She/her. Coming out of fanfiction retirement to write silly little fics. I’m open to do one-shot requests(please see pinned posted). Tag list is open just send me a message or comment and I’ll add you!
Hello! I’m Athena-writes-I-guess, welcome to my Masterlist!
I exclusively write for Eddie Munson. I currently have an ongoing series and I write one-shots and drabbles.
My requests are open if you are interested in a fic!
Mixtape
Series Summary: You’ve just moved from Los Angeles to Hawkins to finish your senior year and you meet Eddie Munson, who offers to help you find a place in your new school. (Ongoing)
Pairing: Eddie Munson X alt!fem!reader
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5 (added 7/31/22)
One Shots:
Mistletoe
Summary: Dustin hatches a scheme to get you and Eddie together (I suck at these summaries I’m sorry)
The Piercing
Summary: Eddie keeps you distracted while you get a bellybutton piercing
Sick Day
Summary: Eddie comes over to keep you company while you’re sick and reads The Hobbit to you
First Time
Summary: You take your best friend Eddie to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time.
Scare Zone (added 10/31/22)
Summary: Eddie finds a flier for the first ever Hawkins Scare Zone and asks you to go with him.
Drabbles:
*Drabbles are written to be as GN and ambiguously described as possible so all can read*
“What are you going to do about it?”
Sleepily drawing letters into the others back
Distracting kisses while doing homework
“You’re not allowed to pick the movie ever again”
“It’s too early to get up, let’s stay right here.”
Having a spicy dream about the other person Part 2
“You’re awfully cocky for someone so ticklish”
“I’m yours, I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’m not staring at you, I’m admiring you”
Kissing sleeping partner on the cheek
“I don’t care what they think. To me you’re perfect.”
“Napping is absolutely a date”
Tentative kisses given in the dark
“I love you.” “I know.”
Going through memories
Drunken confessions
“I had no where else to go”
“I love the way you say my name”
“Shut up and kiss me already.”
“You can’t kick me out, it’s my bed.”
“No! The cat has had enough cuddles, it’s my turn!”
“Is that my shirt?” “Don’t you mean our shirt?”
Bug bites
Having a midnight picnic
“Happy Birthday”
“You and I are going to make a blanket fort.”
“Are you flirting with me?” “You finally noticed?”
Passing grade
“You and I are going to make a blanket fort.”
Fever
“You’re my favorite person.”
Shaky Hands
Sender keeps tossing popcorn/other food at receiver, trying to get them to catch it in their mouth
“Do you have to proclaim your love every time we go out?”
“Sweetheart, are you okay? When did you last eat?”
“Could I sit here? All the other tables are full.”
“Who did this to you?” and “Wait. Did you hear that?”
“You bought me flowers?”
Sleepover anxiety
“Nope, puppy dog eyes aren’t going to work this time!”
“Who did this to you?”
First Embrace
Tickle fight
Sharing Body Heat
**Requests are open for one-shots/blurbs either in this story with this reader or stand alone with different readers! ** (I do not write smut though(yet))
Falling asleep on Eddie’s bed in the middle of the day and the sweet things that ensue after.
(CW: g!n reader, Eddie calls reader ‘pretty’ once). |0.8k|
♡*♡*♡
Eyes still closed, you smile lazily as you tune into the rattling and whir of the yellowed fan. Basically all it does is push around warm air, but its gentle gust brushing your bare shoulders pleases you nonetheless. Sometime in the early afternoon when you’d first dozed off atop Eddie’s covers it stood, unplugged, on his side of the bed.
You know he’s next to you before you’ve fully woken from your brief slumber. The dip in the mattress, the quiet scratching of a pencil on paper. These signs not only alert you of his presence but encourage you to blink your eyes open as you draw in a deep breath.
Your gaze settles at his hip. The curled edges of Eddie’s cut up band tee rest just below his waist, exposing a sliver of pale skin.
“Mmh,” you grumble, squinting up at him as the sunshine casts a glow across the bed. “What time is it?”
Eddie’s eyes, appearing much lighter as they soak up the glowing rays, crinkle in the corners as they meet yours, a smile playing at his lips. “Hey, sleepy.”
“Dopey,” you greet in jest.
He smiles bigger, squeezing his eyes shut as a quick breath escapes his nose.
“Very original.” Eddie’s deadpan tone does not match the delight kissing his features.
You shrug with some difficulty (only one shoulder lifts as the other is pressed into the bed), as if to say ‘What did you expect? It was right there.’
Rolling over onto your back, you stretch out like a cat, your whole body lengthening as your arms reach above your head, and release an involuntary groan of pleasure feeling as your muscles stretch.
Outside, trees rustle in the breeze and children shout and laugh as they play in the summer sun. They’re such nostalgic sounds they make your heart ache for the briefest of moments, like they’d evoked a sweet childhood memory which melted away before it could fully resurface.
Sensing his eyes on you, you peek back up at Eddie as your right hand comes to rest on your stomach, the left one falling palm-up by your side.
“You look pretty when you first wake up,” he expresses, all warmth and love.
“No way.” No one does. He just loves you.
“Yes way,” He mocks lightly as he stares down at you, his hand coming to settle over your forearm as he rubs his thumb into your skin.
You concede because you know you could both go back and forth like that forever. And because you’re too warm and feel too much like jelly to argue.
Instead, you sigh contentedly before pushing yourself up so you’re shoulder-to-shoulder with Eddie.
Lolling your head onto his shoulder, you whisper, “Time?”
So apparently taken by your slightly puffy face, he’d likely forgotten you’d even asked.
Immediately, he extends his left arm out to you so you can read the watch settled on his wrist.
2:22pm.
Tugging his arm gently to your face, you press a quick kiss to his hand, “Thanks.”
He hums as you place your head back on his shoulder, the sound reverberating deep in his chest. Despite the warmth in the room the sound gives you chills.
“Watcha drawin’?” You sing-song, though you can see his sketchbook from this angle.
“Watcha think?”
You almost jest, say, feet, before you realize, “Are those my hands?”
They must be. You know it not because of how detailed the drawing is. It’s more of a sketch so far. You know it because of the ring on the middle finger.
Eddie had found it while thrifting and gifted it to you one day. It wasn’t a birthday or anniversary or holiday. Just a normal day in March. It was a particularly frigid day, all grey skies and icy window sills. You’d arrived at the trailer after your shift about 20 minutes before Eddie. But when he did arrive, he went straight to you, and he said, I got ya somethin’ with that charming smile of his, all fidgety and excited like he was about to open presents on Christmas day. And then presented you with that beautiful ring he’s so carefully sketching onto your graphite hands.
“Mhm. You’ve got nice ones,” he says, taking hold of one of yours and softly tracing the ridges of your knuckles before thumbing the silver ring. It never comes off.
Your heart aches in the best way. You feel so content being here with him. Napping on his bed and waking up to him drawing you, caring for you, loving you. You squeeze his hand in yours before tilting upwards to press a sweet kiss to his cheek.
“Keep drawing, please?”
You can’t believe you get to sit here next to him in the middle of a balmy summer’s day while he presses pencil to paper with that rickety old fan sitting on your side of the bed.
♡*♡*♡
Thank you so much for reading! If you liked this please reblog <3 & let me know what you thought!
A/N: i am on a MAD ONE with the way im writing. she has motivation and inspiration and fingers of STEEL. (gif creds: @neblisi )
Pairings: Eddie Munson x GN!Reader
Summary: Eddie’s on top of the world when you tell him you love him. So much so, in fact, that he forgets to say it back. 0.8k words
Warnings: established relationship, kissing, fluff, insecurity, obliviousness, pet names (bunny, bug, lovebug), ONE half swear word (i SWEAR it took so much self control, i dont know how i limited myself)
You’ve got this fiery look in your eye right before you say it that distracts him.
“I love you, Eddie.”
And your hair is wild and your hands are wound into the collar of his shirt and he can’t help but wonder what divine force of nature got him here. Made him so lucky.
And in the midst of everything: Eddie forgets to say it back.
He kisses you sweetly and holds you at the waist, drinking in the way you look at him and tug him closer. But he still doesn’t say it back. A minute passes, and everything settles and he thinks you’re beautiful and you love him, and he forgot to say it back.
You go home in a frenzy. Why didn’t he say it back? You can barely do your laundry without running the conversation over in your head. Did you do something wrong? You think you’ll wait a week, give it time, maybe he’ll call and say it. Maybe he’s still processing it. Does he not love you back? You end up waiting two days before calling him in the middle of the night.
“Okay! We can talk, lovebug. Why don’t you come over tomorrow night? I’ll order takeout.”
You can hear Eddie’s smile through the phone, completely unfazed by the ungodly hour and by the confusion and hurt in your voice. Your eyes go wide, and you slowly nod.
“Yeah… that works,” you say.
“Alright, I’ll see you then.”
But you’re still confused. He spoke and smiled like nothing was the matter. Like you hadn’t been down on your knees with devoted confession for him. Maybe he just didn’t hear you. Except you know he heard you because you said it in the rest between laughter and conversation and the way he gave you a soft smile meant he had to have heard you.
“I brought cupcakes.” You stand on his porch steps, shivering from the cold, wind licking your face and threatening to blow you off your feet. Eddie grins and takes the plate from you, grabbing your hand and leading you to the kitchen. He sets the soft yellow platter down beside the bags of takeout and whips around to leer at you like a big cat.
“Hi, bunny,” he whispers. And you’re already flustered.
Eddie smiles because he knows and plants one on you like you’ve never kissed before. Like it hasn’t been his favorite pastime the entire time he’s known you. Despite how stone-faced you told yourself you’d be, you crumple into temptation and whine when he pulls away.
Moments later, you’re both perched on his bed, facing each other while he’s smiling and poking at your knee.
“So…” Eddie says, batting his lashes.
“So?”
“Well, you said you wanted to talk—”
“Oh”—you press a hand to your face and take a deep breath—“I know, I’m just… okay… d’you remember the other day? We were cracking jokes on your bed and messing around in general and…”
“Yeah, I remember.” He inches ever closer, tugging at the sleeve of your coat like a needy cat. Because you don’t know how distracted he had gotten all while thinking about how pretty you looked. How pretty your laugh is and how he doesn’t know where he’d be if he didn’t have you.
“And then I said…”—you sigh—“I mean, I told you I love you, and you didn’t… say anything—”
And as if all of the blood had been drained from his face, he goes ghost-pale in embarrassment. He feels nauseous and panicked.
“Oh my God! Bug! I love you, I love you, I do, I’m—oh my God, I got completely distracted, I’m mortified, I swear, I—”
You feel relief, yet your voice is still small when you ask:
“Distracted? Distracted by what…?”
“Well”—and it makes him shy owning up to his conscience like this—“you were laughin’ so hard and… and then I snorted which made you laugh even harder and I was thinking… ‘bout how beautiful you looked smiling so wide, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of you. And you said you loved me and I was on cloud nine. You were grabbing me and you looked like you could cry from laughing and I wanted to kiss you and I love you. And I’m sorry I got distracted.”
Your jaw unclenches and you sit there for a second, blinking at him in disbelief and yet complete understanding.
Then you tackle him, pin him to the bed with a yelp. And once he’s done wriggling, he’s scared for his life with how furious you look pressing him down like this.
“Eddie Munson!”
“Don’t be mad at me, please! Because I love you—”
“Shut up,” you say, grinning when he cups your face and swipes his thumb across your cheek.
“I do. I lo—”
“Shh, precious few words, Eddie.”
“Too bad, that sucks, I’m completely in love with you,” he huffs, “Now say it back.”
You grin and you look like you could bite a chunk out of him right about now. And he’s pretty sure he prefers it that way when you say:
best-friend Eddie being secretly in love with you would include:
masterlist
> holding hands “platonically” except his thumb always gently caresses you
> “platonic” cheek and forehead kisses
> driving you to and from school / uni / hellfire everyday
> randomly showing up at your door at least once a week with snacks for a movie night
> “platonically” leaning on each other during said movie night (it’s literally cuddling)
> sleeping in the same bed at sleepovers and no there is no pillow wall
> Eddie “platonically” and “accidentally” cuddling you in his sleep (he can’t help that he’s drawn to you in his sleep)
> you both always sleep better when you’re next to each other
> he’s constantly putting his jackets over you when it’s cold and convincing you to wear his clothes to school after sleepovers because “there’s no point going back to yours when there’s clothes here”
> pet names!!! sweetheart, doll, angel, my girl, darling
> his front seat being reserved for you (he borderline doesn’t let anyone else sit there even when you’re not there because they’ll ruin his best girls chair)
> being backstage or right at the front to all of his gigs and he literally sings only to you
> smoking together all the time if that’s your thing (if not he still loves lounging around)
> constantly almost confessing your love for each other: drunk almost kisses, tired mumblings…
> on new years he sees you staring at one of your friends getting their 12am kiss and crashes his lips to yours
> you both justify it by wanting a new years kiss and he was doing you a favour but my god was it the best kiss either of you have ever had in your lives
> brushing off all of these because yes, he’s a gentleman but he’s also in love with you
hi! i just wanted to stop by and say i love ur blog! ur writing is so good! ur blog deserves lots of love!
from,
anne <3
Oh my! I just saw this! I’ve been having some issues with my Tumblr so I keep missing messages and interactions, so sorry!
Thank you so so much for your kind words. Seeing this today made my week! I love writing for y’all and making you smile with my little fluffy fics so I’m so glad it resonates with you all. Thank you thank you, you have no idea how happy this has made me 🥰🥰🥹
K i know this is kind of an out there thought but just go with me on this…
Eleven’s mom, Terry Ives, was never married, but she had two kids 6 years apart. The first was a boy. Terry was unable to care for him though so he was put in his father’s custody. However, the father got into trouble with the law and dropped the boy off with his uncle at a young age. The boy never knew his mother. Six years later, Terry gave birth to Jane and she once again got sick and this lead to everything we see in season 2 when Eleven comes to visit her.
Basically what I’m getting at is what if Eddie and Eleven are half siblings.
summary: one of these days, you'll talk to the cute boy at your coffee shop. just... not today. (wc: 6.3k+)
order up! i've got one cup of sunshine for @munson-blurbs ♡
Today’s the day.
You take a deep breath, adjusting the strap of your bag as it digs into your shoulder.
Today’s the day.
You pull the door open for your local Starbucks, your preferred study date destination.
Today’s the day.
You smile at one of the other regulars, a kind and older gentleman named Jim. If you focus on Jim, your eyes won’t avert to him.
Today’s the day.
You already know he’s here. You delude yourself into believing you can specifically hear the scratch of his pencil on paper, that every click of a mouse or clack of a keyboard is coming from his laptop. Hell, maybe if you closed your eyes, you’d convince yourself the music humming over the shop’s speakers is actually the muffled tone warbling out of his headphones.
Today’s the day.
You order one of your normal drinks, one brimming with caffeine and drowning in enough sweet caramel drizzle to give you instantaneous cavities. It doesn’t matter – today’s meant to be a sweet day. The weather’s nice, nothing like it was last week when you’d been ordering a hot Earl Grey tea sweetened with honey each day, and you tell the young man taking your order that it’ll be iced.
He’s new. You have no doubt in your mind, because he wasn’t here last week, and one of the baristas you do recognize is hovering to the side as he rings you out.
You’re a creature of habit. All the baristas know you well, other regulars (see: Jim) even recognize you these days. You used to only come in once or twice a week, either to cram for tests or play a morbid game of catchup with all your homework, but something changed in the last two months.
He showed up in the last two months.
Today’s… not the day.
You turn with your overly sweet drink in hand only to be met with sore disappointment. You were right, he is here, already seated at his usual table.
And he’s joined by a girl and boy you’ve never seen before, but he surely has, by the way he’s all smiles and laughter focused directly at the pair.
You try to not let your stomach drop too low, to catch it before it hits the ground and gathers any unwanted attention your way. It’s fine, it’s okay, it’s good – today wasn’t the day, but maybe tomorrow will be. Maybe tomorrow can finally be the day you speak to the boy from the coffee shop who’s overrun your thoughts one day at a time, the boy you see every day like clockwork, the boy you’ve never exchanged a single word with.
“Dingus, you can’t just say that to a girl!” the girl seated in front of him, her back to you, yells as she smacks Dingus on the chest.
Your coffeeshop boy only cackles in delight, and you feel as if the sunshine that has broken through the cloud cover outside has wormed its way into your veins. His laugh is brilliant and warming as it echoes in your chest, and you try to remind your beating heart that it isn’t yours to keep. That doesn’t stop your arteries and veins from wrapping their way around the sound and thrumming to match its pace. It doesn’t stop your ribs from trying to hopelessly capture the sunshine. Maybe one day you’ll make him laugh like that, maybe one day you’ll find the nerve to strike a conversation with him.
Tomorrow has to be the day, since this sunny Monday hasn’t been.
—
Tuesday also isn’t the day.
You don’t even have a good excuse this time. He’s alone today, just as he usually is. His headphones are already in once you’ve arrived and you can hear tinny guitar solos blaring out of them from across the room. You almost convince yourself that that’s a good reason to approach him, to tap his shoulder and let him know how listening to music that loudly can permanently damage your eardrums, y’know?
But then you realized how prissy that made you sound. If you did that, you’re sure Chrissy, one of your favorite baristas here, would absolutely taunt you for days on end, probably making jabs about you being a grandma, going the full mile and offering you a senior discount just for shit and giggles.
So you stay seated. And you meet the peculiar look of Chrissy as she watches you and Eddie, the only two customers in the lobby this time of afternoon, as if she’s waiting for something to happen. Anything. The raise of her eyebrows serves as a painful prodding in your side as if to say “Well? What are you waiting for? Go on.”
You don’t go on. And that’s the issue – for the last two months, you have let the idea of some stranger completely occupy every thought you have to spare without even knowing his name. He was just always here; two months ago, your once quaint and nice study spot was infiltrated by wild curls and drumming fingers, plush pink lips that could make the older ladies that pass through absolutely swoon with a simple smirk and hello. You’d talked the ear off of all your friends for nearly an hour the day he’d worn grey sweatpants in rather than his normal ripped jeans. You’d caught yourself staring intently at the various rings that decorate his left hand on more than one occasion, trying to make out what the various symbols of silver were.
“This is getting painful to watch.”
You hadn’t even noticed Chrissy round the counter and head over to your table with a cloth in hand until she was looking down at you with a soft, childish pout and her big blue eyes framed with furrowed brows.
“What?” you question, putting down the pen you’d been clicking on and off for the last ten minutes, making no move to properly revise and submit the essay lighting up the screen of your laptop.
Chrissy keeps her voice low, moving to lean down closer to you under the guise of wiping the table beside yours, “The two of you. It’s painful, babe. One of you has to stop making eyes and make the first real move eventually.”
Real. A word you had cursed over a glass of wine with your roommate last night.
She’d pointed out the way you only liked the idea of your coffee shop boy thus far, how you had yet to introduce yourself to the real him. Which, she was right, of course. It was easiest this way; from a distance, he can be anything you want. He could be your easy Sunday mornings, sleepy smiles over toast and coffee made at home. He could be your tired Thursday evenings, coming straight home from whatever class or shift had wreaked havoc on your mind and right into his arms, popcorn and a movie already waiting for you to decompress over as you told him about your day. He could be a source of comfort on cold nights, a breath of fresh air on warmer mornings. He could be anything, as long as he continued to be just your coffee shop boy. A fruitless crush you’d always observe from across a bustling lobby. Keeping him at an arm’s length kept both of you safe: from disappointment, from complications, from reality.
“Just because we both come in everyday to use your free wifi and drink your mediocre coffee, doesn’t mean you get to play match-maker when you’re bored,” you try to keep a straight face as you say this, forcing a look of disinterest as Chrissy stares you down.
Normally, this would be the part where you’d snap at Chrissy that if she was so piqued in her interest with your coffeeshop boy, she could ask him out herself. But he wasn’t Chrissy’s type – the round enamel pin on her apron with a faded, baby pink background, multiple cats stacked on top of one another in different shades of pink, orange, and white, told you as much. The heart eyes she’d made at the girl that had been here with him the day before confirmed it.
“Don’t be so pissy,” Chrissy teases, “Or I’ll revoke wifi privileges.”
“You don’t scare me, Chris.”
“I should.”
“You’re all bark, no bite,” you scoff, a bit louder than before, and don’t even notice your boy subtly taking one of his earbuds out, fighting to keep his eyes down to the page he’s scribbling on rather than glancing up at your interaction, “And I use bark sparingly, considering your bubblegum pink aesthetic doesn’t exactly scream scary dog.”
Chrissy grins wider at your words – you’ve never backed down from being brazen with your humor against her. You don’t treat her grossly delicate or thickly lay on fake niceties. You’re genuine. It’s probably a contributing factor to you being her favorite regular.
He snorts, and you just barely catch the echo of the sound, making both you and Chrissy glance in his direction.
His eyes are glued on his notebook as a blush begins to spread up his neck. You can’t help the shy smile that urges the corners of your mouth upwards.
Talk to him, Chrissy mouths obnoxiously as she grabs her rag, taking slow and exaggerated steps backwards before she spins, her blonde ponytail bouncing as she speed-walks back behind the counter.
One day, you’ll talk to him. Soon.
—
Soon comes too soon. Far too soon and far too embarrassing of circumstances.
One moment, your eyes are glued to the statistics textbook in front of you, laptop set off to the side with your headphones connected in and a study playlist queued up on Spotify. The next, someone’s frappucino is spilling across the pages of numbers and percentages, making you gasp and jump back to no avail. The damage is done – your book is ruined, the front of your shirt is soaked, and all of your handwritten notes are now soggy and unreadable.
“Oh, shit!” the poor kid who had been the culprit stands before you, stunned and red with embarrassment as his friends quiet their cackling from behind him. It’s clear the group had been rough-housing, and that’s what led to this accident.
You zero in on a melting glob of whipped cream that settles into the open spine of the textbook, mouth falling agape as tears fill your eyes immediately.
Shit. No. No, no, no. This was a rental.
None of the younger boys are the one to make a move to help you. The baristas don’t stand a chance, delayed in even noticing the commotion. You’re a statue of bleary vision and panicking breaths as you realize the sticky mess is everywhere, including your laptop.
Your coffeeshop boy notices immediately. He’d noticed the moment the young boy had lost his balance beside you, was already scooting out his chair and jumping up before the blended coffee had even made contact with your table.
You come to your senses right around the time he’s at your side, a fistful of napkins, uselessly attempting to save your textbook that was already clearly ruined.
“Ah, fuck,” he whispers as he uses up all the napkins he’d managed to snag, looking up wildly at you, eyes zeroing in on the mess on the front of your shirt. You can’t even relish in the fact that this is the first time you’ve heard his voice so closely; you’re mortified and trembling, still unsure of whether you’re more angry about your textbook, your laptop, or your shirt, “Hey, you okay?”
Tears. There’s tears streaming down your face, hot with embarrassment and anger and defeat. You think the kid whose drink is now in your lap has been apologizing, but you pay him no mind.
“Go get cleaned up,” the coffeeshop boy immediately moves out of the way, motioning you out of your seat, towards the bathrooms, “I’ll watch your stuff, try to clean it up some, too.”
He doesn’t have to tell you twice. You’re up in an instant, ignoring the stares of the baristas and the other boys, racing to the back corner of the shop where the two single-person bathrooms reside. You rush into one blindly, trying to calm your erratic heart and the impending panic attack.
It takes you twelve minutes to do so. Three splashes of cool water to the face, two pep talks about how it “wasn’t that bad”, and another whole minute of blankly staring into the mirror at the baby-hairs that frame your face that are now wet and plastered to your cheeks and forehead alike, just wondering where you’ll come up with the money for your damaged textbook.
And laptop. It also got on your laptop, son of a bitch.
You also have to come to terms with the fact that you’d burst into silent tears in the middle of your favorite coffee shop. In front of your coffee shop fantasy crush. You may never recover from that embarrassment, if you’re being honest with yourself.
A small knock comes from the door of the bathroom, forcing you to sigh deeply before gathering up all your composure and broken pride.
“Yeah?” you ask through the crack, hardly opening the door.
It’s Chrissy, standing wide-eyed and hopelessly holding two pieces of clothing in her hand, “Okay, so uh, we don’t have any spare shirts here. But… But I have a spare apron? And a spare jacket? I’m sorry, these are awful options.”
“I…” I’d rather die than wear that apron, or ruin someone’s jacket. “It’s fine, Chris. I’ll probably get going anyways.”
“But your shirt is all-” she pauses, and you could burst into tears all over again at the way she scrunches her nose so adorably, “-sticky.”
“It’ll be fine.”
“It’ll get all over your car.”
“It’s already all over my stuff. Might as well go big or go home.”
“I owe you a free coffee now, you know that?” Chrissy’s shoulders finally deflate in defeat, accepting your stubbornness as the winning contender, “Next time you come in, probably tomorrow. Whatever you want. It’s on the house, I sw-”
“Damn, now I wish some twerp spilled their mocha cookie whatever all over me,” it’s him – your coffee shop boy. A boy who came to your rescue, a boy who lives in all your bedtime fantasies, and a boy whose name you still don’t know. Chrissy turns and the two of you both look at him, you opening the bathroom door wider despite your embarrassment. He immediately throws up a hand in surrender, “Sorry, I’m, uh- shit, I’m interrupting. But I just… Uh, well. Okay, this is weird. Really weird. You can ban me if this is too weird,” he turns to Chrissy with wide brown eyes, making her immediately cross her arms across her chest defensively, “Seriously, okay? Say the word, I’ll accept my banishment. I just-”
“What’s behind your back?” Chrissy narrows her eyes. You hadn’t even noticed the boy hiding something, too busy being enamored by his stumbling words and adorable blush. Fuck. You hated it; you hated the fact that everyone was right, and the real him was even more adorable than you could have anticipated.
He brings his arm out from behind him, and when you see what’s in his clutches, you nearly scream in frustration.
He’s not just more adorable than the fantasized versions of him you’ve created – he’s more thoughtful, too. It spells out trouble for you and your restless, irrevocably romantic heart.
“I keep spare shirts in my van,” he explains sheepishly, “I swear it’s clean. It’s for- well, I… It’s for ‘just in case’ situations. Sort of like this one, I guess.”
Chrissy is quick to take it from him, passing it along to you as she keeps staring him down, “How convenient.”
“Very,” he nearly cowers under her stare, swallowing hard before turning to you, “You don’t have to give it back or anything. You can even burn it, for all I care. It’s just some shirt for… for, uh, some shitty band.”
You don’t think too much about the comment, just shut the door and leave Chris alone with the coffeeshop boy, silently praying she doesn’t tear into him unnecessarily after the act of kindness. You change shirts, dabbing at your chest with wet paper towels between peeling off your coffee-stained blouse and switching it for your coffeeshop boy’s shirt.
Corroded Coffin. It’s not a band you recognize, as you read out the jagged writing of the logo across the front of the black t-shirt. The white font pops and you’re already trying to think of an easy segue into maybe discussing whoever this ‘shitty band’ is with coffeeshop boy rather than the mortifying disaster you’d just endured from a group of young teenage boys who knew no better.
But when you leave the bathroom, that group of scoundrels is gone, along with coffeeshop boy. Chrissy wears an apologetic look over the shoulder of a customer she’s taking the order of at the front counter. It does nothing to wear on the sinking feeling of disappointment in your gut, that deflation at realizing he didn’t wait around for you. The customer pays and leaves the counter, and Chrissy almost looks to be expecting you to stop and say something, but you don’t.
You don’t say a single word. Only rush and gather your things off the table, which are surprisingly clean. Coffeeshop boy did a good job.
Too bad you don’t have the chance to tell him.
Reality, you decide, has something in common with the coffee; it’s always going to end with a bitter bite, no matter how much sweetness you suffocate it with.
—
You don’t return for several days after Wednesday’s incident. Thursday turns to Friday, Friday bleeds into Saturday, and by the time Sunday rears its ugly head, you’re still wallowing in self-pity. Embarrassment has a way of sinking deep into your bones, and no amount of curling up in the center of your bed will make it fade. You try to sit up at your desk and finish some of the revisions you’d been working on that awful day before wearing some kid’s frappucino, but you can’t focus. The pages of your rental textbook are still sticky, your S and K keys now only work half the time, and you can’t find the right study playlist. The atmosphere is wrong, the vibe is wrong, everything is just wrong.
At least you hadn’t resorted to wearing Coffeshop Boy’s shirt. You’d thought about it, of course, but you hadn’t hit that low of a point. Not yet, at least.
Your roommate can’t take it. She insists you get out of the house, simply because your moping is “too fucking sad” to witness. To which you obviously had to retort, “how do you think I feel?”.
So now you’ve been standing outside of your usual Starbucks for five minutes. Squinting like a weirdo through the large, front windows, trying to make out if he was there. Or maybe the ‘twerp’ who had spilled the frappucino. You weren’t looking for a fight – you just needed to avoid every individual who had witnessed the most embarrassing day of your life to date.
“He’s not here,” a voice suddenly says from behind you. You jump a fraction before spinning and catching sight of one of those damn witnesses: Chrissy, “He never comes in on Sundays. You don’t, either, by the way. What gives?”
“I’ve come in on Sundays before,” you deflect.
Chrissy laughs, shaking her head, brushing past you with her green apron rolled up into one of her fists, “No, you haven’t. So I’ll ask again,” she pauses, opening one of the front doors and motioning for you to enter first, “What gives?”
Your feet drag as you walk past her, the lobby eerily quiet. At the very least, she’s right – there’s no sign of your coffeeshop boy. Just some old dude with a newspaper in your usual corner, and a girl with a laptop, seemingly in some sort of video meeting, in coffeeshop boy’s usual spot.
“No hidden romance there, unfortunately,” Chrissy notices your staring and waves between the patrons. Neither so much as look up, “You and Eddie are our store’s only modern Romeo and Juliet.”
“Who?”
“Eddie,” she repeats, watching the realization spread across your face. A smirk appears on her glossy lips as she clarifies anyways, “Your knight-in-shining-armor. The boy you’ve been making heart eyes at for weeks. The dude of your dreams-”
“Okay, okay, I get it,” you cut her off, cheeks already warming as you glance again to the girl and the old man. Still no reaction. Your mortification today, it seems, has no audience.
Eddie. Eddie. Eddie.
The name thrums through your chest, excitement and a twinge of guilt racing through your veins.
Your coffeeshop boy’s name is Eddie.
“I never knew his name,” you whisper quietly, catching yourself staring in the occupied seat that is usually his. “I… Have you known it this entire time?”
Chrissy shakes her head, “No, I asked him Thursday. You know, the first day of your disappearance.”
You can’t even process her slight jab at you, or the way she tilts her chin as she waits for a reaction. You’re too busy thinking about Eddie. Eddie, who doesn’t come here on Sundays. Eddie, who keeps spare t-shirts in his van– Eddie, who drives a goddamn van.
He’s suddenly tangible. It’s dizzying.
“He asked about you, y’know,” Chrissy’s voice is low and you finally glance back to her, “On Thursday. And Friday. He asked about you.”
Eddie, who you’ve been waiting for the day to introduce yourself to. Eddie, who asked about you.
“What’d he ask? Specifically?” you question, taking a deep breath and trying to clear your thoughts.
“If you’d been in, if I’d seen you. He even asked for your name.”
“Did you tell him?”
“Nope,” she grins, blue eyes sparkling, “I figured I’d give you the honor.”
It’s on Sunday that you decide the next day you see coffeshop boy, that you see Eddie, it will be the day. It’s only fair that he knows your name now that you know his, after all.
—
Monday isn’t the day, and neither is Tuesday. You show up to the Starbucks, you take your usual spot, you spend hours studying – Eddie never shows up. Wednesday and Thursday aren’t the days either, filled with finals and celebratory dinners at twenty-four hour diners with friends.
By Friday, you’re missing your coffeeshop romance terribly.
But Friday, as it turns out, isn’t quite as unlucky as the rest of the week. You wake up that morning, and you can feel it in your bones; today’s the day. You’ll see Eddie today. You’ll introduce yourself to Eddie today, without a Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappucino soaking your shirt. It’s an acknowledge truth in your bones, maybe even in the stars. Everything is aligning, and you were going to stop spending your days with your head in the clouds. Maybe it would fizz out, and the crush that had kept you on the edge of your seat, that had kept you mildly entertained for months would lead to nothing. But maybe, just maybe, this could be a beginning. A leap of faith into reality that could turn into something real.
When you first show up, you don’t see him. It’s during the tail-end of the morning rush that you make your way in, ordering your usual iced coffee and taking your usual seat with the perfect view of Eddie’s usual seat. Customers filter in and out, a line occasionally forming before the baristas take care of it quickly, but not a single person is the one you’re looking for.
You distract yourself. You busy yourself with pulling out your laptop, glancing over whichever grades have been finalized, pondering over the ones that have yet to be set in stone. Once you’ve beat that horse to death and have nothing left but scholarly anxiety bubbling up, you’ve moved on to making a spreadsheet of all the books you want to read during the summer, with all the free hours you definitely weren’t going to waste, and would totally make use of. You even color code by genre.
You think you have more fun making the spreadsheet than you will enjoy the actual reading over the novels you listed.
Just as you’ve finished your iced coffee, ready to move onto looking at goddamn Yahoo news to entertain yourself, a cup is sat down in front of you. A hot grande cup.
You read the sticker turned towards you before you even spare a glance to the person who’d sat down the drink: a grande Earl Grey tea, sweetened with one packet of honey.
“Chrissy, I only get this when it’s rain-” you start, assuming the barista would be the one standing over your table. It isn’t. It’s coffeeshop boy – it’s Eddie. You can’t help the curse that falls from your lips, “Oh, shit.”
“Sorry,” he bites his lip as if holding back a life, hands nervously shoved into the front pockets of his jeans as he rocks on his heels, “I just… I honestly don’t know what you usually get. But your cup was empty when I walked in, and the one time I got here before you, this was the drink you got, but now that I think about it, it was raining that day and that didn’t even cross my mind-”
Your smile is slow as it uncurls, so saccharine and so enamored as you finally cut off his rambling, “Thank you.”
He doesn’t look reassured in the slightest, paling as he stutters out, “Oh, God. I- I’m a creep for remembering that, aren’t I? Fuck, I’m sorry. I just wanted to do something nice because I know Thursday was so rough-” he cuts off at your subtle wince at the reminder of that entire tragedy, “Sorry. God, how many times can I say sorry, am I right?”
Eddie, who is absolutely fumbling over rambles like a fool when he approaches you to talk to you first. Eddie, who is quickly shaping up to be better than even your wildest dreams.
“First of all,” you start, nervously making eye contact, trying to calm your nerves by reminding yourself he’s an even bigger mess than you right now, “You’re not a creep for remembering that. That’s… it’s really thoughtful, actually,” he breaks out into a restrained smile, the smallest glimpse of relief on his face, so you continue, “And second of all… I mean, who knows? Maybe it’ll rain and you saved me some trouble.”
He lets out a bark of laughter at that, and immediately, all frozen awkwardness around the moment shatters. Whatever pedestal you’d set the boy on the last several weeks has crumbled with ease. Reality comes crashing down, and you relish in it.
You relish in the golden streaks through his messy curls, and you drown in the richness of his brown eyes, entrancing this close up. You relish in that dimple in his right cheek, deep enough to swallow you whole as he recollects himself. You relish in the fact that he’s here, it’s Friday, and today is the day.
“There is absolutely rain on the forecast, and you should absolutely just take my word for that and not fact check me,” he jokingly replies, “I’m Eddie, by the way.”
“I know,” you blurt out with thinking, and immediately regret it. You can’t tell if the shock on his face is laced with amusement or not and you panic, desperate to defend yourself, “I- Chrissy told me, I swear. I’m sorry, that was weird, I just-”
He’s the one interrupting apologies now, “It’s okay. Can’t be weirder than knowing a stranger’s rainy day coffee order.”
Grinning. God, you can’t stop grinning, even as you breathe out your name.
“Sorry?” he asks with furrowed brows, hardly catching on to the whispered reveal.
“That’s my name,” you explain before repeating yourself. His cheeks undoubtedly ache the same way yours do, “Now I’m not a stranger. Makes it less weird.”
His smile is downright radiant, and oh, God what you’d given to hear him murmur your name under his breath again in that odd, peculiar manner he just did. As if he’s trying it out, tasting it on his tongue and deciding if it’s worth repeating.
His eyes shine; you have a feeling you will be hearing it again.
“Say, is this seat taken?”
You assume he’s meaning the chair across from you, tucked neatly into the table covered in your belongings, and you immediately shake your head to tell him it’s not, motioning for him to join you.
He wasn’t meaning the chair. He flops himself down beside you on the bench seating, settling into the plastic plush as his thighs brush against yours.
“So,” he starts, propping his elbow up on the table beside your laptop, resting his chin on his fist,“Tell me about yourself, not-stranger.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything,” he answers, making your heart clench, “But maybe, let’s just start with your coffee order for days that aren’t rainy.”
Hours. You and Eddie spend hours talking. The baristas behind the counter rotate, the sun eventually sets, and you don’t even notice when clouds form and light spatters of rain spit out onto the sidewalk outside. You dive headfirst into reality with Eddie, and it’s like the first breath of Spring.
He wakes you up in a way no shot of espresso ever could. It’s as if something deep inside of you had been sleeping for so long, you’d forgotten it existed until he magically awoke it. Something shining, something wonderful, something new. Something real.
Everyone was right. The tangible Eddie is infinitely better than the idea of coffeeshop boy.
“You know,” you’ve drained your earl grey, laptop long since closed as your body mirrors Eddie’s and twists until your kneecaps press against each other. His arm rests casually along the back of the seat just over your right shoulder, “I’m still curious who Corroded Coffin is. I know you said they’re shitty, but-”
“Oh, God,” Eddie throws his head back in laughter, running his free hand over his face, “So, uh, funny story.”
You quirk an eyebrow, “Funny story?”
“Yes. Hilarious, actually,” he affirms, “Corroded Coffin is… uh, well… Corroded Coffin is my band.”
You can’t stop the snort, realization dawning on you. That’s why Eddie had the spare shirt in his van – it’s his own damn merch.
“I’m going to pretend you’re laughing with me, not at me,” he hums, leaning back and watching your giggles continue to hit you in waves.
“I am-” you start to reassure, broken off by another gasping laugh that even has him chuckling along, “I am, I swear! I just… Why would you tell me you guys are shitty?”
“A bad joke,” he hums, waving his free hand, chuckles still lingering at the edge of his tone, “I tend to tell a lot of those around pretty people.”
Pretty people. He thinks you’re pretty.
“Yeah?” you choke out, laughter abruptly fading as the realization hits you.
He thinks you’re pretty.
“Yeah.”
Oh, God. He thinks you’re pretty. He’s in a band. He remembered the drink you got on a rainy day ages ago (him forgetting the rainy detail can be forgiven because he remembered without even knowing your name). He smells like spice, like everything kind and gentle and warm. It mixes so well with the smell of the coffee already in the air, you wouldn’t have noticed it was his cologne unless you hadn’t spent a better part of the hour leaning in closer and closer to him, the scent getting stronger and stronger.
Maybe reality can be sweet. Maybe it’s not always bitter.
“You know, we have a show coming up,” he continues on, tilting his head at you curiously, “Tomorrow night, actually.”
“You do?” you ask dumbly, not catching on, not yet.
He nods, the corners of his lips curling up, “Yeah. It’s at this venue not far from here, a small bar. It’s not much but it’s an upgrade from where we started…” he trails off, eyes diverting to the wall behind you and across the store, “Uh, you obviously don’t have to… but, I mean, if you’re not busy, I could always add your name to the guest list. It’s no pressure, obviously! I mean, you don’t have to go, it’s just an id-”
“I’d love to,” you stop him with a hand on his knee, grounding him from the returning rambling, “Tell me when and where tomorrow night, and I’ll be there.”
Your heart might just burst.
“Right,” he seems to still entirely beneath your touch, eyes darting down to where your hand rests, “Yeah. I can write it down for you-”
“Or I could give you my number.”
“Or you could give me your number.”
You’re both grinning, blushing fools. He takes a second, just staring at you, seemingly in awe, before you have to remove your hand from his knee and put your palm up as a signal for him to hand over his phone.
He nearly drops it in his flurry to get it into your waiting hand, bouncing his knee the entire time it takes you to put in your contact information. You make a point to add a coffee cup emoji after your name.
“Hey, guys,” the two of you are suddenly interrupted just as you’re giving his phone back. It’s the barista from last Monday – the new one, the one who’d taken your order when you’d been convinced that would be the day you were going to speak to Eddie. Funny how clueless you had been at the time, “Sorry to interrupt, just wanted to let you guys know that we close in about ten minutes.”
“Oh, fuck,” Eddie gasps, sitting up straight as he tucks his phone back into his pocket, “Sorry, man. We’re heading out.”
The new guy’s eyes light up ever so slightly, shrugging off the apology and just nodding with a polite smile.
You wonder if you’ll even get the chance to break the news to Chrissy. Something tells you she’ll be finding out before you see her again.
The boy retreats, and you’re quick to grab your laptop and move to shove it into your bag. Eddie stands and waits, unbothered and encouraging you to take your time before you swing the heavy bag over your shoulder.
Eddie, the boy who’s show you’ll be going to. Eddie, the boy who now has your number.
You don’t think you’ll ever get sick of his name echoing through your mind.
“Thank you again,by the way,” you say as you pick up that empty grande cup, turning for the trash, “The tea was good, even though-”
It’s raining. It’s steadily sprinkling outside, trees shifting with a gentle and stormy breeze. You can tell easily, even with the darkness of the evening having fallen. There’s rogue raindrops racing their ways down the window in front of you. Your reflection stares back faintly, and over your shoulder, you can see Eddie smile shyly.
“It’s raining,” you murmur.
“I told you,” Eddie says softly, “It was on the forecast. Also, I might have noticed the clouds building up on the drive over.”
You turn to face him slowly, heart thumping against your ribs, “Did you… You knew it was my rainy day drink, didn’t you?”
He blinks once, twice, before swallowing hard and nodding, “I did.”
“How?”
“I mean, I wasn’t lying. I did hear them call it out that one time. Also, you always have a hot drink especially when it’s raining.”
He looks like he might pass out from embarrassment, but you just let a grin overtake your features, “Oh?”
“Like I said, it’s creepy. Do I need to apologize again? I can apologize again.”
Oh, your grin grows.
“What else did you notice?”
“Excuse me?”
You shrug, “What else did you notice about me? For example, I’ve always noticed your rings. Also, you listen to your music far too loudly. You’re gonna go deaf one of these days, you know.”
He melts, color returning back to his features as he realizes you’re not upset or creeped out, “You noticed me before the other day?”
“I did,” you try to downplay it, keep an even tone as your heart screams, “And it sounds like you noticed me too.”
A boyish grin and two steps forward, he’s approaching you and evading your space with that warm smell of spice once more.
“Yeah, I did,” he admits, ears and bridge of his nose alike tinged in a spackling of pink, “I noticed the faces you made whenever you’d work on math homework. And the way you’d cringe every time I turned up my music. And the way Chrissy never stopped teasing you, the same way she’d tease me on the days you weren’t here.”
“Wow,” you sigh, looking back down at that empty cup. That goddamn empty cup that just revealed to you that he thought of you just as you’d thought of him, “We’re idiots.”
That feeling that still rings in your bones. No longer just the feeling that today is the day, but that there’s more good things to come. There are lazy Sunday mornings to be had, relaxing Thursday nights to enjoy. There are tangible things to have and to hold in your future, materializing right out of nonsensical ideas you’d clung to just days before.
“Yeah,” Eddie sighs in agreement as you toss the cup into the trash, “Yeah, we’re fuckin’ idiots. Don’t tell Chrissy, capiche?”
Today was the day. Today was just the beginning.
“Capiche.”
It’s not until a month later, when you and Eddie come in together on one of your slow Sunday mornings, that Chrissy gets her I told you so moment. After the shock of seeing her two favorite customers on a Sunday, of course.
honestly i'm so here for eddie not being the sweet, perfect softie everyone wants him to be. the guy had a tough childhood and no amount of love is gonna cure that. i'd love to see more fics featuring that.
eddie who is afraid to commit or doesn't believe in it bc his parents were so inconsistent that he thinks it's impossible.
eddie who never learned how to process his emotions, but knows he doesn't wanna punch walls or drink or yell so he goes for long drives or falls into depression and goes no contact for days bc he's afraid these huge emotions will scare you off. who doesn't know how to ask for what he wants, who is afraid or ashamed to cry or show vulnerability, who gets angry and defensive when you try to break through the tough exterior.
eddie who needs constant reassurance that you're not gonna cheat or leave him for someone else, whose mum left in the middle of the night and who gets scared when he wakes up and you're not laying beside him, who has fierce jealousy issues and needs to learn to trust you and let you go.
eddie who has such a temper he's scared to be around kids bc he knows he'll get frustrated and upset too easily and scare or hurt them.
eddie who assumes you're using him bc everyone else does. who always suspects ulterior motives and secrets and second thoughts. who genuinely believes he's no good, doesn't deserve you, and he believes it so deeply that he leans into it so it hurts less.
eddie who sets himself up for failure bc he's convinced that's all he'll ever get or deserve, who tries to beat you to the punch and break up first so he has the upper hand and it doesn't hurt as badly as rejection.
but most importantly, eddie who knows he's been fucked up, wants to change for you, and doesn't know how. that's who i wanna see.
I wish I could write an Eddie like this too. Angst is even hard for me to read due to my abandonment issues from my childhood. I’m too much like this Eddie and it’s hard for me to write it cause I hurt my own feelings. But it’s a great interpretation that I wish I could capture.
our muses haven’t been speaking, but sender rushes to take care of receiver after they’ve been injured or fell ill.
with eddie munson! happy birthday!!! 🍒
healer
pairing: eddie munson x f!reader
word count: 1.3k+
warnings: nothing rlly, a fight?, mentions of alcohol and a creep hitting on reader but the rest is just some fluff! a little kiss, and VV cheesy!
a/n: i seriously am unable to write short blurbs bc somehow they turn into 1k+ like i tried so hard to write it short I AM SORRY!! and ahhh thank you sm baby!! I LOVE hurt/comfort sooosooo much and AHH HOPE I DID IT JUSTICE <33 also this is very rushed srry abt that >:(
join my birthday celebration!
it had been weeks, weeks since you and eddie had last talked, your friendship taking a toll after he decided to shut you out, but now that the two of you were at the same bar, you were unable to avoid him, especially when stupid robin insisted on saying hi to him.
you wished you didn't care, but your heart dropped the second you saw him, his curls messily laying on his forehead, and it didn't help when he had that familiar gaze, his eyes mesmerizing as they bored into yours.
“hi, honey.” he uttered those words like they meant nothing and you felt anger bubbling inside of you, the nickname rolling off his tongue like old times and it made you want to hate him more, despite knowing how much you had missed him.
“hi.” you barely let out, feeling suffocated under his gaze and presence, and before he could say anything back to you, you quickly excused yourself, rushing over to the bar to get another drink.
that's when everything happened too fast, it started with a drunk creep hitting on you, you refused his advances, but he wasn’t taking no for an answer, it was annoying but you could handle it, until he started getting handsy.
you didn’t notice eddie eyeing you ever since you left his side, worry laced over him and when the creep started getting handsy his jaw clenched, he rushed over to your side, quickly, telling the guy to fuck off.
when the guy tried to wave him off, that’s when you realized how pissed off eddie was, his fists clenched at his side, “leave her the fuck alone, dude.” his voice stern as he felt like a man possessed whenever the topic was you.
then one insult another, the guy pushed eddie, only getting two punches in, before eddie chuckled facing him.
you knew it was going to get bad by the way eddie rolled his tongue inside of his cheek before he beat the guy to a pulp.
when your initial shock wore off, you were quick to pull eddie off the guy, no matter how much of a creep he was, you didn't want anything to happen to eddie.
when eddie's attention turned to you, you gave his hand a comforting squeeze, your eyes begging for this to be over.
and as soon as he saw your worried state, his demeanor softened, he gave you an understanding look, towering over the creep who was groaning in the ground.
"don't you ever fucking lay your hands on her ever again." he spat, his hands wiping off the blood from his nose, you blinked slowly to try to process everything that had happened, and you were so glad eddie was there to help you.
and eddie knew.
he knew his overprotectiveness over you was something more than a friend would feel, he knew the blood boiling inside of him the second that creep was next to you was because he had feelings for you.
granted, he would do this for any of his friends. but it was you, and he would give you the entire world if you asked him for it.
and after that you didn't hesitate to take him back to your place, wanting to clean his cuts and treat his bloodied knuckles. you expected eddie to say no, but he didn't, he couldn't say no to you, not when he had missed you too much to do so, just the sight of you alone had sent him into a frenzy, he needed you, and he wanted to be with you.
he had regretted shutting you out weeks ago, doing so to bottle up his feelings for you, not knowing how much he hurt both of you in the process.
and eddie wanted to melt with how gentle you were being with him, he didn't deserve it, yet there you were, driving him home, and taking care of him on your bed as you tried to clean his cuts and heal his scars.
he couldn't help but feel his heartstrings tug when he saw you wincing at his bruises, holding out an ice pack as you tried to apply it on his face without hurting him.
when he hissed, you panicked, your eyes widening as you muttered out apologies. "shit- i'm so sorry, eds- eddie." the way you corrected the nickname had his face souring, he wanted you to call him eds again, he wanted to be this close to you always.
he shook his head, "no... i should be the one apologizing." he murmured, and you tilted your head confused, causing eddie to sigh uncomfortably.
"i was such an idiot, shutting you out." he faced you, his voice strained and his eyes glossy as you looked up at him hopeful.
"i was just... scared." he admitted, it felt good to get it all out, he felt comfortable being vulnerable with you.
"scared of what?" you asked, your voice barely audible, and your eyes had softened, your lingering anger was nowhere to be seen, washed away as soon as you saw eddie hurt.
"scared of you pulling away from me..." he shook his head, he felt stupid. "i wanted to walk away, run away, before you could reject me." he admitted, it stung to do so, but he couldn't handle it anymore, he couldn't handle not being able to tell you about his feelings.
"w-what do you mean?" you asked, meekly, you didn't want to get your hopes up, but you were desperate, desperate to hear him say that he liked you too.
"i'm saying, i... fuck- i like you, honey, i like you so fucking much it scares me." he admits, his hands are soft as they reach for yours, and you blink slowly, trying to process his words.
"w-what?" you stutter, not being able to comprehend what eddie was hinting at, you had been in hell ever since eddie had been avoiding you, and now he was back, and telling you everything you ever wanted to hear.
eddie feels his cheeks flush, he's unable to meet your eyes. "it's okay, i-i know you don't feel the same way, you don't have to-" he feels embarrassed almost, knowing you are too good for him. but you don't let him finish.
you put the ice pack down quickly, gently cupping his face in your hands, scared to hurt him, you press a gentle kiss to his lips, your lips softly intertwining with his, and when the initial shock wears off, eddie responds, quickly, his lips messily clashing with yours.
he winces from his own harsh movements, but he doesn't care, his pain is washed away by your gentle lips on his.
he grins into the kiss, unable to contain his excitement, his hands shakey as they hold onto your waist.
"you have no idea how long i've been waiting to do this." he murmurs into your lips and you giggle pulling away softly, causing him to whine.
"i like you too, eds." you softly add, his eyes glimmering at the nickname, he can't believe that you, the prettiest girl, the girl of his dreams, his best girl reciprocating his feelings, he wants to pinch himself to see if it’s all real.
"say that again." his eyes are glimmering, and you can't help but giggle at how adorable he is.
"i like you." you say, louder this time. and eddie's grin is childish, he leans in further. "again, please." he's desperate, craving for more.
"ilikeyouilikeyouilikeyouilikeyou." you repeat like a mantra, pressing soft kisses to eddie's lips each time you repeat those three words, and eddie swears he's in heaven, he spends the rest of the night getting lost in your lips, as he relishes the fact that you, you actually like him.
