I did something new to me this chapter and attempted to write smut because the way I wanted them to get together was originally going to allude to it but I just decided to go for it lmk what you think be brutally honest. Also someone asked to be tagged so lmk if you want to be included too!
Warnings~ Smut, language, little bit of dom sub dynamics , fingering smut under the cut!
“Eddie I’m sure it’ll make it home,” you repeat, staring at his bedroom dauntingly.
“Are you kidding me, Y/N? There was smoke coming out of the hood, and it sounded like a dying cat when you tried to turn it over.” Eddie argues, rifling through his drawers. “It’s okay, doll; I’ll take it to the shop in the morning.” He finishes walking over to you with some haphazardly folded clothes.
You nod, taking the clothes from him, and he walks out of the room to give you some privacy.
You tie the sweatpants around your waist, slipping your shirt off, contemplating whether or not to take your bra off, finally deciding that you didn’t want to be uncomfortable. You slip the worn T-shirt over yourself, making a mental note to ask Eddie what the Hellfire Club was.
You walk down the hallway. Eddie’s in the kitchen finishing up making Milly and Tilly hot milk.
You peek past the kitchenette; the girls are all curled up together on the couch watching Sesame Street.
“I’ll take over if you want to put on something more comfortable.” You offer to peek over his shoulder.
“It’s okay; I’m almost done.” Eddie turns his head to look at you, not realizing how close that would put your faces.
You resist the urge to look down at his lips.
“Sorry,” you mumble, scooting back.
Eddie finishes the milk, handing both girls a cup and Hunny a bottle, then walking off to his bedroom to change.
You try your hardest to focus on the TV, struggling as your mind continues to wander to thoughts of the man in the other room. The way he offered you all a place to stay without question, loaning you and Tilly clothes and making Hunny a bottle before you got the chance—it was all very domestic, making you long for more.
Your eyes immediately snap to his frame as he emerges from the hallway. He’s wearing plaid pajama pants that hang low on his hips and a black Guns N’ Roses T-shirt cut off just above his belly button, exposing his toned stomach hair is pulled out of his face in a neat bun. He looks hot. You try your best to push the thought out of your mind, but it’s hard when he’s walking around looking like he just walked out of a magazine.
The girls are all out cold not thirty minutes later you and Eddie, each carrying one , tuck them into Milly's bedroom.
You pick Hunny up and transfer her to the pack n play Eddie had fished out of his junk closet.
“Are you sure you want to take the couch?” Eddie asks with a raised brow, arms crossed over his chest.
“Yeah, I couldn’t take your bed.” You wave, forcing yourself to look away from him before you lose your will and jump his bones.
“Okay,” he relents with a sigh, walking over to you. “Goodnight, doll,” he whispers, pressing a gentle kiss to your cheek, lingering for a moment, then pulling away and walking off to his bedroom.
You tried to sleep, you really did, but your mind is plagued with thoughts of Eddie, kind, sweet, caring, sexy, beautiful, gorgeous, crop-top-wearing Eddie.
You shift uncomfortably, unable to stop your eyes from looking back to the hallway Eddie had disappeared into.
On the other side of the hallway, Eddie tossed and turned, trying his best to not think like a horny teenage boy sleeping in the same house as a pretty girl, but seeing you in his clothes, his Hellfire shirt, did something to him.
It’s not like he’s the only one either; he saw the way you were looking at him when you saw him in his pajamas.
Eddie turns over, groaning into his pillow. He knows why neither of you had made a move: you had the girls to think about, and and and… His mind trailed off as he tried to come up with another reason why you shouldn’t be together, but he was coming up blank on every turn. It’s not like the girls would even care; hell, they’d probably be thrilled!
That’s it! He thinks about jumping up from the bed before he can change his mind and ripping the door open, but he stops dead in his tracks when he sees you already in front of the door.
“I-“ you start, but Eddie’s lips smashing into your own cut you off.
He kisses you hard and deep, pulling your body flush against his own. It takes you a minute to process, quickly deepening the kiss once you come to your senses.
Eddie pulls you into the room, shutting the door and making sure to lock it before pressing you against it.
“Jump,” he instructs against your lips, to which you immediately obey, whining as he grips the meat of your ass. “Shh, baby, gotta be quiet.” It’s a whisper in your ear, and it takes every fiber of self-control you have to moan when he sucks your earlobe in between his teeth.
Eddie carries you to the bed, sitting down on the edge and making you straddle him.
You kiss down his neck, biting and nipping at his throat, relishing in the soft sounds he makes. “Who needs to be quiet now?” you tease, grinding your hips down on his own. Eddie is having none of it, grabbing your cheeks in one hand. “Don’t be a brat,” he tells you, and you whine particularly loud. “You like that doll? Like being put in your place?” Hes, and you nod fervently. “Good, now be quiet, or I’ll stop.” He doesn’t give you the chance to respond, smashing his lips into yours once more, exploring your mouth with his tongue. He cups your clothed cunt before slipping a hand into his sweatpants, teasing you over your panties. He pulls back from your lips so he can watch your face contort in pleasure as he rubs your clit, groaning at how wet you already are for him.
As much as he wants to keep teasing you, he’s starting to get impatient, moving your panties to the side and slipping a finger into you. “So tight,” he moans, throwing his head back at how warm your cunt is, sucking him back in eagerly with each thrust. It’s not long before he’s adding a finger, thumb rubbing skillfully against your clit, leaving you a moaning mess as you inch closer to your high with each thrust of his fingers. “Love your pretty sounds, baby, but you gotta be fuckin quiet,” he grunts, gagging you with two fingers from his other hand. “Gonna cum for me, baby?” He coos when your pussy starts to clench harder around his fingers. “So fucking pretty,” he tells you as you nod dumbly, sucking on his fingers. “Yeah, be a good girl and cum on my fingers.” You let go as soon as he gives you permission. Sounds muffled by his fingers as he fucks you through your orgasm. “Fuck, that was so hot,” he let out, pulling his fingers out of your mouth and replacing them with his tongue.
Eddie lays you down on the pillows, kissing down your jaw hands slipping up his T-shirt, cupping your boobs. “Fuck,” he groans, rolling his hips against your own.
“No, my turn,” you whine and manage to flip you over so you’re on top when Eddie reaches to pull his sweatpants off your hips.
“You don’t have to oh—“ you shut him up with the kiss you trail down his tummy, nipping at his hip bone. “Fuck, pretty girl.” His head falls back against the pillows, gripping your hair when you kiss over his clothed crotch.
You’ve only just managed to slip your hand past his boxers when a soft knock sounds on the door.
“I’ll get it,” you sigh, letting your head fall to rest on his thigh for a second before gaining your composure.
Eddie uses the time it takes you to make it to the door to adjust himself.
When you open the door, Milly and Tilly are standing on the other side, hand in hand. “Can we sleep with you guys?” Milly asks through a yawn.
You like to think you know Eddie well enough to know he wouldn’t mind, and if the grin on his face as both sleepy girls climb into the bed.
“Hey, sweetheart, Princess,” he greets both girls, hugging them each in one arm. They hug him back, each placing a kiss on his cheek.
“Hey, what about me?” you pout, coming to sit on the other side of the bed. The girls giggle, showing you the same love before snuggling under the covers between you and Eddie.
It’s not long before Hunny starts crying. Eddie looks over at you, but you're already asleep, an arm draped over both girls. He smiles, deciding he can handle this one.
“Hey, shhh, it’s okay, Hunny,” Eddie coos, picking the crying baby out of the pack n play. “You feeling a little left out?” Hunny giggles when Eddie pinches her cheeks, tickling her neck with a finger.
“Hey girls, come on in,” Eddie greets as he opens the door, stepping aside so the three of you could walk in.
“Teddy!” Tilly shouts, throwing herself into the man’s arms.
“Tilly!” He mimics her wrapping her up in a tight hug, effortlessly pulling Hunny into his arms when she starts whining and making grabby hands at the man.
“Hi y/n/n.” Milly greets still much more bashfully with her affection than the other two.
“Hi, sweetness,” you greet, pulling the girl up into your arms to give her a hug.
“I hope you don’t mind my uncle Wayne is visiting,” Eddie tells you as you set the older girls on the ground to say their hellos.
“Not at all. I’m Y/N,” you smile at the man, offering a hand to shake.
“Wayne,” he nods, shaking your hand firmly. “You were right, she is pretty,” Wayne “whispers” too loudly on purpose based on the snicker he lets out as Eddie’s ears turn bright red.
“Okay!” Eddie shouts awkwardly. “Milly, why don’t you take Wayne to go play?”
“Come on, Granddaddy Wayne, Tilly can make you a pretty princess!” The girls pull Wayne by a hand each to Milly's room.
“He’s nice,” you smile at Eddie. He had told you he’d been raised by his uncle, so it makes you smile to know that he’s taken a grandfather role in Melia’s life.
“Yeah, he’s great,” Eddie agrees, still blushing furiously. “He’s been dying to meet you guys; apparently we talk about you too much,” Eddie tells you with a chuckle as he moves over to the fridge, grabbing you both a water to sip on while you sit on the floor and entertain Hunny.
The baby in question decided she was content to sit in Eddie’s lap and play with his hair.
The two of you sit in comfortable silence watching The Price Is Right Rerun’s occasionally commenting on the show most people might find it uncomfortable, but you found it oddly comforting being able to fully relax around the man, not constantly worried about having something to say.
You only make it through an episode before Wayne is kicked out of the room because it’s now a girls-only zone.
“Come to join the banished?” Eddie pipes as he emerges from the hall.
Wayne grunts an answer, sitting on the couch beside Eddie's spot on the floor.
“Come on, Hunny, you got it,” you encourage the girl to walk without the help of the coffee table.
“She’ll get there,” Eddie says, laying a comforting hand on your shoulder at the sigh you let out when she lowers herself down to crawl to you instead.
“I know just don’t want her to fall behind. She’ll be 18 months old next month; most babies are walking by then,” you pick at your lip anxiously.
“Not Eddie,” Wayne pipes up from the couch, gaining both of your attentions. “Yeah, he didn’t walk till he was practically two, not because he couldn’t; he was a lazy baby,” he finishes explaining, successfully making you giggle while Eddie glares at the man.
“You being a Teddy Hun?” You ask, turning to the girl.
“Teddy Hun!” She mimics giggling with you.
You spend the next couple of hours asking Wayne for every Eddie story there is. Eddie would find it in himself to be annoyed if he wasn’t absolutely reeling at the way you smile and giggle at each story Uncle tells.
“It was really nice to meet you,” Wayne says, shaking your hand once more. He and Eddie hug, and he wraps Milly in a warm hug soon after.
“It was nice to meet you, Granddaddy Wayne.” Tilly smiles brightly at the man.
You open your mouth to correct her, but the man just waves you off in an I-don’t-mind gesture. “It was nice to meet you too, Tilly. Thank you and Mils both for making me such a pretty princess.” The girls both beam at his words. His last goodbye is to Hunny perched on Eddie’s hip. “Bye, tot,” the baby giggles as he ruffles her hair. “Now you walk soon, okay? Don’t stress your mama out too bad.”
“Mama, too bad,” Hunny mimics, giggling. Wayne claps Eddie on the shoulder one last time before taking his leave.
“I don’t know how Tilly got her to wear a dress,” Eddie says in disbelief as they march their way back to Tilly’s room to change into the next outfit for their fashion show.
It had become a bit of a routine for your families to get together for playdates, trading off houses every other time.
“What can I say? I have persuasive offspring,” you shrug with a smile.
“It’s because you’re all so gosh darn cute, ain’t that right?” He coos at Hunny, pinching her chubby cheeks gently while she giggles wildly. His compliment, however unintentional, still makes you blush.
“Cute!” Hunny repeats tugging at his hair; the baby had become obsessed with it.
“Are you ready!” Tilly shouts, running into the room in full princess gear pink dress with a frilly tutu, a pink tiara, and a bright pink purse with her stuffed dog peeking out of the top. “Introducing Princess Milly!” she shouts as you and Eddie nod eagerly, you taking Hunny into your lap.
Milly steps out of the room bashfully adorning one of Tilly’s dress-up dresses; it was light blue with a matching blue tiara, and you couldn’t help but notice Tilly had let her wear her princess shoes.
“Oh my gosh!” Eddie gushes, scooping Melia up and attacking her face with kisses. “You “kiss” are the cutest “kiss”, little kiss princesses!”
“Daddy,” she giggles, pushing at his face.
“Sorry, sweetheart.” He sets her down reluctantly with one last kiss. “You both look very adorable,” he tells them with a serious tone.
“Thank you.” Both girls clumsily curtsy before running back to Tilly’s room, giggling.
“That settles it; we both have the cutest kids ever,” he says, looking back at you.
“You didn’t already know?” you tease, looking up from the baby in your lap.
“Well, yours I get; mine, it’s a miracle she didn’t get my looks.” Eddie shrugs, though he’s absolutely wrong; the little girl is the spitting image of him.
“You don’t give yourself enough credit, Munson.” One compliment and he’s bright red, though you suppose you’re not much better.
Through all the playdates, you and Eddie had become just as inseparable as the girls; your fondness for the man grew into what could only be described as a big fat crush on him, and while you’re sure he feels the same way, neither of you says anything, both too scared to ruin the friendships your families have built.
You’d landed on eating at McDonald’s, the girls scarfing down their food so they could go to the playground as soon as possible.
You and Eddie sat across from each other watching the girls play. Hunny, at the end of the table, happily gnawing on a chicken nugget.
“I really appreciate Melia standing up for Tilly; she, uh, doesn’t always stand up for herself,” you break the silence between the two of you. “I hope she’s not in any trouble.”
“Are you kidding me? I’m so proud of her I might just buy her that pool she’s been hounding me for,” he tells you with a cheeky smile. You smile back at him before something more serious takes over his face. “Look, I know it’s probably not my place, but Tilly said something about Dad’s always being mad before you got there, and I just, uh, wanted to make sure everything’s okay.” He notices the look that flashes in your eyes; he imagines it’s pretty close to the one he gets when someone mentions his father. “I’m sorry I shouldn’t have overstepped like that.”
“No, it’s okay,” you tell him, trying your best to make eye contact through your awkwardness. “Their dad is an asshole, but he was really only an asshole to me. I, uh, left him once I figured out I was pregnant again, and he didn’t want anything to do with us after that. He’s never even met Hunny.” You smile despite yourself, looking over at the baby in the high chair, ketchup smeared across her cheeks, mouth, and chin. “But we’re better off for it.”
“Milly’s mom dipped too, so I get what you mean,” he offered up, most likely out of pity, but you appreciate it nonetheless, and you hope the smile you give him communicates that.
By the end of the night, you and Eddie have learned a lot about each other, the girls have become best friends, only being able to be pried apart with the promise of a future playdate and seeing each other at school, and Hunny is fully passed out.
“Thanks for getting the bill; you really didn’t have to do that,” you thank him for the fiftieth time as you get Tilly buckled in her seat.
“Come on, like I’m not going to pick up the bill for a pretty girl?” he waves with a cheeky smile.
You can feel your face starting to flush, looking down at the pavement bashfully with a mumbled “shut up.”
“Yeah, I don’t really do that,” he jokes, sucking in a sharp breath when you look up at him through your eyelashes.
His brown eyes lock with your own, and for a second you think that you’re both leaning in.
“Daddy, let’s go!” You and Eddie snap apart.
“Right, I’ll, uh, see you around, Y/N,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, offering you one last smile before hopping into his car.
You slump into the seat of your own car, looking back at your girls to make sure they’re still secure in their car seats before driving off towards your apartment.
Single dad Eddie has one daughter Melia Willow Munson 4years old
Eddie and Meilas “mom” dated for a little bit when they found out she was pregnant they tried to make it work but birth giver left around when Melia was 16 months she has no memory’s of her
Single mom reader has two daughters Matilda Mae Carter 4 years old and Hunnings blue y/l/n 17 months old
Reader and “dad” had Melia and were together for until she found out she was Pregnant again and “dad” did not react well hence why Hunny and Tilly have different last names.
***
“Melia Willow Munson, come eat your breakfast, or I’m gonna do it for you!” Eddie yelled to the 4-year-old as he pulled the milk out of the fridge to pour her a glass to have on her poorly cooked pancakes with a whipped cream smiley face and drenched in syrup, something he hoped would help this morning go easier.
“Okay, Daddy, I’m ready for work.” She toddles out of the bathroom in a pair of coveralls and sunglasses shoved up to hold her wild curls out of her face.
“Milly, we talked about this. You’re starting prek today, remember?” He asked it taking every fiber of his control not to coo at the girl.
“No, I decided I can’t go. I have to help you in the shop,” she tells him plainly, climbing up into the chair, ready to reach for more syrup.
Eddie lets out a deep sigh. He knows he shouldn’t have gotten her so used to coming into work with him, but what was he supposed to do? He couldn’t afford a babysitter, and Wayne had to work too. Plus, Mr. Baxter had been nice enough to let him after Melia’s mom skipped town when she was a 16 months old.
“Mils, you know I love taking you to work with me, but school’s important. Besides, you can come back to the shop with me after I pick you up.” His attempt at reason falls short as an undeniably pitiful pout pouches itself on her bottom lip.
“But who will help you at the shop?” she barely gets out as the waterworks come right on cue.
It took him a whole thirty minutes to get her calmed down and another thirty to get her changed and ready for school. He’d had to bribe her with her nice leather jacket to get her to let go of the coveralls, and he didn’t even attempt to take back his sunglasses still perched on the top of her head. By the time he was pulling up to the school, they were thirty minutes late, and after a tearful goodbye, he was finally on his way out of the building before someone knocking into him nearly knocked him off his feet.
He wraps his arms around her, steadying them so they don’t fall to the ground, pulling her back, searching for any damage that could have been done, feeling a little relieved when he sees nothing visibly wrong. “Are you okay?”
***
“Close your eyes!” A shout from the bedroom instructs.
“Alright, alright, they’re closed,” you call back, peeking slightly to feed the baby in the high chair another spoonful of oatmeal.
“Tada!” The 4-year-old jumps out from the hallway, giving you a twirl so her dress floats around her. Her tiara falls a little crooked as she comes to a stop.
“Tilly Mae, you are just the cutest!” You gush, scooping the girl up in your arms and kissing all over her cheeks as she giggles. “Mama, stop.”
“Fine,” you sigh, dramatically setting her down in her chair. “But only so you can eat so we’re not late.”
“Tilly, we’ve got to go; we still have to drop Hunny off at daycare,” you tell the girl running around the living room frantically as you put on your youngest daughter’s shoes.
“But Mama, I can’t find my princess shoes.” Tilly whines, searching under the couch.
“Matilda Mae, you better not mess up those braids,” you scold, stopping her from crawling underneath. She pouts, arms crossed over her chest, beginning to pout. “Tilly, wear your tennis shoes for today, and then once we get back, we’ll turn the apartment upside down to find them,” you tell her, scooping her up once more to put the shoes on her feet.
With a few tears, a girl on your hip, and one’s hand in your own, you finally make it out of the house.
“Mama, walk faster; we’re late,” Tilly whines, zooming through the halls.
“I know, Tils, but please watch where you’re going,” your full attention on the girl. Though it seems you should have been following your own advice as you bump into something.
Strong arms steady you before you can fall backwards. You look up at the figure, a man with long dark hair that gathers in messy curls slightly below his shoulders. His brown eyes search your figure before you have a chance to react, pulling you away from his chest but keeping a hold on your elbows. “Are you okay?” His silky voice is laced with concern.
You don’t get the opportunity to answer before Tilly is tugging on one of your arms. “Mama, let’s go.”
“Yeah, um, sorry.” You rush out before letting yourself get whisked away by the girl.
***
“Where is she? What’s wrong?” Eddie burst into the room; he’d come to pick Milly up only to be ushered into the principal’s office, the woman escorting him answering none of the questions he’d berated her with.
He feels the blood drain from his face as his ears are met with sobs, to his surprise. Melia isn’t the one crying; instead, it’s a girl in a pink dress with a frilly tutu and blonde hair pulled back in neat braids that fall over her shoulders as her head’s turned down to look at the broken plastic tiara clenched tightly in her hands while Milly sits beside her, rubbing the girl’s back soothingly in the way he and Wayne always do when she cries. He scans the rest of the room on the other side; a boy sits beside a short blonde woman already angrily pointing and glaring at the girls, her squeaky voice almost indecipherable as she yells at the man sitting in a chair tucked behind a big wooden desk.
“I want her punished!” Eddie can make out this his head whipping toward the woman, ready to respond, before the man’s loud voice stops him. “Calm down, Mrs. Blake; we’re still waiting on one more parent.”
Eddie bites his tongue, deciding to focus his attention on the girls instead of the woman.
“Hey, sweetheart,” Eddie greets his daughter, softly tucking her hair beside her ear that had fallen into her face.
“I only did it because he was mean, Daddy.” Melia gushes, tears welling up in her eyes. Eddie chooses to ignore the scoff that comes out of the woman in the corner.
“It’s not her fault; don’t be mad at her,” the little blonde girl adds, finally looking up from her lap.
“Hey, hey, I’m not mad,” Eddie tries his best to comfort both girls. Milly tucks herself into his chest, and he uses the hand not around her to wipe the other girl's tear-stained cheeks.
“But Daddy’s always get mad.” Eddie’s brows furrow at the blonde’s words, but he doesn’t get time to react before the door is pulled open again.
It’s the woman who ran into him this morning, only this time carrying a baby on her hip.
“Tilly girl,” you let out the greeting, instantly rushing to the girl kneeling in front of her, scooping her up onto your other hip with ease.
You make eye contact with the man you’d run into this morning, brows furrowing deeper in concern at the little girl softly crying in his arms. He nods his head behind him, pointing you towards the young boy pouting beside a woman sending her a sharp glare.
You look back at the man with wide eyes and have to stop yourself for laughing out loud when he mouths “total bitch” above the little girls head he smiles chucking softly at your poor attempt at hiding your laughter.
“She’s here. Can we start now?” The woman snaps sassily at the man in the chair.
man groans, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.
Which is how you end up sitting shoulder to shoulder with a man you recently found out is named Eddie on a small bench, the girls sitting on the floor whispering amongst themselves, Hunny perched in your lap peacefully chewing on her teether, while the man behind the desk mr. Heart, as the nameplate on it reads, explains why you’re here.
“Mrs. Blake, Mr.Munson, Mrs. Carter, your—“
“Sorry, it’s actually Ms. Y/l/N,” you interrupt him, eyes shifting nervously around the room.
“Right, sorry, Ms. y/n.” He gives you a polite smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Your kids had a disagreement—“
“It wasn’t a disagreement; she kicked him,” the woman shouted incredulously, jumping up and pointing a finger at Milly.
“Mrs. Blake, sit down!” Principal Heart yells, clearing his throat and gaining composure.
Eddie’s arms are crossed over his chest jaw is clenched, and by the glare he’s shooting the woman, you think she’s lucky to still have the finger.
“From what the children tell me, Cooper went over to Matilda in the sand and stepped on her crown, causing it to break. Cooper then started to make fun of Matilda for crying. Melia walked over to tell him to stop, and Cooper, quote, called her a baby, so she kicked him in the privates.” Mr.Heart looked up from the paper the incident had been reported on through his glasses at the children.
“His child kicked my son; I want her punished,” the woman snaps, though Eddie pointedly ignores her with a deep roll of his eyes.
“Is that true, Mils? You kick em?” Eddie asks the girl, nodding his head to the boy.
“Yes,” she admits, avoiding his gaze. “But Daddy, he was an asshole, and you always say assholes deserve to get kicked in the nads.”
You once again struggle to keep in your laughter as Mrs. Blake gasps, clutching the pearls draped across her neck.
“Aren’t you going to correct her?” She asks Eddie, a disgusted look on her face.
“As a matter of fact, I am.” Eddie nods at her in mock sincerity. “Milly, we don’t call boys like him assholes; the proper word is ‘little bitches,” he tells the girl, who nods at him thoughtfully. This time you don’t bother to hide your laughter. “Better?” He asks the woman, flashing her a smug smile.
“Ugh, I should have known you wouldn’t do anything. You Munsons are trailer trash, and you act like it,” Mrs. Blake barks a cruel laugh.
“Excuse me?” Eddie asks, standing to match her stance.
“Eddie, please, you can’t fight a girl,” you say it like you didn’t just meet the man pushing him back onto the bench.
“Yes, sit down.” It’s her turn to shoot him a smug smile.
“Oh, you misunderstood me. He can’t, but I can hold my baby,” you instruct, setting Hunny down in the man’s lap before turning back to the woman.
“Ms. y/l-,“ principal Heart starts, but you hold a hand up to silence him.
“Ahh, my turn to talk.” You’ll apologize for the rudeness in a minute“. His daughter was defending mine, so if you want her to be punished, you better expect the same for him. Oh, and that crown was 5 bucks, so you better cough it up, or we can forget this whole thing, each punish our own children as we see fit, and handle this situation like mature adults who aren’t pointing blame at 4-year-olds,” you finish with a pointed finger.
“You’re all disgusting humans.” She scrambles, gathering her purse and her son by the wrist to storm out of the office.
“Very sorry for shushing you,” you smile politely, though Mr.Heart looks less upset than impressed. “Are we done here?” He nods wordlessly.
You turn your attention back to Eddie and the girls reaching for Hunny, who reluctantly pulls her hands out of Eddie’s hair.
You make it out of the building, the girls skipping in front of you hand in hand once again giggling amongst themselves.
“Thanks, I uh, totally would’ve hit that lady if you hadn’t said anything,” Eddie tells you, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
“Don’t mention it. If she’d have pointed her finger at my kid like that, I’d have jumped her.” You smile up at him as you make it to the sidewalk where the girls had stopped to wait for you.
“Daddy, can we have Tilly over for dinner? We want to play more.” Milly asks both girls, looking up at the two of you with puppy dog eyes.
“I don’t know, sweetheart…” Eddie trails off, “But maybe we could go out for dinner.” He immediately caves, though, in his defense, they did pull out the big guns with a pouty lip. “But only if Tilly’s mom is okay with it.” All three of them turn to you, waiting on your answer.
“How could I say no to you cuties?” You agree, noticing the way Eddie’s ears began to burn.
Authors Note: the last part has arrived ladies and gents and nerds all around.
Word Count: 9k+ words
Warnings: Fight scenes, crappy writing
Description: Nancy Drew solves the case
Main Master List - - Stranger Things Master List
Part One: Nancy Drew
Part Two : Cold Cases And So Forth
Part Three: The Hardy Boys
Part Four: Crown And Glory [You Are Here]
[Thank You For The Gif @shedaresthedevil ]
Enjoy!
The Case Of Blending In…..
Brenda and Trish were an odd pair to go dress shopping with. Though you’re sure they would both probably say the same about you.
Brenda was a ‘try everything on’ type of girl, she refused to take a chance that something wouldn’t fit, and she inspected the look with a meticulous glare. If there was the slightest bit of room near the shoulders she’d spot it. If there was too much room near the ankle she'd notice it immediately. Clean colors, she liked pastels. A spotless look is what she aimed for.
Trish liked…. Bows and frills and color. She wanted to make a statement and rather than trying everything on she would use her hands to measure much to your surprise.
It had been 3 hours of clashing.
3. Friggin. Hours.
You were going to die.
The bruising on your face was more yellow now, still swollen, but at least the lip healed up a bit. Both girls had made sure to comment on it quite a bit. Trish was outright disgusted and Brenda played worried but she mostly loved the drama of it.
“Where on earth did you find that girl?” Brenda snaps, leaning against a rack of tops as Trish is on the other side of the store trying on shoe after shoe, leaving a massive mess behind her as she decides which one looks better. The store clerk was sending glares from over the counter, obviously torn between getting involved or minding his own business.
“She’s friends with the DnD group I think….” You answer, running your fingers over the fabric of a dress near you just as an excuse to look away. “One of the boys likes her-”
“But she likes your man.” Brenda interjects, shaking her head. “I thought they were dating. Which is why you were all mopey and miserable a couple weeks ago.”
“I remember.”
“Are you better now? I mean,” She laughs, pushing hangers around aimlessly. “You climbed out of a window to avoid him.”
“I did.” You had. And then days ago you kissed him, a wonderful wonderful kiss that had left you in an awkward state ever since. Not due to either of you not wanting to talk about it but due to the fact that the two of you had yet to be alone since. Between Wayne hovering because you were hurt and Gareth attached to you like a sidekick obsessed with an adrenaline rush and Jeff trying to play Sherlock Holmes you and Eddie had your hands full.
But Eddie tried. He worked his ass off in attempts to get you alone. None of it seemed to work though.
But you would get time to talk about it, you would, you had faith in it.
Today however you were being dragged along shops two towns over from Hawkins, with two females that clashed like no other.
“So…. I’m not catching on. She likes your man and yet she’s here?” Brenda questions, tilting her head. “I don’t get it.”
“One of the other guys likes her. And…. well I’m not really worried about her liking Eddie not that he would qualify as my man-”
“You made out. You and Eddie made out.”
“And I’m the teen sleuth?”
“How was it? Did you love it? You must have loved it.” She gushes, nearly dropping the dress she was lugging around. “I mean he’s a fool but damn that boy looks like he was made for kissing.”
“Who was made for kissing?” Trish asks, appearing out of nowhere with one singular shoe in hand and the rest scattered on the floor behind him. The clerk turning red from the counter, a vein popping in his forehead. “Gareth, right? He’s like always following around you.”
“Those shoes are turquoise.” Brenda notes, tilting her head a bit.
“Yeah? So?” Trish asks, tilting her head the opposite direction, both of them holding terrifyingly similar smiles that were as fake as they came.
“You chose a red dress.” Brenda huffs, flipping hair over her shoulder before turning to the mess Trish left behind. “You aren’t going to leave that mess are you?”
“Why wouldn’t I? It’s his job.”
You needed out of here, immediately.
“Did you pick a dress?” Trish asks, that head tilt to you.
“Yes. Yes I did.” A hell of a lot quicker than they had, that’s for sure. “Are we ready to go?”
“I am still deciding on shoes-”
“Go for silver. Now can we please go?” Brenda hisses, walking to the front to check out. You watch her go, the purple dress in her hands clenching from her tight hold, her ringed hands in fists. For as long as you had known Brenda she had always been a bit of a hothead. She argued with just about every female she could and there had been an insane competition between the two of you in the newspaper club. But lately it has been tenfold.
“Ready to go?” Trish asks, smiling at you.
“Yes. Yeah.” You nod, pulling the dress you chose a little closer and heading to the front to pay for it.
Gareth and Eddie are waiting for the car where Brenda drops you both off at the diner, and at the last moment, just before you slip out of the car while Trish yells out a ‘Hey Eddie!’ you turn to Brenda with a smile. A real one. And apart of your anxiety at everything going on lately eases up when she returns it with an actual smile.
“Thank you for inviting me.” You mumble. “I…. I enjoyed it.”
“No you didn’t.” She laughs. “But I….. If you admit it to anyone then I will stab you with a butter knife, but I….. You’re a blast, Nancy Drew.”
“I won’t tell a soul.” You smile, stepping out to see Eddie waiting outside the door for you, holding out his hand. You expect him to grab your hand, but instead he grabs the bag and tries to rifle through it. “Hey, paws off!”
“Don’t I get to see? It’s not like it’s a wedding dress?” He scoffs, whining a bit when you snatch the bag back before you turn to try and invite Brenda into the diner to eat with the group just to see that she was already driving away. Eddie has his hands on you, lightly tugging on the earring you were wearing to pull your attention. “You okay?”
“Yes. I’ll be so much better if you don’t eat all my fries.”
“Now you’re just aiming low.” He whines, wrapping an arm around you to pull you into the diner and out of the heat. Jeff and Gavin are already at the booth, arguing over a DnD booklet as Eddie guides you to sit with them. They had taken to picking the circular booth so that everyone could fit, no more awkward motions to grab a chair or switch seats.
You slide in, Eddie quick to follow, grabbing the menu to open it between you two as Gareth and Trish stay outside to talk. You should be looking at the menu, should be talking Eddie down from ordering something stupid, and yet you find yourself staring out the window to watch those two talk. Eddie doing the same.
“Ah, young love.”
“Poor guy. Struggling.” You note.
“Like a cat hitting a lake.” Eddie laughs before you slap his shoulder a bit. Both of you jump when you turn to see Gareth glaring at you through the window, turning so quickly you bump foreheads together before gluing your eyes to the menu.
When you hear the diner bell go off you both stay frozen, listening to the sound of his feet on the tile of the floor before seeing the flannel in edges of your vision.
“They have cheese fries. We can add chili and jalapeno.” Eddie notes, nodding his head.
“You both are pains in my ass.”
“Chili is going to make you sick.” You respond, playing along.
“You’re gonna pretend I’m not here? Really? You two are so childish!”
“I’ll make you a deal here, split a milkshake and I-”
“I was going to split a milkshake no matter what. Chocolate.”
“Peanut butter.” He challenges.
“Lunatic.” You respond as Gareth groans and sits down with a plop, Trish coming to sit by Jeff. “Fries. Chicken sandwich. Chocolate milkshake…. And then I might share what color the dress is.”
“Deal.” Eddie rushes out, closing the menu quickly.
-
The Mirror Effect.
English class had always been Eddie’s favorite, the only class he never really had to worry about trying in since everything came naturally to him. All the others he spent begging you for help but this one? He enjoyed it.
Mostly because Mrs. Erickson let him sit in the back and read, knowing he’d attempt to pay attention if they were going over something he didn’t know. And today he had taken full advantage of that, slipping into the fantasy world laid out before him so easily that when the school bell went off he had to blink to snap back into reality.
Not that it was too much of a drag coming back, this world had you in it and there were no sword fights or dragons that could ever compare to the feeling your smile left him with. He was rushing to pack up, hoping he’d get a moment with you in the halls before your newspaper club, when the teacher called him up.
“I know this is a weird ask.” She begins, reaching behind her to grab a backpack. “But Joseph Storm left this here the other day and he’s been home sick. If you could drop it off as well as this weeks homework that would be terrific.”
“Can do.” Eddie nods, pulling the bag to his shoulder.
“And please tell our little sleuth that I hope she’s feeling better. Quite a nasty bruise I saw on her this week.”
“Yeah…. Will do….” He nods, moving to head towards the door before stopping, turning back. “Joseph Storm? He’s in…. He has you for English?”
“Yep. All year..” She answers, moving to sort some stuff in her cabinets as Eddie nods slowly and turns to walk out, his head warping into circles.
He makes it all of 4 steps before stopping short, turning to head to the journalism room where you would be.
The room goes silent when he waltzes in, everyone stopping what they were doing to stare as you smile a bit awkwardly and stand to meet him at the door, shutting the door behind you so you could be alone in the hallway.
“What can I do for ya?” You giggle, and something in his chest tightens at the sound, the urge to touch you a bit too much so he reaches up to trace a thumb along your jaw with his fingers on your neck. He never thought he’d get to hear you giggle for him like that, so free and flirty. Or well…. He guessed you always had but he had talked himself out of believing it was true. Never wanting to risk the friendship.
All it took was him risking the friendship by chasing you away.
“I just needed to see you.” He blurts, stepping closer. “You promised me could stitch ourselves together, I wanna see what kind of thread you want.”
“I get a choice. Lucky me.” You smile, leaning into him and he thinks his knees go weak, nearly falling then and there as he leans in to close the space completely. His lips so close to getting where he wants when someone clears his throat to pull attention. “Sorry Mr. Daniels.”
“Right.” The teacher nods, rolling his eyes before walking past and Eddie watches him go, something weird in his gut before turning to you.
“That man is gay.” Eddie notes, watching your face punch in confusion before you actually pinch him.
“Be nice.” You scoff.
“No! I’m not being mean. I’m stating a fact.” He laughs. “I’m not saying it as a diss. I would never do that.”
“But the letter…..” you mumble, watching him closely.
“All I’m saying is he is wearing the most put together outfit I’ve seen, and walks like he’s about to meet Princess Diana.”
“Those are mean stereotypes.”
“No those are high compliments. That man was not into Holly.” He explains, huffing a bit before leaning in to give you a chaste kiss. “We really need alone time. But I gotta go.”
He doesn’t give you anytime to say anything, dashing to catch up to Mr. Daniels.
“Wait! Gimme a sec!” He heaves, trying to catch his breath as his pace slows when he catches up to the man, who is raising an eyebrow. “Did….. you…. Holyshit….. Holly….”
“Oh my god Sherlock Holmes. Take a moment to catch your breath.” He groans, already tired of Eddie’s shit.
“Okay. Okay. I’m fine. Did you know Holly-“
“Yes. Are we done here?” His teacher is already turning to leave before Eddie steps in front of him.
“You were friends right?”
He hesitates, looking around quickly, noting the cars in the parking lot before nodding. “We were.”
“And just to be clear, you didn’t write a love letter to her. Asking her to meet you at lovers lane?” Eddie clarifies, smiling a bit when Daniels gives him an incredulous look.
“God no. She was my best friend. She knew everything about me and I her but I would never- not to say she was nasty but…..” he shrugs, hands gesturing to himself like the answer should me obvious and to Eddie it was.
“You know anything about the guy she was seeing?”
“No? Holly wasn’t seeing anyone. Had an on and off thing with the king of the school but they barely talked by prom.” Daniels sighs. “If you’re interested because of the crown donation then I suggest going to the office.”
“The office is closed. And they had it under anonymous when we went and checked.”
“I don’t know what to tell you Munson.” Daniels sighs again, rolling his eyes. “Just …… leave me out of it. I wasted 4 years obsessed with what happened to my friend. I can’t do that anymore.”
With that he’s off, leaving Eddie standing in the middle of the parking lot with a sneer covering his face. He could see where Daniel’s was coming from, but if you went missing after prom he’d find a way to tear apart the planet piece by piece until they found you.
He whirls, ready to charge back in and tell you what he found out, until the second backpack he had been carrying swings at the momentum and falls off his arm, slamming onto the concrete below and spewing papers across.
Cursing under his breath Eddie rushes to snatch the papers, one by one. English homework, science lab work, your homework, an overdue English es- your homework.
Your homework.
Shaky hands, he runs his finger over the handwriting he recognizes as yours on the back of the page, willing himself to be wrong before turning it over to reveal your name scrawled across the top. Your science homework.
The science homework you had gotten an incomplete on because it had been stolen with that damn letter.
“God damnit.” He seethes, snatching everything else up and rushing to his van.
-
“Dad?!” You call, rushing into the house and dropping your bag by the front door. “You home?!”
He had rushed home from his work trip the second he’d heard about what happened, and had been mother henning you since. Cleaning the wound every night, rubbing lotion on the bruise and even checking your pupils for progress on the concussion you for sure had.
“I’m here!” He calls back and you follow his voice to the kitchen where he is fixing up some food. “I was trying to make dinner, but I keep burning everything.”
“How dare you.” You laugh, leaning against the wall.
“You excited for tomorrow? Spring formal and all that?” He wiggles his eyebrows, shaking his shoulders a bit. To your dad it seemed like his only daughter was finally getting into the girlhood of it all. If only he knew you were laying a trap to catch the janitor in the act.
“So excited.” You nod.
“You mind going and grabbing my work pad? I need to head in and take notes on this meeting call. I left it on the table when I left for the trip.” You nod, remembering that he had left it there to make sure you knew where he was, shuffling to grab it.
Once you spot it in the table you dramatically clap your hand to grab it, sliding it closer as the bottom of the pages catch your eye. A design, logo really, from his company. Brenda Carlton’s dad owned it, one of the richest men in town.
No wonder she is so picky about her dresses. You think, moving in to pass it to your dad before mumbling out that you were heading to Eddie’s.
“Hey!” He calls last minute, making you turn. “Be safe!”
“I will.” You frown, watching him shake his head.
“Most parents have to worry about their kids having sex. I have to panic about mine busting a meth lab in our neighborhood” he mutters to himself before rushing to answer the phone in his office while you head outside.
Gareth, after a massive amount of guilt tripping, had bought you a new bike and for a moment you were quite happy with the fact that he hit you with his car. Because your last bike didn’t have a basket or bell. And you used the bell to your advantage when you made it to Eddie’s trailer, ringing it until he came to the front door.
“I pity the day you get a car with a horn.” He calls, shuffling on the porch steps and opening his arms for you to walk into once you leaned the bike against the walls.
“You’ll be so excited that you don’t have to cart me around anymore you’ll get me a special horn.” You chuff, moving to hug him as he rolls his eyes.
“Me? No. Even when you get a car we’ll still be running old Bertha to every crime scene.” Something was off, his demeanor tight and worried.
“You okay Ed’s?”
“Yup.” Liar. He was such a liar. You pull back quickly, trying to look into his eyes before he avoids the eye contact, moving to pull you inside. “You hear from that Joseph kid? He’s been sick the past couple days.”
“No. I hadn’t known.” You hum out, following him to his room.
“He doesn’t call you? Gareth said that he was into the investigation when we were….. you know?”
“Fighting? Yeah. But not too invested.” You respond, watching him closely as he toes at his own carpet with his hands on his hips. “What’s going on?”
“Are we going together?…. Tomorrow?” He finally asks, looking up at you.
“No. I was going with Jeff. You just bought the same color tie to be cool.” You giggle, watching him roll his eyes at the sarcasm before a smile spreads across his face. “Why are you asking?”
“I just…….” Once again at a loss for words he tries to come up with one, gesturing between the two of you before giving up, crossing the room to latch his lips onto your own in a passionate kiss. His lips melting against yours as a bit of energy zaps through you both at the contact, stirring you into action enough to wrap your arms around his neck while his hands slide into your hair and onto your back to hold you to him.
When you part for air he is panting, eyes staring into your own with a spark you had come to recognize as he lunges back in, using his foot to slam his bedroom door and shuffle you both to the bed. Falling onto it with a bit of a bounce as he slots himself between your thighs forming a giggle to pass your lips.
“What’s so funny?” He breathes out, staring down at you as he hovers so close you can feel his hair on your forehead.
“My dad said something about other parents having to worry about sex meanwhile he was worried about my sleuthing habits.” You explain, watching his face form a confused stare. “I think he should be worried about the sex part. Our sleepovers are gonna be cut off once they all find out.”
“I have broken into so many buildings. Your room will be easy work.” He growls. “Cause when you need me I’ll be there.”
“Promise?”
“Swear it.” He nods, taking his hand and extending a pinkie to you which you accept. And this time instead of bumping heads you pull him in for a kiss, making quick work of shucking off your jacket.
-
12:30. 9 hours before the plan.
“Alright. You got the plan down?” You ask Gareth, standing with him at the end of the hall, both trying to seem casual as you peer down to where Benson Cane was mopping.
“Yup.” He nods, casting a glance before turning to you. “Actually no.”
“I just need a look out. Eddie is in an exam right now, and I need someone to watch the hall while I go into his office. If you see someone that can bust me you hit this button on the walkie twice.” You explain, showing him which to hit. “Got it?”
“Why hit it twice? Why no code word?”
“Because then they’d know you’re talking to someone. When you hit it twice I hear-“
“Is that a hickey?” He blurts, finger digging into the spit right under your collarbone with a disgusted look. “That’s so gross.”
“Oh please. You have all people can’t judge. You want to give Trish so many hickeys.” You huff, slapping his hand away.
“Not true.” He argues, his entire face going red. “Okay. Ready?”
“Yes.” You nod, taking a couple steps away and then rushing down the hall.
Bensons office is locked, of course it is, but you were taught by the best so you pick the lock and slide in, turning on your flashlight to take a look around. His office is spotless, not shocking for a janitor. The desk only holds snacks, no papers, and the cork board above it holds school papers. Most of which are about your cases. The chair squeaks and when you sit in it you nearly fall, your knee coming up to hit the desk, sending the corkboard falling between the desk and the wall.
“Shit-“ And then Holly was smiling at you, through a picture anyways. Many pictures actually. Smiling to the camera in each and every one of them. “Benson…..”
You take a picture with your camera, hearing the two clicks of the walkie and knowing you had to get out, so you try and fix the pinboard only it won’t go back up.
“Shit come on.” You panic as the walkie sounds off twice again, adrenaline and fear taking over as you get it to sit and rush for the door, only the second your hand reaches for the knob it turns and you have to rush to hide, sliding the door to the mop closet and hiding in there as Benson Cane heads in.
Panic covers you as he walks around the room, collecting cleaning supplies, heading straight for the closet you are in before the phone goes off. He groans, moving to pick it up before knocking over some stuff on the desk, bending down to pick it up.
You had two choices, you could have stayed and grimaced at the half moon he was showing or take this chance to escape. You chose the ladder, nearly running into Gareth in the hall on your way out before you both dash down the hall for cover.
“You got what you need?”
“Yeah. He’s scheduled for 9:30 tonight. We confront him then.” You pant, even though you still felt like something was missing.
-
2:30 7 Hours Before The Plan
Eddie was a bit pissed at the fact that instead of seeing you one more time before tonight he was forced to take his van to the richest part of Hawkins and park it in front of an idiots house.
It didn’t take long to waltz up to the front door, knocking on the oak wood a couple times before he was greeted with an older woman. “Hey. Is Joseph home? I’m trying to drop off his homework.”
“Oh he’s been out. All morning.” The woman smiles, waving her hand. “Had school and then some club. He’s so busy these days.”
“Yeah I bet.” Eddie laughs, handing her the bag. “Have a nice night.”
-
6:30 3 Hours Before The Plan.
Eddie was punctual when he picked you up, hopping out of his van with an extra jump before fixing the suit he borrowed from Wayne, making sure the tie stayed clipped before heading up to where you stood waiting on the porch. “Sorry I’m late. Had to conceive Gareth to take his own ride.”
“You’re on time.” You laugh, moving to meet him in the middle, hands sliding up his arms until they make it to his chest the second he’s within reach, allowing him to pull you in and press his hands into your back.
“No. On time is late.” He argues, leaning forward to kiss you gently, hands rubbing circles onto your back before he pulls back. “Are you ready for a formal, Nancy Drew?”
“Well that depends…. Am I going with my best friend? My detective partner? Or a boyfriend?” You question, heart thundering a bit as his eyebrows raise.
“I have just what you need!” He exclaims, clapping a bit to pump you up. “I have a guy that can be all three….. he….. he costs 400 dollars an hour BUT you get a happy ending.”
“A little out of my price range.” You play along, allowing him to lead you to the van.
“Okay. I have a guy that can do the last one. But he’s also into guys so it won’t be that believable but he is a blast to hang out with.” Eddie offers.
“Jeff is a blast but…. He’s got his eye on someone from the swim team.”
“Damn. Missed that one. I’ll have to ask him. Okay. Final offer. I have one that can be all three….. but he can be an ass sometimes. Talks too much. Spends too much time daydreaming about you so he might be behind in all his classes.” He lists off, turning you to face him as you lean against his car, pushing in until his hands were splayed out and trapping you within his arms.
“Does he kiss?”
“Looks for every chance just to kiss you.”
“Will he dance with me?”
“Formals aren’t really his scene.”
“But I want to dance.”
“I’m sure he’ll make an exception.” He huffs out.
“Then you have yourself a deal.” You smile, pulling him by the tie to lock lips. He pulls back a little, after a few moments to breathe out “I wasn’t talking about me but I’ll accept it.”
By the time you both get to the school you’re already nothing but giggling messes, hearing the music filter down the halls as the boys meet you by the front to buy tickets. Eddie keeps a tight grip on your hand as you walk through the endless hall of streamers before making it into the gym that has been completely redecorated for the event. Colored lights hitting the floor being anchored up in the ceiling with rope, a stage with a band currently playing some of the best hits of the 70s near the other side.
“So this is what they do at dances?” Eddie laughs, looking around. Neither of you had ever been to a school dance before. Cases always managed to get in the way. “Alright. You want to go check out the school? Get ready?”
“Maybe….. maybe we stay and have fun first?” You offer, a nervous feeling coiling in your gut. “Maybe the mystery comes second and we just….. act like teenagers for 5 minutes.”
The smile that cracks across his face makes you warm, smiling back at him with a giddy urge to pull him to the dance floor. So you do, and even though he hates school dances he lets you drag him in.
You dance with him most the time, bumping into Jeff and Simon here and there, avoiding the awkwardness of Gareth and Trish. You’re both flushed panting messes when Eddie leads you from the dance floor to grab some punch, sweat forming at your hairline.
“We could have been having this much fun.” He laughs, watching Jeff and Gareth break into a mummy dance. “But what’s crazy is I never realized we were missing out because I loved our adventures…… how many of these kids can say they have done any of the stuff we have done?”
“Like when we dressed as an old couple in the retirement home to catch the thieving nurse!”
“Or when we ended up on a movie set 4 towns over, being drenched with fake rain all to catch a makeup artist pawning jewelry.”
“Oh! How about the time you had to climb the tigers gate at that crappy zoo to find the murder weapon the zookeeper had hid.”
He laughs at the memory, leading you both to the edge of the gym so you didn’t have to yell too loud over the music. “What’s your favorite so far? Out of all our cases? Which one?”
“My answer is pretty boring.” You shrug, holding the glass punch cup as your eyes trace around the room.
“Which is?”
“Way back in the day…. I found this kids lunchbox for him.” You smile, finally turning to him. “That’s my favorite.”!
“Mine too.” He smiles. “I got my lunchbox and my favorite person all in one day. An amazing feat considering I had been crushing on her for weeks before that.”
“You HATED me! I cleaned your desk and you-“
“I’ll have you know I worked so hard to maintain that clean desk after you cleaned it.” He laughs out, leaning forward to kiss your forehead, just grazing his lips onto your skin before pulling back with narrowed eyes. “Hey I’ll be back alright?”
“Ed’s it’s almost 9:30.” You laugh, watching him with confusion.
“I just have to go to the bathroom. I’ll be back in time. Swear it.” He smiles, walking past you to rush out the door.
“You look great!” Brenda calls, rushing to hug you closely before pulling back to make you spin. “Munson scored out of his league with you.”
You laugh at her amusement, reaching to keep her steady when she staggers a bit. “You havin fun?”
“Oh yeah. So much fun.” She huffs, shaking her head. “I should booze this party up. Prove a point to my mom.”
“Whys that?”
“She’s here! If you can believe that! Both of them! Cause she used to work here.” Brenda complains, making you stop short.
“Right. Your mom used to work here…..” you nod, looking around the room to catch eyes with someone. “Brenda. I’ll be right back.”
“Love ya.” She makes a kissy sound before you rush to follow the figure escaping.
-
9:15 15 Minutes Before The Plan.
Eddie is quick to keep pace, chasing down a figure about his height that keeps looking back before picking up speed. Turning corners in an attempt to lose him but Eddie wouldn’t let that happen. He had a score to settle.
“Hey!” He calls, making the figure panic and turn into the woman’s locker room, Eddie quick to follow.
Once he enters the door there is nothing to be seen, no one in sight. He walks a couple steps to check the stalls, opening door after door before doing the same with the curtains for the showers. Nothing.
He’s about to admit defeat when he gets a prickly feeling on his spine, turning and kicking at a locker in anger enough to make the door snap open to reveal Joseph Quinn.
“There you are you little cockroach!” Eddie sneers, reaching to pull him out of the locker and push him to the ground. “I’ve got you all figured out!”
“Whatever you think I did you’re wrong man! I didn’t do anything!”
“Yeah? That so?”
“Yeah man! You touch me and I’ll call hopper. Have you fucking arrested!” Joseph seethes back, scrambling to stand only to realize he’s trapped in a locker alcove.
“You want me to lay out what you did? Or just confess so I can get back to my girl?”
“I didn’t do shit.” Joseph spits, eyes widening as Eddie takes a step forward.
“You attacked her. It was you at her house that night.” He explains, hands sinking into his pockets.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“Fine. Let me lay it out. You’ve been stalking my girl. I don’t know how long, I’m sure it’s been a minute though. You knew the second we started fighting. You knew the second she was introduced to the Holly case.”
“Fuck you.”
“Gareth told me a funny story, about how he went to the tutoring center and she was there claiming she wasn’t the tutor but no one else was there so she had to have been lying. He said her performance was terrible. She was lying but she was still right. There was supposed to be someone else there. You were signed up for tutoring hours. You were the missing tutor.” Eddie explains, pointing at Joseph to prove his point.
“I don’t know what your on -“
“You grabbed the yearbook. Even hid it in her next class with a fake love letter from Mr. Daniels so that you could be apart of the investigation. A red herring. Daniels was never in love with Holly, he’s gay.”
Joseph stays silent, so Eddie continues. “The night she got threatened you broke in to grab the letter. Either second guessing yourself and your plan or you just wanted something of hers cause you grabbed her homework too. I know it was you because whoever was threatening her on the phone couldn’t have broken in without her hearing them and they happened at the same time.”
“You’re fucking crazy man.”
“I am. Because you broke into her house and you. Hurt. Her.” Eddie sneers, taking another step forward. “You hurt her. And I am not gonna let that pass you fucking freak.”
Joseph’s face pulls into one of grief, eyes welling up with tears before his face begins turning red. He goes from fake confusion to devastation and straight into rage within the span of seconds.
And he lashes out fast enough to hit Eddie hard enough it sends him to the floor.
“You’re dead, Munson.” Joseph growls, pulling off the tie of his suit and wrapping it around his hands to get ready to choke Eddie out.
-
9:21 9 Minutes Before The Plan.
He was tall, it wasn’t hard to track his figure through the halls even when he walked into the darker section, where all the lights were turned off to prevent kids from coming through. He walked with confidence, hands in his pockets and shoes clacking against the ground with easy steps until he shuffles into a science classroom and you follow.
He had taken to sitting on the counters by the windows, letting the moonlight illuminate him for perfect viewing as you stared him down and he stared right back.
“It was you.” You state, standing as straight as you can. “You were the older man Holly was seeing.”
Brenden Carlton, Brenda’s father, merely chuckles with a smug smile covering his face, his eyes ice cold. “I’ll play along. Tell me how you got to that conclusion, pretty girl.”
“You met her at the homeless shelter. You take cases there all the time for pro bono work. You started a relationship with one of your wives students and it lasted awhile. Until the night of her prom….. when she revealed she was pregnant. There was a photo in Bensons office, she was wearing a sweater but you could still see a bump.” You begin, watching him closely as you step further into the room. “You guys used to meet at lovers lane, and the night of her prom she did meet you there, told you she wanted to keep the baby. You told her no. You both got into a fight and she threw the ring you gave her at you but it fell to the ground. She went to the prom and you were left panicking about it. Finally you gave up. You ended up at the school and pulled her away from everyone. You attacked her, left her for dead.”
“Oh yeah?” He smiles.
“Yeah. Brenda was the one that gave me the photo in the first place, this entire town pretends Holly doesn’t exist and it’s a struggle to find photos of her but your daughter found one just fine. And the ring she wore that day, I didn’t correlate it until now but it’s just like Hollys ring I found by lovers lane. Rose gold in a Celtic knot.” His face is falling a bit, shoulders tensing more and more. “Brenda was the one who mentioned lovers lane to me because she heard it from you. Mostly everyone goes for lovers rock or lovers lake. Lane had been unheard of until Brenda told me. B.C. Carved into the tree. Hopper thought they were Brenda’s initials because they were. She was named after you.”
“You have no proof here.”
“My dads legal pads from work held the same initials. B. C. You sent him on that work trip to clear the house, assuming I’d be with Eddie. You tore up my room looking for the evidence. And you’re a fucking failure cause you didn’t find a thing.” He sneers at you, standing up now.
“You have nothing.”
“No…… most of what I said wouldn’t hold up in court without dna or a confession.” You nod. “Which is why I was sent to distract you while my two teammates grabbed the crown. Because your dna is on it.”
It was a bluff. Sure the boys were grabbing the crown, but you didn’t know if there was any dna on it. Didn’t seem to matter though since Brendon believed it, his face morphing into one of devastated rage.
“I’m gonna kill you like I killed her.”
And then he lunges.
-
9:36 6 Minutes After The Plan Was Supposed To Start.
“Where are they?!” Gareth snaps, pacing back and forth in the hall as Jeff keeps close to the glass case. “They were supposed to be here….. did you see them leave the gym?”
“I saw Eddie leave. Last I checked she was talking to Brenda.” Jeff answers, knocking his knuckles against the case gently as he watches the reflection from the hall. “What would they want us to do if they aren’t here?”
“Grab it probably.” Gareth shrugs. “But they are criminals that know how to pick a lock.”
“I thought their schtick was goodie two shoes detectives.” Jeff huffs before realizing something. “Dude there is no lock!”
“What-“ before Gareth could actually finish the question Jeff is sliding the glass to expose the crown to the outside world. “We are idiots.”
“HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT?!” Benson Cane yells, spotting them from down the hall.
“Run.” Gareth orders, and Jeff snatches the crown up to dash with his friend down the hall, Benson hot on their heels.
-
9:37 7 Minutes After The Plan Was Supposed To Start.
Eddie couldn’t breathe, his fingers were digging to find purchase on the tie around his neck, doing anything he could to try a relieve it as the edges of his vision began spotting.
Joseph was sitting on his back, choking him out with a silver tie of all things, and Eddie was more so aggravated by the fact that he was about to die in a girls locker room with a TIE for gods sake. That is until he begins pawing around him on the ground and finding a pair of tweezers, reaching behind him to dig them into Joseph’s thigh as hard as he could.
The boy screams out, letting go of the tie enough for Eddie to crawl out, panting for hair and rubbing the sore skin in effort to ease the wound. He didn’t have time to sit here, so he uses the bench to help him stand, rounding quickly to throw a punch at Joseph cracking him in the face where you must have cracked him before.
“JESUS FUCK-“ the kid cries, falling to the floor with his hand covering his face and the blood sliding through his fingertips.
“I’ll give you something to Jesus Fuck about….” Eddie growls, his voice uneven and gravelly from just having been choked out. Only when he steps to the kid he barely manages to see the knife in his other hand, swerving back and narrowly avoiding it as Joseph begins swinging it wildly. “Ahhhh of course!”
-
9:40 10 Minutes After The Plan- You get it now.
His first lunge is narrowly avoided with a side step, him swinging his arm is not. He hits your cheek as a perfect angle, sending you staggering back onto the teachers desk with a hand covering your cheek.
“You think I want to do these things?!” He calls, grabbing at your hair to pull you in, ignoring your hands that claw for freedom. “I love-“
“I don’t wanna hear it.” You groan, reaching to hit the heel of your shoe and dig it into his foot. He yells out, legging go and you take the second to try running. When he reaches for you he almost gets you, tearing a piece of your dress off.
You nearly make it to the door, your exit so close, but he lunges over the tables and tackles you.
Both your bodies go flying into the glass case of beakers, the glass shattering around you as you fall into it. Your arms fly up in attempt to cover your face form all the glass but he is already dragging you back, sliding you across the broken shards on the floor as you cry out.
-
9:42 12 Minutes After The Plan.
Jeff and Gareth took a good habit of swinging each other in moments of panic. That meaning they developed a good pattern of pulling each other when they take corners, swinging to keep momentum and pace.
“Gareth! Science hall is a dead end!” Jeff reminds, choosing to go left instead and dragging Gareth to take that turn. Gareth swings out, tripping up a bit before taking the lead. Dashing down the hall right as the janitor turns the corner with another yell.
“Why is he so damn worried about this crown. It’s not even that cool!” Gareth yells before tripping over a mop bucket, flying into the floor with Jeff still holding his arm.
“Stop it!” Benson yells, coming up to grab the back of Jeff’s shirt. “Come on you hooligans!”
“Hey! Back off my partner man!” Gareth yells, snatching the mop and swinging it around to stave off the other guy. “We know you killed Holly! You were obsessed with her!”
“What the hell?” He gasps, taking a step back. “Why the hell would I kill my niece?”
-
9:45. Honestly the plan is shit, I’m done counting.
They were a mess. Joseph would swing the knife and Eddie would kick him. By the time Eddie got the knife out of his hands they were just a sprawl of limbs fighting over the locker room.
Shoving each other into the lockers and falling over the bench in the middle.
Joseph’s blood was getting everywhere.
He was on top of Eddie now, trying to crawl a little faster as they were both reaching for the knife, cursing each other out until a heel comes into view. Both of them looking up to spit none other than Trish standing there with wide eyes.
Tommy H at the doorway.
“Poor Gareth.” Eddie groan, gasping out when Trish kicks the knife close to him and he can snatch it, sending Joseph flying back in panic.
“Get him freak!” Tommy calls as Eddie looks around for something to tie him up in.
“Oh! Here!” Trish staggers for some pool rope, pulling it over to help Eddie tie him up. Once Joseph is finished he turns, slightly out of breath to look at Trish then back to Tommy.
“Trish come on.” He huffs, moving to grab her arm gently.
“What? Why?”
“You’re too drunk to leave with him of all people.” Eddie explains, bringing her with him as he leaves the locker room with Tommy yelling something behind them.
Now he just has to find the rest of the group.
-
“So you were related to Holly? Not obsessed with her?” Gareth asks, walking alongside Benson Cane to get to his office.
“No shit.” The older man snarls, shaking his head. “Her mom was my sister. I fell into some deep shit for awhile and Holly was workin at the homeless shelter. We grew close. She helped me get back on my feet.”
The man pulls the keys from his belt, unlocking the door. “She….. well she told me about some stuff before that night. I found her bleeding all over the science room floor and helped her get outta here.”
“So…… Holly is alive?!”
“Alive as can be.” The man huffs out, moving the pin board to reveal the pictures you had talked about. “We ain’t gotta family picture.”
“So….. you found Holly but you weren’t the one that attacked her?”
“Hell no. Cleaned her up, got her on a bus with all the cash I had on me. She told me not to look into it cause the person would be able to find her.”
“So who attacked her?” The voice makes all of them jump, turning with wide eyes to find Eddie in the doorway with Trish smiling beside him even though he was covered in blood.
“You said you found her in the science hall, right?” Jeff questions, not asking any questions about Eddie’s current state or Trish.
“That’s right.”
“I bet you Nancy Drew figured it out.” And with that all 4 of them ran, only Gareth turned back to help Trish sit down before racing after the others.
-
What Brenden Carlton didn’t think through about dragging you through shards of glass was that you would end up picking one up, snatching it in a fist as he pulled you to him, trying to get his hands around your neck before you sunk the piece into his shoulder.
“FUCKK!” He screamed out, keeling over to ease the wound as you pushed him off, scrambling for something else to grab. You ended up snatching a science textbook, swinging it to hit his face.
By the time the boys all came rushing in Brenden was on the floor a whiny moaning mess as he held his shoulder, curling into a fetal position.
You drop the book, eyes widening when you see Eddie, trying to pinpoint where he was bleeding as he did the same for you. “Just a couple slashes.”
“A couple? A couple dozen.” You correct as shakes his head at the amount of cuts you have from the glass.
“I called the police!” A voice snaps, entering the room. Vivian Carlton, storming in with her daughter hot on her heels. “They will be here any minute.”
“Vivian!” Mr. Carlton cries out. “Help!”
“Let’s get you kids cleaned up.” She eases, reaching out for you until Eddie steps in the way. “Easy now. Down boy.”
“I’m sick of-“
“Before you go into a long rant just think about it. Who would donate a prom queen crown right as Nancy Drew was investigating?” Vivian rolls her eyes, shaking her head. “I found the crown and the picture. I gave the picture to Brenda for a news article cause I knew you’d get matched to it.”
“That’s a lot of work for someone who could have just asked us to look into it.” Eddie snips, arms extending to the mess behind him. “I mean seriously.”
“It worked didn’t it?” She jabs back, right as police lights began to filter into the room from outside, illuminating you all as the sirens sounded out.
Eddie turns to you quickly as Benson moves to push Brenda out of the room before she could panic about the state her dad was in, a meanwhile Eddie tilts you to sit on one of the tables until people come in to help. You both stay silent, not bothering to talk, as you run a finger along the fresh bruises on his throat.
By the time you are both interrogated and cleaned up by the paramedics you find your way to the street outside, sitting on the curb of the sidewalk side by side as arrests and evidence are claimed.
“So…..” he murmurs, leaning into you a bit. “What now?”
“Hmmm.” You pretend to contemplate, leaning your head on his shoulder. “There is this huge pumpkin patch conspiracy over in Hutchins.”
“Yeah?” He chuckles, leaning his head on top of your head while he weaves your fingers together. “Let’s go now.”
“Or….. we can get some sleep. Sleep until like 2 tomorrow and then go and get some burgers?” You offer, closing your eyes.
“You had me at or.” He answers back, keeping his eyes closed as Hopper laughs out in the distance while being interviewed.
-
“The Cold Case Of Holly Sampers, the prom queen who mysteriously disappeared just 2 hours after being crowned, has finally been solved after over 10 years. By who you might ask? A local teen detective that this town likes to refer to as Nancy Drew. I’m Heather Jasper Howe (if you catch this reference you’re a god) and today I will be interviewing some residents of Hawkins as we follow just how this all came to be.” The news reporter smiles, her teeth flashing from behind the camera as she walks through Hawkins High, allowing them to get a shot of the carnage left in the science room.
Wayne rolls his eyes before shutting the tv off, turning his head to glare at the two of you from where you sat at the half assed kitchen counter, drinking from the travel mugs the man liked to collect. “You two are pains in my ass, you know that?”
You and Eddie try to stifle your laughter, both looking a little worse for wear after sleeping in until 2:30 and waking up looking like zombies. Half his hair was at odd angles and he had slashes across his stomach from where he fought Joseph, and he made sure to forgo a shirt so you could see everything last night.
You were in one of his shirts and a pair of shorts, looking no better from the way Wayne glared.
“Shouldnt you be at home? Your dad is probably worried sick.”
“I called him. He’s a bit busy….. considering the ceo of the company he works for just got confirmed as a….. well criminal.” You shrug. Your dad had actually nearly driven over when you called last night, but work had been ringing him a lot and you had promised to go home tomorrow so he could have time to deal with the mess of you ruining his bosses life.
Eddie didn’t appreciate the wording you chose. “He ruined his own damn life.”
And he was right.
But none of that mattered right now, all that really mattered was leaning into Eddie and getting bitched out by Wayne.
-
The Case Of The Killer Clown.
“Need I remind you both that you’re supposed to be playing grandparents?” Jeff groans, walking around the van to spot Gareth and his new girlfriend Gwen in a wet lip lock that has both their wigs tilted. “This is just nasty.”
“Ah, young love.” Eddie chuckles, shaking his head as he throws hit leather jacket in the back of the van.
“Wouldn’t this be considered elder love?” You tease, climbing out in your own costume with a cane in hand. “Gareth, don't forget this.”
“Why do WE have to play grandparents?” Gareth groans, stomping his foot a bit.
“Because YOU fell asleep on the stakeout.” Jeff answers, making Gwen laugh a little bit and high five him.
“You know this plan would work better if Simon were here.” Gareth growls. “Where is your boyfriend today?”
“Swim meet.” Jeff groans. “I haven’t seen him in so long.”
“You saw him today at school.” You state, helping Eddie with his worker uniform, well less helping and more fixing it while he grins down at you like a lovesick butthead.
“You don’t want to go there with me little missy. Let’s talk about the open door policy and the no more sleepovers.” Jeff launches back, making your eyes widen.
It was spring break, just a month after the spring formal, and quite a bit had changed. The first being Gareth accidentally outing you and Eddie as a couple in front of Wayne, which meant you both were cut off from sleepovers…. Which in reality meant he just snuck over to your place and snuck into your room now. It wasn’t like anyone was super surprised by the news, the entire town claimed to have seen it coming.
Gareth had finally realized just how much he did not like Trish, which worked perfectly because she realized just how much the rest of the group hated her. He met Gwen at the tutoring center, where she actually tutored. Then he had to get another tutor just to get work done because the two of them quickly realized they got nothing done together.
Simon and Jeff were a thing, though Simon was a skeptic about the whole mystery thing. He loved hearing about it but he never wanted to do anything that would risk scholarships which you could understand.
And Holly Sampers was alive, based on the picture she sent you in the mail she was happy as well. She stood with a brunette boy that looked like Brenda, and when you tried to reach out to Brenda about it the girl ignored you completely. But, if rumors were true, she was taking spring break as an escape from her fathers trial and a way to go meet her half brother.
“Whose fault is that?” Eddie huffs out making Gareth groan and roll his eyes dramatically.
“Okay enough. Everyone remember the plan?” You interject, watching them all nod. “Great, remember this isn’t our town and their sheriff isn’t as lenient as Hopper is.”
“You mean lazy.” Gwen corrects making you laugh.
“That’s what I said.” She giggles at your retort, both of you leaning to fix each others costumes as the boys all grab what they needed. “Okay for movie night I vote we convince the boys for Pretty In Pink as a red herring and then when they feel bad about saying no we get them on the new Robert Downey movie.”
“I like the way you think.” You nod. “We can even convince them for our snack choices.”
“Girls get it done.”You slap your hands together twice before snapping, a handshake you had invented after the first time she came with you all to the diner. An actual female friend.
Gareth and Gwen take to prepping their walks while you do one final check on Eddie who unfortunately got a job at this circus to help the investigation. Though when you try to make sure his recorder is working he wastes time catching your lips to his.
You melt into it, as you always do, letting his hands cup your jaw as his mouth works against you. Pushing you both to lean against the van as a thigh slots between your own, the taste of spearmint coating your tongue before you bite down on his lip to catch him off guard and make him groan.
“Ah. Young Love.” Gareth taunts, making you both pull back with dead stares. “Back in my day sunny we took our gals inside before we dry humped em!”
“You tell him honey!” Gwen calls in an old lady voice.
“Alright. We’re done.” You laugh, pushing Eddie off you as he whines. “Let’s go catch this guy.”
“Fine. But if we are called the scooby gang one more time I’m egging a reporters house.” Eddie huffs, giving you one more kiss before heading in his direction while Jeff and you head the opposite direction. Everyone had a walkie on them, just in case.
Safe to say things had changed a bit since the two kids found that lunchbox.
Authors Note: Yeahhh boy. Get ready cause action is gonna hit soon. Can you catch my small easter eggs I have laid out?
Word Count: 8k
Warnings: Reader is attacked.
Description: Nancy Drew gets a team
Main Master List - - Stranger Things Master List
Part One: Nancy Drew
Part Two : Cold Cases And So Forth
Part Three: The Hardy Boys [You are here]
[Thank You For The Gif @multi-fandom-imagine ]
Enjoy!
The Case Of The Early Morning.
It’s easy to wake up before Eddie, since he tended to sleep until noon whenever he could, the struggle came in the fact that you would have to get out of bed without waking him. Which would have been easier if you both hadn’t melded to each other in the middle of the night.
Legs woven together and his arms tight around you, Eddie Munson had his face shoved into your stomach, pressed in so tight you could feel where his nose was bending a bit, his arms a steel force around you. Almost like he was afraid you’d run off in the middle of the night, and you can’t help but feel guilty on it considering that’s what you had been planning on doing.
With your face stuck in a grimace you pulled a leg back, freeing it from his own before sliding so both your feet are on the floor of the bedroom, before trying to push yourself into standing only the second you start escaping him he is anchoring you back, stirring to wake up. His hair, a mess in every direction, covers his eyes until a hand pulls from you to all but slap himself, rubbing the hair out and the fogginess from within. “Five more minutes,babe.”
It’s spoken in a half asleep blur as his other hand stays attached to you, fisted in the shirt you wore, trying to pull you back. You think that the words are meant for someone else, something you weren’t supposed to hear considering you weren’t supposed to be in his bed when the sun rose through his window. “Bathroom.”
It’s spoken as a croak, your hand reaching down to rub his wrist a bit in effort to ease his hold, it works because soon enough his hand lets go of the fabric and he nods slowly before shoving his face in the pillow. He mumbles out something you can’t hear, but if years knowing him told you anything he was telling you to hurry back or complaining about your childish bladder, pulling the blanket up more until he was tucked in again. You take this as the perfect time to tiptoe away, avoiding the floorboards you know would squeak out before grabbing the shoes you left by the desk. You kept your clothes on, in part of no longer feeling comfortable in this room and in part because you knew it’d make an easier escape.
The door is easy, something you had learned within the first year of Eddie living under Wayne’s roof, and you even shut the bathroom door on the way past to help make your rouse believable just in case Eddie is listening out. But the second you pass the living room and have your hand on the front door you know there no hiding the sound so you just rip it off like a bandaid and rush out into the morning air. The screen door slams, sending a jolt through you as you head down the minor porch steps and begin your walk out of the trailer park.
You would have to get your bike back, and fixed, soon. There was no way you’d be able to investigate all this without a mode for transportation. Maybe this time you would try not to get run over.
A honk pulls your attention as you head to the bottom of the hill, smiling when you see Wayne waving to you and leaning out his window. “Eddie knows you’re leaving so early?”
“Pretty tired.” You shrug, toeing at the gravel beneath you without looking up to Wayne. You didn’t think you could stomach it really. “I just got some boring stuff to do today.”
“I’m sure he’d wanna tag along anyways.” Wayne offers, fingers tapping along the door of his car. “He’s been pretty put outta shape about your new schedule. Says you're busy….. you join a club or something?”
“I gotta go!” You rush, waving at him with a big smile before continuing to walk, ignoring him calling out for you to be careful as you finally reach the exit of the trailer park.
A rational person would go home, but you were due for a trip to the sheriff station, because as much as you kept denying that this was a case you had been threatened for it. There was a question here that you hadn’t asked yet. Quite ironic being threatened over something you weren’t even actually looking into.
“There she is! My Nancy Drew!” Hopper calls, clapping his hands before rushing at you with a cheery expression, picking you up to swing you around. “Ah. It’s been too long.”
“Three weeks.”
“I missed you.”
“It’s been 3 weeks.” You amend, nodding slowly before he gives you a hurt stare. Eddie had a way of cracking the tension in the room like no other, a people person through and through. You always tended to be a little too blunt with things. So you scrounge up something he might say. “3 weeks too long!”
“Aha! Agreed. Come on. What are you working on now?”
“I’m not really working on it….. I’m just…. What do you have on Holly Sampers?”
His smile drops immediately, enough so that you nearly take a step back at the reaction before he nods his head and turns, motioning for you to follow. “Let’s take a look.”
It took him 30 minutes to get the case folder, and he had offered you a cup of coffee every single time he could before he finally hand the file over to you, sitting in his own desk chair watching you. Her file is extremely short.
No friends or family fighting with her. Nothing out of note. She was on time to prom, got crowned. 30 minutes after her crowning she said she had to go to the bathroom. Only she never came back. People assumed she left, only when her mother reported her missing the next morning it was realized she was gone.
“Did she have any friends?”
“All her friends are listed. Witnesses. All said the exact same thing.”
“And she just went…. missing ?”
“Must have run away.”
“With no money? No clothes? Her mother wrote that nothing was missing from her room. Why would she run away with nothing? How would that work?”
“Probably stole something. Probably-”
“She was an A student that volunteered at a homeless shelter outside of town-” You stop short of your argument, something clicking into place before nodding and standing up to give him a final hug. He tries to get you to explain but you are already dashing out of the station into the sunny air.
By the time you make it home Eddie’s van is already in the driveway, the long haired boy sitting on the stairs to your porch with a scowl…. And two people standing near the fence of the porch.
“Remember that time you snuck away from me at the ice skating rink…” He starts, rings clicking against each other as he points to you. “I specifically said not to and what did you do?”
“I…..”
“Nope. No.” He laughs, standing so quickly that the chain he liked to wear on his belt rattles. “I got locked in that friggin closet and I told you to stay close and you did what?”
“I ran to catch the criminal.”
“You ran to catch the criminal!”
“Are we going to be caught up here?” Jeff interjects, leaning against the fence still as Eddie shakes his head.
“Oh I’ll catch you up alright.” Eddie huffs, not looking away from you. “We were investigating something funky going down at the ice skating ring. Some bitchy skater swore that she didn’t mess up and she was perfect. Guilted this one into looking into it.”
“And you did?”
“She was upset-”
“She mocked your weight within the first 5 minutes.” Eddie growls. “We found out that one of the other coaches was messing with the system so that it froze at an angle. Half the ice was uneven. It was causing girls to mess up, even had a couple broken ankles.”
“Holy shit.”
“And we caught him!”
“Yes. You caught him and then by the time I caught up you were bleeding from your forehead so badly you had to get stitches. Guy was terrifying.”
“So how’d you knock him down?” Gareth asks, coming closer with a look on intrigue.
“Eddie knocked him out with a hockey stick he found in the closet. He actually tore the door-”
“One minute! One minute and you would have been taken out by an ice skate. One minute!” He snaps out, looking stressed beyond compare. “I get that you’re mad. I get it. I said some shit that….. I will not allow you to get hurt over a fucking prom queen. You can be mad. But we are a damn team. Where you go I go. Even if you hate me.”
“What happened to I was always around-”
“I lied! I lied, and now I’m attached to you like velcro. You hear me? Velcro.” He seethes, eyes narrowing enough that you actually don’t know if he’s planning on killing you or if the sun was hurting his eyes. Only when the hue of them hits the sunlight, and you can’t tell if they reminded you of chocolate or honey. Maybe a mix of both.
“You got attacked with a figure skate?” Jeff asks, coming forward. “Okay. You caught a figure skating scheme. That’s insane.”
“What else have you done?” Gareth jumps in, standing in the semi circle the four of you have formed now.
“I’ve told you guys about all of them.” Eddie huffs, shrugging like he was looking at two idiots.
“Well yeah but…..”
“Eddie once dressed as a scarecrow to catch someone using a pumpkin patch as a cut through to steal from the grocery store behind it.”
“She climbed a garden terrace to climb through an attic window of a four story mansion just to catch the grandfather walking. He had pretended to be in a wheelchair to get away with murder.”
“Holy shit. You guys do far more than catch janitors stealing erasers.” Gareth nods. “We want in.”
“Excuse me?” Eddie huffs, and for a moment you realize that you are not on the outside of the group, matter fact they seem to be clustering around you. “You can’t just say you want in to be in. That’s not how that works.”
“Hey! I already put work in!” Gareth argues, looking completely offended.
“You hit her with a car.” Eddie snaps.
“I also got bit! It’s all red and itchy now!” He argues back, shoulders raising. “I should get workmans comp.”
“I don’t even get workmans comp.”
“Fine. What do you do when Eddie gets hurt?” Gareth asks you, turning with narrowed eyes. “I want it.”
You blink, completely unused to the chaotic energy that they all manage to feed off of, finding yourself stepping closer to Eddie. Sure you had hung out with them before, painstakingly trying to get along with them. Every joke falling flat. Every smile not being matched. But this? You had never seen them like this, with the way they worked around each other so easily. Slapping each others arms, smiling in cue, matching laughs without even realizing.
You realize that Gareth is still staring at you, waiting, so without thinking you lean up to kiss his cheek as you always did when Eddie got hurt. Only it felt awkward and weird when you pulled back to look at Gareth, both of you staring at eachother.
“Yeah no. Didn’t like that.” He mumbles.
“That was weird.” You agree, turning to Eddie. “Sorry, it’s weird that I always do that. Isn’t it?”
“HE complained. Not me!” He is wearing a downright offrented look, but his body seemed a bit frozen in place, one step taken as if he had been preparing to jump between you and Gareth.
“Shouldn’t we be…. Investigating?” Jeff interjects, gesturing between everyone.
You nod, appreciating the breakaway he just gave and pushing from the group to walk up the stairs and enter your house. The boys follow quickly, with Gareth and Jeff looking around awkwardly and Eddie following behind you already comfortable from all the times he had been here. He is a step behind you when you enter your room, heading straight for your bookshelf while you grab some clothes to change into.
“Are we allowed to come in?” Jeff asks, his toes barely touching the door barrier.
“No.” Eddie gruffs the same time you okay it, both turning to each other with accusing looks.
“Be nice to your friends.”
“Gareth hit you with a car.”
“Love tapped.”
“Buddy tapped.” He corrects, shuffling forward until he was closer to you. “Where’s all your detective gear?”
“Gone.” You shrug, hating the sinking feeling in your stomach as he gives you a saddened look.
“Cause of what I sai-”
“It was just too crowded in here.” You lie, rushing past him to head to the bathroom to change. Gareth goes to follow, obviously not catching on until Eddie shoves his shoulder with an incredulous look before gesturing to something else. By the time you get back from changing the two boys are on the bed, their shoes by the door as they bicker over something while Eddie is pulling in some familiar objects.
“I threw those out.”
“Your dad saved them in the garage.” He shrugs, pulling out the sleuth kit. His hair is in a bun now, to try and fight the heat of the day, and there is a chain bracelet around his wrist. You gravitate towards him, reaching to grab the bag from him but remaining near even after he turns to start stacking books. “What do we know?”
You’re too focused on staring at his arm to realize he had asked you a question, only snapping in when he leans down to catch your eyes, tilting his head like a cat.
“About?”
“The prom queen. What do you know so far?”
“Oh. Right!” Your skin is hot, the blush taking control. You stutter over your words before you start leading through what you knew. Which wasn’t a lot. “She wasn’t reported missing until the morning after. Her mother said she never came home but everyone at the dance assumed she had since she said she was going to the bathroom only she never came back.”
“What time?”
“10:30. All the witnesses have that same time. Actually they all have the same answers.”
“Sounding rehearsed?”
“Sort of, but there was nothing too unsettling.” You explain, moving with Eddie without even realizing. Every step has you following, every turn you manage to reposition yourself. “And there aren’t many pictures of her anywhere. Not to mention when I went for the yearbook it had been stolen. Found it behind a file cabinet in Mr. Daniels classroom.”
“Gareth mentioned that the other night.” Eddie nods, moving to your desk to pull out the chair and sit down, spinning on it so that you could stand between his knees. “Joseph helped you….”
“Note the tone change.” Gareth whispers to Jeff, making Eddie cast them a side look.
“There was a letter in the book. A love letter, dated the day of the prom and asking her to meet him at lovers lane. Only I don’t have it anymore. It was stolen with my science homework.” You huff.
“You sound pretty agitated about the homework. More so than the gutting threat.” Gareth adds, making you cast him a sidelong look. “Damn. Mom and dad are so serious.”
“I got an incomplete on that homework.” You defend with a tight voice that makes Eddie chuckle, placing a hand on your hip to refocus you. “Gareth and I went to check out Lovers Lane. We found a tree with the initials carved in. H.S. and B.C.”
“H.S. could be Holly.”
“But the initials dont match Mr. Daniels. And then there was this ring.” You step away from him to pull the ring out, showing it to him. You hadn’t taken the time to actually look at it, but now that Eddie was grabbing it you could see the rose gold lining of it. Quite pretty.
“Okay. Missing by 10:30 at the earliest. Love letter. Initials on tree that don’t match anyone. Ring.” He repeats, looking to the boys before back to you. “Anything else?”
“In her file it said she volunteered at a homeless shelter. I was gonna come home to change, then go out and get a picture of the tree. Find a ride to the homeless shelter after.”
“Gareth and Jeff. You’re on the tree.”
“Aye Aye Captain!” Jeff calls, jumping up to salute you.
Gareth nods, hopping off the bed to take a couple steps forward and lean on the desk with what you were to guess was a flirty smile, swishing to get some of the hair out of his eyes. “Goodbye kiss before I go?”
“Gareth.” Eddie growls, standing up as Gareth cackles and dashes to the other side.
“I’m on it bosses.” He smiles, following where Jeff leads. Eddie watches them both go before turning to you, something sitting on his face that you can’t really read.
You shuffle to sit on the bed, he’s quick to wheel the chair until your knees press only to spread his own and slide closer.
“You ready to talk?”
“I already told you everything.” You huff, trying to roll your eyes and look away before he leans to follow your sight, keeping the eye contact.
“I meant about us.”
“What us?” Your heart is thumping through your chest and your hands begin to shake. He was close enough that you could smell the mint of gum and the weird musk smell of the cologne he always steals from Wayne. You loved the smell, but you would never admit to that.
“Are you really going to let this fight ruin this? Everything- I-...” He sighs out, eyes closing before they open again, like molten. You lean a little closer when he does. “You’re really gonna ruin all those years over something silly I said-”
“It wasn’t silly to me!” You snap, standing up so quickly that he has to roll back to avoid collision. “It wasn’t silly to me. It hurt. I- Fuck you. You think it’s that easy? That you can slash me in a parking lot and rub salt in the wounds without a hint of hesitation and then blame ME for ruining this?!”
“I didn’t-”
“You said everything you knew would hurt me. I never worried about those things before. I was so comfortable around you- the one person on this earth that I had that with and as it turns out you hated it! You were my friend. You were- I- I-” The words lodge in your throat as you struggle to stop crying. “You were more than my friend. And I spent so long looking for signs that you might feel the same way but as it turned out I was nothing more than a fucking joke. You hated everything, all the cases and all the time. You said it was all about cases but it wasn’t. I spent movie nights with you and we made hellfire shirts. It wasn’t just cases. It was me and you.”
“Please-” He begs, taking a step forward only for you to turn away to grab your bag, stopping short at the sight of Jeff and Gareth in the doorway with wide eyes.
“W-we realized we didn’t have the camera…” Jeff mumbles out, face blank.
“Let me get it fo-” Eddie begins, moving to grab the bag before you once again shut him down.
“New plan. Gareth is my ride today.”
“What? No.” Eddie seethes, shaking his head. “We agreed. You and I for the home-”
“I’m with Gareth. You want to help Eddie? Go and find someone else to bother.” You rush out, moving forward to snatch Gareths collar and drag him out of your own house as Eddie follows hot on your heels. He keeps calling your name, not that you bothered to listen since you were already hopping into Gareths car.
-
“So what do we do?” Gareth asks, walking alongside you as you make your way back to the spot you had found the tree, brain racking as you tried to retrace your steps because you had been out here for 15 minutes already.
“It should be right here!”
“I swear it was.” He agrees, looking around, taking a step forward before tripping over something and sending himself face first into the branches beneath.
“Jesus, you need to come with your own safety padding.” You gasp out, rushing to help pick him up off the ground, reaching into your kit to grab a cloth to cover the scratch across his cheek that was blushing red as droplets of blood leaked out.
He looks down, making you seethe at him to stay still when he points out. “That stump is fresh.”
“What?”
“Fresh stump. You are right. The tree was here. But it’s a stump.” He was right, when you looked down you could lay out the entire scene. The bush you hid behind, where you found the ring. The tree was right here.
“Who the hell cut down our tree?” He blurts, moving a hand to hold the rag to his face as you grab your camera to take a picture.
“The better question is who the hell managed to get it cut within the night…. And how did they know we were here?”
-
The feeling of paranoia had latched onto your spine and had yet to let go. You were beginning to spiral out, eyes going hazy as you looked around everywhere you could in effort to see someone there.
To see if someone was watching you.
Gareth, still new to the sleuthing world you had dragged Eddie into, hadn’t seemed to catch on to what the tree being gone meant. To what the threatening phone call and missing letter meant.
Someone was actively watching you.
Remain calm. You could hear Eddie muttering to you. If you give in that you know it can escalate it. Let them watch. Prepare for the slip.
This isn’t the first time you had been watched. But this was the first time you felt nervous, this is the first time you didn’t have Eddie with you to make sure everything was alright.
“Excuse me.” You bumble over your introduction, trying not to break down in front of the poor woman working at the shelter. “We’re looking for someone who might have been here in 1971. Anyone that could have seen a girl we’re writing a paper on.”
The woman smiles, her gaze catching in Gareths cut before nodding, seemingly trying to decide if she should trust you.
“That would be Harold. He has the office down the hall.” She checks you in, checking your ids and making you sign a form before you’re allowed back, and Harold’s office was easy to find. The man seemed almost too large for his chair. A looming presence, large shoulders and big hands making the pen in them comically small.
“You were here in 1971? Correct?” You ask as soon as he had let you sit down.
“Yes….. not as a worker. I was…… I usually claimed the bed in the far corner. Had the best sunlight.” He nods, a stiff smile making its way to his face. “You’re here to ask about Holly.”
“I am. Is there something that gave that away?”
“What else would pull you both from Hawkins besides the girl from Hawkins. I’m surprised you’re here though, police never bothered to come talk to us.”
“Before our new Sheriff, Hopper, things were pretty….. lax? Is there anything you can tell me about Holly?”
“There is a lot. Girl couldn’t cook to save her life. Started here as a volunteer cook until she was banished from the kitchens. Then she showed that she was quite good with medicine and medical stuff. Wanted to be a vet I guess. That and how kind she was made her everyone’s favorite. If you’re writing a piece about her make sure to mention that. She just wanted to help people.”
“She didn’t have any problems?”
“There was one, he got a little too close sometimes. Managed to get a job about 4 months before she went missing. He used to draw her a lot.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Benson Cane. He was -“
“B.C.” Gareth gasps before you reach over to punch him, making him yelp and glare.
“Do you know where Benson ended up?” You ask, but it’s obvious it’s already too late. Harold is casting nervous glances between you both, Gareths slip has proven you’re not asking innocent questions, this wasn’t just for a paper.
He is quick to kick you out, but just before you leave he says one last thing. “She was seeing someone older. Was pretty fond of him.”
You thank him, leaving quickly and before you know it Gareth is speeding through the streets with an excited buzz. “WE CRACKED THE CASE!”
“No. We didn’t.”
“What do you mean?! He just told us-“
“We haven’t cracked it until we know where she ended up. It’s all up in the air…..” your words die off as he pulls up to your house, eyes casting to your father packing his case in the car.
“I’ll see you at school?” Gareth asks, you nod dumbly and hop out, rushing to your dad.
“What’s going on?”
“Oh thank goodness.” He smiles. “I thought I’d miss ya. Left a note on the table for you. Boss called me in on this big legal case. Wants me in Miami stat if you can believe it.”
“You were gonna leave without a goodbye?” You huff, moving to hug him.
“Have you met the Carltons?” He laughs, kissing your forehead. “Call Eddie. Stay with him if you need but no dangerous cases while I’m gone! You hear me?”
“None. Cross my heart.” You smile, kissing his cheek before letting him drive off.
Yes the second his car vanishes from sight you’re left with a sickly feeling. Gareth is gone. Your dad is gone. Eddie is definitely gone and he probably wouldn’t want to talk to you right now anyways.
You were alone in the house tonight.
Everything will be fine. You think to yourself. It would. You would make it.
-
You know they are there before you see them.
After not being able to sleep in your room you ended up in your living room on the couch, where you could hear just about anything in the house. Apart of you thought you were being paranoid. But after the last couple days you’d had you didn’t want to take that chance.
Somehow you managed to fall asleep, only waking up to the sound of footprints in the living room, right near where you were sleeping. And you knew danger was ahead.
They were trying to be quiet. One foot after the other as if they were in one of Eddie’s cheesy spy films, but they managed to hit every creaky panel of wood as they went around the couch. Four steps and they’d be near you.
You couldn’t breathe, trying to pretend like you were still sleeping as you panicked on what to do.
You could wait until they were near, jump out at the last second to attack them. But you didn’t know how big they were or if they had a weapon on them.
Three steps.
You could wait until they were close enough and flee, hop over the couch and dash.
Two steps.
You could-
And then they were there, knees aligning with the part of the couch your head was laying on as you felt their presence near you, doing your best to pretend to be sleeping. You almost flinch when a hand comes to push some hair behind your ear, thinking you might have given yourself away. They would surely know you were awake after that. But they didn’t. Just continued to fix your hair.
You needed Eddie. You needed him right now because you had no clue what to do.
If this person hurt you right now you’d never get to talk to Eddie again, never get to beat him at scrabble or laugh when he fell. Never get to dance around his room like the rest of the world didn’t exist.
You’d never get to see him smile again.
A pathetic reason to live, you note, that the one reason you wanted to remain on this earth hated how much you clung to him.
But, Eddie lived in a world of fight.
Eddie would fight.
You snap out your hand first, hitting them in the knee hard enough to pull a yelp before opening your eyes to grab the lamp from the side table, using our strength the pull it from the socket before hauling it over their head hard enough to knock them down. You dash them, snatching the phone as you crawl to hide dialing the first number that came to mind.
The figure stands quickly and from where you hid behind the kitchen counter you can see them catch sight of you when you peer around, knowing you couldn’t waste time. You drop the phone, scrambling to get up as they run for you.
You dash for the garage door as the intruder trips over the phone chord and flies to the ground, reaching out a hand to snatch your ankle and drag you down.
You hit the ground with a scream, cheek slamming into the wood and teeth biting your own lip as you claw at the floor to not get dragged. Only once you realize it was a must point you allow it, turning a bit to let them drag you before slamming your foot in their face hard enough you hear bone cracking.
Their hand lets go of you to fly and cover the nose you can’t see through the mask, tilting their head up to staunch the blood as they stagger up. They tumble on their way to the garage door, taking the exit you had just planned on taking to escape as you crawled back to the kitchen, shaking uncontrollably until your back was to the cabinets and your head was tucked into your arms.
You don’t know how long you were there, couldn’t have been that long if you knew Eddie’s driving, before you heard the front door slam open as he called for you. You hear the pattern of his sneakers on the floor as he checks the house, finding you in mere moments.
His hands are soft, yet firm, when they trace up your arm and you can’t really hear any of the words he’s mumbling due to the ringing in your ears but your eyes watch his lips move as he keeps trying to get to you. “Let me see. I need to see.”
You blink, still focusing on reading his lips as he gets closer and attempt to undo your arms. And then it all falls apart, you can’t fight it anymore, launching onto him with a tight hold as you sob uncontrollably.
He shoves his face in your neck, the wetness from his own tears sliding down your skin as you both cling to one another.
-
“I get that you’re doing your job Hopper.” Wayne scoffs, hands on his hips as he stands in front of you protectively. “But three people have already talked to her. It’s 1 am. She needs sleep.”
“This is a serious thing here, Wayne.” Hopper sigh, taking off his hat. “We just need to make sure these statements are clear. Anything she might be able to note would help us.”
“She’s done. No more.” Wayne snaps, turning to where Eddie enters the room with a bag packed for you.
“You see anything out of shape up there?” Hopper asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes. Everything. Everything in her room is out of order.” Eddie nods, hands tightened into fists at his sides, he turns to look at you, noting your gaze on your hands and actively relaxes them, trying to make it seem calm. “Can we go?”
“Yes. Nancy Drew, you tell me if you hear from your father alright?”
You swear you mumble out a yes, but nothing sounds out and you just stare blankly ahead, unable to move your body until Wayne and Eddie are on either side of you helping you stand.
“I drove my car here. You drove the van?” Wayne asks, keeping a hand on your shoulder as they lead you out. The smell of rain is the first thing you notice, the feeling of damp earth beneath your feet in the next.
“Yeah. Sorry you had to leave work.” Eddie mumbles out, eyes driving to your bare feet in the grass.
“Don’t be sorry, boy. Family helps family.” Wayne scoffs, grabbing the bag Eddie packed from him before nodding to his car. “She’ll ride home with me.”
“But-“ Eddie rushes to argue, taking a step closer to you as if he could fight off the separation.
“We need to restock the first aid kit. And you need to relax a moment. Take the time. Come home when you arent grinding your teeth together.” Wayne supplies, leading you to his car with an apologetic smile. “I don’t have the great tunes he does. You’ll bare with an old man?”
You try to nod….. you know you don’t.
-
Wayne makes quick work of the trailer, not shocking since the man always seemed to know how to put people at ease. You follow behind him with shaky steps as he walks you through to triple check every windows lock, showing that none of them have been touched, before making sure all the curtains are closed. By the time he leads you to Eddie’s room he checks the window, showing you its lock before closing the curtain and even going as far as to snatch a blanket and cover the window with that since the curtains weren’t the strongest.
The room uses Eddie’s lamp by the door to light it, casting a faint glow around Wayne when he pushes your shoulders for you to sit down and kisses your head before moving to the living room. There must be a million things he wants to do right now, having been pulled away from work, and you half expect him to leave you to it. But when he comes back in with a book and sits on the desk chair you feel a warmth in your heart, watching him act like nothing was happening but still remaining close was doing everything to help ease you from fleeing.
“I’m sorry.” You croak out, fighting off more tears as your hands reach up to cover your face. “No more. I swear it.”
“Hey. Now you listen to me.” Wayne mutters, sliding closer to grab your arms. “This ain’t your fault.”
“But I was l-“
“This ain’t your fault. This ain’t your mysteries fault. All this tells us it that you’re close to catching someone who is doing something they know ain’t right.” He explains, squeezing your arms gently. “You and Eddie find yourselves in more trouble than any of us could manage to if we looked for it. But that’s just cause you catch them when they are bad people. Whoever broke into your house tonight knows you’re onto them. Bad people do bad things not to get caught.”
You nod, letting him run circles onto your arm until the familiar sound of the screen door sounds out and you all but jump out of your skin, breathing halting and limbs getting ready to jump before Wayne eases you. “We locked it remember? Only Eddie has the key.”
And sure enough Eddie came into view, with paper bags in his arms that he hands off to Wayne when the older man stands to meet him. “I picked up some other stuff. Jordan threw in some treats for….. a lot of people know already.” He huffs, wiping his jacket as if the bags were nasty before Wayne nods and heads down the hall leaving Eddie with you.
He watches you as he shuts the door, almost as if asking if you felt better keeping it open before shucking off his jacket and shoes near his desk, shuffling over to sit on his knees in front of you on the bed, gazing up at you.
Eddie was many things. Loud, impatient, headstrong. He was more likely to learn everyone’s names first and crack a conversation open with one joke. He laughed like he didn’t care which tended to make others laugh just as hard and he always cheered everyone around him up when he sensed that they were down. You had seen him do it countless times.
So when he looks to you, with a devastated face, your heart cracks a bit once you realize that he doesn’t know what to do.
“I tried grabbing some clothes but you’re room wa pretty ransacked. They took your sleuthing kit.” He whispers, gesturing to the bag sitting in the corner that Wayne had brought in for you. “I couldn’t see if any-“
He stops short when you hold back a sob, trying to pull himself closer to you as if he could absorb all the pain. Your legs wrap around him as his arms encircle you, pulling you in until you’re both on his floor and he’s just holding you, rocking you back and forth.
Finally you manage to calm down, closing your eyes a bit before moving to pull away. His grip tightens and he makes a sound of disapproval before you do manage to get out of his arms, struggling to stand so you could walk over to his closet to grab a shirt. It’s quick work changing, shuffling out of your shirt and shorts to put his on before turning back to see him staring at you with wide eyes. A flush travels your skin before you attempt a shrug, moving to sit on his bed.
He catches on then, shuffling to change out his own shirt, getting rid of the pajama pants he wore outside to just his boxers before following you to the bed. You sit across from eachother, criss cross apple sauce, blinking eachother like you used to as kids.
“Truth or dare.” He blurts, fingers ghosting over your knee.
“Dare.”
“I dare you to go to the hospital tomorrow like you should have tonight.” He smiles and you roll your eyes, nodding.
“Truth or dare.”
“Dare of course.” He scoffs which nearly had you smiling.
“I dare you….i dare you to……”
“Wasting my time.”
“Oh fine. I dare you to touch your tongue to an elbow.” You mumble out, shrugging. He of course attempts it immediately, failing. So he tries again, pushing his elbow in to get it closer to his tongue as his neck extends out. No such luck. Then he gives up and reaches for your arm, licking your elbow as you laugh out.
He smiles back, shrugging. “You didn’t say it had to be my elbow. My turn. Truth or truth.”
“Oh. Tough options. Hmmmmm.” You tease, pretending to contemplate. “Truth.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” His voice is low, guttural even, tilting his head to watch you intently. “Or you want to get some sleep?”
“Sleep.” You rush out, watching him nod before throwing himself back on the bed and patting the spot next to him. You push to lay there, letting him pull the blanket to cover you both before you turn your head to the lamp. “Aren’t you gonna turn that off?”
“No. I think we need it tonight.” He shrugs, and you don’t understand but it’s so late you just breathe in his scent and let sleep claim you.
It isn’t long before you wake up with a gasp, shooting up in a panic and blinking in your surroundings, the lamp allowing you to see everything you need before laying back down by Eddie. He’s awake, you know it, but he’s pretending to sleep so you don’t worry.
You don’t. Instead you shove your nose into his side and fall asleep once more.
-
“Come on kids.” Wayne calls, knocking on the doorframe to wake you both up. “We gotta stop by the house and see what the damage is.”
Eddie groans, grabbing a pillow to cover his ears and face before turning over to ignore Wayne. You blink slowly, sitting up to rub your face, gasping in pain when the palm of your hand hits the sore skin. “Shit.”
This has Eddie shooting to sit up, pulling your hand away to inspect the damage, grimacing a bit. “The black eye formed.”
“I didn’t hit my eye.” You argue, pulling a finger up to press at the skin.
“No you just hit half your face. The eye with it.” He huffs, shaking his head. “We’ll be right out Uncle Wayne.”
The older man nods, shutting the door behind him before heading into the bathroom while Eddie struggles to get off the mattress and reach to finally turn off the light.
He turns to pick up your bag, digging through it to find you clothes that would match the weather as you turn to lay back down, trying to ignore the world.
“You gonna sulk in here all day?” He huffs, coming to sit by where you are laying, your body almost curling around him as he reaches a hand to play with your hair. You nearly flinch, but it’s so different when Eddie does it. And you feel like you could breathe once his hands are on you so you sigh out and lean forward to press your forehead into his thigh.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“Right about what?”
“No more cases. No more mysteries.” You whine, trying to keep your eyes closed, the pain in your face not disappearing. “I mean it this time.”
“No no. We’re in it now.” Eddie argues, tracing his finger on your cheek. “I’ve got a score to settle and you’ve got to figure out what happened to Holly.”
“But we’re dealing with a crazy-”
“You’re just giving up cause we’ve been fighting and you’re in pain. That’s not fair.” Eddie huffs, pulling his hand away. “I know you. You’re not gonna sleep until you know what happened. You are going to go day by day wondering what the heck happened. Until the bags under your eyes have homes of their own and full time jobs. I have known you for so long that I can read every single look on your face and this defeated look? It’s my least favorite.”
“Half my face is purp-”
“Holly deserved better. And you’re gonna find it.” He snaps back. “This…. This is why I hate the cases.”
“What?”
“You’re hurt, physically and mentally. And there was nothing I could do to stop it. There will always be moments that I am not there because as much as I want to stitch you to me so I can always know you’re safe and always have you near me there will be moments I cannot get to you in time.”
“We could…”
“We could?”
“Stitch ourselves together.”
“Nancy Drew….. I might just take you up on that. But first…..” He tilts his head as he holds up your clothes, shaking them a bit before pushing his hands under your arms and pulling you up and out of the bed. You both stagger a bit before you catch your footing, his face so close to yours you can feel his breath on you.
“I’m sorry. None of what I said was silly. I shouldn’t have said any of it….. I just…. Can’t have you mad at me anymore because that was terrifying.”
“Me getting attacked?”
“Yes. And the thought of you never forgiving me.” He smiles, leaning forward a bit before his pinkie is extended. “Nancy Drew?”
“You got it.” You latch your pinkie onto his and when you both used to smash your foreheads together today he lays his against yours and closes his eyes, breathing you in for a moment. Then he leans forward, his lips grazing yours for just a split second before he moves to pull back.
But you were tired, and you just wanted him.
So you leaned, chasing him to catch your lips onto his. They were warm, plush, and it was awkward for a moment as he froze up before his hands dropped the clothes and came up to weave into your hair as he gave in. The kiss was magnetic, both of you melding together as the heat overtook you.
And finally you felt like everything was in place.
“Hey you two!” Wayne calls from down the hall, making you both jump back in shock. “The Hardy Boys are here!”
“The who?” Eddie whispers, face scrunched up in confusion.
“The Hardy Boys were detectives that teamed up with Nancy Drew in the books.”
“Right…. So who the fuck are the Hardy Boys?”
-
Wayne had no clue what was about to hit him when he let not only you and Eddie into his car, but Gareth and Jeff as well.
You had made the way into the backseat and before Eddie could sit by you his two friends slid in from either side, and immediately started asking questions. Eddie glares but gives in, taking a seat in the front and risking a glance back at you.
His eyes melt the second you make eye contact and your body flushes, staring at each other for a moment. It’s interrupted by Jeff. “I drove down to the station this morning.”
“WE did.” Gareth corrects.
“YOU slept in the back of my car and I went in so check yourself boy.” Jeff snaps back making a smile break onto your face. “I asked for records on Benson Cane-”
“Let me guess. Hopper said no?” Eddie asks, shaking his head a bit while Wayne chuckles under his breath.
“Yeah. How’d you know?”
“Rules and crap. Hopper is the worst with it. Unless he trusts you.”
“Let me guess, Nancy Drew here is his favorite?”
“Eddie is. Eddie always brings treats when we go see him. But he is a lot easier to deal with now.” You correct, shrugging a bit as Wayne pulls up to your house.
“Alright crew. Try not to be too much in there. Let Nancy Drew here pack what she needs while I border up that window.”
“Wait? Window?” You call as they all rush to exit the car. Eddie waits for you to slide out, pointing up to your window where the window is completely busted. He stays close as you walk through the house, following you to the room where everything is turned upside down.
“This is wrong.”
“How so?”
“When….. When the letter was stolen the window was shut but whoever came in to grab it didn’t break the window.” You begin to explain, eyes tracing around your room. “They knew what they wanted and they took it. But this…. They broke the window coming in, they rifled through every little thing.”
“Yeah….” Eddie nods, flicking a feather that had fallen from one of your pillows.
“They grabbed my sleuthing kit… but nothing was in it. This person didn’t know what they needed. And the person I fought downstairs didn’t have anything on them when they ran out.” You note, both Gareth and Jeff nodding vehemently. “And the one downstairs was comfortable, he walked around like he owned the place and wasn’t worried about making sounds on the floor boards.”
“What does this mean?”
“It means 2 different people were in her house last night.” Eddie seethes, looking around the room. “One involved with Holly. The other…. Wanting her…..”
Shit.
-
“Benson Cane works at the school as a janitor. He would know when she started investigating.” Jeff nods, explaining the rest of his work from this morning.
“So what do we do now?” Gareth asks, eyes filled with a bit of fear.
“We set a trap.” Eddie huffs, his hand tracing the edges of your thigh under the table as he glares at the diner menu before him. “It’s what we always do when we have a suspect.”
“There you guys are!” A shrill voice calls making all three of the boys jump a bit and whirl to find Trish walking up.
“She’s so pretty .” You huff, because watching her walk through the diner felt like watching a slow motion scene from one of Eddie’s films.
“Wait until you get stuck with her talking about her nails for 40 fucking minutes.” Eddie huffs in your ear, resting his head on your shoulder.
“She can’t be that bad.” You offer back.
“Trust me…. She is.” Jeff supplies, and you can’t help but look over to where Gareth tries standing in the booth with moon eyes, hitting his hip on the table so hard all the drinks slosh.
Eddie curses out, trying to catch the drinks with ringed hands before they spill everywhere while Trish comes up to the table. And it’s awkward because she stands by the table, staring at where you sit with long blinks.
“Hi… it’s nice to see you ag- Oh! Wait you want to sit here-” You rush to stand up, feeling awkward by her stare before Eddie pulls you back down.
“We share food, easier if we sit together.”
“Besides, I want to stretch out my legs. Let me grab a chair.” Jeff adds, standing up to let her sit down before sliding a chair over to sit at the end of the table.
Eddie keeps a hand on you while Trish blinks. “You poor thing.”
What are you supposed to say to that? What is something normal to say? Gareth nods, tapping his fingers on the table before turning to show his cut on his cheek. “Look what happened to me.”
Jeff rolls his eyes, Eddie groans and you try not to smile. Poor Gareth.
“You guys are gonna be all beat up for the spring formal.” Trish giggles, fixing her hair.
“The spring formal?” You blink, turning to Eddie.
“Yeah silly! They moved up the date but they are gonna use the prom queen crown from that missing girl's case.”
“Wait the crown?”
“Yeah! It was left in the glass case on friday! Creepy right?” She smiles as Eddie whips his head to you.
“I think…. I think I know what happened….” You nod, making him smile. “And I have a plan.”
“What do you need?”
“A dress.”
You solved the case, and now you just needed to lay a trap.
-
Do you know what happened to Holly? Who do you think did it? Let me know, because the finale is coming soon!
Next Part : The Crown And The Glory.
Taglist :: (Let me know if you want to be added or removed)
Authors Note: the second part was so long that I split it into 2. I’m not quite done but this part should be a hoot -Ultralightpoe
Warnings: cursing, slight signs of depression, getting “hit” with a car.
Word Count: 8+K
Description: The reader and Eddie are on a mystery break due to obvious reasons.
Main Master List - - Stranger Things Master List
Previous Part: Nancy Drew
[Thank You For The GIF @dailystrangerthings ]
Enjoy!
Haven’t read the first part? Find it here
The Case Of ….. Nope. No More Cases.
“The piece you did on the bathrooms was…..” Brenda Carlton begins, dark eyebrow raising as she slams the most recent school paper on your makeshift desk, her french tip nail pressing into the words in a three motion tap before dragging it up to point to you. You glare at her hand the entire time, narrowing your eyes at the rose gold ring that glints under the cheap lights of the school. “It was something…”
Boring was the word she was looking for. Utterly boring. You had nearly fallen asleep while writing it. The question was why your rival at the school paper seemed bothered by the fact that you wouldn’t be writing any hard hitting exposes anymore.
“Switching from two ply to one ply was really messed up.” You shrug, turning back to the photos you had in front of you, randomly pushing them around in hopes that if you looked busy enough she would leave you alone and find someone else to bother. But she doesn’t, instead she stays there tapping her nails in an impatient manner as you struggle not to roll your eyes. “Is there something I can do for you Brenda?”
“Yes actually.” She huffs, flicking some hair behind her shoulder as she follows you through the journalism room. “You can tell me what the heck is wrong with you.”
“A lot as I’m told.” You snip, looking for something to do. Anything to do, you needed to look busy to avoid this conversation and to avoid eye contact.
“Does this have something to do with Munsons new girlfriend?” She blurts, and you try not to react, but nothing can fight off the way your body locks up at the mention. And she catches this detail, of course she does. “Oh it so does.”
“Can you fuck off Brenda?” You snap, turning to her with a glare before trying to correct yourself. “I mean, I just meant-”
“Oh I get it now. Eddie dumped you cause he’s got the new girlfriend who is all like hottie with the body. Barf. And now you are all sad and aren’t doing that sleuthing thing.” She yaps, turning to where Nancy Wheeler currently sat staring at you both. “That’s so sad…. Isn’t it Nance?”
“It’s…..”
“Sad. We get it. I get it. Can everyone please just….. find something else to be doing with their time?” It’s another lame attempt, and you were sure your eyes welling with tears would just make it worse, yet when Brenda looked at you something changed on her face. She straightened her posture a bit, fixing her sweater and clearing her throat before pushing out a folder she had been carrying. You grab it quickly, pulling it to you and nearly ripping it up once you see one of the teardrops land in the corner.
“This is your assignment. As much as it pains me I wanted to give it to our best writer, so if you can get your head out of your ass and give me a good expose on the missing prom queen I’d be so grateful.” She huffs, turning in a fluid motion and stomping off while you set the folder down and open it up to a pretty smile looking up at you.
You were assigned a prom queen for your next piece. A prom queen that probably had a line of friends and plans every weekend. A prom queen that wasn’t so odd.
Leave it to Brenda Carlton to kick a girl while she’s down.
“What am I supposed to do with an empty folder that has one photo?” You scoff, slamming a hand down and moving to find a trash can to shove this photo into before Nancy Wheeler interrupts.
“Hawkins tries not to talk about her too much. You should try the library yearbooks.” She supplies, grabbing her bag and hefting it in one fluid motion. “I think people all wrote goodbye messages to her in it.”
“Right.” You nod, shoving the folder in with the rest of your school books in attempt to seem natural. Casting a side glance to the doors you would be exiting from here in a moment.
Call it paranoia but your heartbeat accelerates when you see a figure leaning against the wall next to the door, the longer hair recognizable even through the foggy glass. Stupid.
If routine was followed he still would have had 30 minutes of his meeting, if this was 2 weeks ago you would have walked to the theatre doors and read a bit while you waited for him. But this was not 2 weeks ago and you really wished he wasn’t out there.
“Here.” Brenda hisses, snapping your attention to where she and Nancy currently stood holding up a window by the sink. “Hurry up Nancy Drew.”
And you do, dashing to the window, putting all your work in your bag before tossing it out and looking to see how much of a fall it is. “Just two stories.”
“Is that supposed to help her Nance?” Brenda hisses.
“Why are you helping me?” You blurt, preparing yourself to climb out, tying up your hair as both girls blink at you.
“I would have given anything for someone to save me from the awkward debacle of Tommy and I getting caught at lovers lane in between town borders.” Brenda admits, cringing a bit. “My god. Hopper was so awkward, and then he accused us of carving into the tree right next to Tommys car and by the time we got back to town everyone knew including Carol and-”
“Message received.” You nod, climbing the sink and pushing your legs out the window. “And I really appreciate it.”
And for the first time ever Brenda Carlton helped you, and you closed your eyes to jump.
…
As it turns out jumping from a 2 story building hurts, more so the knee you landed on hurts and the rest of your body was merely a dull ache. But you would take a hurt knee and sore limbs over having another heartbreaking conversation with Eddie Munson any day of the week.
It’s kind of ironic how it all came about, and it’s embarrassing just how right he was. Every single day you have wanted to call him, for two weeks now. You get the urge to pick up the phone, and you always do, but halfway through his number you remember what he said and always end up slamming the phone back down. He was right, if you couldn’t go two damn weeks without going crazy then he was right.
And when the only person you talk to doesn’t want to talk to you anymore it becomes easy to realize just how lonely a person truly is.
You were not ready to have this argument with Eddie again, because he was right. The second he removes himself you are left with nothing, no one. He. Was. Right.
Codependent. Odd. Annoying. Clingy. Obsessive.
“You okay, kiddo?’ Your dad calls, pulling you from your thoughts as you look up in a panic to see him getting out of his car. “Why are you limping?”
“I fell. Why are you home so early?”
“You fell? On one of your cases? I don’t want you doing anything dangerous-”
“I’m not on a case.” You correct, feeling like you just got punched in the gut again. “I don’t do those anymore. You didn’t answer my question.”
“I was worried…. About you.” He admits, reaching in to pull out a bag of fast food. “I brought dinner home. Maybe you can tell me about what’s bugging you.”
And at dinner you find a boring excuse for why he thinks you’re acting weird. Stress from school work, the weather, anything to get him off your back. He eats it all up, smiling in relief that you weren’t involved in anything dangerous before kissing your head and leaving you to clean up the dinner mess.
Once you are in bed he shuffles in with an ice pack for your knee, looking around the room. “Something different in here?”
“Nope,” You lie, shrugging a bit as his eyes narrow before he nods and leaves. But if he really looked he’d have seen the empty bookshelves, void of all your mystery novels. No more nancy drew, goodbye agatha christie, sherlock holmes can rot in the trash. And normally hanging from that bookshelf is another addition that has been thrown away. Your sleuth kit.
You were done with that life. Since it was so…. Odd.
-
The Case Of The Nasty Library.
“I just think that tutoring might be a good use of your freed up time.” Miss Harwood, your science teacher for the semester, had offered and you had stupidly agreed to it. The entire week you had been dreading this moment, sitting in the tutoring center of the library, tapping your pencil and watching the time tick by in a taunting manner.
Because the tutoring center is completely empty, and had been for the past 40 minutes.
You were just about to give up and leave when the door to the library squeals as it’s opened, making you sit up quickly with a smile already plastered on your face in hopes to make a good impression until you spot who had come in. Gareth, the very same Gareth from Eddie’s stupid DnD group.
He seems to realize you’re the only person in the tutoring center, and when you expect him to roll his eyes and leave he instead gives a tense nod and comes to sit at the round table you are currently sitting at. And just when you think it can’t get worse he attempts a smile and a “Howdy Nancy Drew.”
You roll your own eyes, snatching up your bag and pencil to try and make an escape as he stands quickly with extended palms. “Wait okay, wait. I really need help with my math homework and you’re the only tutor her-”
“I’m not a tutor.” You rush out, the lie sticking heavy on your tongue. He blinks at you before a smug expression covers his face.
“You’re not a tutor? Which means you’re here for tutoring?”
“Yup.” You shrug, taking this chance to walk away, only two steps in and your knee is screaming in pain so instead of walking to the doors like you initially planned you divert and walk to the back, hidden behind the shelves as Gareth groans out somewhere near the tables. You loiter for a moment, debating if there was a back door before your eyes flag on the yearbooks on the bottom shelf in the far corner, and since you have time to kill avoiding Eddie’s friends like a coward you might as well look.
You toss your backpack down, pulling out the folder that is a little crinkled now before checking the name and year. “Holly Sampers…. 1971.”
But, just your luck, 1971 seems to be the only yearbook missing….. The slot it was once held is still there.
“What are you looking for?” Gareth asks, scaring you enough that you jump a little, yelling out and hitting your head on the metal of the shelf above you making him curse out and move to help you. “Jesus.”
“Can I help you with something?”
“My homework.” He replies, and you think he is being an ass for a moment until you look up and see an actual smile on his face, not one of those awkward fake smiles.
“I can’t.” You shrug, moving to stand up, ignoring his hands that reach out to help you. “And since a tutor isn’t going to show up I have to go.”
“Is that your new mystery?” Gareth teases, making you turn back. “Holly Sampers and the missing tutor?”
“So funny Gareth.” You smile, this one is all fake and poisonous. “You should tell that to your friends.”
And you feel like you won a bit when his face falls, turning to leave once more, limp and all.
…
The joy of your win doesn’t last long, an entire night to be exact, because come early morning Eddie Munson is standing by your locker with crossed arms and a glare. You spot him from down the hall, turning quickly in an effort to escape before he calls out your name in an aggravated huff.
“I already saw you.” He snaps, hands flying in an aggravated manner as he remains leaning. “And I will chase you but I’m not really in the mood so if you could-”
Knowing he won you turn back, charging for your locker and practically shoving him to the side when he refuses to move. He barely moves, his mouth opening as you get your door open, eyes widening just an inch as you push the door into his face to block him out and grab your books.
“Okay, I’d like to avoid a broken nose today, thank you ve- Hey. Come on.” He snaps, watching you close the door and turn to stomp off, coming to follow you. “Are you really making this a big fight?”
“Shove off.”
“We never fight like this. Come on. And then I gotta hear from Gareth that you’re getting tutored? And you’re limping around?” You nearly laugh at how betrayed he looks, brown eyes wide and lips downturned as he keeps pace with you, hands digging through his bag before a familiar folder is pulled out and you stop in your tracks. “And now you’re looking into Holly Sampers?”
“It’s not-”
“Is that how you got hurt?! You were looking into this bullshit?! Is that why you haven’t called me back?” It’s funny, it really is, that two weeks ago you had walked home sobbing and now Eddie is standing before you acting like HE got his heartbroken.
“Would you cut it out?” You snap, snatching the photo back and trying to smooth out a crease. “This is for the paper, it’s just a memory piece or something.”
“Quit lying-”
“I’m not! I’m not lying.” Your voice is getting louder as you wave the picture around. “This is for the paper. Go run and tell your friends now! You guys can laugh about it all you want. Nancy Drew the boring journalist. Just FUCK OFF!”
You had gone years without cussing, and within the last two weeks you had racked up quite the tally of bad words. Never once in your history had you ever cussed at Eddie let alone yelled at him like you just did. Until now, and the second you both hear it echo in the hallway it’s like a startling realization of what is happening.
You weren’t friends anymore.
You had gone from being head over heels for Eddie to wanting nothing to do with him in the same way he had made it clear he wanted less of you. Less is more. More is less. But in this case, with your heart clenching the way it was and the shaking in your hands you just wanted nothing. Nothing at all.
“Wayne is doing his birthday dinner this we-”
“I’m busy. Plans. You can come up with whatever excuse you want since we both seem to know what a pathetic loser I am.” You smile, but it just feels empty, and you don’t feel like you’ve won when you walk away. You just feel like you’ve been a fool for most of your life. Wondering how long Eddie had been waiting to get rid of you.
…
Lunch hour was spent in your own version of a mental breakdown, which meant smiling at the bored librarian as your brain wrapped around every embarrassing moment you had experienced in the past 14 years, all of which you had never considered embarrassing until recently.
Had he been annoyed when he was the only one at your birthday party 8th grade year? Was he laughing on the way home how it was just your dad and his uncle singing happy birthday?
“I was looking for a yearbook. I’m doing a memory article for- I just need to see who checked out the yearbook for 1971.” You explain, blinking as she blinks back at you.
“Of course dear. Give me a moment.” She stands, brown skirt swishing at her ankles as she steps down from the help desk and heads to the back. You tap your knuckles on the counter and pretend to care about things in the library.
The purple couches looked new.
He probably thought you were clingy when you brought the snacks for an impromptu movie night when he moved into Wayne’s…. And when you stupidly tried cleaning his room.
You nearly groan at the memory, turning until you spot a new poster. Wow. So nice, keep looking at the poster and get out of your head about-
When you went to the trailer park for Halloween, he had never actually asked you to come. Idiot.
Or the spelling bee, every morning you went to sit by him and -
“Dear?” The librarian calls, giving you an odd look. “Are you alright? I’ve been calling you for a moment.”
“I’m fine. Just so much schoolwork.”
“Oh. Well you need to take care of yourself you know? My daughter gets the biggest stress acne, or at least that’s what she claims it is. I think it’s a mix of all that makeup she’s putting on her face. Back in my day-“
“Who checked out the yearbook?” You interrupt, trying to place a smile on your face.
“Oh! Right. My records show that it was never checked out. Should be on the shelf, if not it was stolen.”
“Someone stole a yearbook?”
“Oh! You’re doing one of your little mysteries?! Nancy Drew cracking the case of the-“
“Missing tutor, missing yearbook. Missing the point.” You scoff, walking off without so much as a goodbye. It didn’t make sense, who would steal a yearbook?
It’s not like any of the students here truly cared about those yearbooks, often times they are used as decoration, no one really cared about classes before them. Unless of course it was someone who was in that class.
Which would lead to a teacher.
Which teachers at the school were here in 1971? Only 2 would have been in that class. But there were at least three that have been teaching here since the 70s.
If you had your sleuthing kit you would make a list of names and - no! No. No. No.
This was not a case, merely a book probably used as decoration and thrown out.
No more Nancy Drew. You were sick of being laughed at. And you were going to hold your word on that until you spotted the yearbook. You had taken to sitting in the back row of your English clash, that was currently being taught by Mr. Daniels who HAD gone to school here in the 70s. And when you stretched, a totally normal stretch, you took a brief look around the room just to see. And see you did. The corner of the book was peeking out from behind a file cabinet to the side. Odd.
You stare at the book until the bell rings, making you jump a bit as Mr. Daniels walks to the door to say goodbye to everyone. He had his eyes on the entire room, he would see you reach to grab the book. So you were a bit screwed.
Just as you were beginning to come up with ways you could sneak back in a male voice pulls your attention, and all you can do is blink when Joseph Storm smiles at you. “You need me to distract him?”
“If you wouldn’t mind?” You smile back, already moving closer to the file cabinet as Joseph moves to the front, tripping right in front of Mr. Daniel’s and drawing his attention just long enough you could match the yearbook before rushing out of the classroom.
“Did you get it?” Joseph asks, excitement on his face when he catches up to where you stood by the windows.
“Get what?” Another voice butts in, Gareth moving to stand by you both.
“The yearbook.” Joseph points to it, watching you flip through before coming to stand at your side to peer down with you. “What were you lookin for?”
“Just…. Her.” You explain when the prom page comes up, pointing to her picture before thumbing at the words written beneath her. “Missing. But not dead. What’s that mean?”
“Holly Sampers. She’s the prom queen that went missing AT her prom-“ Joseph begins before Gareth is cutting in, a wild look to his eyes. “Yeah! She told her friend she was going to the bathroom and like vanished without a trace!”
“Right….” Joseph nods. “They searched for weeks. Didn’t find anything connected to the case went cold.”
“Okay…. So why would Mr. Daniels have stolen this yearbook from the library?” You question to yourself, flipping through the pages to see if there are anymore handwritten messages as Gareth nods wildly.
“Good question! You know who might be able to help? Eddie. Eddie comes up with the best ideas-“
His voice cuts off when a letter falls from the pages, dragging all of you to look down to the floor. Gareth and Joseph reach to snatch it at the same time, Joseph just barely making it before he stands up to hand it to you.
“Nancy Drew, got her spark back.” He winks, fixing his backpack on his shoulder. “Let me know if you need a ride after school. I’m dying to see how this mystery unfolds.”
You can’t fight the flush that spreads through you, body heating as your heartbeat accelerates, just barely fighting the urge to cover your mouth as a nervous giggle spills out, watching him walk down the hall with a couple looks back in your direction.
“What the hell?” Gareth blurts, looking offended as you turn to him. “What the hell?”
“Is there a reason you’re here?”
“You told Eddie you’re not investigating!” He blurts, pointing an accusing finger at you as if he’s calling you a witch during the trials. “You lied!”
“I’m not. This is for the memorial piece-“
“Oh don’t you start that spew with me Nancy Drew.” It’s funny how one moment you could be blushing at the nickname and the next feel just as miserable about it as you had days ago. “You got that look in your eye. The look that means Eddie is about to be missing campaign night to run around town with you-“
“I’m not investigating.” You sigh again, moving to walk away, rolling your eyes when he follows. “And you don’t have to worry about your friend missing more campaigns. He and his girlfriend can disappear for all I care. You’ve got him till the end of time.”
“That’s not true. The second you call he’ll rush off-“
“I won’t call.” It was the truth, so when you turn to face him you don’t feel bad about lying. “I’m done with all that. No more clingy freak.”
“No one said clingy or freak.” He grimaces, face getting a little red. “And no one is saying you can’t-“
“I won’t call, Gareth. I swear it.” You even cross your heart, making a motion of locking it up and throwing away the imaginary key before heading off.
And the second you are out of his sight the letter is torn open in your hands, pages unfolding as you walk through the halls.
So here’s a question. Why would Mr. Daniels steal a yearbook? Better yet, why would Mr. Daniels be hiding a love letter written to a missing girl dated the day she disappeared?
-
The Case Of The Threatening Call.
The letter sits on your desk by your science homework, and you are pointedly ignoring both as you fold laundry, yet the small issue with ignoring things is ignoring them never actually works. Instead you just sit there and think about them non stop as you obsess over ignoring them.
It isn’t until you hear the phone ring, folding your last shirt, that you look back to where they sit, debating on if you should at least get the homework out of the way.
“Hey! Phones for you!” Your dad calls from down the stairs.
“I’m busy!” You call back, not bothering to head for the door.
“It’s Eds! Says it’s really important! I’m not taking another message from this damn boy so get down here.” For someone who was claiming you had been clingy a couple weeks ago the tables sure have turned. You are thinking of saying as much when you head down and grab the phone, and you nearly do until the receiver is just to your ear and you panic, slamming it back on the dial quickly before blinking at it. Damn you were brave. Not a coward at all.
That is until the phone rings again and you jump back.
“Dad!”
“I’m not your receptionist!”
With a roll of your eyes you pick it up, dragging it to your ear. “Eddie I’m bus-“
“Quit looking into the prom queen.” A raspy voice sounds out. “Quit while your ahead. Or you’ll be gutted just like her.”
This time when you hang up the phone it is pure panic, shaking hands and shortness of breath, slamming the receiver down so hard it sounds out through the house before you are rushing upstairs to your room again, throwing the door open.
You notice it immediately, the open window and the lack of a familiar envelope on your desk.
Shit….. they even took your science homework.
-
The Case Of The Nap Time.
It had been a long night after that, from checking all the locks 4 times and making up a bed on the couch which confused your father to no end. And even when you were laying on the couch you still jumped and panicked at every slight sound. Every creak, every wind gush hitting the windows.
You had gotten no sleep that night.
Nor the next night.
Or the night after that.
Running on coffee stolen from your dads morning pot and sugary drinks, damn near on a crash but paranoid enough to try and stay awake.
Someone had threatened to gut you, someone was in your house.
What if they did something to Holly? And what if they had done the same to you?
It all came crashing down the night of your prom, you were wearing a peach style dress with tons of frills, a simple scarf tied around your neck that kept snagging on everything as you ran from someone. Someone with wide shoulders and -
The sound of slamming wakes you from a dream you hadn’t even known you were having, and you look around in a panic as you realize that you had fallen asleep in the library of all places.
“We came here to say sorry.” Jeff sighs, giving Doug a glare as the textbook that had just been slammed to wake you up is in his hands. “We weren’t being fair. Eddie just wants us all to-“
“You sound like you rehearsed this.” Gareth interrupts, making Jeff turn his glare to him. “What? You do!”
“Then let’s see what you have!”
“Fine. Eddie is really sorry and we are sorry for being asses too. There, all better! Come on Nancy Drew. Let’s go get Ed-“
“You liked Trish.” You note, blinking at him through the fog of your nap. “You liked Trish and now that I’m not crazy clinger he’s hanging around more and she’s hanging around him most of all.”
“I wouldn’t-“
“You’re wearing her bracelet.” A cute purple and red friendship bracelet. One quite like what Dana Mitchell wore everyday. They must be friends. Gareths hand comes up to cover the bracelet, giving you an odd look. “Don’t bother lying. I can see the puppy dog look on your face. Like recognizes like.”
“Damn Gareth. She got you.” Jeff laughs until Gareth punches his shoulder.
“I gotta get to class..” Doug growls out. “And I don’t want to be on Munsons shit list when this goes sideways.”
With that he is off, rushing out while the other two take a seat across from you.
“We propose to share Eddie 50/50.”
“I’ll pass.”
“40/60.”
“I’m not gonna sit here and bid on someone’s time when they’ve made it clear they don’t want me to.” You scoff, pushing your book forward.
“That’s the thing. He’s miserable now.” Jeff growls, rolling his eyes. “Whiny. You you you. Everything is about you. You like this for breakfast and if the two of you were hanging out right now you would be cracking this joke.”
His words make your heart beat pick up, until you remember just how quick Eddie was to snap at you the other day. Always around me. Always attached. So codependent.
“Can we just save the drama?” You whine, beginning to form a headache.
“When’s the last time you slept?” Gareth blurts, giving you a judgy look before Jeff nods with him.
“I…..” technically they had woken you up, and you could say that. But you’re so tired. “Someone was in my house. I have been struggling to-“
“Someone was in your house?” Gareth snaps, leaning forward.
“It’s no big deal. They just took something small. Nothing else.” You rush out, already regretting this.
“The letter. They took that letter didn’t they?” He rushes out, already beginning to stand. “What else?”
“Nothing-“
“Liar.” Jeff adds.
“Fine. I got a call. It was just a prank- where are you going?”
“To get Eddie?” He says it like it should be obvious, like Eddie was the next choice. You immediately shake your head.
“No. Come on. It’s fine.”
“You know we gotta tell him. Otherwise he’s gonna be pissed off.” Jeff explains.
“You don’t. Really. Come on. Isn’t tonight your campaign stuff? You want him there for that right?” You know you got them the second Jeff narrows his eyes.
“Fine. But we tell him tomorrow morning.” He snaps, grabbing Gareth by the shoulder and hauling him out.
Perfect. You just had until tomorrow morning to solve this cas…… problem. Solve the problem.
Step one. Lovers lane. Which Mr. Daniels had asked Holly to meet him in the letter.
You waited until after school, and after dinner, then you snatched up your bike and got ready to head over there, a shakey feeling in your stomach.
The first two blocks were easy, the third is when you realized you were being followed, so you tried speeding up with the pedals, taking last minute turns as the car following you sped up.
You take a quick cut into the alley, expecting to lose them, only when you come out the other end the car is there, hitting your bike as the brakes squeal out. You go flying over the hood, hands finding purchase on the glass of the front window before before rolling forward at the force of fhe brake, flying off the hood and onto the street below.
“Fuck! Are you crazy?!” Gareth yells, hopping out the driver side to come help pick you up off the street. “Come on. I’ll call an ambulance.”
“No im fine. You barely got me.” You rush out, standing to punch him in the face. He yells out, falling on his ass and holding his nose as you stare down at him. “Why are you following me?!”
“Oh my god-“
“Were you the one that called me?!”
“No! Fuck! No! Don’t hit me again!” He panics, sliding back on the sidewalk to avoid you. “From all the stories- fuck I’m bleeding.”
“Wasting my time!” You warn.
“Fuck! Okay, Eddie is constantly talking about you and from everything he’s said I knew you wouldn’t just let it drop. And so- ugh- I ditched DnD to come find you which wasn’t hard cause you were already sneaking out!”
“So you’re here to what?”
“Help?”
“You’re gonna help me?”
“Just get in the car..” he snaps, standing up to haul your bike, which now has a dented tire. With no other choice to get in, watching him toss the bike into the trunk before getting in the drivers seat, using his flannel to try and stop the nose bleed.
“Who taught you to hit like that?”
“Wayne.” You mumble, looking out the window as you remember the night he taught you and Eddie self defense. It had been right after the Halloween parade when you had been chased by someone in a zombie mask until Eddie hit them with a rake.
“Where were you heading?”
“Lovers lane.”
“I’m not driving you to lovers lake. That’s in the woods-“
“Lane. Lovers Lane. It’s from older times. Where they used to go.” You groan, moving to open the car door before he stops you, starting the car. “Why are you helping me? Shouldnt you be laughing at me?”
“We never meant to…… Eddie is just really cool and we always kinda saw you like a goodie two shoes.” He explains, driving down the road. “We didn’t really want to get along with you. And every time Eddie missed a campaign we always blamed you. But Eddie constantly talks about you, his entire planet orbits around you.”
Yeah, you think. What bullshit.
“I wouldn’t say that.” You huff, trying to ignore the tight feeling forming in your throat or the way your voice breaks a bit. “He was pretty truthful and nasty that day at the diner.”
“Nasty? Maybe. But truthful? Not even close.” Gareth sighs. “We had been bashing on him pretty hard. Had been making fun of him, calling him lovesick and stuff.”
“Is it really that big of a laugh to think me likable?” You snap, trying to swipe away a stray tear quickly. Of course they made fun of him for those things, with you always hanging off of him like a lovesick puppy and all. It was embarrassing. “Was I that easily read?”
“No. We just knew he-“
“Up there. You can drop me off there.” And he is quick to pull over, watching you jump out quickly and move to grab your bike. Only he hops out and goes to help. “What are you doing? I got it from here.”
“Bullshit. I’m not leaving you here alone.” He huffs back, giving you a glare. “Leave the bike. Look at what you came to look at.”
You nod, hating that this is where your night led, turning to go look before stopping short. “I don’t have my bag.”
“So?”
“It has my flashlight. And camera.”
“I….. I might have one.” He walks around the car, digging into the passenger box before pulling one out, handing it to you. It seems natural, and you wait for a snippy response until you realize he is waiting on you to lead the way.
This is when it gets awkward. You’re so used to Eddie, the way he hovers and looks at things over your shoulder. Gareth? Not so much. He’s jumpy, every sound makes him freak, which is making you feed off his energy. He keeps a hand on your jacket, wound tight like a dog on a leash as you look around.
“Why are we here anyways?” He asks, flinching when you step on a twig.
“It was in that letter. Mr. Daniels wrote a love letter to Holly the day she disappeared asking to meet here. I want to see if there is anything saying they might have .”
“Hasn’t it been like 10 years? And no one comes here anymore. We go to lovers lake now.”
“That’s not true. People who are embarrassed or don’t wanna get caught by classmates come here. Like Brenda and Tommy-“ you stop before remembering what Brenda had said to you that day. Her and Tommy had gotten caught and Hopper accused them of carving in the tree. “Look at the trees. For a carving”
It takes a minute before you spot it. H.S. + B.C. Carved into a tree. “That looks fresh.” Gareth notes as you run a hand over it. “And deep. Someone must add to it a lot so it doesn’t disappear.”
“You’d really have to love someone for that.” You ponder, staring at it.
“What the fuck?!” Gareth panics, his entire body moving as he rushes to remove his shirt, turning his back to you. “What just bit me?!”
“I don’t see anything!” You rush back, looking at his back.
“Look harder!” He snaps, and you take to feeling for a bump before a pair of headlights makes you both freeze. “The light. Turn the light off now!”
You do as he says, but not before adding “they are right by your car. They know people are here.”
“I will not be dying with Nancy Drew in the woods. Let’s go.” He snatches your arm, attempting to hide you both further, squatting behind a bush like idiots. The sounds of doors slamming fills the air and Gareth flinches while you paw at the ground beneath you for something to fight with. Your hand ends up finding…. A ring?
“On the count of three we run. Got it?” Gareth whispers and you nod, then the idiot doesn’t even count he just books it. Launching into the night with you trying to keep up.
You break the tree line, and see the freedom of his car before a blur of motion and someone is attacking Gareth. Tackling him to the ground until they both slide and you see Eddie pulling his hand back to punch.
“Wait stop!” You call, rushing to stop his arm as Jeff moves to intervene as well, both of you shoving Eddie off. “It’s Gareth. You’re attacking Gareth.”
“I’m fucking aware.” Eddie barks out as Jeff pushes him back again, his eyes wild and fists still clenched. You move to help Gareth up, turning him to inspect the damage on his back, scraped up pretty bad. Most of them bleeding and “Hey. I see the bite mark.”
A slight laugh pulls from you as you touch the mark a little bit before another blur of motion and Gareth is pushed from you with Eddie’s back in your face.
“I should break your jaw.”
“What did I do?” Gareth questions, face pinched with confusion.
“You ditch DnD after giving me shit for weeks, Jeff here tells me that you came to find her and-“
“You’re attacking me cause I missed DnD?!”
“I’m attacking you cause you’re at Lovers lane with your SHIRT OFF!” Eddie exclaims, the zipper of his leather jacket catching in the light. “And you obviously know you’re doing wrong with the way you were trying not to get caught!”
“His shirts off cause he was bit by something.” You interject, pointing over Eddie’s shoulder until he slaps your hand away and turns a slight glare at you. “And he only brought me cause he hit me with his car.”
“Hit you with a car?!” Eddie exclaims, a vein popping in his forehead before his gaze travels across you looking for something. His hands fly to your jaw, thumbs rubbing softly as he inspects. “Are you hurt? Anything hurt? Your eyes are dilated- her eyes are dilated Gareth-“
“Her eyes are not- she hit me in the face!” Gareth protests before Eddie spots your bike.
“How hard did you hit her?!” He lets go of you to pull at the bent tire, turning and all but growling at Gareth.
“She was sneaking out after being threatened!”
And just like that Eddie’s glare is turned to you. “Threatened?!”
“Oh barely.”
“Someone broke into her house-“ Jeff adds, and Eddie looks damn near ready to shoot himself as his eyes close and hands come up to rub his head.
“Someone. Broke. Into. Your. House. And you were threatened? Yet you’re still out biking around town? Why didn’t you call me…….. or- you could have called me.” His eyes open as he glares at you, and you hate the twisted feeling forming in your gut at the look, beginning to make you feel guilty.
“You made it clear you didn’t want me to-“ you start, even though the argument feels useless in this moment. It’s especially useless when Eddie rushes you, pushing your back into what you now recognize as his van as his face comes level with yours. “Enough.”
“You’re the one that-“
“Enough.” He repeats, glaring. “You’ve made your point. We will sort it out later. Right now you tell me everything.”
“I already told you-“
“She was looking into Holly Scampers. Realized the yearbook from that year was stolen and then found it in Mr. Daniel’s room. Then that Joseph kid distracted him so she could steal it and then he flirted with her like an ass and was all ‘Nancy Drew got her spark back’. -bleh- you know? And then she found a letter and that Joseph kid asked if she needed help -bleh- and then the letter got stolen and now she’s here and we just found a carving in a tree.” Gareth explains, making Jeff laugh with the impersonations of Joseph. Eddie? He didn’t laugh, in fact he didn’t take his eyes off you.
“Anything else you wanna add?” He mutters, looking up at you through his lashes.
“Nope.”
“She fell asleep during study hall today-“
“Gareth!” You groan. “Apart of sleuthing is shutting your damn mouth!”
“How was I supposed to know that? No one gave me a rulebook and you hit me in the face!”
“After you hit me with your car!” You argue, moving to push past Eddie though he doesn’t allow you, casting a side glance at the boys before turning to glare at you.
“We’re done. Get in.”
“No. I’ll go with Gareth.” You argue, only to see Jeff already hopping in his car. “Fucking traitor.”
“Just get in. I’ll take you home.” He repeats, opening the passenger door for you with a tense smile.
“Right home?”
“Yup.”
“No detours?”
“None.”
“You promise?”
“Swear it, Nancy Drew.”
“Don’t call me that.” You snap, taking a deep breath in before moving past him to get in the car without glancing back. He, aggravatingly so, waits until your buckled and even stops to inspect a cut on your knee before slamming the door and rounding the car.
“It smells terrible in here.” You scoff, leaning as far away from him as possible and rolling down your window.
“I need to get a new air freshener.” He explains, fingers reaching up to flick the old one. “Had other things on my mind recently. Believe it or not.”
Yeah, a gorgeous girlfriend that your best friend is in love with you think bitterly before leaning your head against the door frame and letting the night air hit you.
Your eyes snap awake when the door moves open, looking around in a panic before they land on where Eddie stands with a grimace, hand extended to help you out of the van. “Come on. Let’s go.”
You ignore his hand, hopping down on your own before stopping short. “You said no detours. Right home.”
“I did.” He smiles innocently, closing the door and locking it before walking up casually, his feet crunching on the gravel beneath him.
“This isn’t my home.”
“Ah, see there’s the problem. I said home. I never said which home.” He fakes a grimace, snapping in an “aw shucks” manner before heading to his porch with a bounce in his step. You, with no bike and no car, are doomed to follow. He makes a show of unlocking the door, bowing as you pass him to get in with a “milady”.
You don’t laugh or smile, simply walking in and spotting Wayne’s empty chair.
“Already at work.” Eddie explains, making a show of locking the door before moving to check all the windows. “Come on.”
“We can stay out here.” You snap.
“Or we can go to my room where I have the bandaids.”
“Or you can grab the bandaids and bring them out here.” The thought of entering his space, the space you were once comfortable in and the space that he probably spends with his girlfriend, sounded like the last thing you wanted to do. Your chest felt tight and your eyes burned with tears as you turned away to pretend and look around even though nothing had actually changed in the three weeks since you’d been here last.
Right before the last day of the burglary case when you had eaten cereal with Eddie on the living room floor while Wayne sang off tune in the shower.
“I don’t wanna fight with you.” Eddie sighs. “I hate fighting with you.”
“I don’t really need the bandaid.” You shrug, hands melting into your pockets. “It’s just a simple cut.”
“Please.” He whispers, just loud enough for you to hear before moving closer to herd you in. “Just come get a bandaid.”
And so you follow, trudging through the hall to his room and shuffling in before him, noting the lack of any messes. And then you realize just how spotless his room was. Eddie Munson cleaned his room.
Of course he did. He had a girlfriend now, he’d want his rook to be clean. The realization hits you like a freight train, imagining Trish looking around the room in her own eyes. Getting to see Eddie and getting to see his Knick knacks.
“If you want to sit-“
“I’m good.” You rush out, cheeks heating up as you refuse to look at the bed he had been gesturing to before he gives you an odd look and pulls out the desk chair. You don’t say anything as you sit down, letting the wood dig into your back while he sits at the end of the bed and pulls your leg to him.
“Are you sure you’re not hurt?” He breathes out, letting his fingers roam around your knee near where the cut ended up, like he was trying to x ray with just his vision. “You got hit with a car.”
“A love tap. I think Gareth and I bonded from it. We’ll share fond memories one day. Remember that time you love tapped me by lovers lane?”
“Can you please stop referring to it like that? How about buddy tap? He- no that doesn’t sound better.”
“Gareth love tapped me hard. So hard my knees shook.” You tease, a smile cracking your face, only for it to die out when Eddie doesn’t bother laughing. His jaw is tight, and he’s inspecting your knee like it’s the last thing on this earth before reaching to grab a bandaid and cover the cut, fingers ghosting your skin before you pull back.
“You done? I’m all patched up?”
“What’d they say?” His voice is croaky, but his gaze is intent. “On the phone?”
“Nothing much. Wanted to chat about the weather.”
“Come on.”
“They said they were you. They called and my dad picked up, they said it was an emergency and that it was you but when I came down I hung up. So they called again, and said to stop digging or…. They’d gut me.” You finish admitting it all in a rush, but he’s heard it based on the way he hisses.
“It was me.”
“I’m sorry?”
“No. The call before them. It was me. I called. I said there was an emergency. You hung up on me.” You shrug, and a smile nearly makes it onto his face before he’s back to glaring. “They threatened to gut you? And you’re still out looking into it?”
“Well not really. Gareth and Jeff threatened to tell you and gave me until tomorrow so I went to find whoever did it tonight.” You explain, looking down to your hands to pick around your nail.
“Whyd you tell them and not me?” His voice is strained, and you can tell he’s struggling to make eye contact where you keep avoiding it.
“They cornered me at study hall. Woke me up and-“
“They should have told me.” Eddie growls, and you huff at it. “You should be nice to Gareth. He saved my life tonight.”
“He hit you with a car.”
“Love tapped.” You correct.
“Buddy tapped.” He seethes, reaching up to flick your nose. “When’s the last time you slept?”
“Study hall.” You smile, leaning back in the chair. “You?”
As if noticing your glances around the room he turns to look around himself, scratching at the back of his neck in a nervous gesture. “Ah well. I’ve- I cleaned it for-“
“You know Gareth likes her, right?”
“Who?” He blurts, eyes laced with confusion.
“That Trish girl. He likes her. So you should be careful about rubbing it in his face.”
“Trish? Rubbing what in his face? That she’s annoying?”
“Gareth thinks you’re dating her.”
“Gareth hit you with a ca-“
“Love tapped.”
“Buddy tap- enough. No more talking about Gareth. You’re stalling sleeping.” He huffs, pointing a finger at you. “I see it.”
“I’m not sleeping here. You can take me home.”
“What? So you can not sleep there? Come on. I’m not stupid.” He argues, eyes narrowing. “You saw me lock all the windows. You know that any cars are gonna be heard on the gravel outside and anyone coming from the back has to go through Lenny.” He lists, making you smile at the mention of the dog that lives with his neighbor. “You need sleep.”
“Fine. I’ll take the couch.” You snap, moving to stand before he rolls his eyes.
“I’m not making up the couch for you princess. Wayne will be back by 5. You can sleep on the bed. I’ll stay above covers.” He offers, moving to his closet to toss you a shirt which you blatantly ignore and let fall to the ground as you take off your boots and move to his bed.
You had given easily. Far too easily. If the edges of your vision weren’t beginning to blacken you’d have put up more of a fight.
Tomorrow. You promise. Tomorrow you’d yell at him.
And it’s easy to fall asleep, under his covers with your face shoved in one of his pillows, knowing he was near and someone would have your back if anything went wrong.
That was so damn tragic about the whole thing.
-
I ended up splitting io the second part into multiple cause it was so dang long yall.
Authors Note: This has been sitting in my drafts for MONTHS guys. And the sequel is only half done. But it needed to be freed, those drafts are piling up baddddddddd -Ultralightpoe
Word Count: 9k
Warnings: Um none?
Description: Eddie and reader are a sleuthing teammmm
Main Master List - - Stranger Things Master List
[Thank You For The Gif @eashmo ]
-
The Case Of The Missing Lunch Box.
“She’s an…. Odd one. But there is nothing wrong with that.”
Odd one.
Odd.
It was the term most used to describe you, always had been so long as you could remember. It was the word your aunt used to explain to your mom about what it had been like babysitting you. It had been the word your kindergarten teacher used when she explained your behaviour during free time.
Your principal had called you an ‘oddity’ the year you solved the swing case, the year you figured out that the 5th graders had been taking the screws off the swing set before school so that no one would be able to steal them before them at recess. You had spent far too much time trying to figure it out before your teacher told your principal to have a meeting.
Oddity. Which… did in fact have the word odd so you liked to think it still counted.
Odd, is the first word the doctor used to describe the symptoms your mother was having when she got sick. Odd was the first word your grandmother used to your father when she didn’t like how you were acting at the funeral, focusing on fixing the plates and cleaning the vases that held the flowers rather than crying in front of strangers that had a habit of touching you.
Odd. It was the word you would have used to describe the deep gashing feeling in your chest as you stared at your mothers photo that day instead of listening to the sermon. You knew her survival rate wasn’t high, she had told you herself. You knew she would pass and you had spent every second you could with her until it happened. And yet you felt like nothing would ever be fine again. Odd.
Odd that you cried while packing your room. You didn’t have friends here and it was better to leave the house your mother died in, and yet you couldn’t stop the feelings that destroyed you.
And odd had been the word your own father had used while describing you to your new teacher. He had held the strap of your backpack as if you would run away, and forced an awkward smile on his face as you blatantly refused to shake her hand. He took the time to describe your…. Oddness… while you organized the random desk they sat you at. Taking the time to clean up all the pencil shavings and neatly stack the papers, using a tissue to scrub off the drawings on the desk while the adults talked.
“My biggest hope for her here is to make friends. She struggled with it at the other school, and after the loss of her mother…. I am just worried.”
“She is at the perfect place.” The teacher smiled, making sure to smile in your direction as well to try and make you comfortable, but you merely saw the lipstick on her front tooth. And as if your father could read your thoughts he reached over to flick your ear with a knowing look while you tried to smile back.
And then he left, and the teacher showed you the desk that would be yours, muttering a “I just know you will fit in well here.”
But once the bell rang and all the students came running in you could merely watch as they all ignored you and kept to their own groups.
And when the kid sat in the desk you had sat in he let out an angry groan, looking around the room in accusation. “Which dipshit cleaned my desk?”
“Edward Wayne Munson!” The teacher snapped, right as he made eye contact with you.
So much for fitting in, not that you ever thought you would.
Being odd and all.
-
Two weeks, it merely took two weeks for you to earn the odd status you seemed to carry with you everywhere you went.
Carol Perkins said that you were a freak for how clean you kept your desk, and Tommy Hagan said you must be a robot clone, which started an entire chain of rumors and left your classmates beeping whenever you tried to speak with them.
And your teacher, Mrs. Stason had seemed to forget her promise of you fitting in. Or maybe she just truly didn’t see how much you were resented with how busy she was trying to maintain the classroom.
But it wasn’t truly upsetting. Not really. It meant that people left you alone. Especially at lunch, which gives you time to watch everyone.
You often watched Carol show her friends something from her mothers makeup collection that had been stolen, and Jamie liked to race back and forth in the cafeteria before he was yelled at by the aid. Tommy would brag about his lunch, always store bought, and he would almost always complain about his little brother's peanut allergy when any of his friends brought in pb&j sandwiches.
Eddie Munson, the boy that hated you for cleaning his desk, was the only one that seemed to be left out of the camaraderie of the classmates, in fact it seemed his lunch was always packed with cartoon comics that he read during lunch. With his Beatles lunch box, that had a bandaid working as tape in the corner.
But things got interesting when Tommy Hagan brought in his own Beatles lunch box and claimed that Eddie had been copying him the whole time. And all you could think was how silly it all was as Tommy threw a fit about it.
It was a Wednesday that the pattern was disrupted.
The routine was natural at this point. Mrs. Stason would let them have 10 minutes of reading time before she took them through the words of the day, in which she would use one of those words to announce lunch time.
“And today we will all SCAMPER to grab our lunches and make our way to the lunch room.” And that would cue the scraping of chairs as everyone rushed to their cubbies. But today, when Eddie normally rushed out of the room first to get his favorite spot in the cafeteria, he merely blinked at his cubby before digging around once more and gasping in anger as the room cleared out.
You slowly grabbed your own lunch as you watched the boy tear out his backpack and dig through it before flipping it up and down to dump out its contents as the teacher gasped out and moved to stop him. But he didn’t seem to notice her, instead he looked into the empty cubby once more.
“MY LUNCHBOX IS GONE!”
“Edward, please.”
“It’s gone!”
“This isn’t the time for dramatics. Let’s walk to the office and see if anything was put in lost and fo-“ He doesn’t wait until she finishes her sentence, storming off and leaving her to follow. And you are left in the classroom by yourself, staring at the open door before something catches your eye.
There was a smudge in Eddie’s cubby. This wasn’t uncommon for the boy, considering you had cleaned his desk that first day, but this smudge? Pink.
Without thinking you swiped a finger through it, rubbing it between your fingers as it spreads softly before you looked to see that it had gotten on his backpack as well. It was recognizable and yet you couldn’t place where you had seen that shade of pink or what it was exactly. So you grabbed a tissue from the box and swiped some more of it in the tissue, making sure to fold it before tucking it in your desk and walking to the lunchroom.
When Eddie returns with the teacher he seems twice as aggravated. You offer him half your sandwich, he pushes it away and throws your muffin in the trash before storming off with heavy stomps.
Fair enough.
But it stuck with you, even as you walked home. It wasn’t until you saw your neighbor, Sandra, watering her plants that you recognized the shade of pink adorning her lips.
“Ms. Parsen?” You call, walking up to her as she turns to give you her full attention. She takes a minute to compliment your outfit and exclaim about how happy she was to see you since you had moved in. You allowed her to babble for a second before pulling out the tissue.
“Do you know this color?”
“It’s pink.” She smiles.
“Well yes. But would you recognize if it’s makeup?”
“Dearie, it doesn’t take the brightest pear on the tree to see that it’s lipstick.” She huffs, and though you don’t understand her reference you don’t bother arguing.
The next day at school when the teacher uses the word rogue to introduce lunch you decide to go on a little rogue mission of your own. Pretending to tie your shoe as the rest of the class leaves, before heading over to Carol's desk and flipping it open.
“What are you doing?” A voice asks, making you jump so hard the desk slams loudly, whirling to find Eddie Munson standing in the doorway.
His eyes widen at the sound before he shuts the door so no teachers will come and yell at you, turning back to watch you.
“What are you doing?” You parrot back, panicking that you had just been caught breaking the rules.
“I came….” His neck grows red as he looks around the room in an attempt to avoid your gaze. “I came to apologize. I packed an extra brownie for lunch….. cause I messed up your muffin.”
“It’s fine.”
“Nah. It wasn’t. You were being nice in offering me half your lunch. I was upset that I lost my uncle's lunch box. I knew my pa was gonna be mad.” At the mention of the missing lunch box you look to see his grip on a paper sack, and notice the welt on his hand. But Eddie didn’t seem like the type to answer questions freely. So you turned back to Carol's desk. “You shouldn’t do that. She gets real upset about people touching her stuff.”
“She won’t have to know.” You respond, reaching for her pencil case and opening it up to reveal a lipstick tube. Without bothering to look back to Eddie you lose the cap of it and match it to the tissue before rushing to his cubby and matching it to the stain on his backpack.
“The hell is that?” He asks, peering over your shoulder.
“That is my first clue.”
And so he follows you to the lunchroom, and sits with you while you question Carol, only she doesn’t break. And by the time the bell rings you are left with no answers.
Eddie, with his mouth stuffed with brownie, offers you the second by sliding it closer to you on a napkin. “Not right now.” You mumble, standing to follow the class back to your room.
And it’s there you stare at Carol….. Well, glare is the better term.
Eddie keeps turning around in his desk to watch you narrow your eyes at the girl, watching as she begins to fidget in her seat before recess is called. And you waste no time cornering her.
“I’ll tell the teacher about the makeup.” You threaten, folding your arms. “Tell me what you know.”
“I caught Tommy taking it!” She snitches, stomping her foot. “I was going to apply the lipstick that morning, only when I walked into the class I caught Tommy at the cubbies while Eddie was in the bathroom. We heard the warning bell so I rushed to help him put Eddie’s backpack back in the cubby before anyone saw.”
She rushes off after that, and Eddie is excited as ever. “Come on! Let’s go corner Tommy!”
“No. Follow me.” You order; turning to walk into the classroom with Eddie hot on your heels.
“Oh, dearies, it’s recess time-“ your teacher tries to explain before you stomp to Tommy’s cubby and tear it out.
“Now what do you think you are doing young lady?!”
“Here!” You smile, showing the lunchbox. “This is Eddie’s!”
“No dear. That’s Tommy’s. Eddie, it’s not fair to blame Tommy for losing your belongings.”
“No! Look. It’s got the bandaid on the corner- AND-“ you open it up to reveal day old comics that were meant to be read yesterday.
“What does that prove?”
You hand the tin off to Eddie before rushing to his desk, flipping it open and digging through the stack of papers you organized on the first day. “Here!”
In your hand you showed the rest of the comics Eddie kept, more proof.
“Oh. Well I best be getting Tommy. wait here you two.” She sighs, rushing down the hall to get to the playground doors while Eddie smiles at you clutching his lunchbox.
“He’s gonna be in so much trouble!”
You merely shrug, moving to organize the papers in your hand as you wait. 10 minutes later Tommy is explaining that he broke his biking home and hadn’t wanted to get into trouble so he took Eddie’s.
By the time you are all dismissed back to recess Eddie is wound up in excitement. “You solved the case! My pa can’t be mad at me anymore.”
And you can’t help the smile that makes its way across your face before you reach the doors.
Normally you sit by yourself at one of the tables, reading until the period is over. And so you move to do just that, only for Eddie to follow you.
“Aren’t you going to swing?” Just as he always did at recess.
“They are already full. No use.” He shrugs, following you to the table. “Whatcha reading?”
“Nancy drew.” You shrug back, showing him. He’s smiling from ear to ear as you blink back.
“You’re an odd one. Aren’t ya?” And for the first time, the word actually sounded like a compliment.
-
The Case Of The Vanishing Homework.
“Quit wasting my time.” Eddie Munson growls as his eyebrows pinch together and his lips twitch as he holds back a frown at the scene before him. “You’re playing with me, right?”
It was lunch time, and the rest of your class was rushing around where the two of you sat at the worn down picnic tables off to the side while Eddie seemed dead set on throwing a fit. The worn wood was warm under your thighs and the sun was currently beating down on you, forming a flush to your cheeks and sweat to the back of your neck.
It never made sense to you why they couldn’t add any shade to the playground.
“It’s what my dad packed.” You shrug, pushing your sandwich towards him. “Half or not.”
“Not.” Eddie snaps back, giving your turkey swiss sandwich a firm glare as he pulls his pb&j back to his side of the table.
“I think you are being a bit dramati-” You don’t get a chance to finish your complaint before you see his eyebrow raise a bit as he stares at your side of the lunch, eyes holding a curious glint as they narrow in on the bread. “Eddie just try it.”
“But the cheese has holes.”
“And all cheese is technically mold. We are middle schoolers now, grow up.” You scoff, pushing half the sandwich to him and snatching half of his before you split your carrots and he splits his brownie. A nice routine the two of you built up, since his lunchbox had yet to go missing again.
It was your 7th grade year, or the beginning of it really. Since you had met Eddie Munson 2 years ago it was safe to say you both had been attached at the hip. You shared lunch, and you did homework together. He came over to your house for weekly dinners and you spent hours in the library halls.
43 Cases solved within your friendship as well. Missing halloween candy, a broken window, a lost dog which led to a lost cat, and Eddie’s favorite was the case of the flaming bag bandit. Which ended up being some nerdy kid trying to get payback on his brother's bullies. [Eddie ended up leaving a couple more to help the cause, you never asked where he got all the dog feces]
There was a term in the dictionary your teacher had you going through everyday to pick a word of the day, and your word today just so happened to be ‘codependent’. And you would use that word to describe your friendship with Eddie. And you didn’t know if that was a good thing.
“Hey Eds.” You start, tilting your head a bit as he looks up at you with his mouth full of the sandwich he had been hating on a mere minute ago. “Do you think it’s bad that we are so codependent?”
“Cowendats?” He parrots with his mouth still full as he struggles to chew, covering his mouth when you show your outward disgust before finally clearing his throat and stealing your water bottle to drink from.
“Smaller bites unless you want to choke.”
“Codependent?”
“Yes. It means-”
“I know what it means, Who said we are codependent? They can mind their own business. We are the two most dependent people I know.”
“I just think-”
“There you two are.” A sharp voice interrupts you both, making you jump in your skin as Eddie visibly flinches, and then you both are scrambling for coverage. He’s snatching up the food as you grab both your bags, tripping over yourselves as you both try to escape the approaching hag.
Hag…… or better known as the 8th grade teacher, Mrs. Bradford. She had a reputation at the school for being a cruel cruel beast. Overdoing homework. Detention nearly everyday. Her classroom was spoken to be an absolute drab of grey. And the rumors of her shoving kids in closets did nothing to actually help her reputation.
“‘I’ve already seen you. No point in running.” She huffs, head tilting up to the sky in aggravation as you and Eddie freeze in your positions, slowly turning to look at where she currently stood. With hands on her hips and a heavy gaze she looks to the both of you, sweat beginning to form on her forehead. “I hear you like to solve cases. I have come to collect you.”
“Oh!” You nod, your spine far too tight for the movement to seem natural. “The only problem is we are on lunch and it’s almost over. We have math class-”
“Really important class.” Eddie rushes out, snapping his fingers in a ‘dang it’ motion before his jaw tightens while a grimace coats his features and he inhales in fake frustration. “And we were so willing to help…… come on let’s go.”
Within a split second his fake grimace is dropped and he’s grabbing your elbow to lead you away in a hurry, but not before Mrs. Bradford steps in front of you both with a bored expression. Eddie nearly runs face first into her chest, stopping so quickly that you run into his back.
“I have hall passes for your next class.” Mrs. Bradford explains, her eyes narrowed into tiny slits as she motions with a finger for you both to follow. “Come on now. Before I change my mind.”
She walks away then, assuming you both would follow, but instead you merely stand next to Eddie near the table watching her go.
“What do we do?”
“I don’t think we have a choice….” He answers, shrugging a bit. “And anything beats missing math class.”
“You NEED math class ,may I remind you.” You seethe, shaking your head. “You got a 2 on the last assignment.”
“I don’t remember that.”
“Well I do an-”
“Are you two coming?!” Mrs. Bradford snaps out, giving you both an angry look that has the two of you scrambling to catch up with her from down the hall. Your backpack slips from your shoulder a bit, Eddie is quick to help you place it back while shoving the rest of the swiss sandwich in his mouth. He smiles a bit when he hears you mutter about it under your breath, flicking your nose before taking the lead in following the teacher.
“Alright, come on. This is my classroom.” She grumbles out, opening the door to reveal a bland but clean room. “I had booklets due yesterday, they were given two weeks ago and today one of these delinquents stole them all.”
“Stole them?”
“They were sitting on this corner last night. By this morning they were all gone and the only one left is the one I use to grade everyone else’s work. My own packet.” She explains, picking up her own packet before tossing it on one of the desks by where you stood. Eddie watches the packet slide before stopping it with a finger and swooping it up to hand to you.
“I’m a bit confused on why you need our help?”
“I need to know who took them. They were a part of the final grade in this class, I was planning on presenting them at the parent teacher conferences tonight. But I guess that plan is mute. Just….. I don’t really know what I am expecting here. Principal Beltz told me to find you.”
“Any suspects?” You ask, watching her closely.
“Dana Mitchell was quite snippy when I was collecting them, told me she hoped I lost them. Trevor….. Well he had detention and left after me because I had a class to attend and he was taking forever to pack up his bag. And Jesse didn’t even do his. So I’m sure this is just a pathetic attempt to ruin everyone else's grades.”
“Alright.” Eddie nods, watching you trace along the edges of the booklet before flipping it open. “Give us a few to look around.”
“If you think I’m leaving a Munson in this room without supervision then you are completely mistaken.”
“I have supervision.” He argues, gesturing to you. Her eyes flicker back and forth before she sighs out and nods, grabbing her keys and heading to the door. She makes sure it doesn’t slam, heading down the hall and leaving you two in the room. Eddie is quick, jumping to sit on a desk as you reach into your backpack and grab the notebook your father had given you.
“Alright, what do we know?”
“The packets are 40 pages long- jeez I hope I don’t get her class next year- and there are at least 17 kids in her class. That would be a pretty heavy stack to steal.”
“What else?”
“Jessie didn’t do his. Trevor had detention and was the last person in the room. Dana Mitchell was pretty mad about it as well.” He lists before looking offended. “Why is it Dana Mitchell? She’s the only Dana we have.”
“What do you mean?”
“Why do they say her last name?”
“I…. I don’t know.” You shrug, bending down to check under the desk. “Green gum. It looks like it has a piece of torn paper connected to it.”
“So trash?” It was a question meant to piss you off with the way he is already smiling when you turn to glare. “Also, Mrs. Bradford doesn’t know how to spell.”
“What?”
“Half these words are misspelled.” In two easy steps you are right beside him, snatching the book and flipping through it.
“It doesn’t have a name, but this is for sure not Mrs. Bradfords.” You note, trying to find something to work with. “Wait. There.”
He peers down to where you point, where Jesse has been practicing his signature like a celebrity. “This is Jesse’s booklet. The only reason it’s here is cause he turned it in today.”
“Which means that Mrs. Bradfords is with the rest.”
“Alright. Look around for clues.” And he does, hopping down from a desk, only Eddie’s version of looking for clues is following behind you as you look at things.
“Boot print near the door.”
“Why does that matter?”
“Because the rest of the floors are completely clean. But the gum and the bootprint are both right here.”
“Nice. Nice.”
“And…. look!” You reach to snatch the earring that had fallen under the desk, showing him what you found, a blue hoop.
“Dana Mit- Dana wears those. They are so ra ra cheerleader but she seems to like em.”
“Seems like we have a primary suspect.” You nod, moving to stand up, allowing him to reach to help you up before patting yourself down.
“They are all on lunch. Let’s go.” He leads the way through the halls, smiling to the janitor and giving him a big wave. Paul notes this, stopping his work of trying to lift the can off his car to wave back. His stops chewing his gum to mutter out a brief hello before Eddie helps haul the can for him.
By the time you both make it to the cafeteria the hall is backed.
Dana seems to pinpoint you the second you walk into the cafeteria, rolling her eyes when you both sit across from her and pushing her tray away with a freshly manicured hand. “Nancy Drew and her boy toy.”
“She’s got an actual name you know?” Eddie snips out, eyes narrowed as his neck extends in a peckish manner.
“It’s worthy to note that it was her name that you corrected and not me calling you her boy toy.” Dana huffs out, chewing on her gum obnoxiously. “I didn’t steal the friggin homework.”
“How did you know we were here about the homework?”
“Because it’s in your hand dipshit.”
“Right.” Eddie nods, his neck tinging with a bit of red before he looks at you and you try not to laugh at his face. The weirdest thing about Eddie was his lack of care for embarrassment, it could take him less than 2 seconds to wipe something off and find the humor of it all.
You are about to make a joke for him until Dana pops her gum and pulls your attention back to her, noting when it gets stuck to her lip.
“Well thank you for your time.” You smile, standing up quickly and leading Eddie out of the hall. He sputters on his words, trying to figure out why you ended that so early but you were already walking ahead.
“Why did you end that? We had her nervous, ready to confess.” He grunts, struggling to keep up. “Let’s go back and get her to confess.”
“She didn’t do it.”
“How do you know that?”
“Why do you bother questioning me after all this time?”
“Not a clue actually.”
He waits while you take pictures before walking you back to class, bumping his shoulder with yours every time he gets bored, making you roll your eyes a bit until he decides to dead weight on you last minute, sending you both sliding across the floor in fits of laughter before a teacher yells at you to get to class.
By the time school is out for the day you have a plan, you just know Eddie isn’t gonna love it. “Tonight, at the parent teacher conferences we meet up by our classroom. Deal?”
He extends his pinkie out to you, which you grasp in your own before leaning forward to butt your foreheads together in your signature handshake. Groaning out and rubbing the sore spots when the hit hurts.
“That was a good one-”
“You get a metal plate installed?” You blurt out before laughing, leaning up to kiss his cheek and rush to your bike to get home.
By the time you get home your dad is back from work, struggling to remove his tie as you rush to grab your detective bag. He spots it sitting by the front door while you both eat dinner, narrowing his eyes at you in a protective manner. “Why do you have your sleuth kit out?”
“Oh no reason.” You shrug, moving to make a plate for Eddie since the mac n cheese was always one of his favorites.
“Right. Make sure to grab Eddie some broccoli too. And make sure he actually eats it this time please!” His voice grows louder when he makes it to the kitchen to clean up, and you grab Eddie exactly three pieces, already knowing you’ll struggle to get him to eat them.
By the time you make it to the school the plate is covered with a wrap and Eddie is nowhere to be seen, though you weren’t too worried about it yet while your dad began looking around. “Alright, who do you and Eddie hang out with?”
“What?”
“Your friends. You and Eddie. Where are your friends?” He asks, wiping dust off his jacket while you blink at him like he’s grown a third head.
“Eddie isn’t here yet.” You explain.
“I realize that. But where are the rest of your friends?”
You gape at him, embarrassment beginning to claim you as you realize that you don’t have any other friends and he expected you to, and right as you were beginning to mouth the lame excuse Eddie Munson showed up to save you. An arm wrapping around your shoulders easily as your fathers eyes widen.
You realize why your father looked so shocked the second you turn to your friend, who was smiling even though a dark bruise and a split lip covered half his face. “What? Am I so beautiful you are at a loss for words?”
“I made you a plate. Dad says you have to eat the brocc-”
“This must be the famous Nancy Drew.” Someone calls out, walking up to where the three of you had been standing. Your father stands straight, already glaring, before the man in the jean jacket grabs Eddie’s shoulder with a comforting squeeze and extends his hand. “I’m his Uncle Wayne. His father couldn’t make it tonight.”
“Oh. Right.” Your father nods, before hearing something clatter behind him and clearing his throat. “Shall we go in, Wayne? I’m sure we can get some good seats in the far back.”
“I like the way you think.”
“You. Do not wander off too far. You hear me?” Your dad asks, giving a fake glare which you nod to before leading Wayne into the classroom.
“Alright, what’s this plan of yours?”
“What happened to your face?” You blurt, unable to stop the question as Eddie removes his arm from your shoulder and pulls out his flashlight.
“Just a run in with a wall.” He shrugs, not looking at you as his hand swipes across the buzz cut on his head, scratching a bit which is a sign he is nervous or lying. Both, from what you can tell.
“Alright. You’re lying but I’ll allow it.” You huff, pulling out your sleuthing kit, snatching the camera from the sleeve and zipping it back up. “Follow me.”
He does, flicking his flashlight on once you get to the section of the school where the lights are already turned off for the night, going down the stairs into the basement.
“It was weird to me that the rest of the floors were clean, but not around the desk. There was even the boot mark by it as if someone had tripped.” You begin to explain, keeping pace with him as he leads you through the mechanical room. “And when Mrs. Bradford sat in her chair it groaned, and a screw had been sitting by a leg of the chair but it was full of new screws.”
“Which means?”
“That someone had messed with her chair. I think it was Trevor, he waited until she left after the detention to mess with her chair, a harmless prank.”
“Then how did it get fixed?”
“Thursdays are mopping and wax nights, Paul always wears his grey uniform on thursdays because of the wax ruining fabric and he hates that one. On Fridays he wears his blue, which he wore yesterday.”
“And he looked great.”
“Right, anyways, the boots he wore match the markings. Here’s what I think happened. Paul had back surgery 2 months ago, this is his second week back which means he’s bound to take lots of breaks especially since he hauls things with his back everyday-”
“Poor guy.”
“I think he went to sit in Mrs. Bradfords chair and because of Trevors prank he ended up falling. Which made him panic, he’s too nice, and he was worried about the chair so he took the time to fix it.”
“Got it.”
“I think when he fell he kicked the stack and they landed in his bin, which is why he struggled to lift it today.”
“But what about the gum? Dana chewed gum.”
“So did Paul. Dana’s was pink, bubblegum, it got stuck to her lip today at lunch. Pauls is spearmint. I guarantee it.” You finish explaining, leading him to the janitors closet. “I just need you to pick the lock so we can see in.”
“Anything you need.” He smiles, bending to make quick work of the lock before the door swings open and he smiles up at you at his work. “You and me against the world.”
You smile back before rushing past to dig through the bins before stopping at the one with a blue mark, pulling forward to look inside. “FOUND EM!”
He laughs, pulling forward to help you snatch them up in a pile, helping you carry them out until you make it back to Mrs. Bradfords class and setting them on her desk right as she finishes up her speech to the parents within the class. Eddie smiles at her, she rolls her eyes, and just like that another mystery solved.
By the next morning you manage to make it to class with a little extra time, stopping by the janitors closet to find Paul.
“What can I do for ya?”
“I wanted to make sure you were okay after your fall. And to bring you some fruit.” You extend the basket out, handing it to him as he laughs before setting it down to a stack of comics. “Munson already stopped by. You both make quite the pair.”
Yes. Co-dependent? Sure. But that didn’t matter at all.
-
The Case Of The Missing Hours.
Freshman year and not much had changed in the life of crime fighting. Case after case. Test after test. And you could handle it all, at least that’s what you told yourself.
Eddie had been removed from his dads custody though he hated talking about it, and had since moved in with his Uncle Wayne in the 1 bedroom trailer home near the edge of town. Wayne had allowed him to take the room, and at first you had HATED it. He never kept his room clean, and it was a new territory to you that broke your everyday pattern.
But over time that began to change.
Your father began working morning noon and night, which often times left you alone at the house. For some this seemed to be the perfect way to spend their time, for you it just left time to overthink. You couldn’t sleep lately, with so much to do and anytime you nearly got to sleep something woke you up. A tree hitting a window. A car alarm from down the street. A creak in your house that had you assuming the worst.
And if it wasn’t something keeping you up then it was your brain. The way Tammys zipper was down after lunch, the one pencil missing in a case. One thing out of place and you were in for a long night.
But with Eddie you could just breathe. There was a comfort in knowing you could spend time with someone who didn’t care if everything was out of place. Where you got the urge to right everything you had somehow learned to coast in the way he lived.
So time at his trailer became natural. Though it never helped you catch up on your sleep. Which he was beginning to notice, had even rubbed eyeliner under his own eyes to imitate your eyebags one day, laughing his butt off until you hit him with a pillow.
Until it all changed.
You had at least 50 assignments due, and 20 million cases to solve. Which in regular math meant you had 7 assignments and 2 cases. But all that on top of lack of sleep in the past 7 days was beginning to drag you down, words were hard to read and you couldn’t concentrate. So you packed your backpack ans headed to Eddie’s.
It took 2 knocks until he was there, swinging the door so hard that he swishes on his own feet, the hair he had been growing out now swishing a bit with him at his ears before his smile lands on you. Immediately you are basked in what you could only describe as sunlight.
Because that’s how it felt. When Eddie had his attention on you it felt like sunlight. Warm, welcoming, chasing all your shadows away and making you nearly melt under his gaze. The newest change had been when your heart began speeding up everytime he smiled at you, the way the back of your neck warmed with the flush that spread through you and you hoped to god he didn’t see the blush traveling your cheeks.
Oh right, the biggest change of all, you were painfully in love with Eddie Munson.
How utterly screwed you were.
“Let me guess. You need my help with the math homework?”
“Oh how smart you are.” You smile, pushing your feet to move forwards when he moves to the side to let you in, pulling a bit of your hair as you pass to make you laugh while Wayne stands from his chair to give you a hug.
“Don’t be letting my boy distract you now, one of you has to keep up the good grades.” Wayne teases, moving to sit back down. You knew that here in 30 minutes he would be heading to work.
“Oh real funny.” Eddie huffs, leading you to his room. When he opens his door he has to shove a little harder to move the pile of clothes that had built up from his closet, giving you a guilty look but not before showing off the shirt he was wearing. “Couldn’t find this badboy.”
“Your plain baseball tee?”
“Yah! I was thinking of making it into a band tee or somethin’.” He explains, kicking a pillow up into the air so he could catch it before smashing it onto the bed and falling into it like a wrestler would, kickign his feet to banish his backpack from the top so that you could take up your normal place to study. “Milady…”
“How generous.” You smile, falling into the bed and moving to grab your textbook out before opening it to the page you had left off on as Eddie snatches his guitar from the wall and begins messing with the chords.
It had been a christmas gift from Wayne, you had gotten him the books to go along with learning and you had made a bet that he wouldn’t practice everyday for a year. You knew he would, Eddie lived for music, you also knew he had better chances of doing so if he was gonna win 50 bucks at the end of it. You had the 50 stored in your jewelry box, ready for when the time came.
“What ya workin’ on?” He asks, not looking up from the guitar but pushing his foot out to tap the book with a socked toe. You push his foot away and mumble out a simple “Science homework.”
He scoffs, mimicking your voice before using his toe to poke you. “You’d be more comfortable against the pillows. You’d concentrate more.”
“What happened to not leaking all my brain juice onto your pillows?”
“That was when you were sick and had the ear infection. How was I supposed to know you weren’t going to drain onto the pil-”
“Drainage happens within the canal-”
“Just come sit. I want you to sit by me.” He sighs, scooching over a bit so you would have room, and you didn’t bother arguing more, already moving until you were sitting side by side so you could keep reading. Only he was right, it was really comfortable, and he smelled great and it was so warm.
Before you could really stop it you sunk down further and further.
No. You told yourself. You will not fall asleep. You have so much homework to do. And you still need to go out and check Harrisons garage door…..
You wouldn’t fall asleep. You would not fall asleep.
…
You wake to the sound of music from Eddie’s radio playing softly, normally it was filled with rock music but today it’s a tune you immediately recognize. Fur Elise, Beethoven. It takes you a moment to blink, waking up from a sleep so deep you struggled to get any of your limbs to move. Or maybe that was because you were attached so closely to Eddie. Your legs woven with his as you hugged him close, one of his arms wrapped around you and the other holding the pillow up so you both remained comfortable as he snored.
It takes a moment to fully register everything. You had fallen asleep, last time you checked it was still sunny outside and yet now it was pitch black. And you were wrapped up in Eddie's arms. Your science book sat neatly on the nightstand.
Eddie must feel you stir, because in a moment he is inhaling and his eyes shoot open as he looks around the room for a problem, narrowing his eyes at you. “Why youf wake upn?”
You shrug, the only answer you think you can get out with how heavy your tongue is and dry your mouth is, blinking slowly as you struggle to sit up.
“No.” Eddie whines out, shoving his face into the pillow while you reach for his alarm clock.
“2 am. Eddie!” You accuse, standing quickly.
“What? Where are you going?”
“I had so much to do! Homework and case work and we were supposed to go look at Harrisons garage.”
“Screw the harrisons.” Eddie huffs, slapping the pillow before sitting up. “Listen. You have bags under your bags. You need sleep. I called and let your dad know you were here and we have all weekend to do the homework. The cases can wait. If Harrison is mad because someone broke into his garage and wrecked his car then he can go to the police.”
“But-”
“No. Come on. You are still tired and I did not waste 3 dollars on this Bach cassette-”
“Beethoven.” You correct, already shuffling back to the bed, stopping just short of climbing in which makes him glare and reach out an arm like he was preparing to catch you if you tried to leave once more. But you weren’t looking to escape, you were thinking of how uncomfortable your jeans were. “Do you have a shirt I can wear?”
“Does it have to be clean?”
“Eddie.”
“I know I know.” He huffs, jumping up to open a drawer and throw a tee at you, before slamming his body back down with enough force that he bounces a bit on the mattress. You struggle to take your jeans off, even hitting your head on the door enough to make Eddie flinch before you find yourself on the bed. Locking pinkies, hitting foreheads and laying side by side before you both pass out.
He was right, you had all weekend to catch up. For now you were fine with Eddie snoring in your ear.
-
The Case Of The Lovesick Fool.
“Welp.” Eddie smiles from ear to ear, watching the police haul off one of the perps you had just caught. A string of home burglaries that had led to a stalker situation. It had taken you all but 2 weeks to figure it out. “That’s a wrap on the burglar case.”
His hand comes up to flick your nose, but once he’s done with that me makes sure to take a moment to brush the hair out of your face. His smile is tense but he’s doing his best to seem calm and at ease, even after being shoved off the second story balcony of the Tarney home.
“What do we do now?” You ask, stepping closer to him as someone pushes past you on the sidewalk. His hands shoot out to catch you, keeping you in place, while sending a glare to the guy passing. And while his hand rubs your arms up and down you can’t help but stare at him intently. “Maybe burgers.”
“Woah….” He gasps, reaching out a ringed hand to check your forehead for a fever in a way that makes you scoff and pull back, fixing your hair at the motion as he shakes his head. “I never thought we’d see the day that you suggest something other than finding another mystery.”
“I’m hungry.”
“Did you hit your head? Catch the plague while you were crawling through tunnels? No! Don’t tell me! A serial killer cut your skin off and has been wearing it around pretending to be you!”
“Are you done? My stomach is rumbling.” You groan, moving to walk in front of him. He whirls, catching up with you in a moment, keeping your pace as he continues to list off reasons you’d want to go get food.
“You think Benny is killing people and hoarding their bodies in the basement?” He asks while opening your door to his van, extending a hand to help you in and making sure you are comfortable before slamming it shut and rushing to his side. It takes two turns to start, and once it does he hits the wheel in excitement before kissing the wheel and muttering a thank you under his breath.
It was junior year now, and things with Eddie had changed quite a bit.
His hair was longer now, much much longer. His fingers adorned with rings, nearly every outfit was worn with a leather jacket and a jean vest, even when it was far too hot out. Under Wayne’s care he had managed to pick up his life a bit. His smiles were all for the most part real and you never saw him with bruises anymore….. Okay unless he got a little too real in the mystery world which you always felt guilty over.
Another thing that had changed? Eddie managed to make friends.
You had taken up journalism at school for some extra credit points, and while you had that after school he decided DnD would be how he spent time. And there he was introduced to Gareth, Jeff and Doug. They grew close pretty quickly, which you would have thought to be great, only they didn’t seem too crazy about you.
You tried, you swear it. You attempted to go to their game nights, you tried to watch them play in the bad they had been forming and when Eddie insisted you sit with them at lunch you tried to bring out some of your best jokes. But everything you said fell flat, every joke met with pity chuckles that made it all the worse and every question was answered with a bored expression or attitude at you not knowing.
But the worst thing was the way they made fun of the mysteries.
But Eddie loved them, and you loved Eddie.
So it was no surprise that when you both entered Benny’s burger house the DnD group was there calling for him to come sit in the back booth.
Eddie casts an excited glance your way before grabbing your arm and leading you to where they all sat, talking in your ear about how exciting it was that they were here. And you tried to place a smile on, even though you had wanted it to be just the two of you.
“Eds! We thought she’d be dragging you around on that mystery all day!” Gareth laughs, pulling an extra chair over with his leg for Eddie to sit in while you get the final spot in the booth by Jeff. You attempt a smile, which is sadly returned with a terse nod in return.
“Well Nancy Drew here managed to solve it in record time…. Only after I was pushed out a window.” Eddie teases, bumping his shoulder into yours before snatching a menu to look at.
“Nancy Drew.” Doug scoffs, chuckling a bit. “Are you like best friends with the cops?”
“Dude, I bet Nancy Drew has Hopper on speed dial.” Gareth cackles, clapping hands with Jeff when he starts laughing too, and you attempt to laugh like it’s so funny but really you just feel like some sort of cheap joke. The wound digs even deeper when you turn to find Eddie laughing with them, covering his face and keeling over from how funny he thought it was.
“I have a name you know.” Even your voice comes out tense, though you wanted it to sound like you were having fun.
“There you guys are!” A female voice calls out, pulling all their attention to where the prettiest girl you’d ever seen is currently walking up, smiling from ear to ear. Her hair is teased, perfectly so, in the way that you could never actually figure out and she is wearing one of those hellfire tees that Eddie and you had made during a sleepover, only hers is tied into a shorter version that ends at her ribcage. “Ugh the traffic was terrible.”
“You say that every time you run late, Trish. Just admit you took too long with your makeup.” Gareth teases, a large smile forming on his face.
A wave of excitement passes through you when you realize she was coming to hang out, and you might get a chance to have another female around in this ragtag group. You can feel a smile break out as you stand and extend a hand out, introducing yourself.
She blinks at the hand before her lipstick covered lips tilt up in a smirk that has your hackles rising. Before she gets the next words out you know how this will play out, you had dealt with plenty of girls who hated you enough to know.
“I didn’t realize this was a business meeting.” She giggles, walking past you to get into the booth where you had just been sitting, leaning forward to grab Eddie’s jaw like she had been doing it forever. “What happened to you? Oh you look miserable, baby.”
Baby.
“Nancy Drew dragged him on another mystery,” Doug grumbles, gesturing his thumb to you with a sneer and a roll of his eyes.
“I have to go.” You blurt, body completely frozen with your heart beating through your chest as you take in the scene before you, at just how comfortable they all seemed together. You were the odd man out here, and you had places to be. “Bye.”
You turn on your heels, rushing for the door as a wave of exhaustion hits you all at once, blinking back tears from that encounter as you hear Eddie rush out an apology before the sound of his feet chase after you on the diner tile.
“Hey Nancy Drew!” Benny calls out, and it feels like a punch to the gut when the rest of the booth starts laughing out while you make work to push the front door open and escape.
“Wait. Hang on.” Eddie huffs, grabbing your arm in the parking lot before you can make your escape. “What’s going on? I thought you were hungry?”
“I just have to go.” You rush out. “I remembered I have a paper due for class and I promised my dad I’d be home soon-”
“Why don’t you worry about that after you eat? Come on, our friends are here-”
“Your friends.” You correct with a shake of your head while he stops short. You can see in the moment that you shouldn’t have, because his shoulder drop and his eyes close, reaching a hand up to rub at them in annoyance. “They aren-”
“I know! I know!” He snaps, eyes opening to glare at you now. “They aren’t your friends. You’ve made that clear. But it’s not shocking because you could probably list all of your friends on one fucking hand.”
“Well I-” You attempt to argue, shocked by this outburst, but he beats you to the punch.
“Me. That’s it. That’s your only friend.” He growls out. “I am working in overtime trying to get you to hang out with more people. I am wasting so much energy trying to help you get along with everyone.”
“I didn’t ask you to do that.” You snap back, voice tight.
“No you didn’t because you seem to think I’m the only friend you need. Always around me. Always attached. So co dependent.”
“You haven’t said anything about it before.” He hadn’t, and you were trying really hard not to let your eyes water in this moment.
“Because I felt bad! You’re so odd, I didn’t want to hurt your feelings about it. I love hanging out with you but just maybe not…. So much.”
“That Trish girl, you hadn’t even mentioned her before. How long has she been in DnD?” You ask, hating the way he seems to blush at the mention of her name.
“She’s not technically. She hangs out with us when we practice for gigs an-”
“But you said that only the people in Hellfire got the shirts!” What a lame argument, you think to yourself.
“That’s cause the boys- they just-”
“It’s fine.” You snap out, turning to walk away, tears running down your face causing a hot sticky feeling to follow under the dense heat. “I get it.”
“This didn’t have to be such a problem.” He calls after you, following a few steps behind. “Come on, don’t make this a fight. We can work-”
“It’s fine. I have another case I can work o-”
“Of course you do.” He laughs, and you turn back to see him whirl around with his hands up in a dramatic motion before slamming them to his hips. “Of course you have another case. That’s all you ever have.”
“It was fine for me.” You seethe, embarrassed at the fact that he was seeing you cry in a burger joint parking lot. “I like the cases, and I like not having a ton of friends. If you told me that you felt like I was too attached I would have pulled back.”
He gapes at you, his neck going a little red as he openly stares before taking a step forward in attempt to wipe some of the tears off your face only you pull back and slap his hand away. “I didn’t mean it…. It’s just been a long day and I’m sor-”
“I have to go.” You don’t risk another look back, even when he calls out your name.
And once you get home, sobbing now, you make quick work of throwing away all the Nancy Drew books you had collected over the years.
Currently in love with Kento Nanami from jjk and desperately need good fanfic recommendations anything will work both on here and Ao3
For some reason I’m struggling to find anything that’s not just smut and while that’s great and all I need slow burn i need fluff I need passion I need romance I need multiple parts!
If you have any good recommendations I would love to hear them even if you don’t your time is appreciated 😘
Eddie Munson x reader. Past Steve Harrington x reader
Warnings:just swearing.
Words: 4k
Not my gif
You’ve been pacing around your apartment for the better part of an hour waiting for Eddie to get there.
You and Eddie have been going out for seven months, and you were finally going to meet his friends. Needless to say, you were freaking out, and of course you got ready way too early, so now all you could do was pace and think about all of the what-ifs.
What if they don’t like you? What if they think you’re weird? What if you talk too much? What if you don’t talk enough? What if—
You were pulled out of your downward spiral by a knock that made you freeze in your spot. You recovered, shaking your head and running to your bathroom to look in the mirror, smoothing your hair down.
You ran out at the sound of a second knock, stopping at the door to take a few deep breaths before opening the door.
“I was beginning to think you weren’t home—" Eddie paused, the smirk on his face faltering as he looked at you up and down. “Wow, uh, you look, umm…” he cleared his throat, straightening up.
“What is it? Too much?” you asked, fiddling with your dress, anxiety beginning to bubble up again.
“What? No, no,” Eddie said quickly, stepping inside and shutting the door gently with his foot as he grabbed your hands, making you look up to meet his gaze. He took a deep breath, shutting his eyes tightly, hands squeezing yours gently. “You look beautiful,” he said, opening his eyes and offering you a kind smile.
You return the smile. Leaning forward on your tiptoes to place a kiss on his lips, he grinned into it, one hand moving to your cheek to hold you there as the other pulled your body closer to his.
The only reason the two of you pull away is the lack of air, still staying close, lips barely touching as the two of you finally let oxygen into your lungs.
“You nervous?” He whispered, pulling away slightly to look at your face more clearly, cocking a brow.
“A little,” you whispered back through a sigh, avoiding his gaze as you said the next part out of embarrassment, “I’m just scared they won’t like me.”
“Hey,” he said to pull your attention back to him, smiling when your eyes met his again. “They’re gonna love you,” he told you plainly.
“But what if they don’t?” You asked as you chewed the inside of your lip; it was your nervous tick.
“Then I’ll find new friends,” he shrugged, pulling your bottom lip out so you’d stop biting it.
You laughed at his joke. “but honey, you love your friends,” you argued.
“Yeah, but I—” He paused, clearing his throat, making you raise your brows questioningly. “I, uh, I can’t make out with my friends,” he fumbled, stepping away from you as his cheeks reddened and he rubbed the back of his neck.
“Well, I’d hope not, weirdo,” you laughed, grabbing your purse off the counter and straightening your dress one last time. “You ready?” You asked, moving to the door.
He cleared his throat again. “Yeah, yeah, let’s go,” he said, opening the door.
You spent the car ride talking about your individual days at work and plans for the weekend, but as the ride went on, the anxiety came back, and by the time you pulled up the driveway, you had a slightly bloody lip and sweaty palms.
“It’s gonna be okay; I promise they’ll love you,” he told you as he put the car in park, turning to you, pulling your lip from between your teeth again. “You gotta stop stressing; they’re my friends. Trust me, they’re not cool; in fact, most of them are losers,” he laughed.
“What?” You laughed.
“Well, I’m not cool and a loser too, so I had to settle for what I could get,” he joked, shrugging, avoiding your gaze to fiddle with his hands.
“Hey,” you whispered, grabbing his chin to look at you. “You’re not a loser, and neither are your friends.” He smiled, pulling you in for a kiss.
“Thank you. They’re not losers, but I promise you they aren’t intimidating,” he told you as he kissed you one more time. “Oh, and most of them are 17. Okay, let’s go inside,” he said, jumping out of the car and moving to your side of the car to get your door for you.
“What?” You questioned again as he opened the door.
“It’s a long story,” he shrugged, grabbing your hand to lead you inside.
For a second you thought you recognized the house but chalked it up to it being the destination of a high school party or something.
“Okay, so what’s the story?” You asked as you made it to the front door, Man, that really looks familiar. Have you been here before or something?.
“Well, they’re a part of my D&D club, and you know I was a super, super, super senior, so it’s not weird, or maybe it is; I don’t know; some of them are my age,” Eddie rambled, eyes wide; you knew he was stressing from the erratic nature of his hand movements.
“Oh my—“ you paused, grabbing his face. “Eddie, is that why you waited so long to introduce me to them? Because you thought I’d judge you?” He nodded guiltily, eyes bouncing around to avoid your gaze again. “Oh honey,” you whispered softly, pouting your bottom lip in sympathy. “Eddie, I’m not going to judge you. I don’t care.” At this, Eddie’s eyes finally met yours again.
“I know I’m sorry,” he whispered, hanging his head a little.
“Eddie,” you whined, grabbing his chin to lift his head up, “you don’t have to be sorry; I just don’t want you to feel like you have to hide things from me,” you told him.
“I know I don’t. I just—I like you so much, and I didn’t want you to find out I’m a loser with seventeen-year-olds for friends—“
“Eddie,” you cut him off, “you are not a loser, and nothing you can do would make me think that,” you finished sternly, your pointer finger pushing his chest to make your point.
“Thank you,” he whispered, pulling you in for another kiss. “Alright,” he sighed, pulling away. “Let’s go inside; we’re getting way too valuable on Steve’s porch,” he laughed, grabbing your hand and leading you inside.
Your eyes widened as he said the words. Steve’s porch. Steve’s porch. The words kept floating around in your head until it clicked as you were met with the entryway of the house, and oh my god, how could you be so stupid? That’s how you knew the house. Oh no, oh no, oh no. Why, why, why, why? You questioned the universe in your head.
“Sweetheart, are you still freaking out?” Eddie asked as he helped you out of your coat.
“Um, you know what? I’m not feeling so well; maybe we could just go back to my place and reschedule,” you said, frantically trying to come up with an excuse to get you out of this house and away from this situation. Oh my god, Eddie was going to break up with you.
“Come on, babe, I promise it’s gonna be okay; they’ll love you,” he laughed as he grabbed your hand, leading you into the living room.
“Eddie, wait.” You stopped him in the hallway. “Eddie I have something to tell you.
“Okay?” Eddie said, giving you a funny look, “Can it wait, though? My friends are right in there,” he said, gesturing behind him to the entrance.
“Yeah, yeah, it can wait,” you said, smiling at him. Ugh, you were a horrible person. You should have told him, but you just couldn’t do it. You couldn’t lose him, and you know maybe this was all just a random coincidence. Stuff like that happens all the time. Unfortunately, all your hopes came crashing down when you entered the living room and saw none other than Steve Harrington standing there.
“Hey guys,” Eddie said, announcing your presence in the room and bringing all eyes on you, one pair doubling in size. “Guys, this is my girlfriend—“
“Y/N?” Steve interrupted, shock evident on his face.
“Yeah, Y/N, that was kinda my line, dude.” Eddie rolled his eyes, grabbing your hand to pull you further into the room. “So I’m guessing you know Steve,” he laughed, “but um, that’s Dustin, that’s Robin, that’s…” Eddie's voice trailed off as you looked at Robin; judging by the amused look on her face and the laughter she was barely keeping in, she knew, you looked at Steve with wide eyes.
“Babe? Baby? Sweetheart?” You heard Eddie say, “Y/N, are you okay?” He chuckled slightly, with worry in his eyes, and he followed your gaze to Steve, looking back and forth between the two of you suspiciously. “Okay, what’s going on?” he asked, eyes still bouncing from Steve to you, Steve to you.
“Eddie,” Steve said cautiously, moving towards him a step as Robin finally lost it, doubling over in laughter.
Eddie’s face looked even more confused. “Oh, you gotta tell him,” Robin said through laughter.
“Tell me what?” Eddie's questioning eyes stayed on you.
“Yeah, tell him what?” Dustin asked as well, making you look around the room to see all of them listening intently, just as curious as your boyfriend.
“If you don’t tell him, I’m going to tell him.” Robin said, getting serious for a second, “Oh, can I tell him? Can I please tell him?” She asked amusement for the situation back.
“TELL ME WHAT!?!” Eddie yelled, looking at the girl, as Steve shrugged, looking away from Eddie.
“Well, um, Munson I really hate to be the one to tell you this, but, uh, Steve has—“ she giggled, losing her fake seriousness. “Steve has, umm…” she lost it again.
“Robin, if you don’t tell me what Steve has… right now I’m gonna lose it,” Eddie said, shaking the girl's shoulders.
“Okay, okay, Steve has boned your girlfriend. God, take all the fun out of it,” Robin sighed, shrugging his arms off hers.
Eddie laughed uncomfortably. “Okay, Robs, that’s not even a little bit funny. There’s no way Steve has fucked my girl—” The words died in his throat as his gaze sifted to you, ready to be met with a face of confusion, face contorting in disgust when he saw the look of guilt on your face.
“Ughhhh!” Eddie yelled, “Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew!” Eddie repeated as he began to pace.
“Eddie, dude, calm down; it’s not that big of a deal,” Dustin said, standing to comfort the boy, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“Shut up, Henderson,” Eddie warned, slapping his hand away. Dustin put his hands up in surrender, stepping back slowly. ”Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, oh my god, my dick has been where Harrington's has ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, he said as he continued his pacing.
“Eddie, please stop pacing; just give us a second to explain.” Steve stood with his hands on his hips in true Steve Harrington fashion.
“Explain what Harrington?” Eddie asked, giving Steve little time to answer before he was speaking again. “Because unless the next words out of your mouth are, ‘Robin suffered a severe brain injury today that makes her think you’ve boned my girl, I really don’t want to hear it,” he snapped, moving his head in your direction. “Is it true?” He asked you, snapping out of your dazed state.
You sighed, preparing yourself to answer as his doe eyes looked at you with that pitiful hurt look he gets. “It was a long time ago,” you whispered, stepping towards him, reaching out before catching yourself. The last thing he probably wanted was to be touched by you.
So you pulled back, arms crossing over your chest, ready for him to yell at you, break up with you, call you a whore. You wouldn’t blame him; hell, you’d understand; you were a whore in this situation.
You lifted your eyes from the floor when you were met with silence on his part, searching his face for some kind of emotion you could pinpoint, but the poor boy's brain was moving a hundred miles a minute. You could tell by the subtle back-and-forth motion his eyes made as he stood in shock. “It was—how—you—ugh—" Eddi stammered, pushing the heel of his hand against his eyes as he tried to gather his thoughts.
“Eddie, baby, deep breaths,” you instructed him, pulling his hands from his eyes and placing them on your chest so he could feel your heartbeat and feel the rise and fall of your chest as you breathed.
After a minute Eddie’s breathing calmed down, the crazy look in his eyes lessening slightly. “How long ago?” He asked through breaths, trying his best to stay calm.
“High school,” you said, averting your gaze out of guilt and shame.
“High school?” He reiterated questioningly.
“Junior year,” you said through a sigh, knowing the information would freak him out more.
“KING STEVE?!?” Eddie yelled, lowering his voice when you flinched due to his loudness, “I’m sorry; it’s just you slept with King Steve; that makes it so much worse,” he said, backing away to sit on the couch, slumping dramatically.
“How is it worse?” Steve asked, arms now crossed over his chest.
“Because you were cool back then,” Eddie sighed, hands covering his face.
“Hey,” Steve whined. “I’m still cool, right, Robin?” Steve finished turning to the girl beside him.
“Oh Dingus, don’t do this to me,” she sighed, sitting beside Eddie. Steve had an offended look on his face. “Look, Munson, I know it seems bad right now, but she’s dating you, not Dingus, so that’s gotta count for something, right?” She said, offering him a sympathetic smile.
“Yeah, I guess,” Eddie mumbled, moving his hands to cross over his chest.
“And I don’t even understand how either of you pulled her,” she added, gesturing towards you.
“I know how I pulled her,” Steve scoffed, making everyone roll their eyes.
“Eddie, it really didn’t mean anything. We went on three dates in high school,” you cut in, sitting beside him.
“Yeah, and we only slept together three times,” Steve said, shrugging. “What?” He asked when he was met with glares from his friends.
“We did not,” you scoffed. “It was only twice,” you told him, standing.
“No second date in a janitor's closet at school and third date.” Steve told you, holding up a finger after each point, waving them in your face, “See, three.”
“Shut up,” you said, smacking his hand away. “We did not hook up in a janitor's closet in between our second and third date,” you told him plainly.
“Really?” He asked, confusion taking over his expression, “Man, was I an asshole I am so sorry,” Steve said, hanging his head.
“It’s fine, Harrington; when you didn’t call me after our date and showed up with Nancy Wheeler the following week, I kind of didn’t put cheating past you,” you shrugged.
“What?” Nancy jumped in, giving Steve a disgusted look.
“Really, Nace, you want to judge me for cheating?” Steve bit back, eyes drifting between her and Johnathan.
“We were technically broken up,” she said unconvincingly.
“Hey, can we get back to the issue at hand, please?” Eddie said, sitting up on the couch.
“Yeah, Steve, how the fuck were you rolling in women in high school?” Robin asked, throwing her hands up. “I mean, you just openly admitted to screwing Nancy in a janitor's closet while you were dating Y/N, and this dude still gets pussy. How?” She asked again, her face one of utter confusion.
“Good point, but not what I was talking about, Robs,” Eddie said, opening his mouth to say more before Nancy cut him off.
“Umm, actually that wasn’t me in the closet,” Nancy said.
“It wasn’t?!?” Steve asked, eyes wide again.
“No, we didn’t sleep together until the night you had that party,” she explained, throwing up quotation marks around the word party.
“Oh yeah, that’s right,” Steve agreed. “Wait, so who did I fuck in the janitor's closet?” Steve asked, though due to the nature of the question, you assumed he was asking himself.
“Seriously, this dude's the one drowning in bitches.” Argyle laughed, “Hey, isn’t it kind of funny that he fucked both your girlfriends?” Argyle said, pointing at Jonathan and Eddie seriously, before bursting into laughter again.
“Sorry.” Jonathan sighed, patting his friend’s back with the arm that wasn’t around Nancy. “he’s smoked a lot so much he’s kinda got this like eternal high; also, he was smoking before we picked him up.”
“Been there,” Eddie said, making Argyle stop laughing and getting real serious all of a sudden.
“Wow dude, you smoke too?” He asked very seriously.
“Yes, Argyle, we’ve smoked together. I sell you your weed,” Eddie said, furrowing his brows at the boy.
“No shit!” Argyle shouted, “Guys, this is my dealer!” He yelled again. “What do you have for me, man?” He questioned.
“What nothing?”
“Oh dude, you’re kind of not really a good drug dealer.” Argyle told him again very seriously.
“Argyle we’re friends,I’m here to hang out,” Eddie explained slowly, making sure to enunciate for the boy.
“Oh yeahhhhh,” he laughed, a dopey smile never leaving as he drew out the word “Oh hey man, I really hate to have to tell you this, but that guy totally fucked your girl." Argyle said, pointing at Steve, before falling back onto the couch, making the whole group laugh.
“Thanks for the heads up, buddy,” Eddie mumbled, rolling his eyes. “It’s nice to know one of my friends cares.” Glares fixed on Steve Harrington.
“What do you want me to do, man? Go back in time and not fuck her?” Steve asked, throwing his arms up in frustration.
“Yeah, kinda,” Eddie answered snarky as ever.
“Well, I can’t, so you’re just gonna have to get over it,” Steve said, gesturing to the boy. “Because last time I checked, they haven’t invented time travel, also it was a great lay, and I don’t want to, so suck it, Munson.” Steve finished, sticking his tongue out at Eddie.
“You sure about that, Harrington?” Max asked, clearly teasing the boy.
“Yeah, I think we should get a second opinion,” Lucas added, standing from his place on the floor next to Max, narrating as he walked to you, “We’re live on the scene, having just found out Eddie’s girlfriend has boned Steve, and now we’re tuning in for the answer to the question we all want to know: Was it in fact a great lay?” Lucas asked you in a goofy voice and all as he held his balled fist to your chin, pretending it was a microphone.
“What? This is so stupid, Eddie. Tell them to cut it out.” Steve sighed, shaking his head.
“No, I’m actually kind of curious. Was it?” Eddie restated making you roll your eyes at the group's antics.
“Eh, it was fine,” you said, playing into the scene by leaning forward to speak into the “microphone.”.
“Ohhhh,” the group all let out mockingly.
“You heard it here first , folks: Steve “the king”Harrington is in fact not a good lay,” Lucas said, clapping a hand on Steve’s back. “Would you like to comment on this, Steve?” he added, holding his hand up to him.
“Get that thing out of my face, Sinclair,” Steve said, slapping the boy's hand away. “You’re telling me Munson's better in the sack than me?” Steve turned to you appalled.
“Yeah,” you told him plainly, shrugging.
“Okay, now she’s just lying,” Steve said.
“Have you considered that maybe I’m just a better lover than you?” Eddie butted in.
Steve looked at Eddie, squinting his eyes at the boy. “Nope, that’s not it.”
“I don’t know, man, maybe you aren’t as good as you think you are.” Eddie said, standing up, Steve’s glare fixed on him as he walked in. In spite of that, Eddie continued, “Maybe your dick is small, or maybe you’re just not a tender lover.”
“I am so a tender lover!” Steve cut him off. “You tell him I’m a tender lover,” he finished, pointing a finger at you.
“Wow dude, you cannot ask my girlfriend to call you a tender lover. Not cool,” Eddie told him, pushing his arm down.
“Why not? It’s not like she’s going to be your girlfriend forever,” Steve said, rolling his eyes.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” You asked, butting in.
“It’s just Munson doesn’t really do long-term relationships; he’s more of a love ’em and let ’em go kinda guy.” Steve shrugged. “I mean, the guy's never even been in love.”
“I have so,” Eddie defended himself.
“When?” Steve asked, raising a brow teasingly.
“I—um,” Eddie stammered, eyes shifting to you, subtly trying to get the boy to lay off. Eddie loved you; he was sure of it, but telling you that wasn’t something he was sure of. What if you didn’t love him back? I mean, why would you and he did not want to scare you off.
“What dude, I’m waiting,” Steve pushed, unaware of the tension.
“Oh my God, Harrington, read the fucking room,” Max yelled.
“What do you oh—” Harrington said, coming to the realization second to last, leaving only a confused you behind, “Oh dude, you love her,” Steve said, quickly slapping a hand over his mouth when your eyes widened, face washing over with shock. “You’re going to try and kill me now, aren’t you?” Steve asked Eddie face full of nothing but pure rage.
“No, no, I’m going to kill you,” Eddie corrected, tackling the boy.
The two of them wrestled around until Eddie made it on top, hitting the boy in the ribs. “What is wrong with you? You’re the stupidest person to ever walk the face of the planet. Why would you tell her that?” Eddie yelled, keeping the boy pinned down.
“I’m sorry I am. I’m really stupid, but you’re being even more stupid than me!”
“How is that even possible!”
“Well, she ran away because you made it seem like you don’t love her!”
“What?” Eddie asked, turning around quickly, stumbling off of Steve to run after you when he didn’t see you standing there.
“Y/N, wait!” You heard just as you made it past the van. “Hey, where are you going?” He asked as he made it to you.
“I thought I’d spare you having to break up with me in front of all your friends,” you told him, avoiding his gaze, hoping it was dark enough that he couldn’t see the tears streaming down your face.
“What?” Eddie began, but you cut him off.
“Eddie, it’s fine. Look, I know that I slept with one of your friends, and you obviously don’t love me,” you paused, your voice breaking as you said the words. “So I’m, uhh, I’m just gonna go,” you finished, fresh tears now falling.
“Y/N, will you cut it out? I’m not going to break up with you because you slept with Steve,” he said, grabbing your face to make you look at him, thumbs gently rubbing your tears away.
“You’re not?”
“No, silly, I love you,” Eddie said, smiling brightly.
“You do?” Eddie chuckled at this.
“Yeah, I’m just an idiot, and I was scared, but I really, really do, so please don’t leave me,” Eddie whispered the last part, his gaze shifting down as he let you go. “But, uh, you know, if you don’t—if you don’t—if you want to go, you can; I won’t stop you,” he stammered, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously.
“You’re right about one thing,” you said, stepping closer as he let out a dejected, “Oh.Yeah, you’re an idiot, Eddie Munson,” you told him, grabbing his face and smashing his lips to your own.
Eddie reacted quickly, lips moving against yours, picking you up off your feet.
“Oh wait,” you said, pulling away. Eddie furrowed his brow at you but kept you in the air.
“You forget something?” He chuckled, still confused.
“I love you,” you told him.
“Really?” He asked bright Eddie Munson, smile as you nodded, unable to keep the dopey smile off your own face. “Good,” he said, pulling you back in for another kiss.
“Okay, I just have one question, then we can put the whole Steve thing to bed,” Eddie said, pulling away from the kiss.
“What’s up?” You asked, laughing, as he put you down.
“Exactly how big is Harrington's dick?” He asked, staying serious as you laughed, “Come on, sweetheart, this is serious. Tell me when to stop,” he said, holding his hands up and close together, looking between you and his hands as he moved them apart.
“Come on, your friends are waiting,” you said, rolling your eyes as you walked back towards the house.
Eddie laughed, running after you.
“Okay, let’s do this again,” Eddie said, stepping into the living room. “Everyone, this is my girlfriend Y/N,” Eddie told his friends, smiling hopefully.
“Hey!” They all shouted, standing up to greet you two.
Summary: The Dungeon Master wants you to sit on the throne with him
Word count: 0.7k
Request: sitting on the throne with Eddie and the hellfire members being nervous and jealous
-
When Dustin brought his sister as a sub for Lucas for the Cult of Vecna campaign, he didn’t think his Dungeon Master would take a liking to her and spend the whole campaign flirting. He most certainly didn’t expect for you and him to start going out and become a couple.
After your shift at the diner, you met Eddie in the ‘play room’ to help him set up the game board and light the candles before the other members arrived. You didn’t join the club for all of their campaigns, but you had nothing planned tonight so decided to join. And, who was Eddie to complain?
You pulled out the little monster figurines from the box, setting them on Eddie’s side of the table. ‘’Excited for tonight?’’
An hour into your trip, you hear the first dreaded “I have to pee.” Of course, it came from Dustin.
"Really, come on, man, we’re barely even a town over,” Eddie groaned, pulling into the next gas despite his sentiment.
“I’m sorry,” he whined, dashing out of the car the moment Eddie put it in park.
“Maybe we should all try to and we can grab some snacks” Steve suggested Ever, the mother of the group.
"Ugh, fine,” Eddie groaned, throwing his head back. “But no drinks!” He yelled as your friends dashed out of the vehicle. “I mean it!”
“There’s no way they actually listen,” you told him, giggling as you got out of the car Eddie close behind.
“My lady,” Eddie said, smiling brightly as he opened the door for you, bowing slightly.
“Why thank you, kind sir,” you said, giggling and curtsying as you walked in.
After using the restroom, you were scanning the isles for a snack. Indecisive as ever, you finally settled on a bag of Cheez-Its, a pack of gum, and a nougat bar Dustin’s favorite for when he inevitably complains about being snacky (when he’s hungry but doesn’t want real food).
"This all,” the teen at the counter asked. Well, you think she was asking, but her deadpan tone made it hard to tell.
"Yup,” you said, smiling.
She looked up from your snacks, her unamused glare fixed on you.
“Hey sweetheart, spot me a pack of smokes?" You felt his arm before you heard his voice as he hung it lazily over your shoulder.
Casual touches like this almost fooled you enough to think that the boy you’ve been crushing on since you saw him perform at the middle school talent show actually liked you, or at least thought of you as more than his friends older sister, but then reality would always come crashing down on you when you remembered that Eddie was like that with everyone the pet names, teasing remarks, and touching. I mean, the boy was a walking ball of love to give, constantly looking for a new friend or a new lost sheep he could take under his wing.
No matter how many people teased him, judged him unfairly, or called him the most unspeakable things, he never gave up and always kept that signature Eddie Munson smile that simultaneously lit up the room and made you weak in the knees.
“Y/N?” Eddie asked, his concern-ridden face pulling you out of your thoughts as his arm slid awkwardly off your shoulder.
“Oh, yeah, I can,” you said, turning back to the unamused teen. “Uh, and a pack of Malboro Reds, please,” you told the cashier, surprised that the frown she was wearing could get deeper.
“You know my brand?” You could practically hear the shock in his voice—a deep blush taking over your cheeks.
"Yeah, I guess,” you mumbled as you paid for your things, purposely avoiding his eyes that were boring into you. “What?” You asked, turning back to look at him and handing him the cigarettes.
His doe eyes were soft, and there was a remnant of a smile he was holding back on his face.
"Nothing,” he answered through an awkward cough. “Come on, sunshine, the ass crack of America awaits.” He finished turning around to grab the door for you.
You quickly followed, telling the teen at the counter thank you and to have a nice day.
As you made it outside, Eddie broke off to go lean against the wall to smoke. As you finally made it back to the van, your cheeks were still ablaze from your interaction.
Everyone but Steve had made it back to the van, already getting settled in, to hopefully not stop for at least a couple hours.
After about 5 minutes, Eddie and Steve returned, Steve having two huge bags of snacks, so you wouldn’t have to get any more, hopefully.
"Alright, hellions, buckle up. We’re not stopping for a while,” Eddie said, pulling out of the gas station. “I’m just kidding. Of course, my van does not have seatbelts.”
***
"Eddie, I’m hungry,” Lucas whined, poking the boy in the cheek. “Can we please stop? You made us skip lunch.” He finished continuing to poke him.
"Sinclair, you poke me one more time, and I’ll cut your hand off and make you eat it. How’s that sound for dinner?” Eddie said it through clenched teeth and crazy eyes.
Lucas stopped his finger inches away from the boy's cheek cautiously after a moment of testing the waters; he seemingly gave up pulling his hand back.
Eddie let out a sigh of relief, unclenching his jaw, and everything was peaceful for about two seconds until Lucas decided that poking the bear was the best idea he could think of, poking Eddie’s cheek once more, smirking mischievously.
“That’s it!” Eddie yelled, pulling off to the side of the road, making all of you tussle in place as he abruptly stopped the car out of his seat as quick as lightning to tackle the younger boy to the ground. He was so quick, you almost missed the smirk fall off of Lucas’s face and the horror take over his eyes.
Which is how you found yourself in the driver's seat, looking out for a place to stop for dinner, with Eddie in the passenger seat slumped down, arms crossed over his chest as he pouted.
"Alright, let’s all get some food in us and stretch our legs, yeah?” You asked as you pulled into the first dinner you’d spotted.
Lucas and Dustin rushed out of the vehicle, the former fully recovering from the tackle he’d taken.
Robin Max and Steve took more time getting out, following the two rambunctious boys.
You, however, stayed in the van, waiting for the boy in the passenger seat to look anywhere but out the window quietly.
"Oh, come on, Ed's, you know you're hungry too,” you said, turning in your seat to face him fully. “And maybe your a tad hangry, and that’s why you tackled Lucas?”
"No, I tackled him because the little shit wouldn’t stop poking me,” Eddie snapped, finally turning to you, and while the vicious gaze of Eddie Munson was terrifying for most people, you thought it was adorable. He looked like a puppy trying to threaten you like a teddy bear with a knife.
“So you’re saying if it had been Steve in the driver's seat and he wouldn’t stop to get you food, you wouldn’t have done the same thing?” You challenged him, raising a brow. His frown softened a bit, a mischievous glint in his eyes, you assume, at the thought of annoying Steve Harrington.
"See, you’d think it was hilarious if it were Steve; your little sheep was just following in your footsteps.”
"Yeah, but they’re supposed to annoy other people, not me,” he grumbled, though you could tell he was starting to come around.
“Oh well, now you’re just asking too much,” you teased. “Now come on, I’ll buy you a milkshake,” you told him, hopping out of the driver's seat.
“Chocolate?” Eddie asked, head-whipped, to look at you.
"Ugh, fine, but I’m going to judge you for it,” you said, rolling your eyes as you shut the door and walked inside, Eddie following closely behind.
“Woah woah woah, sweetheart, are you trying to tell me you don’t like chocolate milkshakes?” Eddie asked, dramatic as ever, his hair whipping around as he shook his head.
“I mean, they’re fine, but vanilla is definitely better,” you said, shrugging. Eddie gasped loudly, clutching a hand to his chest.
“I can’t believe you just said that to me,” he said quickly as he pulled out a seat, gesturing for you to sit down.
You sat down flustered as Robin raised a brow at you, which only made your blush deepen.
“What’d you say to him?” Max asked.
“Get this, Red; she thinks vanilla milkshakes are better than chocolate,” Eddie scoffed before you could get a word.
Leading the table into a lively debate, with some taking your side while others took Eddie’s.
“You guys are all wrong. It’s obviously strawberry." Steve cut in your heads, all turning to him with disgusted looks.
"Okay, everyone can at least agree that Steve’s wrong, right?” Robin asks, eyes darting around the group as you all nod, “All right, it’s unanimous, Steve’s an idiot.” She finishes, and Steve looks offended while all of you laugh.
"Alright, I need to go smoke. You guys stress me out." Eddie shook his head, smiling.
“Those things will kill you,” you said, popping a fry into your mouth.
"Hey, you’re the one supplying me, so don’t get all high and mighty on me now, princess,” Eddie smirked as you rolled your eyes.
“That was a temporary lapse in judgment; I was distracted,” you shrugged, trying to play it cool, though the obvious blush on your face was giving you away.
"Aww, you saying I distract ya doll face?” Eddie asked, leaning in close.
"Ew, dude, are you really flirting with my sister right now?” Dustin interrupted, gagging immediately after he got the question out.
“See what I mean? Little fuckers are so annoying, I’m surprised I don’t smoke more,” he groaned, placing a cigarette between his lips as he stood up and made his way to the door.
“I’ve got to go to the bathroom,” you announced, getting up and speed-walking to the bathroom flustered.
"Really, Dustin,” Max scolded, smacking him in the back of the head.
"Ow, what was that for?”
“You totally just ruined their moment. Eddie was finally growing some balls, and you just stomped on them,” Lucas explained.
“What?” Dustin asked again, and the poor boy was obviously very confused.
"Really, Dustin, do we have to explain everything to you? You’re not a child,” Steve quipped sarcastically.
“What these doofuses are getting at is that Eddie has just now started shooting his shot, and you might have just deterred him for another what is it like nine years?.” Robin explained hoping the young boy would catch on.
"Wait, are you guys saying Eddie actually likes Y/N?”
“Oh my gosh, look at those boys. Sherlock finally figured one out,” Steve said, slow-clapping.
“Shut up, Steve,” Dustin seethed. “So Eddie likes Y/N? Does she like him?”
"Obviously,” Max yelled, quickly apologizing when most of the eyes in the restaurant turned to her.
“So all those times he’s called her hot, he wasn’t just doing that to annoy me?” Dustin asked, still bewildered by the new information.
“While I’m sure that is a perk,Steve started sitting up in his chair to pat Dustin on the back. “He’s got it; he's had it bad since his first senior year,Steve finished shrugging.
“I can’t believe one of my best friends has a crush on my sister, and none of you told me,” Dustin pouted.
“We thought you knew it was pretty obvious,” Max said, rolling her eyes.
“I don’t want to think about that; it’s gross.”
"Well, you better get used to it because our mission this trip is to get them together,” Robin told him as the group nodded in agreement. “And it was working perfectly without us having to do anything but put them in seats next to each other, and you might have just ruined it,” Robin grumbled.
“How am I supposed to know if you don’t tell me?!” Dustin argued.
“Tell you what?” Eddie asked, making the group jump and turn to look at the boy.
"Umm, uh, that there’s been something in his teeth for a while,” Lucas said as casually as he could.
"Nice,” Max complemented under her breath.
“Okay?” Eddie said, taking a seat and continuing to eat his food, “Hey, where’s Y/N?” He asked through a mouth full of food.
“She went to the bathroom,” Steve shrugged, sipping his milkshake.
Eddie’s head instinctively snapped towards the bathroom door, a deep frown falling over his features. When he was met with the beautiful sight of your smile and the crushing feeling that washed over him, he saw a guy, the one making you smile.
Eddie’s glare made everyone’s eyes shift to the bathroom as you giggled behind your hand at something the boy said.
And before the smart part of Eddie’s brain could even think of telling him to stay seated, he was on his feet, speeding faster than he could think.
You noticed him before he could even get a word out, turning to smile at him. “Hey Eddie, what’s up?” You asked, brows furrowed, man; he was so screwed if all it took was you smiling at him to turn him into jelly.
"Hey, sweetheart,” Eddie said, composing himself to smirk at you. “Who's your friend?” He asked, glaring daggers into the man in front of you.
"Oh, this is Chad; he saw me looking at maps and said he’s traveling west too,” you told him, smiling.
“How convenient,” Eddie bit out, his voice lashing in sarcasm.
"Yeah, man, a total coincidence,” Chad said, returning Eddie’s glare.
The two men stood in unmoving silence, glaring daggers at each other. You furrowed your brows, looking between them, rolling your eyes as far back into your head as they could go at your realization. “Oh my, are you two having a staring contest right now?” you asked, shaking your head in disbelief.
You took their unblinking silence as an answer: “Stop it, you doofus!” You exclaimed, smacking his arm lightly.
“Hey!” Eddie shrieked, “You made me lose!”
“Lose what exactly? What would’ve happened at the end of that contest? What would you have won?” You asked, arms crossing over your chest.
“I’m not exactly a hundred percent on the rules, but I’m pretty sure he gets you now,” Eddie deadpanned.
“Dude, I thought we were just asserting dominance.”
Eddie looked at the man with an expression somewhere between shock, disgust, and anger. “And that’s who won, thanks to you, sweetheart.”
“I’m not some prize, Munson,” you scoffed, walking back towards your friends.
"Yeah, no shit. I was joking that dude never would’ve beat me fair and square anyway.”
“I don’t need you to fight my battles or win me, and also, I was just talking to someone new. What is your issue?” You asked, turning to face him as you made it out in front of the diner.
“What’s my issue?!” Eddie challenged, “I don’t know, haven’t you ever heard of stranger danger? The guy was practically eye-fucking you the whole conversation.”
“So?” You asked, making Eddie scoff.
“So? So?” He asked back in unbelief, “You know what? Fine, whatever have fun getting murdered in the back of some creeps van!” Eddie exclaimed, arms waving, as he turned on his heels to stomp to the van.
“You’re unbelievable, you know that,” you said, stomping after him, “and stop walking away.” You grabbed his hand, making him turn to you and ask, “Why do you care so much?”
Eddie pulled you towards him effortlessly, pinning you up against the back of the van out of view of your friends.
His breath was hot and rugged as it fanned over your face, his doe eyes peering into your soul as he examined your face, his gaze darting between your lips and eyes.
“I care because I want you to be mine,” he whispered in your ear, his hand coming up to cup the side of your neck as you sucked in a breath. “You want that, baby?” Eddie teased biting your earlobe, and you whimpered.
"Oh, don’t worry, pretty girl, you will soon enough,” Eddie told you, inches away from your face, lips so close to touching as your body tingled in anticipation. Just as Eddie was about to close the gap, you were abruptly pulled out of your false reality by the very person you made it for. As he shook your shoulder gently, “Hey, wake up, pretty girl, we’ve got to get back on the road,” he whispered, moving some hair out of your face.
A deep blush set in at the pet name—the same pet name he had just used in your dream—coming into the front of your mind—that little voice telling you he knew but there’s no way he could know, right?
The existential crisis must have been showing on your face because Eddie was looking at you concerned. “You okay, sunshine, you look a little dazed. Nap that good?” He asked, quirking a brow.
"Yeah,” you said almost too quickly, "um, I didn’t even realize I felt asleep.”
“Oh yeah, you feel asleep on my shoulder a few minutes after you came back from the bathroom,” he shrugged.
"Well, you have a comfortable shoulder, thanks, pal,” you said, froging him in the arm, quickly getting out of your seat and speed-walking to the van.
“That was painful,” Robin said as she exited the diner behind you.
“Did I just call him pal and punch him in the arm?” You asked, your head falling on her shoulder.
"Yeah, it was pretty hard to watch,” she deadpanned. "Robin,” you whined.
“Right, sorry,” she said as she started to run a comforting hand through your hair. “What even happened to get you that flustered?”
“I kind of had a sex dream about Eddie,” you mumbled, your voice muffled by her shoulder.
“You had a sex dream about Munson, while you were napping on him,?!?” she said a bit too loudly for your taste.
“Shhh Robin”
"Right, sorry, you had a sex dream about Munson?” She repeated it in a whisper.
"Well, kind of, I was woken up before any actual sex happened, but that’s where it was leading,” you told her, finally lifting your head. “What am I going to do? I feel like a perv.”
"Okay, first of all, it’s completely natural, and second, maybe that’s your subconscious way of telling you to, you know, make a move,” Robin said, biting her thumb nail.
“You think I should make a move on him? Does he even like me?” You asked, pulling Robin's thumb away from her mouth.
“Are you kidding me? You were totally just drooling all over him in your sleep, and he didn’t even bat an eye at the guys.”
“I drooled on him.” You half asked, half whined, her head failing back into place on her shoulder.
***
“Did she just call me Pal?" Eddie asked through a dejected sigh, slumping in his seat.
"Yeah, she also drooled on you a little bit,” Dustin pointed out, poking a spot on his shoulder over the table.
“And I find that unbelievably adorable. I’m so fucked. I just got pal zoned. I think that’s worse than the friend zone,” Eddie whined, beating his head on the table.
"Oh, stop that. She didn’t mean anything by it. She just got flustered. She likes you, okay. Stop stressing and dancing around it flirtatiously and just ask her out.” Dustin told him, his eyes rolling as far back into his head as they could go.
“She said that?” Eddie’s head perked up like a puppy who had just been offered a treat.
“Not exactly, but I’m her brother, and a brother knows." Dustin shrugged, standing up. “Just go for it, man, she’s into you. I promise, just you know, maybe don’t do it in front of me because gross.”
“When did you get so wise?” Steve asked, hands on his hips, sassy as ever.
“I’ve always been wise; you deepshits just never notice,” he said, sticking his chin high as he walked off.
“No wonder his head is so big; it’s got to fit that massive ego.”
***
It’s been two hours since you stopped for dinner and 12 since you started the trip as a whole. Eddie had driven for another hour after you stopped before you made him stop and let Steve drive before he felt asleep at the wheel.
Steve and Robin were now in front. Robin passed out until Steve would shake her awake to ask for directions.
And other than the sound of Steve’s quiet humming and soft snores coming from the kids, the van was quiet.
Eddie was out cold the second his head hit the makeshift pillow of his waded-up leather jacket, stirring occasionally to find a more comfortable position.
You were in the limbo between resting and actually sleeping, not completely awake and not completely asleep, when you felt something touch your side. You turned your head, smiling sleepily at the sight in front of you. Eddie, who was already close due to the big group and limited space you had in the back of the van, had moved to lay on his side, one arm curled under his arm to replace the jacket that was now thrown over his body lazily, his other hand poking out just barely grazing your side. You could feel the coldness of his fingers through the thin material of your tank top.
You sat up frowning on the lookout for another blanket, but it seemed that every one was being occupied. After a few minutes of trying to plan in your sleepy state, you finally decided on just sharing yours with him. It wasn’t huge, but you think it could fit over both of you if you shifted a little closer.
You gently pulled the leather jacket off him, setting it aside, grabbing his hand, and moving it closer to his own body as slowly as you could, smiling proudly when you managed to do so without disturbing him.
After shifting as close as you could without actually touching the boy, you took your time situating the blanket, making sure it covered him as much as possible. You finally laid back down yourself, too tired to be anxious about the little amount of space between the two of you.
You had just closed your eyes when another touch pulled you out of your almost-sleep. This time it was more than a few fingers. Eddie was now curled into your side, arm thrown over your waist, head resting on your collarbone without even thinking you started lazily ruining a hand through his curls, making him snuggle into you further. You felt your body relax against him, starting to pull you down into sleep, finally letting it take you. You lay there with a sleepy smile on your lips, content to lay like this the rest of the night. Even if you weren’t really sure where this would leave you, when you wake up, you couldn’t find it in yourself to care. Relaxing in the heat, his body was now suppling, finally closing your eyes to let sleep take you.
A/N: Had this idea a while ago finally decided to write it down.
Dustin wanted something; you knew it. He’d been doing your chores, letting you use the bathroom to get ready in the mornings without complaining, letting you take the first shower, folding your laundry, which he knew you hated doing.
You hadn’t said anything, not one to look at a gift horse in the mouth. However, it finally came to a head when Dustin came into your room with this morning tray in hand (the one your mom always used to bring you breakfast in bed on your birthdays or when you were sick). a bowl of honey nut Cheerios, a glass of orange juice, and a bowl of mixed fruit sit on top of it.
“I made you breakfast,” he said as he walked to you.
You gave him a strange look as he sat it on your nightstand. It was the weekend, so you had just been lounging around reading your new book since you woke up. “Why?” You finally asked, sitting up against your headboard, taking the food and starting to eat, still looking at him quizzically.
“What can’t a little brother just do something nice for his older sister, whom he loves so much?” Dustin defended unconvincingly.
"Yeah, they can, but you don’t,” you said, rolling your eyes. “Come on out with it, shitbird, you wait much longer. I’ll have finished my food, and you’ll have to wait till you can make a whole other meal,” you joked, popping a grape into your mouth.
"Alright, fine,” Dustin sighed, sitting on the edge of your bed. “I do want something, and I want you to really think about it before you say no.” He trailed off, avoiding your gaze.
“Okay?” You egged, kicking his shoulder lightly, ready for him to get on with it.
"Well, you know how summer break starts next week, and I’ve outgrown science camp, and there’s no way mom would let me fly. You know how much planes scare her, and Susie’s parents wouldn’t let her either, but Mom would probably let me if you went to and drove me." Dustin paused, seeing the confusion on your face. “Would you take me on a road trip to Utah to visit Susie over the summer? Well, not the whole summer, but while it’s happening." Dustin finished rambling, looking at you hopefully with his best puppy dog eyes.
"Ugh,” you groaned. "Really, Utah, come on, it’s like the asscrack of America.”
“No, I’m pretty sure that’s Florida.”
“I don’t even have a car; how are we going to get there?” You asked, both loving and hating, the way your little brother's eyes lit up.
“Don’t even worry about that; I’ve got it covered. Is that a yes?” He asked far too excited at 8:30 in the morning.
“It’s a yes if you can find us a car and somehow convince Mom to let us go,” you told him, condescendingly.
“Yes! Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you; you're the best sister ever!” Dustin exclaimed, hugging you tightly.
"Yeah, yeah,” you mumbled, rolling your eyes as you tussled his hair. “I know, and don’t you forget it.”
***
That’s how Dustin found himself here, cleaning up after hellfire, about to ask Eddie if he’d be willing to drop his summer plans to drive him and his sister to Utah so he could see his girlfriend.
By some miracle, Dustin had convinced his overprotective mother to let him go, and Eddie was the last piece of the puzzle. Well, at least his van was deciding that even if it wasn’t the most reliable, it was the most spacious, meaning you’d have to spend less money on motels along the way, and you could fit more people, Lucas and Steve, on the top of his list to invite once he got the older boy to agree to this somewhat questionable plan.
“You’re oddly quiet, Henderson. What’s going on in the ginormous head of yours?” Eddie asked teasingly as he packed up his dice and began sliding his books into the book bag he’d had since his freshman year.
“What are your plans for the summer?” Dustin blurted it out, unable to keep it in any longer.
"Umm, I don’t know. Maybe plan a new campaign. I'm going to try to deal at some of the parties and make some extra cash. You know, I really enjoyed my last summer before I’m hurdled into a life of adulthood,” Eddie said, shrugging and throwing his bag over his shoulder. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m ecstatic about finally graduating, but now I have to actually grow up. It's a bummer." Eddie sighed jokingly, getting ready to lock up. They had one more hellfire meeting before school was over; it was all oddly emotional for him.
“Well, how fun does a road trip to Utah with your favorite little buddy sound for summer plans?” Dustin propositioned himself, smiling hopefully at him.
“Like actual hell,” the older boy deadpanned, walking out of the old drama room.
"Oh, come on, please, it’ll be fun, I promise, and me and Y/N really need your van,” Dustin pleaded, following after him.
“Y/N will be there?” Eddie asked, stopping in his tracks and smiling brightly when Dustin nodded. "Well, why didn’t you say so sooner? Utah sounds great!” Eddie exclaimed.
"Really, you only want to go for my sister?” Dustin asked with mock sadness in his voice.
“No Dustin I only want to go for your hot sister,” Eddie paused, laughing at the way Dustin’s nose wrinkled in disgust at his words. "Besides, you only want me to go for my van,” Eddie pointed out as they began walking to the parking lot.
“Oh my god,” Dustin mumbled, shaking his head, already regretting asking him to come.
***
After a week of anticipation a graduation ceremony where you, Robin, Eddie, and Nancy walked the stage and a lot of time spent making Eddie look at a map, it was finally time for your trip to begin. Dustin had been practically bouncing off the walls all morning, and he was excited to spend what you had calculated to be almost 23 hours in a car, not including stops.
Somehow, you ended up with six people coming on your little road trip: Eddie, Dustin, Steve, Robin, and Lucas.
Lucky for you, the Wheelers already had plans to visit the Byers, so you didn’t have to shove two more in there, and Max was going to summer camp.
You could practically hear when Eddie pulled into your street loud vehicle blasting music and erratic driving, doing nothing to keep him stealthy.
“Are you sure you guys really want to go?” Your mother asked you for the hundredth time. “Maybe you should stay.”
Dustin threw his head back, dramatically letting out a groan. “Come on, Mom, we talked about this. We’re going to be fine. You’ve got to give Dusty Buns a little freedom, plus I’ll be with him the whole time.” You paused walking over to Dustin, who was giving your mom puppy dog eyes, pinching his chin in between your fingers. “Besides, who could say no to this face?” you coed, knowing that as overprotective as she was, she had a hard time telling him no.
"Okay, okay, just be careful and call me,” she conceited, pulling you both in for a hug that you gladly returned as Eddie stopped his van. “I love you both; be careful,” your mom said, finally heading inside after one more hug for the both of you.
"Alright, come on guys, we’ve still got two more stops,” Eddie yelled from the van.
“Come on, DustyBuns, your damsel awaits,” you said, ruffling his hair and walking to the van.
***
After a few hiccups, I.E. Steve packing everything he owned you were finally on your way out of Hawkins Eddie driving you sitting shotgun with Dustin Steve Robin and Lucas in the back.
“I can’t believe this was the best way to spend my summer,” Robin groaned.
"Oh, come on, you guys, stop acting like we’re not going to have a blast,” Dustin said. "Besides, we’re already out of Hawkins, so you’re stuck,” he told you guys, mockingly pointing at the leaving Hawkins/Hell sign.
“Oh yeah, I guess we are,” Eddie said, distractedly casually flipping the bird to the sign as you passed it. “I guess you can probably come out now, red,” Eddie said, making everyone look at him in confusion.
“Finally!” You heard making all of you jump and shriek as you saw a figure jump out of the pile of blankets sitting in the corner of the van.
“Maxine Mayfield, what the fuck are you doing here?!” Steve yelled, clutching a hand to his chest.
"Yeah, she’s supposed to be at summer camp,” you scolded, seeing the smirk grow on Eddie’s face.
"Oh, come on, sweetheart, I couldn’t let one of my sheepies rot while we had all the fun,” he said, wiping the smirk off his face to pout at you comically.
"Yeah, Eddie was just helping me,” Max said, working her way to the front of the van and joining Eddie in looking at you pitifully. “Please don’t tell my mom I want to spend the summer with you guys.”
"Yeah, come on, doll, can we keep her?” Eddie asked hopefully.
"Yeah, let her stay,” Dustin and Lucas said, joining the side of Eddie and Max.
"Yeah, come on, we could use another girl." Robin joined in, leaving only you and Steve.
“Aww, what the hell, yeah, let’s let her stay,” and now you’ve lost Steve too.
“Please?” Max said one last time you looked at the whole van teaming up on you, eyes wide and sad as they waited for your answer.
And you almost held your ground until you looked at Eddie, his big brown eyes peering into your soul. His bottom lip jutted out.
"Fine,” you sighed, making the whole van erupt in cheers.
“Thank you, thank you,” Max said, hugging you.
“You’re really the best!” Dustin Lucas Robin and Steve all cheered one after the other as they went to talk amongst themselves, happy to have added a member to the group.
“Thank you, you’re my hero, princess." Eddie’s words caught your attention, finding his eyes already on you and smiling brightly.
"Oh, shut up,” you laughed, rolling your eyes as your face flushed at the nickname “And look at the road before you kill us all.” You finished pushing his chin to make him look at the road as you both laughed.
“Alright, road trip, baby, let’s go!” Eddie yelled, making the van erupt in cheers once more. You joined them this time, happy to be spending the summer with people you cared about.
Love, Hate, and Judas Priest (Eddie Munson x Reader)
***********
Requested by: @bobcatbaker @they-ignoreme (Requests for a Reader that acts just like Eddie, and Something Inspired by ‘Ten Things I Hate About You’.)
Summary: A classic Enemies to Lovers fic. Eddie Munson has hated you ever since you strolled into Hellfire wearing the same Judas Priest shirt as him. But there’s a thin line between love and hate.
Warnings: Enemies to Lovers (Hurt/Comfort, Arguing, Angst, Pettiness), Cursing, Spicy Kisses, Fluff, She/Her pronouns. I think that’s it??
(Requests are open but the waitlist is long!)
***********
Eddie Munson did not like you.
He knew that from the moment he laid eyes on you. No. Before that, even. He knew it from the moment Dustin had started gushing to him about you.
He was far too excited, vomiting information at him like there was going to be a quiz. “She’s just moved to Hawkins from New York, dude. It’s her second time doing Senior Year.”
Eddie bristled. Flunking senior year was his thing.
“I’m telling you, she’s wicked. She knows everything about DnD and she likes metal! You should’ve heard her talking about the last campaign she ran with her party in New York!” Eddie clenched his jaw a little, quickly realizing how dead set Dustin was on you joining the party. “You’ve got to meet her. It’s like you’re the same person! It’s crazy! You’re gonna love her, man.”
Eddie decided right then and there that the two of you were, in fact, nothing alike.
This is the final part of my Warren Rojas fic I know it’s been a while but I wanted to do this series justice hopefully y’all enjoy it! thank you so much for reading you have no idea how much it means to me!
It's a little under 3.k words and it's a little spicy towards the end but there’s nothing explicit
Warren Rojas x reader
Masterlist
Not my gif
Warren
"Look, I know what you’re thinking, but I had to come up with a way to tell her that I really did love her, and it wasn't just drunken rambling.”
“I think you should just tell her how you feel.” Karen sighed.
“He can't do that,” Eddie laughed.
“Why not girls like that? Besides, you know that she feels the same way,” Karen said, looking at the boy, exasperated.
“I know, but she said, I think what if now she thinks that she hates me?” Warren told them, falling dramatically onto the couch face first as Karen and Eddie laughed at him.
It's been two weeks. TWO WEEKS! Since Warren said he loved you, he still hasn't said anything. absolutely nothing.
You've still been hanging out every day. He’s just done nothing, and it’s killing you!
Every time he opens his mouth, you pray it’s those three words you oh so want to hear, but nothing!
Your strategy has been waiting things out, but enough is enough. Whoever said a girl can’t make the first move?
And you were so sure it was going to happen right up until you knocked on the door because you swear every bit of courage that’s ever been in your body just took a vacation. With no notice, your palms started sweating, and there was this quiet, incessant ringing in your ears as your brain came up with every possible way this could go wrong and then some.
But just as you were deciding between running back home and never talking to any of them again or making up a reason you were here and playing it off, a man you didn’t recognize opened the door. He had longer, unkempt curly hair, sad green eyes, and an unpleasant frown on his face as he noticed you standing on the other side of the door.
As you were opening your mouth to ask who the hell he was, he held his hand up, making you shut it. “We don’t want whatever you’re selling." He told you, slamming the door in your face.
You stood there for a while before snapping out of your shocked state. I mean, what the actual hell who does that? It’s so rude!?! You have half a mind to stomp in there and tell him to learn some manners. I mean, the nerve of that guy. You banged on the door more aggressively, ready to give this guy a piece of your mind. Unfortunately for your anger, but maybe good for your sanity, it was Camilla who opened it this time.
"Y/N, what’s wrong? Are you okay?" she asked, seeing your upset state.
“No, who the fuck was that guy?” You asked, trying not to scream, but with your aggravation, it was proving to be difficult. “I mean, he didn’t even let me talk; he just held up that condescending hand and slammed the door in my face. Ugh, what an asshole," you complained as you walked in the house, not letting Cammy get a word in edgewise.
“That asshole is the owner of this house,” the guy snapped from the kitchen doorway. “Who the fuck are you?” he bit back, his glare intensifying as he crossed his arms over his chest.
Instead of letting the man get to you, you turn to Camilla, choosing to talk to her instead of him. "Seriously, Cami, who is this dude?"
"Y/N, this is Billy Dunne, my husband,” she sighed.
Suddenly it all made sense. This was the Billy Dunne two-timing asshole dream-crushing dick and every other bad name. In the book extraordinaire, I mean, you’ve heard story after story, and so far, they’re looking to be true. This guy sucks.
"Oh,” was all you said. I mean, how are you supposed to respond? You were at a loss for words; all you could think was just poor Cami, unfortunately for you, though Billy took your silence as a win.
"Oh, that’s all you got. I should think you’d at least offer me an apology,” he said, smugly smirking at you, which pulled you right out of your speechless state.
“Excuse me,” you said, getting upset. “I owe you an apology. You're the one who slammed the door in my face, but no, your right. I owe you an apology. I’m sorry." You paused with a serious tone, waiting just long enough to make him cocky before finishing “that you’re such an asshole,” and the smirk was immediately gone as Cami hid her laughter behind her hand.
Billy went to reply before you stuck your hand in his face to shut him up as he did to you earlier. "Ah, ah, the adults are talking,” you said, motioning between you and Camilla. "Now, Cam, I love you and I respect your life choices, but this guy is a dick." Billy’s jaw clenched, his fist balling at your words.
Luckily, before your mouth could get you in too much trouble, the front door opened again, revealing Karen, Graham, Eddie, and Warren. They looked at you all, surveying the situation with confused looks. Billy looked pissed while you seemed perfectly fine, and Camilla was trying not to fall on the floor in fits of laughter.
They had caught Mount Billy just as he was erupting, and unfortunately,them being there wasn’t enough to stop it. “Who the fuck are you?!" Billy yelled at you. Billy yelled at you, and Warren snapped, punching Billy straight in the nose and jumping on his friend, who had fallen to the ground, laying on punch after punch.
Warren
"Man, I don’t know what happened, dude. It was just like my body went into autopilot. I don’t even remember jumping him until Eddie pulled me off.”
“Don’t you fucking yell at her, you asshole, I’ll kill you. I swear, Billy Dunne, I’ll fucking kill you!.” Warren continued to scream at him as Eddie pulled him out of the kitchen. Warren struggled against him the whole time.
You all stood in shock at the events that just unfolded. Warren was normally so calm that you had no idea he was even capable of something like that. You came too as Camilla passed you to check on Billy.
He was fine, a little bruised, nothing he didn’t deserve, but he’d be fine. His eye, lips, and cheek were starting to swell already as Camilla and Graham helped him up to his and Cam's room to clean him up.
“He's calming down in the bathroom,” Eddie said as he walked back into the kitchen. “I think you should check on him,” he told you, putting a hand on your shoulder squeezing it gently.
“Yeah,” you whispered, nodding. You tried to shake the nerves out as you walked towards the bathroom.
"Warren,” you knocked on the door softly after a quiet come-in. You interred Warren was sitting on the counter, staring at the wall in a kind of dazed-out state. You knew he was just as confused at what just happened as all of you, so you chose not to ask any question right now that could wait till later.
You walked to the cabinet below the sink. You took out the small first aid kit you knew they kept under there, grabbing the boy's bloody hand and gently cleaning it, trying not to focus on how close you were to him.
“This is going to sting a little,” you whispered, putting on the antiseptic. He winced softly but didn’t pull away.
You finished wrapping his hand and setting it back in his lap before stepping in front of him to get a better look. His eyes widened when they met yours before falling to the floor. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. Your heart hurt at the boy’s dejected tone.
"Hey,” you tried to get his attention, but his gaze stayed glued to the floor. Putting your hand under his chin, you lifted his face, moving it to look at you. "Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for. You lost your temper. It’s okay. It’s not like it happens a lot. I’m sure Billy will forgive you."
“No Y/N That’s not why I’m sorry. I don’t regret doing it. I’m just sorry you had to see that side of me." Warren told you, and you nodded, unable to keep the oh expression off your face as you listened to him. “Billy deserves it and more. I mean, I love the guy, but he’s such an ass and so arrogant. I can’t believe he yelled at you like that, I swear.” You could tell he was getting angry again by the way his fist clenched and his eyes filled with rage, so you stopped his words by bringing a finger to his lips. Those gorgeous, perfectly plumb, oh, so kissable lips. Wow, you were whipped, you thought, catching his puzzled expression, pulling your hand away, clearing your throat, realizing you probably made him uncomfortable.
As you moved to take a step back, Warren's hands found your arms, keeping you in place as you met his gaze again.
You stayed there a while in comfortable silence, staring at one another. With Warren's hands still on you, yours had moved to rest on his thighs.
“You’re so beautiful." Warren whispered breaking the silence you blushed profusely at his words moving to cover your face and brush the comment off but Warrens hands kept you from hiding “I’m serious,” he told you noticing your disbelief “That first day we met me and the guys spent thirty minutes just staring at you from our house before Karen said we should offer to help you I almost said no too” he paused chucking as he recalled that day as you were practically hanging onto ever word he said “ I was so scared because I swear the moment I saw you out that window my heart stopped and going over to talk to you that was even scarier I mean I was just a guy in a dying rock band and you well I didn’t even know you but you were everything even if I didn’t know it yet”
"Warren,” you whispered to caution him because if this wasn’t what you thought it was, you’d be crushed and you couldn’t live with that, so maybe just maybe if you stopped it now, you could still be best friends. You could just pretend none of this ever happened. It was a terrible existence, but one where you kept him was better than one where you lost him.
"Wait, please, just let me finish. I need to say this." Warren understood your whisper to be one of rejection, but he needed to get this off of his chest; it was eating him alive. Your gentle nod told him to continue. He took a deep breath, hoping it would calm his nerves before he spoke again. “You were even prettier up close, and you were so humble trying to refuse our help. I figured you’d never want to talk to us again, but when you did, I was ecstatic. I couldn’t believe that such a pretty girl was even giving me the time of day, but I thought you just saw me as a friend, and I settled for that because as long as you were in my life, it wasn’t really settling." He paused again, unable to muster the courage to finish his confession, before looking into your eyes. Those beautiful Y/C eyes that took his breath away in most other circumstances just gave him courage this time.
“But I can’t do that anymore; it’s killing me, and I know you don’t feel the same anymore, so everything will go back to the way it was right after I get this out, I swear, but I love you so much, I just had to tell you just once,” he finished, tears falling down his cheeks as he did, looking at your shocked face as emotions washed over him. He couldn’t quite place it; it wasn’t regret; he definitely didn’t regret it, perhaps sadness for the friendship he felt he’d ruined maybe even defeat from his pending rejection.
As Warren was stewing in his emotions, you were trying to come up with a way to tell him you loved him to prove to him that you did just as much, but he had just poured his heart out to you. How are you going to follow that? So you stood there in shock, racking your brain for the perfect response.
"Okay,” Warren sighed, letting you go as he got up from the counter. "Look, I know I said things can go back to normal, and they can. I just need a day to feel miserable, and then it’s business as usual,” he chuckled somberly, trying to make light of the situation before exiting the bathroom, leaving you behind so utterly confused it took you a second to process.
Realizing he must have taken your silence as rejection, you quickly left the bathroom to catch up to him, calling for him to explain how he had made it all the way outside. You’d never know.
You finally caught up to him as he was opening the car door. “Warren!” You called again, running up to him and closing the car door for him. Poor thing looked so confused and upset.
"Look, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for a day."
“Shut up and kiss me,” you cut him off, to which his face contorted in more confusion, and he tilted his head like a puppy, making you laugh at his cuteness. You rolled your eyes, pulling him by the collar of his shirt into your lips. He snapped out of his daze, his lips quickly moving against your arms, wrapping around your waist.
“Finally!” Eddie shouted from the porch, where he Camilla, Graham, Karen, and a bruised Billy stood, everyone but Billy and baby Julia in his arms were cheering.
The two of you pulled away, bashful. You hid your face in Warren's chest to cover the blush as you both laughed with your friends. Warren pulled you closer to him, with one arm around your waist resting on the small of your back and the other on the back of your head, playing with your hair.
“Hey guys?” Warren shouted at your friends as they stopped cheering and paid attention to him. “You’re kind of ruining the moment!”
“Or we’re making it more interesting,” Graham yelled back, shooting finger guns at the boy.
“Go away,” you said, lifting your face from Warren's chest.
Cami and Karen respected your wishes, pushing the boys inside as Graham and Eddie awwed, “I still don’t know who she is.” You heard Billy complain as the door shut, and the two of you laughed, turning your attention back to each other.
“So…” Warren started rubbing the back of his neck with the hand that was in your hair.
You smiled coyly, pulling him in for another kiss, which he gladly reciprocated.
This kiss was longer; you got to feel the way his lips felt on yours, how soft they were, and the way his arms wrapped around you to pull you closer, finding their way into his hair, tugging on the ends slightly so you could pull away.
“I love you,” you said in between breaths, your lips still so close together that you could feel the smile that overtook his features.
“I love you,” he said, quickly reconnecting your lips and lifting you off the ground. You wrapped your legs around his waist, smiling into the kiss, breaking away from his lips and leaving kisses across his face as you made your way to his neck as he started to walk the two of you to your house.
As y’all entered the house, he kicked the door closed with his foot pressing you up against it, pulling your head from his neck, and smiling at the small pout you gave him for having your attack on his neck interrupted.
He chuckled, taking the opportunity to kiss your pouted lips, which in turn made you smile.
“I love you,” Warren told you, pulling away from your lips. He made a trail of kisses down to your neck, whispering “I love you” in between each kiss, making you grin like a crazy person.”
He only stopped when he found a spot on your neck that made you whimper as he kissed over it, deciding to suck on the spot and grinning into it when you let out a quiet moan.
"Fuck, you drive me crazy,” Warren panted as he pulled away from your neck, resting his forehead against yours, beautiful brown eyes meeting your own.
“How crazy?” You asked, pecking his lips and capturing the bottom one in between your teeth as you pulled away.
“So crazy, you have no idea,” he replied, tilting his head back and groaning, his eyes shut tightly.
“Oh yeah?” You egged on kissing his neck again as your hands found their way under his shirt.
“Yeah,” he whispered in between gentle moans. The effect you had on the boy was insane; he full-on whined when you pulled away, grabbing his head in your hands to have him look at you.
“You want to show me?” You asked cheekily, making a giant grin take over his face. His eyes clouded slightly, but you could still see every emotion in them. You could feel the love he had for you in that moment.
“With pleasure,” he smirked his lips on you once more, leading you to your bedroom, never breaking away from your lips.
Warren
“One of the best nights of my life.” Warren smirked at the camera, giving you a wink behind the camera.
