#⠀ ⠀ ♥︎ ⠀ ⠀ 𝒊𝒇 𝒘𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒛𝒚 𝒘𝒆'𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒐 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒛𝒚 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 ⠀ ⠀ ╱ ⠀ ⠀ in character.

[hiisheart]

OPEN STARTER !

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ♥︎ . *. ⋆ ❝ DON'T TICKLE ME UNLESS YOU WANT a broken bone or a black eye. ❞

[hiisheart]

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ♥︎ . *. ⋆ WELL THAT WAS PRETTY SMART, FAKING a misremembering of where the supposed patient they were visiting was. the look on the receptionist's face, at least to mike, seemed to communicate brief confusion yet understanding, as if this was something common among people who visited hospitals. ( was it? he was briefly curious about it yet was unable to remember his own experiences since he hadn't been to a hospital in AGES. )

as they walk away from the hospital, hoping they were out of sight or earshot of any of the staff there, he feels a hot flush of embarrassment run through him at the other's compliment. he couldn't quite explain it, but there almost seemed to be something ... special about being complimented by eddie, the odd rush of joy comparable to the feeling of something blooming deep inside him.

❝ sooo ... what'cha gonna do with that? ❞ he questions, pointing to where eddie's hand was still stuffed inside his puffed-up pockets.

Stealing from the storeroom of the hospital wasn't anything new for the metalhead, he'd had plenty of experiences to know exactly how to orientate the tools to get it open. Before coming into view of the receptionist, Eddie had spat on his hands and began wiping them on his shirt as he came into her line of sight, pretending he was drying his hands on himself, visible moisture marks helping seal the deception.

"You find her?" He asked glancing between them both, the receptionist confirmed she couldn't locate Emily, so in response Eddie, playing the role of a confused guy fairly well, asked which hospital they were at.

"Ohhh...well that's embarrassing, guess toilet blindness made me go for the nearest one." He said to her with his best apologetic tone, "my bad, sorry we wasted your time miss," he gave her a smile before putting a hand on Mike's shoulder to start walking him out, "come on she's at the other hospital." As they reached the door he waved at her over his shoulder, apologising again before they went out and began heading towards the van.

"I think you handled that pretty well, good job Wheeler," he ruffled his hand on Mike's head.

[hiisheart]

OPEN STARTER ! ( cuz y'all asked for this skdjfsdjh )

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ♥︎ . *. ⋆ IT HAD ALL HAPPENED SO FAST, mike could hardly comprehend the fact that it had even occurred at all as he attempts to make his way forward to join the other where they'd be safe, where they could hide out the rest of the flying bullets. as he's moving in their direction, he's hit with a sudden wave of DIZZINESS, the pain settling deep in his right shoulder as he stumbles and crashes to the ground. he's understandably in a state of shock, dark eyes wide and glazed with fear and pain as his hand reaches for the wound, staring as he realizes that it's coated with his own dark, sticky blood. ❝ ... shit ... help me— ❞

[hiisheart]

OPEN STARTER !

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ♥︎ . *. ⋆ ❝ LOOK, I JUST ... I JUST DON'T want you to feel alone. ❞ it's a feeling he knew all too well, a feeling he'd NEVER want to see anyone he cared about go through. it was painful, lonely, like a sucking blackness whose only escape was to experience death itself.

[hiisheart]

OPEN STARTER !

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ♥︎ . *. ⋆ ❝ I BET I COULD BEAT YOUR ass in a wrestling match. ❞

[hiisheart]

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ♥︎ . *. ⋆ ❝ THERE? YOU MEAN, THE UPSIDE DOWN? ❞ mike genuinely didn't want to seem like he was prying; he knew it could be uncomfortable for will. the last thing he wanted was for will to associate his questioning with discomfort, even if it were understandable. but in all honesty, to mike, the thought of will still being connected to such a place, however much it made sense, genuinely SCARED him. it scared him to know that will could still feel vecna, was still connected to him. his greatest fear now was that one day he'd wake up and find will missing, because vecna had taken him. even more so frightening was the fact that neither of them knew why vecna would even want this connection in the first place, even if it could open him up to harm. likely because it guaranteed that he still had a connection to the living world.

❝ i mean, if you wanted to be sure ... maybe dustin and lucas could help us design an experiment. you know, like testing a hypothesis. ❞ it was just an idea, and he didn't want to cross any potential boundaries by suggesting it, but he couldn't help but be a little PREOCCUPIED with making sure will was safe. things had just started to feel stable in mike's life again, despite the upside down continuing to present a very real threat. but if he lost this sense of normality, the connection he had with will, or god forbid will himself ... it'd only be a matter of time before his version of hell would break loose.

Mike didn't sound fine. And that put Will on alert. He wasn't going to call Mike out on it though. Because he just had an opinion that Mike didn't sound fine. It didn't make it true. And he didn't know where a conversation like that would lead, so he'd let it rest for now. But he was giving Mike's hand a critical look to ensure that it was fine and there were no marks or anything from whatever it was that had happened when the two of them touched. From whatever it was that Will had done.

Perfect was a very large concept, and Will was far from it. While Mike saying it did make his cheeks redden a bit, that was it. Because Will didn't feel it. Something weird was going on with him.

Mike was right they didn't know anything, and that was what made this all worse it seemed. They didn't know anything. Well, Will did know one thing, "Its still connected to me," he said almost rushed, like he was ashamed to admit it. But it was true, Will just thought everyone else knew as well. After all he still felt the Mindflayer, Him. Will thought that was the next logical connection. "But I've only been able to do things with lights there." And that wasn't unique because everyone could communicate with lights there, granted when Dustin explained it to him, it sounded different from what he did, but he didn't think that meant anything at the time. Now though he was beginning to wonder.

[hiisheart]

OPEN STARTER !

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ♥︎ . *. ⋆ ❝ N-NO, it's fine. i'm fine. ❞ he's totally not fine, but he's not about to ADMIT that to the other.

[hiisheart]

@rebelliousfamily (NANCY) || CONT.

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ♥︎ . *. ⋆ HE'S ALREADY LAUGHING, turning to leave his sister's room the moment he watches her CLIMB from her bed and get to her feet. ❝ you gotta catch me first! ❞ he calls, running straight for his room.

[hiisheart]

》》 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫.

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ♥︎ . *. ⋆ ❝ are you blushing? ... yeah , you're 𝚍𝚎𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢 blushing right now. ❞

[hiisheart]

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ♥︎ . *. ⋆ HE SHYLY CASTS HIS GAZE DOWNWARD at the compliment; despite not being sure if he believed in a higher power, he was still actively hoping and praying he didn't look visibly flustered. ❝ i guess you're right. it kind of gave me some ideas for my next dnd campaign, even though a lot of the things i saw were just RIDICULOUS. like crocodiles giving live birth instead of laying eggs, a war between ocean-dwellers and humans, the existence of zodiac sign entities on earth ... almost none of it made sense but was still cool to see. maybe my brain is trying to tell me i have unused creativity. ❞

"Oh, good. I swear, I don't understand why they make children show characters so creepy sometimes!" Billy mused. He listened with rapt attention, nodding slightly as he took it in. "Well, sleep is one of the safest havens of creativity, isn't it? Besides, you're pretty strong , I think, give yourself a break. So! What did you see and know?"

[hiisheart]

@ourdyingwords said: 🤝  to  hold  my  muse's  hand. -carl

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ♥︎ . *. ⋆ THE GESTURE WAS CERTAINLY A BIT OUT OF NOWHERE, at least that's how it felt to mike. the sudden squeeze to his left hand had him turning his head to look at carl, a look he couldn't discern in his blue eyes. his father had always been a bit ... INTENSE, for lack of a better word, but he could almost parse out an underlying sense of fear or unease in the squeeze he gave his hand.

he could almost hear rick's words drowned out by the sudden rush of emotion he felt towards the other, and he couldn't help himself from discreetly squeezing his hand back, the gesture LIGHT && GENTLE, full of nothing but comfort and encouragement.

YOUR AFFECTION .

[hiisheart]

@he11fireclubtm said: ❛ you’re important to me, you little shit. ❜

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ♥︎ . *. ⋆ HE SUPPOSED THERE WERE WEIRDER THINGS he could've heard eddie said — pinch him if the other ever said anything remotely similar to the uncle jokes he'd heard from the middle aged couple that sat across from him at that one diner in cali. he frowns, that similar shred of doubt beginning to worm itself through his insides. when was the last time someone had said anything as CARING as that ... ?

maybe that itself was the problem.

he purses his lips in response to the other's words, rolling his lips together until it caused the corners of them to slightly upturn, as if he were giving the tiniest SHRED of a smile. an expression that was half-appreciative, half-unsure. he was grateful to hear it, but something within him desperately wanted to reject the affirmation. self-confidence be damned.

PLATONIC SENTENCE STARTERS .

[hiisheart]

@rebelliousfamily said: Holly came running into Mikes room at around nine at night and climbed onto the bed, hiding under the blankets.

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ♥︎ . *. ⋆ ❝ HEY BUG, WHAT HAPPENED? ❞ IT WAS kind of hard to read the expression on his little sister's face as she came diving in under his covers like that without a word or a moment's hesitation. he usually got a sense when something was wrong, but this time he couldn't tell if it was that, or if she was trying to play with him.

UNPROMPTED ASKS . ( ALWAYS ACCEPTING ! )

[hiisheart]

@ragewithinthestorm said: Soft Gesture 15 from Samuel

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ♥︎ . *. ⋆ FOR A COUPLE REASONS, IT'S A bit surprising to feel sam's fingertips running along the dark scar above his right elbow — from when he'd tripped and accidentally grazed a loose nail sticking up from the baseboard on the stairs. for one, he didn't know sam very well, meaning that he hadn't quite had the time to get USED to the way the other touching him felt. secondly, of what he knew of sam, he never came across as a very touchy person; very much like el, very quiet && reserved around people he didn't know well.

but, no matter. it wasn't like he'd been made to jump out of his skin, of which he'd make a much greater deal. no, it was just a SIMPLE touch, one he could probably use as material in conversations he'd been wanting to try and start having with sam. ❝ it's kind of a funny story, how i got that, ❞ he says quietly in reference to his scar.

SEND ' SOFT GESTURES ' + A NUMBER FOR MY MUSES' REACTION TO YOURS ...

[hiisheart]

@he11fireclubtm said: Just plopping down beside Mike to rest his head on his shoulder and lace their fingers together. [will is demanding cuddles. I don't make the rules]

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ♥︎ . *. ⋆ THANKFULLY FOR WILL, HE WAS PROBABLY the only person mike would openly allow to cuddle up to him like this in a public space, to get comfy at his side and soak up all of his warmth like a sponge. lucky for them, they weren't in public, instead sitting in the warm, toasty box of mike's room upstairs, the door closed and locked, just for safety. he's much more willing to let himself come UNDONE for the other, to be more touchy and sweet with him in the safety of their own privacy, immediately leaning back to meet will's warmth and curling his fingers in towards his palm as they lace their fingers together.

❝ ... okay, now i'm happy i decided to skip nancy's movie night. 'cause i prefer this instead, ❞ he says teasingly, his nose BRUSHING against will's forehead as he cranes his head to get closer to him.

UNPROMPTED ASKS . ( ALWAYS ACCEPTING ! )

[hiisheart]

DASH COMM !

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊ ♥︎ . *. ⋆ ❝ WOULD YOU STILL LOVE ME IF i was a worm? ❞