siriusmuggle - Tumblr blog

siriusmuggle · 1 year

Text

My newest obsession! Really should be working on my Tony Stark fics in my spare time but this just sucks me right in!

Don't Stand So Close To Me — Chapter 2

Eddie x Teacher!Reader

Chapter 2/? 3.1k. Series Masterlist

Summary: Forced to move back home to Hawkins after your fiancé cheats on you, you begin to fall in love again with an audacious 20 year old metalhead, only there’s one problem — he’s still in high school and you’re his English teacher.

Tags/general cw: forbidden romance, slow burn, perv!eddie, eventual smut (18+ mdni), true love, student-teacher relationship, 10 year age gap, mutual pining, sexual tension, emotions, drama, angst, character development, happy ending :)

Chapter warnings: sibling death mention (reader’s), drunk driving accident mention, pregnancy mention (not reader’s)

These things are mentioned very briefly but are important for backstory purposes!

Monday, September 30th 1985

“—listening to 93.5 FM WMXQ, MAXimum classic rock. Don’t touch that dial, we’ll be back with a non-stop POWER HOUR of all the h—“

You smacked the radio alarm clock in the darkness, hitting the off button rather than snooze this time.

5:10 AM.

Your bed was so warm, blankets heavy like a hug. You could hear rain softly pitter pattering against the window. You rolled over onto your stomach and stretched, warm limbs cooling as they sprawled out across the expanse of your queen size bed. Perhaps there were some benefits to sleeping alone.

After another five minutes of peace you sighed and sat up reluctantly. The room was pitch black save for the faint glow of a street lamp outside your window. So much for bright and early, there was nothing bright about it. Your feet searched for your slippers on the floor and slid them on once they made contact.

You shuffled to the bathroom to pee and brush your teeth in the soft glow of the night light by the bathroom sink. By the time you made it to the kitchen your eyes had adjusted, barely enough, to make the overhead light bearable when you turned it on. It still made your eyes burn.

There was a sudden pang of missing again. Missing the soft light above the kitchen sink in your old house in Indianapolis. There was just something so sterile about the lighting in this apartment, about the white walls and linoleum kitchen floor. Sometimes you even missed him too, but you wouldn’t let yourself linger too much on that.

You turned on the radio in your kitchen to combat the oppressive silence.

Begin the day with a friendly voice

A companion unobtrusive

Plays that song that’s so elusive

And the magic music makes your morning mood

You opened the fridge and rolled your eyes at the song that seemed to mock you.

Breakfast was simple, as it was every morning. Two eggs over easy and two pieces of toast to mop the yolks with — and coffee of course.

After eating you sifted through the pile of mail that had accumulated on your kitchen table as you sipped your second cup, throwing out obvious junk into the trashcan beside you.

Your hands paused over the small card with a hand written address on it. You slowly tore open the envelope with your finger along the top edge and pulled out the contents.

Robert and Tricia

Save the Date

Saturday, July 20th 1986

You sighed and ran your fingers over raised lettering on the pearl pink card before dropping it into the trash with the rest. There was a pang of guilt as you did it, but you weren’t going, that was certain. You didn’t want to risk running into him at the wedding. Besides, they were more his friends than yours anyway.

After breakfast you rummaged through your closet to pick out something to wear. Something nice, something smart. Something that would make you feel put together, or at least look like it anyway.

It wasn’t until you were carefully applying your mascara that the phone rang in your kitchen, causing you to almost put an eye out when you jumped. You cursed and attempted to wipe the smear of black off your eyelid but the phone just kept ringing and it was apparently going to take more than just licking your finger to get the smudge off.

You stomped into the kitchen and snatched the phone off the receiver. “Hello?” you barked.

“Hello dear, it’s Mom.”

“Mom it’s,” you glanced at the clock on the stove, “6:37 AM.”

“I know dear, but see I knew you’d be home. Anyway, as you know, Mrs. Hutchins will be joining us for supper on Wednesday and I had the thought, you know maybe she could bring Andrew along.”

“Oh no, mom I haven’t seen Andrew since I was like twelve.”

“Well you’ll have quite a bit to catch up on then! Besides, I’ve already invited him.”

“Mom!”

“Come on sweetie, let’s not be rude. You know he just got a job at Ignition One, that new computer company downtown?”

“Fascinating,” you said flatly.

“You know computers are really going to be the future. He’s smart to get in early. There’s going to be a lot of money in that business, I just know it.”

You coiled the cord around your finger as you rolled your eyes. “Well that’s great for him.”

“Yes, well, he can tell you more about it than I can on Wednesday.”

“Mom, please, I tutor a student after school on Wednesdays anyway, I’ll be late.”

“Well I’ll give her a ring and move it to 6:30 then. That’ll give you plenty of time.”

“Mom, please —“

“Honey, you’ll be 30 in a few short weeks. Now I know that’s still considered young nowadays but don’t you think you ought to try meeting someone here in Hawkins? You know, someone from a nice family? What’s the worst that could happen?”

You dug your thumbnail into the gummy cord. “Yep. Sure. Fine. Mom, I’ve gotta go, I’m going to be late.”

“Alright well you have a good day sweetie, I’ll see you on Wednesday — 6:30. Love you.”

“Love you too, bye.”

You set the phone firmly on the receiver and dragged your hands down your face in a silent scream.

______

“Happy Monday!” chimed Ms. Click as she fixed herself a cup of coffee in the teacher’s lounge.

You sighed, offering her what little you could muster of a smile. “Happy Monday.”

It was then that Diane Kelley shuffled over to you, black curls bouncing as she grabbed a mug from the stack. There was a little smirk playing on her lips, her dark eyes looking at you from the side like she had a secret she was dying to tell.

This time you couldn’t help but smile back. Her kind eyes had a way of disarming even the grumpiest of teenagers, which truthfully you felt like this morning. You could see why she went into counseling.

“I caved and called Darren yesterday.”

“Who?”

“You know, the guy who gave me his number the other night. At Mojo’s?”

“Oh yeah, him.” Truthfully he was forgettable even with the memory jog.

“Anyway we talked for like an hour. He seems nice enough, I dunno, we’ll see where it goes. I’m not sold or anything. He’s got tickets to go see the Colts play in a few weeks, he invited me of course but I didn’t give him a yes or no yet.”

You raised your eyebrows. “Sports guy, huh?”

She shook her head. “I know, right? Am I crazy for calling him or what?”

“No, you’re not crazy. I mean hey, at least you’re open to it. More than I can say.” You grabbed the carton of creamer from the fridge and shut the door a little too hard.

Diane’s expression softened. “I know you’re still upset about what happened, I would be too. You can’t rush healing from something like that.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m over it. Happy for him.” you said flatly.

Diane sighed and folded her arms across her white sweater vest, her face was soft and full of concern.

“Sorry, I’m really on one this morning. My mom’s trying to set me up with a guy I went to middle school with. Called me at 6:30 in the goddamn morning to tell me about it.”

Diane visibly cringed, “Oh god that’s awful, you’re not going are you?”

You gave her a wide eyed look, “You don’t know my mom, do you?”

“Clearly not.”

“I’m just trying to keep the peace. I mean I love her and all but she can be such a bull. Got ten times worse after what happened to my brother.”

Diane gave a solemn nod. “Oh yeah. I’ll never forget it. I was a sophomore when that happened. Just awful. You weren’t even in high school yet were you?”

“No, not yet. Eighth grade. I suppose most people do stupid things when they’re 17. Can’t say I’ve ever driven drunk before though.”

“I can imagine why not after that.”

“Yeah. Anyway, my mom at least has one child left, so I try to be a good one.”

Diane offered a sympathetic smile, “I think you’re a great one,” she said, “Still, I think maybe having a little fun would do you some good, hm? Take you out of your head a little?”

You took a sip of your coffee and shrugged, “Maybe.”

______

The hallway was packed as you made your way to your classroom before the first bell. The noise of all the voices reflected off the lockers to form a sort of echo chamber. You could hear the lockers opening and slamming in a rhythmic cadence all around you. Suddenly you swore you heard your name rise above the clammer. You kept with the flow of traffic and glanced around to see where the voice was coming from.

Nancy Wheeler waved her hand at you and called your name again. You met her eyes and returned the wave, veering off to the side to meet her by the lockers and stay out of traffic.

“Hey Nancy, what’s up?”

“Hey, I’m so sorry but I just wanted to let you know that I left my homework on the kitchen counter this morning. I can run home and get it during lunch but I won’t have it for your class,” she said with a little grimace.

“Oh don’t worry about it, you don’t have to run home, you can just turn it in tomorrow. I know you’re good for it,” you said with a wink.

It was then that you felt a hand on your lower back.

“S’cuse me, miss,” Eddie said softly, squeezing past you to get to the locker that you were standing in front of.

You whipped your head around to face him. His warm hand lingered for a moment. He was so close to you. His hair was slightly damp. You could smell the faint shampoo still lingering on his curls, the leather from his jacket, the ghost of his last cigarette.

“Thank you so much, I’ll see you in class!” said Nancy, breaking your trance.

“Sure, no problem,” you said, feeling the heat rush to your face. Suddenly the hallway felt smaller than usual.

“Sorry, just trying to beat the bell,” Eddie said with a little chuckle as his nimble fingers turned the dial.

“Oh, it’s ok. I’m totally in your way.”

“You’re never in my way,” Eddie said sincerely, opening his locker. You had never noticed before how tall he was. How his denim vest exaggerated the broadness of his shoulders.

“Well, I don’t normally hang out here,” you said with a little chuckle. You clutched your leather grading binder to your chest.

“Well maybe you should, it’s where all the cool kids hang out.” he said, raising his eyebrows sarcastically.

“Oh yeah? Well I’m cool enough to have a desk here now.”

Eddie smirked, “No offense but I hope I never get that cool.”

You laughed. “Honestly, I never thought I’d be that cool at this school, but I guess life is full of surprises.”

Eddie’s expression changed. His mouth parted like he wanted to ask you something but the bell rang.

“Gotta jet, see you in class,” you said, turning heel to take off down the hallway.

Eddie waved his hand, dark eyes crinkling as he smiled at you.

You were grateful for the rush of air hitting your hot face as your feet clicked hastily down the hall. You clutched your binder like a lifeline. Why the hell were you so nervous all of a sudden?

“Sorry I’m late, everyone,” you said, setting your things down at your desk in haste. For once you were thankful for all the noise in your classroom. You took a deep breath as you gathered your notes, trying to refocus.

You would try all day.

During first period it was the feeling of Eddie’s warm hand on your back, his closeness to you that kept creeping forward in your mind. During second it was his ringed fingers turning the dial on the locker inches in front of your face. During third it was the curve of his lips when he said “You’re never in my way.”

During fourth period it took all of your strength not to look at him, though you could feel his eyes on you for the full duration of class.

At least he turned in his homework this time.

When the lunch bell rang you hung back in your classroom for a few minutes to collect yourself. Certainly if anyone had put their hand on your back like that you’d still be thinking about it? Cringing at it, more likely. Typically you hated it when guys did that, touch you without asking.

But when Eddie did it you didn’t seem to mind, and that was just it. It was the fondness of your thoughts that frightened you.

You couldn’t believe it. You had to be better than this.

It was not lost on you that today was a Monday.

______

Eddie Munson sat across from you. He was rolling a pen between the forefinger and thumb of his right hand. On his left hand you could see the faded ink from what appeared to be a hastily scribbled note to himself, or a drawing of some sort, it was unclear. What was very clear were the tendons in his hands, how they would flex and move under the skin as his restless fingers made contact with whatever was in front of him.

There were chains sewn by hand onto the sleeve of his jacket in what looked like an effort to fix the zipper that no longer worked. They rattled as he gesticulated.

“I mean he’s very opinionated, mostly negative opinions though, except when it comes to his family. He’s also really obsessed with ducks for some reason. I haven’t figured out the uh, symbolism yet I guess, but I have a feeling it’s important, or it will be anyway.”

You nodded attentively, trying to stay focused on his words and not the plushness of the lips they came from.

“Hmm, it seems like you’re starting to understand the book now that you’ve started actually reading it, funny how that works,” you said with a little smirk. “What else have you got going on this week?”

There was a glint in his eyes. “I’ve got a dungeon crawl planned out, first of the season. The boys aren’t gonna know what hit ‘em. See, it’s not your typical dungeon with a bunch of giant spiders and shit. It’s like, this ancient dryad grove with a bunch of earth elementals and at the end there’s a chimaera that you have to fight. It’s gonna go on for weeks, I won’t go easy on them.”

You chuckled, your eyes crinkling to match the deep brown ones across from you that glimmered with youthful energy.

“I meant in school,” you said, though the truth was you could have listened to him talk about it for hours.

“Oh, uh… I’ve got a history test on Friday.”

“Ok, let me see your notes. I’ve got a great study tactic that I think will be really helpful to you.”

By the look on his face it would seem that Eddie was almost reluctant to pull the beat up spiral notebook from his backpack and slide it across the desk to you.

You thumbed through the pages. “Eddie, I don’t know how you’re supposed to study with this, you’ve hardly written anything down.”

“Man I really tried last week but it’s just so hard to pay attention. Ms. O’Donnell’s got this voice drones on and on. Puts me right to sleep, you know?”

You snorted a little. “Yeah, I know. She was my teacher years ago too.”

Eddie raised his eyebrows. “Really? Man, it’s hell here. I mean maybe it was different for you but I can’t imagine ever wanting to come back and like, work here.”

You offered a weak little laugh. “Yeah, I didn’t really want to either but here we are.”

Eddie narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean you didn’t want to? Somebody forcing you to be here?” he said, glancing around suspiciously.

“No, I mean —“ You paused, wondering if you should even get into it. “I used to teach in Indianapolis but I had to move home over the summer.”

“Had to? Why? What happened?” Concern furrowed his strong brows.

“I — personal reasons. Sorry, it’s probably… unprofessional for me to talk about my personal life.”

Eddie gave you a deadpan look. “Come on, do I seriously look like the kind of person who’s here to judge you for how ‘professional’ you are?”

Your higher, logical brain wanted to resist — to stand your ground and draw your line but his eyes were just so sincere, so soft and captivating and your emotional brain wanted to tell him. Everything. About how mad you were, about how stupid and unbelievable the whole situation was. About how naive you felt, how lost you were. About how much it sucked and how much you hated being stuck here, back at square one.

You fidgeted with the pen in your hand. “I —“ you took a deep breath to steady your voice, “My fiancé um… well ex-fiancé…” Was there even a tactful way to say it? “He… knocked some other girl up. I just couldn’t live there anymore.”

Eddie balked. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously.”

You could almost feel the heat of the anger radiating from him. “He’s a fucking idiot.”

There was something about his rage that was so… validating. Something about it that thrilled you to see, perhaps even more than you wanted to admit to yourself. “Yeah, that’s an understatement.”

“Yeah,” Eddie said with a dry laugh, “He doesn’t deserve you anyway.”

Your voice caught in your throat and you tried to swallow the lump away. It was the way he said it, his words so thickly coated in a reverent awe that there was no mistaking what he meant when he said it.

His gaze was so direct, so earnest and piercing that you had to avert your eyes for a moment while you collected yourself.

“Thank— thank you, um,” you tucked your hair behind your ear, “It’s been an adjustment, to say the least.”

His hand twitched on the desk like he wanted to do something with it but he didn’t. He shook his head sadly. “I’m so sorry.”

“Thanks,” you said, finding the courage to meet his eyes again.

“I mean, I know you’d rather not be here but… I’m glad that you are. For my sake at least.”

You smiled, full and genuine. “I could say the same about you.”

______

A/N: Ok y’all next chapter is Eddie’s pov and it’s gonna be very juicy so sit tight.

I have one request — If you ask/asked to be put on the tag list, I ask in return that you reblog AND tell me what you like about this fic/chapter, even just something short and sweet! Please engage with me, it’s all I get in return for writing a story that you love for free 💜

Taglist: @mermaidsandcats29 @toxicjayhoo @ooo-protean-ooo @jadequeen88 @inknopewetrust @msgexymunson @bebe0701 @latenighttalkingwithgrapejuice @bibieddiesgf @idkidknemore @alizztor @godcreatoreli @shotgunhallelujah @ethereal27cereal @willgrahamspsycheval @munsonsgirl71 @strangerthings1983fan @eddiemunsonsbitch @tlclick73 @emxxblog @siriusmuggle @sidthedollface2 @dollalicia @lma1986 @catherinnn @slay-and-gay @maximizedrhythms @eddiemunson4life420 @readsalot73 @delightfulpeanutpiebiscuit @ruby-dragon @miahellagreat @hayleylatour

804 notes · View notes