight?”

He didn’t sound like he particularly believed what he was saying, but none of the others argued with him about it. Or, more probably, they didn’t want to argue with each other, so decided to give in.

But when Steve tried to get them to cuddle up together – “Come on guys, it’s to conserve heat” – they promptly refused.

“I’m fine over here,” Billy said and laid down by his wall.

“I’m not that cold anyway,” was Eddie’s reply, and did the same.

“Come on guys, you’re being ridiculous.”

No answer. Sighing, Steve laid down on the dirt floor by his own wall, and closed his eyes.

~~~

Judging by the grey light that was filtering down from the overgrown opening above, it was just after dawn when Steve blinked his eyes open and stretched. He froze when he saw that Billy was no longer curled up at the wall where he’d previously been, but was now hunkering down next to Eddie’s unmoving form. Billy was staring at Steve with wide eyes, like a deer in headlights, having stopped in the middle of tucking his own jacket around Eddie, and at Steve’s raised eyebrow he shuffled back, pulling his shoulders up and licking his lips.

“He was shivering,” he said, defensively, in a low voice as if trying not to wake Eddie.

Steve, likewise, kept his voice low when he answered, “That was … nice of you.”

“Whatever,” Billy shrugged and went back to his spot by the wall, where he sat back down. “You know I run hot. I don’t really need it.”

Sitting up, Steve remarked, “Still nice.”

Billy glared at him. “What? I can be nice, you know.”

“I know, I know,” Steve backtracked. “I just meant, it’s nice to see that you care.” He winced, probably realizing how that sounded, and Billy’s gaze darkened.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, just …” A sigh, followed by a helpless shrug. “Sometimes, it’s not the easiest thing, to know what you’re thinking. I care a lot about you and Eddie, and I know he cares a lot about me and you as well, but … well. Sometimes, it’s hard to know where you’re standing with this whole thing.” Steve winced, and added, lamely, “Is all.”

“Well, fuck you too.”

Eddie suddenly sat up and pulled Billy’s jacket closer around him. “Why do you always do this?”

“You’re awake?”

“Obviously,” Eddie said with a roll of his eyes. “Just like I was awake last week when you put that blanket on me at Steve’s place. Just like I was awake when you touched my hair the week before that and you thought I’d fallen asleep in front of the TV. Just like I only pretended to sleep that time in the trailer last month and you carried me to bed. Hell, you said that Stevie must have imagined that noise his car was making, but I saw you working on it for a whole afternoon when you thought I wasn’t home!”

“Wait, you did?” Steve interjected, and was ignored.

Billy stared at Eddie with his mouth open, shoulders at his ears. Eddie continued, “So why do you always do this, Billy? Huh? Why do you only show that you care when you think we won’t notice?”

“I care!”

“Well how are we supposed to know that, when you hardly ever show it and never tell us?”

“Well excuse me for not being the lovey-dovey type of guy that you apparently want! Well guess what, if you want someone to buy you flowers and make you candle-lit dinners, you’re shit out of luck because that sure as hell ain’t me! You want someone to say ‘I love you’ all the time, you better find someone else!”

He crossed his arms over his chest – showing off his biceps, since he was just wearing a T-shirt now – and scowled at them both. After a minute or so of silence, during which no one seemed to find anything to say, his shoulders dropped a little. He pressed the heel of one hand to his eye and murmured a quiet “Fuck” before taking a deep breath. “But I do.”

Eddie glanced at Steve, who shrugged. “You do … what?”

“Love you guys,” Billy murmured, voice so low that they could hardly make out the words.

Steve’s eyebrows flew up in surprise, and Eddie’s jaw dropped. Billy didn’t see any of that, though, because he still had his eyes closed.

“Of course I fucking do,” he continued. “I just shouldn’t have to … fucking say it all the time.”

Eddie turned to Steve and mimed ‘wow’, before speaking up. “I can’t believe this.”

“What?” Billy growled and opened his eyes, already frowning. “Not good enough for you? You need me groveling and on my knees?”

“I mean,” Eddie said, momentarily distracted, “I wouldn’t mind you on your knees, but that wasn’t what I meant. I meant,” and here he nodded to both Billy and Steve, “I can’t believe you’re the one who said it first.”

“Said wh–“ Billy began, and then snapped his mouth shut when realization dawned.

As the color drained from Billy’s face, the smile on Eddie’s face grew. “Why, the L word of course! To be honest, I wasn’t sure we were there yet –“ Steve gave him a shove and a warning glare, but Eddie continued his teasing, still grinning, “– but since you’ve so bravely taken the leap into the next phase of our relationship, I guess I can say it too; I love you too, Billy.” He kissed the air in Billy’s direction, and then turned and pressed a real kiss to Steve’s face, since Steve was closer. “And I love you, Stevie.”

“I fucking hate you,” Billy murmured, face beginning to redden.

“Ah, but that’s not what you said a minute ago!”

Billy buried his face in his hands and let out a half-strangled scream while Steve did his best not to laugh. Eddie continued to have the time of his life, and said smoothly, “Hey, Billy, that was one hell of a confession actually. Does the magic hole allow you to read the symbols now?”

He said it jokingly, but when Billy looked up to glare at him and threw a glance at the glowing runes, he froze and his eyes widened.

“No shit?” Eddie said, teasing forgotten. “Really? You can read it?”

Billy got to his feet and approached the stone wall. “Not all of it,” he said and traced the bottom part of the symbols. “Just this.”

“Okay?” Steve said and waited. When Billy didn’t speak, he prompted, “So what does it say?”

“What difference does it make?” Billy murmured, face flaming.

“Uhh,” Eddie said and gestured wildly around the hole they were in. “Maybe all the difference in the world? Maybe it’s an … incantation, or something. Wait, let’s try it! This first part that I can read says, ‘Shed your masks’.”

Steve pressed two fingers to the part that he could read, and continued seamlessly, “’Acknowledge your real selves’.”

They both looked at Billy, who sighed and looked heavenwards, but ground out the part that he cold apparently read: “’Open up and share yourself with others’.”

Eddie gave him a grin and Steve smiled proudly even though Billy refused to look at any of them. Instead he looked around the space they were in. The others did, as well.

At first, nothing seemed to happen. Then something started glowing on the three other walls as well; more symbols. The boys all looked around, and Steve frowned. “I can … I can only read that one,” he said and pointed at the symbol that had appeared on the wall he had slept against.

“I can read that one,” Eddie said and pointed to his wall.

Billy’s shoulders sagged as he nodded to the wall where he had been sleeping, “And I can read those.”

Eddie, licked his lips and seemed to decide to go first. “’Show trust’,” he said.

“’Show weakness’,” Steve read.

“’Show feelings’,” Billy bit out.

As the last words were spoken, the intensity of the runes increased until they were shining so brightly that the boys had to shield their eyes against the light. It continued until everything around them was a bright white and they had to screw their eyes shut –

– and then it stopped, and they were left to blink the remnants of the bright spots out of their eyes.

“What the –“ Steve said, as he was the first to regain his senses and look around.

They were no longer in the hole, but in the woods where they had fallen in the night before. In fact, there was no indication of a hole ever having been there in the first place.

The early morning sunlight came down through the trees, birds were chirping in the branches above, and drops of dew glittered on the foliage around them.

“What the fuck?” Billy said, eloquently.

“Huh,” Eddie said, just as expressively. “Guess there’s something to be said about that whole balance and sacrifice thing, after all.”

“I still think we should have worked the virgin sacrifice angle,” Billy grumbled, backing away from and glaring at the space where they’d fallen through the night before.

“There’ll be time for that later,” Eddie said. “Besides, I’d rather my first time be in an actual bed. Call me old-fashioned.”

“High-maintenance, more like it.”

“Aw, but you apparently love that about me,” Eddie grinned, all teeth, and ducked under Billy’s half-hearted swipe.

“Guys,” Steve sighed, but he was smiling too. “Maybe we should save all this for later and get the hell out of here? Before anything else happens?”

“Good plan, pretty boy,” Billy said.

“Smart boy,” Eddie added.

“Very capable boy,” Billy nodded.

“Shut up,” Steve said, and got to hear the other two cackle delightedly as they turned and walked in the direction where they’d left the car the previous day.

A couple of seconds passed, and then Eddie let out a loud snort. At his boyfriends’ questioning looks, he said, “I can’t believe we got couples therapy:d by a magical forest hole.”

#MSB2024 #metalsandwich #harringroveson #harringroveson fic #billy hargrove #steve harrington #eddie munson #metalsandwich bingo #ihni writes #hole talk

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