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canislupus-exe · 2 years

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Fits of Passion and Idiocy | eddie munson

CONTAINS SPOILERS

fandom | Stanger Things

character | Eddie Munson

reader | he/him (she ver.)(they ver.)

requested | anonymous

warnings | brief mention of drugs, canon character death, fandom typical blood & violence, mild angst

word count | 14,814

keys | (Y/n) = Your name, (L/n) = Last name, (f/c) = favorite color, (D/n) = Dog's name

summary | eddie fix it fic PLEASE im begging literally you an do anything you want just fix it my heart was BROKEN

editor | @feliscatus-exe

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“So, uh, speaking of monsters, uh, Lucas has to do his, uh… balls-in-laundry-baskets game. So…” Dustin trails off, chuckling. “He’s not gonna be able to make it to Hellfire tonight.” His attempt to lighten the mood while talking about such a thing seems to have no sway on Eddie.

“And I know there’s no way we can beat your sadistic campaign without him. So, me and mike, we were talking, shooting the shit, and we were thinking that ma-maybe we- we might-”

“Postpone.” Mike cuts his rambling short.

“Postpone!?” The rest of the Hellfire Club shouts in anger. They begin talking over each other, most of their sentences overlapping and inaudible.

“Shut up!” Eddie shouts over everyone else. Gareth sighs and swallows his frustration.

“You saying Sinclair’s been taken in by the dark side?” Eddie asks.

“Uh. Something like that.” Mike replies.

“Something like that?” Eddie hisses as he throws a pretzel at him.

“Jesus Christ.” Dustin whispers, his voice high-pitched and somewhat trembling.

“And rather than find a sub for him, you want… you want to postpone ‘The Cult of Vecna’?” He asks, another pretzel in his hand. Whether for eating or throwing, they’re unsure.

“I… I don’t want to postpone it. We don’t want to postpone it. It’s just that, you know, most of the subs will be at the championship game.” Mike begins to plead his case, but Eddie stands up from his chair halfway through his sentence.

“Oh, it’s the championship game?” He asks.

“Yeah?” He replies, his words coming out as more of a question than an answer.

“Can I level with you? Jeff graduates this year. Gareth’s got, what? A year and a half? Me, I am army-crawling my way toward a D in Ms. O’Donnell’s. If I don’t blow her final, I’m gonna walk that stage next month, I’m gonna look principal Higgins dead in the eye, I’m gonna flip him the bird, I’m gonna snatch that diploma, and I’m gonna run like hell outta here.” He’d made his way around the entire table by the end of his spiel, pumping up the theatrics as he always did, which made Dustin laugh.

“Didn’t you say that last year?” Gareth asks.

“And the year before that?” Jeff chimes in. Eddie half jogs back to the table.

“Yeah, yeah, and I was full of shit. This year’s different. This year is my year. I can feel it. ‘86 baby.” He relays with a shit-eating grin—the rest of the group chuckles.

“You know what that means?” Eddie asks. Dustin and Mike shake their heads.

“It means you boys are the future of Hellfire. I knew it the moment I saw you. You sat on that table right over there, looking like… looking like two little lost sheep.” He says, leaning down to the boys' level with his hands on either of their shoulders.

“You were wearing a Weird Al T-shirt, which I thought was brave,” Eddie says to Dustin.

“Thank you.” He replies, his voice hardly even a whisper.

“Mike, you were wearing whatever shit your mommy bought you from goddamn Gap,” Eddie says to Mike, causing them to laugh much louder than before. At the moment their guards were down, Eddie pulls them up from their chairs by their shirts, forcing them to walk alongside him.

“And we showed you that school didn’t have to be the worst years of your lives, right?” He asks.

“No,” Mike replies.

“Okay, no, no. Well, I’m here to tell you that there are other little lost sheepies out there who need help. Who need you. And all you guys gotta do is get your Bo-Peeps on and go and find one.” He says, giving them one final shove away from the table.

>><<

Mike and Dustin groan as they sit on the brick wall surrounding the outside benches.

“I hate high school,” Mike says. Dustin grunts in response. As he looks away from Mike, he notices something in the distance.

“Hey hey look, two o’clock.” He says. Mike looks in the opposite direction of two o’clock, seeing as he’d never learned what that meant. Dustin rolled his eyes and pointed.

“Over there dipshit.” He said. They watched as a (f/c) backpack with a D20 keychain on the zipper disappeared into the library. He looked at Mike as Mike looked at him, presumably having the same thought. They both stood up and rushed toward the building, throwing the doors open fervently.

“Where did he go?” Dustin whisper-shouted.

“I-I don’t know Dustin! Maybe we should look for him in the aisles.” Mike replied. Dustin sighed as he walked further into the library, checking behind every shelf for any sign of life. Finally, he’d found you, all the way in the back where you were putting books back on the shelf.

“You!” He shouted. You jumped, so startled by the loud outburst that you dropped the book you were holding. You bent over to pick it up and turned around to see who was bothering you. You looked down at who you could only assume was a freshman.

“Please keep it down. Library policy. Do you need help finding a book or something?” You asked. A second freshman rounded the corner and walked to stand next to the first.

“You play DnD.” The one with curly hair stated, almost matter-of-factly. You raised your eyebrows.

“Um… No. I don’t.” You replied as you turned away from him, starting to put the books back once again.

“Then why do you have a D20 keychain?” He asked. You sighed.

“Because I used to play.” You said.

“So you know how?” He asked.

“Well, yeah, but the last time I played was like four years ago. Plus, why do you care? I don’t even know you.” You replied.

“I’m Dustin Henderson and this is Mike Wheeler. We’re part of the Hellfire club and we need someone to sub in for the campaign tonight. So will you?” He asks, his voice desperate.

“No.” You reply simply.

“W-What? Seriously?”

“Yeah. Seriously. Truly. No.” You say, turning around to face him. Dustin looks at Mike, silently asking him for help but Mike only shrugs in response. Dustin sighs and turns back to you. He notices the school ID around your neck and reads your name, before deciding to take a page out of Eddie’s book.

“Can I level with you for a moment (Y/n)?” He asks. You raise your eyebrows at the use of your name.

“We need you, so I’m willing to sweeten the deal on your end.” He says. You scoff.

“Dude, you know nothing about me. How could you possibly ‘sweeten the deal’?” You ask, putting air quotes around what he’d said.

“Well everybody loves movies! I can make it so you don’t have to pay to rent a movie for the next month.” He replies. You raise your eyebrows.

“Oh yeah? And how exactly are you gonna do that Dustin Henderson?” You say, leaning on the cart of books.

“I have a buddy who works at Family Video. He’ll waive your fee for the next month, I swear.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“I’ll pay!” He shouts.

“Shhh!” You shout back at him.

“Sorry. Sorry.” He whispers. You roll your eyes.

“So you’ll get your buddy to waive my movie rental fee for the next month if I play DnD with you for one night?” You ask. Dustin nods. You think for a second before sighing.

“Alright fine. But I swear to God if you try to pull a fast one on me, I’ll make your life hell. And I mean it, kid.” You say, poking your finger into his chest.

“Yes! You won’t regret this (Y/n)! Come on Mike!” He says as he bolts out the library doors with his friend in tow.

“You think Steve will let him rent for free?” Mike asked.

“Who cares? We have found a sub for tonight and that’s all that matters.”

>><<

The leader of the Hellfire Club sits on his throne. Hands folded together as he eyes you standing next to Dustin and Mike.

“Absolutely not.” He says after a pause of silence.

“You asked for a sub. We delivered.” Dustin said as he motioned toward you.

“This is Hellfire Club. Not Sports club.” He says, pointing at your Indiana Hoosiers T-shirt. You rolled your eyes.

“It was the only shirt I had clean. Plus, it’s comfortable you elitist piece of shit.”

“My, my. The sports fan knows big words.” Eddie replies, eliciting chuckles from his friends. He stands up from his throne, walking toward you.

“So, what’s your name, sports fan?”

“(Y/n) (L/n).” You reply. He laughs.

“So you’re the boy who works in the library.” You scoff and turn to Dustin.

“Wow, intuitive, isn’t he?” You say, earning a laugh from his friends. He turns and glares at them, shutting them up immediately.

“What’s your class and level? Level one half-orc?” He asks, once again earning laughter from his buddies.

“My name is Akzire the Wretched. And I’m a chaotic neutral Tiefling Fighter, level 15. And I will valiantly protect my party members by beheading any monster you throw my way with my scimitar. And I will brandish their head for all to see as a token of my victory. So, we gonna do this, or are you gonna keep pestering me like you’re a little girl in need of attention?” You ask. The five members stare at you as you face off with Eddie, shocked at how effortlessly you’ve challenged him. They wait in stunned silence, but after a moment, he breaks out into a cheeky smile and offers you his hand to shake.

“Welcome to Hellfire.” He says. You roll your eyes one last time, but with a smile, as you shake his hand.

>><<

You sit at the table, listening intently as Eddie relays his campaign onto the club.

“The hooded cultists chant, ‘Hail Lord Vecna. Hail Lord Vecna.’ They turn to you, remove their hoods. You recognize most of them from Makbar. But there is one you do not recognize, his skin shriveled, desiccated. And something else. He is not only missing his left arm, but his left eye!” He shouts, covering his own with his hand. The party erupts in protests, strings of “no”s and “come on man”s.

“Vecna’s dead!” Jeff shouts.

“He was killed by Kas!” Mike yells, to which Eddie smirks at.

“So it was thought, my friends. So it was thought. But Vecna… Lives!” He exclaims, placing the figurine on its podium with unmatched vigor. He resigns back to his throne.

“You are scared. You’re tired. You are injured. Do you flee Vecna and his cultists? Or stand your ground and fight?” He asks. Mike reclines in his seat as Dustin ponders the options.

“Come on.” Eddie prods. After a few seconds, he speaks up.

“I say we fight. To the death.” He states.

“To the death.” Mike agrees, nodding his head. They look toward you. You sigh.

“Fuck it. To the death.” You reply. The rest of the table breaks out into smiles.

“To the death! To the death! To the death! To the death! To the death! To the death! To the death!” Everyone chants while slamming their palms down. Eddie’s large smile is plastered on his face as he watches.

“To the death!” Dustin screams as he pumps his fists in the air. You grab the dice and roll, watching as they slide over the surface of the table. They all shout in triumph, some even clapping. It’s Mike's turn to roll, but it lands on 8, a miss. Eddie pushes over his figurine and the club begins to groan in protest. Jeff rolls. Miss. Miss after miss after miss and Eddie begins to laugh maniacally.

“Time out time out!” One of the members calls. You all step away from the table and huddle up.

“Guys, I hate to say this, but we've got to flee,” Gareth says, clear tiredness in his tone.

“I concur.” The person who called the time-out replies.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t we just agree on ‘to the death’?” You asked.

“That wasn’t literal,” Gareth replies.

“Vecna just decimated us. We can’t kill him with two players.” Jeff argues. You sigh and turn to Dustin, who’s already on the defense.

“You too? He only has 15 hit points left. Don’t be pussies.” He practically growls.

“Pussies? Really? Cause we’re not delusional.”

“Delusional? How about ‘not cowards’.” You retort.

“Hey!” Eddie calls from across the room, grabbing everyone’s attention and breaking the huddle.

“If I may interject gentlemen. Whilst I respect the passion, you’d be wise to take Gareth the Great’s concern to heart. There is no shame in running. Don’t try to be heroes. Not today, ‘kay?” He says, that cheeky shit-eating grin back on his face. It would make you furious if part of you didn’t find it so cute. Dustin holds up a finger.

“One sec.” He says before reforming the huddle circle.

“What do you think Mike?” He asks.

“How many hit points do you and Akzire have left?”

“Twelve.” Both you and Dustin proclaim in unison.

“It’s risky as hell… But you’re the ones on the battlefield. So it’s your call.” Mike says. You sigh and look at Dustin.

“What do you say Akzire the Wretched?” He asks. You smile.

“Do you even have to ask?” You reply. A moment of silence hangs over the Hellfire Club as Dustin contemplates.

“Screw it.” He finally mutters, pulling away from the huddle.

“Let’s kill this son of a bitch.” He states. Everyone approaches the table.

“The chances of success are 20-to-1,” Jeff says. Dustin holds up his finger.

“Never tell me the odds. Give me the D20.” He demands, holding his open palm out. Eddie picks up the die with that damn smile painted on his face and tosses it toward him. He catches it and holds his hands over his shoulder, shaking it vigorously. You watch with bated breath as he tosses it. It rolls and rolls and rolls until finally… 11.

“That's! A! Miss!” Eddie calls out, shaking his head after every word.

“Shit! Shit!” Dustin shouts, and in his anger, he knocks one of the soda cans off the table. But now, you were up. The entire game hinged on your role, and you could feel every bit of pressure as you picked up the die. You closed your eyes and shook it in your hands, feeling the intense stares on you as you did so.

“Please!” You could hear Gareth shout beside you.

“Come on!” Dustin called out. But their words fell on unlistening ears. You were too focused on the cool feeling of the die gently hitting the palms that encased it. Finally, without thinking about it, you released it. Watching with unmatched intensity as it rolled, the quiet clacking against the wooden table sounded immeasurable in magnitude. And then, it reached the end of its road. No more cascading down the table. It stopped. And it landed with the 20 side facing up.

“Crit hit!” You shouted, the rest of the club exploding in cheers alongside you.

“What? What?” Eddie shouted in disbelief, laughing and clapping his hands.

“That’s why we play!” He said, bending over and extending his arms, almost as if he was presenting your victory to someone. You smiled, much brighter than you had in a long time. Maybe this Hellfire thing wasn’t so bad after all.

>><<

You whistled as you pulled your car into the parking lot of the Family Video, double-checking the address Dustin had written down for you. It seemed like it was the right one so you put your car in park and gathered your keys and wallet. As you were doing so, you saw Dustin rush into the store, a redheaded girl following right behind him. What perfect timing.

Nobody paid you any mind as you walked into the store, perusing their many isles of movies, searching for something that may come of interest to you. Dustin was behind the counter with the redhead you saw earlier and two people you vaguely recognized from school.

You shuffled through the shelves closest to the front counter. It was by pure happenstance that you heard their conversations. Dustin, along with the two girls you didn't know were all on the phone, and it sounded like they were talking about Eddie, meanwhile, the older guy was cheesing up a customer with some romcom, which you couldn’t help but roll your eyes at.

“Hey, guys, I might have a lead.” The redhead called out as she hung up the phone.

“Seriously?” Dustin asked as he turned around in his chair to look at her.

“Yeah. Apparently, Eddie gets drugs from some guy named Reefer Rick, and sometimes Eddie crashes there.” She replies. You whistled as you approach the counter, having decided which movies you wanted to take home.

“Now that is a name I haven’t heard in a minute,” You say, setting your items down.

“(Y/n), what are you doing here?” Dustin asks. You shrug and push your tapes toward the worker.

“Cashing in on the sweet deal Dustin gave me to play DnD with him.” You reply. This statement catches the older guy's interest and he walks over.

“Wait wait wait. What’s he talking about Dustin?” He asks.

“Shit. Now, before you get mad at me Steve, I was desperate.”

“Dustin. What. Did. You. Do.” He demands, dropping his palms on the counter. Dustin sighs and closes his eyes.

“I may or may not have told him he could get movies here without paying the rental fee.” He says, getting the words out as fast as he could.

“You did what?!” Steve asks. You smile and lean your head on your palm, which you lean on the counter.

“For a month.” You interject. Steve looks at you and then at Dustin.

“For a month?!” He shouts. Dustin rolls his eyes.

“H-Honestly Steve it’s not that big of a deal. You can just-”

“Not that big of a deal? Not that big of a deal!? You have the nerve to- to-to-”

“Pimp you out?” You suggest.

“Pimp me out! Thank you (Y/n). And then tell me it’s not a big deal. Who do you think-”

“Guys shut up!” The redhead silenced them. They did so without question and she turned to you.

“You said you hadn’t heard that name for a while. Reefer Rick?” She asks. You nod.

“I used to hang at his place and get high before he got busted.” You reply, tracing your finger along the cover of the VHS on the counter.

“You smoke?” Steve asks, obviously perplexed by this fact. You shrugged.

“There ain’t exactly much else to do in this shithole town.” You reply.

“But that means you know where he lives? That-That’s great! Get me a pen so I can write it down!” Dustin says, searching for a piece of paper.

“Now hold on there Dustin. I’m not just going to give you the address. What kind of a person would that make me?” You reply innocently, but before he can speak, you continue.

“At least… not for free.”

“Jesus Christ (Y/n) seriously? Now is not the time to dick around.” Dustin practically yells at you.

“Who’s he gonna pimp out this time?” The older girl said as she nudged Steve. You chuckle as you hold your hand up.

“I don’t want anything supermassive. Free movies for a month are profit enough. I just want to tag along. Be a part of the know, you know?” You reply. Dustin looks at the redhead who shakes her head.

“(Y/n), I don’t think you want to know this know, okay. It’s in your better interest to just give us the address and forget this ever happened.” He said, placing a sticky note and pen in front of you. You raise your eyebrows and sigh.

“Alright, fine.” You say, grabbing the pen and writing on the paper. Once you were done you slid it over to him. He grabbed it with fervor but paused when he read it. Not a chance kid.

“I told you. I want all the details, or you guys will never find Reefer Rick. Well… you might but, it could be too late.” You say, gathering the VHSs you’d set down.

“But if you guys don’t want to know, I'll just be on my way.” You walk away from the service desk, hearing Dustin string out profanities.

“(Y/n)! Wait.” He calls out. You turn around, a coy smile on your face.

“We’ll tell you on the way there, 'cause it’s a long story.” He says with a sigh. You smile and grab your car keys from your pocket.

“Shall we?”

>><<

“So just to recap. Chrissy Cunningham is dead, last seen with Eddie Munson in his trailer by you, Max Mayfield, but you didn’t go straight to the cops with this information, instead, you go to Dustin Henderson's house to tell him, and even after that you still don’t go to the cops, you go to Family Video where you relay the entire situation to your friends Steve Harrington and Robin Buckley, and might I just add it’s a bit concerning how many young adults you’re friends with. What is it now, four?” You say, your hands on the steering wheel of your car.

“Wow, he’s got a great memory. When did we even tell you our last names?” Robin asks.

“I recognized you two from the yearbook.” You said with a shrug. The familiar sound of gravel on your tires was somewhat pleasant as you pulled to the side of the house. The sun had long since set, so most were carrying flashlights as they approached the door and rang the doorbell. Waiting not even a second before the first bell finishes, he rings it again. He rings it seven more times before he starts to bang on the window.

“Okay. Well, that’s settled. I guess he’s not here.” Steve says, but you knew he wouldn’t give up that easy. And true to your thoughts, he leans over and yells into the window.

“Eddie! It’s Dustin!”

“Great.”

“Look, we just wanna talk okay? No cops, I swear. We just wanna help.” He shouts as he pounds on the glass pane.

“Eddie!”

“Shhh!” Robin shouts at him. He begins to ring the doorbell again.

“Rick!” He calls out as he pounds in the door.

“Is he always like this?” You whisper to Steve. He sighs and nods.

“Reefer rick!” Dustin yells.

“Don’t scream that.” Steve scolds him.

“Rick!”

“He’s not there!” You turn your attention away from the loud door pounding and their incessant bickering to see Max making her way around the house.

“Reefer Rick!” Dustin’s shouting pulls your attention back to him.

“Just-”

“He might just be really high…” Dustin suggests.

“Is that a foot?” Steve asks. You roll your eyes.

“No, that’s just a shoe,” Dustin replies.

“Obviously dumbass.” You mutter.

“Hey, guys!” Max shouts. Everyone looks at her for a brief second before leaving the front porch and stationing behind her. There was an eerie-looking boat house staring back at you.

“Despite it being a terrible idea, why do I have the feeling that we’re gonna go poking around in there?” You asked. Max looked over her shoulder at you before looking back at the boathouse. She slowly approached it, shining her light in the windows. You sighed.

“Yep. How did I know?” You say as you roll your eyes and follow close behind her. Once you’d made a full circle around the building, you reached the door. Robin was the first to push it open.

“Hello?” She called out to the vast darkness.

“Is anyone home?” She said, sweeping her flashlight across the room. She stepped inside, Max following her. Then Dustin, then you, then Steve bringing up the tail end.

“What a dump.” He said, looking around.

“Yeah well, I’m sure Eddie wouldn’t be hiding out in the Hilton.” You replied. Steve rolled his eyes and clicked off his flashlight so he could put it away. Once he did, he grabbed what looked to be an oar off the wall and began to violently poke whatever the tarp covered in the center of the room.

“What are you doing?” Dustin asks. Steve responded by poking it again. Dustin repeated his question and Steve shrugged.

“He might be in here.”

“So take the tarp off!” Dustin exclaimed while Steve continued to mess with it.

“If you’re so brave, you take the tarp off.” He replied. They both continued to circle the boat, neither of them removing the tarp.

“Hey, look over here,” Max called. You and Robin walked to her side, examining whatever she was ushering to.

“Someone was here.” She said, picking up the wrappers scattered access the surface.

“Maybe he heard us. Got spooked and ran.” “Don’t worry. Steve will get him with his oar.” Dustin replied sarcastically.

“I know you think you’re being funny Henderson but considering almost everyone in this room has nearly died a hundred times, personally, I don’t find it funny in the slight-” Steve was cut off by the sound of glass shattering and movement so fast you could barely perceive it. Eddie had emerged from the tarp and was backing steve against a wall, holding the jagged edges of the broken glass bottle toward his throat.

“Wait wait wait wait wait!” Steve shrieked in horror. You speechlessly watched, unsure of what you could do.

“Woah, woah, woah, Eddie! Eddie! Stop! Eddie! Eddie!” Dustin called out as you all rushed toward him but still kept a reasonable distance. Eddie turned his head to stare at him. His eyes were wide with terror, and you couldn’t help but wonder what the hell you’d gotten yourself into.

“It’s me. It’s Dustin. This is Steve. He’s not gonna hurt you, right, Steve?”

“Right. Yeah.” Steve replied meekly, his voice hardly above a whisper.

“Steve, why don’t you drop the oar?” Dustin asked. There’s a quiet thud as Steve does what he’s told, but in doing so Eddie only pushes the bottle closer to steve's neck. He groans in pain and fear.

“He’s cool. He’s cool!” Dustin shouts.

“I’m cool, man. I’m cool.” Steve practically begs.

“What are you doing here?” Eddie asks, his voice is rough and terrified, so much different than the way he’d sounded that night at hellfire.

“We’re looking for you,” Dustin says softly.

“We’re here to help.” Robin chimes in.

“Eddie, these are my friends. You know Robin, from band.” Dustin says, ushering to the girl behind him, who mimics playing trumpet.

“And (Y/n), from Hellfire. You remember him, right?” He says. You give a weak smile from behind Dustin, waving at Eddie.

“This is my friend Max. The one who never wants to play, D&D. Eddie. We’re on your side. I swear on my mother. Right guys?”

“Yes. Yes. We swear.” Max pleaded.

“On Dustin’s mother,” Robin replied.

“Yeah. Dustin’s… Dustin’s mother.” Steve chimed in. There’s a moment of silence that seems to last forever before Eddie finally pulls away from Steve, who gasps in relief.

“Jesus christ…” He mumbles to himself. You watch Eddie walk away, sinking down the wall until he’s sitting. Dustin approaches him.

“Eddie… We just want to talk.” His words are slow as he stoops to Eddie’s level. He gently reaches for the broken bottle, but Eddie flinches away.

“Okay…” He whispers, removing his hands.

“We want to know what happened,” Robin said as she knelt next to Dustin. Eddie sniffles and shakes his head, looking at her.

“You won’t believe me.” He says, making eye contact with you for a split second before looking away.

“Try us,” Max replies. Eddie stares at her before standing up and slowly beginning to pace. He seems to be psyching himself out. Dustin adjusts his position, as do the rest of you as you wait for him. He pulled a chair in front of everyone and sat down, looking at his hands in his lap for a few more minutes before finally looking back up.

“Her body just, like, lifted up into the air and, uh… and she just, like, hung there. In the air. And her bones… Uh, she…” He seems to whimper at the thought and his voice becomes shakier as he continues.

“Her bones started to snap. Her eyes, man. It… It was like there was something, like, inside her head, pulling. I… I didn’t know what to do, so I…I ran away. I left her there.” He pauses for a second before scoffing.

“You all think I’m crazy, right?”

“No. We don’t think you’re crazy.”

“We don’t?” You whisper, not wanting him to hear. Steve nudges you in the side and gives you a look which you’re tempted to argue with but stop when Eddie begins to yell.

“Don’t bullshit me, man! I know how this sounds.” His voice cracks.

“We’re not bullshitting you,” Max says.

“We believe you,” Robin interjects. Maybe you missed the memo because it seems like everyone else was on the same page. Dustin was right, you were in way over your head.

“Look, what I’m about to tell you might be a little, difficult to take,” Dustin says.

“Okay,” Eddie replies.

“You know how people say Hawkins is… cursed? They’re not way off… There’s another world. A world hidden beneath Hawkins. Sometimes it bleeds into ours.” You were just as perplexed as Eddie seemed to be.

“Like ghosts and shit?” He asks. You snicker quietly, earning a glare from Max before she turns back to Eddie to continue.

“There are some things worse than ghosts.” She replies.

“These monsters from this other world… we thought they were gone. But they’ve come back before. That’s why we needed to find you.”

“If they’re back again, we need to know,” Max says, her voice firm, demanding almost.

“That night, did you see anything?” Robin asks.

“Dark particles, maybe?” Max adds on. Eddie shakes his head.

“It would almost look like dust, swirling dust.”

“No, man, there was nothing you could see or, uh… or touch… You know, I tried to wake her, man. She couldn’t move. It was like she… she was in a trance or something.”

“Or under a spell,” Dustin suggests. Eddie looks at him.

“A curse.” He whispers.

“Vecna’s curse.”

“You don’t mean from…” You trail off, mostly thinking out loud rather than talking to anyone. Dustin nods, and steve looks at him confused.

“Who’s Vecna?” He asks.

“An undead creature of great power,” Dustin replies.

“A spell caster,” Eddie adds, meeting his gaze with yours.

“A dark wizard,” Dustin whispers. You remembered the horrors you’d read about him in your books. But that’s all they were. Books. Works of fiction. These people you’d known for a combined total of a few hours couldn’t possibly be trying to convince you otherwise, right?

“Sorry, did I miss a chapter or something? Cause if Eddie’s not the crazy one here then I think I might be. What the fuck is going on?” You asked. Max sighed.

“It’s a long story.”

“And very unbelievable,” Robin says with a slight chuckle. You closed your eyes and rubbed your temples.

“Condense it and consider me open-minded.” You replied, leaning against the wooden pillar behind you.

“A few years ago our friend Will was kidnapped by a monster from the upside down, that’s what we call that other world we mentioned earlier. We found this girl, Eleven or El as we called her and she has superpowers. She fought the Demogorgon, the monster that kidnapped Will, and we thought she died after that but turns out she was just being kept hidden by Hopper, the chief of police. Will tried to return to normal life but failed since he now had some sort of connection to the upside down and could see into it, causing a new monster to possess him, The Mind Flayer. We were able to defeat him, or so we thought. He returned, this time with Russians on his side.” “Russians!?” You exclaim.

“That’s where we come in!” Robin said with a smile. Steve scoffs.

“Correction, that’s where you come in. I was there since the Demogorgon.” He replies.

“Ehhh, more like since Dart,” Dustin says.

“Who’s Dart?” You ask.

“Not integral to the story. Back to the Russians. They were running an underground operation with a mall as the front. Eleven returns, another victory, yadda yadda. They move to California to escape the craziness of Hawkins but we’re still here, thus still having to deal with it.”

“And now there’s a new monster… Vecna… who’s… framing people for murder?” You ask. Dustin looks at Eddie and shrugs.

“More or less.” He says. You sigh, trying to take in the information you were just given.

“I tried to tell you (Y/n). You didn’t want to know this know. It’s not too late to back out now. Just go back home and pretend this never happened.” Dustin said as he stood up. You rolled your eyes.

“Yeah right. If any of this shit you’re saying is the truth, it’s gnarly as hell. Besides,” You hold up your keys. “How else would you guys get home?” You say with a smile. Dustin sighs.

“You really wanna do this?” He asks. You nod.

“In fact, I’m about to get myself into even deeper shit. Eddie can’t stay here.” You say, pointing at the subject who was still sitting in his chair and chewing on his nails. At the sound of his name, he stared up at you.

“Why not?” He asked. “You have a very tangible connection to reefer rick. If I knew that, other people are bound to know that. If some dumbass kids were able to find you, I doubt the cops are that far behind.” You reply.

“He’s right,” Max replies. Dustin groans.

“Of course he’s right but where else could he go? This town isn’t exactly crawling with good fugitive hiding spots.”

“Why can't he just stay with me?” You ask. Dustin looks at you, along with everybody else in the room. Steve is the first to make a noise, which is a somewhat awkward laugh.

“Listen, (Y/n), as much as we love the knight in shining armor move, I doubt your parents will be too keen on you hiding-”

“Who says I live with my parents?” You cut him off. He raises his eyebrows.

“You… don’t?” He asks.

“No. I live on my own. In a pretty secluded area. My neighbors are at least ten minutes in either direction so they wouldn’t see anything. The only people who know I’ve ever interacted with you are the Hellfire club. And considering I was only there one night, there are probably plenty of other people they’d talk to first. It’s perfect.”

“How old are you?” Steve asks, still seemingly shocked that you live on your own.

“19.” You reply.

“How do you-”

“Steve. Shut up.” Robin cuts him off. He looks at her, his face almost offended that she would do such a thing.

“That could work… Eddie, what do you think?” Dustin asks as he turns to the man of the hour.

“You’re asking me what I think?” He replied. Dustin shrugs. Eddie sighs, standing up from the chair and crossing his arms.

“You’re really gonna harbor a fugitive (L/n)?” He asks. You shrug.

“Why not? I’ve already done plenty to get me jailed tonight, might as well make that list as long as possible. Get me more cred in the yard if we get caught.” You say with an almost devious smile.

“(Y/n)’s house it is. Anything beats this shithole.” Eddie replied.

“Let’s get a move on then.” You grabbed your keys out of your pocket but pause for a second.

“Hold on, I’ve got an idea.” You said, putting your keys back into your pocket and removing the tarp from the boat.

“What are you doing?” Dustin asked. You began to unhook the boat from where it was being held.

“Sending this bad boy out to sea. With any luck, the police will find it and think Eddie jumped off ‘cause he couldn’t handle the guilt.” You reply. Eddie smiles.

“Smart.” He says as he crosses his arms. You return the smile.

“I try.”

>><<

You pulled into the driveway of your house, hearing your dog barking. Poor boy hasn’t seen you all day, he must’ve missed you. You quickly locked it down before stepping out. You held your keys in your hand as you turned around.

“The dog is very friendly, don’t worry. He’s a total sweetheart. He might nibble your arm but that’s about it.” You say as you unlock your front door. True to your word, your dog came barrelling toward you, greeting you by jumping on your legs. You laughed and pet him gingerly, waiting for the others to pile in.

“Everyone in? Good. I’ll lock up, you guys can make yourself at home.” You said. He weaseled around you to sniff the new people. Max smiled as she began to put him.

“He’s so cute… What's his name?” She asked.

“It’s (D/n).” You reply, walking toward your tv so you could kneel and store your new VHS rentals with the others. Once everything is neatly sorted, you stand back up and turn around to talk to others.

“Since we dropped by your place to grab your car Steve, you should get these kids home now. It’s pretty late. Eddie and I will be fine.” You say.

“Are you sure? What if the cops come?” Dustin asks. You laugh and gently push down his hat.

“You worry too much. Get out of here already.” You reply, walking back toward your door to unlock it for them. He begrudgingly makes his way over, pausing for everyone else to follow him.

“We’ll be back tomorrow to check up on you two,” Steve says. You nod.

“Fine by me. See you all then.” You say as they slowly begin to exit. Once they’re in their car, you lock the door and turn to Eddie who stands awkwardly. You laugh.

“Relax dude.” You say.

“Relax? I’m on the run from the police and you want me to relax? I’m surprised you’re not losing your head right now considering you’re the one hiding me.”

“We’re just two friends hanging out, alright? Listen… You look like shit. Why don’t you take a shower while I cook dinner?” You suggest making your way into the kitchen to check what you could make.

“Shower? And what exactly do you propose I change into?” He asks.

“I’ll let you borrow some of mine while I toss yours in the washer. I’m sure I have something that’ll fit you. Might be a bit big though.” You say, exiting the kitchen and walking down the hall to your bedroom. You can hear him follow behind you. You push open the door and make your way to your dresser, beginning to shuffle through the top drawer.

“Oh… Wasn’t expecting your room to actually be cool.” Eddie says as he leans on the door frame. You glance at him with a cocked eyebrow.

“And why is that?” You ask.

“Well, you’re like a sports fan aren't you?” He asked. You rolled your eyes and went back to sifting through the clothes.

“Like I said. It was laundry night. I got that shirt from my dad ages ago. Couldn’t you tell from how beat up it was?” You replied, grabbing a couple of garments before standing up and tossing them toward him. He fumbled to catch them but eventually did. He unfolded the shirt to see a Mötley Crüe album cover staring back at him. He smiled.

“You’re hard to pin down (L/n).” He said. You rolled your eyes and tossed him a towel.

“That’s cause I like to be on top Munson.” You reply with a playful wink. Eddie’s face became red, holding the clothes close to his chest. He opened his mouth to reply but only sputtered. In order not to embarrass himself more, he opted to make his way to the bathroom for that shower. Maybe even a cold one.

“Make sure you toss your clothes out so I can wash them.” You shout. You see Eddie reach his arm out and drop everything in the hallway. Once you gathered his items, along with a couple of your own to make the load more substantial, you started the washer and made your way back to the living room.

You quietly whistled as you gently ran your finger along your shelf of cassettes, deciding which you wanted to listen to while you cooked. Eventually, you settled on Black Sabbath’s self-titled album and popped it into your radio.

The familiar sound of the rain from the opening song soothed you as you pulled out the pot you needed to boil water in. You hummed along once the music began to pick up. You continued cooking, enjoying the music in pair with the sound of the shower in the background.

A substantial amount of time had passed and you were close to finishing the meal you were preparing when you paused. Your favorite song on the album was starting. N.I.B. Instead of humming, you began to sing along.

“Some people say my love cannot be true / Please, believe me, my love, and I'll show you / I will give you those things you thought unreal / The sun, the moon, the stars all bear my seal.” You sing quietly to yourself.

“Woah, you’ve been holding out on me.” A voice spoke from behind you. You were startled, jumping slightly and flinging sauce onto your shirt. You groaned.

“Come on man.” You said, turning around and placing your hands on your hips. You planned on being annoyed but when you saw him standing in front of you with his curly hair damp and sticking to his forehead, you couldn’t help but swoon. Your shirt looked great on him, which caused a smile to creep onto your face.

“Tomato sauce?” He asked. You nodded.

“Spaghetti. I hope you like it.” You reply, turning back around to stir the sauce. Eddie leaned on the counter next to you, watching as you did so.

“I meant it though. Your voice was good. And your song choice? Impeccable.” He says. You roll your eyes and push him with your shoulder.

“Quit fucking with me Munson.”

“I mean it! Seriously.” His voice is soft and gentle, and your heartbeat starts to thump loudly in your chest. You turn the heat off your stove and look at him with a smile.

“Dinner is done.”

>><<

Eddie sighed as he reclined on the couch.

“Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had a home-cooked meal like that?” He asked with a laugh. You smile.

“So, you liked it?” You ask.

“Are you kidding me? That shit was delicious.” He proclaimed. You stood up and collected both of your bowls, placing them into the sink before standing in front of him.

“I'm glad you liked it. Wanna get some sleep now? It’s super late.” You said. Eddie checked his watch and nodded.

“Wow, you’re right. It is late. Am I taking the couch?” He asks. You shake your head.

“Nah, you can take my bed, I’ll take the couch.” You reply. Eddie raises his eyebrows.

“Wait what? Seriously?” He asks, sitting up straight.

“Well, yeah. The couch is super uncomfortable.”

“So why are you sleeping on it?”

“Because I don’t want you sleeping on it.”

“So… neither of us should sleep on it.”

“Where am I gonna sleep then? The floor?” You asked with a laugh.

“We could both sleep on the bed.” Eddie was quick in his response, almost too quick. You were a bit surprised by this and felt that funny feeling start to well up in your stomach again.

“We could… If you’re okay with that.” You say, trying to sound nonchalant. He shrugged, averting eye contact.

“I am if you are.” He says. You smile.

“Yeah. You can go to the room and get comfortable, I have to use the restroom so I’ll be there soon.” You say, stretching before walking down the hall.

Eddie did as you said, going into your room as you went into the restroom. He laid down on your bed, sidling under the covers and finally relaxing for the first time in a long time. He hadn’t realized how tired he was until he was resting. As he held the blanket close to him, he inhaled. It smelled like your cologne. He’d only ever caught gentle hints of it when you stood close to him, but now, he could smell it as clear as day, which was so soothing.

What has been going on with him lately? He’d only known you for two days, and everything about you seemed to make him act a fool. He needed to get himself together, he had bigger things to worry about now. Not how good your cologne smelled or how comfortable your shirt fit him or how melodic your voice sounded or how you were honestly starting to look like the perfect man for him the more time he spent with you.

You walked back into the room, hairbrush in hand as you raked it through your tangled locks. Once you finished you placed it on your nightstand. You smiled at the sight of him all cozy and comfortable in your bed. He seemed like he was already starting to drift off to sleep. God knows he needed it.

“I can’t stand the feeling of sleeping in pants, do you mind?” You asked, hands hovering over the button of your jeans. He raised his eyebrows but shrugged.

“Go ahead.” He muttered before breaking into a yawn. You chuckled.

“Sleep Eddie. You need it.” You replied, gently crawling into your bed so you didn’t disturb him. He looked at you with half-lidded eyes and gave you a sleepy smile.

“Thanks. For everything.” He mumbled before closing his eyes. You opened your mouth to respond but seeing as it seemed he’d already gone to sleep. You opted for a fond smile as you stared at him for longer than you would’ve liked to admit. The funny feeling in your stomach and heart was back, but you didn’t fight it this time. You laid with it as he laid with you, your hand only centimeters away from his. So close, yet so far. But that was okay. He was there, and that was okay.

>><<

The horrible sound of bones crunching met his ears as he stared up at her floating body. Blood was pouring from her empty eye sockets but it still felt like she was staring right at him. Into his very soul. Despite her broken jaw, she spoke to him.

“It’s all your fault, Eddie.” She whispered. Her voice was so hoarse it didn’t even sound like her own.

“No…” Eddie pleaded.

“It’s all your fault!” She was yelling now. Eddie collapsed to the floor and began to cry, covering his ears in an attempt to block out her screaming. He rocked himself back and forth, sobbing uncontrollably.

Eddie sat up with a fervor, his hands shaking violently as he swung his head around to look at the room. His eyes trained on the ceiling, waiting to see if she’d appear there. It was so hard to breathe and he was so fucking scared. He was goddamn terrified.

All the motion had woken you up. You rubbed the sleep from your eyes and planned on asking what was wrong, but quickly sat up when you heard Eddie crying. You could feel his body tremors on the mattress due to how violent they were. What had happened to him while you were sleeping?

“Eddie? Eddie, what’s wrong?” You whispered. You kept your voice low and avoided touching him in case it would upset him further.

“She was there… She was there and she- s-she-”

“Who was there Eddie?” You asked.

“Chrissy! She said it was all my fault and-” It was hard to catch the rest of his words over his sobs.

“Hey hey hey i-it’s okay! Chrissy isn’t here. None of that was your fault alright? Just breath. Can I touch you?” You asked gently, hovering your hands over his shoulders. He nodded something no short of desperation, and you wrapped one of your arms around his back, the other holding his arms. “It’s okay Eddie. It’s okay…” You whispered. He cried harder as he clutched fistfuls of your shirt with an iron-tight grip. His entire body was shaking in your arms. You weren’t sure what else you could do other than whisper that he’d be alright and gently rub his back.

“You’re safe here, okay? You’re safe…”

>><<

Eddie woke up, the smell of your cologne much stronger than it was when he’d gone to sleep. He opened his eyes and yawned, taking a few seconds to blink away the tiredness before realizing he was laying on your chest. His arms were wrapped around your midsection and yours laying atop his back.

He vaguely remembered what happened. Having that horrible nightmare, waking up in tears, and you soothing him back to sleep, but he didn’t remember this level of intimacy. Had he really fallen asleep clutching onto you like this? Furthermore, you let him?

He pulled his arms out from under you, trying his best not to disturb you, but it was fruitless. You slowly began to stir, stretching your limbs and shaking them gently in an attempt to wake yourself up further. You looked at Eddie and gave him a small smile, remembering the events of the night clearly.

“You alright?” You ask quietly. Eddie gives a half-hearted laugh before leaning against the headboard of your bed.

“Yeah. Sorry, you had to see me like that. How embarrassing.” He muttered. You chuckled and sat up as well, bumping your shoulder into his as you did so.

“You went through something traumatic Eddie. Don't be so hard on yourself.” You replied. He looked at his hands which he’d folded in his lap.

“I was acting like a baby though. Crying and shaking? I mean seriously-”

“Eddie.” You cut him off. He looked at you with those big brown eyes that made you weak in the knees.

“You’re okay. I mean it.” You say, placing your hand on his shoulder. He stared at you, his cheeks dusting that familiar shade of pink that seemed to be happening much more often now that he was around you. He looked away, a small smile on his face.

“Just don’t tell Henderson, alright? I don’t want him to think I’ve gone soft.” He says. You laugh.

“Deal.”

>><<

A few days passed and you found yourself growing much closer to Eddie. You bonded over music and books, played board games, and marathoned some of your favorite movies. The more time you spent with him, the harder you seemed to fall for him, and unbeknownst to you, it was the same for him.

Every time he looked at you from across the couch he felt his heart beat faster than it ever had in his life. He had crushes before, but none like this. None that would've given him a second glance, let alone let him stay in their house as he was suspected of murder.

You were reclined on the couch, your dog wedged between you two. Eddie had grown quite fond of him, and it was mutual. (D/n) loved having another person around to play with. It started to make you feel like you were your own little family. But a loud knock on your door disturbed that peace, causing (D/n) to start barking.

“Who is it?” You called.

“It’s Dustin! Let us in!” He yelled through the door. You sighed and got up from your comfortable position, unlocking the door for the others to pile in. But there were two faces you didn’t quite recognize.

“Hold on there kid. Mind catching me up on these two characters?” You asked.

“Oh, right. (Y/n), this is Nancy and Lucas, Nancy and Lucas this is (Y/n). We’re all caught up now? Great, good, because shit just hit the fan.” Dustin replies. You raise your eyebrows, and Eddie adjusts his sitting from being reclined to attentive listening.

“On our way here, we drove by Rick’s place. It was swarmed with cops and reporters. Patrick was Vecna’d last night at Lover’s Lake. Jason managed to convince them that it was you and they’ve just released your name to the public.” His words come out so fast that you almost don’t register what he’s saying.

“Shit. shit… fuck man!” Eddie yells, standing up and beginning to pace the room.

“But, there’s a bright side to this,” Dustin says.

“Oh is there Henderson? Please do enlighten me.” Eddie replies sarcastically.

“Another thing I noticed on my way here was that my compass was slipping the further east we went.”

“And we’ve seen this before.” The one named Lucas chimed in.

“Mhmm. In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power.” Dustin says.

“Meaning…?” You ask.

“There’s another gate.” He answers.

“So what do we do now?”

“We follow the compass to the gate,” Dustin replies excitedly.

“Eddie’s still a wanted man. What do you expect us to do? Go for a nice stroll in the woods?” You ask.

“This little steel capsule might be the key to saving both Max and Eddie. What say you Eddie the Banished?” Dustin asks. Everyone fixes their eyes on Eddie, even you. You’re not sure what you’re hoping his answer is.

“I say you’re asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if I’m totally straight with you, I think is a really bad idea. But, uh, the shire… the shire is burning. So Mordor it is.” Dustin excitedly opens the front door, waiting for Eddie to walk out. You walk to step out after him but pause to speak before you do.

“For the record, if anything happens to him, you’re all dead meat. Got it?” You say. A couple of shocked faces dance around the room, but there are nods of agreement. Once your gone, Steve looks at Dustin.

“Since when does he care so much about Eddie?” He asks. Dustin smirks.

“Young love Steve. Young love.” He replies as he pats his arm. Steve makes a noise of shock as Dustin walks out of the house.

“A little bit of elaboration would be nice.”

>><<

“Dustin? Can you slow down? Dustin?” Eddie called out. You felt like sheep, blindly following this kid through the woods.

“I think we’re getting close,” Dustin yelled over his shoulder. In his distraction of telling you so, he didn’t notice that he was about to walk straight into Lover’s Lake. Eddie grabbed his backpack and placed his arm in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.

“Watch your step big guy.” He said. It took everyone else a little bit to catch up, but once you did, you sighed.

“Oh, man. You gotta be shitting me.” Steve groaned.

“Yeah. I thought these woods looked familiar.” Eddie replied.

“Lover’s Lake.”

“This is confounding,” Dustin whispered.

“There’s a gate in Lover’s lake?” Max asked.

“Whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening. Maybe Vecna’s the same way.” Nancy suggested.

“Yeah, only one way to find out,” Steve replied. Eddie sighed and cracked his neck, walking down the shoreline. He pulled the tarp off the boat which seemed to be an integral part of this story. Steve and Eddie began to push it onto the water.

“Easy I… I said easy, man.” Steve said.

“Sorry, dude,” Eddie mumbled. Steve holds his hand out to help Robin into the boat but she opts to use their heads instead.

“Yeah that works too.” Steve mumbles. Eddie climbs in after, offering a hand to help you in. You snicker.

“How gentlemanly.” You reply sarcastically as you climb in. Nancy quickly follows behind you. Dustin is right on her heels, but Eddie flicks his hat downward and pushes him away.

“Hey, hey, hey, you trying to sink us? This thing holds four people tops, okay?”

“It’s better this way, okay? You guys stay here with Max. Keep an eye out for trouble.” Nancy said.

“You keep an eye out!” Dustin rebuttals. Nancy furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

“It’s my goddamn theory!” Dustin argues.

“You heard Nance.”

“Who put her in charge?”

“I did,” Robin states, almost matter-of-factly. Dustin looks at her confused while Nancy holds out her hand.

“Compass.” She demands. Dustin begrudgingly forks it over as he walks back to stand next to the other younger teenagers. Steve stands up and tosses his backpack before pushing the boat into the water and hopping in.

“You said four!” Dustin protests.

“Sorry,” Steve whispers.

“Bedtime at nine kiddos! Miss you already!” Robin yells. You chuckled.

Robin and Eddie use the oars to propel the boat on the water while Nancy watches the compass. You quietly begin to whistle a tune, one that Eddie recognized. The same one you sang the first night he stayed at your house. He was sure his face was flushed, but he didn't mind since it was shrouded in the darkness of the night.

”Whoa, whoa, woah, woah, slow down. Slow down, guys.” Nancy called out. Robin and Eddie stopped rowing, turning around to look at her. You all gathered around the compass, staring at it as the needle went crazy. You heard the walkie-talkie chime with Dustin’s voice.

“Guys, what’s going on? Come on, talk to me. What’s going on?” He asked. Robin grabbed the walkie and spoke into it.

“Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capitol ‘aah!’” She replied. Steve began to pull off his shoes and socks.

“Steve, what are you doing?” Nancy asked.

“Yeah, seriously man, nobody wants to see those. Or smell them.” You say, fanning his feet away from you. Steve rolls his eyes.

“Somebody's gotta go down and check this thing out. Unless one of you four can top being a Hawkins High swim co-captain and a certified lifeguard for three years, then… It’s gotta be me. No complaints, alright?” He asks.

“Hey, I'm not complaining. I do not wanna go down there.” Eddie replies as he fishes a grocery bag from his battle vest pocket. Steve pulls his shirt off and you roll your eyes.

“Show off.” You mumble. Eddie looks up at you and smiles.

“Tell me about it.” He whispers before handing Steve the flashlight wrapped in the plastic bag safeguard.

“Hey. Good luck.” Eddie says. He pulls out a cigarette while Steve thanks him but Robin quickly grabs it and throws it in the lake.

“Steve?” Nancy calls out. He looks over his shoulder at her.

“Be careful.” She says. He nods before diving in.

“Gross.” You mumble, taking off your hoodie and bunching it up. You toss it in Eddie’s lap before laying your head onto it, reclining as comfortably as the small boat would allow. Eddie’s a bit surprised by this, looking down at you as if questioning why.

“Who knows how long he’ll be down there? Might as well get comfortable while I can.” You reply with a shrug. He relaxes a little but is still somewhat on edge.

“Where we at, Wheeler?” Robin asks.

“Closing in on a minute,” Nancy replies. She exhales and nods. More time passes as both of them stare intensely at the water, wondering when he’s gonna resurface. You, on the other hand, find yourself close to drifting off. You wouldn’t have expected it considering the high-stakes situation you were in, but something about laying in Eddie's lap made you feel safe enough to doze off. You were snapped out of that peace quickly though when Steve burst through the water gasping for air.

“I found it!” He exclaimed. You sat up and pulled your hoodie back on.

“You found it?” Nancy asked.

“I found it. Yeah. I found it.” He replied as he clutched onto the side of the boat. Robin smiles and grabs the walkie-talkie.

“Dustin you are a goddamn Einstein. Steve found the gate!” She spoke into it. She waited for a response, but nothing came. She furrows her eyebrows in confusion but disregards it when Steve starts talking.

“It’s pretty wild. It’s more of a snack-sized gate than the mama gate but still, it’s pretty damn big.” He says, almost out of breath. When his sentence finished, he dips back under the water, seemingly struggling against something. He pops back up with a look of confusion on his face before being pulled fully underwater.

“Steve!” Nancy calls out.

“No no! What the hell was that, man?” Eddie yelled.

“Nancy, really, what happened?” Robin asks, her voice filled with terror. Nancy stares at the water for a moment before she stands up. She looks like she’s going in after him.

“Wait, wait, wait. You’re not going in there, are you?” Eddie asks, grabbing her arm to stop her.

“Just wait here.” She demands.

“No Nancy!” Robin yells, but she’s already in the water.

“Goddamnit!” Eddie yells, running his fingers through his hair. Robin begins to perch herself on the edge of the boat.

“No no no no no no. What are you doing? She said wait.” Eddie protested.

“Yeah, I heard her.” She replies.

“She’s in charge.”

“Are you kidding me? I made that shit up.” She says before plugging her nose and beginning to lean back.

“Don’t you go. Don’t you-” His words are cut off by the splash of Robin's body meeting the water.

“Goddamn it!” He bangs his open palms on the edge of the boat. You stand up, causing him to look at you.

“(Y/n), don’t even think about it!” He says. You smirk and hold out your hand to him.

“Come on, don’t make me do this alone.” You reply.

“Son of a bitch. This is so stupid. This is so stupid. This is so stupid.” He practically chants to himself, but he grabs your hand anyways. You dive into the water together, all while he’s stringing out profanities.

>><<

You all huddle under skull rock, shaking from fear and possibly hypothermia. After saving Steve from those creatures and running through the entire forest to hide from them, it was safe to say that you were exhausted. The screeching becomes more distant, and Robin is the first to peek her head out.

“Oh… okay. That was close.” She says.

“Yeah. Too close.” Eddie replies, his voice shaking with fear. As you begin to walk farther out, you hear steve mutter something. You turn your head and see him lean against the rock.

“Steve? Jesus.” Nancy says as she notices the same thing you had.

“I’m fine. I’m fine.” He protests.

“No, no, no. You’re not. You’re losing blood. Come on, sit. Alright?” She coaxes him down He groans in pain as he removes his hand from the open wound. Robin kneels next to him as well.

“Okay. So the good news here is I’m pretty sure wooziness is not a common symptom of rabies. But if you start having hallucinations or muscle spasms or you start feeling aggressive, like you wanna punch me or something, then you should totally let me know, okay?”

“Robin.”

“Yeah?”

“I kinda wanna punch you.” He replied. Robin laughs.

“Sense of humor’s still intact. That’s a good sign.”

“Yeah…” He mumbles. Nancy finishes tearing off the piece of fabric that she needed to dress his wounds, so Robin steps away.

“You ready?” Nancy asks.

“Yeah. Just do it.” Steve replies. She pushes the fabric against him and he stifles his groans. He locks his hands behind his head as she apologizes, doing her best to wrap the fabric around him properly.

“Too tight?” She asks.

“No, that’s good.” He replies. He lets out a few final grunts of pain before she finishes by tying it into a knot. You hear Eddie walk away from you, so you turn to see what he’s doing. He’s climbing up a rock, trying to get a better view of the land in front of him.

“So, uh, this place is like Hawkins, but with monsters and nasty shit?” He asks. Nancy helps Steve stand, putting his weight on her shoulders.

“Pretty much.” She replies. He nods and starts to walk back down, but Nancy stops him with a warning.

“Wait, watch out for the vines. It’s all a hivemind.”

“It’s all a what?”

“All the creepy crawlies around here dude. They’re like, one, or something. You’re stepping on a vine, you’re stepping on a bat, you’re stepping on Vecna.” Steve says.

“Shit,” Eddie replies, now very carefully stepping around the vines.

“But everything from our world is still here, right? Except people obviously?” Robin asks.

“As far as I understand it, yeah.” “So, theoretically, we could go to the police station and steal guns and grenades and whatever we need to blow up those bat things that are guarding the gate.” “I highly doubt the Hawkins PD has grenades, Robin. But guns, yeah, sure.”

“Well, we don’t have to go all the way downtown for guns. I have guns in my bedroom.” Nancy replied. Eddie finally manages to jump down from the rock.

“You, Nancy Wheeler, have guns, plural, in your bedroom?” He asks.

“Full of surprises, isn’t she?”

“A Russian Makarov and a revolver.” She states.

“Yeah, you almost shot me with that one,” Steve says.

“You almost deserved it.” She replies. Eddie rolls his eyes and slips off his battle vest, tossing it at Steve.

“For your modesty, dude.” He says. You can’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy culminate in your abdomen, but before you have time to even think about why that is, a loud rumbling shakes the earth. It’s so intense that you lose your balance, falling into Eddie as the others fall into each other as well. His arm falls onto your waist and you would've been flustered by the fact had you not been preoccupied with the earthquake. There was a loud snarling in the distance that sent chills down your spine.

“Yeah, so guns seem like a pretty good idea to me,” Eddie said.

“Yeah, me too.” You reply, realizing how close he is by how loud his voice is in your ear.

“So what are we waiting for?”

>><<

After the highs and lows of finding the wheeler house, realizing there were no guns because the upside down was three years stuck in the past, finding a way to contact the overworld, and biking seven miles to Eddie’s trailer, you were almost relieved when you saw that fleshy interdimensional portal on the ceiling. But something about the way it squelched and breathed as if it were alive made you have second thoughts.

“This is where Chrissy died. Like, right where she died.” Eddie said, looking over his shoulders at you and the others. You could tell there was a lot of pain in those memories.

“I think there’s something in there,” Robin replied, her eyes never leaving the ceiling. There was a crackling sound as the red barrier was pulling downward as if something were pushing it in. You felt your stomach go queasy at the sight.

“What the hell is that?” Eddie asked. Seconds after the question left his mouth, the gate popped open, the fleshy parts and vines all retreating into the ceiling. The sudden movement made all of you yelp in fear and back up, eyes still fixed on the now open gate. You exchanged worried glances with Eddie.

Steve slowly began to approach it, and you followed his lead, right behind Nancy and Robin. The steps you took toward it were slow and timid, waiting for the slightest sign of danger. Finally, as you got closer, you could see into it.

“No way,” Steve muttered. On the other side of the gate stood Dustin, Lucas, Max, and a little girl you didn’t recognize. Dustin had a huge smile plastered on his face, jumping on the balls of his feet.

“Hi there.” He said as he waved, prompting Lucas to do the same.

“Hi…” Nancy, Steve, and Robin replied. You were too shocked to speak.

“Holy shit, this is trippy,” Robin said.

“Tell me about it…” You mumbled. Dustin laughed again, excitedly looking at his friends before looking back up at you.

“Bada bada boom!” He exclaimed.

“Henderson, your childlike joy is refreshing, but could we maybe, I don’t know, figure out a way to get us the hell out of here!” Eddie shouted. Dustin stopped giggling and nodded.

“Right right sorry, Eddie.” The children began to disperse out of your view. You could hear shuffling and after a few minutes, Max and Lucas dropped a mattress below the portal. You raised your eyebrows at the state of it.

“Those stains are, uh… I dunno what those stains are.” Eddie said.

“Mmm,” Robin replied, a questioning look on her face. Dustin walked into view, a makeshift rope of tied-together sheets in hand.

“Not quite sure how these psychics are gonna work. But uh… here goes nothing.” He says as he throws it up through the portal, but once it meets your end it begins to cascade down.

“There we go. And if my theory is correct…” He says before removing his hands from the rope. It stays in its place, causing him to smile.

“Abracadabra.” He whispers.

“Holy shit,” Max says, looking up at the rope on your end.

“All right, pull on it! See if it holds!” Dustin shouts to your group. Robin looks around before grabbing onto the rope, giving it her best yank. She smiles and laughs incredulously.

“This is the craziest shit I’ve ever seen in my life. And I’ve seen some crazy shit.” The girl you don’t recognize says as she high-fives Dustin. You laugh.

“Starting to think that’s a common experience.” You reply. Robin grabs hold of the rope once again.

“Guess I’m the guinea pig.” She says as she begins to climb up the rope. The younger teens on the other side begin to disperse to make room for her on the landing pad. She grunted as she climbed upward, but once her head was on the other side, she fell onto her back on the mattress.

“Oh thank God. That was fun.” She said with a sigh of relief. You watch her grab Dustin’s hand to help pull her up. You look at the others, Nancy looking at Eddie, then you, then Steve, the other teenage boys looking at each other until somebody volunteers.

“All right, guess I’ll go,” Eddie says with a shrug as he approaches the rope. He grunts as he begins to climb it, inching his way back to the overworld. Finally, gravity takes hold and he falls onto the mattress. He sits up abruptly.

“That… was fun. Shit.” He says with a large smile before getting up.

“Don’t mind if I do.” You say, grabbing onto the rope. Climbing it felt reminiscent of gym class, which made you feel a bit queasy, but once your head passed that gap between the worlds, all the blood went rushing to your face and you felt like you were freefalling. You laughed as you began to cascade onto the mattress and blinked a few times once your back finally hit the surface.

“(Y/n) approved.” You said as grabbed Eddie’s hand so he could help you up.

>><<

You sat wedged between Dustin and Eddie, on your way to what could very well be the end of your life. Thanks to Nancy being Vecna’d and that trip to the War Zone, you were as well prepared as you could’ve been, but that didn’t quiet the loud thrumming of your heart, or the sinking feeling growing in the pit of your stomach.

The car slowed in front of the dilapidated Creel house to drop off the Sinclairs and Max. And then it kept driving. You looked out the window, watching their bodies become smaller as you drove further and further away. The sun was dipping lower into the sky as the drive continued. It was nightfall by the time you reached your destination. Nancy stood up from her seat and turned to look at every one.

“Okay. I wanna run through it one more time. Phase one.”

“We meet Erica at the playground. She’ll signal Max and Lucas when we’re ready.”

“Phase two.”

“Max baits Vecna. He’ll go after her, which’ll put him in his trance.”

“Phase three?”

“Me, Eddie, and (Y/n) will draw the bats away,” Dustin replied. Eddie nudges you in the side with a smile before giving Dustin a noogie, an oddly pure moment despite the given circumstances.

“Four.”

“We head into Vecna’s hopefully newly bat-free lair and… flambe,” Robin replies, sloshing around the Molotov cocktail in her hand.

“Nobody moves on to the next phase until we’ve all copied. Nobody deviates from the plan, no matter what. Got it?” Nancy asks. You all chime in with ‘got it’s before dispersing and piling out of the RV. You trek through the small span of woods in front of you before making it to the trailer park and shortly after, Eddie’s trailer. Once you're inside, you’re relieved to see the makeshift rope is still intact.

“Be careful,” Dustin says.

“Thanks, buddy. Here goes nothing.” Steve replies as he begins to climb the rope. Since there’s no mattress on the other end, he’s extra careful to land on his feet, which he does somewhat majestically. Robin sarcastically makes noises of praise.

“What does he want us to do, applaud?” She asks. It takes Steve a few seconds to bring the upside-down mattress under the portal, giving those athletically challenged a safer landing strategy.

“Alright, let’s go.” He calls up to you. Nancy is the first go, Robin kneeling next to her to provide even more assistance. She nods at her before climbing and subsequently falling onto the mattress. After Nancy, Eddie drops down his gear and follows right after. Then you, then Robin, then Dustin, who takes far too long to stand up which results in him being pulled to his feet by you and Eddie. You begin to walk out of the trailer right behind Steve, with the rest of your team in tow. He turns back to you.

“Hey, guys, listen. If things here start to go south, I mean, at all, you abort. Okay? Draw the attention of the bats. Keep ‘em busy for a minute or two. We’ll take care of Vecna. Don’t try to be cute, or be a hero or something. Okay? You guys are just-”

“Decoys. Don’t worry. You can be the hero Steve.” Dustin cuts him off.

“Absolutely. I mean, look at us. We are not heroes.” Eddie says with a laugh as he looks between you and Dustin. You feign offense as you nudge him in the side. Steve hesitates for a moment before turning around and walking toward Robin and Nancy. Eddie takes a step toward him.

“Hey, Steve?” He calls out. Steve turns around.

“Make him pay.” He says. They nod at each other before Steve’s team begins to walk off.

“Now that all that mushy gushy bullshit is over, it’s time for the fun part.” You say, hitting Eddie’s stomach with your arm. He laughs as you make your way into his bedroom. Once he’s in, he stops.

“Jesus christ… It’s like… She was destined for an alternate dimension…” He mumbles as he approaches his guitar.

“What do you say, guys?” He asks, picking it up from where it hung.

“Are you ready for the most metal concert in the history of the world?” He asks, turning to face the two of you.

“That a rhetorical question?” Dustin asks. Eddie smiles and puts the strap over his shoulder.

“Let’s do it.” He says, swinging it over his back. As if you didn’t find him hot enough as it is.

>><<

You waited tentatively for the crackle of the walkie-talkie to sound and tell you when to move forward. Finally, after what seemed like hours, you heard Robin’s voice on the other end.

“She’s in. Move on to phase three.”

“Copy that. Initiating phase three. Let’s hope they hear this.” Dustin said as he pulled the extension cord up to plug in the amp and subsequently turned them to their full volume. He looks at Eddie, who grabs the pick from around his neck.

“Chrissy, this is for you.” He mutters, mostly to himself, before he starts to strum. You recognize the beat immediately.

Dustin is crouched beside you as you lean one hand on the amp, enjoying Eddie’s impeccable performance of one of your favorite songs. You would’ve enjoyed it more, had it not been for the predicament you were in. Dustin checks his binoculars a few times, but this time, he calls out to Eddie.

“We gotta lock down in T minus 30 seconds.” He yells over the noise. Eddie nods, focusing back on playing his guitar.

“T-minus 20!” Dustin shouts. You look over at Eddie, who’s now shredding the guitar solo, which you wish you could appreciate more, but the screeching bats inching closer in proximity make it difficult. Dustin begins to count down from 10, and Eddie finishes right as he reaches one. The bats are way too close for comfort, so you shove Dustin in the direction of the truck you used to get on the roof. He begins to climb down, you following and Eddie just behind you.

They’re shouting incoherently at each other as you rush into the gated area, which Eddie shuts just in the nick of time. You watch the bats attempt to claw at you through the fencing, but they have no luck. You give a relieved half laugh half sigh, but it’s short-lived as more begin to fly toward you.

“Hurry! Come on!” Dustin calls to the two of you. Once you’re inside, you lean against the wall, panting heavily.

“Dude. Most metal ever!” Dustin yells, causing both him and Eddie to jump with excitement. You laugh and can’t help but smile at the two fondly. They take a few minutes to bask in their excitement before finally winding down and walking to the portal. There’s a thump against the trailer wall that makes you turn your head. Then another. And another. And then they’re not stopping. The bats outside seem to be thrashing their bodies against the walls. Hard. But then, just as soon as it started, it stopped.

“Hey, dipshits! Give up that easy!” Dustin yells.

“Is that really necessary?” Eddie asks.

“Both of you shut up!” You hiss. They stop bickering long enough for you to hear the bats have moved.

“They’re on the roof,” Eddie says, looking upward. Dustin begins to string out profanities as you all follow the sound of the bats traveling. You fix your eyes on a small circular vent.

“Uh oh.” You whisper.

“They can’t get in through there, can they?” Dustin asks, but right as the words leave his mouth, the demobat breaches the flimsy metal. It screeches, and the three of you begin to stab at it furiously with your spears. After a few seconds, Eddie backs away, much to Dustin’s protests.

“Get out of the way! Get out of the way!” He calls to the two of you. You back up just in time for Eddie to throw down a chair and wedge his nail shield into the ceiling.

“Holy shit… Holy shit.” He says in between pants.

“Nice,” Dustin says.

“Thanks.” He replies, giving him a high five.

“Are there other vents?” Dustin asks. Eddie seems to realize his answer is not the one you’d hope for as he rushes to his bedroom. You all begin to run toward it, and as soon as you enter, bats come flying through the vent on the floor. He pushes you and Dustin out, shutting the door as quickly as he can.

“That’s not gonna hold!” Dustin yells as you back away.

“No shit genius!” You yell back.

“Let’s go!” Eddie yells. Dustin begins to climb the rope. You’re quick to follow, not sparing another second. Once you're on the other side, you look at Eddie who starts to climb but stops halfway.

“Eddie, what are you doing? You have to hurry!” You yell at him. He stares at you and then at the door before dropping back onto the ground.

“Eddie! Come on man!” Your shouts seem to fall on deaf ears as he walks away to grab a spear.

“Eddie don’t you fucking dare! Eddie-” He cuts the rope, severing the way to travel between the worlds. He moves the mattress and you can feel tears begin to well in your eyes. Dustin is watching this unfold with you.

“Eddie, what are you doing?” He asks. Eddie looks at the two of you with a smile on his face.

“I’m buying more time.” He says before walking out of your view. Dustin looks at you as if he’s asking what to do and for the first time in a long time, you don’t know. You’d never felt this way before. Scared and lost and heartbroken all at the same time. You couldn’t breathe.

“No fucking way. You’re not fucking running this time Eddie.” You say as the tears fall out of your eyes, but you wipe them away ferociously. You grab the chair and set it right underneath the center of the portal. Standing on it, you’re just tall enough to reach it when you jump. So you do just that. Grunting as you pull yourself through, you hang on for dear life when the gravitational pull hits. You sigh and swing back and forth so you can roll when you let go. It’s messy, and you're gonna be left bruised, but it’s enough to have gotten you down. You pull the mattress back, giving Dustin a safer way to land than you had.

“Come on!” You yell, offering a hand to help him up. Once he’s on his feet, you rush out the door, him following close behind you. You run as fast as you can, pushing yourself farther than you ever have before. You can see the bats swarming him. God, why did you have to fall in love with an idiot?

You see them wrap around his legs and arms, rendering him defenseless. More begin to pile onto him and you can only imagine what they’re doing. Tears blur your vision as you start to run even faster, faster than you thought was in your capability. You pull the machete you’d nabbed from the war zone off your back as you were finally in distance. You swung it at the bats in your path but saved your deadliest blows for the ones gnawing on his torso.

Dustin was close behind you, picking off those that he could as you fought with the ones latched onto Eddie. He seemed to recognize you, a bloody smile on his face. You kept swinging and crying and fighting, all at the same time. It seemed like an impossible fight that you swore you would’ve lost, but then, out of nowhere, the bats all fell from the sky.

You dropped your machete and began to cry harder. You were going to hold Eddie but found his wounds held a higher precedent. You wiped away your tears in an effort to see better as Dustin kneeled next to him as well.

“Bad, huh?” He asked.

“No. You’re gonna be fine.” Dustin replied.

“Damn fucking right you will.” You yelled, pulling off your hoodie. You sliced through the fabric with the pocket knife you had and began to tie it tightly around his torso.

“You’re not dying on me that easy Munson. Don’t even fucking think about it.” You reply. He opens his mouth to respond, but you cut him off by placing his arm around your shoulder.

“Whatever sappy shit you’ve got to say, you can save it, 'cause I already told you. You’re not fucking dying today.” You say as you stand up, carrying his body weight as well. He groans in pain.

“Help me out here Henderson.” You say, staggering to hold him up by yourself. Dustin rushes to your side and grabs Eddie’s other arm, splitting his weight between the two of you as you hobble back through the upside-down.

>><<

Eddie sat up in bed, gasping and looking around, then clutching his sides in pain. He recognized the room he was in, but he wasn’t sure why. The door to his right creaked open, and you walked in with what looked like medical supplies in your arms.

“(Y/n).” His voice was hoarse as he spoke your name. You were surprised to see that he was awake, and felt tears prick the corners of your eyes,

“Finally you’re up. I was starting to think you were holding out on me.” You said, trying to act as if you weren’t bursting at the seams with excitement. He chuckled.

“Why am I here?” He asked. You shrugged and sat next to him on your bed, pulling the covers off of his body. He hadn’t noticed he was shirtless until he felt the cold chill nip at his body.

“Would you rather be at Hawkins High with the rest of the town? I’m sure they’d all love to see their darling Edward, wanted murder suspect.” You reply. He smiles.

“Guess you’re right.” He says as you begin to unwrap his bandages.

“Someone’s getting a bit handsy.” He teases. You roll your eyes and finish unwrapping the bloodied bandages before starting to wrap him with new ones.

“That was really stupid, by the way.” You say.

“What?”

“Running into that swarm. You could’ve been killed.” You scolded. Eddie sighs.

“They needed more time and even if I had been… What difference would it have made?” He said with a shrug. You felt tears well in your eyes again.

“What difference would it have made? Just because Jason got a few hicks to be against you doesn’t mean everybody was. There are still people who care about you and love you, Eddie. I fucking love you! Do you really think I just ran back into that hell dimension because it wouldn’t have made a difference whether you lived or died?” You said angrily, pulling his bandages around him tighter.

“Wait wait wait. Do my ears deceive me? Did you just say you love me?” Eddie asked. You were so frustrated that you couldn’t take it anymore. You grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into a kiss.

At first, you were angry, pressing your lips against his just to get him to shut up for once in his goddamn life but then, as his hands gently held onto you as if you were a delicate piece of fine china, you broke. Tears began to stream down your face as it all hit you at once. You needed this. You needed him.

He pulled away, far too soon for your liking, and stared at you as his chest heaved to catch his breath. He blinked his beautiful brown eyes and smiled his stupid grin. There he was, in all his glory, and you’d just kissed him in a fit of passion and anger at his pure idiocy.

“If I get a kiss like that every time I act a fool, then I’ll have to remember to risk my life more often.” He whispers. You laugh and wipe your face of your tears, shaking your head before standing up.

“Eddie Munson. You have changed my life.” You say with a laugh.

“Then I guess we’re even. Cause I think you saved mine.” He replied. You gathered the bloody bandages and began to walk to the door. Your hand was just above the knob when you paused at the sound of Eddie’s voice once again.

“If I ever beat these charges and things ever go back to the way they were… or at least as much as they can… I’d like to take you on a normal date.” “If I liked normal, I never would’ve found you.”

“Then can I take you on a not normal date? Affective immediately?” He asks. You laugh and open your bedroom door.

“Tell you what Eddie. You heal from the damage those hellbats did to your stomach, and I’ll think about it. Deal?”

“Deal.”

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definitelynotshouting · 1 year

Note

hi ! i just read all of the hunger au tag and #($+$(()33-(# . Hm . God awful . I am a worse person because of it /j . I have a lot of thoughts !!

First off , i find the conversion of biology and software fascinating , specially in the concepts of first worlds ! Like , you mentioned how players are more often spawned rather than born , and i personally interpret their first worlds as a sort of prenatal stage . think abt it , they're still connected to the universal code , still relying on it to learn and advance , and after they shed it and are finally "born" as themselves , able to access the rest of the world .

also , lots of body horror in this au . like , code , right ? i keep imagining the universal code as sort of veins , tendrils freshly born players are still teetered with , the connections grian has to put effort into severing as fleshy tendrils twisting and clinging unto players . much wet !

speaking of which , listeners , dude . i think genuinely they r much more scarier than watchers because they're not noticeable , their effects r not threatening , they don't stick to you n eat your insides , they get into your system and /change/ you , fuse into you , how many people have been affected by it ? even worse when you take into account they connect with other infected , n worse when they work towards Goals . girl what goals could the listeners want ????? I'm terrified .

And grian finally !!!!!! For al this time I've been looking at grian as having an eating disorder , cause , well , he does . It's so interesting , he ticks almost all the boxes . The guilt , the hiding it through clothing , the fact he's thinking of food all the time , damn . I'm also eternally fixated on the image of , like , the existential horror on it . he was created by sucking himself dried of code , he broke out of his own skin . something something caterpillars completely melt themselves in their cocoon before emerging as butterflies something something .

anyhow , such fun !!! I'm definitely gonna draw a lot for this , you're a great writer fr grrrr -🔆

Im really glad you've picked up on these concepts and themes i've carefully folded into this au, because it means they're coming across really clearly!!! :D thats how i know im doing my job as a writer, so im very pleased because all of these things you've mentioned (except maybe the Greater Code as tendrils) have been baked into the au with great deliberation

Spawned Players and their first worlds are absolutely very prenatal in nature-- i described to a friend a few months ago that a spawned Player's relationship to their first server, and the universe at large, is like an "umbilical cord" that they eventually detach from as they grow older :] how fast they go through that process depends ofc on the individual Player, but that was the general idea behind that concept!!

There's definitely a TON of body horror in this au WKDNWJDJSJ thats one of the first things i remember cw-ing for when explaining this au for the first time. Actual historical record right here LMFAO:

I personally tend to see the Greater Code as this sorta like. Fabric of binary, that forms the base for what everything in this universe is made of. Within it are echoes of recycled information, code that comes together to form the impressions of old meaning-- you could almost think of them as ghosts. No longer conscious, but emulating fragments of what they once were. Also, any and all body horror imagery is the full fault of my cousin, whom i consider the ultimate Horror Guy in my life, as well as his favorite video game, Dead Space, which has. so much meat in it, gods bless<3

Listeners are absolutely more scary than Watchers imo; i was sorta thinking of cordyceps as well as the mycorrhizae when i was coming up with them!!! There's something utterly terrifying about being so subtly changed and just not knowing why. You can see and hear Watchers; their presence is palpable even if you dont know what they are. But a Listener? They're quiet. Symbiotic but deeply, utterly invasive. Definitely more frightening on an existential level than a Watcher, which i find suitable for something modeled after fungi.

As for Grian, he 100% has an eating disorder. My portrayal of that in the au is very deliberate, even though its not directly stated. So im glad you picked up on that!!! And if you do draw anything for this for the love of gods send it here or tag me in the post i will DIE i love fanart and i am guaranteed to scream about it for a million years AUGH

#shouting speaks #asks #grian #watcher grian #hermitcraft #hunger au #worldbuilding #im abt to answer ur other ask in a second but these were such nice messages to get!!! thank you very much!! :D #im so glad you're enjoying the au and fic!!!#long post #compliments #txt

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emptifylie · 2 months

Text

my depression is at an all time high. i broke my fast, i ate 27 blueberries, i don’t give a fuck. i’m currently getting high in my bathroom and i know my parents will say shit about it smelling. i don’t care anymore. i haven’t been in school in 2 weeks. i’m failing all my classes basically and i’m still not even skinny. my mom asked me today why i do this shit to myself. (she found out i haven’t been going to school) she told me, “all i ever see you doing is going to the gym or sleeping” and that it’s smelled like weed in the house all week. FUCKKKK SHES RIGHT!!! SHES FUCKING RIGHT!!! i want to get better. i can’t be this depressed forever. it’s going nowhere. all it’s doing is bringing me deeper and deeper down a pit i won’t be able to get out of. i’m gonna get better. okay i’m making a plan ok ok ok:

1.) clean my room(immediately)

i’m still really high but whatever i can try and clean a little

2.) do all my missing work

this is probably gonna take a week but maybe i’ll just get even higher and i could stay up all night getting it done(i don’t know if i’ll ever have motivation again)

3.) email personalized apologies to my teachers who are praying on my downfall daily… lol…

4.) fast for the rest of the month

yeah 15 day fast😭i did it last month and it really helped i need to lose weight quick to make me feel better (maybe i’ll do 10 days- 2day break- 4 days)

5.) stop getting high at the gym

i’m high 24/7 and i feel like it REALLY does not help my lungs to be destroyed when i’m doing cardio

6.) get sober…..

i think this is a battle to tackle next month fr lol

7.) sell my clothes

i have clothes from when i was really thin(also when i was heavier) and as much as i want to be that little again i think i need to let go of that for now. being that skinny almost killed me and destroyed my family relationships so i wanna hold off on being too underweight.

8.) maybe contact my therapist.

lol. all i ever did was lie to her so that she wouldn’t send me back to the hospital. but i need help. i don’t want her to fix my anorexia, im not recovering LMFAO!!! i want her to fix my derealization and depression and possibly my addictions in the future if that’s even possible

9.) take better care of myself

not eating more obviously but maybe just like… maybe not destroying my health daily or whatever idk bruh

9.5) go to school

(idk why i made it 9.5) i need to stop getting dumber and dumber and maybe learn a thing or two

10.) block my ex

lel this is when i’m in a better state of mind i can’t do that yet…

ok i have a plan lol now i just need to try

#ed vent #eating diary #only pro for tags #disorderd eating #4norexi4

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sardonic-sprite · 1 year

Text

I'm Back!

Wow, so Lent is over now, so my tumblr fast is also over and I'm still a little in shock, lol. I had hoped the past six weeks? I don't know, Time is weird, would be more productive but at least I got SOME stuff written/posted. Anyway, I have one more month of school and then fucking FINALS so expect sporadic updates at idiot-o-clock hours of the night, and maybe yell at me to sleep, eat, study, or drink water whenever i do post 😅

I am up to SO EFFING MANY wips rn on so many different fronts you guys have no freaking idea 😭 so here's a status report for EVERYTHING on or going on sardonic_sprite. (Its gonna be a monster post, y'all, bear with me)

in absolutely no particular order:

Wayne4Ham: We have a LONG way to go with this one, so just be patient and I'll slowly but steadily plug on through. Aaron Burr, Sir, should theoretically take me no longer than end of april

Wayne-Crazy: there's like 4 specific requests on it, plus a few 'series' i started, but after those, say 6-7, i'll probably mark as complete and only re-open if someone offers me an idea

Batman Beginners: i'll tell y'all up front, this one will take me forever. i don't even know what all I intend to cover, but know that i'm halfway done with the DITF arc, and it'll probably come out in the next two months

Just A Kid: this was my shits-and-giggles fic that got like 3000 notes in a weekend lmao. it's something i do intend to continue bc its so fun and i enjoy the concepts in it, but i don't have plans to actively write more of it in the immediate future.

Rev Wayne: just gave y'all Jason's fic, so the next probably won't come until late in summer, extrapolating from my few data points. if anyone has ideas for timmy's intro, let me know, i'd love some inspiration

Celeb Batwaynes: reported separate from wayne-crazy for reasons. i think theres like 12 specific requests plus 2 ideas of my own. i may put out a poll for the next one to write, but not until after school's out, because these fics are HUGE time-eaters for me. speaking of, are non-tumblr-users able to vote on polls?

Welcome to Gotham U: this was again, me doing shit bc why not. will probably add more in the style that i first posted, but i doubt i will write any prose for it. if you would like to give it a try, please reach out, i'd love to see what you write!

One Diamond: every time i touch this i make the cliffhanger worse lmao. i finally do have a direction, but execution is gonna have to wait a while.

The Young, Innocent, and Righteous: this is mostly just for me anyway, but i'm just gonna say that i'm waiting until i finish watching miraculous season 5 before i go any further

AS you wish: i have 5 more requests to do and i am so sorry to everyone waiting you do not deserve this lmao. i promise im trying, i love your ideas, it just takes me a really long time to fill in the rest and then actually write it. the next one on my list is particularly hard to pin down and so it's halting the ones behind it to. if not before, then after finals i will sit and bang my head on the keyboard until something good comes out

Light Isn't Fadin': soooooo many people have asked me about this one oof. SOMEDAY, i swear. right now its a huge, nebulous, hulking monster and im sorry it's just not happening yet.

A christmas carol: wait until december. please

Father's Day: june.

A Little Problem: over the summer, i will watch marvel movies until they once again hijack my brain and fuel this to completion. maybe.

easter eggs: how the fuck did i forget this lmao. i'm doing as much as i can in april, but when the month is done, i'm sorry, we'll all be waiting until next lenten season. hopefully it won't come to that.

aaaaand i THINK that's finally it. there's also a bunch of random paragraphs in word and google docs that may appear, not to mention ideas that kidnap me in dark alleys. but i also have like a good half dozen other wips for other places that im trying to attend to, so please be forgiving if it seems like its taking a while to post something as sprite.

as always, i love questions, comments, concerns, even some complaints, so feel free to interact.

See ya when I see ya!

sprite

#sprite said #sprite's plan #wip update #status report

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my-lunaberg · 1 year

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Okay, this confrontation/chase has been going on for too long, Im not sure if Im capable of actual analysis rn so Im just jotting all my thoughts so far down bullet point style

I find it very telling that Dream just got out of prison, where he was almost completely isolated and rarely visited and starved and also actively tortured for about half of his almost year-long time there, and instead of going to his base or finding shelter or resting or anything like that, he seemingly went straight to Logstedshire after getting the gear from Punz. Idk if hes there bc he suspected that Tommy would try and get the axe of peace or bc he wanted to remisce but either way, very interesting

Im too lazy to dig up my old posts where I try to predict the effects that the prison will have on Dreams psyche and I dont really remember what I even said, but I do know that I said the prison would make him a lot more unhinged so I'll take that as a win for me

That being said, Im not entirely satisfied with the way Dream is acting so unaffected by like, the physical torture especially. Yeah sure, it does seem like being trapped in jail for a while was part of Dreams game plan all along somehow, but I dont think Quackitys torture was, judging by how surprised he seemed when he showed up. And even if it was, while I do think of Dream as a pretty deluded character, no amount of delusion is gonna make the Literal Fucking Torture hes endured for months on end not feel like Literal Fucking Torture

When the confrontation started my first thought was "oh, his manipulation tactics are a lot sloppier and a lot more obvious, I feel like Tommy wouldnt fall for that even if he didnt already know that Dream was bad news" but then I thought again and I realized that hes talking in a very similar way to when Tommys exile started, where he just kinda says stuff to try and bring him down because hes so confident in his manipulation tactics that he thinks he can just make Tommy forget all about how he compared him to an annoying bug right before he started saying he was his friend. Now, he got progressively more unhinged over the course of the confrontation, so his attempts at manipulation land even worse but still

Basically, I think hes trying to do exactly what he did at the start of exile which is to say, break him down and make him "his" in some weird way, only that with the exile the goal was to get him on his side and become Dreams protegee of sorts, while this time its mostly just to beat him down and break him like a toy

Idk Ive made a lot of analyses of Dream and one the things i keep coming back to is the fact that he wants absolute control over everything everyone and he cannot handle the loss of that control, but deep down he still desires Challenge and Tommy gave him that. His relationship with Tommy is fascinating because its essentially Dream attempting to reconcile those two fundamentally uncompatible parts of his psyche. However, I dont think he wants Challenge anymore. Even if the stay at the prison was planned, it nevertheless showed him what its like to experience loss of control, to truly eperience being challenged and its clear to me that he doesnt want it anymore and that he just wants to break Tommy down until he listens

This is another complaint that sorta ties into Dream being so unaffected by the torture and a suggestion to 'fix' it. I realize that theyre working with Minecraft mechanics and everything so it doesnt matter that much, but Dream should definitely be having issues with food after being starved and only given raw potatoes for that long and I also dont think he should be able to sprint. I feel like they couldve done something really neat and have Dream be like "no Im not hungry" when Punz gives him those baked potatoes and then later when hes chasing Tommy around maybe he starts out sprinting but after a short while hes just kinda jumping around and you realize that hes starving but hes szill not eating and just keeps following Tommy with his pearls and maybe a trident if he has one rn. Idk just something that couldve been cool

I realize that Tommy is obviously there too and I feel like I shouldve written more about him but honestly, I dont have any thoughts abt him rn, maybe I'll have some later down the line. Idk man, I like c!Tommy a lot but hes not really a character that I like to write analysis posts about (i love reading others analyses though!! I think hes interesting, I just dont have a lot of interesting thoughts about him beyond that sry), while c!Dream very much is lol. I see a lot of myself in and thats definitely part of the reason I enjoy him so much and why I symphatize with him so strongly and why analysing him is so fascinating, its kinda cathartic for me. I know a lot of people in the fandom tend to really dehumanize him, both bc he doesnt have his own POV which makes it easier and bc they seemingly just dehumanize any Bad People in fiction, but its honestly a struggle for me to try and do that too, simply because I am human and I know hes human because we have done similar things for similar reasons (only that hes obviously worse bc its fiction and things get exgerated yknow)

Idk thats about it for now, I just spent like two hours writing this when I probably shouldve just kept watching the video lol

#livebloggin dsmp #dream smp #c!dream #c!tommy

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lettersformiah · 2 years

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9:19am, 8 aug

hi bubsy <3 i love you so much im in english right now and it so fucking boring. like we are just filling in the table of language features n shit and i do not care at all. mrs wilson didnt call my name on the roll so i hope she at least marked me present. but i hate her and i hate this class. thankfully only like 2 more terms of it to go ^-^ omgosh i just thought of it! today si the day you get your flowers >:] which means i cant upload this letter until after you get them and text me about them so i dont spoil the surprise! but yeah hehehe >:D i got some flowers sent to u bc obvs i cant cant get you any and i think you deserve some <3 im so sorry we havent been spending that much time together, its so fucking hard online bc i am so tired after work and dance and even just plain school and then when you are busy we cant call until late and by then im already so sleepy. i am very very sorry its so fucking hard recently but i still enjoy just sitting with you when i can. youre very very very lovely and i hope the flowers make u happy <3 mwahmwhawmahwmhamh other than that! i have a headache! but i get to hang out with kealan for a bit after school and chat so that will be nice bc i havent talked to him for like a few weeks? like properly talked ig? yesterday was mainly maya and leo chatting so i havent really hear about his life in a hot minute. thatll be fun. unless its raining then it absolutely wont be. oh! my dad is sick :( was a bit ill yesterday but this morning was even worse and didnt go to work. poor fella. i hope he feels better soon but at the very least i hope he doesnt give it to me bc as much as i hate it i do actually want to make it to gisborne this weekend. omg! my bday is saturday. so fucking weird. im gonna be old :D and our 6 month is tomorrow!! so the flowers are also for that, even though that wasnt at all what my intention for them was. they are bday flowers, anniversary flowers, and simply flowers because i love you. :D ! hehehe i love you soso smuch babba. i still have half an hour of this fuckin class left and my head achy and shit :( but ignoring that, the rest of my day will be all good and im excited to judt get home and eat bro. like i want a munch on the risotto and my chocolate and i want to talk to you. and then i have to deal with dance which will suck but this week i gotta actually go both days and im gonna try my best to enjoy it and be okay :D okok im gonna text u and tell u i wrote a letter so that u can remind me to post it after school. i love you!

i lub u so much and ur so so pretty and i cant wait to be able to give u a lil kiss on the cheek while ur sleepin cause ur sosos cute hehehhe >:D okok talk soon talk soon please wake up soon its unbearable without u <3 mwahwmahmwahmwah

-mads<3

#letters

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tears-of-boredom · 9 months

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dream time! i was laying in bed, and I guess i yelled something along the lines of "is someone in the kitchen?" cuz I heard something, but then i heard the voice of a man, who was maybe a skeleton also, right beside my ear. something like "no, im here". in the dream lore i had been simping over this maybe-skeleton man for like months, and I think I knew him from like, some type of fictional media. im pretty sure he was like a reaper in that. and his voice was very famous, the tumblrinas were obsessed with it and him. so i heard the very distinct voice of this maybe-fictional maybe-skeleton man right next to my ear, while im lying in bed. so the man is laying in my bed right next to me. and I didnt know. kind of a jump scare, but also I'm not gonna turn this opportunity down. i very visibly flinch when he announces his presence, and he laughs at that and says some shit like "oh did i scare you?", and that was really fucking hot like there's a reason everyone was simping over this man. then idk a couple minutes pass somehow and my brother comes to my door complaining about not being able to eat, like its my fault. he does not flinch at the skeleton man in my bed at all, in fact, it seems like he already knew about him. or at least that, in this dream world, some random man appearing into my bed isn't an uncommon thing. he seems to be even more annoyed because of the skeleton man, but I do not care at all. I have a hot skeleton in my bed who I've been thirsting over for months? my brother trying to start an argument is not one of my priorities right now. but me and skeleton man do get up to go eat some breakfast. my brother angrily declares that he's going to go eat somewhere else, i do not care. again, i have a hot skeleton man in my house, who seems to be interested in me. the "scene" cuts off when my brother slams the door behind him.

then i was playing a minecraft puzzle map that was considered a classic, and it's main feature was that there was a skeleton who would bicker with you in a very homoerotic way. very different skeleton from the first one though. there was some puzzle where you had to help a spider go through a window or something. the spider was really big and furry and i don't like spiders that much. I let my the other person i was playing the map with handle that one. i think we were doing a lets play video, because when we got past the level, everything just stopped moving. i climbed through the window to get into the next level and found the skeleton frozen in place as well. then it cuts off.

im a member of this group of robbers, but im new. i always assumed everyone on the team was very incompetent at robbery, but in the dream they like emptied whole houses, plus basements, so I guess I was wrong about that. a lot of the times i didnt actually care for the robbery part of it all, so I just sat in our getaway car with the driver most of the time. we didnt talk terribly much, but there was a vibe you know. and the vibe had told me that if the cops showed up, the driver would abandon everyone without a moments hesitation. so that's part of the reason I stayed in the car as well. the main part of the dream was just me and the driver developing a very homoerotic relationship full of bantering-bordering-on-flirting -but-not-quite. i thought he was really attractive. and i didnt understand why he stayed with the rest of the team. many a time I fantasized about being stuck on a very long heist, me and him in the car as usual, and the boredom takes over so we start talking more, and then we have a sloppy make out session to pass the time.

anyways yeah i think the moral of this story is to not watch undertale gameplay before bed, unless you want to dream of very attractive skeletons flirting with you.

#dreams

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carpecarlos · 2 years

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Date: April 6, 2022

Where: Treatment center in austin

Who: Lucy Hale ( @prettylittlelucygoose) & Carlos Pena

Carlos parts are normal

Lucy’s parts are italic.

Carlos drove to the treatment center and then was walked to the main common area. He took a seat in a chair. He hated being here, he had been ignoring coming to Austin for as long as he could. Not really wanting to see or even talk to Lucy at the moment. But he did feel bad for feeling like he was keeping their daughter away from her and he couldn't ignore it forever. He took Delia out of her carseat, in hopes that Lucy would just go right to the infant when she got there. He set the four month old on his lap, taking out a toy from her diaper bag and letting her have it.

Lucy was worried about seeing Carlos because she knew how she still felt about the man and she knew that he would have his walls up. She wished she had never said anything to him so they could still be close and affectionate, but that wasn't fair to anyone and she was trying to be honest. With a smile she walked over to her almost family and scooped Delia off of Carlo' lap. "Hello, sweet girl!" Lucy started kissing her cheeks and pretending to eat them. "Mmm, so squishy and delicious," Delia smiled and laughed. "She's so big." Lucy commented and looked at her ex.

He let Lucy take Delia off of his lap, watching the two. A small smile ghosted his features. She was always good with their daughter, he could always see the love that she had for Delia. Which kept keeping Delia away from her that much harder. He rubbed the back of his neck and nodded. "Yeah, she is. She goes to bed and wakes up bigger, I swear." Letting his gaze shift from Delia to his ex. "How are you doing?"

Lucy sat down on the floor and lied Delia down between Lucy's legs. She looked over every inch of her daughter, trying to burn it all to memory before picking her back up and hugging her close. "Met with my dad last week. Im still processing so...not really sure."

He rose an eyebrow as she spoke, surprised that she met with her dad. "Doctor's really digging in this time, isn't he?" He asked. "Hope that went somewhat okay for you."

"I cant keep tiptoing around the root of the problem...was time to face it head on. It's still going and there's a lot more work to do. I was surprised he agreed to come and its fucking me up a little right now but supposedly in the long run ill be better

He nodded in agreement. "No, you can't keep tiptoeing it. I'm glad you're facing the root of the problem. Hope it helps you in the long run." All he ever card about was Lucy being better and just getting better. He easily seen her at the worst but he also seen her in her good moments. He knew she could get there, probably had more faith in.

Delia made a noise so Lucy pulled her away from the hug and put her legs together and bending them, resting Delia on them so she could look at her. "You're not gonna fit here much longer," Lucy said sadly. "Im missing too much," the realization washed over her and she started to tear up. She was going to miss even more with months of treatment still to go and who knew how long it would be before Carlos would let her have her.

“Sooner or later you won’t be missing too much.” Once she got out, it’s be easier with some things. But if she did stay in Austin, he knew that she would still be missing a lot. “I’m sorry you’re missing so much though.”

"Im gonna be in austin for awhile for treatment. In another week or two I'll be able to switch to outpatient. But i dont know how long outpatient will last."

“Then we’ll figure it out. FaceTime. I can still bring her every other weekend or something… it just gets tricker when I start tour.” Even though he didn’t really want to be around lucy right now, he was willing to make things work for their daughter.

"Once im established a little bit better i can have her for my fifty percent of the time right?" One of her fears was that she wouldnt be allowed equal time with Delia.

He shrugged. "I don't know." He sighed, his hand going to rub his face. "I'm not trying to take her from you. But you lost a lot of my trust. Between the OD. Not being honest about the you and Jared shit. It's just.... a lot to work through and I know I wouldn't be comfortable leaving her with you for long periods of time. It'd be something we would have to work on. Especially if you end up moving full time to Austin, which I'd much rather her stay in LA, especially at first."

"Youre gonna make it impossible to be in her life," she pointed out. "I plan on living in Austin, Jared and I are eventually gonna live together and youre gonna make it impossible for me to have her for the amount of time im legally allowed."

"Yeah. We'll see how long that lasts," he muttered under his breath. He rolled his eyes at the comment about her and Jared. "I've always stated I didn't want her living in Austin. We can't do 50/50 if we're living in different states." He pointed out. It would get harder the older that Delia got with school and everything. "I'm not trying to make it impossible. I'm willing to WORK it out. But YOU have to be fucking patient and not push what I'M comfortable with. And if you don't agree we can just go to court. Which I'm fully trying to avoid." He paused for a minute. "I don't have to bring her here. So don't start fighting with me about all this now."

"We were gonna live in LA and Alexa was gonna be living in Maui and you guys were still doing fifty/fifty i dont understand what the difference is."

"I had to ask her to make sure she was also okay with the kids leaving Maui while I had them. Because for a while she didn't want them to be that far away from her." He shrugged. "It's a different situation. I'm not saying in 6 months my opinion is gonna be the same or if it'll change. But I also don't want Jared around our daughter, like ever."

"Then i dont want anyone you date to be around her either," lucy said with an eye roll. You're being absolutely ridiculous. Youre making up the rules because youre mad im with him and all its doing is putting a strain between mine and Delia's relationship which matters most of all."

"No. I'm not mad that you're with him. I'm mad at the fucking situation. That you fucking lied to me about everything for weeks. I'm mad at you more than I am that you're with him." He pointed out. He's a fucking asshole, that's gonna end up fucking hurting you again. I don't want Delia around the toxicity that revolves around you and Jared." He shook his head, his arms crossing over his chest. "Just enjoy your time with her. We're only here for today so fighting over this is pointless right now."

She wanted to point out that she could still be lying to him, that they could be kissing right now and talking about their future plans but what good would that do? "Things are different this time. We havent faught once and we'd never fight in front of any of the kids. And if we didnt work out id still be in Austin. The atmosphere is better for me. My drug dealers arent here but this prick of a doctor is and hes helping me take control of my life back."

"Okay. And we'll talk about all that when the time comes. Either way. I don't want you having her for long periods of time yet." He lifted his shoulders in a shrug, his eyes darting from his ex to Delia. "My feelings might change. But you have to give me time. To work through my feelings on everything."

Lucy looked at Delia too. Part of her almost got up and handed the baby back to him but she was refusing to let him ruin her only time with Delia. Carefully, Lucy got to her feet with the baby and started walking around. "Come on Squish, lets go lie down for a few minutes," she started walking towards her room knowing he couldnt follow them.

He had been there enough to know he couldn't go to where the rooms, he wasn't even sure if she could technically take Delia back there. He pulled himself up from his chair and pulled out his phone, scrolling through his text messages as he walked to where the vending machines were and bought himself a water before he sat back down.

Lucy took Delia into her room and laid down in bed with the baby next to her. "Im sorry im missing so much of your life but what im doing right now is gonna make sure im around to see as much of your life as possible." Delia just sucked on her little fingers. The girls had been gone for a little while when the doctor came to sit down near Carlos, "Haven't seen you around here in awhile."

Carlos set his phone down as he heard the doctor's voice, lifting his hand to wave to him. Surprised that the doctor even came over to him."Been avoiding coming here." He said honestly.

"It's good for Lucy to see her children, it's a reminder of what she's fighting for." The doctor pointed out. "For the record I do think you're a better match for her."

"I know... which is why I brought Delia down even though I didn't want to come." He stated, shifting in his chair. He let out a dry laugh at the doctor's words. "Maybe." He brought his water bottle up to his lips and took a sip from it.

"After talking with Lucy for as long as I have been I've noticed the way she describes her need of Jared almost like the same way she'd describe her need of pills or alcohol. I'm hoping to get her to understand he's a drug for her, but I also can't force someone to do something or not do something. If she thinks it's working there's nothing anyone can do to get her to see things differently and unfortunately all we can do is hope things do work out so she doesn't sprial again."

“Which she does think it’s working. Because they’re not fighting yet. But it won’t be long before he does or says something that ends up making her feel shifty. It’s a never ending cycle. This is what happened last time. We got happy and content together and he came rolling back in.” Granted this time they weren’t happy together yet, but he knew they would have gotten there. “It’s like she blocks out the bad with him. And forgets how bad things get there.”

"There is always the possibility that the two of them learn to get along and have a healthy relationship. I already see improvement with Lucy from where she was when she first came here. From the way her file describes her, but the only reason why I'm allowing this to continue is because she's here and that's something she and I both agree on. If something happens between them she's already here and I can help her. From what she tells me from the past if they're going to have problems and break up it'd be anytime now."

He nodded, "and she improves. And then tosses it away because of him. Because he tends to make her feel shitty." He was around a lot for Lucy's marriage to Jared. But knew a lot of how she felt afterwards and when the two ended up together a little over a year earlier. "I don't know, just seems like he comes around when it's convenient for him or when he decides he wants to be with her. And then he can't handle her or learn to help her out." He shrugged his shoulders as he got up from his chair. Grabbing a bottle and the formula out of the diaper bag and pouring water from a water bottle and then putting the formula in there. "Can you have a nurse or someone run this back to Lucy? Delia's gonna have to eat in a bit and I know she won't come out to be around me until it's time to go."

The doctor paused for a moment, "Do you think people are capable of changing? Do you think he's capable of not making her feel shitty?" talking to the people who were always around Lucy helped the doctor work with her in therapy. He shook his head, "No, you can leave it here. This is a perfect example of an uncomfortable situation that Lucy needs to learn to deal with like a mature adult. That baby will get hungry and fussy and Lucy will need to get up and come get the food. No matter how she feels, she needs to learn to put the priorities of her kids before anything else she feels."

"I don't think Jared is capable of changing. He's already proven he's the same person. First he cheated on his wife with Lucy. Then apparently cheated on Lucy with his wife. And from a mutual friend I have with her, he hasn't signed the divorce papers yet. So I think there's more going on than Lucy realizes and he's just playing people along at this point." He shrugged his shoulders. Carlos believed in change. That people could, he knew Lucy could. But it seemed like Jared wasn't capable of it and kept going downhill; something his ex didn't need to be around. "Okay." He nodded as he set the bottle down on the table next to him.

"And technically Lucy cheated on you," the doctor pointed out. "You two had agreed on not being with anyone else during her time here and now she's with Jared. In the same respect you could say the same thing about Lucy." The doctor continued to sit there with Carlos, not always talking but observing everything. When the faint cries could be heard he waited to see how Lucy reacted. When the woman appeared moments later with the baby she noticed the smirk on the doctors face, "What?" she asked him. "I'm proud of you," was all he said. Lucy saw the bottle on the table and grabbed it then sat down on the couch to feed the baby.

“She did cheat.” He nodded. Maybe that was his issue with all this, because they were supposed to be together. He was supposed to be able to trust her and then this happened. And a lot of his trust went out of the window. He messed around his phone as he waited for his ex and their daughter to come down the hallway. He watched lucy as she grabbed the bottle and sat down.

Nobody talked and it felt awkward. After she burped the baby and went back to feeding her the rest of the bottle she finally asked, "Can Carlos come to my room with the baby?" The doctor nodded and got up to go do some work, Lucy looked at him, "If you want to be somewhere more private..."

Carlos was shocked that the doctor was allowing him to go to Lucy’s room with her. “Yeah, sure.” He said and pulled himself up from the chair. He grabbed the diaper bag and started following her into the room. “Was she good when you were in the room?”

Lucy stood, still feeding the baby, and carefully led him to her room. She didnt have a roommate currently so lucy had pushed the beds together and made herself a giant bed. "She was perfect," she said and sat down on the bed with her back against her pillow and the wall. "What was the doctor talking to you about?"

"She always is." Delia and Rio were by far, Carlos' easy kids. Neither of them cried all too much and he definitely lucked out. He sat down next to Lucy. "He was most definitely just asking how the weather was." He joked. "What do you think?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "You. Jared. Asking me questions. Getting into my brain like a doctor does."

Lucy smiled at his joke but then her mind started to race. "Did he tell you anything i said about you and jared?"

He shook his head, "no. Why? What have you said?" He questioned, letting his gaze shift from Delia to Lucy.

Her cheeks turned red as soon as he looked at her. She didn't know what to say that he'd even believe or care about. "I hate myself for hurting you," she finally said.

He sighed at her words. His head leaning back against the headboard. "I don't want you to hate yourself...."

"But i do. Especially because you dont wanna be my friend anymore. I sometimes regret all this."

He shrugged his shoulders. He hated that a small part of him was happy she regretted all of this. “I don’t want to be right now. It that might change sooner or later

"It might not though," and she knew she had no choice but to accept it but it still made her sad. "You were my best friend and now I dont have one. It's lonely."

“Your boyfriend is supposed to be your best friend.” He muttered, his eyes going back down to Delia. His hand reaching over and letting her wrap her hand around his finger. “Look. Things might change. But you have to stop pushing for us to be friends right now.”

"But he's not, he also didnt wanna be my friend after the divorce and it put a strain on that part of the relationship, so...i guess I dont have high hopes for us being friends and its hard."

"But I'm not him. This is different." Their relationship was always more different than hers with Jared. Which made their relationship that my special. "It's not just hard for you. This is hard for me too."

Lucy couldnt get the idea out of her mind that Carlos would never want her the same way she wanted him. She believed Carlos would never marry her because of Alexa or even her own issues that Carlos couldnt get over, and how could she be with someone if they didnt want the same future? Why would she waste her time just for him to say no? Then what would she do? "I find that hard to believe. You were already out of the relationship. You already walked away."

“When did I walk away?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"When you left for Alexa. Every time you say you dont wanna marry me. We're not on the same page."

“I didn’t fully walk away. That’s why her and I didn’t work out. And then you pretty much died, and I realized I wanted to be with you and work on getting on to the same page. But then jared decided that he wanted you back.” He shrugged. “But it is her. Saying I’m done. Being here. Being around you. Knowing I can’t hold you. Or kiss you. Thinking of you being in someone’s else’s bed. It’s hard, and I don’t know how to get you to believe me on it.”

Lucy started to cry as he spoke and she wanted to tell him that she didnt want him to be done but she wasnt done with her relationship with Jared and that made everything more difficult. She felt like she was right back where she was years ago having to choose between Jared and someone else. "I wanna kiss you too."

He let out a sigh as she started crying. “But you can’t… you’d be cheating.” He told her. He moved his arms around her and carefully pulling her in for a hug. “I do love you.”

Lucy pulled the now empty bottle out of Delia's mouth and put it aside so she could burp her again. "So last night were you jealous when you thought I was in bed with Jared before I showed you I was with Sam?"

“Kinda, yeah. More or less, just that you were at his house.” He shrugged. Shifting in his spot.

"My daughter lives there. It's not always about him. Sometimes I just wanna be with her."

“Aware, and either way. I can’t be jealous anymore.” He told her and took a sip from his water.

"Part of me wishes I never told you what Jared and I are doing. By the time I'm done with treatment he and I will probably be over and I'll have lost my chance with you."

“I’m glad you told me. I had a feeling something was going on other than you focusing on your treatment. I didn’t like how i was feeling and couldn’t shut out the weird vibes.”

"I was trying to be with both of you for a second and it wasnt working. I wanted to figure out stuff with him but i also wanted us to still be us."

He stayed quiet for a second, putting the cap back on the bottle. “Is he aware that you still want to marry me?”

"We don't talk about you," she told him. "I spent a lot of time talking about Ian when we were married so I didn't want to repeat that and talk about you."

He nodded as she talked, “so you’re keeping secrets from him? About how you’re feeling about us?”

"Jared and I are taking things one day at a time...focusing on other stuff. We agreed if we couldnt do this for whatever reason we'll walk away. He knows if my feelings for you become too big an issue ill walk away."

"They weren't a big issue, doubt they would be." He muttered under her breath. "Just trying to save you some heartbreak when and if it comes out later and you're closer to him." He shrugged. Hearing his phone ding, he grabbed it from his pocket, and replied to the text message he had.

"They are an issue though," she said honestly. "I dont talk to jared about them because i know they will cause a blowout and im not ready for that."

"Right, sure they are." He said. Hearing Delia start getting fussy again, he got up and dug in the diaper bag, grabbing her pacifier, he handed it to Lucy. "They might be an issue, but your feelings for me isn't stronger than your feelings for him. So there shouldn't be an issue with them."

She took a deep breath because she didn't want her voice to raise and have him think she was trying to fight. "You dont know how i feel, dont assume you know anything."

“You kinda show it, at least to me. He'll always be your first choice. You can't ever tell him no. Just sounds like their stronger." He shrugged his shoulders, his hand going to the back of his neck. "Not trying to assume... but you also assume how I feel a lot of the time too. Especially over the past few months." He reminded her.

"Im trying to figure out why. When everything about you screams my future but I still want him, at least a part of me does. I cant figure out if its real or an idea that i created in my head. I just need to know." She nodded, "Youre right. I do assume a lot, especially when it comes to your feelings for Alexa but i think its because of my feelings for Jared. I assume we cant commit to each other properly because of them. If it's not because of Alexa then it's because of me and I'm not ready to hear that yet."

"you went from talking about us. Us getting married to pushing talking to us to the side. He came back around. And whenever I tried to start talking about us and us getting back together you would just reply with 'if it's meant to be...' bullshit. So maybe it's real for you." He shrugged his shoulders. His arms crossed over his chest. "It's not because of Alexa. And it's not because of you. If we can't commit to each other properly it's because of me. Me not wanting to get married yet isn't because of Alexa. It's because I'm not ready for that step. With you or anyone."

"Because it hurt to much to keep talking about something that's probably never gonna actually happen. Maybe its my trust issues or maybe it's because you say stuff like you're not ready but i feel like youre never gonna be ready." Delia spit the pacifier out and lucy brought the babies face closer to her own and started kissing and nuzzling her. "Dont eat my nose silly," lucy smile at her daughters laugh. "I have demons im still working on and i know its selfish of me to think this way but i just always assumed youd be there when i was done with it all. Hearing you say you were done for good broke me a little."

“I might not be ready for a while. But I always willing to work to get there and for us to spend our life together.” It was definitely the commitment of marriage that got to him in the moment, but he never second guessed spending his life with Lucy. “It wasn’t an easy decision…. Guess I’m just done feeling second best.”

She nodded and tried not to start crying because she didn't want to upset the baby. She wanted to tell carlos she always planned on going back to him, but now there wasnt a point because he was done and now she had to make things work with jared or learn how to be alone. "Im sorry," she choked out.

“Its fine. Nothing to be sorry about. You picked Jared. And now I have to learn to deal with it.”

"So do I," she said to herself. That's what she was struggling with. When she was with Jared during their set days during the week she was happy but duing the night when she couldn't sleep she wished Carlos was there to hold her. "Future me is gonna pick you."

“Why do you think future you is going to pick me?”

"Because youre always gonna be the better choice for me. Im always gonna want you just a little bit more. I wish I had been able to turn him down."

"Yeah, I wish you were able to turn him down too. We were good together when things were going smooth and we didn't let other people get between us."

She agreed. They were good and they made the most perfect baby and Lucy did miss that family. Delia started to fuss again and Lucy made a face and started playfully saying to the baby, "P U, you stink. Should we ask daddy to change you?"

"Don't have to ask me, I can do it." He was always good with being a hands on dad, not complaining when it came to diaper changes. He grabbed the bag and grabbed the diaper and wipes from it. And then shifted to grab the baby from Lucy, kissing her cheek as he laid her down. He quickly changed her diaper and buttoned up her onsie again before giving her back to Lucy. Getting up and tossing the diaper away. Finding a bathroom to wash his hands in before he went back into Lucy's room.

Lucy knew she should be more hands on when she had Delia since it was rare she had her but she didnt want to change poop. She took the baby back and nuzzled her face while Carlos was washing his hands. She looked up at him sadly when he came back in the room.

His eyes met with hers, noticing the sad expression that crossed over her face. "What's wrong?" He asked, moving to sit back down.

She took a deep breath, "it's just harder being around you than I thought it'd be."

He nodded in agreement. "It is. Something we can both agree on." He cleared his throat, his gaze going towards the baby. "I knew it would be hard. It's why I was avoiding on coming down and talking to you in general."

"I'm glad you did come though," her eyes following his to the baby but there was nothing wrong with her so she looked back up at him. "I really wanna kiss you."

He nodded, still being on the fence of coming and if it was a good idea or not. He ran his fingers through his hair, as he leaned back against the wall. "Well, you can't. It'd be cheating." Not like he would really be against it but he knew it was a bad idea. "Kissing would just make everything more complicated for you." He said, letting his gaze go back over to the smaller brunette.

"Didnt think you'd care if I cheated on him, especially if it's with you." If carlos loved her like he claimed then why wasnt he at least making an attempt to steal her from Jared?

“I mean… normally I wouldn’t.” He shrugged. “All I’ve ever cared about was your happiness. And If you end up cheating on him with me. And you tell him about it. He’ll probably end up start making you feel like shit again.”

"And what if I'm saying that it'll make me happy to kiss you?"

He sighed. “Why do have to make everything so complicated?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Im not trying to. I'm sorry. You can go back out there if you want. Ill bring her out in a little bit." She didnt want to make him uncomfortable or make it worse for him.

He shook his head. “I don’t want to.” He told her honestly. He kissed her, being around her was hard but he didn’t want to leave yet.

If Lucy wasnt holding the baby she would have wrapped her arms around him when he kissed her. She smiled and opened her mouth to deepen the kiss.

His hand moved to the back of her neck as she deepened the kiss. He pulled back after a few seconds, his forehead resting against hers.

Lucy's heart was beating faster and she hated when he ended it. "I love you," Delia made a noise and Lucy smiled, "I love you too, Squish."

“I love you.” He said softly. He moved his head to look at Delia. “Sorry, did we stop paying attention to you.” He cooed to the infant, Delia smiling up at her dad.

Lucy looked at their daughter in her arms and smiled wide, "She's happy to see mama and daddy getting along," the woman pointed out. "I know I like it better that way." She leaned over and kissed Carlos' cheek. "It's not fair of me to ask this but if you're able to please just wait for me to figure my shit out before writing me off forever."

He let out a sigh and nodded, "it's not fair. And I'm not promising anything. Even if you figure your shit out, I might not want to rush back into a relationship." It was all too early to even think about anything. He was still hurting from it all and he wasn't looking to sit around and wait for Lucy.

She nodded, "i understand." Things were potentially broken beyond repair and she just had to wait and see what would happen. "If Jared had never come back around we'd be making out right now and I'd be trying to get you to put your hand down my pants." She hated that she couldnt stop thinking about the what ifs and should bes.

He laughed, shaking his head. "Probably making out. But you wouldn't be trying to get me to put my hand down your pants because you would be holding the baby. Would actually have to put her somewhere safe for that to happen."

"Could totally make a crib out of one of the drawers. Just open it and put her in a pile of clothes." She smirked at him.

"But then she would scream because she wants to be held and she's uncomfortable. She's an attention seeker." He shrugged his shoulders. "Or, it happened and I would get banned from being back here. Your doctor seems to like me. I wouldn't want to fuck that up."

"Unless she fell asleep," lucy shifted the baby to her other arm. "Do you like all the attention? You're like your mama." Lucy kissed Delia and leaned into Carlos. "He likes how ambitious I am when I talk about you or a future with you."

"She does like all the attention. Gets mad when you stop paying attention to her. Especially from her brothers." He told her. "Ambitious, huh?"

She paused while she thought about how to word it, "When I'm with you I'm more stable and I focus on my goals."

He nodded in agreement. "I can see it. You've always been different when you were with me." Which always made ending things with her harder. He knew she was different and he helped her more ways than one. But every once in a while he wanted to be selfish and think about himself.

"You're not like all the others. You make me feel good about myself. Most of the time anyway." There were those moments when he was doubting things or wanted to be with Alexa that made her self doubt come back but overall she was happier and healthier with Carlos.

"Well I'm glad that I'm not like the others." He said softly.

"You're always gonna be important to me."

He stayed quiet for a minute, his gaze shifting down to the baby as she started cooing. "Yeah, probably." He shrugged. It was something that was hard to believe, especially with the most recent events.

She was quiet for a moment and then said, "Sometimes i think maybe it's just about sex with him."

His gaze shifted from the baby to Lucy as she spoke. Raising an eyebrow. "Why do you think that?"

"I don't talk to him the way I talk to you. He and I ususally end up talking about something sexual and then when we're together we usually end up just having sex and not doing much of anything else. Not like you and me."

Listened to her as she spoke, nodded as she talked. "I can see how it could just be about sex with him. We have sex a lot, but I always try and make sure to do things with you outside of the bedroom."

She blushed, "Really good sex." She looked at Delia, "Thank god you cant understand me." She kissed the baby again and then placed her stomach to stomach on Carlos. "She's getting heavier."

“Good sex. One thing we’ve always been good at.” He told her. “Yeah, we’ll have to be careful how we talk when she gets older.” He let out a chuckle. He lifted his hand to rub Delia back as she was placed on his stomach. “She’s growing like a weed.”

"Kids are sponges. Belle and Sam repeat everything I say." Lucy put her face near Delia's and pretended to eat her nose which caused the baby to laugh. "Her happiness is so contagious."

"They are. Ocean repeats everything I do or say." He stated. His oldest was definitely his mini me and wanted to be just like Carlos. which tended to make everything a bit more difficult. He smiled at his ex and their daughter. "I hope she's always this always happy."

"How long were you planning on visiting?" She knew he wasn't in town for long but she didn't know how long he planned to be there that day.

"Figured until visiting hours are over with. We're only here today, leave tomorrow afternoon."

"Thank you for taking the time to come here for me."

"Don't have to thank me. I told you I would bring Delia down to see you whenever I could. Never want to take her away from you... even if it seems like I am sometimes." He said softly. Picking Delia up and and blowing raspberries on her cheek, making her giggle.

Lucy laughed when Delia laughed and she sat up so she wasnt lying on Carlos anymore. She turned around so she was facing him and crossed her legs. "Im gonna miss you both when you leave. There's never enough time with you."

"I'm sure you'll find distractions when you miss us." He replied, his gaze shifting from Delia to Lucy. He moved so he was sitting up more, setting Delia on his lap.

"My usual distractions aren't an option anymore though so I don't know," she shrugged.

“I figured Jared and Sam.” He shrugged his shoulders. They seemed fluke the most obvious distractions for her at the moment.

"I can't replace you guys with other people though. Being around Sam and Jared is nice but it's not the same."

"That's true. Delia and I are one of a kind. Aren't we, mi amor?" He asked, lifting Delia up in the air and bringing her down to kiss her cheeks.

"One of a kind," she repeated. "I love watching you with her. It's so precious." Delia started to reach for Lucy so she took the baby back. "But I love it even more when it's my turn," Lucy said playfully and started blowing raspberries on Delia's tummy.

"I can say the same about you and her. Always enjoyed watching you with her." He said softly. He pulled out his phone as it dinged, and replied to a message on it before slipping it back into his pocket. "Sometimes I miss when it was just the three of us."

Lucy nodded, "I always miss when it was just the three of us. I know we have other kids but something about this little family right here fills me with a lot of joy." And part of her did hate saying that since she had Belle, Sam and Link, but the dynamic between her and Seb, her and Jared and her and Ian were different than her and Carlos. "I'm sorry I ruined it."

"I ruined it first by leaving you for Alexa." He pointed out. A lot of this wouldn't have happened if he didn't originally leave her.

"Technically sleeping with Katy was first..." not that she wanted to list everything that had done wrong but in her mind things were good until he did that and broke them up the first time. "I've never been enough for you."

He rose his eyebrows, his gaze shifted towards her. “I think we both did shit that ruined us.” He told her with a light shrug. “It’s not that you have never been enough for me, you have been. I just had a lot going on. Things I have to work through.”

"Maybe you shouldnt have gotten into a relationship with me when you werent ready for it."

“I think when we first got together, you were more of a rebound, it’s why I cheated. And then I felt bad about it because I’m not that guy. And then the second time we became official, I was ready for a relationship with you.” He explained.

She took a deep breath, "Nobody ends up with their rebound."

“You aren’t a rebound anymore. The first time, yeah. But not after that. You’re more than just a rebound.”

She swallowed down a lump in her throat, "Now I'm your ex and the mother of your daughter."

“And you’re someone who is important to me. And someone that I love.” He said softly, leaning over and kissing her cheek.

Before he completely pulled back she turned her head and kissed his lips again.

He returned the kiss, pulling back after a few seconds. “I love you. You’re more than just a rebound or just an ex.”

If she wasnt with Jared this would have been the moment she asked him if they could get back together, but she was with Jared and she wasnt planning on that ending anytime soon. "This is so hard."

“What’s hard?” He asked. Assuming she was talking about life in general.

"Being around you but not being with you."

He nodded as she spoke. “Yeah. That’s always been hard.” It was why it was hard for him to be his friend. They just had this connection he could never let go.

"Especially with this adorable reminder of how epic our love is." She adjusted Delia, "You're the most beautiful baby in the world, yes you are," she cooed her daughter.

“She’s the best thing we’ve created” he cooed softly, bending down to press a kiss to Delia’s head.

"She's gonna get spoiled with all this attention," Lucy laughed and playfully ate Delia's cheek which caused a fit of a giggles from the baby.

“Most spoiled kid ever. Gonna have to stop giving her all the attention sooner or later.” He paused for a minute. “I’ll have to tel that to ocean… he’s overly obsessed with her.”

"Is he like that with Rio too or is it just Delia?" She liked knowing that Cordelia had big brothers she would see often since it seemed like Link would be a stranger to her.

“He’s like that with rio. He’s just in this helping phase right now and likes helping out with the babies.” He told her. Carlos and Delia stayed untilt he nurse came in and told them visiting hours were over. He gave Lucy one more kiss before he left with their daughter.

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canislupus-exe · 2 years

Text

Fits of Passion and Idiocy | eddie munson

>> gif credit to @/munsuneddie on tumblr <<

CONTAINS SPOILERS

fandom | Stanger Things

character | Eddie Munson

reader | she/her (he ver.)(they ver.)

requested | anonymous

warnings | brief mention of drugs, canon character death, fandom typical blood & violence, mild angst

word count | 14,814

keys | (Y/n) = Your name, (L/n) = Last name, (f/c) = favorite color, (D/n) = Dog's name

summary | eddie fix it fic PLEASE im begging literally you an do anything you want just fix it my heart was BROKEN

editor | @feliscatus-exe

>> back to prev <<

Keep reading

“And I know there’s no way we can beat your sadistic campaign without him. So, me and mike, we were talking, shooting the shit, and we were thinking that ma-maybe we- we might-”

“Postpone.” Mike cuts his rambling short.

“Postpone!?” The rest of the Hellfire Club shouts in anger. They begin talking over each other, most of their sentences overlapping and inaudible.

“Shut up!” Eddie shouts over everyone else. Gareth sighs and swallows his frustration.

“You saying Sinclair’s been taken in by the dark side?” Eddie asks.

“Uh. Something like that.” Mike replies.

“Something like that?” Eddie hisses as he throws a pretzel at him.

“Jesus Christ.” Dustin whispers, his voice high-pitched and somewhat trembling.

“And rather than find a sub for him, you want… you want to postpone ‘The Cult of Vecna’?” He asks, another pretzel in his hand. Whether for eating or throwing, they’re unsure.

“Oh, it’s the championship game?” He asks.

“Yeah?” He replies, his words coming out as more of a question than an answer.

“Didn’t you say that last year?” Gareth asks.

“And the year before that?” Jeff chimes in. Eddie half jogs back to the table.

“Yeah, yeah, and I was full of shit. This year’s different. This year is my year. I can feel it. ‘86 baby.” He relays with a shit-eating grin—the rest of the group chuckles.

“You know what that means?” Eddie asks. Dustin and Mike shake their heads.

“You were wearing a Weird Al T-shirt, which I thought was brave,” Eddie says to Dustin.

“Thank you.” He replies, his voice hardly even a whisper.

“And we showed you that school didn’t have to be the worst years of your lives, right?” He asks.

“No,” Mike replies.

>><<

Mike and Dustin groan as they sit on the brick wall surrounding the outside benches.

“I hate high school,” Mike says. Dustin grunts in response. As he looks away from Mike, he notices something in the distance.

“Hey hey look, two o’clock.” He says. Mike looks in the opposite direction of two o’clock, seeing as he’d never learned what that meant. Dustin rolled his eyes and pointed.

“Where did she go?” Dustin whisper-shouted.

“I-I don’t know Dustin! Maybe we should look for her in the aisles.” Mike replied. Dustin sighed as he walked further into the library, checking behind every shelf for any sign of life. Finally, he’d found you, all the way in the back where you were putting books back on the shelf.

“Please keep it down. Library policy. Do you need help finding a book or something?” You asked. A second freshman rounded the corner and walked to stand next to the first.

“You play DnD.” The one with curly hair stated, almost matter-of-factly. You raised your eyebrows.

“Um… No. I don’t.” You replied as you turned away from him, starting to put the books back once again.

“Then why do you have a D20 keychain?” He asked. You sighed.

“Because I used to play.” You said.

“So you know how?” He asked.

“Well, yeah, but the last time I played was like four years ago. Plus, why do you care? I don’t even know you.” You replied.

“I’m Dustin Henderson and this is Mike Wheeler. We’re part of the Hellfire club and we need someone to sub in for the campaign tonight. So will you?” He asks, his voice desperate.

“No.” You reply simply.

“W-What? Seriously?”

“Can I level with you for a moment (Y/n)?” He asks. You raise your eyebrows at the use of your name.

“We need you, so I’m willing to sweeten the deal on your end.” He says. You scoff.

“Dude, you know nothing about me. How could you possibly ‘sweeten the deal’?” You ask, putting air quotes around what he’d said.

“Well everybody loves movies! I can make it so you don’t have to pay to rent a movie for the next month.” He replies. You raise your eyebrows.

“Oh yeah? And how exactly are you gonna do that Dustin Henderson?” You say, leaning on the cart of books.

“I have a buddy who works at Family Video. He’ll waive your fee for the next month, I swear.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“I’ll pay!” He shouts.

“Shhh!” You shout back at him.

“Sorry. Sorry.” He whispers. You roll your eyes.

“So you’ll get your buddy to waive my movie rental fee for the next month if I play DnD with you for one night?” You ask. Dustin nods. You think for a second before sighing.

“Alright fine. But I swear to God if you try to pull a fast one on me, I’ll make your life hell. And I mean it, kid.” You say, poking your finger into his chest.

“Yes! You won’t regret this (Y/n)! Come on Mike!” He says as he bolts out the library doors with his friend in tow.

“You think Steve will let her rent for free?” Mike asked.

“Who cares? We have found a sub for tonight and that’s all that matters.”

>><<

The leader of the Hellfire Club sits on his throne. Hands folded together as he eyes you standing next to Dustin and Mike.

“Absolutely not.” He says after a pause of silence.

“You asked for a sub. We delivered.” Dustin said as he motioned toward you.

“This is Hellfire Club. Not Sports club.” He says, pointing at your Indiana Hoosiers T-shirt. You rolled your eyes.

“It was the only shirt I had clean. Plus, it’s comfortable you elitist piece of shit.”

“My, my. The sports fan knows big words.” Eddie replies, eliciting chuckles from his friends. He stands up from his throne, walking toward you.

“So, what’s your name, sports fan?”

“(Y/n) (L/n).” You reply. He laughs.

“So you’re the girl who works in the library.” You scoff and turn to Dustin.

“Wow, intuitive, isn’t he?” You say, earning a laugh from his friends. He turns and glares at them, shutting them up immediately.

“What’s your class and level? Level one half-orc?” He asks, once again earning laughter from his buddies.

“Welcome to Hellfire.” He says. You roll your eyes one last time, but with a smile, as you shake his hand.

>><<

You sit at the table, listening intently as Eddie relays his campaign onto the club.

“The hooded cultists chant, ‘Hail Lord Vecna. Hail Lord Vecna.’ They turn to you and remove their hoods. You recognize most of them from Makbar. But there is one you do not recognize, his skin shriveled, desiccated. And something else. He is not only missing his left arm, but his left eye!” He shouts, covering his own with his hand. The party erupts in protests, strings of “no”s and “come on man”s.

“Vecna’s dead!” Jeff shouts.

“He was killed by Kas!” Mike yells, to which Eddie smirks at.

“So it was thought, my friends. So it was thought. But Vecna… Lives!” He exclaims, placing the figurine on its podium with unmatched vigor. He resigns back to his throne.

“You are scared. You’re tired. You are injured. Do you flee Vecna and his cultists? Or stand your ground and fight?” He asks. Mike reclines in his seat as Dustin ponders the options.

“Come on.” Eddie prods. After a few seconds, he speaks up.

“I say we fight. To the death.” He states.

“To the death.” Mike agrees, nodding his head. They look toward you. You sigh.

“Fuck it. To the death.” You reply. The rest of the table breaks out into smiles.

“Time out time out!” One of the members calls. You all step away from the table and huddle up.

“Guys, I hate to say this, but we've got to flee,” Gareth says, clear tiredness lurking in his tone.

“I concur.” The person who called the time-out replies.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t we just agree on ‘to the death’?” You asked.

“That wasn’t literal,” Gareth replies.

“Vecna just decimated us. We can’t kill him with two players.” Jeff argues. You sigh and turn to Dustin, who’s already on the defense.

“You too? He only has 15 hit points left. Don’t be pussies.” He practically growls.

“Pussies? Really? Cause we’re not delusional.”

“Delusional? How about ‘not cowards’.” You retort.

“Hey!” Eddie calls from across the room, grabbing everyone’s attention and breaking the huddle.

“If I may interject gentlemen, Akzire the Wretched. Whilst I respect the passion, you’d be wise to take Gareth the Great’s concern to heart. There is no shame in running. Don’t try to be heroes. Not today, ‘kay?” He says that cheeky shit-eating grin back on his face. It would make you furious if part of you didn’t find it so cute. Dustin holds up a finger.

“One sec.” He says before reforming the huddle circle.

“What do you think Mike?” He asks.

“How many hit points do you and Akzire have left?”

“Twelve.” Both you and Dustin proclaim in unison.

“It’s risky as hell… But you’re the ones on the battlefield. So it’s your call.” Mike says. You sigh and look at Dustin.

“What do you say Akzire the Wretched?” He asks. You smile.

“Do you even have to ask?” You reply. A moment of silence hangs over the Hellfire Club as Dustin contemplates.

“Screw it.” He finally mutters, pulling away from the huddle.

“Let’s kill this son of a bitch.” He states. Everyone approaches the table.

“The chances of success are 20-to-1,” Jeff says. Dustin holds up his finger.

“That's! A! Miss!” Eddie calls out, shaking his head after every word.

“Shit! Shit” Dustin shouts, and in his anger, he knocks one of the soda cans off the table. But now, you were up. The entire game hinged on your role, and you could feel every bit of pressure as you picked up the die. You closed your eyes and shook them in your hands, feeling the intense stares on you as you did so.

“Please!” You could hear Gareth shout beside you.

“Come on!” Dustin called out. But their words fell on unlistening ears. You were too focused on the cool feeling of the dice gently hitting the palms that encased it. Finally, without thinking about it, you released it. Watching with unmatched intensity as it rolled, the quiet clacking against the wooden table sounded immeasurable in magnitude. And then, it reached the end of its road. No more cascading down the table. It stopped. And it landed with the 20 side facing up.

“Crit hit!” You shouted, the rest of the club exploding in cheers alongside you.

“What? What?” Eddie shouted in disbelief, laughing and clapping his hands.

>><<

“Hey, guys, I might have a lead.” The redhead called out as she hung up the phone.

“Seriously?” Dustin asked as he turned around in his chair to look at her.

“Now that is a name I haven’t heard in a minute,” You say, setting your items down.

“(Y/n), what are you doing here?” Dustin asks. You shrug and push your tapes toward the worker.

“Cashing in on the sweet deal Dustin gave me to play DnD with him.” You reply. This statement catches the older guy's interest and he walks over.

“Wait wait wait. What’s she talking about Dustin?” He asks.

“Shit. Now, before you get mad at me Steve, I was desperate.”

“Dustin. What. Did. You. Do.” He demands, dropping his palms on the counter. Dustin sighs and closes his eyes.

“I may or may not have told her she could get movies here without having to pay the rental fee.” He says, getting the words out as fast as he could.

“You did what?!” Steve asks. You smile and lean your head on your palm, which you lean on the counter.

“For a month.” You interject. Steve looks at you and then at Dustin.

“For a month?!” He shouts. Dustin rolls his eyes.

“H-Honestly Steve it’s not that big of a deal. You can just-”

“Not that big of a deal? Not that big of a deal!? You have the nerve to- to-to-”

“Pimp you out?” You suggest.

“Pimp me out! Thank you (Y/n). And then tell me it’s not a big deal. Who do you think-”

“Guys shut up!” The redhead silenced them. They did so without question and she turned to you.

“You said you hadn’t heard that name for a while. Reefer Rick?” She asks. You nod.

“I used to hang at his place and get high before he got busted.” You reply, tracing your finger along the cover of the VHS on the counter.

“You smoke?” Steve asks, obviously perplexed by this fact. You shrugged.

“There ain’t exactly much else to do in this shithole town.” You reply.

“But that means you know where he lives? That-That’s great! Get me a pen so I can write it down!” Dustin says, searching for a piece of paper.

“Now hold on there Dustin. I’m not just gonna give you the address. What kind of a person would that make me?” You reply innocently, but before he can speak, you continue.

“At least… not for free.”

“Jesus Christ (Y/n) seriously? Now is not the time to dick around.” Dustin practically yells at you.

“Who’s he gonna pimp out this time?” The older girl said as she nudged Steve. You chuckle as you hold your hand up.

“Alright, fine.” You say, grabbing the pen and writing on the paper. Once you were done you slid it over to him. He grabbed it with fervor but paused when he read it. Not a chance kid.

“I told you. I want all the details, or you guys will never find Reefer Rick. Well… you might but, it could be too late.” You say, gathering the VHSs you’d set down.

“But if you guys don’t want to know, I'll just be on my way.” You walk away from the service desk, hearing Dustin string out profanities.

“(Y/n)! Wait.” He calls out. You turn around, a coy smile on your face.

“We’ll tell you on the way there, 'cause it’s a long story.” He says with a sigh. You smile and grab your car keys from your pocket.

“Shall we?”

>><<

“Wow, she’s got a great memory. When did we even tell you our last names?” Robin asks.

“I recognized you two from the yearbook.” You said with a shrug. The familiar sound of gravel on your tires was somewhat pleasant as you pulled to the side of the house. The sun had long since set, so most of them were carrying flashlights as they approached the door and rang the doorbell. Waiting not even a second before the first bell finishes, he rings it again. He rings it seven more times before he starts to bang on the window.