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abibliophobiaa · 9 months

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Chapter Two: Miscommunication

summary: times goes on, and so do you. but what happens when you bump into the one person you thought you would never see again? (6k words)

eddie munson x pregnant!reader || strangers to friends to lovers, unplanned pregnancy, and then they were roommates, forced proximity.

warnings: sickness (r morning sickness); mention of drugs; mention of child abuse.

mini series masterlist

previous chapter || next chapter

——

Life didn’t magically stop merely because Eddie had ended up being completely different than who you thought he was. Still, nothing quite eased the ache of knowing you’d foolishly trusted another person who’d only gone and let you down. And even so, you quarreled daily with the fact Eddie didn’t really owe you or this baby anything. He’d done as you’d asked; he’d provided an outlet that afternoon, had loved you in the dark — for a little while. You often fought the urge to blame yourself for believing the front he’d put on. The whole ‘I don’t do this often.’

Because apparently he had, based on the fact he’d needed you to remind him more than once who you were. It wasn’t like it was often one found a woman dressed in a Princess Buttercup costume, and then proceeded to go back to a hotel with said woman.

You could do this on your own. Had convinced yourself of as much when you’d started looking for places to move. The only thing was…the city proved to be expensive. It had been one thing having joint salaries when you’d lived with Paul to help cover the cost of rent. Now you had another eventual mouth to feed, a baby to clothe in a few months time, and other expenses to think about like diapers and car seats and furniture.

Two weeks after you’d told Eddie about the baby and he’d essentially shot you down, you’d gotten a phone call from Robin Buckley. You had spent years together in acting classes at your college in the city a few years ago. Became fast friends back in the day and still kept up with one another. It just so happened, when you’d caught her up on life, that she had a basement apartment at her friend Steve’s place that he and his wife, Chrissy, rented out to her. Side entrance, privacy, and apparently a pull out couch in the living area that you could crash on until you found an apartment of your own.

You hated the idea of putting her out like that, but she insisted. And soon enough you shared teary goodbyes in Micah’s living room, her arms around your form, as Jeremiah clapped you on the back. They both wished you well and promised to call, and you hopped in the car and watched as the city faded into nothingness behind you.

Cityscapes and towering buildings turned into endless trees and charming Mom and Pop shops. Busy intersections became citizens walking their dogs and running on side streets. It even smelled different, the air cleaner and crisper somehow, not bogged down by car fumes and smoke.

The Harrington home was beautiful. Large, imposing walls. Gorgeous interior filled to the brim with countless photos of Chrissy and Steve throughout the years. Married for the past two of them, and sickly in love judging by the way they answered the door together, Steve’s arm around his wife, with Chrissy bouncing a baby girl with sandy blonde hair on her hip as you’d entered.

The immediate thought of Eddie’s dark hair knocked the wind out of you — the realization your own child might have his hair. Dark ringlets, and chocolate brown eyes. You hated that you even cared. It had been one night, and even if it had changed nearly everything for you, it meant nothing to him. He’d made that part very clear.

That first evening spent in Hawkins was done so around their dinner table. Steve had put together some pasta and meatballs, and you all chatted about your lives. You, and your old job, of which Steve snapped his fingers together immediately and suggested you come work at the high school where they’d needed some help in the library.

Robin seemed so hopeful for you, eyes shining as he told you, “See — it’s all gonna work out, babe. I told you.”

The apartment itself wasn’t large or anything. An open space for the most part, with a connected living room and kitchen. Robin had the closed off bedroom, and there was a makeshift bathroom with a small shower stall inside, and not nearly spacious enough. But it would do for now, and was way more than you could have ever hoped for or expected.

Your first purchases had been some clear tote boxes to keep stored away under your pullout bed. One for your clothes, one for the clothes you thrifted for the baby, and one for the miscellaneous items here and there like toiletries, diapers, your shampoos and conditioners and make up. It wasn’t much, and you’d likely run out of room soon, but it worked for now.

Those first two weeks passed in a blur. As promised, Steve was able to get you in for an interview at the high school library. It paid well enough, came with health insurance, and time off for maternity leave — though you didn’t know how they knew you’d need it, but you’d like to thank them if you ever found out. As you exited, you happened upon Steve and Chrissy’s awaiting stares, her excited giggling bursting to life when you’d said you were hired and would start that following Monday.

Later, as you all shared yet another celebratory dinner — this time for your new job position — and your baby decided it definitely didn’t like meatloaf, you stumbled into Chrissy on your way out of the bathroom, the back of your hand pressed to your mouth. Her eyes were soft as she led you back over to sit on the edge of the shower and fumbled around in her cabinet for something wrapped in a tiny package.

“Apparently ginger helps with the nausea,” she explained as your eyes widened at the wrapped candy settled in your palm. Confusion lined your furrowed brows and she continued, “For the morning sickness.”

“Oh — I-I’m…”

“It’s okay, you know. I kind of figured it out right away. Steve says I have a sense for these things.” She settled down on the toilet beside you, her knee knocking against the outside of your jean-clad thigh. “Is the father not…”

“No.” It came out as a shaky exhale, heart thumping loudly in your ears. “He’s not around, no. It’s just us.”

“Then you’ll stay,” she urged, reaching across your lap to clasp her hand around yours. “For as long as you need, okay?”

Life settled into a new normalcy. You went to work every morning, waved to your new coworkers as you passed, and began learning the names of the dozens of kids that would filter in and out of the library. And during your lunch breaks, you’d often walk around the track with Steve, talking to him about your day, his day, the weather. Trivial things, but it brought you comfort. A sense of familiarity in the unfamiliar you found yourself in.

The holidays, though different this year, were spent with people who wanted the best for you. Chrissy and Steve had been kind enough to buy you a basket of things for the baby, and Robin had as well, trying to lighten the burden however they could.

It was right around that time you’d learned Steve not only had Melody as a daughter, but a gaggle of twenty-something’s that Robin joked he’d been something of a mother hen to. They welcomed you into the fold without question, excited to have a new friend in their close-knit group.

It was also during those initial weeks you’d spent hours talking to Micah and Jere about how you really thought this was the best decision for your life right now. That you needed this change. And they promised to come visit often when you had your own place, especially since Micah insisted she planned on ‘spoiling the hell out of her niece or nephew.’

Soon enough, unfamiliar streets became solidified in your memory. You learned the best coffee shops and the shortest routes to get places you needed to go. You realized the next door neighbor, Tabitha, always walked her dogs at two in the afternoon and waved as she passed every time. That Pete down the street had the freshest veggie garden every spring and summer, and he promised he’d give you his extras when the seasons got warmer. You even enjoyed your coworkers. Appreciated their presence and help as you acquainted yourself with the school setting, and looked out for you like you'd been there for years.

Hawkins became a home. You didn’t know how or when, but it had. And it was then you finally allowed yourself to pause in front of your bathroom mirror one evening. To stop and stare at the reflection there, turning to the side, curiously tracing the space presently unchanged. Tried to imagine your empty arms being full in a few months, tried to imagine their little face. Tiny hands and little toes, the only person who knew what your heart sounded like from the inside.

They’d be yours and they’d be happy, growing up in a place where they’d only know love, and that’s all you ever wanted.

——

As the weeks progressed and 1994 bled into 1995, you progressed. Eyes drifted in supermarkets, trailed over the girl with no husband in tow. A bunch of close-minded town folk. Mother’s seemed to eye you wearily as you walked, children tugged closer to their side. Whispered when your back was turned to friends, asking quietly if you were simply gaining weight only in your middle of if you had some sort of scandalous secret, reaching up to grab canned soup or Robin’s favorite snacks.

It happened to be the only thing you didn’t like about Hawkins. The fact your business quickly became everyone else’s business. It was bad enough that you worked with teenagers these days. Many of whom preferred coming into the library lately to merely talk to someone they saw as closer in age, and therefore their personal information dump. You gave little more than properly timed nods and gentle reassurances, before you wished them on their way back to whatever classes they seemed intent on skipping.

Luckily, as the holidays came and went, you had the fortune of your increasingly close knitted friend group that consisted of Steve, Chrissy, and Robin — as well as the youngest Harrington, Melody.

Melody with her bright laughter and wispy curls, who reminded you constantly of who you were doing this all for. Uprooting your life, making changes, doing what you wanted to for once. That same little presence that had made itself more prominently known those weeks, current jeans swapped for ones you thrifted at the local store that accommodated the small bump that had decided would no longer be confined to your old clothes. That same little presence your thumb brushed over as you stood in the cereal aisle with Robin and held aloft a box, asking if you needed anymore back at the apartment.

“I mean, we already have two boxes, babe,” she said, shrugging, “but if you’re craving it, buy it. I don’t wanna mess with those angry hormones or whatever you got going on right now.”

“I don’t get angry.” The petulant pout on your lips spoke otherwise.

“You cried when I drank the last of the coffee the other morning —”

“That’s different,” you grumbled, tossing the box into the shopping cart. “I think we got everything. Is there anything else that you can th —”

“Robin Buckley in the flesh. Get your ass over here right now, I missed you so fucking much.”

You stiffened on the spot, heart clenching tight within your chest. You couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think, couldn’t move, couldn’t utter a word. The voice had come from behind you, but the realization dawned instant. The timbre of it, the inflection of his words, the jovial nature and affection lacing the sentiment toward your friend.

And Robin understood. You watched as clarity drained her features, a sickly pale color overtaking her cheeks. As her mouth dropped open and she glanced over your shoulder to offer him a smile. You’d never told your friends much about the father. Hadn't even so much as uttered his name once since he’d hung up the call. Had only said he’d been someone you knew briefly and never saw again. Someone who’d known about the baby, and yet wanted nothing to do with it, sparing you from further heartbreak in some ways by rejecting you both outright. Now he was here, standing behind you in the cereal aisle in Hawkins, no longer in California.

With the tip of your head, you muttered, “I’m fine. Go say hi.”

Head bowing over the railing of your shopping cart, you listened as Robin and Eddie’s laughter filled the aisle. As he likely picked her up and spun her around, based on the sudden thump of feet you heard a short while after.

“And who is your friend here?” he asked, stepping closer to you. And when you turned, he stiffened, voice a little high and tight as he choked, “Buttercup?”

“It’s me,” you offered weakly, feeling very much like you’d stepped into an episode of The Twilight Zone. “Guess you’re back from California.”

The words came out harsher than you intended. Barbed in a way that felt unfamiliar to you. Especially with Robin standing uncomfortably in the distance, shifting on the balls of her feet, eyes dancing between the two of you like she didn’t know who she should focus her attention on solely.

“And you’re…here. In Hawkins,” he murmured, sounding a little breathless, hand reaching out to touch like he thought you might float away into the wind before his eyes. You didn’t even think he noticed what he was doing, but you stepped back all the same, an arm coming to cross over your chest, head angling away from him. “I, uhm. Sorry, sorry — can we talk?”

Hurt seared anew in your chest, eyes meeting Robin’s briefly. The other woman shrugged, and you faced Eddie once more. “I don’t know what we could possibly —”

“Five minutes,” he offered, biting at his bottom lip. “Just…five minutes.”

“I’ll go up front to check out. Give me the car keys,” Robin said, just as your resolve crumbled a bit and you dipped your head curtly. You did as told and she flashed you a weak smile, pushing the cart along. Her head whirled around. “Don’t forget you have an appointment soon. I’ll come get you if you’re still talking after five minutes.”

“Thanks, Rob. We won’t be long, don't worry.”

You waved, following Eddie out the sliding front doors to the supermarket, stomach lodged high in your throat.

——

Of all the things you imagined he might say if you saw him again, “You know, I really hoped you’d call,” was definitely not one of them. And it was exactly what he’d said as you stepped out into the street, tugging your winter coat tighter to your body to block out the chill in the air.

Hot anger pooled in your veins. Fists balled up at your sides. Those angry hormones Robin spoke of? You felt them building at his statement, forming a cyclone of whirling emotion, anger like acid on your tongue as you snapped back, “Are you kidding me? I did call you, Eddie. I fucking called you to tell you I was pregnant and you hung up on me. I can’t believe you just said that. You know, I already thought you were an asshole, but that took the —”

You’d started walking away from him, wanting to run back inside the store and pretend this whole ordeal had never happened. Five minutes had been a joke, you’d only made it thirty seconds before he’d gone and opened his mouth and infuriated you further than you already had been toward the man.

But then you heard it. The choked whoosh of breath, the wobbly, “What did you just say?”

There was another sharp inhale of breath. Staggered, like he’d suffered through it, his palm coming to rest over his sternum. Fear propelled you toward him, a hand coming to rest over his back as he hunched forward a bit, trying to catch his breath.

“Eddie…what’s happening right now?” Your voice was so quiet you worried he might not have heard you over the harsh gasps he tried to draw into ragged lungs.

Something like a moaned curse ripped from his lips and he dropped down into a crouch, back against a lamppost, seemingly the only thing holding him upright. You got down on your knees in front of him, rubbing along the taut muscles of his shoulders, tensed in his panic.

“Hey…” you whispered, completely confused as to what the hell was going on. And yet, he looked so broken, forehead on his knees, arms around his shins, trying to get a hold of himself. “Deep breaths, okay? Follow me.”

He listened to your words as you coached him through a few deeper breaths. Watched as his shoulders loosened up, as his lungs started to expand further, and the wheezing died down into a quiet whisper. Finally, he looked upward — at you, at your face, and your own breath faltered. Watery, his eyes were watery and you could see the confusion there. The unfathomable and unimaginable hurt.

“Why…why does it seem like this is the first time you’re…hearing this…”

“Because it is, god damn it,” he groaned. “Did you really think — you thought — I wouldn’t have —”

“I don’t really even know you,” you retaliated, following after him as he shot up and began walking the opposite direction of the store you’d come from. “Will you slow down?!”

“Should I be concerned that there’s a woman chasing you across the parking lot, Munson?” Robin barked out a laugh, pushing your shared cart along the parking lot, stopping when she reached where you presently stood, watching Eddie walk back and forth, still trying to gather himself. To you, she whispered, “Is he okay?”

“I’m…I’m not sure,” you said, frowning when he turned back around and brushed the back of his hand along his eyes, then glanced down at your midsection, hidden behind the layers of your now zipped jacket. “Hey, Eddie? I think we need to go somewhere and talk.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, nodding, those curls around his shoulder bobbing with the movement, “yeah, I think we can start there.”

“I have an hour before my doctor’s appointment,” you told him, then glanced at Robin. “If Eddie drives me to the diner, can you drive my car? And I can always walk to my doctor’s office.”

“I’m not making you walk in the cold.” Eddie shook his head. “I’ll — I can drop you off or something.”

Robin took your keys hesitantly, eying you both once more. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Robin asked you quietly. At your nod, she added, “This doesn’t sound like Eddie if he’s who I’m thinking he is. He’s a good guy, babe. Just…maybe hear him out, okay? No angry hormones.”

“No angry hormones,” you promised, and watched as Eddie and Robin loaded up your trunk with the groceries you bought.

Once your friend pulled out of the parking lot, it was time for you to climb into Eddie’s van. He rushed around to open the door for you, and held a hand out as you clambered up on in, heart thudding at the fleeting contact with the man after two months without. Hated that even now you felt that immediate rush, the jolt in your system that you’d felt that night.

He hopped in on the other side and watched your face as you angled your head over your shoulder at the back of the vehicle. Your yet unvoiced immediate thoughts as you took in your surroundings were quieted by his rapidly uttered, “I…can make it safer. For —” He glanced down again, “well, you know.”

Uncomfortable silence settled over the vehicle, the gentle hum of whatever music Eddie had put on immediately lowered when you jolted to life at the first blaring notes that spilled out. Scenery fluttered on by as your forehead pressed against the glass window, fingers curled into a fist on your lap, tension roiling in your form.

The diner appeared out of the corner of your eye, its neon glowing sign declaring they were open twenty four hours catching your eye as you dropped down from the passenger side door and joined Eddie on the sidewalk. He opened the door for you as you both approached and helped pull out a chair, that boyish smile on his face you so vividly remembered playing on his lips as he dropped down across from you and asked the nearest waitress for some water and a set of menus.

“I just want a giant plate of fries,” you groaned, practically tasting them in all their potatoey goodness.

“And a plate of fries for the lady, please!” Eddie called out just before the waitress slipped out of earshot. “I…it’s good to see you. You look great.”

“You too.” Your fingers balled up your straw wrapper, rolled it along the table mindlessly. “So, I guess we should rip the bandaid off and start at the beginning?”

“Beginning is good.”

“About a month after we’d been together I started feeling sick. So naturally I went to the doctor and, well, surprise.” You gestured vaguely to your form. “That’s when I called you. Or I thought I did? But the look on your face back there….Eddie, I’m so sorry.”

“You’re sorry?” He laughed, a dark sounding laugh that made your fingers twitch around your glass, refraining from reaching over to comfort the man. “You tried to tell me. Fuck — I’m going to find out who it was. But you have to know I’d never just…abandon my kid. Please know that. I might be scared as shit, but I wouldn’t abandon them like that. Wouldn’t abandon their mother like that either.”

“So you’re okay with it?” Fear gripped your chest, head lifting to look at him over the top of your glass of water. “Because you’re oddly calm about this at the moment and I just want to remind you this isn’t some kind of thing someone can half commit to. I — we have at least eighteen years ahead of us.”

“I understand that,” he said earnestly, an edge of harshness to his tone. His eyes narrowed a bit. “My dad was a piece of shit. I’m not about to follow in his footsteps.”

“I’m sorry,” you blurted, swallowing thickly, “I didn’t mean to insinuate anything by it. I’m just —”

“You’re a mother, I get it.”

It was the first time someone acknowledged it. The first time maybe you’d even acknowledged it. A mother; you were a mother. Not going to be — a present state.

“Yeah, I guess I am.”

“I…I want to be there. In any way that I can. I know you’re doing most of the work right now, but I want you to know I’m here.” He exhaled deeply, hand coming to swipe over his jaw, rubbing gently. “I want to be here. For you,” he glanced down, “and them.”

“Okay. I guess we’re doing this.”

“We’re doing this,” he agreed.

Silence settled over the two of you as a waitress appeared with your drinks and the plate of fries you decided you might as well share with Eddie. You wanted it to be awkward. Wanted it to be stilted, but he was just as charming as the night you’d first met him. Boisterous laughter, jokes that made your sides hurt, wide grins that made something swoop low in your belly.

“How was California?”

“Good — warmer than here at least. We recorded the album and we’re really happy with the result. It’s very true to our roots, which is what we wanted,” he said, tossing another fry into his mouth. “We might do a tour, but we have a year. Which…works out, given our current circumstances. Just how pregnant are you right now anyway?”

“Four months,” you told him, sipping at your water.

“How are you feeling?”

“Uhm, in the beginning I was really sick. But luckily the past couple of weeks have been better,” you explained, offering him a smile when he grimaced. “I have pictures. I’ve kept copies in my bag…it’s silly, I know. Do you want to see them?”

“Can I?” He pressed his fist to his mouth as you slipped your hand into your pocketbook and fished out the small black and white images of varying stages throughout the past couple of months. You laid the first one in front of him, laughing as he squinted to try and figure out what exactly he was looking at. “It looks like a bean.”

“It kind of was. That was the first appointment,” you told him, handing him the most recent one after. “And this is my most recent appointment.”

His fingers glided over the curve of the spine. The shape of the head. Marveled at it with glassy eyes, your fingers curling over the leather of his jacket, right around his wrist to offer him some modicum of comfort. Allowed him to have a moment to let it all sink in. It had to be overwhelming. It had been, and still often was, for you to sit down and really accept that all of this was real.

He’d only had minutes to accept the news that his life as he knew it had changed, you had months.

“We should leave for my appointment soon,” you said, tucking away your napkin on the table.

“Would it be weird if I asked to come?” he asked, sounding so hopeful, younger than you knew him to be.

“It’s not weird. I mean, they’re half you, right?” you told him, watching him sign his signature on the receipt handed over by the waitress in passing before tucking it away. “But, uh, sure. Yeah.”

He lifted the picture of his unborn baby once more, grinned to himself, thumb brushing over the curve of their head. “Thank you.”

——

Father.

Eddie Munson hadn’t really ever had a good example of what that word stood for. For him, ‘father’ was the man who only came around every so often to ask his mother for money when she’d been alive. For drugs, to get himself out of a horrible situation, to try and pay a bill. For Eddie, father was the guy who taught him how to hotwire a car, the man who gave him his first black eye, someone who blamed his son for his every lot in life.

But as he grew, father became morning coffees with Wayne outside as the sun rose high over Hawkins. It meant putting up a Christmas tree around the holidays that looked more like a bush with lights than anything else. It meant learning how to fix cars with his hands, encouraging words to get him through high school, a call late at night when he was out of town working on his dreams of making music.

Right now, father was the word the technician had used when she asked you to confirm who he was to the baby when he sat down in that little office with you. It was the word she used when she asked him to fill out paperwork on his history, the word his soul screamed at him when he finally heard that tiny heartbeat working overtime.

His little ‘Party Favor’ he’d teased as you both walked back out toward the van after scheduling your next ultrasound. Twenty weeks, the big one, they’d told you both.

“Please don’t call our baby a party favor ever again,” you’d grumbled as you hoisted yourself up into the passenger seat, but he knew from the smile tugging at your lips when he settled down on the driver’s side that you hadn’t meant it.

“Where are you staying these days?” he asked, thumb curling around the steering wheel. “So I can drive you home.”

He hadn’t expected you to rattle off Steve’s address, but when you did, his eyes widened and you immediately asked, “Do you know where that is?”

“Kind of,” he said, turning his head to take in your pretty features. While he knew it probably wasn’t the best time to be admiring you as such, you looked so damn breathtaking his stomach twisted with it, “seeing as he’s my best friend.”

“Why am I not surprised? This day just keeps getting weirder.” You laughed, staring out into the streets as a gentle snow began to fall. “I happen to move to your hometown, where I also happen to then move into your best friend’s house.”

“I didn’t know you knew Robin.”

“It’s a small world.”

“And apparently getting smaller,” he said, eyes ahead on the road as he pulled out of the parking lot. “Thank you. For letting me come.”

The answer was silence. You’d curled up against the car door, forehead against the glass, mouth parted gently, lashes flush against the tops of your cheeks. His eyes drifted downward, to where your pocketbook rested next to your hip and your arm curled over your middle. Peaceful, you looked so peaceful — just like that night you’d spent together, where he’d watched as your eyes had started to flutter closed halfway through the movie and he’d held his breath as you rolled over and sought out the heat of his body.

He hadn’t lied. He didn’t have nights like those often. Had never even intended to go to that party that night. He’d only gone because the rest of the guys wanted to get out of the hotel for a bit and ended up rushing to put together a costume with less than a day’s notice. You’d sat at that bar, hunched over and bored and he’d been curious. He just never expected you to turn around, nor had he expected spending hours laughing with you over your drinks, or finding yourselves twisted in bedsheets.

And so much changed in a short four months. A stranger — you were mostly a stranger and now you were having his kid. Today, you’d been an acquaintance? A friend? He wasn’t sure what to think about it all. He still hadn’t fully processed the fact he would be a father in a few months to an innocent human being. Something so impressionable and his to raise.

He supposed that was also a conversation for another day. Something else to ponder after he dropped you off for the night and laid down for bed. Sighing, he shifted the car into park and glanced up at the front porch lamp hanging on the front of Steve Harrington’s doorway. He waved as Chrissy poked her head through the front curtains and noticed your sleeping form in the front seat.

Steve appeared in the doorway next, baby Melody on his hip as Eddie dropped down out of the van and rushed around the vehicle. “Say hi to Uncle Eddie,” Steve called out, holding up the baby’s hand in a little wave.

He waved back at the girl with a beaming gummy smile and tugged the door open, catching your shoulder as you rolled against the seatbelt a bit, eyes jolting open. “Hey, hey. You fell asleep, it’s just me.”

Your eyes searched his face in the night, and his heart lurched at the way they softened in recognition. “I’m sorry. You were talking and that was so rude of me I —”

“All good. I’m glad you got some sleep,” he chuckled, holding out a hand as you dropped down from the front seat and wobbled a bit before steadying yourself. “We’re here.”

The two of you made your way into the household, varying degrees of curious stares gliding over your forms as you stepped through the threshold. The first of which being Chrissy, who seemed unsure whether she wanted to keep her eyes on him or you.

“So you two have met it seems,” Steve said, “guess we don't have to get introductions out of the way.”

“We’ve met,” you muttered quietly, dipping your head as you yawned. A hand splayed over your midsection and Eddie watched the trail of your gaze stop on him. “Thanks for driving me today. I’m really tired and I should probably get to bed early.”

“Uh — y-yeah. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight everyone.” And you were gone, back trailing down the hallway toward the downstairs basement, the door shutting behind you with a resounding click.

There was a beat of silence, then, “Why didn’t you tell me she was living here?”

“What do you mean, you asshole? First time I see you in months and that’s the first thing you say?”

“That’s her.”

“The girl from the party?” Steve asked, mouth agape as Chrissy stepped forward to take the baby from him. She bounced their daughter around the kitchen island, pretending she wasn’t listening with her back to them, but Eddie knew better. Couldn’t fault her for wanting to protect a friend. “That’s the girl you couldn’t shut up about? Buttercup?”

“I need a drink. A strong one,” Eddie rasped, pulling out one of the island barstools. Propped his elbows on the counter and pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. “First I’m thinking when I see her at the store, ‘wow, maybe I get a second chance at this.’ Has to be, since she ends up here of all places. And then I find out she’s pregnant with my baby and I —”

“You hung up on her,” Chrissy interjected. Steve raised a brow in her direction. “Sorry. I just…you didn’t see her when she came to town.”

“But that’s the thing.” He paused to thank Steve as he dropped a glass in front of him on the table. “I didn’t know. I would have been on a plane if I knew. I hate thinking she’s been alone in all of this. And I know the day she was referring to. We’d had some stupid party after we’d finished the album and played some of the new songs for fun and we had some people over. She talked to someone, but I swear it wasn’t me.”

“We believe you,” Steve promised, settling down beside his friend. A hand curled around Eddie’s forearm and gave a tight squeeze. “How are you feeling?”

He groaned a hoarse cry of ‘fuck’ into his fist, head shaking back and forth. “I’m scared, man. I tried to be brave for her today, but I don’t even know the first thing about kids. In what universe did someone think I’d be fit to be a dad?”

“In all of them, Ed,” Chrissy sighed, coming up to rest a hand on her husband’s shoulder. Steve reached over and slid his palm over her smaller one, oozing that sweet fondness that most people only ever dreamed of. “You’re a good man. Don’t sell yourself short. You have a few months to figure out all the rest.”

“You told her you’re going to be there for her, right? I mean, if that’s what you want?” Steve asked, eyes intently searching his best friend’s face.

“Yeah.” Eddie sighed, taking a large gulp of his drink. “I mean, not much I can do right now, but I’m going to be in whatever way she wants me to be.” His hand swiped down the front of his face.

“I’m going to put her down for bed and head up. Love you two.” Chrissy moved to exit the room, dropping a kiss to the top of Eddie’s head and shoving the back of it teasingly into the kitchen island. Once he’d bursted into a laugh, she bounced the baby higher on her hip and said, “And Eddie. It’s going to be okay. You have all of us too. You’re not alone; neither of you are. Don’t forget that.”

He sure hoped so.

Long after Chrissy had gone up for bed, and Eddie grabbed his jacket from the front coat hanger rack, Steve stopped him in the doorway. Pulled him in for a hug Eddie would normally end up throwing a fist into Steve’s stomach jokingly for. This time he clapped him on the back and let his lungs fully deflate. A sigh he’d been holding onto all afternoon released, the tension in his body along with it.

“To me, it looks like you got a second chance with her. Might look different than you thought it would, but you got a second chance. Whether that’s as co-parents, friends, or more — you still have something,” Steve told him, stepping back to open the door for his friend. “I’d take advantage of that opportunity. Not everyone gets one.”

And damn it, he decided he would.

——

let me know what you think! 💌 see you again next week for chapter three, titled ‘roommates.’ 😉

#lunaloveseddie #Eddie munson x reader #Eddie munson x you #eddie munson x pregnant!reader #eddie munson x f!reader

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estrellami-1 · 8 months

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If I Should Stay

Part 1 | . . . | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16

Steve gets home and enters into chaos.

The older teens are nowhere to be found—Steve hopes they’re still in the shed—but the boys are arguing, pointing first at sheets on the table, then each other.

“No, you dumbass-”

“Oh, I’m the dumbass? I’m the one who forgot oxygen?”

Steve sighs. “Always the damn babysitter,” he mumbles to himself, fighting a smile. “Alright, cut it out!” He says, loud enough to be heard over the arguing. Immediately, everyone turns to him. He crosses his arms and nods at them. “What’s going on?”

Immediately they’re all talking over each other, doing their best to give Steve a headache. He sighs and raises a hand, and slowly they all peter off. “One at a time. Lucas?”

Lucas sighs. “We’re still trying to figure out the best way to weaponize fire down there.”

“And you’re disagreeing on something?”

“Yeah, we all think it would be best to do it different ways.”

Steve nods. “Write down a list of all the pros and cons you can think of. Pass the lists around in case you’ve forgotten something. When they’ve all been passed around, compare them together. But please, if it’s at all possible for you, do it quietly. If for no other reason than El’s still resting.”

“Oh,” Mike says quietly, and they all get to work, scribbling out their lists.

Steve sighs and scans the rest of the room, smiling when he sees Eddie leaning on the doorway. “Hey. Wanna help me bring stuff in?”

“Sure,” Eddie shrugs, and follows him out. It’s silent for a few moments before he speaks. “Y’know, a part of me was hesitant to believe everything until just about three minutes ago.”

Steve chuckles. “It does sound crazy,” he agrees. “What changed your mind?”

“You,” Eddie says simply, like it doesn’t send Steve’s heart jackrabbiting in his chest. “The way you are with the kids.”

Steve chuckles. “Y’know that’s the very reason we started to get along, before?” He glances at Eddie as he shuts the trunk. “We saw how we were with them. We were both a little jealous of each other, mainly cause of Dustin. I swear, he was always going on about Eddie this, Eddie that, greatest Dungeon Master ever but don’t tell Will, and… I started to feel like I was being replaced.” He smirks. “Course, then you told me how he practically worshiped me, and I realized Dustin’s just being a shithead.”

Eddie snorts. “From what I’ve seen of them, that does seem pretty accurate.”

“I know this probably doesn’t mean much to you, but I’m glad you’re here.” He smiles at Eddie and walks inside, giving Eddie a second alone outside.

He almost runs into Robin as he turns the corner, steadying himself, the bag, and her. She looks up at his face, wide-eyed, then slowly morphs the look into a judgy one.

“What?”

“Quit breaking his brain, Dingus, let him actually like you as a person first.”

“How the hell could you tell that from my face?”

She gives him another supremely judgy look. “Have you forgotten I’ve known you for years? Steve,” she sighs, taking the bag from him. He lets her. “Don’t forget this is four years ago for them. At this point, does he even know who Chrissy is?”

“Okay,” Steve admits, “you may have a point. But we had a breakthrough just now! We were talking and he said he believes me because of how I am with the boys!”

Robin sighs again. “And did you respond with something that happens in the future?”

Steve splutters. “How do you do that?”

“I’ve known you for years, Stevie-boy, don’t forget.” She ruffles his hair as she passes. “Leave the future out of it,” she advises. “Live in the now.”

“Kinda hard to do, considering we’re here to change the future,” he says, just to be contrary. She gives him a look like she knows what he’s doing.

“Talk to him like you’re getting to know him for the first time, Steve. Because that’s where he is. Everything about the Upside Down, and even the kids… that’s all secondary. You got along because your personalities match. Give them a chance to.” She smirks at him. “And maybe show off a little bit of that Harrington charm I know is in there somewhere.”

He shakes his head, grinning. “You’ll see one day, Robs, I’ve got game.”

She grins, ruffling his hair one last time before dancing out of reach as he squawks at her. “I’ll believe it when I see it, Dingus.” She leaves, bringing the bag into the other room, and he sighs and follows her, wondering—not for the first time—how he ended up with her as a best friend.

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queenimmadolla · 2 years

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𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈

(Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader)

summary: You cancel on your plans to hang out with your crush, Eddie, and your friends when you realize your competition for his affections will also be there. So, naturally, Eddie comes to you.

warnings: misunderstandings, little bit of hurt, little bit of angst, a lot of fluff and a lot of comforting,

a/n: little companion piece to In My Dreams. inspired by Hozier’s song Would That I, my re-watching of grey’s anatomy, my love for Lexie Grey who heavily inspires Reader’s personality in this, and that confession. for creative purposes we’re gonna pretend Halloween 5 came out before 1986, Eddie got held back like twice maximum, and everyone is alive/lives in Hawkins because this is an ideal world. probably won’t be able to post much in the coming weeks so enjoy and let me know what you think (don’t be a jerk)! mistakes will be fixed later.

You open the sliding door of the shower with a sigh, arm curling around your body at the slight temperature change as you yank the towel off the bathroom counter where you had set it and wrap it around your body, quickly drying off your limbs. Once you’re dry enough, you step out of the shower, towel now wrapped around your body as you grab a clean t-shirt to wrap around your drenched hair.

You swipe the condensation from the steam off the mirror, staring at your bare, disappointed face before the steam fogs it up again.

Your body heaves out another sigh as you prepare to go through your routine in a failed attempt to not think about all the fun your friends are having without you at that very moment.

It wasn’t like they hadn’t invited you, because they had. Heather had come bounding up to you during break on Tuesday to tell you about the group’s plans to hang out on Friday night, go to the mall, head to the movies then grab a bite to eat and probably hang out at someone’s house. You’d agreed immediately, loving nothing more than spending time with your friends. But then you had found out two things that had certainly rained on your parade before it even started:

1.) Roxy Campbell was going. Heather knew how much you two didn’t get along (a dislike that had been mutual since elementary school but had only spiked in animosity in recent years) and had hurriedly explained that it hadn’t been her that extended the invitation to Roxy, which lead you to reason number two.

2.) Chrissy Cunningham would be there. There wasn’t any bad blood between you and Chrissy, far from actually. You didn’t interact with her too much, she was more Heather’s friend than yours (and you sometimes wondered about that, they often cuddled up during big sleepovers, and disappeared at gatherings) but the common factor between Roxy, Chrissy and you was the real problem.

See, you wouldn’t have a problem being in the same place as Roxy on her own, and same goes for Chrissy, but together, they would just be too much for your insecurity, because Eddie was going.

You’d had a crush on Eddie since the fourth grade (he’d been a couple of grades ahead of you at the time, but now he was attainable, or you had thought he was) but it was when Heather had sucked you into their rag tag group consisting of a bunch of social misfits (Steve, Jonathan, Nancy, Argyle, Barb, Robin, Eden, Eddie and a partridge in a pear tree) during junior year that you actually fell in love with him.

He’d been the one you had bonded with the most, you had almost nothing in common—but it didn’t seem to matter because he made you feel like you mattered. He made you feel seen when you thought you were invisible, made you feel heard when you thought no one was listening, and you just. . .you really loved the way he made you feel.

And you were stupid enough to love him. Stupid enough to love his long curls, his smile (the crazed one was a favorite of yours, but it was topped by the shy one he’d always exchange with you when it was just the two of you in your own world—regardless of your friends surrounding you, or when you were in class and you’d turn in your seat to look back at Eddie and he’d already be watching you, he’d give you that same, beautiful smile), the way he’d doodle silly little things all over his hands (and you could go super into depth about your admiration for those hands), how he resembled a Gremlin when he ate, how he couldn’t seem to sit like a normal person in most public settings unless he was mentally exhausted, his dramatics and the stupid faces he’d make, the way he’d bark at Tommy H. when the jerk dared to try and approach Steve or if he was simply annoying Eddie, how much time and effort he put into campaigns, how he never seemed to get mad during the rare campaigns in which the Hellfire Club managed to breeze right through his monsters, mazes, and obstacles. You could go on forever and that was the problem.

Roxy started liking Eddie right around the time you fell in love with him—because she always has to have whatever you want—and Chrissy was the last girl you were aware he’d had a crush on. A crush he’d had since the seventh grade. Given the current strength of your feelings for a crush you’d had for far longer, you didn’t have any hopes that he’d moved on, since you—ya know hadn’t. Roxy didn’t really intimidate you, but if you were sandwiched between the two girls—or worse, if Eddie was, you’d be forced to watch either another girl flirt with him or watch him flirt with another girl. Both of those options sounded terrible to you and you were positive you’d just end up with a stomach ache that had you nearly bedridden like you always did when it came to heartbreak.

After three days of debating, you’d called Heather before you were all supposed to meet up at the mall and had used your mom not letting you go out because you had chores to do as an excuse. Your mom wouldn’t have appreciated being made the villain but they had all seen you looking perfectly fine at school only a couple of hours earlier, meaning you couldn’t play sick, so she’d just have to take one for the team.

Heather had sounded disappointed but understood and told you she’d let the rest of the group know.

Then you proceeded to have a breakdown, you’d cried and cried, crawled into your shower, cried so much and let the reality of not ever being able to love Eddie and be loved by him crash down on you, your chances of being the reason he smiles and feels loved circle the drain before washing away as your body shook with your sobs. At one point you had thought you might suffocate with it all, but you hadn’t. Once the hot water had begun to lower in temperature, you forced yourself to get up and get yourself together. Eddie should be able to be happy with whoever he wanted and if you were really his friend, you would have to be happy for him and stop feeling sorry for yourself.

So, here you were. All alone on a Friday night while the rest of the teenagers in Hawkins got to be, well, teenagers.

You try cheering yourself up by doing a full body shave since you have the time, moisturizing heavily with sweet smelling lotion, shaping your eyebrows, doing a ton of face masks—you may be feeling pathetic but your skin sure wasn’t—and painting your nails and toes. You’d gone with a metallic green this time in an effort to be daring. You even put your earrings back in, just to feel a little less naked.

Once the polish is dry and you have done all the self-care you can think of, you’re left with nothing to do and no one to keep you company. Even your mind is quiet and your thoughts are whispers, if anything. They’re not nice whispers, so you decide to watch a movie. You throw on one of your comfy sweaters and a pair of boy shorts before running downstairs to sort through the rentals your family still has. Normally, you wouldn’t go running out in your underwear regardless of how similar to shorts they appear, but even your parents had plans tonight, Fridays were date night. They’d come home sometime after 2 am, giggling and so in love as they tiptoed—incredibly loudly, somehow—past your room to try and not wake you up while you listened to them trip and stumble down the hall because you couldn’t help but like to listen and imagine it being you and Eddie one day; drunk, in love and without a care in the world because you’d have each other and maybe a slightly sleep deprived teenage daughter.

The movie selections aren’t too vast, most of yours had been returned on Wednesday—WAIT, SCORE!

You admire the VHS cover of The Last Unicorn with a smile before tucking it under your arm and disconnecting the VCR from the TV in the living room. You carry the bulky thing and its wires up to your room, quickly setting it up to your smaller tv and popping the tape in. While the previews play, you pull the soaked t-shirt off your head, your hair is still damp but as you look at yourself in your bedroom mirror, you can’t help but smile. Your face is glowing, you smell amazing, you hair—while still somewhat wet—looks promising to dry and set satisfactory. Hell, the damp look is working for you on its own. With a smile on your face, you feel and look beautiful.

The t-shirt is tossed into your hamper and you dig out a couple of your favorite snacks from your hoarding place under your bed before you settle on top of it, belly down and your comfiest pillow under your chin as the movie begins.

The movie is comforting and provides you a sense of nostalgia, though it hadn’t come out too long ago. You chalk it up to its dated terms and the general setting of it.

You’re completely invested in it, mind filled with nothing but commentary. You’re wondering why the animators made Celaeno the Harpy’s three titties so big and bouncy when the sound of knuckles rapping on your window surprises you. You push yourself up on your arms, craning your head to look even though you have an inkling who it is, the only person to regularly visit you via window pane.

Sure enough, Eddie is grinning at you from the other side, gesturing down to your window locks. You hadn’t been expecting him so you’d left it secured. It was only a little past 8 pm and hang outs nearly went on to 1 am, why wasn’t he with everyone else?

You move your snacks aside and abandon your pillow in favor of climbing off your bed to pause the movie before you make your way over, unlocking and opening the window for him.

“FINALLY!” Eddie grunts out as he tumbles in, rolling a little ways away before he jumps up and stretches his arms out so high he’s almost touching your ceiling. You roll your eyes, a small laugh slipping past your lips as your fondness for the silly boy quickly rises to the surface.

“Oh, quit it, you faker. You weren’t out there that long.”

Eddie scowls at you, eyes narrowed playfully. He won’t bother telling you that he’d been there for ten minutes (after he’d struggled to get on the roof for the same amount of time, Jesus H. Christ, it never got easier scaling your home, but he’d be damned if he stopped doing it, it was romantic and he was in the middle of wooing) watching you in a non-creepy manner, you’d looked so beautiful and peaceful; he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off of you or even consider making you aware of his presence until the overwhelming urge to hold you had taken over. He didn’t know if he’d finally be able to work up the courage to do so but the distance between you, and the physical separation started to give him anxiety so he’d knocked.

“You still took your sweet time getting off your butt to let me in,” Eddie teases as he makes himself comfortable, kicking off his shoes and shrugging off his jacket to hang on your desk chair. He even takes the chain off of his jeans, tucking it into one of the jacket pockets.

“I wasn’t expecting you!” You throw your hands up in defeat after you shut the window again.

Eddie’s grin turns sly, “Did I surprise you, kid?”

Now it’s your turn to narrow your eyes at him, because you know he doesn’t have the audacity to bring this up again. “Do. Not. Start.”

“It’s just pretty interesting for a guy whom you referred to as predictable today, at 10:06 in Mr. Bellow’s class, to surprise you in a manner that is evidently not so predictable.” He’s smug, so very smug as he crosses his arms and smirks.

You groan, though there’s no annoyance to it, in fact—you’re fighting off a smile. If you smile, he wins and that’s what he wants. You can’t give him that, it's the little teasing game you have going on. You will not break.

“You accuse me of holding onto grudges─”

“Because you do.”

“—yet here you are, bringing up something from the past!”

“It happened today!”

“Yeah, earlier today, as in not right now, meaning the past. Besides, I wasn't wrong. You always climb up to my window and you always try to be unexpected, so really, this was very much so an Eddie thing to do and I am—in fact—correct about you being predictable.” You state as you make your way back to your bed, climbing back on top and folding your legs criss cross style.

Eddie stares at you from where he’s standing, amusement clear in those big beautiful, Bambi eyes of his. The smirk is still there, but it’s not so sly or smug anymore, more gentle and you can tell he’s trying to not let it break into a grin but he’s smiling, nonetheless, so you win. And he knows it.

He shakes his head, turning to look at your poster and art covered walls so you can’t see just how big his grin is. When he finally composes himself, his body is relaxed, arms dropping to dangle by his sides as he stalks towards your bed.

“You’re delusional.”

“Am I wrong, though?” You beam up at him and he can’t say no to you, ever.

With a heavy sigh, he drops his weight onto your bed, falling onto his back. Your poor snacks go tumbling but you don’t care, leaning an elbow on your knee as you rest your chin in the palm of your hand while you peer down at him.

“No. What are we watching?”

“You didn’t answer my earlier question.”

“You didn’t ask a question.” You know he knows what you’re referring to.

“I could smother you right now.”

“Mm, but you won’t.”

You drop your hand from your chin to dart forward and tickle his side. Eddie yelps, letting out a loud laugh as he tries to wrangle your hand in his, securing your wrist in his grasp.

“Okay! Okay! Fine, what’s your question?”

“Why aren’t you with everyone else?” You exclaim, in your rush of adrenaline, rather than ask.

Eddie answers like it’s the most simple question in the world, blinking up at you as though the answer should have been obvious to you, “Because you’re not there.”

Your brows furrow, a confused smile crossing your lips and Eddie wants to lean up and kiss the spot between your eyebrows to ease them. You smell so good, too. He just wants to bury his face in your neck, your hair, suffocate himself with you ‘til his lungs refuse oxygen in favor of needing you to breathe.

“I’m hardly the life of the party, Eddie.”

Not when Roxy and Chrissy are around, you think to yourself. If you’re being honest, Chrissy seems more fun than Roxy, and so are you. Anyone is better than Roxy. You can’t help but briefly wonder how Roxy can be friends, acquaintances, whatever, with Chrissy—not that there’s anything wrong with the sweet blonde—but if it was obvious to you that Eddie liked Chrissy, it should have been obvious to Roxy. Roxy loathed you even more than she had before for being friends with Eddie, you figured she’d hate Chrissy since she was the object of his affections.

“You’re spacing’ out on me, kid.” You’re literally shaken from your thoughts when Eddie puts his giant freaking hand on the top of your damp head, giving it a gentle shake. He laughs at your expression when you swat his hand away.

“Sorry, was just thinking about something. Did you say something?”

“I said you’re the life of my party,” Eddie repeats, trying to maintain his cool, despite how fast his heart was racing. He’d do that a lot, drop little hints to see if you picked up on them with hopes you would. Then, he’d have the perfect opportunity to finally tell you how he feels; like how his heart had just about dropped out of his ass when Heather had come on her own and told them you wouldn’t be joining them. He’d been sullen and mostly quiet as they walked through the mall. Steve and Argyle had tried to cheer him up, but it was useless. Chrissy had even tried to strike up a conversation but he couldn’t think about anything but you, so that had dropped pretty fast and he was sure he’d come off as rude, only he couldn’t care right then but he’d apologize next week at school.

Eddie couldn’t even recall what movie they had ended up watching. Even if he had been trying to pay attention, Roxy was constantly trying to talk to him during the movie so he wouldn’t have been able to hear it anyways. The entire time he was trying to think of why you hadn’t shown up. Heather had mentioned something about your mom, but Eddie knew your parents had date nights on Fridays so you were pretty much free to do whatever you wanted. Were you sick? On your period? Suffering? And here he was, albeit not having an even decent time, hanging out with his friends when he could have been comforting you or just with you. He left before the movie hit the halfway point.

“Coolest person I know, kid.”

You smile, sinking back into your shoulders shyly, you may not have been the apple of his eye, but you were still cool in his, “Thanks, Eddie. You’re the coolest person I know, too. Maybe even the best person I know, in general. Don’t tell Robin or Eden I said that.”

Eddie chuckles, still hyper aware of your wrist in his hand, if he plays this right he could just slide it up ‘til he’s palm to palm with you and intertwine your fing─

“The Last Unicorn,” You announce, finally answering his question as you sit up only to lean back into your pillows, pulling your wrist out of his hold just as Eddie had been about to trail his hand higher. You pat the spot next to you as you pull your knees to your chest. “We lost the remote so you’ll have to go press ‘play’.”

“Oh, I’ll have to go press ‘play’, huh?” His amusement is back as he shifts onto his side to face you.

“Mhm,” You nod innocently, placing your finger on the tip of your nose. “Nose goes.”

He stares at you, incredulous, before he reluctantly pushes himself up even though you both know he would have done it regardless.

“That stupid game doesn’t even make sense, if it’s gonna be called ‘Nose Goes’ shouldn’t the first person that touches their nose fucking go?” He grumbles as he presses the button on the VCR before climbing onto the bed, making himself comfy next to you as the movie resumes.

You shush him, eyes fixated on the screen again, on Celaeno, “Look at her boobies.”

Eddie does as you say, guffawing once he notices. He’s more amused with your thought process than he is with the harpy, for obvious reasons. One being that he’s in love with you and how cute you are and the other being that the harpy is far from appealing to look at.

“Wait, does she have three tits?”

“Yeah.”

“Why, though?”

“Because Harpies have three titties, I don’t know, Eddie, I didn’t make the movie.”

“Well, like—does she need the extra one?” He never noticed it before.

“I don’t know, I’m more concerned about how human they look. I get that harpies are kinda supposed to look a little human, but she’s really fugly and not at all human in appearance. They really gave her three human boobs and called it a day. Could have at least given her a human head or some hair but no.”

Eddie’s focused on you, watching you from the corners of his eyes as you rant. One of the things that had broken the awkwardness when you first met was your love of fantasy. You weren’t as obvious about it as he was with his, but he’d seen you reading your copy of The Sword in the Stone after you’d finished a test early, in the English class he shared with you, right before the end of your sophomore year. He’d spent the whole summer wondering about you and he’d been grateful when Heather had been inducted in the group, bringing you with her in the fall. When he failed, he’d been bummed but knowing he got to spend more time with you, learn more about you eased the ache. Falling in love with you had just about healed it completely, and with your encouragement, he was on track to graduate alongside you this year.

When Eddie doesn’t respond, you turn your head to him, raising your brows when you notice his gaze is fixed on you, “You okay, Eddie?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, kid.”

He really is, he’s thinking about all the things he loves about you. How animated you get when you’re excited about something, the way you get all shy when you realize just how excited you’d been, how optimistic you were even when you were having the worst of days—you never lashed out at anyone because of it, how you always put others first (you always claimed to be selfish but the moment you realized you could help someone instead of yourself, you did it), how forgiving you were (Steve had been somewhat of a jerk to you when he was still King Steve but the moment you realized he was genuine in his redemption, you never brought it up and always made sure to mention how he’s grown as a person when someone else brings it up and yeah, Eddie was a little jealous about that). How unapologetically yourself you were, silliness and all (like how you’d gone as Jamie Lloyd in her clown costume with the red nose and mask, from the Halloween movie while everyone else was dressed as provocative as possible for Zoe’s halloween party—and then you’d gone to Tina’s party as an angel with very little covering you up, because you could do both, and Eddie had to spend the entire night hiding an erection). Or how you made the wall flower kids, that Steve and the others sometimes couldn’t see needed attention, feel seen; Lucas, Will and Jane loved it when you came around. They always referred to you and Jonathan as their play parents and yes, Eddie got incredibly jealous with that, too.

And then there was the way you made Eddie feel. Despite his growing friendships, he had still felt a sense of loneliness, still needed his alone time because they overwhelmed him a bit. But not you. You snuck up on him, came into his life so quietly you hadn’t disturbed any of the foundation he’d built around himself to keep the world away, yet still somehow ended up on the same side of the wall with him. When his head got loud, you were there to hush all the thoughts, bringing him a sense of peace. He hardly had to even defend himself to verbal lashings anymore because you were putting whoever it was in their place without even being mean about it, which made him feel like people really were just messing with him to be jerks, like he wasn’t actually a freak. You made him feel like they were the problem, not him. When you looked at him, he felt like you were actually seeing him. Not Eddie ‘The Freak’ Munson, not the frontman to a band everyone thought was going nowhere, not some high school repeat, not some drug dealer, not trailer trash, just Eddie.

God, and the way you said his name! You’d beam, sit up straighter while you flashed him that beautiful smile and Eddie felt like he somehow lit up the room for you, despite you already being the brightest thing in any room.

He’d had crushes before, on Chrissy Cunningham, on Ally Citronni, Tammy Thompson—she talked to him, okay? He was lucky if a girl didn’t walk away giggling with her friends and not in the ‘I just talked to a cute boy’ way and she was a nice girl—even the fucking counselor and yeah, he’d had one on you, had expected it to go away like it had with the others, but it hadn’t. Instead, it blossomed into something so intense he couldn’t eat, he couldn’t fucking sleep, he couldn’t think about anything that wasn’t related to you.

Love on the fucking brain.

He’d even been forced to talk to Wayne about you when Tommy H. had asked you out in an attempt to make Carol jealous during one of their break ups. Even though you’d flat out said no, it had been a reality check for Eddie. Someone could easily just steal you away. Eddie hadn’t been able to sleep right for a week, and he hadn’t even touched his guitars, prompting an Uncle Wayne intervention, that conversation led him here. And all of the other times he’d tried—failed—to tell you how he felt.

You went back to watching the movie, but not Eddie. He was ready for this, fuck the hints.

“I’m glad I’m not in this movie cause I would have started sprinting, then she’d kil─”

Eddie had placed a finger on the side of your chin, directing your face to his instead of the TV while you had been talking and you hadn’t been able to drag your eyes away from the action on screen but that didn’t stop him from kissing you, lips pressing firmly against yours.

That caught your attention.

Your eyes widen as you realize what’s happening and when it becomes clear Eddie won’t be pulling away, you melt into him, eyelids fluttering shut while you return the kiss with the same amount of fervor. The rest of his hand comes to cradle your jaw, thumb stroking your cheek as he licks at your lips. They part for him almost instantly and he moans at the first taste of you, tongue swiping against yours.

Eddie dominates the kiss and you’re helpless to do anything but respond as he explores your mouth, licking any chance of coherency right off your tongue. His other hand slips around your waist, pulling you flush against him, onto his lap and you can’t quite believe that he’s cradling you like this, as though you were something important to him. You can’t even believe he’s kissing you, let alone this thoroughly!

When Eddie finally—and very reluctantly—pulls away, there’s a string of spittle connecting your lips. You lick it up and Eddie nearly creams his pants right there.

You stare up at him, eyes wide and vulnerable as Eddie leans down to press a kiss to your forehead, thumb still stroking your cheek.

“I love you, kid. I’m in love with you. Messed me up the moment Heather dragged you over to the lunch table and you wouldn’t let go of the seat you’d been sitting on at your old table. Had a feeling it’d be you, I hoped it would.” He confesses, voice gentle and nearly a whisper into the charged air between the two of you.

You want to cry the happiest of tears as you finally confess during a moment you genuinely thought wouldn’t come, not after the circumstances of how the night had started for you, “I love you so much, Eddie. You’re all I think about; I can’t sleep, I-I can’t eat and when I didn’t think you could love me I couldn’t breathe. I love you, I love you so much and I wanted to tell you, I did but I was so scared you wouldn’t love me and I’d ruin it all but I do! I love you.”

Eddie’s on you in an instant, lips insistent against yours and you can’t help the few tears that slip out but Eddie’s quick to wipe them away, trying to convey just how much he loves you with his kisses. When he pulls away again, he rests his forehead against yours.

“I’ve tried to tell you so many times, baby. I just—I fucking suck. That’s it,” the way Eddie says it makes you laugh and he smiles at the sound, leaning forward to press another kiss to your lips. “I fucking suck. I have loved you for so long, and I should have told you a long ass time ago, a fucking year ago. You really are the life of my party—love of my life, actually. You’re it for me, like—fuck.”

He’s quiet for a few moments, but you can be patient now, you’re willing to wait for him forever.

When he speaks again, the playful edge is gone, “I want to marry you.”

Your breath hitches along with your heartbeat and Eddie continues, “Not yet, not while we’re in school, but I’m positive I want to marry you. Hell, if I didn’t think I’d distract the shit out of you, I’d carry you to the courthouse right now—don’t be a smart ass, I know what you’re gonna say and I’m very aware they’re not open right now—but I’d sit there and wait. That’s how sure I am. So when we’re ready, when you’re ready, if you’ll have me, I’m gonna marry you. But for now, would you—I don’t know, wanna be my girlfriend?”

You yank him down for another kiss, multiple before you’re pressing them all over his face and you’re sure he’s smiling, can feel his cheeks pull up when your lips pass over them.

“Yes, yes I want to marry you someday and yes, I want to be your girlfriend. I want you, Eddie, and I’ll take you anyway I can have you.”

Eddie pulls you even further to him, something you didn’t think was possible, as he hugs you, the hand on your cheek traveling up to cradle the back of your head.

You can’t see his face in this position, your face is pretty much pressed into the crook of his neck, but you’re sure he’s crying, can feel the wetness on the side of your forehead.

Your arms wrap around his middle, inching the fabric of his shirt up so your fingers can press into his back. Despite the seriousness of your conversation, Eddie lurches forward into the bed and you squeal as you go with him, back meeting your blankets.

“Eddie!” You’re pinned underneath him, and Eddie has no plans on moving.

“Hm?”

“Get off!”

“You just told me you’ll have me any way you want me and now you want me off of you? I am all for the chase, baby, but you really gotta make up your mind.”

“Ugh,” you groan, admitting defeat as your arms wrap around him once more to hold him and he lets out a content sigh, nose nudging your head. You turn your head in the direction and he presses another sweet kiss to your lips before nuzzling his nose against yours.

“I’m gonna run down the halls on monday and tell everyone you’re my girlfriend.”

“How predictable of you.”

“Kid, I swear to God.”

You and Eddie will have to save The Last Unicorn and the harpy with three boobs for another time, too swept up in each other to pay it any mind.

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ashwhowrites · 6 months

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Eddie Munson x cheerleader! Reader, Reader breaks up Eddie bc her mom forced her too, she didn't want her daughter, captain of there cheer squad to be with Eddie Munson, both of them are having a bad time without each other, reader can't sleep bc she feels guilty, and she ends up going with her best friends: Robin and Steve, she explains to them what happened and all about her mom, Steve and Rob make a plan, at the end Robin tells reader that she needs to go to the drama room, where Eddie is, and she locks them in there , and Eds says he doesn't want to lose her and that he loves herand they start dating again, despite Reader's mom being pissed off

I hope this is what you wanted and you enjoy it. Thank you for requesting <3

Mom

The second Y/N set her eyes on Eddie Munson it would cause nothing but trouble for herself. He looked like a boy she shouldn't bring home to mom. But that didn't stop her from falling in love.

She spent months sneaking out of her window, Eddie waiting for her in his van. They'd sneak off to anywhere they wanted. She was smitten with him and she couldn't believe he felt the same for her. She knew her mom wouldn't approve, Eddie lived too much of a different lifestyle. He wasn't born rich, wasn't at the top of his classes, and he did things her mother would never support. But she loved him and she wanted to make it work.

She knew she couldn't sneak past her mom for too long, she'd get caught. But she wasn't prepared to lose Eddie.

"Who do you keep sneaking off with?" Y/N froze as she climbed into her bedroom. Her mom was waiting for her on the bed.

"Chrissy is having boyfriend troubles, and I know you wouldn't let me see her but she needed me." Y/N lied, taking off her shoes

"Funny enough, I called Chrissy's mom, and Chrissy was sleeping. So who were you with?" Her mom pushed. Y/N panicked as she was caught in her lie. Chrissy always lied for her but she didn't think about Chrissy's mom ratting her out.

"No one! I needed a walk to clear my head. All this perfect daughter shit is draining me. I wanted fresh air and I know you'd refuse to let me be alone so I said I was with Chrissy." She lied again. But her mother didn't look convinced.

"Clearing your head with Eddie Munson?" Y/N froze as the name left her mother's lips.

"What?"

"I'm not stupid, young lady. You are out there meeting up with Eddie Munson. Doing god knows what kind of drugs. No daughter of mine will be mixed in with a kid like him." Her mother ranted, standing up as she got in Y/N's face.

"A kid like him? What is that supposed to mean!" Y/N scoffed.

"He lives in the trailer park! Who knows what disease he's carrying. I've heard bad things about him, drugs and devil shit. You are NOT seeing him ever again, do you hear me?" Y/N watched in horror as her mom unplugged her phone, snatching the cords with her.

"You will not call him, talk to him, and you will not leave this house for anything other than school and cheer!"

"MOM! That's not fair! YOU CAN'T KEEP ME A PRISONER HERE! I love him and we want to be together. He's not a bad guy! If you met him, you'd see he isn't at all what people describe him to be!" Y/N screamed, but everything she said went on deaf ears.

"I'M YOUR MOTHER AND YOU WILL DO AS I SAY! YOU ARE BREAKING UP WITH HIM AND NEVER SEEING HIM AGAIN."

~~~

Eddie tried to be understanding of the break up. He knew it tore her apart just as much as it did him. He wanted to make it easier for her, hold her and tell her it's alright. He knew he wasn't the type that parents liked. And he knew he wasn't good enough for her.

It killed him to see her walking around the halls, knowing he couldn't walk up and kiss her anymore. The reality that they are broken up and she wasn't his anymore.

Her mom kept her a prisoner. The second cheer ended, her mom was outside the school waiting. Her mom never gave back her phone, she couldn't call Eddie if she wanted to.

The more time passed, and the more they were apart, she realized he was more important than whatever her mom wanted from her. She could barely sleep, the guilt ate her alive. She hated that she picked her mom over Eddie. She knew Eddie tried his best to make it easier, but she didn't deserve that. She could have fought. She should have shown Eddie he was more important and she'd do anything to make their relationship work. But she didn't, she just let her mom win.

Y/N talked to Robin about everything, her guilt, hatred towards her mom, and disappointment within herself. Robin knew that Eddie was hurting through it all, and no separation would heal either. Robin asked Y/N to trust her, so she did.

Now she stood in the drama room with Eddie across from her. His swollen eyes and red nose. His hair was a mess, but that was normal. She felt nervous to speak first, almost like he'd snap the second she opened her mouth.

"I miss you," he whispered, as he opened his arms. An invitation to throw herself in his arms, which she accepted. She dashed into his arms, gripping it tightly as she breathed in his scent.

"I miss you so much." She felt his arms wrap tighter around her, a hand in her hair as he tried to be as close as possible to her.

"I'm so sorry for not fighting. I let her win and I didn't even try for us." She cried, she knew her mom would tear them apart and she still didn't fight against it. "I was prepared for it to happen, and I froze. Our relationship deserves to be fought for and I'm ready to do it."

Eddie pulled back a little to see her face, their bodies still embraced. "You don't need to apologize. I didn't fight either, I just let you do it alone. But now I'm not. We will fight for us together, okay? I'm not going to lose you. I don't care what she throws at us, I'll take care of you." Eddie promised, his forehead pressed against hers. She sniffled and nodded.

A smile on her face as she connected her lips with his.

"I love you." Eddie's heart raced at the words, a full teeth smile on his face as he said the words back.

Y/N would graduate one day, she'd move out and her mom wouldn't have the control. All Y/N needed was Eddie's hand in hers.

tags!

@bmunson86 @mxcheese @ladymunson @michaelfuckinglangdon @z0mbie-blah @biittersweet @mirrorsstuff @somethingvicked @micheledawn1975 @ago-godance @magnificantmermaid @tlclick73 @hargrovesswifee @cityofidek @manyfandomsfanvergentreblogs @silky-luxe @lokiofasgard616 @loving-and-dreaming @eddiemunsonsbitch69 @thegemaqua @ashlynnkennedy @strangerthingsstories5255 @harringt8ns @pleasinghellfire @whoscamila @stusdollface93 @gretavankleep37

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson #eddie munson fanfic #eddie stranger things #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson request #eddie munson angst #eddie munson angst x reader #eddie munson fluff x reader #eddie munson fluff x female reader #eddie munson x popular!reader #eddie munson x cheerleader!reader #eddie munson angst to fluff #ashwhowrites

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artiststarme · 7 months

Text

Things never really went to plan for one poor Eddie Munson. His fate was sealed from his very first breath, his life would be a tragedy. And so, the universe set out to make him suffer.

It was like all the cards in his life were stacked against Eddie. He was born to a Bonnie and Clyde type of couple with Bonnie running away from the commitment of a family as soon as she could. Dick Munson was all too betrayed by the abandonment of his partner in come and set to destroy everything he had left. He cut ties with his brother, turned to a bottle, and drowned the sounds of his son’s screams out with meth and benzos. It was only a matter of time before he was arrested from a robbery gone bad with enough drugs to keep him behind bars for life.

Poor Eddie was sent to live with the uncle he hardly remembered. He was thrown into a loving trailer in a town full of hate. The kids at school ostracized him the moment they laid eyes on him, his bruised eyes and shaven head spoke all too lowly of his character. If he were lucky, he’d only get a few jaunts and swirlies but if he weren’t, he’d arrive home with another black eye or limp to hide from Wayne.

High school wasn’t much better. Just like middle school, the kids and teachers alike hated him. He blew off school and started selling drugs underneath people’s noses to help Wayne with the bills that were drowning them. He did make some friends, other loners that craved friendship and togetherness they’d never received anywhere else.

It turned out that he was gay. He knew as soon as he saw Steve Harrington’s shirt come off in the locker room and knew he was fucked. He was already the outsider no one liked, it made sense that something else would come up to make him even more different than everyone else in the suffocating small town. The worst part wasn’t the fact that people might find out. It was the part where no one he would ever have a crush on would ever like him back, least of all Steve Harrington whom had girls falling at his feet and guys wishing to be him.

As if it couldn’t get any worse, his skipping school held him back and made him even more of a loser than before. Eddie truly felt like the dumb-as-shit trailer trashed that everyone always told him he was. So he stopped trying completely. He fell into a persona adopted from his favorite artists, focused on his music and DnD, and tried to finally enjoy his life.

Then he saw hell on earth in the form of Chrissy Cunningham’s twisted body hovering in midair and fracturing with horrific snaps. He ran like the coward the universe had trained him to be and made himself the prime suspect in doing so. Eddie knew that there was no possible way to go back to how things were before. As fucked up as his life had been, he’d still miss his early morning coffees with Wayne and campaigns with the guys. As soon as the cops found him, he would be as dead as Chrissy.

So, he followed the kids out of fear. He felt like he was living in some sort of fucked up lucid dream. His long-reigning crush was there shirtless in his battle vest, Nancy Wheeler was there with fucking guns (plural), Robin the band geek was handling explosives, and the redhead that lived across the street from him was hanging on the edge of life fully dependent on a Walkman blasting shitty pop music. What the fuck, how was any of this real? He didn’t fully believe it until he felt the pain accompanying the bat bites and heard Dustin’s cries begging him to stay awake. It was only then that he realized the universe had royally fucked him over once again.

He knew with his luck, or lack of it, that he wouldn’t be waking up from this nightmare. His eyes slid shut for the last time and all Eddie could think was at least things would be better now than they ever were before.

When his eyes finally did open to a hospital room filled to the brim with his uncle and new friends, a tear dropped from his eye and his chest lightened. From then on, he knew everything would be so much better.

It seemed the universe had decided to call a truce and abandon the tragedy that had plagued young Eddie Munson. From then on, he wouldn’t have fate darkening his days. With the Party at his side, Steve Harrington’s hand in his, and his uncle’s Garfield mug on the hospital side table, Eddie Munson’s life began anew.

#I really don’t know what this is #might be deleting this later but we shall see #I hope you guys enjoy it regardless!#stranger things #steddie #ish #steve harrington #eddie munson #fanfic #uncle wayne

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eddiessluttywaist · 10 months

Text

desiderium

an eddie munson series

AGELESS/BLANK/UNDER 18 BLOGS ARE NOT WELCOME TO INTERACT. PLEASE RESPECT MY RULES AND BOUNDARIES.

summary: eddie’s odd, forgotten childhood friend seeks him out when he needs her more than he realizes.

pairing: bsf!mechanic!bartender!eddie x eccentric!bsf!fem!reader

word count: 7,488 words

content/warnings: eventual smut so MDNI, fluff, swearing, blood (accidental cut), mentions of bullying, low self esteem, anxiety, mentions of embarrassment and shame, mentions of a history of bad relationships, smoking, car trouble (sorry if any of the car stuff isn’t accurate lmao). i think that’s it!

a/n: sorry for taking so long to update! i've been very busy. i hope you enjoy the new chapter! creds to whoever owns and posted those ^ photos! they’re not mine, i just made the collage!

part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - part 4 - part 5

“You what?” The man on the other line cackled in Eddie’s ear. “Ro- Robin! No, you gotta come here! Eddie called some chick a ‘good girl’. He totally scared her off, it’s hilarious.”

“Thank you, Harrington, you’re really helping me in my time of need,” Eddie seethed as he laid in bed. He heard some shuffling and then a familiar feminine voice sounded from the telephone.

“‘Good girl’? What is she? A dog?”

Eddie ran his hands over his face, jostling his bangs away from his forehead before suddenly jerking them away in gestures they couldn’t even see as he let out a bitter laugh.

“Why did I even call you two? I’m regretting so many choices today.”

“So, she didn’t like it?” Steve asked as Robin complained about him crowding the phone.

“Go use the one in the living room— no— stop-”

“This is my room. You go use the living room phone.”

“Ugh, you’re breathing on me, dingus!”

Eddie rolled his eyes over the typical bickering, choosing to focus on the question that actually had to do with their conversation.

“Uh — well — she got all freaked out and everything was awkward. When she was leaving, I was going to open the door for her and she thought I was going to hug her— I-I, ugh, it was horrible. So uhh… yeah, I’d say no. She didn’t like it… at… all.”

“You have zero game, man,” Steve chided after a beat of silence that had forced Eddie to sit with his shame.

“And neither do you.” Robin argued, finally waving him out of his own room. “Don’t listen to him, Eddie, he’s an idiot.”

“Thanks, Robin…,” he muttered even if it didn’t make him feel much better.

“You’re an idiot too, just so we’re clear,” she added, and he nodded despite the fact that — once again — she couldn’t even see him. “I can’t believe you called her a good girl.”

“Okay, how many times are we going to repeat it before I blow my brains out?” Eddie deflated with a distressed laugh, clasping his hands together. He heard another line pick up.

“What’d I miss?”

“Eddie wants to die.”

“I do not blame you, man. You know it’s never too late to come here in Indianapolis. Maybe even change your identity,” Steve suggested as he leaned up against the wall by his other phone, which he had nestled between his ear and his shoulder just like Eddie did.

“Yeah, cause I could afford living in the city,” he snickered mostly to himself before sighing as he ran his hands over his face again.

“Who is she anyway?” Robin wondered.

“She’s his weird, secret friend he’s kept from us,” Steve replied in a mutter.

“No, I- she’s not a secret and she’s not weird,” Eddie huffs. “She’s just… she hasn’t been around in a while. She’s a friend from before I moved in with Wayne.”

“Oh… oh,” Robin’s interest piqued again. “So, she’s like… a best-best friend?”

“He totally wants to nail her,” Steve tacked on, and Eddie found himself groaning as he sunk further into his bed, wishing it would swallow him whole.

“I don’t wan — will you quit it? Yes, we were very close.”

“And she just happened to show up out of nowhere. I’m telling you, Ed, she wants you. You should go for it. You haven’t been laid since Chrissy…,” Steve muttered that last comment, and Robin squeezed her eyes shut as she facepalmed.

“Or she could just need a friend…?” Robin countered, her voice weakly lilting upwards as she corrected him. She just hoped the Chrissy comment wouldn’t be enough to make Eddie draw back into himself.

“She knew you when you were kids. I’m sure you were just as weird as a little child Eddie, so I doubt she was all that fazed by you calling her uh… the thing you called her.”

“Maybe…,” Eddie muttered, picking at his nails and biting at them.

He was tired. That tea really did help, even if his exhaustion was put on hold by an absurd amount of embarrassment and anxiety. He could feel himself settling again, his eyelids getting heavier.

“I should go.”

Robin squeezed her eyes shut again and mentally chastised Steve for bringing up Chrissy so carelessly.

“Call us again. Okay, weirdo? To update us?” Robin urged, feeling a surge of protective instinct.

He was never around anymore, never called; and there was always this anxiety in the back of her mind that he wasn’t letting them know if things were getting too hard for him. Neither Steve nor she could figure out when they could check in on him because he never bothered to share his schedule with them. And when they did call it was incredibly rare for him to pick up. She couldn’t blame him for wanting to shut everyone out, but it only made her worry about what was going on with him.

“I don’t wanna bother you guys. I know you’re busy with city life,” Eddie teased with a playful theatricality to his tone, but his voice was soft with that creeping exhaustion.

“Nah, you know you can call whenever,” Steve replied, taking a break from his incessant joking to let some of his sincerity come through. “Plus, I gotta hear more about this secret girl.”

“Not a secret,” Eddie corrected, his eyes closing to soothe his urge to drift off, one brow raising lazily with his words.

“Just call, okay? Or we’ll keep bugging you until you update us,” Robin urged, a sing-song tone coming to her voice.

“Fine,” Eddie snickered, and this time he was actually able to get a goodbye in and sloppily slam his phone back down before knocking out.

There was only crackling now on the line between the two roommates.

“I worry about him,” Robin spoke up suddenly, just loud enough for Steve to catch her concerned voice.

“I know,” Steve sighed, placing the phone back onto the wall. “I do too.”

You had no intentions of ignoring Eddie after that night in his trailer, not explicitly anyways. You were still thinking about him constantly, but any pleasant thoughts were immediately invaded by embarrassment. It felt like you were experiencing it all over again and the accompanying swirl to your gut was overwhelming.

The reality of the next couple of Eddie-less days was that you were too engrossed in the aftereffects of that awkward exchange to reach out first, not to mention most of your attention going to your first job here in Hawkins. Despite your nerves, you did surprisingly well on Thursday and Friday night. Enough to get a small smile to bristle Ron’s bearded face and a mutter about maybe needing to get a new name tag ready. You were unbelievably cheery over the praise and acceptance, but you still had one more test to pass: weekend shifts. Those were their busiest, especially Saturday nights. If you make it from 4 o’clock to midnight with no major screw ups then you had the job. He promised.

So yes, you were actively avoiding being the first one to call, but to be fair you were also trying to attend to other aspects of your new life in Hawkins. Your focus was being diverted to getting this job, and spending time with Martha. You were distracted by moments of promising renewal in anticipation of the growing presence of Autumn — despite the crushing embarrassment of the other night.

That didn’t mean you weren’t thinking of him, though. If you weren’t shaking off the recent memory of Wednesday night, then you were indulging in the recent memory of Wednesday night. Him having you over; you making him tea; feeling close to him again as you exchanged stories — laughing together and smiling so hard the muscles in your cheeks hurt a little. The kind of pure smile you only got when you were with Eddie.

You thought about him as you styled your hair in a manner that helped to boost your confidence but wouldn’t get in your way during your shift. You couldn’t believe he had his own place, no matter how “shitty” he said it was. You couldn’t believe he was a tattooed mechanic and had hair. That was the real kicker for you. He didn’t have it shaved so close that he felt like a peach when you patted at the top of his head just to get on his nerves.

He had those long spirals that you wanted to reach across his small kitchen counter and swirl around your finger. Those curls inspired a habit of tilting his head to let his big brown eyes hide under his messy bangs; or sometimes he toyed with his curls to pull a chunk of it in front of his face. It was fascinating to see the way his features and behaviors have adapted to adulthood. Back home he was harassed daily for his “feminine” features, so the fluttery lashes and full lips were nothing new. But now he had grown into his generous mouth and his doe eyes, and so much of his youthful softness had made way for sharp definition — particularly in his jawline and cheekbones. He’s actually grown into the kind of person that intimidated you even if he was just Eddie. He made your palms sweat and had you thinking over every little thing you said. Y’know, things like Loo-ddie. You tried to reassure yourself that you only had nerves because you wanted to have him as a best friend again so badly, but some self-aware part of you knew the signs of an impending crush. Why couldn’t you have some self-control? Why did you have to gush over just about every man who showed you an ounce of kindness?

You wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but you even had brief heart eyes for Ron after seeing how sweet he was with Sandy. It made you yearn for what they had, and you recognized it was more about wanting such a wholesome relationship of your own than wanting someone twice your age, but you still felt ashamed about it. What’s wrong with you? You needed to let bosses stay bosses, and you needed to let best friends stay best friends. You needed Eddie to be a friend, you needed to keep those boundaries in place so you couldn’t ruin everything like always. He’s special, and you can’t just throw yourself at him and offer to give him whatever he wants just so you could feel like his everything — even if it’s only for a few minutes.

You glance at your hands now and fight the urge to chip away at your freshly painted nails to appease your low spirits. You sit with these thoughts for a moment, swallowing moisture back into your throat that felt too tight; then you forced yourself away from the cramped motel bathroom to finish getting ready for your shift. You couldn’t let yourself slip up and distract yourself with your own misery — it was Saturday, and this was your final step towards success. A measly success of a server job at a small-town bar, but you had to put a positive spin on it.

You couldn’t focus on self-loathing, and you couldn’t focus on Eddie.

“A new girl?” Eddie groaned as he rolled his sleeves up to the bends of his elbows. “The last time we had a new person I had to watch him every fucking second cause he had no clue what he was doing — shit, he even stole from you, didn’t he?”

“Yes,” Ron muttered bitterly, never happy about the reminder that someone had been sneaking cash out from under his nose. “She’s pretty good though. Real sweet and does her job.”

“I dunno… do we really need the help?”

“Kevin is back at school. We really need the help,” Ron chuckled, but felt a pang of sadness right to his chest knowing his youngest was back at college — or even in college in the first place — all the same. “Don’t be so sour. She’s a good kid.”

Eddie grumbled irritably but didn’t pester him any further. It was no use anyways. If Ron set his mind on something, then he wasn’t letting up. Sure, it made sense considering it’s his business, but he’s also stubborn as a bull and that quality had a history of surpassing logic sometimes.

About a quarter to four, Eddie was in the back when the bell rang.

“Well look at you, all nice and early again. You suckin’ up?” he heard Ron asking playfully, and Eddie rolled his eyes.

Great. A suck-up.

Just what he needed. Some goody two-shoes setting a new standard that he wouldn’t meet. He was lucky if he was on time in the first place with how much he slept in on the weekends, but Ron was always cutting him slack. Jus’ a small-town bar he’d say whenever Eddie scrambled into the building with an apology already slipping out at an incoherent pace.

He couldn’t hear the new girl’s reply, assuming it had been a nonverbal one rather than one so delicate and quiet that even Ron barely heard it before the novice made her way to the back.

“Hi, I don’t think we’ve worked together yet and I just… wanted… to… Loogie…?”

At the sound of your voice, Eddie was already turning around from where he was opening the recent delivery. His perception of the moment seemed to have been placed in slow motion and suddenly he was heating up with flashbacks of Wednesday night. Called her a good girl, no joke, called her a good girl his mind droned on repeat just to torture him.

“Wha — hey,” he laughed casually and thankfully avoided choking on his own spit. He swallowed thickly and his brow furrowed as his voice came out painfully hoarse. “You’re the new girl?”

“Guess so. If I do well tonight,” you murmured with a small smile, toying with your hands.

You had painted your fingernails a rich burgundy, and his eyes zeroed in on the small strokes of color before looking up at you again.

“I’m sure you’ll be okay, Ron seems really impressed with you…” Eddie offered with a light laugh after clearing his throat, suddenly feeling sheepish around you again.

“Don’t go tellin’ her that! I don’t want her thinking she doesn’t have to work hard tonight!” Ron shouted from the front, pulling a snicker out of you.

You swiftly place your purse on a hook before continuing the conversation. Even if it wasn’t the end of the world if Ron heard your conversation, you took a few steps closer to Eddie and lowered your voice a touch.

“So… did the tea help at all…?” you ask, risking a mention of Wednesday night. You lifted one sneakered foot up onto your toes and shifted nervously before settling it back down as you waited on his reply.

Eddie’s lips pushed out in thought as he brought his attention back to the delivery of nuts and pretzels (really, he was looking for an excuse to not have to look at you as he thought of that night).

“Oh, uh, yeah. Thanks — really helped,” he offered a partial smile as his eyes flitted over to you before turning down again just a fast.

You press your lips together in a weak smile of your own and nod but fall silent. Instead of giving into your urge to pick at your polish, you run the pads of your fingers over the smooth surface of your nails instead.

“‘m sorry for that hug,” you finally blurt out with an uneasy laugh. “I just- I really thought that was why you were reaching over, and I didn’t want to be rude so-”

Eddie’s eyes widened and finally removed himself from his suddenly oh-so-interesting task.

“No no no, you don’t have to apologize,” he promised as he stretched back to his full height. “I should’ve been offering anyw- ah, shit.”

Eddie hissed as he glanced down at his hand. While replying with a fervent need to reassure you, he had thoughtlessly grabbed at the wrong end of the box cutter and sliced the pad of his thumb.

“Oh my god, are you okay?” you rush over to him, instinctively cradling his hand with your own.

“Just a surface cut. Really.” Eddie chuckled. He really needed to go run it under cool water and bandage it, but he wasn’t ready to separate from you.

“What’s going on back there?” Ron questioned from the bar.

“Eddie cut his finger!” you replied as Eddie insisted “Nothing!” simultaneously.

Ron grumbled on his way to his back room that he had turned into a part kitchen, part break room, part delivery storage room. Surely there was some kind of code being broken there, but who cared? Clearly no one around Hawkins.

He eyed the way you two were situated but didn’t think much of it since you were probably just having a natural reaction to someone getting hurt.

“I swear…” he grumbled under his breath on his way over.

“You need to pay attention before you really hurt yourself one of these days,” Ron muttered, and grabbed Eddie’s wrist far harsher than when you reached out for him. “Aren’t you a mechanic? Don’t you know to watch where your hands are, kid?”

You cringed when he wiped at the spot with a rough napkin that sounded like it might as well have been sandpaper against the cut, then grunted.

“It’s fine. Just a bleeder,” he states with all the confidence of a certified physician and ruggedness of an old trucker before tugging up his jeans further into his partial beer gut and walking back out. “You know where the first aid kit is!”

“More than anyone,” Eddie added with a half grin to compliment his self-deprecation as he tilted his head, breathing out a soft laugh.

“Still accident prone, huh?” you ask with a slight scrunch to your nose and a lift to the corners of your lips, watching him head farther back in the multi-faceted room to the employee bathroom.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” He tilted back out of the room to offer you a cheeky grin, his hair jostling with the motion and then again when he flicked his head to get it out of his face.

“Oh, I dunno… Coulda learned your lesson after face planting into gravel,” you offer with an innocent tone, taking a moment to clock in before sauntering over.

“Well considering that happened several times, you should know better than to assume I’d ever learn,” he whispered playfully, grinning over at you.

“Guess so,” you snort, leaning into the doorframe.

“Had to rough this face up, y’know? Really dedicate myself to becoming a man,” Eddie used a deeper, rougher tone of voice and puffed his chest out as he held a paper towel to his thumb.

“It’s a shame it didn’t work,” you pouted before laughing at the hurt look he donned.

“You wound me, truly,” he moved his good hand to his chest.

“Not as often as you do, apparently,”

“Touché, touché,” he sighed, unclasping the first aid kit and flipping it open. “You’re still a lil shit, y’know that?”

“Can’t help it. Haven’t had anyone to banter with in years,” your head settled against the wood of the doorframe and his own tilted to the side as he regarded you. That smirk of his toyed on his lips as he considered your words.

He’s about to reply — surely with some cheeky remark about you needing him — but Ron was calling before he got the chance.

“Make sure you’re wearing gloves today,” Ron muttered to Eddie without lifting his attention from whatever he was writing down.

“You never wear gloves,” Eddie countered with a childish huff. “Only rich-ass bars in the city give a shit about that crap.”

“Yeah, well I ain’t a health hazard,” he snickered, finally raising his gaze to point his pencil at Eddie’s bandaged finger. “Gloves. Now.”

Eddie rolled his eyes but pulled gloves from the box under the countertop anyways. You’re on the other side of the bar, sitting on a stool and a smile pulling at your lips. Elbows on the countertop and chin balancing on your fists, you watch him intently with little giggles sneaking out.

“Don’t encourage him,” Ron pleads gruffly at the sound of you laughing over Eddie making a big show of pulling out the gloves and slipping them onto his hands.

Once he let each glove snap into place at his wrists, Eddie outstretched his arms and displayed his new accessory.

“Eh? Nice, right? Definitely won’t make everything I touch taste like latex,” Eddie nudged his boss who gave him a less than pleased look, but you were sure he was muffling his own amusement.

“Wanna learn how to bartend?” Ron asks you now. “I think there’ll be an opening soon.”

At that, Eddie leans back with a belly laugh, his dimples sinking into his cheeks.

You had unfortunately started your shift with the assumption that they had been messing with you when Ron and Sandy warned you about Saturday nights. When you arrived just before 4 o’clock there was nearly no one there besides the occasional regular; then twenty minutes past 5 o’clock came along and you were blasted back to Sunday mornings at the diner. The place was packed full of people all chummy with one another, which was charming until they were several drinks in and decided they knew you just as well.

Not all of them, but enough of them were flirting with you at every opportunity; and you were forced to use your customer service manners to deal with them. So many fake smiles were starting to make your cheeks ache.

Returning to the back with an empty tray, you rub at the muscles in one cheek with your free hand. You almost forgot how much service work meant forcing a pleasant attitude and dealing with aching feet. God, that was killing you more than anything. When you were leaving the motel, your trusty sneakers were like walking on clouds. Now, you were certain you had been stomping around on needles.

The music didn’t exactly help with your shift either while trying to hear requests and reply, especially since you weren’t one to use a loud tone. Ron insisted on live music whenever he could get it and you understood the appeal, but the band playing tonight apparently didn’t know how to have a respectable volume set for performing indoors.

You could handle it and you knew you’d form a routine with the locals that rushed in on the weekends and you’d learn how to cope with deafening musicians — you just needed to adjust to your new job.

What you couldn’t handle, as you were quickly learning, was seeing Eddie bartend. It was such a simple act, and yet it left you slack jawed while trying to stay focused on dishing out the drinks he prepared to the right people.

Something about the gloved hands and the rolled-up sleeves as he moved around the bar with such ease left you in the shadow of a crush looming overhead again. His chain bracelet and that familiar beaded bracelet were stacked on one wrist; he even had a few faded tattoos you caught glimpses of in the dim lighting. Not to mention the moving musculature in his strong forearms as he poured and served and wiped with a sort of sloppy expertise. You noticed there wasn’t a lot of mixing around here just like back home. Just a whole lot of small-town people looking for simple alcohol. The older ones seemed partial to a basic glass of whiskey or beer; and the younger ones all hopped up on the fact that they could finally drink legally were requesting shots.

Eddie had tied his hair back in a low bun with the occasional curl rebelling and framing his face that seemed to only be smiling or thinly veiling irritation whenever a mean drunk bitched about him not pouring enough. Either way it truly was something to behold.

As much as his looks should’ve been a passing thought, considering your place as an old friend, they insisted on lingering. You were still adjusting to knowing him this way and the odd disposition between knowing him like no one else and not knowing him at all continued to present a disorienting mix of feelings. The possibility of such complications never occurred to you when you became dead set on coming here, and you hated that you didn’t see it coming or brace yourself for it. Now you were stumbling through moving here for a childhood best friend and winding up finding a man in his place.

Then, of course, your thoughts circled back to your history with men. Don’t go there, don’t go there.

You let out a small sigh and checked the clock. 11:11. So close. So, so close. Before you knew it, it would be time to leave. Glancing at your notepad, you go over what that guy in the sweat stained sports tee asked for his cheap nachos. Extra jalapeños. He insisted on extra jalapeños and went into way too much detail of how “he’d be paying for it in the morning, but they’re just so damn good.”

“Having fun?” Eddie asked after his plodding jog to the back.

“Oh, you bet. An absolute blast,” you laughed, pouring the molten cheese over the thin tortilla chips. “Whatcha doing here?”

“Break,” Eddie answered simply as he flopped down in a chair in the small corner of the space dedicated to the employees. “Ron and Sandy got the bar for now.”

“Ahh,” you hum, spooning the jalapeños on top of the mountain of ingredients.

“Y’know, you’re pretty good at the whole bartending thing. It’s actually kinda cool,” you admitted, glancing over your shoulder to smile over at him.

“I just pour alcohol for the local drunks, but thanks,” Eddie laughed diffidently over the compliment, sliding his metal lunch box closer to get to his baggie of pretzels.

“Is that your dinner?” You ask now, fighting to keep the conversation alive. You’d take talking about pretzels over a lull in conversation.

“Oh uh--” he glanced down at the bag. “I might make something when I get home if I have enough energy.”

“You better. Or I’ll be forced to come over again. Pretzels aren’t dinner.”

“Oh, I see,” Eddie grinned. “Then you can come over and I can make a fool of myself again.”

“It’s okay, I’ll do it too. It’ll balance everything out,” you offered, placing the hot plate on your tray.

“Oh, well there we go. Long as we’re both fools, then it should be okay,” he agreed with feigned seriousness to your proposal then let his smile curl up his lips again.

“Of course,” you matched his endearing expression. “We’re always fools.”

“Always fools…” he tested aloud while leaning back to teeter the metal foldout chair back and forth.

“I concur, Critter.”

“They’re awfully chummy, hm?” Sandy whispered to Ron as she watched you two interact while cleaning up for the night.

“Yeah. I hate it,” Ron grumbled out, scrubbing at a stain. “He better not scare her off. She’s a good waitress.”

“Don’t be like that,” Sandy sighed, nudging her hip into his. “I think it’s sweet. And he’s a good kid, I don’t see him hurting her — let alone enough to cost us an employee.”

“So, we’re definitely keeping her ‘round?”

“Yes, we settled on that this morning — would you quit avoiding the topic?” She urged and Ron groaned as he stretched his back.

“It’s alright, I guess. Jus’ don’t want any drama around here. Too old for it.”

“So, I didn’t scare you off?” Eddie asked as you cleaned off tables together.

“Scare me off?” you repeated, glancing over at him. “Why’d you say that?”

Eddie eyed you through his lashes then looked back down at the same spot he’s wiped down probably six times now.

“Well, you brought up coming over again,” he let out a soft chuckle. “So, I’m guessing I wasn’t that much of an idiot on Wednesday?”

“Oh psh — please,” you laughed it off, standing up straighter after swiping the rag over the tabletop one more time. “If anything, I was being stupid.”

“Oh, I wasn’t saying you weren’t being stupid,” Eddie joked with that obnoxiously gorgeous grin, finally separating from that same table he kept cleaning. He sauntered over to you, his amusement and proximity warming you as he looked down at you. “Just that I was also stupid.”

“I’d say you were especially stupid, but I was trying to be nice,” you shot back in a dulcet tone, grinning up at him.

“Be nice?” Eddie repeated with a huff of disbelief, grinning when that earned him a jab to his side. “Gone soft on me, Critter? Not the same girl that’ll throw a remote at my head?”

“I only did that if you were particularly annoying while I was trying to watch TV,” you laughed, nudging his chest to just barely make him stumble back. Not that it discouraged that man who only smiled brighter.

“Well then, I guess I have an excuse for being such an idiot all the time. You really knocked something loose all those times you hit me with that remote.”

“Sure, it was me that knocked something loose,” you teased in a giggle, making your way over to the last couple of tables. Your laughter only builds up at the face he gives you — both playfully hurt and encouraged to get you back.

Within seconds you noticed the way he started to twist up his rag, and you were squealing and rushing away from him. Eddie chased after you and whipped at you with the towel whenever he got the chance, occasionally jamming his hip into a table or a chair with a breathy “Oof.” Amongst your squeaks of empty fear, you were still cackling and tried to get him back with your own towel.

“Children!” Ron suddenly announced, and you two slowed down to a stop — still breathless and giggly. “I’m old and would like to go to sleep. Maybe finish cleaning before flirting?”

Sandy gave him a look that could kill for that, then followed Eddie’s example and whipped at his behind with a rag.

Both of your faces flushed at the accusation, but thankfully weren’t forced to sit with the embarrassment of being called out by Ron. Instead, all your attention went to cackling over Ron’s tired reaction to his wife snapping a towel at his ass.

He looked genuinely angry for a moment, and then he was clearing his throat and wiping the bar cleaner off his hands and twisting up his own towel.

“Nope — no — Ron,” Sandy started with a warning tone, but she was already laughing, slowly backing away.

“Gotta play fair,” Ron pointed out and whipped at her thigh. That was enough to send Sandy squealing and Ron chased after her to the back room while the two of you leaned into your laughter.

You’d do anything for a love like that.

“Still not a fan of pretzels for dinner?” Eddie chanced a glance over at you with a lazy, half grin as he toyed with his keys and walked you over to your car.

“Definitely not a fan of pretzels for dinner,” you answered, laughing under your breath and nudging his hip with your own.

“It’s a shame cause y’know,” Eddie yawned dramatically as he stretched out his arms and then flopped into the side of your car. “I’m real tired. If someone doesn’t follow through with their offer, that’s for sure all I’ll be having.”

You tilted your head, feeling that post-customer service ache to your cheeks as you fought the urge to smile at this absolute idiot leaning against your car. His elbow was propped up on the roof, his fist supporting his head and squishing his cheek.

“I don’t know if I have the energy to cook right now,” you sighed, doing your best to match his drama. “But you know what?”

“What, Critter?” He hummed, shoving himself away from the car to move a few stray hairs from your face and in that moment, you might as well have melted into the cracked and sun-bleached pavement. “I’m invested. Do go on.”

“I can buy us fast food,” you whispered to provide a surreptitious air to burgers and fries. Screw it. You’ve been good about eating real food. Maybe it was time to associate these meals with something positive for once. Whatever excused your addiction to excessive oil and salt.

“Ah, much better than pretzels,” he laughed, shoving one of his hands into his jacket pocket. “I’d be honored.”

“Just like old times,” him being closer to you to move some hair out of your face encouraged you to toy with one of the pins on his coat. A soft breeze swirled through the parking lot, and you were both reminded of how stuffy and smoke-filled work had been as you breathed the fresh air in. You caught the scent of a distant bonfire, but it was nothing like the cloud of tobacco back in The Hideout. The chill of the air combined with the musk of a faraway fire spoke of Fall, sweetening your already pleasant mood.

“Remember that time we got large pizzas for both of us on movie night?”

“Yeah,” Eddie let out a soft laugh. “You threw up on the carpet.”

“Yeah, and you got in trouble for using your dad’s credit card,” you add a small giggle of your own, just for your heart to sink at the shift in his expression. You shuffled in your spot.

“Sorry… I probably shouldn’t… I shouldn’t keep bringing him up,” you muttered, dropping your hand away from his W.A.S.P. pin.

“No — no, no it’s okay really,” Eddie was quick to reassure you, but your mood was still steadily spoiling and dragging the pit of your stomach down with it at even a glimpse of him being bothered by you. Upset, angry, annoyed, fed up — whatever it was. You were certainly paying the cost of your penchant for nostalgia, and even the aroma of an early October night couldn’t save you.

“I like talking about when we were kids,” he added in a hushed tone that eased your spiral a touch. You glanced up at him through your lashes. “Really. I do. Makes me feel… ah, I don’t know.”

He admitted that last comment with a huff. It was filtered through amusement over his inability to speak before he rolled his lower lip inward in thought. Both of his hands were shoved in his pockets now and he swayed in his spot while kicking a piece of gravel forward. He finally released his lower lip again which was left with a slight sheen to it now, and he settled on a shrug of defeat. He couldn’t think of what he wanted to say.

You stared at him, this impromptu moment of softness burning through you in a way you weren’t expecting. Just as he couldn’t understand exactly why he enjoyed discussing his childhood as long as it was with you — you couldn’t understand the sudden pang of nausea that came from hanging onto his words and just to drop down over a noncommittal shrug. Your anxiety barreled into you in a sudden flash, leaving you somewhere in between the pain and the comfort of clinging to the past with him.

“Makes me feel cared about, I guess. Especially since we haven’t been friends in a while,” he finally concluded. “You don’t have to remember any of that stuff, but you do… it’s nice.”

“We’re always friends,” you insisted with a small smile, doing your best to not let everything fall apart over that once brief change of expression especially since things were looking up again.

“Yeahhh, you’re alright…,” Eddie murmured. “I guess I’ll keep you.”

“Oh, how generous of you,” you snort, attempting to move him to the side so you can get to your car, just for him to reach out a hand to settle on your upper arm. He gently urged you to turn around as he pushed himself off your car again.

“C’mon, I’ll drive. I don’t trust that thing,” Eddie insisted as he kept a careful hold on your elbow while guiding you towards his van.

“What?” you question, looking back at your lonely car. “I’ve had her forever, she’s perfectly safe… I can’t just leave her here.”

“Your brake pads are shit.”

“What?” you ask again with a slight pout and furrowed brows.

“When you visited me the other day,” he started with a light laugh to buffer his confession. “Your car sounded like it was screaming when you were parking.”

You reached his van that had aged gracefully over the years with a mechanic at its beck and call. Eddie unlocked the passenger side door and held it open for you, but you couldn’t stop looking at your car.

“She’s just tired s’all,” you frown, feeling guilty over abandoning an inanimate object no matter how silly it felt.

“She’s just gonna kill you if you don’t replace your brake pads s’all,” Eddie leaned into you with his mocking whisper. Your sad glance up at him is enough to make his playful expression falter. His heavy and dramatic exhale already pulls a smile back onto your face, knowing he was caving in some way or another.

“I’ll bring ‘er to Thach’s and replace them for you,”

“Thank you, Loogie,” you swooned, and he rolled his eyes over your excessively cooing tone.

You were lucky to have favoritism on your side.

“Give it to me straight, doc. Will she make it?”

Eddie glanced over at you with a faux glare.

“How many times are you going to ask me that?”

“I dunno, how many times are you going to squint at me instead of answering?”

“You know I’m doing this for free right? After hours? After already working my second job all night?”

“Ooo, you sound like such an adult,” you squeeze your shoulders up to your ears with a grin, a brown bag stocked with artery-clogging goodness on your lap. He shook his head at you, looking away again to hide his poorly masked amusement. He could say all he wanted about doing this for free, but you could still give him a hard time. He was getting paid whether he wanted it or not. Even if he didn't accept it from you personally, you'd at least leave cash at the front desk and ask the nice receptionist to give it to him.

“Alright, c’mere,” he waved you over eventually. You perked up, moving out of the hard plastic chair in the garage where you left the fast food in your place. “And can you bring that display over? On the table?”

Nodding, you snatched it on your way over to Eddie and kneel beside him.

“Okay so,” he started off with a sigh. Not a great sign.

“Best case scenario, your brake pads look like this,” a greasy index finger points to one of the pads on display before moving to the one next to it. “This is how they’d look with a more moderate amount of wear to them – not great and you'll want to replace them, and then this is how they look when you need to get them replaced ASAP.”

“And this is your brain on drugs,” you chimed in with the theme, before shrinking under the look he gave you.

“Sorry,” you murmured, even though he broke and smiled over your bad joke.

You returned to observing the gradual decline in buffers on the display and shrug a bit.

“Okay, so what about Sherry?”

Eddie groaned as he leaned back to grab the discarded piece of metal and held it up to show you. It looked like a flat, grimy cracker in comparison to the examples on the display.

“They’re practically just the backing plates at this point, I don’t know how you’re not dead,” the piece clinked against the cement floor when he dropped it back down. “How long have they been squealing?”

Eddie’s brow furrowed and he became visibly pained by the way you had to think about it. It wasn’t coming from a patronizing, “how can you be so dumb” kind of place, but rather it stemmed from the anxiety of knowing you were driving around like this.

“I dunno… I noticed a while ago, so I just played my music louder,” you shrugged, and Eddie snorted amidst his distress. He sat up more to lean his back on Sherry. “But then I had to start stomping on the brakes way before I usually would to stop in time.”

“Yeah, that’s generally not a great sign,” he snickered as you started to.

“I’m so sorry, Sherry…” you frowned despite your previous giggling, raising a hand to caress one of her doors. Eddie lifted himself up off the ground with a grunt, heading over to a sink to wash his hands. You crane your neck to follow him, dropping your hand down from your car and start playing with the creeper, rolling it back and forth.

“So, she’ll get some new brake pads and she’ll be as good as new?”

“Well, I don’t want to just replace those, I’ll check out the whole braking system,” Eddie turned to face you completely, wiping the remaining water and suds off his hands. He grabbed the bag you left on the seat and made his way back to you.

“How’d you learn all this stuff?” you asked, thanking him as he handed you your burger before taking a monstrous bite out of his own.

“Uh, my uncle taught me,” he said around his food, sucking a bit of ketchup off the side of his thumb. You noticed the sad glance down to the floor, so you backed off. You didn’t need another moment like earlier when you brought up his dad again.

“I just can’t get over the fact that you’re a grown up…” you murmured to yourself, looking down at your meal. Eddie eyed you as he kept chomping away at his food. The horrid sound that you’ve always despised motivated you to look up at him again, and laughter bloomed from your chest at the sight of the mess around his mouth. His chewing slowed as he blinked his big eyes at you. Gulp.

“What? What’s so funny?”

“You still eat like an obnoxious kid,” you teased, kicking a foot out to nudge him and pull multiple napkins out of the bag for him.

He simply shrugged in response with a cheeky grin, accepting the napkins that he unceremoniously smeared over his lips.

“Hey, you’re the one who wanted to be here,” he raised his hands up in defense now, chuckling to himself.

“Yeah, I am…” you murmured, leaning your head back against Sherry as a fond smile formed on your lips while you watched him start to dig through the bag for any stray fries to add to his container. He shoved most of them right into his mouth before glancing at you again.

“What?”

“Nothing… just happy to have my best friend back,” you murmured, and he silently melted at the sincerity. God, did he feel lucky for once.

You take a beat before outstretching your arm to present him with your downturned hand with just your pinky out. Eddie recognized the old gesture and wiped his hand on his pants, despite the napkins at his disposal, before reaching his own hand out. Interlocking pinkies was of course typical of some childish pact which the two of you did plenty of times as kids, but sometimes you sought this out simply for a moment of comfort. It made you feel held and even as kids, Eddie had the emotional maturity to understand how lonely you felt because of your family. So, when you needed someone to hold your pinky, he was there. The only difference was now his pinky was closer to the width of your thumb and nearly swallowed your pinky whole when he wrapped it around yours. Just another adjustment to Eddie being an adult, which left an unlaughed snicker in your chest at the realization, but it comforted you all the same.

And this night in a dingy old garage after a long shift was easily the best night you’d had in years.

taglist: @mystars123 @h-ness1944 @ohmeg @milkymil-k @eddiesprincess86 @stopbeingcurious @corrodedcoffincumslut @sidthedollface2 @spoonflix @madaboutjoe @fckyeahlames @corrcdedcoffin @damon-loves-pie @bebe07011 @eponaartemisa @aysheashea

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corrodedseraphine · 11 months

Text

timezone | #1 only thing that keeps us apart is a different timezone

pairing: eddie munson x fem!reader

chapter summary: Despite the love that is between you, the time has come to part ways with Eddie so that he can fully enjoy the wild chase of his dreams.

TW: smut (or an attempt to write one) but very tiny metion of it because I am not good at writing it I am sorry if it's bad

the story is also avaliable on ao3

masterlist | eddie munson masterlist | general masterlist

This chapter is a little short, but I hope it's not too bad! You can expect an explanation of the situation with Chrissy in the next chapter, I hope you don't feel discouraged by it. Moreover, I apologize for the poor attempt to write smut, writing such things is still new to me

When you woke up it was still dark. It couldn't have been earlier than 2 am. His arm hugged you around the waist and from behind you you could hear quiet snoring. Feeling like you were thirsty, you slowly released yourself from the embrace and dressed some old Eddie's T-shirt that was lying on the floor by the dresser. Somewhere in the darkness you also managed to find your panties on the floor among the rest of the clothes scattered on it. The night was pleasantly quiet and peaceful. No screams or sudden noises or crackling. Just the quiet hum of the wind. Leaving the room you went down to the kitchen and poured two glasses of water, you knew that when Eddie woke up he would whine that he was thirsty. When you returned he was lying on his back snoring even louder. You just smiled and shook your head. You remembered how at the beginning of your relationship, during your first nights together, this snoring was unbearable. You were able to wake up several times in one night and then him only to have him roll over on his side, because then at least he didn't sound like an old tractor. Who would have thought that one day you would miss it. Despite the fact that he was at your fingertips you already felt a longing that crushed your heart. The thought that this was your last night together was like a death sentence. It was the last time you could feel the warmth of his body and hear his voice directed only to you.

When Eddie recovered fully from his experiences in the Upside Down Dr. Owens activated some of his connections and managed to get Corroded Coffin a contract with one of the music labels in New York. Without a second thought, they immediately accepted the offer. It was the fulfillment of their dreams. For you and Robin, he managed to ensure a place at the University of California, which you also agreed to, knowing that this was your only chance to escape Hawkins and if it weren't for this you probably would never have been able to afford college in your lives. Steve, to everyone's surprise, turned down the offer to go to college. Instead, with a little help from Owens, he managed to open a bar on the beach in California, which very quickly became one of the most popular.

Thus, a new door opened before you, but it led to two opposite ends. You loved Eddie with all your heart, so no matter how much it hurt you wanted him to realize his dreams, to enjoy life as much as he could, so after many hours of conversations, you both came to the conclusion that you would take a break. You didn't want to be the reason he had to limit himself, and you also preferred to avoid situations that could get out of hand if you still stayed together and tried a long-distance relationship. You wanted him to have a full rockstar experience. Never in your life would you want to be the reason why he should regret holding back from something solely because of you. So this solution seemed to be the most reasonable for you.

"Babe?" his sleepy voice snapped you out of your reverie.

"I'm here, I went to get water, you want some?" you asked handing him a second glass.

"You are wearing my old clothes." he said taking a sip.

"Do you want them back?" you asked raising an eyebrow.

"You wear them better." he replied smiling charmingly.

"Today is a full moon, maybe that's why I can't sleep." you said looking at the open window from which you could see the moon. "The moon looks beautiful."

"Sweetheart, every time I see your face, the moon should be jealous."

"Charming as always." You laughed quietly and sat next to him on the bed. "I'm gonna miss you so much." you whispered while placing your hand on his cheek. "So fucking much."

"I will miss you too." he took a deep breath, closing his eyes. "Don't forget me please."

"I will never forget you Eddie Munson. How can I forget someone I gave my heart to?"

"I love you. You and only you. Remember about it, always, no matter what happens..." he grabbed your hand and placed it on his chest. You felt a gentle, rhythmic beating under your palm. "...It beats only for you. No one else. Only for you."

Was that possible? Despite the fact that somewhere out there in the world there were millions of beautiful fans waiting for him, ready to do a lot to be at his side, could his heart still remain yours?

"I know what you're thinking about baby." he took your chin and directed you so that you were looking straight into his eyes. "This will only be a temporary break, we'll both get a little fun, I'm sure you'll make more than one surfer or nerd's head spin." he laughed.

"Eddie!" you playfully jabbed him in the arm.

"What? Have fun babe, because sooner or later you're going to have to break all their hearts when we find each other again, because your heart belongs to me and mine belongs to you. This is not a forever goodbye baby. Only temporary." You wanted to be as sure of all this as he was. You also struggled to hold back the urge to give up your college just to fly with him to New York, but that wasn't a good idea. Your presence in this adventure would only be a limitation. "Besides, I won't let you forget about me, I'll call you every hour just to tell you that I'm losing my mind without you." He pulled you closer by smacking you on the lips. "You are the love of my life, nothing will change that. After I finish my first tour, the first thing I'll do is buy Wayne the little house he's always dreamed of." he chuckled. "And when the second one is over, I will immediately get on a plane and fly straight to California, buy a ring with the most beautiful diamond in the world and put it on your finger, of course, if you agree." He kissed you on the forehead. His dreams were beautiful, you were glad that you were still a part of them however you couldn't stop the thought that this vision was too beautiful to be true.

"I have something for you..." you said with difficulty holding back tears. "I wanted to give it to you tomorrow at the airport, but..." You went to the drawer from which you took out a small box. Returning to your seat you sat down opposite him and handed it to him. Inside there was a new necklace waiting for him with a guitar pick that had your initials on it, one side was his and the other was yours.

"Baby..." he whispered, only then did you notice that tears were also gathering in his eyes.

"Before you put on..." you took off the ring you received from your parents for your eighteenth birthday from your hand. It was one of your favorites, it looked like the usual, a simple silver circle but sentimental significance was huge. You took the chain and gently slipped the ring over it.

"But it's your favorite, you can't-." he said still looking at the gift.

"I want you to have it, plus you said you would give me a new one in a while, so..." you smiled slightly.

"Does that mean you say yes?" he grinned.

"Of course I do silly. How could I not?"

"Help me put it on." he said turning his back to you.

"Even if the only thing that keep us apart is seven thousand miles, I want you to remember that your home is in my heart." you said looking at the necklace as he turned to face you.

"Come here." He grabbed you by the wrist and pulled you close so that you were now sitting on top of him with your arms around his neck. "I love you. I love you to the point of madness." he said kissing you. The kiss was needy. The clothes you were wearing were on the floor again, both of you in need of intimacy.

His hot lips placed kisses along your neck going to your breasts, his hands wandered over your body wanting to remember every little detail.

"I love you Eddie." You moaned right in his ear.

"And I love you. Only you. You and olny you, my sweet angel." he replied embracing you tightly around the waist and tipping you over so that you were now under him.

"Baby, please." you said looking straight into his eyes. "I need you as close to me as possible."

"Me too, sweet girl." He leaned in to kiss you, and after a moment he filled you with all of himself. "You are so perfect for me, mine, only mine." he said feeling you wrap your legs around him.

"Only yours." you repeated.

That night you made love like there was no tomorrow. You couldn't count all the declarations of love that came out of your mouths. With desperation you wanted to be as close as possible to each other as if you wanted to stockpile feelings of closeness for the time of separation which was approaching mercilessly fast. Every I love you from his lips you wanted to lock in a jar and keep for all the coming nights filled with emptiness and longing. Eddie felt the same way, despite his joy and excitement that his dreams were about to come true he too couldn't hold back the tears when outside the window you witnessed the dark night slowly turning into soft shades of orange and the first rays of sunshine already greeting you over Hawkins. Holding each other in your arms, you both wanted to stop time, if only for a moment to enjoy each other even longer. Unfortunately, the world was rushing unmercifully forward without bothering about the pain in your hearts accompanying one of the most beautiful sunrises.

The rest of the morning passed you by like a fog, you barely remembered the way to the airport, the only thing you remembered was that you both sat with Eddie in the back seats constantly clingling to each other. Also at the airport you sat on his lap cuddled up to him. You didn't care about other people's stares. Gareth, Jeff, Simon, Uncle Wayne and Robin knew what was going on and understood perfectly your need for closeness. The separation of people who had the purest kind of love for each other like the two of you made it hard for them too. They looked at you with sadness and helplessness, because they knew that nothing would be able to help. When it came time to board the plane Eddie stood still, paralyzed with fear.

"I don't have to fly." he said, turning to face you. "I don't want to go without you." his voice was breaking. "It's too hard. Ah, fuck." He wiped his tears with his hand.

"Baby, you have to go." with all your strength you restrained yourself from bursting out crying. You had to be strong for him. "This is your dream, you have to try." you placed your hands on his cheeks.

"But you..." his breathing became more and more uneven.

"You know where to find me. I'll be waiting, I'll be your number one fan and I'll be waiting for you, always." you forced yourself to smile. "I'm damn proud of you, Eddie."

"I love you." he leaned his forehead against yours.

"And I love you too." you replied, kissing the tip of his nose. "Now go, go give them hell, rockstar." Laying one last kiss on his lips, you saw Gareth pat him on the shoulder, saying they had to go to the plane now. Through a blurry vision you watched him disappear into the huge line of people, and it wasn't until you saw the plane take to the air that you let all the emotions come out of you. All the way back you were crying your eyes out, Robin and Uncle Wayne, who was driving tried to comfort you from time to time, but they knew that no words could erase the pain that was gripping you.

Eddie's life turned a hundred and eighty degrees, constant concerts, parties "sex, drugs and rock and roll" style quickly took over his life, letting himself get carried away, but he was doing it within reason, he saw with his own eyes how drugs destroyed his father's life when addiction became the most important thing in his life, so he limited himself to weed, which was enough. He would lie that he didn't like the idea of groupies who were actually begging him to do what he wanted with them. The enchantment, though, quickly passed. No matter how crazy sex he had, no matter how good the alcohol he drank and enjoyed parties with the biggest stars, he still didn't feel fully happy. That's why, no matter how tired he was after more concerts and parties, he always found time to call the other end of the country at least once a day to hear your voice. The time zone was not an obstacle, he knew that he could call in the middle of the night and you would still pick up and enjoy listening to all sorts of stories and his ramblings about all the new song ideas, assuring you, of course, that the love-themed ones were about you. He didn't tell you everything, of course; you both agreed that it would be better for him to keep his adventures with groupies to himself, and you about the guys and their tanned bodies you had to deal with in California. They didn't matter to you. You both knew that no matter how much fun you had with others your hearts were on the other side of the country which still hurt.

You, Eddie, Robin, Steve and the kids were not the only people the government had to compensate for all the trauma. Chrissy, who almost became a victim of Vecna also got her chance in New York as a spermodel. Unfortunately, the fashion world could be cruel, and the agency that looked after her decided that the best way to promote her would be to arrange a relationship with a fifteen-year older, sleazy fashion designer. Terrified by the idea, she went to the only place where she could feel safe. Eddie had just finished talking to you when he heard a knock on the door. He looked in surprise at the girl standing there.

"Eddie, I need your help." She said entering the apartment with panic in her eyes. Explaining the whole situation and revealing her secrets to him, she also presented the idea she had come up with. Eddie being already a bit tired of the groupies who didn't give him a break said it would be a good idea and an excuse to reject them.

"So when do we start?" he asked looking at Chrissy who was sitting across from him.

"As soon as possible." she replied.

The only thing he hadn't thought through was your reaction, because as soon as Chrissy's plan saw the daylight you stopped answering your phone calls, always answered by a deafening silence. He even started writing letters, but never got a response. He was not stupid. He knew what was going on and why you were ignoring him. With pain, he had to admit that you had the right to do so. As time passed, he began to regret everything he had agreed to, however, it was too late to give up. He also knew that if he didn't agree, Chrissy would already be stuck in a bubble of unhappiness until the very end.

taglist: @i-me-mine @phantypurple

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str4wb3rry-guy · 1 year

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chrissy crushing on eddie and trying to spend more time with him, only whenever they hangout steve harrington and/or robin buckley are usually there too. which is fine, its not like she wants to make a move on him yet.

they start hanging out more and more and a month or two later, chrissy is at the quarry with them and while shes trying to get eddie to look at her, she cant get his eyes off steve. steve notices and makes some flirty remark abt, making eddie blush thru his comeback. thats all chrissy needs to realize she doesnt have a chance w eddie, even if he also likes girls, hes completely gone for someone already.

shes fairly disappointed, upset that she got her hopes up for so long. but shes not as emotional abt it as she thought shed be.

she calls robin and tentatively tells her abt it, not naming names in fear of outing eddie and/or steve. after some kicking around the bush, however, robin immediately clocks who shes talking abt.

robin doesnt rly know what to do when chrissy cries, even if its just a few tears, so she just gathers her in a tight hug. they talk it out, and by the end of the night, chrissy doesnt think she needs a boyfriend. robin makes her happier than any boy ever has.

but then she realizes that eddie is her platonic soulmate whom she cannot live without and they talk abt their big gay crushes together🕺💃

#buckingham #stranger things #chrissy cunningham #steve harrington #eddie munson #st4 #steddie #platonic hellcheer #platonic eddissy #platonic soulmates stobin #platonic soulmates hellcheer #platonic soulmates eddissy #platonic stobin #robin buckley

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ladykailitha · 1 year

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In the Midnight Hour Part 4

We get more of the party as plan is starting to form.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Eddie landed on the roof and tapped on the window. The window immediately opened and he leapt back in surprise.

“Holy shit!” he cried. “You’ve never been waiting for me before.”

Steve chuckled. “Jokes on you. I’m always waiting. I just usually am in bed when I do. “

Eddie cocked his head. “You wait for me?”

“I can set my watch to you showing up, you know?” Steve teased. “At exactly midnight, like clock work.”

Eddie blinked. “You know...I don’t think I realized that I was that punctual. Mrs Click would have been impressed. Was always late to her class.”

Steve shook his head. “I don’t think anyone liked her class, not even the history nerds.”

“You a history nerd, Harrington?” Eddie asked as he sat down on the roof gripping his ankles.

“No,” Steve said as he crawled out of his window to sit next to him. “The dates made my head swim. Though that could have been the concussion.”

“Just how many concussions have you had?” Eddie barked.

Steve cocked his head to the side. “Is that your first question tonight?” he asked with a wink.

Eddie laughed. “Sure, pretty boy, if that how you wanna play it. That’s my first question.”

“Um...if I’m counting them right, three,” Steve said after a moment.

“Three in three years?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s not good,” Eddie said softly. “Do you know that too many of them can kill you? Like even if it’s a little bump, having too many concussions will make your brain so soft a little bump could kill you. And you’re out there fighting monsters, protecting those kids and for what? You don’t owe them a god damn thing, Steve. Jesus Christ!”

Steve looked down at his hands. “Did I tell you the first time I faced a monster I ran?”

Eddie’s mouth went dry. “Nope. No way. I’ve seen you in action, dude. There is no way you ran.”

He shrugged. “You can ask Nancy and Jonathan if you want. They’ll tell you how I turned tail and ran.”

“Wait...” Eddie said slowly. “I do know this story. Nancy was telling it Robin. You came back. You listened to their screams of terror and came back.”

Steve looked up at him with a small smile. “Yeah, I did. Jonathan had to drag me and Nancy out so we could all run together. But this is what I meant when I told you give yourself some credit. Fight or Flight. You couldn’t fight it. So you ran. It’s okay to run. As long as you come back when you need to.”

Eddie closed his eyes.

“And you did, Eddie,” Steve said softly. “You fought for Dustin who you wanted to protect.”

“I did, didn’t I?” Eddie said with a smile.

Steve bumped their shoulders together. “My turn. Why was Chrissy Cunningham in your trailer that night?”

“Fuck, man,” Eddie said. “Veto.”

Steve winced. “Sorry.”

Eddie sighed. “I just don’t want to get you into trouble. It wasn’t strictly legal. But she was so scared, man. Pure terror in her eyes.”

Steve nodded. “I think Vecna had been haunting her for a while. Like what he did with Max and Nancy.”

Eddie’s head snapped up. “What?”

“You didn’t know?” Steve asked with a frown. “All the victims had Vecna in their head.”

Eddie thought for a minute. “Holy shit, that makes more sense.” He looked at Steve. “Is that what you think, that I’m a Vecna specter living inside your head?”

“You are my greatest failure, man,” Steve said quietly. “It would make sense.”

Eddie frowned. “You told me not be a hero, and I did it anyway. I thought you said that you were pragmatist. What happened to that?”

Steve sighed heavily. “It’s Dustin. He blames me for your death. He’s changed so much in his grief and there is nothing anyone can say or do to pull him out of it.”

“Shit.” Eddie had been so caught up in the thrill of teasing Steve that he forgot that there were other people that would miss him.

“You should go visit him,” Steve murmured. “Or your Uncle Wayne.”

Eddie let out a low whine. “I can’t. You know why I can’t.” He tapped to the side of his head.

Steve let out a low gasp. “Shit, man. I got so wrapped up in everything that I forgot I don’t live in a world that you aren’t some bastard’s plaything.” He ran his hands over his face. “That was cruel of me to suggest it.”

Eddie nodded. “I wish I wasn’t. But even I know if Veckie decides to the plug, I’m back to being dead.”

Steve nodded back. He ran a finger over the scar on Eddie’s chin. “I wish I could have saved you.”

Suddenly Eddie was clutching his head.

“Eddie!” Steve called. He reached out to touch him but Eddie shrank away.

“It’s‒ah!” Eddie screamed. “It’s Vecna. He’s angry. Oh god, it hurts!”

Steve was on his knees. He didn’t dare touch Eddie, but he hovered close. “What hurts?”

Eddie just screamed and then suddenly he was being yanked into the air, his feet kicking as he was pulled back to the Upside Down.

Steve stared at the no vacant spot where Eddie once was in shock. He had touched Eddie before. But this time it hurt him. What had changed?

Steve didn’t sleep at all that night, tossing and turning. The guilt of having hurt Eddie, eating away his insides. He knew that there was only one person he could talk to about this.

He showered and dressed. On his way he stopped by and grabbed donuts. He pulled into the parking lot and fought to control his breathing. He pounded his fists on the steering wheel and he squeezed his eyes shut.

It was the right choice. It had to have been. Because there wasn’t another. He got out the car and grabbed the donuts.

“You can do this,” he said to himself, talking himself up.

Steve looked up at the hospital, lips quivering, hands shaking as he gripped the box. He took one step. And then another. Soon he was at reception asking for her room number because he knew she had been moved since the last time he was here.

He walked into the room to see Max sitting up and chatting with someone just behind the door. He took another step and immediately tried to back out.

“Oh shit,” he said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know anyone else was here.” He stepped back, but realized he still had the donut box in his hand. “Oh here. I mean. You can have these. I’ll come back later.”

“You take one step out this room, Steve Harrington,” Max growled from her bed, “and I will hunt you down.”

Steve looked down at the floor. “I think that’s up to Dustin, if he wants me here.”

Suddenly he had an arm full of Dustin Henderson and they were both crying.

“I didn’t mean it,” Dustin cried. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Steve just tucked the boy under his chin and held tight.

Max huffed. “It’s about time, morons.”

They finally stepped away from each other.

“I’m sorry, too,” Steve said. “I should have left someone else with you so he didn’t feel the need to protect you.” I should have stayed.

“He was so brave,” Dustin whimpered.

“I‒I might have some news on that front,” Steve said. “It’s why I’m here bribing Max with donuts.”

Both Max and Dustin’s eyebrows shot up.

“About Eddie?” Max asked.

“Sorta,” Steve said. “But that’s the wrong order. Let me tell it from the beginning.”

And so he did. He talked about the nightmares at first. The constant terror and ghosts from his past. Everyone he couldn’t save. Barb. Billy. And finally Eddie.

And then about a couple months back, Eddie started showing up at his house at midnight. Every night. He was and wasn’t Eddie. He had the same smile, the same humor, but he was wrong. Fangs, wings and claws. His wounds sealed, but not healed. As if one touch and the wound would open, spilling his life’s blood once again.

How Steve thought that these were just more nightmares. But found out a couple of days ago that he might be more real than he thought. How scared he was for Eddie. How Vecna was living in his head. And that’s why he needed to talk to Max.

“Because Vecna had been living in my head, too,” she said softly.

Steve nodded. They had long since polished off the donuts and Steve was sitting on the edge of her bed, Dustin back in his chair next to them.

Dustin let out a sigh of relief. “Thank god he went to you and not anyone else.”

Steve frowned. “Why’s that?”

“Anyone else would have been too mad with grief to think properly.”

That hurt. Steve inhaled sharply. “You don’t think I miss him as much as everyone else?”

“No, no!” Max cried rushing to reassure him. “That’s not what he meant at all. Right, Dustin?”

Dustin looked between them, eyes wide. “No of course not. What I meant was that you’re always level headed in a fight. Everyone else would have been so caught up in their grief it might have broke them.”

Steve sighed and went over to Dustin, hugging him again. “He misses you.”

Dustin started crying again. “I want him back. I just...”

“I know,” Steve murmured. “Me, too. Me, too.”

“Which is why we need to get the party back together,” Max said.

“We were only planning to destroy the gates and kill Vecna,” Dustin agreed. “But now we have to save Eddie, too.”

Steve nodded. “We’re going to need Wayne, too.”

Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13

Tag List: @estrellami-1 @anzelsilver @thequeenrainacorn @savory-babby @chaoticlovingdreamer @grtwdsmwhr @renaissan-vvitch @panicatthediaz @swimmingbirdrunningrock

#My writing #stranger things #steddie #vampire eddie #ladykailtiha writes

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nburkhardt · 1 year

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Street Fair Dates.

Welcome to my first attempt at writing Buckingham! @i-less-than-three-you picked a prompt from a prompt list I reblogged a while ago (“Did I just say that out loud?!”) and had her give me the set up too. Went with buckingham, still set in the 80s, post-Vecna Chrissy lives with just barely established steddie as a bonus. It got outta hand and it’s mostly due to Robin rambling lol. ENJOY!

She’s being a third wheel, she realizes pretty quickly. It was completely by accident, but it was an invitation! Just, not technically an actual one, it was a “hey, you’re here too!” kinda invite. She won’t blame Eddie for it, not his fault she doesn’t think the same as other people.

She will however, totally blame him for them ditching her.

They’re at the street fair, she didn’t realize it’s supposed to be Steve and Eddie’s third date. Didn’t know until Steve stepped away to use the bathroom and Eddie finally admitted that she misunderstood when he asked Steve out last weekend. That he didn’t actually mean for her to join them.

“I was going to clarify it for you. But then Stevie told me you’ve been having a hard time since the worst spring break ever.”

Groaning, she shakes her head and places both hands on his shoulders to shake him. “Why didn’t you tell me?! I would’ve said no!”

“I just did!”

She shook him again before dropping her head against his chest, “you idiot! Does Steve know this?”

“Does Steve know what?” Speak of the Dingus and he’ll appear, “what are you guys doing?”

She knows they look weird, so she drops her arms to pull Steve close and loop their arms together, completely ignoring his questions and dragging him along to another booth. They stay like this for another few booths before she lets go to buy this cute little homemade frog plushie, when she goes to show them, they’re gone.

“Oh you jerks! Leaving a girl all by herself just to be cheesy dinguses!” She yells out and pouts.

She walks around by herself with her new plushie on her shoulder for a bit before settling on a bench with food and a drink, thinking “wish I could find someone who’ll go on a cute fair date with me”

There’s a giggle that brings her attention back to her surroundings and finds Chrissy standing in front of her, a basket of fruit with a duck plushie. She looks gorgeous and adorable, her outfit is perfect for the fair. A pale green sundress with sunflowers all over it, her shoes just simple sandals to match. Her hair is in a loose braid resting on her shoulder.

“God you’re so pretty”

The blush on Chrissy’s face makes her eyes go wide, slapping both hands over her mouth, “Did I just say that out loud?!”

Chrissy nods, “you did, you also talked about a cute fair date. Isn’t- I thought I saw you with Eddie earlier.”

Even the vague idea of being on a date with Eddie makes her scrunch her face up. Because gross, a date with a boy? Just, no.

She shakes her head before focusing back on Chrissy.

“Oh gross, no. I was with him earlier, but not as a date. Just as a friend, he and I are just friends! Plus he’s too much of a nerd for me, too dramatic too! Like could you imagine living with that guy? No thank you. Eddie and I are just friends.” She’s rambling, she knows this and can’t stop. Chrissy is just so damn pretty and her blush is a lovely shade of pink now, she’s smiling and god, Robin is gone. She’s so gone on her.

“Gone? What does that mean?”

Robin wants to die, she definitely needs to shut up. “I’m, I’m gonna go now. I think, oh! I see Steve and Eddie, I’m just-“

Not even waiting for a response back, she takes off and nearly runs to hide behind the two that ditched her. She doesn’t even care about that anymore, too focused on getting away from Chrissy so she doesn’t say anything else out loud.

Steve’s ready to catch her immediately. Eddie on the other hand looks bewildered because she didn’t say a word, Steve wasn’t even looking at her. They were even facing the other direction, but her platonic soulmate just knew to catch her. Her arms automatically going around him and her head hiding between his shoulders and neck.

“What the fuck, do you have like a radar built in on if Robin’s coming or are you really telepathic like Henderson keeps saying?” She can’t see Eddie’s face but she can imagine the confusion and impressed. If she wasn’t freaking out, she’d be laughing at him.

Steve has a tight grip on her, swaying slightly with a hum. Knowing that she’s freaking out without even asking, “I don’t understand what happened but whatever it is, I’m here Robs.”

After listening to the boys talk quietly, her adrenaline from the freak out dies down and she loosens her grip on Steve before getting down. Only to latch onto his hand to keep the connection, “So, I’m not sorry for again crashing your date. I mean, at this point I get to do this since you ditched me earlier and! And I completely rambled in front of Chrissy, made a complete fool of myself!”

Eddie snorts and Steve doesn’t but there’s a knowing smile playing on his lips, she can already tell where his head is going. Maybe they really are telepathic. She’ll try that out later, for now-

“Don’t even sta-!”

“You got a crush on Chrissy, Robs?”

Groaning she drops his hand like it’s burning her and crosses her arms across her chest. A blush working it’s way up her face, that doesn’t help. Eddie’s laughing again and Steve has a goddamn twinkle in his eyes. She doesn’t like that.

“Even if I did! Which- I don’t” she lies through her teeth, not wanting to give them the satisfaction of being right. “I already fucked up my chances with her. AND! We don’t even know if she likes girls. No matter how sweet she is, or how much she cares for any of us- I won’t ask her anything!”

The boys share a look, which is more mischievous than concerned now. It’s a little odd seeing that look on her platonic soulmate’s face aimed at someone else. After a silent conversation between them, which is also weird. This is their third date, how are they already on silent conversations part of the relationship?

Steve clears his throat before placing his hands on her cheeks, she hates this part. He squeezes her face, making her make the stupid fish look. Then he places a kiss on her forehead, loosens his grip before resting his forehead against hers. Both of them going near cross eyed, she moves her own hands up to match him.

This is one of their things. It’s a routine for when either of them wants to be completely serious and focus. It looks weird, feels weird and makes everyone uncomfortable. This is also why Dustin believes they are telepathic.

“Robin Buckley, you are an amazing person. A beautiful and wonderful woman, but you’re also the dumbest person I know right now.” Steve starts off in a whisper, “we don’t know if she is or isn’t, but! You didn’t ruin any chance with her, she would be an idiot not to give you a chance. Okay?”

She can’t nod but she hums back, “Stevie, i love you but this isn’t like with Vickie where you can figure out if she likes girls or not from a movie”

“No. But, I can see when someone has a crush on you.”

There is no fucking way Chrissy Cunningham, ex-cheer captain and absolutely the most gorgeous woman there is, has a goddamn crush on her, Robin Buckley. A band geek with a rambling problem.

“I see that doubt, Buckley. I am correct, just you watch!”

They separate after that one, she rolls her eyes and pushes him towards Eddie. “Are you two lovebirds done here? I’d like to go home”

——————

She lost her frog plushie.

It didn’t hit her until she was sitting at home staring at her desk where her notebook sat with her drawing of a little frog.

Groaning she falls back onto her bed, “it was so cute too!”

“Robin! Door for you!”

Shooting up to sit, confused. Her mom usually just sends Steve up when he comes over and the kids don’t show up to her house. Nancy and her aren’t close enough to show up randomly yet. And Eddie would just climb through her window, being the weirdo he is.

So, with all the other options out of the way she makes her way to the door and finds her mom still there. “Mom, if you’re trying to get Steve and i to date I’m telling you-“

Her mom waves a hand at her, “of course honey, it’s not Steve. You know I’d just send him up, that boy whether you date or not is family”

She smiles at that but it nearly falls when her mom finally moves and there stood Chrissy.

Not only is Chrissy standing there in yet another cute dress, but she has her frog plushie. What?!

“Sorry for not calling first. But you weren’t at work I checked there and Steve sent me here.” Chrissy explained with a smile, “I wanted to bring this back, you dropped him!”

The him in question,sitting in Chrissy’s hand is of course the little frog plushie she dropped at her fair.

“How-“

Chrissy shrugged a little with a smile, “he fell off your shoulder when you ran away from me.”

She can already feel her cheeks heating up in embarrassment. “Sorry about that, really. I didn’t mean to run away like that. I swear! Just. I kept rambling and I said things out loud that were meant to stay in my head, didn’t really want you to hear them. Sometimes I just can’t shut up, it’s like my brain to mouth filter doesn’t work right so I just had to like get away before I said something really stupid. Like-” She slapped her mouth shut, her eyes going wide.

There goes ever showing her face again to Chrissy and just when she didn’t think it could get any worse. That is until she realizes Chrissy is giggling, looking way too adorable with her own blush.

“I’m really so-“

“Don’t be! I think it’s cute, rambling and all.” Chrissy admits quietly, not meeting her eyes.

Robin doesn’t find it cute, rambling is what landed her in many awkward situations and always caused someone to be annoyed with her. It’s an annoyance more than anything, really.

“Chrissy you really don’t have to say that, rambling it’s- it’s annoying”

Chrissy shook her head, a pout on her face. “Can, can I come in?”

It finally registered that they’re still standing in her doorway. Her blush comes back full force and she quickly moves out of the way to let Chrissy in before closing the door and leading her back to her bedroom.

It’s a good mix of comfy with her normal grunge-ish, androgynous style. The walls are painted a dark forest green, there’s posters from bands and singers she likes covering it. A few movie posters she stole from work, polaroids of her and Steve and then some of her with her band friends and the Party. But most are her and Steve. In the corner of the room opposite of her messy bed, is a beanbag with a tiny little shelf with her own personal library. It’s full of books from musical theory to queer literature. Signs pointing to her sexuality is clear, a pink triangle painted above the shelf.

Hopefully it doesn’t scare Chrissy away.

Chrissy is looking around before squealing and dropping onto the beanbag, “I’ve always wanted one!”

It’s making her blush seeing Chrissy in her space like this, she doesn’t know what to do besides drop down on her bed. “They are really a better alternative to chairs. I wanted comfort, a space where I could curl up with a book and a blanket but not my bed. Ya know? Then one day I was out with my mom and she pointed out that beanbag saying it would match my walls. So, it ended up being a birthday present and well now it’s here!” She’s rambling again and looking everywhere but at Chrissy’s face, “I’d really recommend you get one for yourself, it’s worth it”

Chrissy’s giggling and well, Robin’s weak, she finally lands her gaze back on the blonde only to see her sitting up as best as one can on a beanbag. Her cheeks a pretty red and a smile on her lips, overall she’s just so pretty.

“Until I get my own, can I just use yours?” Chrissy asks and if this was anyone else, Robin would normally immediately say no. It’s her beanbag, the only other person who sits there usually besides her is Steve and that normally leads to both of them sitting on it with a tangle of limbs.

She doesn’t any of that, instead just nods because if she open her mouth it’d all fall out and she’s already rambled enough.

Chrissy beams at her and it melts her heart.

They fall into a comfortable silence, it’s so nice and quiet she swore Chrissy was asleep. Until she looked over and found her leaning back again but this time with a book. She can see her eyes follow the words, she flips the page and she looks so at peace right now.

It makes her heart beat a little faster and her blush rise back to her cheeks again. There’s a tiny voice in the back of her head to stop being a chicken. It’s annoying that it sounds like her Dingus. She’s not a chicken, she’s just…scared. Afraid that if she does make a move, Chrissy will be disgusted by her and never talk to her again.

This is nothing like what happened with Steve, he got lucky that the guy he liked was stupidly open with having the black bandanna in his pocket. Chrissy has no tells. She’s never said anything that would even remotely suggest she likes girls. It’s only ever been boys for Chrissy and Robin is very much not a boy.

“-bin? Hey, you okay?”

She jerks backwards, flailing a little, shocked back into reality. Her eyes widen before she sits back up again and instead of Chrissy sitting on the beanbag, they’re now face to face.

Chrissy must notice panic on her face, moving back so there’s more space between them. She’s frowning, a concern crossing onto her face. “You zoned out on me, Robin. Everything okay?”

She nodded her head, words failing her suddenly and that’s a wonder.

“Are you sure? Because I asked you a question a few minutes ago and you didn’t answer me, or um, did you ignore it because it’d be weird?” Chrissy had a blush on her face but it looked different than before somehow, like she was embarrassed and Robin couldn’t figure out why.

She shook her head to get the swirling doubt out, “I’m fine, really. I just got lost in my head. Wasn’t ignoring you I swear, it would be hard to ignore you, actually. Sometimes I’m like, hyper aware of you. It’s weird and I probably shouldn’t say that because it sounds creepy and honestly I don’t want to sound creepy but I can’t help it.” Her cheeks are burning and she can’t stop, “whatever it is you asked it’s probably not weird, nothing you ask me can be weird actually, I mean unless you asked me if I was ready to like have kids or something now that would be weird. Oh my god, I need to shut up, but I’m nervous around you all the time” She forces herself to stop talking by covering her mouth with a hand while waving at Chrissy to talk now.

Chrissy laughs before sitting next to her and Robin follows, hand still against her mouth. Chrissy smooths out her dress and fiddles with the edge, Robin’s eyes following. “Well, I was thinking maybe, if you wanted to. If you’d go with me to this street fair for art coming up. Just, um, the two of us. Maybe, if- if you wanted to go”

“Like, um, like a date?” She doesn’t know why, but it comes out as a whisper. Probably because she’s afraid that she read this wrong, girls ask their friends to hang out all the time. But with the way it was said, it didn’t sound like a friend asking their friend.

Instead of a vocal response, Robin watches with wide eyes as Chrissy nods her head before looking up and meeting her gaze.

“Am- am I dreaming? Like, are you real right now?” She blurts out, before slapping her mouth, “oh my god, Chrissy.”

“If you’re worried I’m using you as like, a test? I’m not, I swear. I really like you, and I noticed the symbols and how many queer literature you have.” Chrissy explains to her, “and um, I overheard you and Steve one day talking about who was hotter Michelle Pfeiffer or Molly Ringwald”

She’s going to both punch her best friend and then squeeze him in the tightest hug ever for convincing her to play who’s hotter in public.

Taking a moment to breathe, she closes her eyes before opening them again and placing her hand on Chrissy’s slightly shaky one, “Chrissy, I believe you and I would love to go on a date with you”

Chrissy smile is bright and she matches it. She tugs Chrissy’s hand to hold it properly, squeezing it, in a way to prove to herself that this is real. Which it is and she’s going to be on a high for the rest of the day.

They stay like that for another hour, figuring out the plans for the date. Only stopping when her mom yells up that dinner was finished. Chrissy doesn’t stay for dinner, but she does kiss her cheek before she leaves. Because of that, she doesn’t even mind that her mom bugs her about Chrissy.

Nothing can ruin Robin’s good mood, she got her frog plushie back and now she has a date with Chrissy Cunningham at a street fair coming up.

Sorry I didn’t get to writing out their actual date, Robin rambled too much 😅 maybe I’ll write their date out at some point. Also if the formatting looks weird, sorry about that the tumblr app is pissing me off and not letting me fix it. I’m also not using drafts because it deletes things. ANYWAY!! I hope you enjoyed this and that it’s pretty close to being accurate to the characters, this was one of my first times writing out Robin and Chrissy.

#Buckingham #Buckingham fic #Robin x Chrissy #robin buckley x chrissy cunningham #robin buckley #chrissy cunningham #stranger things fic #steddie #platonic stobin #nburkhardt writes #Robin doesn’t know that she sometimes speaks out loud without meaning too #it’s a terrible habit

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justsomerandomfanfic · 1 year

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Make Me - Eddie Munson X Female Reader

Title: Make Me

Eddie Munson X Female Reader

Additional Characters: Steve, Robin (Mentioned), Nancy, Dustin, Erica (Mentioned), Max (Mentioned), Lucas (Mentioned), Jason (Mentioned), Vecna (Mentioned), and Chrissy (Mentioned)

WC: 3,014

Warnings: Childhood friends to lovers, Reader's insecure, fighting (verbal) nothing bad really said, The Goonies mentioned, slight angst, death mentioned, Chrissy's death mentioned, murder mentioned, police mentioned, Jason mentioned, physical assault mention (Reader mentioned punching Jason), weed mentioned cause it Eddie, injuries mentioned cause of Steve, panic attacks mentioned and sort of happen, crying, Eddie's shiv, cursing (one curse word), unsuspecting kiss, Upside Down, some good ol' apologizing, teasing, and fluff

You had been friends with Eddie for as long as you could remember, you'd known him since you were both in diapers, going to elementary, middle, and high school together; staying friends even when you graduated and he didn't. Listening to his band practice, listening to Metallica in his van together, going on walks, roller skating, and even baking brownies in your kitchen... Your friendship never dwindled, though there were a few bumps here and there, you both supported each other. Eddie was your best friend, you'd do anything for him, and you knew he'd do anything for you too. You never kept secrets from each other, even as little kids, you always told each other everything, but you had one secret Eddie would never know…

You were in love with him. You were in love with your best friend. In the beginning, the realization was overwhelming, and you weren't sure what to do about it. But as more time passed, you realized you would never tell Eddie about your feelings. It was too risky. You didn't want to ruin your friendship. So you pushed your feelings for him down and into the back of your mind, after all, it was better to have Eddie in your life as your friend than not at all.

It was hard, ignoring your feelings for him. Being around him constantly only really made things worse. You thought you were doing well in ignoring your feelings, but you couldn't ignore the fluttering in your belly whenever he smiled at you or the way your heart skipped a beat when he laughed at your jokes. You wanted to kiss him so badly that sometimes it hurt to think, to look at him, to breathe... But you couldn't risk losing your friendship over something like this. Not after all these years. By now, you couldn't lose him, you couldn't live without him.

You're just being dramatic, your mind would tell you. He'd never feel the same. And you knew this, at least to some extent. Truly you did not know if he'd return your feelings or not. Your brain would tell you that he wouldn't, but your romance-filled heart would tell you otherwise. How could you know without doing it in the first place? You had to be rational, you would tell yourself at night, laying on your stomach on your bed as you drew heart after heart with Eddie and your initials. Your notebook only had so much room, and your hand and fingers were beginning to ache. You had to be rational.

But things only seemed to get worse, in your mind and in real life, one minute you were just watching The Goonies at home with your cat and the next you heard that Eddie was the suspect in a murder. Now this wasn't right, this was not at all true, you knew! Eddie would never kill anyone, especially poor Chrissy. He'd never even harm a fly. And spiders? You were normally the one to deal with them in your friendship. Yes, he thought they were cool and all but he didn't want to smoosh them or touch them. Sadly, you had that job.

But back to this murder, Eddie had no part of it, you were sure! And so you ran all around Hawkins trying to find him. The police were camping at his trailer and he wasn’t even at your work, not at the school either. You tried the diner you frequented and even that old bridge he sold weed at, but no luck. Only when you checked the lake's boat house, did you find him. Just in time too, as you burst into the boat house to see him pinning poor Steve 'The Hair' Harrington against the wall with a knife of some sort.

"Eddie!" You cried, racing over to him as he dropped the knife and moved away from both you and Steve. He fell to the floor, his back pressed up against the old wood of the boat house, knees up and to his chest as he covered his face with his shaking hands. You ignored the confused and surprised expressions on the other people's faces as you quickly made your way over to Eddie, sitting beside him. Slowly, you wrapped your arms around him, pulling him into your chest, your hands around his shoulders and one in his hair. Something you had picked up in your many years as his friend, playing with his hair. It grounded him and calmed him whenever he had panic attacks or was just out of it. Your heart was breaking as you held Eddie close, willing yourself not to cry as you heard his sniffles slow to an end. His shaking lessened until you felt him relax against you and take a deep breath. "It's okay," You whispered, rubbing his shoulders gently as you continued to hold him close. "It's okay, you're alright, Eds. After this is over, you can stay with me. We can watch The Goonies."

"I don't know what to do, Y/N/N," He muttered out, his voice slightly scratchy as he lifted his head, his eyes red.

You sighed sadly, staring into his chocolate eyes as you placed a hand on his cheek, wiping away the tears, "Don't worry, Eds. We'll figure this out together." Only after he placed his head on your shoulder did you address the rest of the people in the boat house. "What is going on?" You asked them, as they all looked at you, almost hesitant. "Why is Eddie being suspected of murder?"

Steve was the first to speak, but Dustin stopped him. "Dude, can we even trust her?"

"We might as well tell her, Henderson." Steve placed his hands on his hips, popping out his hip, "She needs to know."

"But there are too many people in danger," Robin spoke up and Steve shook his head, letting out a sigh.

"Danger?" You asked, becoming increasingly more worried, clutching Eddie tighter in your arms, "What do you mean 'danger'?" Not hearing any other objections, Steve continued, and that's when he told you about the Upside Down and the curse that had befallen Hawkins. You almost didn't believe it. Almost. For the past few years, you have noticed a few odd things. One day a year or two ago, your magnets weren't working.

Before you knew it, you were standing in front of Lover's Lake, eyes closed and forehead pressed on Eddie's as you both held each other close. "I'll be alright." He muttered, and you sighed, eyebrows furrowing slightly in disagreement.

"I want to come with you."

Eddie shook his head slightly, his bangs tickling your temples, "You have to stay with the little shrimps." He tried to smile, but it quivered slightly.

"You better stay alive." You sighed, "Don't want you to die."

"Goonies never say die." Eddie quoted, laughing lightly as you let out a defeated sigh, a smile growing on your face.

"Eddie," You began, feeling yourself begin to laugh, "You're impossible."

"You love me."

You couldn't help but smile sadly, "Of course, I do, how am I supposed to survive if you aren't with me?" You opened your eyes, looking up at him, your nose brushing against his as you stared deeply into his eyes before you reached your hands up and brushed your thumbs along the apples of his cheeks. "Come home, Eddie," You said quietly.

You watched as he swallowed thickly and nodded his head slowly, both your arms dropping as he stepped back, "I promise. I'm coming home."

~~~

So now, you were sitting on the grass, watching through the binoculars intensely as Steve, Nancy, Robin, and Eddie rowed off onto Lower's Lake. You were beyond worried about Eddie, not wanting him to get hurt or anything. He had already been through so much already. And it was hard enough to let him go with them in the first place, but he was his own person and you didn't have any control over him. So you had to let him go, even though the further he rowed out on that lake, the more your heart left your chest, following after him. Your mind raced with evil what-ifs, imagining with great detail how he could get injured, what horrible thing those monsters could do to him. It wasn't until you watched as they began to jump into the lake, did you freak out a bit, not even caring when Dustin and Max stole the binoculars.

You waited and waited. Only finding solace when you and the kids rushed to Eddie's trailer. Your heart pounded and your legs burned as you ran past the kids and into the trailer, looking around each room quickly until you went into Eddie's bedroom; only in looking up, did you breathe. Eddie, though upside down, was seemingly alright, and you let out a huge sigh of relief as you smiled up at him.

"You're alive!" You cried as Eddie gave you his sweet smile, the kids finding their way into the room with you. Your smile then turned into a confused frown, "Why the heck is there a hole in your ceiling?" Your eyes widened, "And why are you four upside down!?"

Nancy sighed, "You didn't notice that in the first place?"

You rolled your eyes, you and Nancy never really got along, especially after you stole her dog stuffed animal in the fourth grade. She never really got over that. "I did, but my focus is on Eddie’s wellbeing at the moment." You looked over at him. "How are we getting you down?"

"I don't know, there's nothing that we can use in here," Nancy said, looking down at you.

Eddie shook his head, "Use my mattress. We can land on it. And, we can tie my sheets together to make a rope." Edie suggested, Steve automatically shaking his head.

"Eddie! You genius!" You spoke, grabbing his sheets off his bed and tying them together with Dustin as Lucas, Erica, and Max moved his mattress.

"No way. Do you see how dirty that thing is?" Steve asked, narrowing his eyes at it in disgust.

Eddie frowned slightly as he tilted his head, "Those stains are uh... I don't know what those stains are." Eddie spoke nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.

You sighed and tossed up the rope of sheets. "Just get down here." You narrowed your own eyes at Steve, "And do it quick, looks like Steve's injured."

Dustin looked at the rope in awe and fascination, as did the others. "Wow, it works." He muttered before calling up to them, "Okay, now pull on it!"

Robin hesitantly grabbed hold of the rope, using her body weight, and luckily the rope didn't budge. She then grabbed hold of the rope again, before heaving herself up. She climbed her way up, passing through and flipping around, falling on the mattress perfectly.

Eddie then looked at Nancy and Steve, before shrugging. "Guess I'll just go." He spoke, grabbing onto the rope and doing the same, plopping onto his mattress with ease. Sitting up, he looked around, "That... Was fun." He smiled as you offered your hand. Taking your hand, you pulled him up, catching him by surprise as you instantly wrapped your arms around him. He wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you closer to him, burying his head in your neck. His arms tightened around your waist as he dug and nuzzled his nose into the side of your neck.

Closing your eyes tightly, you breathed in his scent. He smelled like home, like rain and weed and leather, and you wanted to live in this moment forever. To live here, where everything was fine and everything would always be okay because he was here, safe in your arms.

But that wasn't going to last forever.

~~~

You nibbled on the tips of your nails as you watched Robin, Steve, Nancy, and Eddie preparing to fight this Vecna. Your eyes were trained on Eddie, mind racing more and more as time went on. You felt an uneasiness bubble inside you, your stomach twisting nervously and your skin starting to prickle. Eddie could die out there for all you knew, which made you anxious beyond belief. The thought alone scared you half to death. More than you could even imagine. If Eddie died... You didn't know what you were going to do.

Finishing his attire, Eddie turned around, noticing you panicking, and quickly rushed over to you. He placed his hands on your shoulders, looking down at you as you felt your eyes well up with unleashed tears. "Are you alright, babe?" He asked softly but got no answer. Pursing his lips, he glanced at the others before ushering you out of the trailer. "Let's get some air."

Stepping out into the fresh air, you felt just a smidge better, your breathing regulating. Eddie looked at you, worried as he watched the silent tears fall down your cheeks, quickly wiping them away with the soft pads of his thumbs. "Talk to me, sweetie." He whispered, hearing your sniffles, shattered him.

"I'm scared, Eddie." You finally broke the silence, looking up at him, "I am so scared."

Eddie smiled softly as he tilted his head, "Well be okay. How about, after this, we can go to Bessie's Diner? My treat."

You rapidly shook your head, fresh tears burning your eyes as you looked up, a newfound rage engulfing you. "You don't get it, Eddie. This isn't some video game or D&D, we don't have multiple lives. This is a real-life dangerous thing! You could die!"

Eddie furrowed his eyebrows slightly, "You... You don't think I can do this?" You backed away from Eddie's grasp, running your fingers through your hair frustratedly.

"No, I believe you can do anything you set your mind to, but this... This!? This is totally out of control! Why would you want to do this?!"

Eddie frowned, clenching his fists slightly, "Because I don't want to run away from this, Y/N! You know I always run away from my problems and I don't want to do that anymore!" His shoulders dropped, "Why are you not supporting me on this?"

You sucked in a deep breath, feeling yourself start to get heated. Anger was seeping into every cell of your body as your blood bubbled. "Because it's not something to do lightly, Eddie. You're putting yourself in danger!" You narrowed your eyes, "And you know damn well I'd support you in everything!"

Eddie shook his head, stepping forward toward you slowly. "Then why aren't you on board with this?" His voice sounded strained as he stepped towards you. "Why can't you just let me do this!?" He yelled out, as you shook your head.

"Are you listening to a word I'm saying?" You breathed out heavily, "I. Don't. Want. You. To-"

"Don't say 'die'!" Eddie interrupted, making you groan in frustration.

You gripped the ends of your hair, "Then don't go! Stay here where you are safe!" You let out a deep sigh as you dropped your shoulders, bringing up your hand to wipe your eyes and brush away your tears. "Stop being so... So stubborn."

"Stubborn?" Eddie raised an eyebrow, scoffing as he crossed his arms, "You’re the one who’s stubborn. Shut up!"

You abruptly raised your head defiantly, "Make me!" Your chest heaving up and down.

It was silent for a moment, both of you staring at the other in anger, when suddenly Eddie reached forward, gripping the collar of your jacket and pulling you forward. His face grew red, and a growl fell past his lips as he pulled your lips onto his. Your face heated up immediately, your eyes wide as your heart raced. Your eyes fluttered shut as you kissed him back, your own hands tightly gripping the collar of his leather jacket as if your life depended on it. Soon the kiss slowed, becoming more gentle and less harsh.

When you eventually pulled away, Eddie kept his forehead against yours, panting slightly. "Y/N..." Your lips parted slightly, your eyes still closed as you took a few calming breaths. When you opened your eyes, you found Eddie looking down at you, "I'm sorry I told you to shut up, and yelling at you, that was a bit immature." He sighed, "And I'm sorry I kissed you."

You sighed, feeling a small smile grace your features, "I'm sorry too. For trying to stop you and yelling at you." You spoke, Eddie nodding his head. "And if it makes you feel better, I loved the kiss." You felt your cheeks flush.

Eddie chuckled, "You know," He began softly, pulling back and opening his eyes, you mimicking him, "I should've told you sooner, but I like you more than a friend."

You bit your lip lightly, taking your chance to mess with him, "You really like me?" You asked as Eddie gave you a small laugh, his smile blinding you.

"Oh, yeah, I really like you." He played along, "I really like you so much that I was to kiss you, spend the rest of my life with you, and marry you; I love you." Eddie grinned, nudging his nose with yours, "Ever since you punched Jason in the face in Freshman year."

You giggled, taking his face in your hands, brushing your thumbs on his soft cheeks as you gazed into each other's eyes, "Oh, Eddie." You let out a small sigh, "That's the most romantic thing anyone's ever said to me." You teased, making Eddie groan as he dropped his face into your shoulder, his hands coming to wrap around your waist tightly.

"How could someone so gorgeous be so mean? Teasing me?" Eddie muttered, causing you to laugh again before Eddie brought you in for another kiss. "I won't die."

"Y/N, don't you remember?" You muttered as you both pulled away from the kiss, your fingers running through the soft curls on the back of his neck. "Goonies never say die."

Eddie let out a huff, a smirk growing on his face, "You're impossible, babe."

"You love me." You answered nonchalantly as Eddie nodded softly.

"Yeah, yeah, I do."

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unclewaynemunson · 2 years

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Okay listen yall how about a But I’m a Cheerleader AU for the fruity four? They all get sent to some conversion camp at the same time so that’s how they meet.

Robin starts out hating Nancy’s guts because she’s this little miss perfect that Robin’s parents always wanted her to be and that she never could live up to - which is why she ended up at that stupid camp. Nancy also hates Robin because she’s so unapologetically herself while Nancy has repressed and bottled up everything she shouldn’t be for literal YEARS and still ended up at that fucking camp feeling like her life is over. They get closer over time and gradually start realizing how much they’re alike, both struggling with trying to fit into this mold their parents and the society around them wants them to fit into. They help each other to really bring out the best in themselves and soon enough they start to develop some feelings for each other.

When Steve and Eddie first meet, they hate each other just as much as Nancy and Robin. Eddie obviously hates literally everything Steve stands for, the rich preppy boy who is a master in forced conforming and actually wants to do the whole marriage-and-kids-at-the-end-of-the-cul-the-sac thing when he finishes his therapy. And Eddie gets completely on Steve’s nerves, because Steve genuinely came to that camp to fix himself, and here is this guy (this hot guy) purposefully trying to sabotage all his progress and making way too much effort to stand out in every way possible. But when they get to know each other better, they end up connecting over both having the literal worst parents ever and Eddie helps Steve fight his internalized homophobia while Steve calms Eddie’s anger.

(Also the side plot possibilities are ENDLESS. You can totally include Jargyle and Vickie x Chrissy sorry idk their shipping name as well. or even more ships just throw them all in there, make it as gay as possible. Jonathan and Will both being sent there by Lonnie without Joyce knowing, and Joyce trying to find them? Steve and Nancy trying to be normal and start something together which is completely NOT working? Billy being there and making everyone’s lives even more hellish while he keeps insisting he’s straight and his father sent him there by mistake?)

Anyway sorry for getting carried away let’s go back to the main plot: the four of them end up running away together. (Maybe some of the younger kids like Byler and/or El(u)max are also there and they smuggle them out to protect them or something idk.) They go to Eddie’s estranged uncle, who’s the black sheep of the Munson family and may or may not be queer himself, and they end up a big happy VERY GAY family.

(EDIT: i have no self-control and started writing this fic, you can read it here if you want to, but it’s not finished yet!)

#maybe i should write a whole fic about this lol #i have too many projects already rip #and sorry if this is very inaccurate it's been years since i saw the movie #don't mind me rambling about stranger things #fruity four #steddie #ronance #robin buckley #nancy wheeler #steve harrington #eddie munson #wayne munson #i had to include wayne bc i love him okay

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ellewritesandrants · 2 years

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Billy likes Steve who Likes Eddie who likes Billy AU:

Billy and Steve hook up after the Halloween party but Steve makes it abundantly clear it’s only a one time thing and there are no feelings involved so he doesn’t beat Steve’s face in at the Byers house. They compromise or some shit but Billy ends up technically part of the party.

They keep up the whole benefits thing after because it helps them sleep better at night and they become decent friends instead of just rivals and they realize Billy is possessed a lot earlier since he and Steve were meant to meet up then. Billy’s liked Steve since he heard about him but he fell in love some time in between their friendship blossoming. They deal with the Russians with the help of some adults and Steve gets Hopper to deal with Neil Hargrove too.

Billy and Eddie were friends since Eddie was his dealer and when the whole Chrissy thing happened, he was there. He helped clear Eddie’s name and he kept Carver’s assholery to a minimum. Billy saw sparks rising between Steve and Eddie so he decided to leave them to get together. Eddie’s been halfway in love with Billy since he defended Eddie from Carver and when Billy saved his life, he fell deep. Billy also lowkey started seeing Eddie in a new light after the Master of Puppets guitar solo. They manage to take down Vecna and save the world.

Steve never really saw Billy as anything more than FWB so he doesn’t feel guilty when he starts getting feelings for Eddie post-Vecna. At this point, Eddie’s fully in love with Billy and Billy’s still fully in love with Steve. Steve ends Billy’s and his arrangement after he accidentally moans Eddie’s name and Billy’s heart fully breaks. At this point, he lives with Susan and Max at the trailer park because Neil was taken of, but Susan couldn’t afford the upkeep of the mortgage on her own salary. When he comes home, the Camaro comes in really fast and Billy’s crying which Eddie cannot stand.

Eddie brings Billy into his and Wayne’s trailer to comfort him but Billy doesn’t dare tell Eddie that Steve likes him. All he tells him is that the boy that he likes someone else. Eddie’s known he was queer since Billy had long since caught onto his hanky code and he’s even flirted knowingly with Eddie by taking his black hanky and putting it in the opposite pocket. Eddie starts courting Billy who loves Steve so much that he practically pushes Eddie to Steve instead who does not take the hint at all. Billy’s a masochist so he remains friends with Steve and Eddie.

Robin and Billy surprisingly get along really well, even better than Steve so she’s the one who knows all of the drama from Billy. Robin convinces him that the best thing he can do is just focus on getting out of Hawkins.

Steve starts putting on the moves on Eddie but Eddie brushes it all of in favor of trying to get with Billy. Billy’s long decided he doesn’t deserve love so he focuses on the kids instead and graduating high school. He helps Eddie because of course, he’s the best student there and he won’t let one of his best friends be left behind. Eddie’s way too enthusiastic to schedule D&D meetings around the times Billy wouldn’t be free so he could convince Billy that it would be a cheaper option to carpool together to save gas. Max is fine with it so he agrees and Steve finds himself oddly jealous when he sees them together but he doesn’t understand who he’s jealous of.

Billy focuses on basketball, his classes and becoming close to Max and subsequently, the party and Eddie join him for a lot of it. Steve’s jealousy festers because he doesn’t really have a reason to get close to Eddie after the whole Vecna thing and when Steve gets jealous, he gets mean. He gets drunk and he accuses Billy of stealing Eddie from him as revenge for not liking him. Eddie overhears the entire thing but Billy laughs it off. Billy chokes with tears later that night but he still helps Steve to his house and into his bed.

Billy tells Robin everything and Steve remembered everything and he felt so bad that all he wanted to do was apologize to Billy because he didn’t mean it. Robin tears into him when she sees him at work telling him that she’d thought he’d stopped being so cruel when he killed King Steve but apparently, he was still the same asshole from high school. He swears he’s changed and that he’s planning on apologizing.

Eddie was sick of seeing Billy sad so he begs Billy to give him a chance. Billy’s vulnerable enough to say yes and Steve chances upon them kissing and it’s his turn to be heartbroken. He still apologizes to Billy for what he said and Billy accepts it, the masochist that he is. Eddie’s long realized that it was Steve who hurt Billy and while he did like Steve a lot, it was Billy whom he loved so he put Billy first.

When the boys graduate, all the kids are there, ready to congratulate them and so are the rest of the teens. Billy narrowly beats out Nancy for valedictorian and during his speech, he thanks his new family and everything. Steve is there too, and he finds that he likes seeing Billy be happy, something he didn’t realize until that moment. Later, he slowly evaluates how he feels about Billy, and he never realized how quickly the blond wormed his way into his heart by just being Billy and he missed being able to hold the blond in his arms.

At the after party, Billy gets rip roaring drunk and confesses to Steve who was sober and offered to be the designated driver. He says he loves Eddie now but he used to love Steve, still does if he’s being honest and he’s talked with Eddie and he feels the same way. Eddie hears the mess his boyfriend got them into and offers to take care of Billy. Steve asks if what Billy said was true and with a blush, Eddie says yeah. Steve helps Eddie get Billy home with the promise of coming back the next day so they could all finally talk.

Billy wakes up in Eddie’s room, spooned by Eddie and he doesn’t really remember what happened until Eddie tells him after breakfast and then Billy panics, worried he’s ruined everything. Eddie comforts him by telling him that whatever Steve says, he’d always have Eddie. Billy doesn’t believe him because he thinks he doesn’t deserve to be loved. Billy’s practically a mess by the time Steve gets there, ready to leave but just as Billy goes to open the door to run away, Steve’s there to knock on the door. Billy tries to shoulder past Steve but Steve grabs his wrist and pulls him close, not letting him run away.

Steve and Eddie sandwich Billy in between them on the couch and they have a long conversation about their feelings for each other and how they can move forward. Billy immediately offers to leave them to be together alone but neither Eddie nor Steve are having it. Eddie tells Steve pointblank that he doesn’t want a relationship with Steve if Steve can’t love Billy and Steve tells Billy that he’s already halfway there even if he tried to deny it to himself before. Steve has a lot of groveling to do for both of them, specifically Billy so they take it slow and see if a polyamorous relationship between the three of them would work. Somehow, it does and Billy finds himself spoiled by two boyfriends who constantly affirm that he’s loved, wanted and cared for.

#billy hargrove #billy hargrove deserved better #billy deserved better #ellewritesandrants #harringrove #billy hargrove au #steve harrington #steve x billy x eddie #billy x steve #billy x eddie #mungrove #harringroveson #steddilly #stilldie #stranger things rewrite

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darkwitchoferie · 1 month

Text

Accidentally in Love

Steve and Eddie have been dating for months, but neither of them have noticed until Robin and Nancy confront them about it.

Read on AO3 here.

Steve and Eddie sat on the floor in front of the couch, pressed into each others’ sides while they watched tv in the Munsons’ new living room. It was about 5:00 am, but it wasn’t all that unusual for the pair of them to be awake together the whole night. The whole group had nightmares, which had thankfully gotten less in the six months since Spring Break, but Steve and Eddie both had insomnia on top of that. So when they couldn’t sleep, they were often together.

They were just getting to the end of Kiss Me, Stupid on the Movie Channel, when Wayne pushed open the door. “’Mornin’ boys,” he greeted them.

In a move he saw frequently, they turned to look at him in unison, “’Morning Wayne.”

“Look what I got,” Wayne announced, pulling a worn horseshoe out of his coat pocket.

“Excellent,” Eddie grinned, jumping up to rummage under the kitchen sink until he came up with a hammer and nails. He dragged a kitchen chair to the door and stood on it to hammer nails through the shoe his uncle held above the door. “Where’d you get it?”

“John, at the plant, his sister and her man have a horse boardin’ stables not too far off. Guess he was out there a couple days ago and remembered me sayin’ somethin’ about needin’ a new shoe.”

“Why do you need a horseshoe?” Steve asked.

“To hold luck,” Eddie said, as if it were obvious. “See, you hang it like this, so the points are up, and it collects good luck for the household.”

“We lost the old one, went down when the old place was sucked into that hole. And we made sure to get a mirror this time, neglected it last time,” Wayne said, tapping the small, age-spotted mirror they’d found in a thrift shop, that now hung beside the door. “You hang a mirror by the door to protect the house from evil spirits,” he explained to Steve’s puzzled look. Eddie finished hammering, hopped off the chair, then hurried to the bathroom, leaving the hammer on the counter.

“Is that why you and Eddie pour out some of your first beer too?”

“Mm, no. That’s an offerin’ to our dead. His ma, my wife, my pa, I think he pours out for Chrissy too, though he’s never said so. But it’s a way to remember and honor your dead.” Wayne looked puzzled. “Do your people not have traditions like that?”

He shook his head. “I don’t have family, not the way you and Eddie do. I think my dad’s parents are dead and I’m not sure about my mom’s. Neither of them ever talked about their parents or aunts or uncles or anything. The only thing I know about either side is that Mom’s family’s Italian and my grandma gave her a recipe book of her own recipes when they got married. For all I know, they could be alive and well in Italy. So I have no idea what any of my family was like, except my parents.”

“And your parents suck, Stevie.”

“I know,” Steve smiled just a little as Eddie rejoined them. He sat back down on the floor, running his fingers through Steve’s hair and gently scratching the back of his head as he did. Steve sighed, closing his eyes, and leaned into his hand.

Wayne cleared his throat as he lifted the chair and slid it back under the table. “You boys get any sleep last night?”

“There’s still a chance for sleep,” Eddie commented. Wayne just raised an eyebrow, knowing they both had to leave for work at the video store by 9:30. “It could happen!” he protested.

Despite being cleared by the local police, and the FBI agents that were brought out, a fair number of people in town were still suspicious of Eddie. That had made Keith reluctant to hire him when Robin and Steve first broached the subject. Then he realized he had no other options – very few people wanted to work in the video store and those that did were still in school. Monday mornings and early afternoons were almost as busy as Friday afternoons just in the opposite direction. While more people were checking stuff out on Friday, most of them were returning those same videos early in the day on Mondays. This made Fridays and Mondays the only two days all three of them worked at the same time. Robin suspected that parents came in early on Mondays to avoid their kids asking for more movies.

On Mondays, since Steve drove them all in and Eddie only worked a short shift, Nancy came in around 2 o’clock and hung out for the remaining half an hour until Eddie was clocked out and ready to go home. Things had started to slow by then, as always, so the four of them usually hung around the counter with each other.

Eddie pressed himself against Steve’s back leaning over and around him, so Steve had to bend forward a bit, to put a hand on the counter. “Good afternoon, Lady Wheeler. How is the wide world this day?”

“Hi Eddie,” Nancy smiled at him, well used to his dramatics. “Hawkins is… Hawkins, nothing new to report there. The kids have apparently formed some after school study group on Mondays, so I have extra time before I have to pick the boys and El up.”

“Why? Like, they see each other all the time, why bother creating a study group?” Steve wondered, still bent slightly forward since Eddie hadn’t moved at all.

“Ah, I asked Mike the same thing this morning. If they’ve got an official study group, they have to have a teacher there for any help they might need. Apparently, it’s aimed at helping El catch up on stuff without her needing to ask during class since that makes her nervous because of a bully back in California and without making it obvious that it’s all for her.” While she spoke, she watched as Eddie’s free hand wrapped around to the front of Steve’s hip and he slid his thumb into the slightly shorter man’s belt loop.

“That’s sweet,” Robin commented.

“Mm, they can be, when they want to,” Nancy agreed, referring to the four boys. “But other than that, nothing new. Unless there’s something new from you?” She and Robin turned expectantly to the two men.

“Mm, nope,” Steve shrugged the shoulder Eddie wasn’t leaning on. The two turned together as the phone rang. Steve reached for it under Eddie’s arm, who barely moved out of the way. “Thank you for calling Family Video. How can I help you today?”

With Eddie no longer paying attention to her, Nancy turned to Robin with a raised eyebrow. She just shrugged and shook her head in response, causing Nancy to roll her eyes and mouth today. Robin nodded once.

“Dingus, you love me, right?” Robin asked as soon as the Wheeler family station wagon pulled out of the parking lot.

“Of course I do. Did I not tell you today? Sorry. I love you, Robs.”

“You did tell me, but I appreciate it again. And I love you too,” she smiled, leaning in for a hug. Enough close calls with death made them all the more willing to tell each other how they felt. “My point is,” she continued, stepping out of the hug, “people like us, soul mates like us, they tell each other everything, right? I mean, especially the big things in life, like when they start dating someone new.”

“Did you finally ask Vickie out?! Rob, that’s amazing! When?”

Robin was almost sad to wipe the excited look off of her best friend’s face. “Not me, Dingus! You! You and Munson and all your touchy-feely-mushy so-in-love-we-can’t-hide-it crap.”

“Huh?”

She knew he got confused easily, but this was too much. “You don’t actually think the two of you have been doing a good job hiding your relationship, do you? Because you’re not. You’re so not. You’re like one step shy of renting a billboard or a marching band to proclaim your love to the whole state.”

“Robin,” he said, reaching out and putting his hands on her shoulders. “I love you, but you’re crazy. And very wrong. Eddie and I aren’t dating.”

“Really? And that little possessive hold he had on your hip earlier was… what? ‘Cause I know platonic, and honey, that wasn’t it.”

“What are you talking about? Eddie’s tactile with everyone.”

“No he is not. At least, not the way he is with you. And! Did you or did you not let him read those two books to you? The um… the ones by Terry Whatever-his-name-is?”

“The Colour of Magic and the new one – The Light Fantastic?”

“Yes! Those.”

“Yeah? I mean, he was really excited about them. Read the new one as soon as he could get his hands on it, in one night. When I told him about my issues reading since the head trauma shit, he offered to read them to me. So?”

“So, as said, soul mates,” she waved her hand between the two of them. “But you don’t take an immediate interest in my stuff like that. No, that came out wrong. You are interested in my stuff, come to band shows and you let me ramble your ears off about the stuff I like, but it’s different. Not bad different,” she quickly reassured him, noticing the apprehensive look starting to form on his face. “Just different. And then there’s the dates.”

“We have not been on any dates.”

“Uh-huh. So you wanted to go see Invaders from Mars, in the theater. And decided to pay for both of you and snacks. When usually, if you and I go together, one of us gets tickets, the other gets snacks. And you can’t say it was because he couldn’t, because he’d been working with us for like two months.”

“That… wasn’t a date.”

“Mm. What about that baseball game? Ya know, the one he bought tickets to? Eddie, who we all know loves sports, happened to buy tickets for you two to see your favorite minor league team like a week after you mentioned that you hadn’t been able to get to see a game in years. That was totally a coincidence, right? Definitely not a date. Just like the Judas Priest concert he took you to in August definitely wasn’t a date.”

“Uh….”

“Or, how about your standing Wednesday evening date? Everyone knows that is your date night but, if there’s an emergency, you two can be found at Judy’s Diner, in your usual corner booth, with separate meals but sharing a strawberry shake. Steve, you are literally wearing one of his Metallica shirts, right now,” she plucked at the material under his Family Video vest.

In shock, Steve dropped to the floor. “We’ve never even kissed though, we can’t be dating,” he said softly.

“Wait, seriously?” Robin dropped to sit in front of him.

---

Meanwhile, Nancy parked her car in front of the Munson’s replacement trailer. “Eddie?” she asked before he could open the door. She twisted in her seat to better face him. “We’re friends, right? Me and you.”

“Of course we are!” he swiveled to face her “Wait, why?”

“I just… friends tell each other when they’re dating someone. Or not dating someone.”

Eddie gasped. “Did you and Jon break up? Did he break your heart? Do I need to –”

“Jon and me are fine,” she interrupted. “I’m not talking about us. I’m talking about you and Steve.”

“What about me and Steve?”

Nancy groaned in frustration. “How long have you and Steve been seeing each other and why haven’t either of you said anything to at least me and Rob?”

“There’s nothing to tell, we’re not dating.”

“You are though.”

“Nope. Pretty sure I’d know if I were dating someone, Nance.”

“Okay, but hear me out. Steve likes his personal space, Eddie. Sure, he hugs people and is happy to do it, or other little stuff like that. But he doesn’t cuddle during movies. Or, let people drape themselves over him while he’s doing anything.”

“He does to.”

“He doesn’t. He doesn’t even let Robin do that. Have you ever seen her cuddled up to him like that?”

“That’s gotta be a her thing then.”

“It absolutely is not. There is only ever one person who’s… allowed, I guess? One person who he is totally comfortable being all over him whenever and it isn’t Robin. Do you wanna know why it isn’t Robin?” Eddie nodded his head. “Because he only does that with someone he’s dating. Trust me on this, I know the difference between how he acts when he is and isn’t seriously dating someone.” He still didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t look quite as disbelieving either. “Okay, I know you’ve eaten his cooking, we all have. But, has he ever made anything he calls ‘fussy’ for just the two of you? No Robin, no kids, and probably at his house, so no Wayne either.”

He started to shake his head then stopped. “He made… something that sounded like bologna, but was pasta? He called it fussy,”

“Bolognese?”

“Yes!”

“Insisted you eat at the kitchen table instead of in the living room and even served it on the good China?”

“He said all that work meant we had to appreciate the food and sitting in the living room with paper plates isn’t appreciating.”

“He’s not wrong about that. Point is, that’s his grandma’s recipe. And that was a date.”

“What about the lasagna?”

“Meat or veggies? Canned sauce?”

“Spinach and mushrooms, not canned sauce.”

“Date.” Eddie stared at her, wide-eyed. “Has he ever made spaghetti…,” she hesitated, trying to remember the name of the dish, “carbonara! Spaghetti carbonara for Wayne? It’s spaghetti noodles, with an egg sauce and crispy bacon. Like, made it at the trailer on a day that he knew Wayne didn’t have to go to work so the three of you could have dinner together?”

“Yeah,” he said hesitantly.

“That’s his winning-over-the-parents meal. It’s another of his grandma’s recipes – they all are – but he told me the carbonara looks and tastes fussy without looking like he’s trying to overshadow my mom’s cooking.”

“He made a cake for Wayne’s birthday.”

“That is just because he likes Wayne, not because he’s trying to impress him.” Nancy reached over and squeezed his arm.

“I’m dating Steve?” he asked softly.

“Yeah, sweetie, you are.”

“Since when?! Does Wayne know? Why didn’t I know? Did I miss him asking me out?” his eyes widened in horror. “Did I ask him out and then forget?”

---

Steve did not immediately go over to Eddie’s after dropping Robin off like he normally would. It felt odd to him to not drive out to the trailer park, but he made himself go home. Inside, he took the stairs two at a time then just stood in his bedroom doorway, looking around. There were the jeans and t-shirt Eddie wore two days ago, dropped in front of the laundry basket instead of actually in it because he’d tried to toss them in, missed, and hadn’t bothered to pick them up yet. He knew if he looked in the basket, he’d find a mix of both their clothes. Eddie’s acoustic guitar sat propped against the wall beside his window, the notebook he was currently using to plan a DnD campaign was sitting on the nightstand under the book he’d been reading on his side of the bed. He had a side of the bed, same as Steve did at the trailer, that’s how often they shared a bed. He knew without looking that if he opened the dresser drawers, nearly half of his stuff wouldn’t be in there, but would have been replaced with Eddie’s. The missing half of his clothes were in Eddie’s dresser. He looked down the hall at the open bathroom door and could just make out the two toothbrushes in the toothbrush holder.

“Are we living together too?” he asked himself quietly.

He spent a while longer cataloguing all of the things in his house that were Eddie’s or that had some connection to him. The polaroid of the two of them at the Indianapolis Indians game, where Eddie was actually wearing one of Steve’s baseball hats. Steve’s ticket to the Judas Priest concert, taped to the mirror on his closet door, along with a couple movie tickets that he remembered going to with just Eddie. A look out into the backyard at the bonfire pit Eddie had helped him dig reminded him of several evenings spent by the fire, just the two of them, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows and Eddie telling him stories about the constellations they could see. In the dining room, the China cabinet reminded him of dinners he’d cooked especially for Eddie. In the living room, there was a staged family picture where Eddie had drawn X’s on the glass over his parents’ faces, but a heart around Steve’s face.

Did he even want to be dating Eddie? A sharp pain stabbed through him at the mere thought of not being around Eddie constantly. He stared up at the portrait, not really seeing it but picturing Eddie – his long fingers wrapped around the neck of his guitar or threaded through Steve’s own while they walked into the diner; his curls escaping the messy bun he’d tried to put them in and blowing in the wind from the open car window as they drove aimlessly around; his wide smile and infectious laugh; the easy, simple affection in most every interaction; the feel and sound of his voice as he lay spooned behind Steve, telling him some story or other or just talking.

He wasn’t sure how long it had been since he got home when he heard the front door open. “Stevie?”

Steve spun around from where he’d been staring at the family portrait. “We’re dating,” he blurted.

“Oh, thank God!” Eddie’s shoulders slumped in relief. “I thought it was just me who didn’t realize! ‘Till Nance confronted me in the car, anyway. Ya know, Wayne knows too? Said ‘it’s obvious, boy’ and he ‘assumed everyone knew’ and that’s why we weren’t outright telling people. How can everyone know something about us that we didn’t know?”

“You don’t even like baseball.” Steve wasn’t sure why that was what came out of his mouth, but it was too late to take it back.

“Eh, the game wasn’t too bad. Maybe it’s high school sports I have issues with? Plus, you were so excited the whole afternoon. You don’t like Judas Priest.”

“They aren’t bad. But you do. You had a blast at that concert, and I had fun watching you have a blast. We have a standing date night.”

Eddie looked perplexed for a second. “Wednesdays, at the diner. We split a strawberry shake. Who…?”

“Robin. Right after you and Nance left. I think I’m still processing,” he turned to look back at the portrait. “You drew a heart on my face.”

“Hm,” Eddie stepped up behind him, pressing against his back like always. “Yeah, I did.”

“We basically live together.”

“Huh. Yeah, I guess we do.”

“I’ve never dated anyone this long without kissing them,” Steve said softly after a moment.

“We can fix that,” Eddie responded, matching his tone.

Steve turned around, his arm brushing Eddie’s chest as he did. Their inch in height difference usually wasn’t all that noticeable, but then, Steve usually didn’t have to tip his head back to kiss someone. For just a moment, they stared into each others’ eyes. Then Eddie grinned, tapped Steve’s nose with the tip of his, and leaned in, pressing his lips to the younger man’s. Steve surged forward, gripping Eddie’s hips and pressing their chests together.

Some time later, they lay in bed together, Steve half sprawled across Eddie’s chest and Eddie’s fingers gently combing through Steve’s sweaty hair.

“Important question,” Steve asked after a bit.

“Shoot.”

“Do we count today as our anniversary since it’s when we realized we were dating, or mid-May, which is when Robin thinks we started dating?”

Eddie chuckled. “Well, we don’t actually have a day for mid-May, do we? But we know today.”

“Mm. Good point,” he leaned up to kiss his boyfriend again.

#steddie #steddie fic

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