"What, like," he waved a hand vaguely. "Wizard of Oz?"
WHAT: Ronan dreams Richie new glasses. Eddie reveals a gift. WHERE: Morningside Manor, rooftop garden. WHEN: Saturday, February 8. WARNINGS: Mild anxiety mentions. STATUS:Complete!
Ronan was expecting the item he gave Eddie to be something stupid. Something decidedly not dreamt. It wasnât that he couldnât imagine himself giving Eddie something for his panic attacks. A week watching such a high strung kid was enough to convince him heâd watch out for this weirdo in a murder house, given half a chance. But a dreamt object was still a surprise. It was a risk.
So were the glasses in his pocket. Even as he waited in the rooftop garden of Morningside for Eddie to show up, he second guessed whether he was giving out dream objects because he was right or because he was just so fucking tired of hiding what he was. What he could do.
With his trademark scowl firmly in place, Ronan paced along a row of colorful flowers until Eddie stepped out onto the roof. âItâs about fucking time,â he grumbled impatiently. âLetâs see it.â
Eddie felt like a new person. Well, maybe not quite new, but calmer. He was satisfied in ways he hadn't been since arriving in Vallo a couple months ago, and certainly better than he'd felt in the horror funhouse before that. Not that he had any intention of lingering too long on those radical changes in his demeanor. That would mean thinking about Richie, and thinking about Richie complicated things. So Eddie took the elevator up to the roof the moment he was absolutely certain his friend was settled and showering, a stress ball cradled close to his chest. But that wasn't the only thing he was carrying.
"Sorry," he said breathlessly, smiling a little bit despite himself. Too much happiness. He'd have to work on controlling it. "I have it with me. Also, uh, I told Adam I'd bake something for you guys. He said you hate raisins." Eddie passed over a moderately-sized tupperware full of chocolate chip cookies along with the stress ball. "I made a ton the other day when Bill got here." Was this weird? It was probably weird.
Shrugging a tiny bit, Eddie stuffed his hands into the pockets of his puffy jacket. "Anyway. That's the anti-panic ball." He really hoped Ronan wasn't going to take it back.
Eddieâs chipper mood made Ronan squint one-eyed at him. The tupperware made him squint the other one. To be fair, his own mood was suffering from a cloud of worry about something he couldnât control or predict, so it wasnât really all that surprising that he glared at Eddie for a long moment before he sniffed inside the tupperware.
âOkay. Weird. But thanks, I guess.â Two years ago, heâd never have uttered that word unironically. Now he was more interested in holding up the stress ball to get a good look at it.
His own fucking face was on the side and it startled a laugh out of him. He didnât even really need to look at it to know it was his anyway. The dream energy felt right at home in his hand. âShit. This is so fucking wild. Did you do something for me to get this?â
The squinting made Eddie a little self-conscious, so he pinched his mouth into a thin line and thought about all the things he still had to do. Grocery shopping, rearranging the apartment, cleaning, meal prep. That helped temper his excitement. Even when Ronan accepted his cookies, which felt like a small victory on their path to friendship again.
He watched with rapt attention as the stress ball was inspected, half-expecting Ronan to be angry or upset. When he laughed, though, Eddie's eyebrows shot up. "Uh. I think you were just being nice?" Eddie shifted a little from foot to foot. "I had a bunch of panic attacks and kept getting sick. It's hard without my inhaler." Without my friends, he thought, but didn't say that. "You gave that to me so I could actually function. I don't ... I really don't know how to thank you." Thank God he managed not to get teary-eyed. Eddie could feel it starting, so he cleared his throat and thought of his grocery list again.
âGood. Donât.â Ronan grimaced at the idea of being thanked over something he didnât remember doing, let alone something he did. He tossed the ball up in the air and then caught it. He could feel itâs calming waves doing their job. It made him feel weirdly proud. With barely an eyebrow flick for warning, he tossed the ball back at Eddie to catch.
âDid you get a new inhaler? There are hospitals here and shit, right?â He rubbed a hand up over his shorn scalp, awkward now that he knew heâd trusted this kid enough to give him a piece of his magic with his face on it. Declan would lose his shit at that bit of dumbassery.
Eddie caught the stress ball automatically and, after a brief, startled pause, he smiled. "You're letting me keep it?" Something warm shivered through him. He glanced down at the little thing for a moment, then held it protectively again, almost as if he half-expected someone to snatch it away from him. It was the most valuable thing he owned, after all. It was priceless to Eddie.
He blinked. "What? Oh. Yeah. I got a new one." Eddie shifted uneasily again, glancing away for a moment. It would have been embarrassing to admit he didn't technically need an inhaler. At least to someone who didn't understand what they'd all been through, and especially what his mother was like. How was he supposed to explain something like that? "So, uh." He cleared his throat and glanced at Ronan again. "What is this thing, anyway? Magic?" That seemed like the most logical answer.
âFucking duh,â Ronan scowled. âItâs yours.â A half-dozen pleas for secrecy tangled up in his brain, fighting for which would get to the front. He didnât know how to say you already know too much without sounding like a prick. Or why he even cared if he sounded like a prick. And even after all this time, he still never knew how to talk about dreaming without it being awkward as fuck.
He sighed and sat down on the edge of a row of planters, full of vibrantly colored flowers. âLook, I need you to understand, I donât talk about this shit with people outside of a very small circle. Bad things happens to people like me and the people around me if Iâm not really fucking careful at home. I know this place is different, butâŚâ Ronan grimaced up at Eddie. He could still leave. He didnât have to tell Eddie anything.
He took a deep breath. âI need you to swear to keep this to yourself. Swear it like you mean it.â
Eddie didn't need to be highly sensitive to other people's emotions (and he was, for a variety of reasons) to notice Ronan seemed very worried about something. He frowned, pocketing the little ball so he could cross his arms, anything to keep himself from crowding into the other guy's space for a hug. Not everyone enjoyed physical contact from people, and Ronan didn't know him that well yet. "Okay," he agreed immediately. "I swear I won't tell anyone." A beat. "Except I might've mentioned to Richie that you made me something because he asked how you were able to make new glasses, but I said we could trust you soâ" Talking too much, Eddie thought, flustered.
God, he felt helpless. He didn't understand half the things people could do here. But he did understand what it felt like to live in a place that treated you like a hostile enemy, and being constantly worried about the well-being of loved ones. So he chose his words carefully. "Are you okay, Ronan?"
Ronan pressed his fingers to his brow and then rubbed them down the side of his face. âGod, please donât make me regret this.â
Eddie was too tightly wound to be anything but genuine, but if he blabbed to everyone he knew, Ronan would never forgive himself for risking it. The part of him that wasnât afraid to tell people wanted to tell people, though. It was a tightrope of anxiety and pride. He was a freak, but he was also extraordinary.
He laid his hands out on his bent knees, palms up, and blew out a loud breath. âI can pull things out of my dreams. The ball, the glasses. Thatâs the easy shit.â
Eddie stared.
And stared.
And stared.
"What, like," he waved a hand vaguely. "Wizard of Oz?" He had little to no context for any of this. For all Eddie knew, Ronan dreamt about visiting faraway lands and woke up to find they partially existed in real life. It probably didn't work like that, but it's what he was imagining: Ronan, Gansey, Adam, and Blue skipping down a yellow brick road together. He would have laughed if this didn't feel like such a serious thing. So Eddie tilted his head a little and waited for more. Not that he expected it, mind. Ronan could tell him whatever he wantedâthe result would be the same.
âNo, dumbass.â Ronan grimaced, but his tone was not unkind. âI go to sleep, I shape the dream to give me what I want, and I can pull things out.â He waved a hand, at a loss how else to make it clear without giving more pieces of himself than he was ready to share. One was easy enough though.
âI have a bird at home, a raven. Sheâs a dream creature. Chainsaw.â He missed her. He missed his brothers - even Declan â more, and Opal too. But Chainsaw would always be close to his heart. âIâm not a witch, but if I was, sheâd be like myâŚâ He waved a hand, searching for the word. ââŚ.My fucking familiar, or whatever.â
Eddie was quiet when Ronan shared more, and while his attention was rapt, his brain naturally latched onto the only explanation he had any context for. "It sounds like you're a dream witch," he pointed out in a tone that suggested he knew what he was talking about. He most certainly didn't. Then, quickly, in a rush, "Not that it matters! Iâthink it's pretty cool, actually? And I thought you were really cool even without all of that, so uh. Extra coolness now." He smiled.
A thought occurred to him suddenly. "Wait, can you make stuff like food? Or plants? Or animals? What about medicine? Does it even work or is it, like, a placebo?" Eddie's free hand was waving again. "Oh my GOD that would be great. And useful! But I guess dangerous, too. Everyone needs prescriptions for things for a reasonâ"
Ronan let him ramble, even though his squint got a little squintier every time another sentence got added on without a breath of space to answer the last ten. Eventually, he held up his hand in a please shut the fuck up way. âOne, not a witch. Donât do spells. IâmâŚmore like a magic sculptor I guess. Two, food is tricky. Fruit trees, easy. Cows, sure. But a hamburger, doesnât really work. Everything else is mostly a yes. Itâs not bottomless though. I have to be careful not to exhaust the magic of my ley line at home.â
That was more words than he usually strung together, let alone about this subject. He cleared his throat and stood up, walking to the edge of the rooftop garden to stare out over Vallo. âI donât know the limits here. But so far I canât just dream a way home unfortunately.â
It didn't escape Eddie's notice that Ronan had never talked this much before. At least not to him, and he'd never witnessed it either, so it felt like a Big Moment. He fell silent, touched the other boy (and he wasn't really a boy was he) would share more. He'd half-expected to be cut off and shot down, but here Ronan was, patiently explaining his abilities to someone without any concept of it. Eddie did, however, mouth, magic sculptor to himself. Weird. So weird. But intensely cool.
He noted the fact that Ronan had limits, of course. That was simply an Eddie thing. "How do you recover if that happens?" He wondered aloud, hoping it was a simple answer like sleep or food or something they had the resources to assist with here. It was his natural inclination to be gathering information about first-aid, and Ronan was his sort-of-friend, so that made it even more imperative.
Watching him venture closer to the edge, Eddie stiffened a little, forcing himself not to comment on heights, wind velocity, or impact. "In my experience, we get thrown out when whoever's doing this decides they're done with us," he said instead, crossing his arms again. "But I dunno, I think ..." Eddie shifted a little, like he had too much energy and couldn't really stand still. "I think if anyone can figure out a way back, it's you. So. Don't give up, okay?"
A little surprise flickered across Ronanâs face. It was unexpected, the question about how he recovered. He shrugged. âI donât usually need anything but time. After I realized I could sap the magic in my world down to nothing if I overdid it, I just didnât anymore.â
Their magic at home had a personality. At the time heâd learned its limits, it had been a forest that pleaded for him to not be a thief. It hadnât taken any more than that. Ronan turned his back to the rooftop edge and jammed his hands in his pockets. He wasnât going to talk about the nightwash. That was a different problem and none of anyoneâs business. âAnyway, yeah. I canât give up. So. You know. Donât rat me out to anyone okay? I get that thereâs a lot of magic here, but. Still.â
Eddie exhaled heavily, relieved to hear it wouldn't take some magic elixir or complicated, months-long journey to some sacred place to make sure Ronan recovered. Not that he knew much about that kind of stuff, either. He'd just spent a long time around his nerdy friends. "Okay," he answered simply, accepting Ronan's answer easily. It was probably best to bypass the part about magic. He was just happy it sounded like a fairly simple solution.
He did, however, frown a little when Ronan insisted he not tell anyone. "I swear. Your secret's safe with me." And if the others pressed him about the new glasses, which he anticipated, Eddie was resolved to simply tell them the truth: he didn't understand how Ronan made them, and he'd been asked not to advertise the fact that he could. He was obscuring his own secret on top of all this, so he preferred not to add on more if he could help it.
"So, uh." He cleared his throat. "Glasses? Please."
Ronan nodded, once, sharp and grateful somehow at the same time. He really wasnât used to this telling people business.
âOh. Right.â Snapping into movement, he pulled the glasses case out of his pocket and handed it over. âShould be unbreakable.â He hadnât exactly dreamt a lot of glasses. Just one pair of sunglasses for someone he ended up watching die later. âBut if not, let me know.â
Weirdly more nervous now than heâd been at the start, Ronan tucked the tupperware under his arm and dropped his chin to barrel towards the door back into the building. âLater, fannypack.â
"Woah," Eddie said softly, surprised despite himself when Ronan handed the glasses over. They were real. Like, really real. It was the indestructible part that made him smile, though. "I will. Thanks again for this. And I hope you like theâ" Eddie glanced up, only to realize Ronan was already walking away. "... cookies," he finished after a beat, still feeling strangely pleased despite his companion's abrupt departure. Grinning, Eddie tucked the glasses away very carefully and bounced a little on his heels, just a small burst of excited energy, before following Ronan's path back into the building. Things were actually looking up for once.