[The tightness in his own chest knots tighter still. It's not anger, exactly. Anger would be easier, a less complicated thing to feel that the thing that claws its way out through his ribcage and settles just over his skin, lays itself over the flesh holds still. This feeling is harder to name, especially when he cares just as much about Billy as he does Eddie.

Very gently, he runs his thumb over Eddie's geek, feeling over the new mark, the way it sits starkly contrasted against the paleness of his skin. ] I'll clean it and change the bandages.

[He says this instead of you're not leaving and you can't go back there. He's maybe saying it with his eyes, though. A quiet plea for Eddie to say yes, and yes he'll stay here, because going anywhere else suddenly looks like a death sentence. He says, instead: ] Go grab some of the vodka from outside. I'll get the bandages and start boiling water.