The group was in the car on the way to reefer Rick's to see Eddie. Tk could not have been more excited, he's heard nothing but good things about Eddie all year, and of course, they were all from Dustin. and he was a little concerned when Dustin told him Eddie repeated a couple of years but, nonetheless he wanted to see for himself if the man lived up to the hype.

"not to be a wimp, but can I maybe sit in the car for this visit? cause this is totally and royally suck" robin asked from the front seat.

"it'll be fine," Nancy reassured the girl.

Robin sighed. "I just can't stand to see those dull eyes of Eddie's break again. I really, really can't "

"At least he can drink himself into feeling better" Steve spoke, his mouth full of the food that was supposed to be for Eddie.

"That's what my mom does," Max adds.

"Drinking doesn't help solve problems, trust me. I know" Tk said from his spot in between Lucas and max.

"Why don't we give it a trial run? Hey, Eddie. uh, good news first this time. we got you some Dustin-approved junk food and that six-pack you requested. oh yeah, and we found vecna. only the bad news is that he's in that other, darker, much scarier dimension, that we told you about. and the gates closed, so we have no way of getting to him. He's entirely shut off to us, so basically you're screwed. and, no, I know you were already screwed, but now you're like doubly, triply screwed. Oh and this is our friend Tk he used to live here but he moved '' robin rambled.

"wait. wait. wait, maybe we don't put it like that" Lucas advised.

"We're one step closer to finding vecna. That's what we say. That's what's important" Nancy tells them.

"See, Robin? Positive spin can make all the difference" Steve said. Robin simply just rolled her eyes.

"Oh, shit" Nancy swears as they get closer to the lake. There are cops and news reporters everywhere. They get out of the car and Nancy takes them to the side of a news van to get a closer look.

officer Powell was telling the news that a kid had died last night at the lover's lake. Tk and Lucas both gave each other sad looks when he said that Patrick was the one who died. Tk liked Patrick, he was one of Lucas's new friends that he actually liked.

Officer Powell went into a little detail on how Patrick died and who their first suspect was, he held up a picture of Eddie Munson.

"This is not good. really not good, ''Steve muttered. They continued to listen to the rest of his speech when a voice interrupted them.

"Dustin, can you hear me? wheeler?"

Dustin grabbed his supper com and started to walk away from the scene. "Eddie. holy shit. Are you okay?"

"Nah, man. pretty... pretty goddam far from okay" Eddie replied.

"Where is he?" Robin asks Dustin so he can ask Eddie.

"Where are you?" Dustin questions.

"Skull rock. Do you know it?"

"Yeah, that's near Cornwallis and"

"Garett, yeah. I know where that is" Steve said, cutting off Dustin. They all run back to the car, hoping to get there before anyone finds him.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

They were at the beginning of the forest, they had to leave the car there since they couldn't get through the forest with it. Tk was starting to walk with Max into the forest when Dustin said something that made Tk stop dead in his tracks.

"Hey, Tk, I meant to ask you earlier. but how did it go with your dad?" Tk tried to signal for him to stop talking, but by the time he got the message, it was too late.

Usually, he would have answered the question with no problem, but there was a problem, Lucas was standing right next to him. and he most certainly heard it. Tk may or may not have let it slip that his dad came around in his letters to Dustin.

Normally it wouldn't be a problem but he only told Dustin about it and not Lucas. He wanted to tell him but he was so excited about his game and Tk didn't want to ruin it for him, so he didn't say anything and honestly, wasn't planning to.

Lucas turned and faced Tk with a strange look on his face. "dad? your dad came to see you?"

"I... don't know what he's talking about '' Tk sneered with a clenched jaw. Dustin took this as a sign he should leave.

"Thomas," Lucas warned. Tk just looked around not making eye contact with him hoping that someone would save him, luckily someone did.

"Are you boys coming or not?" Max called out.

"yes!" Tk blurted out before running after her. Lucas right behind them. Soon it ended up just being the two boys walking side by side because Max was ahead of them with Robin and nancy.

"Tk" Lucas waited for a response but got nothing in return, Tk was hoping he would drop it if he ignored him. "Tk, I'm not mad"

Tk turned his head towards him. "you're not?"

"no, of course not. but I would like to know how Dustin knows"

"I didn't mean to tell him, I swear. it just kinda slipped out. I mean I wanted to tell you, truly I did. but you were so excited about your game and being on the team. I didn't want to burden you with my problems and ruin the game for you so I just kept it to myself" Tk rambled.

Lucas grabbed Tk's hand and turned so they were now facing each other. "You are not a burden. Cosmo, you're my boyfriend, your problems are my problems, and vice versa. So if something is bothering you, you can tell me, okay?"

"Okay," Tk repeated.

"What did your dad want?" Lucas asked as they started walking again, hands still linked with one another.

Tk sighed. "he went on this whole bullshit tangent about how he was sorry and he wanted me to come and live with him. and then we could be a "real family". it's all a bunch of bullshit"

"Are you okay?"

"It's just frustrating, you know? how could he come back after all these years, he didn't even come back because he wanted to, he came back because he found out my uncle died. I was already stressed enough and he was just the icing on the cake"

Lucas was confused, Tk's letters to him had been nothing but happy, no signs of hurt anywhere. Was his boyfriend suffering in silence or was he just not looking hard enough? Tk noticed his confusion and continued talking.

"It's just... so hard to be okay all the time. I'm trying, I'm trying so hard to be okay. I don't know how they do it, El, Will, Mrs. Byers there. fine, everyone is fine but me. How can I be okay when he is such a big part of who I am? I miss him so much I don't know what to do with myself. It's not like I can talk to anyone about him, El doesn't understand, and Mrs. Byers doesn't like to talk about him since it brings up bad memories. and will didn't even really know him"

Tk could feel the tears welling up in his eyes. This was the first time he talked about how he feels to anyone in a while, the first time he's talked about his uncle to anyone, he was glad it was Lucas.

"There are so many things I wish I told him. I wish I told him I loved him more often. I wish I told him about us being together. I wish I told him that he was a better father than Daniel ever was, but now he's gone and I will regret not telling him for the rest of my life. if I could go back in time and change one thing, id go back to that night at the mall, because I would have rather died in that mall with him because it is so hard to live without him"

tears were now falling freely down his cheeks but Tk didn't care, he couldn't remember the last time he let himself feel like this, like a kid who just lost somebody important. He didn't allow himself to grieve his uncle's death because he had to be strong for his remaining family.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there," Lucas said as he wiped the tears from his lover's cheeks.

Tk shook his head. "It's not your fault. I should've told you"

"no, the signs were there. I just didn't look hard enough. but it's going to be different now, no more secrets''

"no more secrets" Tk gave him a soft smile as they continued to walk. Both of them felt a lot better now that there were no more secrets between them.

Tk and Lucas were the last pair to make it to skull rock, seeing as they were behind everyone. When he got there he saw Nancy handing the bag of snacks to a guy, he assumed it was Eddie.

Eddie was saying something about the snacks, but Tk wasn't listening instead he took this time to look him over Eddie had long wavy brown hair, and it kinda reminded him of mike's new haircut which was quite long like he was trying to grow out a mullet. he was covered in dirt but it wasn't too noticeable, overall Tk thought he looked like a rockstar in a way.

Eddie snapped his fingers to get Dustin's attention. "uh, Henderson? Who's the cowboy?"

Dustin was going to reply but before he could Tk jumped in to do it himself. "I'm Tk! you must be Eddie, I've heard a lot about you"

"you're Tk, Lucas talks about you all the time," Eddie told him, which made him smile. After their introduction, Eddie started filling them in on what happened the night before.

"When I got to shore, I tried calling you guys, but, uh..." Eddie stopped to take a sip out of his canteen before continuing. "my walkie was busted, man. drenched. so, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently. I ran"

"Do you know what time this was? the attack?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah, no, I... I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked '' Eddie took off his watch and threw it to nancy.

"nine twenty-seven" she mumbled.

"same time our flashlights went kablooey," Robin added.

"which means what, exactly?'' Steve questioned.

"that that surge of energy was vecna attacking Patrick '' nancy told him. Tk tuned out the rest of the conversation, focusing on Dustin who had been pacing behind them.

"boom!" Dustin exclaims, his voice echoing throughout the forest. "bada... bada... boom. I Was right. skull rock was north"

Steve gave him a look. "seriously? you're serious?"

"Mm-hmm"

"This is skull rock. okay?"

"Mm-hmm"

"you're totally, absolutely, one hundred percent wrong. right now"

"yes. and no"

"oh my god," Steve said, throwing his hands in the air.

"This compass worked correctly when we left the wheelers. it was correct when we got in the car on curly. but it started to slip the further east we went. Now it's way off. When I was leading us here, I wasn't wrong. the compass was' 'Dustin explained.

"So you're using faulty equipment. dude, you're still wrong" steve argued.

"except it isn't faulty.'' Dustin turned to Lucas and Tk who were leaning up against a tree. "Lucas, Tk, do you remember what can affect a compass?"

"an electric magnetic field," they said in unison.

"I'm sorry, I must've skipped that class" robin jokes.

"in the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power. so either there's some super big magnet around here, or '' Dustin trailed off.

"There's a gate" Lucas finished for Dustin.

"but we're nowhere near the lab, '' Nancy pointed out.

"But what if, somehow, there's another gate? a gate that we don't know about? it'd have to be smaller. way less powerful" Tk chimed in.

"snack size gate" robin added.

"how? why?" Steve questioned.

"no idea. all I know is that something is causing this disturbance, and the last time we've seen anything like it, it was a gate. and I hope it is because then we'd have a way to vecna. and a shot at freeing max and Tk from this curse.'' Dustin explained.

"where are you going? hey, hey, hey, hey, hey'' Steve called out as Dustin started to walk away, luckily it did catch his attention and made him stop. "eddies still a wanted man. we can't just go for a hike in the woods''

Dustin held up his compass. "This little steel capsule might be the key to saving Max, Tk, and Eddie. What say you, Eddie the banished?"

they all turn their heads in Eddie's direction waiting for his response. "I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if I'm being totally straight with you, I think is a really bad idea. but, uh, the shire... the shire is burning" Dustin starts jumping in place as
Eddie stands up.

"So Mordor it is," Eddie says before walking away. Everyone is quick to follow behind them. As far as first impressions go he thought Eddie was pretty cool, a total nerd but still cool.

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

They were following Dustin, who had the compass through the forest. They ended up at lovers lake, Tk would have fallen into the lake if it wasn't for Eddie pulling him back, to which he mumbled out a small thank you.

"You've got to be shitting me" Steve gasped as he stood with the others.

"Yeah, I thought these woods looked familiar," Eddie said.

"This is confusing," Dustin added.

"There's a gate in lovers lake?" max questioned.

"I think there's a gate under lovers lake" Tk corrected.

"Whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening. maybe vecna's the same way" Nancy told them.

"Yeah, only one way to find out," Steve says.

The group finds a boat on the shore, and Eddie takes the tarp off. Steve holds the boat steady as Eddie gets on then Robin then nancy.

Max, Lucas, and Tk watch as Dustin argues with the older kids. reluctantly he agrees to stay, Steve throws a bag at him. They watch as the older teens slowly get further and further.

Tk is standing in between Dustin and Lucas, Lucas is using binoculars to see what they were doing since they were too far to see with their eyes alone. Dustin had his walkie out waiting for them to call and say they found the gate.

"they're stopping. what are they stopping for?" Lucas asks.

"Guys, what's going on? come on guys, talk to me ''Dustin says into his walkie.

Soon Robin's voice could be heard. "uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital "aah!"

"ugh! When did Steve get so hairy?" Lucas cringed.

"right? I keep telling him he needs to tame that jungle, but he claims the ladies dig it '' Dustin said.

"oh! I wanna see!" Tk beamed as he took the binoculars from Lucas, not noticing the crazed looks he got from the boys next to him. "eh, it's okay. He looks good, don't get me wrong but I prefer my men with no chest hair. it reminds me of my uncle"

"Let me see," Max says, holding her hand out for them. It was only when Tk gave them to her that he noticed the look Lucas was giving him.

"I'm sure yours are good too" Tk gestures towards his stomach. "especially since you play basketball now"

Lucas's face didn't change, still unamused with what his boyfriend had said. Tk moved so he was standing behind him and wrapped his arms around Lucas's waist.

"Come on, babe, I didn't mean it like that. Steve Harrington could never compare to the love I have for you" Tk whispered in his ear.

"Really?"

"doesn't even make it on the roster"

"good" Tk kissed Lucas on the side of his head before turning his attention back to the older teens on the water.

"You guys realize, if there's a gate down there, it's technically a watergate, '' Dustin spoke up. In return, he got weird looks. "watergate"

Tk heard some noise behind him and was met with a bunch of flashlights coming their way. "get down!" they all dropped to the floor at the sound of the police most likely. Robin's voice started to come through the walkie, and Dustin was quick to turn it off.

Max scoffed. "cops"

"We can't let them find Eddie," Tk told the others in a hushed voice.

"Stay with me," Max said as she got up. "Hey, officers! over here! I found the killer! this way!" The boys were quick to follow her along with the officers.

"stop! get back here, you little rats!" one of the officers shouted at them, But Tk's main focus was to get them as far away from lovers lake as possible.

but then Dustin tripped and fell. Lucas, Max, and Tk stopped to help him up off the ground but before they could Dustin was picked up by officer Powell.

that's when Tk knew they were in deep shit.