[ He doesn't make it over to Eddie's immediately, but there's barely a couple hours between the kid's last message and Dean out in the front yard of his house. Knocking on the door had been a distracted kind of banging, eyes running a practised scan of his periphery. Feels all the more necessary these days because turns out he's got more than one reason to stay the hell alive.
Weird how things work out sometimes.
He's got a brown leather-wrapped, seen better days journal tucked under one arm, his other hand shoved into the pocket of his jeans because it's cold. Colder than he'd like, if he's honest.
So he's waiting out front for a kid he's hellbent on helping out. It's important, and it means something. ]
(The door opens with a tiny creak. A small face pokes out and yeah, Eddie looks like he had just gone through a month of possession all right. Some weight loss on an already small frame and dark, exhausted eyes. His hair isn't even styled which, honestly, is the biggest giveaway of all.
Plus he has that cagey look on his face like he doesn't entirely trust what's on the other side of the door. But once he sees that it's clearly Dean, he opens the door up the rest of the way.
There's this massive drop of relief in his gut and Eddie distantly realizes that this is the second time in a relatively short amount of time where he's willingly let himself seek out help from an adult.)
Hi. (Don't cry, Eddie, holy shit. His voice does that wobbly little thing and for a second he sounds like he's eleven all over again. God he could feel how badly he missed having an adult to go to - even if the only adult back home was the Worst Person Ever for him. He was, at the end of the day, still just a kid.)
[ Whether he wants it to or not, his voice is softer than it probably should be. It doesn't take an emotional genius to get that Eddie's not feeling all that awesome right now. There's some saying about 'don't ask questions', and honestly Dean's good at it for the most part. At least, he is where most people are concerned. But people he's got a reason to ask? No holds barred.
That quavering note is enough to remind him that he doesn't need to go about this his usual style. Bull in a china shop might work sometimes, but not every time. So he nods, tries not to make it all that obvious that he's trying to work out what kind of shape Eddie's in on the outside too.
He looks skinnier, and it's not like he'd been the biggest kid to start with. He doesn't wait for an invitation, just steps inside past Eddie leaving enough room for the air not to sweep the kid over as he walks past. That's what it looks like, anyway. That one particularly strong gust would knock Eddie on his ass. ]
So I was thinking on the way over. In all our super intellectual high-brow conversations, I don't think I ever asked you how you feel about burgers.
[ It might not be the most subtle opener, but Dean's never been good at the whole subtle thing. Eddie needs feeding decent food and Dean's got a kitchen now to cook in. Besides, one good turn deserves another or some bullshit. Eddie'd had his back when he was living up in Flatwoods Point. ]
(This was precisely why he had called Dean. There was something undeniably dependable about the man as he stepped in with all of the control that Eddie never had in any situation. It just felt good, plain and simple, to have an adult show up, ready to believe him, ready to help him. It's not a luxury he was used to. And Eddie picks up on the soft tone instantly. That was new too.
Eddie doesn't anticipate the invite for burgers. It catches him off guard mostly because adults didn't usually want to just hang out with him. Maybe it was a theoretical question. Eddie's been staring for way too long either way and he shakes himself out of it.)
Oh. Oh- yeah. I love burgers. I practically went vegetarian a few years ago but it's not a strict thing. It's been a while since I've had a good old fashioned beef burger.
(Dean wasn't wrong anyway. Something meaty was probably exactly what he needed. The urge to hug is even more intense, and he bites his lip before caving in. He gives Dean a quick, tight squeeze around his midriff.)
Thanks for coming over. (It's December though. This means the moment he's got Dean in a hug, he's flooded with that intense calm and reassurance Deerington seemed to infuse into every touch lately. It makes him relax almost completely, and he holds on for longer than he had planned to because good lord, how could he not? Hugging was so dope this month.)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
<3 I'm being glacial slow rn anyways I'M SORRY
no apologies
text > action
Weird how things work out sometimes.
He's got a brown leather-wrapped, seen better days journal tucked under one arm, his other hand shoved into the pocket of his jeans because it's cold. Colder than he'd like, if he's honest.
So he's waiting out front for a kid he's hellbent on helping out. It's important, and it means something. ]
no subject
Plus he has that cagey look on his face like he doesn't entirely trust what's on the other side of the door. But once he sees that it's clearly Dean, he opens the door up the rest of the way.
There's this massive drop of relief in his gut and Eddie distantly realizes that this is the second time in a relatively short amount of time where he's willingly let himself seek out help from an adult.)
Hi. (Don't cry, Eddie, holy shit. His voice does that wobbly little thing and for a second he sounds like he's eleven all over again. God he could feel how badly he missed having an adult to go to - even if the only adult back home was the Worst Person Ever for him. He was, at the end of the day, still just a kid.)
Thanks for coming. She's in the uh- backyard.
no subject
[ Whether he wants it to or not, his voice is softer than it probably should be. It doesn't take an emotional genius to get that Eddie's not feeling all that awesome right now. There's some saying about 'don't ask questions', and honestly Dean's good at it for the most part. At least, he is where most people are concerned. But people he's got a reason to ask? No holds barred.
That quavering note is enough to remind him that he doesn't need to go about this his usual style. Bull in a china shop might work sometimes, but not every time. So he nods, tries not to make it all that obvious that he's trying to work out what kind of shape Eddie's in on the outside too.
He looks skinnier, and it's not like he'd been the biggest kid to start with. He doesn't wait for an invitation, just steps inside past Eddie leaving enough room for the air not to sweep the kid over as he walks past. That's what it looks like, anyway. That one particularly strong gust would knock Eddie on his ass. ]
So I was thinking on the way over. In all our super intellectual high-brow conversations, I don't think I ever asked you how you feel about burgers.
[ It might not be the most subtle opener, but Dean's never been good at the whole subtle thing. Eddie needs feeding decent food and Dean's got a kitchen now to cook in. Besides, one good turn deserves another or some bullshit. Eddie'd had his back when he was living up in Flatwoods Point. ]
no subject
Eddie doesn't anticipate the invite for burgers. It catches him off guard mostly because adults didn't usually want to just hang out with him. Maybe it was a theoretical question. Eddie's been staring for way too long either way and he shakes himself out of it.)
Oh. Oh- yeah. I love burgers. I practically went vegetarian a few years ago but it's not a strict thing. It's been a while since I've had a good old fashioned beef burger.
(Dean wasn't wrong anyway. Something meaty was probably exactly what he needed. The urge to hug is even more intense, and he bites his lip before caving in. He gives Dean a quick, tight squeeze around his midriff.)
Thanks for coming over. (It's December though. This means the moment he's got Dean in a hug, he's flooded with that intense calm and reassurance Deerington seemed to infuse into every touch lately. It makes him relax almost completely, and he holds on for longer than he had planned to because good lord, how could he not? Hugging was so dope this month.)