Chapter Text
After a few drinks, something pushed you to dig down your closet for a box you've long buried. You always knew how to control your drinking, but it wasn't that you wanted to get drunk, you just wanted an excuse to recall the past. You take out a box and dust it off as you position to sit on your bed, resting the box on your lap. You removed the lid, and there inside, kept safe, the remembrance you kept from your time working in the lab, your ID card, broken watch, some pens you used. All kept there when you decided to leave it behind, close the wound. You pause, hovering between not wanting to disturb what should have been forgotten and being scared to reminisce about a past that still stings like it's fresh.
But some influence of liquid courage, you're no longer frightened of revisiting memories. Even hoping he’d suddenly come knocking on your door like you had wished for those years when you thought you could never let go of what you had. At one point you almost went mad looking for answers, drowning in alcohol like it’ll mute your hearts pounding longing for his touch.
There a smaller box rested, untouched for years. Inside is everything you had together. Puzzles, crosswords, and rubik’s cubes some solved, some left unsolved. How those moments were, when you felt like he was everything you'll ever need and now when all you have of him are memories and questions.
You rummage even more and you get to the letters, paper flowers, paper stars, drawings, and so on. You feel tears already streaming down your face.
You were his as he was yours. Even if no one knew. Even if you never spoke a word of it to anyone. It was just you and him in the confines of walls and locked doors when nobody was looking before stepping out to the bright lights and a reminder of how forbidden it was for your love to even exist.
Just as how everything is all in the past now and in reality you are simply in your room reminiscing about everything as you’re left with nothing, not even a mere note or clue before he vanished. You had thought that maybe he might use his powers to tell you where he is, to find you. But what you hope never came all these years.
At one point, you had thought he was dead. That perhaps, that was the reason you've never heard of him. Still, a part of you, the part that loved him dear could never bear the thought.
Rummaging further you find paper rings. Your mind, clouded by alcohol, defenses down, never stood a chance against the force bringing you to the past.
In an empty room in the Hawkins Lab, lights were dim as you sat on the floor beside him. Taking your hand in his, he slides in your left ring finger a paper ring he made from the paper found in the Rainbow Room.
“Once we get out of here… Marry me, y/n l/n.” Henry whispers, eyes focused on both your hands before meeting your eyes.
You chuckle softly before nodding, “I’ll marry you, Henry Creel…” you whisper his name like it is sacred. For you it was. He trusted you enough to tell you his story and identity.
Gently, the corners of his lips twitch upwards before connecting with your own.
You chuckle lightly before returning his kisses, brushing your noses against each other. Cupping his face with your hands whilst his arms snake around your waist. Followed by muted giggles and hushed whispers, not wanting to be heard.
Your hands rests on both sides of his neck, thumbs tracing his jaw when you feel the Soteria. You had once sneaked injections to slightly immobilize the effects it had on his body.
“Don’t worry about it, alright?” he swipes his knuckles against the blooming roses on your cheeks. His tone was not dismissive, no, never with you.
“I’ll get us out of here.” you proclaim, full of determination.
He smiles tenderly, too tenderly, almost teasingly.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Don’t ‘nothing’ me, Henry.”
“You get even more beautiful each day.” out of topic, almost like in a trance.
Then he traces your face with his thumb, so compassionate and gentle as if frightened he might shatter you if he applied too much pressure; but just enough for him to feel every curve, dent, bump, and detail— committing it all to memory.
You never really understood it back then like you do now. If you had, you think of maybe kissing him longer, embracing him tighter, maybe just never letting him go at all. You would’ve given up everything down for a slight chance of him staying, never vanishing, just with your side and one day escape the lab, get married and live the rest of your lives together.
You couldn't take it, you run away from the memory, it vanishes like a cloud and you end up in a dark room. You recognize it as the undercroft of the lab, where water and various materials are sourced from. The place is dark and cold, your pupils expand trying to gauge an image while you walk.
Your footsteps thud and then a louder thud as you bump into a strong figure you didn’t notice there at first.
You gasp, almost losing your balance before he pulls you steady against him. A gesture you’re way too familiar with. Henry’s touch.
You look up and meet his Cerulean eyes confirming that it's him. You snap out of it, realizing this isn’t part of your memory.
“What—” you panic for a moment before he shushes you.
“Shh… It’s me, it’s Henry…” he whispers, cupping your face before brushing your nose against his.
In that moment, you felt everything shatter, all your constraints and rational thinking gone as you crashed your lips together. Tears slowly run down your face. It’s him, it's actually him. Henry Creel, the man you have spent the last three years trying to forget.
He pulls away, chuckling softly.
“Finally…” he traces your face with his thumb, just like he did the night he vanished.
“Don’t go—” you were ready to beg.
“No. I'm not going anywhere now.”
Everything that took place then felt like a blur. Perhaps it’s the alcohol, fatigue, shock, or emotions. You end up in the house he told you about. Where he used to live before he was taken into the lab.
Carrying you in his arms, he leads you up stairs, to what used to be his bedroom. He gently settles you onto the bed.
“You need to rest. You drank quite a lot…” he fixes the blanket up your chest before sitting on the edge of the bed, “I’ll tell you everything when you wake up.” he runs his fingers on your hair, before kissing your forehead.
You grumble underneath your breath as he leaves the room, the door creaking shut as he does.
You don't know how much time passed but you woke up to the bright sunlight seeping through the curtains. There was just a mild banging in your head, not as bad as when he was carrying you home.
You rustle the sheets and get out of bed. Going downstairs to find Henry in the kitchen preparing some waffles. He was busy until he noticed you on the landing of the staircase, slightly leaning on the handrail.
“Honey…” his voice is buttersoft as he takes wide strides to you before scooping you up in his arms, seeing you frail. “You shouldn’t be out of bed—” he pauses, hesitating, “as if my words ever stopped you. Let me just carry you around then. Please?”
You nod.
He carries you in his arms effortlessly as you rest your head against his chest, it had been so long, too long since you had heard the beats of his heart. You grip on his vest, curling the fabric as you do.
He hums, as if to ask you if something is wrong.
“Nothing…”
He nods is acknowledgement.
He gently settles you on a chair at the dining hall. Using his powers, he arranges the waffles he made on the table. You eat breakfast together and there, he tells you everything. The actual reason why he left, why you couldn’t find him, and where you are now, as well as what he did to the other subjects.
His face showed the slightest tinge of remorse, but you knew, better than himself, something he had already forgotten. The cave. A story he had once told you whilst under the influence of medicine in one of the experiments during the early days in the lab.
You know that those actions are not purely his, you see through his facade. The exterior he puts up, tough, evil. But inside, from experience you know how gentle he is. Even so, let him be gentle, let him be evil— you love him, your Henry.
You take his hand in yours, the best way to calm him down as you notice beads of sweat forming on his temples.
“I'm here now and it’s just you and me, here in your mind. I’m not letting you go ever again.”.