With his head practically hanging off of the couch and the tips of his fingers just barely grazing the basement floor, Matthew Wheeler lightly snored and was the least bit unaware of the fact that– through the means of a radio that was on the other side of the room and the radio that was practically buried underneath all of the stuff that he kept in his backpack– Eddie Munson's voice could be heard saying, "Hey, Dustin, this is Eddie the Banished. You there?" After a couple seconds of silence, Eddie asked, "Dustin, can you hear me? Dustin?"

It was then that Nancy quickly sat up from where she laid on the floor and made her way over towards the radio as she heard Eddie say over the radio, "Earth to Dustin."

It wasn't long afterwards that Nancy raised the antennae to the radio and said into it, "Hey, it's Nancy."

In turn, Eddie said, "Wheeler! Hey. Um, I'm gonna need a food delivery, like, really soon, unless you want me going out into the world."

With a shake of her head, Nancy replied, "No. No, no, no. Don't do that. Just stay where you are, and we'll be there as soon as we can."

Eddie said to her, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen, um... can you pick me up a six-pack? I know, it's stupid as shit, drinking right now, but a cold beer would really calm my jangled nerves."

It was then that Nancy told him, "Uh, hey, I'm gonna have to call you back." And just when Eddie started to respond to her words, she glanced over at Matthew and saw the way that he continued to snore to himself from where he laid on the couch that Max herself used to be on before she looked away from her brother and then made her way over towards where Dustin slept in a part of the basement.

Then Eddie said into the radio, "Wheeler? Wheeler?"

It was then that Nancy hit Dustin's legs and yelled, "Dustin!"

In turn, Dustin said to her, "Mm."

Then Nancy said to him, "Wake up."

After blinking his eyes, Dustin said, "What?"

Nancy asked him, "Aren't you supposed to be on Max watch?"

As he wiped his eyes, he said, "Yep. Yep, yep, yep. Sorry."

Nancy replied, "Okay, then where is she?"

As he pointed over towards the couch that Matthew was currently sleeping on, Dustin said, "She's right there. A second ago. I swear, I just dozed off for... an hour."

And while Dustin and Nancy were quick to head up the stairs, Matthew let out a groan when he heard a muffled voice from the inside of his backpack repeatedly saying his last name.

Without even bothering to open his eyes, he pulled his backpack out from underneath his head and opened it before he started to blindly search for his radio.

It wasn't until he'd pulled it out of his backpack that he could hear the sound of Eddie Munson's voice repeatedly saying his last name, which got him to quickly open his eyes and pull up the antenna before he asked, "Eddie? What's going on? You didn't get spotted by some cops, did you?"

In turn, Eddie asked, "Little Wheeler? Is that you?"

With a sigh, Matthew said, "Yeah, it's me. What's going on? Why'd you keep saying my last name?"

Eddie told him, "Your sister. I was just talking to her, and she went off to do whatever when I was in the middle of telling her what I needed you guys to bring over here." When Matthew didn't respond to his words, he asked Matthew, "Hey, uh, everything's alright on your guys' end, right? Like, nobody's died since we last saw each other?"

As he rubbed an eye with one of his hands, Matthew replied, "Yeah, no, everything's been as fine as one would think on this end. What about you? You haven't been spotted by any cops or something, right?"

In turn, Eddie said to him, "Nope. So far so good on my end. But seriously, though, is somebody gonna stop by here and bring me some more food and even a six-pack or two? Because I am literally going out of my mind over here with nothing to do but think about the worst-case scenario right now, Little Wheeler."

After glancing over towards one of the walls of the basement to see that Valerie was sleeping with her head pressed up against the wall, Matthew said to him, "Yeah, uh, no problem. I'll be over there as soon as I can."

Then– without giving Eddie the chance to say anything more to him– he shoved the radio back into his backpack and zipped it shut before he quickly ran up the stairs and then ran out of the front door.

With a broken beer bottle in hand, Eddie slowly made his way over towards the door to the boathouse and tried to listen to whoever might have been outside of the boathouse after hearing a thud only a mere moment ago, just before the door to the boathouse had been quickly swung open.

Just when Eddie started to swing the broken beer bottle, he suddenly stopped when he heard a familiar voice say to him, "Hey, hey, hey, hey. What the hell, man? You call for someone to bring some more food and a thing of beer and the first thing you try to do is hit me with that damn beer bottle?"

After only blinking to himself, Eddie could see that Matthew Wheeler was standing in front of him with his eyes wide as ever and his hands held up in front of his face.

While Eddie slowly started to lower the broken beer bottle, Matthew said to him, "Remind me again why I'm nice to you?"

In turn, Eddie said to him, "No idea." Then– after glancing down and seeing the numerous bags that Matthew had lying on the floor just beside him– he asked, "How the hell did you get all that here without dropping anything? I mean, where's that car of yours?"

As he pushed his way past Eddie with the bags in his hands, Matthew replied, "Not here." After putting the bags down and closing the door to the boathouse, Matthew told him, "I, uh, I kind of hotwired someone's car and then used it to bring all this shit here."

After seeing the look that Eddie had on his face, Matthew said to him, "Don't worry, I got rid of the car. After I dropped off this shit here, I, uh, drove it at least a couple of miles or so away from here, put a brick on the gas pedal and let it drive itself down some random hill. So, there's no way in hell that someone's gonna find some way to pin the damage the car caused on you." After seeing Eddie only stare at him with furrowed eyebrows, Matthew said, "What?"

It was then that Eddie asked him, "You stole a car, used the car to bring the food here and then just let it drive down some hill– all so that it wouldn't be led back to me?" When Matthew only nodded his head, Eddie said, "Huh."

Once more, Matthew said, "What?"

With a shake of his head, Eddie replied, "Nothing. I just never thought that you would go out of your way to steal a car and then get rid of the car, just so that I don't get arrested for, uh, for what happened, that's all."

With a shake of his own head, Matthew asked him, "Well, why wouldn't I?" After seeing Eddie only stare at him with his head tilted to the side, Matthew said, "I-I mean, there's no reason to just lead the cops here and let you get arrested for something that you didn't even do."

After he turned his head to look away from Eddie, Matthew said, "I don't care what the cops say. You're innocent and there's no way in hell that I'm gonna let you take the fall for a fucking murder that you didn't even fucking commit."

With his eyebrows still furrowed, Eddie only blinked to himself before he asked, "So, uh, what all did you get me, Little Wheeler?"

As he peeked out the window to the boathouse with narrowed eyes and a tight grip on his switchblade, Matthew told him, "I, uh, mostly got you some things of cereal, some bags of chips, and a bunch of other snacks– but mostly shit that my brother liked back when he was still in middle school. I, uh, didn't really know what to get you, so I just picked the shit that my brother used to like." After a couple seconds of silence, he said, "And yes, Eddie, I also got you a pack of beer."

With a quick thrust of one of his arms, Eddie said, "Yes!"

In response to the child-like reaction that Eddie had, Matthew only sighed to himself and did what he could to keep himself from chuckling at that exact moment and only turned away from the window.

Then he simply blinked to himself when he saw that Eddie was already eating out of the Pac-Man cereal box that he saw and scooping handfuls of the cereal out of the box and then proceeding to shove it into his mouth.

After a couple seconds of just noisily chewing on the cereal and using one of the bottles of beer as a drink to wash down the cereal that he couldn't swallow, Eddie slowly looked up from the cereal and over towards Matthew and saw the look that the seventeen-year-old boy had on his face and the way that Matthew's head was tilted to the side and not to mention the fact that his eyebrows were also furrowed.

After only blinking to himself in response to the look that the seventeen-year-old boy had on his face, Eddie said, "What?"

In response to Eddie's words, Matthew only shook his head to himself before he glanced over at the open can of food that Eddie had lying on the floor only a mere couple of feet away from himself.

Then he shook his head once more and went to walk over towards the door to the boathouse, only to stop when Eddie asked him, "Hey, where you going?"

After silently gulping to himself, Matthew told him, "U-Um, I was gonna head back to my house and check in on Val."

It was then that Eddie wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before he asked, "Did something happen?" When Matthew didn't respond, he said, "Oh, God. Please don't tell me that there's another dead body out there."

With a shake of his head, Matthew said, "No, there, uh, there isn't another dead body. I-I mean, there almost was one, but, uh, we stopped it before Vecna killed another person."

With a shake of his own head, Eddie asked him, "Who was it?"

After listening to the sound of Eddie putting down the box of cereal and then starting to make his way over towards where he was standing, Matthew told him, "Max. She, uh, she almost got killed, but we, uh, we figured it out, so she should be okay for the time being. But I, uh, I can't leave Val on her own. She-She almost lost her sister. I, um, I can't leave her all by herself like this." After sighing to himself, he said, "I mean, yeah, she isn't, you know, alone alone, but still. I don't want her to go through this shit without me there."

Then– after turning around to face Eddie– Matthew forced himself not to flinch or to let his eyes widen when he saw just how close Eddie was standing to him.

But that didn't keep his heart from pounding heavily in his chest, nor did it keep his heart from skipping a beat for a split second when he saw just how close Eddie was standing in front of him.

After only staring at Eddie's face for a couple of seconds, he looked down at the watch that Eddie was wearing on his left arm and then glanced over at the tattoos that he had on his right arm– anything to keep himself from overthinking about the fact of just how close Eddie was standing in front of him and the fact of just how unaware Eddie was about the effect that the older metalhead had on him.

He only looked away from the tattoo on Eddie's arm when Eddie asked him, "Hey, are you doing okay, Little Wheeler?"

With a mere blink of his eyes, Matthew looked back at Eddie's face and said, "Yeah. Never better."

With his eyebrows furrowed, Eddie asked him, "You sure, Little Wheeler? 'Cause you seem pretty out of it right about now."

After quietly gulping to himself, Matthew told him, "Just have a lot to think about, is all." After watching Eddie only nod his head to himself, Matthew started to say to him, "Right, so I'm just gonna, uh, head back to my house and check in on Val—"

It was then that Eddie asked him, "Hey, does Mayfield have her own radio?" After seeing Matthew only furrow his eyebrows, Eddie said to him, "Valerie, I mean."

After watching Matthew simply nod his head, Eddie asked him, "is there any chance you could stick around here until your friends get back? You know, so that I don't feel like I'm going out of my mind, while you and your friends are out trying to find Vecna and keep me from getting arrested?" When Matthew didn't respond, Eddie told him, "Look, you don't have to, if you don't want to, but I was thinking that you could always check in on her over the radio and see how she's doing that way."

For a moment, Matthew remained silent as he thought over the suggestion that Eddie had just given him.

He was torn about what he was supposed to do.

Even though there was a big part of him that wanted nothing more than to take Eddie up on his offer of staying with him in the boathouse and keeping the older metalhead from going out of his mind because of everything that's happened since the night that Chrissy Cunningham was killed in Eddie's trailer, there was another big part of him that wanted to be with Valerie and make sure to remind her that she wasn't alone and that he was going to be there for her in every step of the way– no matter what.

Plus, he was the only one out of his friends that knew about why Valerie would freak out the way that she did whenever a man would touch her– no matter who they were or just how old they were.

The only exception for that rule was Matthew Wheeler himself and he didn't think that she would go out of her way to tell the others about what happened back when she was twelve-years-old and she was still living in California with both of her parents and her little sister– sometime before her mother got married to Billy's dad and they left California to go and live in Hawkins, Indiana.

And his biggest problem right now is that he had a different form of loyalty towards Eddie Munson and Valerie Mayfield– and that loyalty he had towards the two of them was enough to have him be torn about the whole matter, due to just how much he wanted to help them both, despite knowing that wasn't the least bit possible for him to do.

Well, he could always agree with Eddie and stay in the boathouse, but what if Valerie had some sort of panic attack or something?

She always was prone to those– even more so after she told Matthew just what exactly had happened to her a mere couple of days after she turned twelve-years-old and he wanted to be there for her, just in case she happened to have another one.

But then there was Eddie Munson– the guy that he'd been having feelings for ever since he was a freshman and Eddie was a first-time senior at Hawkins High School.

Compared to Valerie, Eddie had zero history with the Upside Down and was literally going out of his mind because of the fear that he had to feel– due to the fact that the entirety of the Hawkins PD believed that he was behind the deaths of Chrissy Cunningham and Fred Benson just because Chrissy's body just so happened to be found inside of the trailer that he was living in with his uncle.

And from what he could see, Eddie looked even more terrified at the thought of being left alone in the boathouse with nothing to keep his mind off of the fact that he was wanted for two separate murders that he never even committed.

And even though he wanted to very badly return to his house and be there for Valerie now that she was at risk of losing yet another member of her family, a part of himself just couldn't find the strength to look away from Eddie and those brown eyes of his and risk the chance to see the– what he assumed would be– sad look that Eddie would have on his face at the realization of being left alone in the boathouse once more.

So, against his better judgment he let out a sigh before he said, "Fine."

With his eyebrows furrowed, Eddie said, "Fine?"

With a nod of his head, Matthew said, "Yeah. Fine. I'll, uh, stick around here for a little while longer. You are, uh, new to this whole Upside Down shit. It wouldn't be fair to just leave you here and let you go out of your fucking mind like that."

With his eyebrows still furrowed, Eddie asked him, "Are you sure? I mean, you could always go see Valerie and be there for her, if you want. I won't force you to stay here, if you don't wanna be here with me."

With a mere shake of his head, Matthew replied, "No, it's, uh, it's fine. I'll just, uh, I'll just be here for the time being and keep you from losing your fucking mind any more than you already have."

After hesitantly nodding his head, Eddie said, "Okay. But only if you're a hundred percent sure about this, Little Wheeler."

With yet another nod of his head, Matthew said, "I am."

With yet another nod of his own head, Eddie said, "Okay."

Then– as he started to walk back over towards the box of cereal that he was previously eating out of– he glanced back at Matthew and saw just how hesitant Matthew was to follow him.

In response to the look that Matthew had on his face, Eddie only sighed to himself.

He knew that Matthew was wanting to get back to his friend more than anything, but what he didn't know was just why Matthew was going against that urge to get back to his friend and was choosing to stay with him in the boathouse.

Just like he didn't know why Matthew was so much nicer to him than he was to everyone else at Hawkins High School.

After all, Matthew was an asshole to literally everyone else at the school– no matter who they were.

So, what he failed to understand was just what it was about himself that got Matthew to be so nice to him to begin with.

After letting out a sigh and shaking his head once more, he sat down in front of the Pac-Man cereal box and watched Matthew slowly walk over towards him before he asked, "So, uh, exactly how long have you been, uh, dealing with this whole Upside Down thing?"

In response to Eddie's question, Matthew only grimaced to himself before he proceeded to– in detail– explain literally every single disaster that had taken place ever since the disappearance of Will Byers on November 6, 1983, and how exactly he fit into the search for Will Byers and everything that followed it.

Of course, the only thing that he left out would be the strong feelings that Matthew had been harboring for him since the first week of his freshman year at Hawkins High School– nor did he tell Eddie about the many drawings that he'd made of the older metalhead and just how desperate he was to make sure that each of those drawings were perfectly sketched in a way that would capture everything that Matthew himself had seen of the third-time senior of the high school that they both went to.