k

in my stranger things era.

[satan-offical]

If you support ICE, Trump or Israel unfollow now. I won't miss you 😚💕

[formallery]

about: max hates the way billy treats girls, steve is nothing like billy 

c.w: mentions of sex but nothing explicit, billy being awful to women but again nothing explicit, soft fluff because steve is a girl dad, some canon divergence with how the fight with billy went in the s2 finale, angsty with a tooth-rottingly fluffy ending, no pronouns for reader but mentions of reader wearing makeup

a/n: max is my daughter i love her so much, i wish they elaborated more on her and steve’s relationship in the show because i just know she wishes he was her older brother instead of billy, divider by @cursed-carmine

Billy is weird with girls. Sometimes they call the house asking for him and Max hears Billy say crude words on the phone, words that would have her mouth washed out with soap if her mom heard her say any of them. More often than not there’s a girl in his passenger seat when Billy drives her home, very obviously displeased by Max’s very existence.

And sometimes her mom and his dad— not her dad because he’s back in California— go out late and Billy will bring a girl over, never the same one. He never tells her to get out or leave because he doesn’t care, but Max quickly realizes she should with the disgusting noises they make. She usually goes outside, skating up and down their street until the girl leaves.

He never drives them home and they leave the house with makeup ruined and walking funny. He never lets them stay the night either. Some of them look upset when they leave, others don’t really care.

There’s been a few girls who walk outside and cry on the curb in the dim streetlight. It’s never loud sobbing, just quiet sniffles as they hug themselves. Max never talks to them, she has no idea what she could ever say to them.

Today it’s one of those nights again. His dad booked a fancy dinner in some restaurant across county lines so he won't bring her mom home until the early hours of the morning. This also means whatever girl Billy brings over is going to be there for a long time.

Under usual circumstances this would be fine, Max would just skate downtown to kill time, except it’s the middle of June and a storm is rolling in.

She thinks it’s ridiculous, why is there rain in the middle of summer? It was never like this in California, they had some bouts of rain in December and April but never the summer. Even when it did rain it never lasted long or was bad enough that her mother invested in proper rain attire.

Which is how she finds herself walking down the street, her jeans and converse completely soaked. The crappy poncho her mom bought at Melvald’s was in the clearance section for a reason because her hair is soaked through and she can feel water soaking her shirt.

She wants to go home. Not that dump on Cherry Lane but San Diego.

She feels hot tears welling up in her eyes when her shadow starts to elongate in the puddles and she hears the rev of a car engine behind her. Great, some asshole is gonna splash water all over her. Instead the car slows to a gentle stop next to her and when she turns her head she sees a familiar red BMW, Steve’s already rolling down the window to talk to her.

“What are you doing?” he frowns, and she can see you in the passenger seat craning your head to look at her. “It’s pouring out here.”

Max’s mouth goes dry, what is she doing out here?

“Walk,” she finally says, hoping the lump in her throat isn’t obvious.

“C’mon get in,” Steve replies without missing a beat, nudging his head toward the passenger side. “You’re gonna get yourself sick.”

“I’m fine,” Max insists, because she really is about to start crying and she doesn’t want to be in his car when that happens.

“Max get in,” your voice cuts in, frowning at her and exchanging a glance with Steve, like you two can communicate without speaking.

She does, only because you’ve been the coolest person ever to her since you stabbed Billy with a tranquilizer syringe and threatened him with a baseball bat.

She gets in the backseat, probably ruining Steve’s fancy leather seats with how soaked she is, and immediately notes the grocery bags. Not junk food but actual ingredients, great Steve was gonna cook you dinner and now she’s crashing your date night.

Steve is already slipping off his knit sweater and cranking up the heater. He sets the car in park in the middle of the road before turning around so he can hand her the sweater.

“You wanna actually tell us why you were walking around in the rain?” He has a disapproving frown on his face but for some reason Max doesn’t feel like it’s directed at her.

She wants to refuse the sweater but she’s shivering in the backseat and it feels warm in her hands. So she takes her crappy poncho off and slips it on, hoping the two of you mistake the few tears escaping her eyes for rain.

“Hey we’re not gonna tell your parents,” you say gently, reaching out to smooth down her soaked hair. “We just wanna know, I promise.”

“My parents are out for the night,” her voice cracks when she talks and she really hopes you two just think she’s cold. “So Billy invited a girl over.”

She’s looking down at her soaked shoes because looking at either one of you feels scary right now. Even then she knows you two are exchanging glances, communicating without speaking again. She remembers her mom and dad doing that, when she was younger and they still loved each other.

“Okay,” Steve says after a beat, his voice softer and reaching out to fix the sweater so it sits evenly on her. “You’re gonna come back to my place with us, and then you can use my phone to leave a message for your mom that you’re sleeping at a friend’s house. Sounds good?”

Max nods, trying to rub her hands and warm them up. Steve takes the car out of park and starts driving back to his place. The two of you are quiet throughout the drive and she doesn’t feel like starting a conversation. Every so often her eyes dart back to the grocery bag, the thought of Billy making a girl dinner is so laughable it feels absurd.

After a few minutes the BMW rolls into the driveway and you come over to her door with an umbrella while Steve grabs the grocery bags from the other side. It’s ridiculous for you to walk her twenty feet over to the door with the umbrella but she humors you anyway.

She follows suit when you and Steve slip off your shoes by the front door before walking in. The two of you actually own proper rainboots and Steve gives a glance at her thoroughly soaked converse.

“Alright I’m gonna start cooking dinner,” Steve tells her, gesturing to the grocery bag. “Why don’t you go take a shower?”

“I don’t need–”

You both give her a look.

“...Fine,” she relents after a moment, because it does feel like her bones are rattling inside her body.

“Perfect,” you take her hand, leading her over to the staircase. “I’ll show you where it is and get you some clothes.”

You take her upstairs, stopping by one of the cabinets in the hallway to grab some towels before leading her into Steve’s room. It’s mostly what she’d expect from a teenage boy, some movie posters, a basketball laying around, and a desk that obviously has seen very minimal studying.

She does catch the fact that there are multiple pillows on the bed and the sheets are a nice cream color instead of bachelor navy blue. There’s some books and a candle on the nightstand, along with two mugs holding the remnants of last night’s tea in them.

“Here we go,” you say, finally looking up after having rummaged through the top dresser drawer. Based on the clothes Max can see in, it’s your designated space in Steve’s room.

You hand her the towels along with some fluffy pajama pants, they have little teddy bears on them, along with an oversized t-shirt.

“Bathroom’s down the hall on the left, just yell if you need anything.”

She mumbles acknowledgment and you turn to leave, then Max calls out your name before she realizes it.

“What’s up?” you turn around. Her chest feels tight, everything feels wrong and right at the same time. This is how things should be for her, but they’re not and she’s terrified this brief moment will be stolen from her in seconds.

“You’re not gonna call my parents… right? You or Steve?”

Your face softens and you walk over to her. Wrapping her in a hug and pressing your lips to the top of her head.

“No we’re not,” you murmur and rub her back. “You just have to promise me one thing, okay?”

Max’s shoulders are shaking as she cries into you. Quiet sniffles like the girls who sit on the curb outside of their house after Billy decides he’s done with them. “What is it?”

“Next time something like this happens,” you whisper, still rubbing her back. “Call us, we’ll come get you.”

She nods against you and you hold her for a few minutes until the crying subsides. When she pulls away you press a kiss to her forehead before leaving.

She follows your instructions, going down the hall and to the left to find the bathroom. There’s two of everything. Tooth brushes, towels, body washes, and shampoo and conditioner sets. She can’t resist being nosy and taking a peek in the bathroom drawer. She finds a makeup bag and inside all the products look minimally used.

Steve must have bought it so you wouldn’t need to bring yours back and forth.

The idea of him standing in your bathroom carefully writing down the products and their shade names to buy them is so silly and sweet enough to make her giggle quietly.

Max takes her time in the shower, letting the steaming hot water warm her body. She also wants to make sure she’s fully composed because it’d be way too embarrassing if she started crying again.

She steals your body wash and washes her hair with Steve’s shampoo and conditioner because she thinks it’s funny. The boys make fun of him for preening with how much he invests in his hair products. It’s stupid considering how nosy they got when Dustin revealed he knew Steve’s hair routine. He never actually told any of them.

She dries herself off thoroughly after the shower and examines the skincare products on the counter. Not the cheap soaps she convinced her mom to buy after her face started breaking out. Fancy expensive ones that you need adult money to buy. Two of everything again, things Steve bought to make you more comfortable in his space.

She uses your facewash and dabs on a little moisturizer out of curiosity, it smells like clay and she likes it a bit. After wrapping her hair in a towel she heads out of the bathroom and walks over to the stairs. 

The smell of garlic hits her nose and just as she’s about to head down she clears the click of the front door. Then your feet padding on the floor as you walk into the kitchen and tell Steve: “She’s a size six.”

“Hmm you think red rainboots are a little too on the nose?”

“She likes the color so it’ll probably be fine. Just maybe make the pants and coat a different color?”

“How about all yellow? She can look like the Morton Salt girl.”

“Well she would look adorable, but she’d also probably kick you.”

“Red boots it is. I’ll get a small for the pants and a medium for the coat.”

“Steve, that jacket is stupidly expensive.”

“Which is why I’m getting a medium so she can grow into it.”

Max doesn’t tell herself it means anything, she never does, but the next morning she finds a bag of rain gear on her porch.

[farfromharry]

Summary: Lando finally wins a race and learns all he needed was a good luck charm

Lando Norris x Reader

w/c 933

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It had been a long and tiring journey for Lando in regards to getting his first race win. 5 years in Formula 1, almost 700 points and 15 podiums and he thought it was never going to happen— at least not if Max Verstappen had anything to say about. And then came along you.

At first you were nothing more than a friend of a friend, someone who had suddenly started appearing at group hang outs, who maybe caught his eye once or twice, purely for the fact you were an unfamiliar face. Suddenly you were everything.

It was a party for someone’s birthday when you spoke for the first time. He had come to the bar for another drink, only to be completely ignored by the bartender in favour of some pretty girls down the other end of the bar. You appeared a few moments later, grinning at the racing driver’s clear annoyance. You tapped his shoulder gently to grab his attention, “Watch this.”

All you’d said was excuse me, which he had already tried, and the man came running. You ordered your own drink and urged Lando to do the same. From that point on he was in complete awe of you. It was such a simple action and yet he thought you were completely fascinating. He had found himself so speechless that he didn’t even say anything to stop you from walking away afterwards. Only then did he realise he’d gotten a free drink too.

It felt like the next few weeks of his life were consumed by thoughts of you, until he finally bucked up the courage to start asking around. It all felt pointless until he saw you again at a party he’d thrown in the hopes you would show up. And you did. It seemed his plan was off to a good start.

He tried not to make it obvious that he was looking at you, or for you. He didn’t want to creep you out. In the end it was you that approached him, which took a lot of the fear out of the situation. No longer did he have to find the courage to go up to you— which he was really struggling with.

“I heard you’ve been asking about me?”

His cheeks burned pink. “I, um… yeah, I—“

You laughed. The sound was music to his ears. “It’s okay. I’m honoured, really. A world famous racing driver is interested in me?”

His eyebrows raised. “You know who I am?” The first time you’d properly met you made no indication of such, so he’d just assumed you didn’t know.

“I might have done my own research,” you shrugged. Not a single part of you seemed embarrassed about it though, not like he had. You were owning up to it, you were outwardly telling him he interested you.

And he knew in that very moment, he was completely hooked.

The first race you attended, not only of the year but ever, was the Miami Grand Prix. Lando insisted it was a good atmosphere, unlike a select few that weren’t always the greatest. It was also warm and there were places he could take you after that he thought you would like. You had no hesitations. All you wanted was to see your boyfriend succeed. You didn’t know all that much about the world of motorsport, but you knew Lando hadn’t won before and seeing it in person would surely be something special.

But he had his doubts. He had qualified 2nd, beside Max, for what felt like the thousandth time. He knew exactly how this would play out. But you didn’t feel like letting him get in his head.

“You’re going to win. You’re such a good driver, Lando. Believe in yourself.” He wished he could have taken your words seriously, but he didn’t have it in him to do so. He had already spent 2 years doing his very best just to get stuck behind the world champ anyway. His hope was burning out the more it happened, it was almost ashes at this point. But even if his hope did disappear, you were there to believe in him on his behalf. It was refreshing to have someone think he could win for once.

“I’ll try.”

You frowned. “If you won’t try for you, try for me?”

Apparently that was all the motivation he didn’t realise he needed. He was going to go out there and win it for you. He couldn’t let the first ever race you attended be one that was forgettable.

And when he crossed the line in P1? Everybody went wild.

While waiting for him to get out of the car, you were almost lost in the sea of papaya surrounding the barriers, but there was no way he would let that happen. He threw himself at his team first and as soon as he pulled off his helmet he was throwing his arms around you.

“You did it! You’re a race winner!” you cheered.

“I’m a race winner!” It felt so good to say. He couldn’t stop grinning. “You must be my good luck charm. Gonna have to come to all my races now.”

Your expression was a mirror of his. “If this is how you’re going to perform at every one, count me in.”

So it had taken him 5 years and a whole lot of time, effort and emotion to get him to that top step of the podium, when all along he had been waiting for the final piece of the puzzle to make it happen; you.

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[kaylans-imagines]

why do u not tell me when u write things ☹️

[farfromharry]

Summary: lando’s tired and falls asleep in your arms

Lando Norris x reader

w/c 650

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The first day of winter break was usually spent asleep the whole day for Lando. He was taking the opportunity to recover from a long, draining season and everyone around him understood.

Never before had he been in a relationship though that lasted until winter break.

It was understandable that you didn’t know about his tradition. When November 28th approached, you wanted nothing more than to spend the day celebrating all of his achievements and his new found freedom. You were excited about being able to spend a few weeks in his presence where he didn’t have to work all the time.

You had been excitedly telling him all the things you wanted to do for days now, and he didn’t have the heart to turn you down. He was just going to have to suck up the exhaustion.

That morning you woke him up barely past 7. It took a few attempts to get his eyes to flutter open, and when they finally did all he gave you was a sleepy smile.

“Ready for breakfast?” you asked, twirling individual curls of his around your finger after her buried his head in your neck.

He hummed.

Throughout the entire meal he could have fallen asleep. It wasn’t that you were boring him with your conversation, he would listen to you for hours even on a bad day, but he could barely process what you were saying.

All day long as the 2 of you explored and went through your exciting itinerary he shook off sleep so he could make you happy. And for the most part he didn’t think you suspected anything. You believed his white lies of ‘resting his eyes’ behind his sunglasses while you took a brief break in your plans to grab a drink together.

By the time you made it back to the hotel to start getting ready for dinner, he didn’t know if he could keep up his act much longer.

You were about to rush off to your room to pick out something to wear when he grabbed your arm.

“Can we just have 5 minutes? Wanna love you for a bit,” he muttered. That would be his excuse to take a quick breather. There would be no way you could resist when he was giving you those puppy eyes.

Your heart fluttered and you beamed. “Of course.”

Despite not being tired yourself, you let him lead you to the couch for a little. He got himself nice and comfortable in your arms, head on your chest and practically laid completely on top of you.

You were too caught up in your own thoughts of what you might wear to feel his breathing even out and his body go slack. He’d fallen asleep and you hadn’t even noticed, not then or not when you began to talk to him either.

“I was thinking…” Your rambles about the plan for dinner had gone completely unheard by the man, but of course you didn’t know that. “What do you think?” you asked.

A beat of silence passed, which you assumed was him making up his mind. When you didn’t receive an answer after another few seconds of quiet though, you weren’t sure what was happening.

You frowned. “Lando?”

You were careful when moving to look at him and you were glad as soon as you caught sight of his peaceful face. It made you warm inside to know he could find himself so relaxed in your arms that he could fall asleep— even if you were unaware of the exhaustion that had been looming over him all day.

Despite how excited you’d been previously about a fancy dinner, just the 2 of you, you weren’t going to wake him up now. You had no problem letting him get the sleep he needed and then sharing a midnight feast of room service later on.

“Sleep well, lover.”

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[farfromharry]

new year, new man 🏎️ ln4

Summary: you meet Lando for the first time after being dragged to a new year’s eve party. safe to say you didn’t hate this new year as much as the rest.

W/c - 1485

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You were far from a fan of celebrating the new year. It wasn’t much of a holiday for you, rather than a period of a couple days that made you sad. You spent too long focusing on how it felt like time was moving too fast and you were getting old and by the time midnight arrived you’d successfully brought down everyone else’s moods.

For that very reason you were planning to stay home and mope in your room to greet 2024. But it seemed your friends had other plans.

“I don’t want to go to a party,” you huffed.

The brunette at the end of your bed rolled her eyes. “And I told you, I don’t care what you want, you’re going.” She tossed a dress at you and stood there expectantly.

From out in the hallway you could hear one of your other friends calling for you. “Come on, Y/N, it’ll be fun.”

You knew there was nothing you could do. They wouldn’t leave unless it was with you following behind them. Part of you was warmed by the fact they wanted you around, but another part of you was irritated that they couldn’t just let you be in your misery. You wished you would have been more stubborn.

An hour or so later and you were stepping into a complete stranger’s home where a party was in full swing.

A drink was quickly passed into your hands and within minutes you were left alone sitting in a quiet corner. Your friends had failed to let you know that this party was being hosted by a friend of theirs, with some of their other mutual friends in attendance. Maybe you would have put up a bigger fight if you’d have known you wouldn’t know anyone here and yet they would know everyone.

It was awkward, you standing there, drink in hand and eyes darting around the place at all the strangers. You must have looked so out of place.

“Do you mind if I join you?” A voice startled you out of your daydream. You were getting ready to turn them away when you locked eyes with one of the most attractive men you swore you’d ever seen. Your heart began to beat a little faster. “All the other seats are taken by couples basically swallowing each other. Figured this is the least awkward place to sit.”

You managed to laugh, like a real laugh. You were surprised that a random guy had managed to make you feel even slightly happy for the first time tonight.

“No, you’re fine. I sat here to get away too.”

It was silent for a brief moment and you cursed yourself for being so antisocial.

“Not enjoying the party?” he asked.

You perked up at the chance to talk to him again. “Uh, not really. Unless it’s your party, then it’s great. I’m having so much fun.”

He chuckled. “It’s not my party. Friend of a friend. I don’t really know anyone here.”

There were butterflies in your stomach. Could this man get any better? “Me either.”

He seemed pleased by that, like he’d needed to know he wasn’t alone in feeling awkward and uncomfortable in order for it to dissipate. “Well now you know me.” He held his hand out for you to shake. “I’m Lando.”

You smiled. “Y/N.”

The pair of you were only talking for a short while when he was approached by a clearly drunk man. “Lando Norris!” Was all he said, rather cheerfully, shaking hands with the man beside you. Lando smiled, nodding to the stranger before he left.

You watched the interaction with a furrowed brow.

“I thought you said you didn’t know anyone here?”

He looked at you with a shy grin. “I don’t. I have no idea who that was.”

The revelation made you laugh, louder than it probably should have, but you would blame the alcohol for that one. He quickly joined in, the 2 of you trading giggles in a secluded corner as everyone partied around you.

When your laughter died down and you wiped a few stray tears, you took a long look at Lando. “I’m actually really glad I came tonight.”

He took that to mean you were happy to have met and spent your time with him. “Me too. Maybe we could do this again sometime, but in an environment we both like. Somewhere quiet, like dinner?”

“I think I’d like that.”

Going into the new year it looked as though you’d be getting a shot at love, or at the very least a nice, new friendship. Maybe new year did bring good things sometimes.

As you noticed the minutes ticking closer to midnight and the party getting rowdier, you ached to convince Lando to move somewhere that wasn’t right in the middle of the busy crowd. You were unsure if he would, given that the atmosphere would change so drastically, but what was the harm in asking.

He looked at you as you stood from your seat, worried that you might be about to present him with an excuse to leave early.

“Come with me,” you instructed, holding your hand out for him to take. He eyed it, feigning hesitance.

He hummed. “I don’t know. My mum’s always telling me about stranger danger.”

You rolled your eyes. “Come on.”

Lando didn’t waste another second, slipping his hand into yours and allowing you to blindly lead him through the maze of people. He didn’t expect you to take him outside into the garden where it was much quieter. There was no one out here but the 2 of you and a couple stray drunk people.

“Much better,” you sighed. “I finally feel like I can hear myself think.”

As the moonlight fell upon you he believed you looked even more beautiful than you had inside. He was slightly in awe. His daze was momentarily broken when he noticed you shiver, the cold chill of the December air being unforgiving to your bare skin. There was only one thing that would be right for him to do as the gentleman his mother raised.

“Here, take my jacket.”

Your mouth opened to protest but the stern look he gave you told you he wasn’t willing to hear any of it. So instead you let him place it over your shoulders, his warmth and scent immediately making your body heat up to a comfortable temperature.

“Thank you.”

He brushed it off. “Not a problem.”

Now that there was no overly loud background chatter from those inside, a lull in conversation meant things got awkward, fast. Or at least on your part. You weren’t sure what you could say now and that led you to a panic about whether he was thinking about how silent you were being.

In reality, he was working up the courage to ask if he could kiss you. In the end it was the lack of time to deliberate that led him to just blurting it out.

He was afraid you’d be mad, considering you hadn’t met that long ago, but actually you were just happy he’d pulled you out of your nervous thoughts— even if his question gave you nerves for a whole different reason.

“Would it be presumptuous of me to ask if I could kiss you at midnight?”

You pretended to think it over, taking a step closer to him so that your fronts were pressed together. His eyes were rapidly looking over your features. Between your eyes and your lips, like he couldn’t make his mind up about where he wanted to focus. In the end he settled for your eyes.

“I might be persuaded.”

And then the countdown began.

As the clock struck midnight Lando made his move and closed the gap between the 2 of you. His large hand on your jaw was more or less guiding you through the sweet kiss, a gesture which made your knees even weaker than they already had been.

The cheers of the party inside were what brought the 2 of you back to the present.

Your face burned as you eyed the crowd, wondering if any of your friends had noticed you sneaking off with the handsome stranger to steal a kiss. You hoped they didn’t, because truly you wouldn’t be able to escape the mountain of questions they’d have for you.

He must have noticed you were slightly distracted, taking the initiative to gently guide your gaze back to him. The corner of his mouth curved upwards when your eyes met.

“Happy new year,” he mumbled, brushing his nose lightly across yours. It was a tender move for a man you’d met only a short hour ago.

You beamed, maybe you’d get the chance to know him a little more this year. “Happy new year.”

It looked like 2024 was already going to be a good year.

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[kaylans-imagines]

my man

[farfromharry]

Summary: you hated Christmas before spending it with your boyfriend Lando, now you couldn’t think of anything better than the holiday

lando norris x reader

w/c 409

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Christmas hadn’t always been your favourite holiday. It used to be the time of year you always dreaded, and for some reason it seemed to always come around too fast. But then you met Lando and everything changed.

You had no idea if it was because you were in love or if he truly was just magic, but he managed to completely change your opinion on Christmas with ease. Whether it was heading out to the markets in his hometown, decorating the house together or even sitting around wrapping presents, you suddenly loved it all.

If someone were to ask where your ideal place to be was, you’d tell them it was in Lando’s arms on Christmas day, belly full after a large dinner and heart warm after a day spent surrounded by family and love.

That was exactly where you were now and you wouldn’t ever dare ask for anything more.

Presents, dinner and the vast majority of the festivities for the day were done, now it was time for everyone to relax and watch the film that had been thrown on to entertain. Some members of the Norris family were napping, others had their eyes trained on the TV; You were a mix of both.

You were on the verge of falling asleep in your boyfriend’s arms, but he could tell there was something on your mind that was stopping you.

“What are you thinking about?” he whispered, his lips dragging across your temple as he spoke.

You smiled, nuzzling further into his warmth. “How much I love you.”

If it were possible, you could have sworn you felt his heart beat quicker at your words. Lando knew that you loved him, but sometimes he failed to understand to what scale. Being reminded always served to make him incredibly flustered.

“Sap,” he teased.

A quiet laugh fell from your lips and if you could have gotten closer to him, you would have. He wrapped his arms even tighter around you, pressing a kiss to the top of your head as you got comfortable.

“I love you too, though.”

You hummed, eyes closing and sleep finally getting the better of you. The Brit smiled to himself, his hand stroking your back in hopes of making your sleep more pleasant.

He too didn’t know how he’d turned you from Grinch to Buddy the Elf in such a short time, but when it meant moments like this, he wasn’t complaining.

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[kaylans-imagines]

my lovely girls back

[farfromharry]

Enough is enough | Eddie Munson fic

Summary: Eddie turns himself in after deciding he doesn’t want to be on the run forever

Word count - 4590

Warnings - angst ig

a/n - sorry for dying lol, this was in my drafts

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You were well aware that life was unable to stay exactly how it was in the moment you were in right now. In your own little bubble, with Eddie by your side. Just the two of you under an old, raggedy blanket, on a mattress in Dustin Henderson’s basement, wrapped in each other’s arms. So close to his face, you could see every tiny detail of his face. Those big brown eyes, the way his lashes curled, and the few sparse freckles dotting his nose. Neither of you felt like you needed to say anything. Despite all the crazy shit that had been happening over the last few days, you both felt at peace when you were with one another like this. You didn’t know how many more opportunities like this you were going to get with your lover.

“I’m tired,” he muttered, breaking the silence with tears brimming in his water line at the thought of what he was about to admit. It didn’t help when he looked at you– only made things feel so much more real. You were looking at him with the utmost sympathy, your hand tangled in his hair, scratching at his scalp as you attempted to make him feel comforted. “I’m so fucking tired.”

You frowned. These awful things couldn’t have happened to a sweeter angel of a person. “I’m so sorry, Eddie.”

You wanted to be closer to him, as close as you could possibly be. You leaned your forehead against his, uncaring about the tears that were making their way from the corner of his eyes and hitting your skin. He briefly closed his eyes, his lashes tickling the tops of your cheeks as he did so. If it had been any other situation, maybe you would have laughed at the feeling, but you didn’t think it was the right time. He didn’t need laughter, he needed his name cleared. 

“What did I do?” he whispered. “What did I do to deserve this?”

He sounded so distraught that your heart clenched. No one had really taken the time to ask how he was doing, everything was too chaotic. He had just had his life turned upside down, in more ways than one, and he was sort of expected to just take it all in and move on. “You did nothing, Eds. Sometimes awful things happen to good people,” you told him, pressing a kiss to his forehead. “You don’t deserve any of this.”

He sighed, squeezing his eyes shut. The gesture forced a few tears out of the corners of his eyes. “I don’t know how long I can keep this up. How long I can– Can give up my life to hide from everyone.”

Your brows pulled together in confusion. “What do you mean?” Wherever he was going with this didn’t sound good. 

“What if I turn myself in?” he suggested. He had been thinking it over for the last few days. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate everything people were trying to do for him over the last few days, but it was too much. He didn’t know how much longer he was able to keep up the front of optimism. He was being hunted by an entire town for something he didn’t even do, how was anyone supposed to react to that? Let alone live through and try and continue like everything was going to be okay in the end. 

The words felt like a stab to the chest. “What?” That sounded like the worst possible idea someone could have. 

He couldn’t bear to look at you. He knew what he said was inherently selfish, but he thought he deserved to be a little selfish right now considering the weight of the stuff he was going through at the moment. “I don’t want to run away any more. I’m tired, a-and I think it’d be better if I give myself up.”

“I- A-Are you sure?” Part of you wanted to get angry and run away, yell at him for trying to do something that would not only ruin his life forever, but a handful of other people’s as well. You knew that wouldn’t solve anything though, and he was probably already feeling terrible as it is. If this was what he wanted, then this was his life, his decision and you would support him. “Eddie, they think you murdered multiple people. You could be in jail for a long time if we can’t figure out how to help. Can’t you give us some more time to try and figure this out?”

His head turned, eyes peering into yours for the first time in a while. “I don’t know how much longer I can pretend things are okay.”

You were silent for a while. He was trying to gauge your reaction to what he had just admitted to you, but he was coming up empty. Usually he could read you pretty well, but right now you didn’t want to be read. You were worried he would be able to see the real emotions you were feeling, rather than the ones you were pretending to have to make him feel better. You refused to be another person that would make him feel guilty for existing. 

“First thing tomorrow, then?” you suggested. “I want to spend tonight just pretending everything’s fine.”

He forced a smile on his face, despite the underlying feelings of anxiety lingering in his chest. Just because he had chosen to do this, didn’t mean he was all that confident in his decision, it was a terrifying thing to think about. “I can do that.”

Conversation came to a close quickly after that. Neither of you wanted to spoil the last moments you were going to have together more than they already have been. Instead you just laid there together, clinging to one another with the ideas of what was to happen tomorrow morning lingering in the back of your mind. If he felt the few tears that soaked through his shirt, he didn’t say anything to you. That was for the best, you really didn’t want him to feel bad. 

“I love you,” you whispered. Your voice sounded so weak that he almost rethought his decision, but he knew it was for the best. He couldn’t drag you or his friends into this any longer, you didn’t deserve to be accomplices to the stuff he was accused of. It wasn’t fair to any of you. 

“I love you too.”

»»——⍟——««

At some point you must have fallen asleep, though you didn’t remember doing so. All you knew was that Eddie wasn’t there when you woke up. You’d reached out for him, hand feeling over the old mattress where he’d been, only to find it cold. Your first reaction was annoyance, you had just wanted to cuddle closer to him to try and block out the cold of the room you were in. Your next reaction was fear. Chills ran through your body, freezing in your place at the thoughts of the worst. You couldn’t believe he would leave without telling you– or letting you say goodbye. 

“Eddie?” you tried. It was useless, he wasn’t there. 

You had never moved so fast, throwing the blanket off of you and racing up the stairs into Dustin’s house. You hoped you would find at least one person in there that could tell you what was going on, but you had no idea what time it was. For all you knew the two Henderson’s could be out already at school and work. 

“Eddie?” you called, voice wavering. There was no response for a second time. 

You thought you could hear movement from the kitchen, so you rushed in that direction, only to find Eddie and Dustin staring at you like you were crazy. “Hey,” your boyfriend greeted. “Everything–” He was cut off when you bounded into his chest, arms thrown around his midsection tightly. He humphed quietly, not expecting the sudden weight against him. 

“I thought you were gone. I thought you left already,” you cried. He set down the bowl of cereal he’d been holding, letting his now free arms wrap around you to keep you close to him. One of his hands was rubbing your back, the other settled on the back of your head. He tried to ignore the confused looks Dustin was sending his way, he could feel his gaze burning into the side of his head. 

“I wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye. Never, baby.”

You sniffled, but your cries hadn’t quietened down just yet. Eddie swayed the two of you in the middle of Dustin’s kitchen, while the kid was still watching you both. He wasn’t going to answer any questions before he got you to calm down. That meant you were standing there for longer than he originally thought, but in the end you were pulling away and flashing him a sheepish smile, embarrassed about your miniature breakdown. 

“What do you mean you’re leaving? Where are you going?” the kid asked. His breakfast was completely abandoned now, just like Eddie’s. He didn’t have long before he should have been heading to school, so you didn’t think this would go down well if he told him now. You might have been happy to support Eddie’s decision, but Dustin surely wouldn’t be. 

Your boyfriend cleared his throat, wiping any trace of upset from his face as he turned to look at the kid. You didn’t know if he was going to lie or tell the truth, but you were leaning towards the former. “‘M not going anywhere Henderson. Was just a nightmare she’s been having for a couple days,” he effortlessly lied. It felt wrong to keep him in the dark.

You avoided Dustin’s gaze entirely, not wanting him to suspect that it wasn’t the truth. He wouldn’t be able to tell from looking at Eddie, but he could definitely tell if he looked at you. You were way too distraught to hide how you really felt at this point. It didn’t matter all the things you’d tried to hide from him last night when you wanted to support him, that mindset was gone. 

“Shouldn’t you be heading off to school, kid?”

He sighed, taking a last bite of his cereal before rushing to grab his bag and slip on his shoes. He didn’t want to be late for another time this week. Taking care of a hidden criminal really wasn’t an ideal task before school. It took far too long sometimes. “I’ll see you guys when I get home,” he said. “Remember, you can’t leave and you have to stay away from the windows.”

Eddie nodded. “I got it. Now go, get out of here.”

As he moved to leave, the brunette called his name, forcing him to halt in his footsteps. He looked over his shoulder expectantly, but never did he think Eddie would pull him into a tight hug. “Thank you, Henderson. For letting me stay and-and stuff.”

He spared one last look at the metalhead when they pulled apart from each other, a sense of uncertainty there before he smiled, wishing you both a bye and a promise that he’d be straight home after school to see you. Those words almost made you choke up, with the thoughts of what was to come soon enough today. You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding when you heard the front door close behind Dustin. “Why’d you lie to him?” you asked. 

Your boyfriend couldn’t tell if you were upset with him or not, but you didn’t sound particularly impressed with him. 

“He’d try and stop me,” he said simply, shrugging his shoulders. He refused to stay still, messing around the kitchen and cleaning up the dishes from breakfast. He was worried that if he stopped in place he would have to talk to you and look at those puppy eyes that begged him not to do this. There was no way he wouldn’t break if you looked at him a certain way for long enough. “I have to do this. For me.”

When he did manage to spare a glance at you, you just nodded, clearly not okay with the idea. You didn’t speak up and protest, instead you just left the room, heading back down to the basement where all of your stuff was. He didn’t follow for a while, assuming you would want some time alone or something to gather your thoughts. 

He was walking like he was on eggshells when he came back down to find you. You’d changed, trying to keep yourself busy so you didn’t have to face your thoughts, but he was going to make you. 

“Y/N,” he called, watching you rush around the place. “I-I won’t do this if you aren’t a hundred percent with me on it.” Those words left his mouth before he could stop them, and he didn’t even know why he said it. He wasn’t planning on doing it with your approval, this was for his own peace of mind. 

You dropped whatever stuff you were doing, letting out a loud breath. “I don’t want you to do this,” you said, simply. “I think it’s selfish and unfair. And I think you’re gonna regret it.” 

He was a little shocked at that answer. He hadn’t expected you to properly speak your mind. It wasn’t a surprise though that your words had made him feel bad, that was probably your exact intention. “Don’t look at me like that,” you grumbled. “You asked, so I was honest.”

“I-“ He paused. “That’s fair. My bad.” In any other scenario you might have laughed with him, but you were much too annoyed right now to do anything close to that. “But I need you to see my side of things, where I’m coming from. Please.” He was close to begging at this point, willing to even get on his knees with his hands clasped together if that’s what it would take for you to truly accept that he was doing this. 

You sighed, shoulders sagging. “Do you know what you’re asking me, Eddie?” Part of you thought he hadn’t really considered the weight of his words. “How am I supposed to just give up my boyfriend like this? A-And let you go to jail? It’s not like you’ll be right back.”

“No, I know that. But maybe Hopper can convince them to give me an easier sentence, or maybe a miracle might happen and they let me go.” He was just saying whatever came into his mind now, hoping it could settle you, but he wasn’t even believing it himself. By some point you didn’t even want to argue anymore. You were wasting your breath trying to persuade him, you weren't going to get anywhere at this rate. 

He could pretty much see the exact moment on your face where you gave up the fight. “Is this really what you want?” you asked. Your tone was sad, and it did make his heart sting, but this was as close to acceptance as he would get. 

“No, but it’s what I need. Enough is enough, Y/N.” You eyed him for a few seconds, hoping he would change his mind at this last minute. It was incredibly unlikely, but there was hope. It was pointless though, he was stubborn. “Fine. But I’m coming with you. I’m not letting you go there alone.” And if that was all he had to get your approval on this, then he supposed he could let you. He was asking a lot.

»»——⍟——««

The two of you decided to walk to the station, considering it would give you more time together. You were worried at first about people maybe seeing him and causing a fuss, but considering he was turning himself in anyway, you didn’t think it particularly mattered. The time the two of you would have together on this journey was all that mattered now. It could be the only time you got to spend together for a while now.

Your hands were locked together tightly, and your head found home on his shoulder as you walked. An occasional tear would soak into the sleeve of his shirt every now and then, which reminded him just how much he was hurting you with this.

The walk to the station had never felt shorter. From Dustin’s house it wasn't particularly miles, but by no means was it a quick journey. Now it was a different story. It felt like you had barely been able to speak a couple sentences to each other before it was in your sights. Not that there was much else for you to say by now. “Can, uh, can we just stand for a while?” you asked, clinging onto him so tightly. 

“Yeah. Yeah, we can do that.”

And you did. The two of you stood there in each other’s arms for probably longer than you should. If you really wanted to let Eddie do this of his own accord, then you shouldn’t really spend so long outside of a police station where he could be easily spotted. When that thought hit you– not wanting to see your beloved boyfriend dragged away in handcuffs in some humiliating gesture– you moved things along. “Are you sure about this? O-Once you do this there’s no going back, Eddie.” 

He knew that, that was the one thing that was plaguing his mind the most. He might have been doing this to help out those around him, not wanting their lives to be ruined by his image, but he realized if no one figured out how to convince a court or a judge that he was innocent, he could be stuck in there forever. “I know. Just promise me you’re gonna keep trying. You and Dustin, and everyone else.” 

You nodded, flashing him a watery smile. “We’re never gonna stop trying to figure this out. I swear.” Your promise meant everything to him. His heart could slow a little knowing he had your word on this. 

He stepped closer to you, setting his hands on your cheeks and keeping your eyes on him. “Even though I’m doing this, I will never not love you, Y/N. I love you so much it hurts sometimes.” If this would be his final chance to confess his love for you wholly, then he wanted to do it. He didn’t want to leave anything unsaid between you both. “You’re the love of my life. And I’m so grateful that you’re willing to stick by me with this.”

“I wouldn’t dream of doing anything else. There’s no way you’re getting rid of me that easily,” you said, honestly. 

The sound of his laugh was something you were trying to commit to memory, just in case you didn’t get to hear it from here on out. “I’m gonna miss you,” Eddie told you, leaning his forehead against yours affectionately.

“‘M gonna miss you too.” You didn’t think that put into words just how genuine you were being. There were no words to describe it. “I love you, Ed.”

The kiss the two of you shared was a true goodbye kiss, all of your emotions poured out into it. It said more than your words ever could. You almost didn’t want to pull away from him, ever, but he wasn’t leaving you that choice. Even though you weren’t anywhere near ready to let him go, he was pulling back, making the choice for you to end the interaction. 

“I have to go,” he said. “Before they find you with me and think you’re an accomplice or something.”

The thought was an awful one, that anyone who was associated with him recently could also be potentially put at fault. It was one of the biggest factors in his decision. 

“Okay. Just, be safe and don’t do anything dumb,” you told him. Hopefully, he would be able to stay in Hawkins for a while rather than be moved to some bigger place where there were so many dangers for him. You really wished you could figure something out before that moment came– it would be your only mission from now until that day was announced. “I love you.”

He placed one final kiss to your lips, a much quicker one than last time. “I love you, too.”

Before he stepped through the doors, he looked over his shoulder to get one last look at you. It was obvious you were fighting back tears, and you were extremely close to failing, but there was nothing he could do now. He’d committed to this and he needed to go through with it for himself. There was a quick nod that finalized his decision, the man leaving you standing there in the parking lot, tears in your eyes.

“Hi, I uh, I need to speak to the chief,” he told the woman sitting at the front desk. She didn’t look up to see him, continuing scribbling on whatever was on her desk. Your heart was racing as you stared through the window. You were surprised he couldn’t hear it from where he was. The woman must have asked him a routine question like what his name was. “I’m Eddie Munson.”

That was when you watched all the heads in the space shoot up. You had no idea how a police station full of officers hadn’t seen him enter the place, but they certainly did now, and they were taking all the measures.

Through the window, Hopper’s eyes locked on you, though you didn’t see him. He knew he would do everything in his power to help Eddie, he knew of the strange happenings in Hawkins, and though he couldn’t exactly explain it to his co-workers, he’d find some way to prove the kids innocence. He let Eddie be taken by someone else to be processed, insisting they treat him with care. Meanwhile, he was going to concern himself with you.

“Hey.” Your head turned to look towards the voice, finding Chief Hopper standing just outside the door of the station. “He’ll be fine. I’ll make sure he gets the king treatment. Promise.” 

There was no use wiping any of your previous tears that had fallen, his words only spurred on more. He got a little nervous when hearing your sudden sob, blaming himself for it. After the sudden shock wore off, he jumped into action, rushing over to where you were sitting on the curb to pull you into a hug. 

You practically melted into his side. He guided your head into his neck, letting you cry there while his hand rubbed up and down your back. The gentle touch was enough to make you pour all of your emotions out that you couldn’t when Eddie was with you. These were the things you didn’t want him to see, not wanting this image of you to remain at the forefront of his mind everyday in that jail cell. “I hate him,” you cried. There was no weight behind your words, you hated his actions, not him— you loved him more than anyone could ever possibly understand. Which was exactly why you were so distraught.

“He’ll be out in no time, kid. ‘M gonna figure this out, and do everything I can.” 

You wanted to believe him, desperately, but you weren’t in much of an optimistic mindset. For now you just had to listen and hope for the best. Unless you wanted him to stay in there and rot, there was no way you’d be able to focus long enough to figure out how to prove his innocence if you couldn’t get in the right state of mind.

It hit Dustin suddenly on his way to school. It felt like a slap in the face, he didn’t know how he hadn’t seen it at the time Eddie said it. He hadn’t yet entered the school building, so he was free to ditch his bike— coming to the conclusion there wasn’t time to unchain it from the rack— and run as fast as he possibly could to the station downtown.

He got odd looks from people on the streets as he passed that, almost knocking over a few when they didn’t hear his calls to get out of his way.

But eventually he was running through the parking lot that housed all the police cars. He didn’t see you at first, or Hop, but you heard his quick footsteps, which drew your eyes to him. The sight of him, so clearly distressed and completely disheveled from having run all that way, made your heart burn. You felt such pity for the boy who didn’t properly get to say goodbye, or at least a goodbye where he was fully aware of what was happening.

“You’re too late,” you told him, shaking your head. Eddie had been long inside before the kid arrived. You still thought he deserved to get his proper goodbye, but there was no convincing your boyfriend to do anything today. Dustin hadn’t expected to see you sitting there, tear stained cheeks, in Hopper’s arms.

He was still panting from all the exercise, but he somehow let out a breath, running his hands through his curls. “No,” he muttered. “No!” 

Neither of you sitting there expected him to have an outburst, but you weren’t nearly as fazed as Hopper seemed to be. His back straightened, worried he would have to jump in and calm the kid down before it got out of hand. 

“How could you let him do this? You were supposed to take care of him, and you– You let him go and do this! You’re so…stupid!”

Hopper thought he was being unfair. Eddie was many things, and insane was one of them, there was no way this was your idea. Anyone who had been a witness to yours and Eddie’s relationship could guess that you would have tried to sway him against the choice he made, but the man was headstrong, it would take an army to change his mind. “Kid, hey. That’s enough!” He looked as though he was going to say something else, but Jim beat him to it. “Go take a walk.”

Dustin almost protested, the look on his face one of pure rage, but he realized he was nothing compared to the Chief. It was safer for him to do as he said. He still muttered angrily under his breath as he walked away. 

“Don’t listen to him. He just– He’s worried about his friend,” he told you. You didn’t need to hear that from him, you knew that. Dustin was an expressive kid, and when he got upset it could be a lot, especially when it’s aimed at one person. But he could be forgiven. You were having the same exact emotions as he was, you just weren’t taking them out on someone. You were possibly the best person to understand. 

“I know. It’s okay.”

Hop admired how you were taking this. Sure you might have shed some tears, and shown you were hurting, but you were taking this a hell of a lot better than he would if he was in this situation with the person he loved. This new situation was going to take a lot to get used to, and it would be hard for a long time, but Hopper had faith you would make it through this, and by the end of it all you and Eddie would be just fine. 

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eddie munson taglist - @pastel-abyss-x @lilylilyyyyyy @spideysbae @lexi-2004 @escape-in-time-x @liltimmyst @fandomxo00 @youcantseem3 @sharnnnnnn @dreashappyworld @audhd-dragonaut @liltimmyst @ruinedbythehobbit @eddiemsbandana

[farfromharry]

Ozzy Munson | Eddie Munson fic

Eddie Munson x Cheerleader!Reader

Summary: When paired together for a project you think it’ll be the end of the world, and at one point it feels like it is, but then it turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to you

Word count - 19,507

Warnings - angst, language?, mean reader at times

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Everyone knew when the dreaded baby fortnight of health class was coming. It was like a legend amongst the seniors this time of year, reiterating all the past stories they’d heard from those older about how terrible it was. 

It was all your friends could seem to talk about as you waited for the first bell of the morning to ring. You were all just lingering in the hall, nearby your class. You hated that they kept reminding you of what was to come when that bell did ring. In your class there was only you and Chrissy, your fellow cheerleaders weren’t supposed to start their assignments until later in the day. You supposed at least you could get it out of the way. 

The conversation came to a sudden end when a certain individual started to make his way down the hall. Eddie Munson was a fiend when it came to the cheerleaders at Hawkins. “Ladies,” he greeted, flashing you all his infamous smirk. 

You rolled your eyes, scoffing under your breath. He was ridiculous, you seriously couldn’t stand him. And he’d noticed. “Y/N, glad I could make you smile,” he teased. “I’ve really missed seeing any emotion other than bitchy on your face.”

He managed to get on your every last nerve and you had no idea how he did it. It was like a talent he had. Or maybe it was just because you’d known one another for so long. But it seriously irritated you no matter what it was, and you swore that one day you would figure out how to put a stop to it, even if it consisted of humiliating him so bad that he just could never face you again. 

“Go to hell, Munson.”

“Only if I see you there. But for now, I guess I’ll have to get by with seeing you in class.”

The little minions of his, that were in his club, joined him, telling him it wasn’t worth it to get into it with you. They practically had to pull him away from the confrontation. If there was one thing he could manage, it was to take things too far with you all. If the basketball team found out and got involved, he would truly be screwed. So they always came to save the day.

You were incredibly grateful when he left, apparently less so than your friends who couldn’t stop discussing the encounter and his disgusting presence for the next fifteen minutes until the bell rang. 

Once in the class, it was easy to zone out when the man was droning on. You got the basic idea he was presenting, take care of the fake baby and its fake needs, work together with your partner, get graded at the end based on how well you did. A very simple concept. It didn’t need such a long winded explanation. 

You only came back to it when partners were mentioned. You hoped he would give you the choice to pick your own, but of course if he wanted his students to pass then that was a terrible idea. He also didn’t feel like making it unfairly easy for some. Within this class, you had a pretty terrible grade, unlike some, and the man knew you would surely only pair yourself with one of your friends who could do the work for you and bring that grade up. He wasn’t going to let that happen. 

You felt like you were holding your breath as you waited for your teacher to call your name alongside your designated partners. It was awful when he wouldn’t let you pick your own, this class wasn’t exactly swarming with your friends. There were more people than not that you didn’t want to be friends with. 

“Y/L/N and Munson…”

You could have sworn your heart dropped in that moment. Of all the people in the room, he and his little band of freaks were probably the ones you wanted to stay away from the most. He was the worst of it though. It wasn’t your fault that he had such a distaste for jocks, or jocks had a distaste for him, that had begun long before you became a cheerleader. But it was easy to fall into the roles of disliking one another because of where you were in the schools ‘social hierarchy’. 

He turned around in his seat at the front of the class with a wide grin on his face. He didn’t love the idea of working with you, you’ve made his life hell before– well, more-so your friends than you– but he was going to look forward to making this tough on you. 

He flashed you a wink, to which you rolled your eyes and scowled at him. You really didn’t want him to know that he was getting to you. 

As soon as everyone was partnered up, he made you all move into seats beside your ‘fellow parent’ so he could hand out the fake babies. Ever the gentleman (clear sarcasm) he made you move seats right to the front, refusing to do any of the work himself. “This is gonna be a fun couple of weeks, don’t you think sweetheart?” he teased. 

“Fuck off, Munson.”

You could hear him laughing to himself at the knowledge he’d riled you up already. It really was painfully easy to do so. Your arms were crossed over your chest, slouching in your seat as you called him a million and one different insults in your head. There was laughing from a couple desks over, and when you looked over your shoulder you noticed Chrissy, giggling to herself at the interaction. With a swift middle finger, you took to ignoring her, repeating over and over in your head how much you hated Eddie Munson. 

“Eddie,” Mr Guillermo announced, capturing the boy’s attention as the baby was passed to him. His eyes flickered between the two of you, and you were sure you could see something menacing behind his gaze, he knew what he was doing when he paired you up. “I’m expecting good things from you. Not like you haven’t done this before, and I’m sure you’ll do it again.”

Eddie saluted the man. “I keep coming back only for this assignment, Mr G. How’d you know?” Part of you wanted to laugh, and you hated yourself for it. 

He ignored those words, entirely. “I even made sure to give you the same one. Seeing as you’re pretty well acquainted already.” 

“Ozzy! Oh how I missed him.”

Mr Guillermo decided he was bored entertaining the kid, moving on to hand out the next child to the couple behind you both. All you had to do for him to hand it over was hold out your hand. He thought it was a little prissy that you just expected to get what you wanted by holding out your hand, but there he was doing it anyway. It allowed you to get a good look at the robotic baby, up close now rather than from afar in Eddie’s arms. It was a lot more creepy looking now than before.

“You named it Ozzy?” you asked. “Like Osbourne?”

He scoffed, though he was actually really impressed you knew who that was. “Yes. And he’s not an ‘it’, he’s a baby. How are you expecting to pass this class if you’re calling your child an it, mom.” He was already taking the assignment much too seriously, and you had no idea how you were supposed to make it through till the end— even if it was only two weeks— without tearing your hair out.

“This is gonna be unbearable,” you muttered under your breath, turning in your seat so you could glare at him. “First of all, don’t call me mom. Second of all, Mr G made it pretty clear this is a partnered project. If I want a good grade, I need to do some of the work.”

“Don’t worry princess, this is my third time doing this, I’m basically a pro. You’ll get the best grade in this damn class if you just let me do it.” The last two times he’d done this, he basically passed with flying colors. This time he was more or less assured to only get better, and if he would be forced to do it for a fourth time, he may as well actually be a dad. If he was ever going to accidentally knock a girl up, at least he knew he was prepared for fatherly responsibilities. 

You didn’t think he had any right to be proud about repeating his senior year three times, yet here he was, wearing it like a badge of honor. “I can’t stand you,” you complained, dropping your head down onto your arms that were resting on the desk. 

You heard him mutter something about divorced parents and trouble in paradise to the dumb baby, which led you to further hide your face. You had no idea if you could actually get through the next two weeks doing this with him, or if you’d ask for another partner within days, or give up altogether. Lord knows you wanted to. 

Becoming a parent alongside Eddie Munson might possibly be the death of you.

»»——⍟——««

It was you, alone, that made the decision that Eddie would take the first shift with ‘Ozzy.’ It was mainly because you just didn’t want to. You hadn’t exactly given him the choice though, you just got up from your seat when the bell rang and left him sitting there with the baby. 

The lack of communication meant that you hadn’t created a schedule or anything, so Eddie had no idea when he was supposed to hand the baby over to you. But after having it for the entire morning, he decided he really didn’t want to deal with it any longer. He’d gotten more than a few glares from peers and teachers. Most of his teachers already didn’t like him, and this definitely wasn’t helping his case. So the first chance he got to drop the kid on you (lunch), he took. 

He couldn’t find you at first, so he had to sit there at his lunch table with a pout on his lips and a fake baby on his knee. His friends thought it was amusing, but he was quick to shut down any jokes coming his way. 

“Dustin, I swear, if you open your mouth one more–” he trailed off when he saw the small herd of cheerleaders enter the cafeteria. Now was his chance. 

He abandoned his stuff and his lunch, getting to his feet and marching right over to the table. He almost ran into various innocent students, throwing out apologies left and right. They weren’t really his concern right now though, you were. All your friends seemed to notice him at once, and he could tell they made some kind of comment about him that alerted you. 

“Oh, god,” Marriane muttered. 

Your head cocked, then you looked over your shoulder in wonder. “What?”

“Freak alert.”

You knew exactly who she meant when she said that. It was sort of Eddie’s nickname around this place. It was actually used more than his own name was. In a way it was sad, but if he cared he never made it known. Although, maybe it was because you didn’t know him well enough for him to confide in you about it. 

“What do you want, Munson?” Chelsea questioned.

He offered a sickly sweet smile to the girl. “Chelsea, always nice to see you. But I’m here to bother Y/N for today, you’re safe.” You rolled your eyes at the sound of that.

You plastered on a fake smile, turning in your seat to be able to look at him. You noticed he had that baby in his arms, holding it like it was a real one. He wasn’t joking when he said he was basically a professional. “Munson. How can I help?”

“You’ll be taking Ozzy tonight. Better get some practice now for when you’re completely alone taking care of a screaming baby.” The grin on his face made you seethe with anger. For someone who claimed they would do all the work, he sure as hell was dropping a lot on you right now. You didn’t know how to do anything with this baby, and he wanted you to take the first night? He was insane. 

You forced a laugh. “And when did we decide this?”

“When you dropped him on me and ran out of class,” he reminded you. You watched as he took a shred of paper from the pocket of his dark colored jeans, followed by a pen that he handed you. “Write down your number, or address, whichever one you’re willing to actually give me so we can talk about this assignment away from judgy eyes.” He shot a few glares to your friends, all of whom were still eyeing him with disgust. 

As much as you didn’t want to, you scribbled down the number of your home phone, slipping it back into his hand along with the pen. It wasn’t as hard as he thought it would be to get you to do that. 

“Awesome, now that that’s settled, you can come drop him at my place around noon tomorrow.” He more or less forced the baby into your chest, leaving you no choice but to take it like you didn’t want to. He seemed all too happy about pissing you off like this. 

You shook your head, beginning to protest before he began walking away, refusing to give you the time of day you wanted to tell him you wouldn’t do this. Once you lost him in your sights, you let out a groan, slamming the fake child down onto the table. You were frustrated, angry with him in general, but your irritation got worse when the baby began to cry, loudly. 

You could basically hear Eddie’s laughter from the other side of the room, and it only furthered the way your blood boiled. 

A sudden spurt of laughter from opposite you at the table made your brow furrow. When you turned to see Chrissy laughing to herself, you shot her a glare. She tried to stop, for your sake, but just like earlier today in your class, she found it inherently funny that you were paired with him of all people. “Oh, this is gold.”

“Shut up, Chrissy,” you grumbled.

»»——⍟——««

Even though you didn’t want to, like Eddie said, you took Ozzy home with you. Your parents were more than confused when you entered the home with a fake baby in your arms. Your brother going as far to make some joke about how he knew you’d end up a teen mom.

“Don’t those things usually take nine months? I feel like I should know, I’ve had two,” your mother teased. You sighed, setting the thing down on the counter with a glare to it.  It made your mom laugh to see you look at it with such hatred, she had no idea where it stemmed from, but she wouldn’t get it even if you told her 

“This is Ozzy. He’s the fake baby I have to take care of for health.”

She nodded, and that seemed to pique your dad’s interest. “Oh, I remember that assignment. They’re still doing that? Who’s your partner?” he asked. You hated that he’d asked, you would have rather kept it to yourself, all for the sake of starting a discussion about the boy you didn’t like. 

“Eddie Munson,” you muttered, under your breath. 

Your mother gasped. “Oh, sweet Eddie! I haven’t seen him for so long, gosh I forgot about him.” You forgot about the woman's love for him, how she’d always thought he was one of the better people around you in childhood– despite the poor boy’s home life– but then one day he’d disappeared from your life without a trace. She’d questioned it before, but you always brushed it off so you didn’t have to talk about it, though she’d always had her suspicions it was due to the fault of your cheerleading friends. And she would be right.

You tried to laugh it off, hoping you didn’t have to talk about him anymore. Other than the fact he was supposed to be really well practiced at this assignment, there wasn’t really anything good you could say about him. “Yeah.”

“You know, that’s actually how me and your mom got together,” your dad said. 

That fact hadn’t ever actually been made known to you. You knew your parents had met back in highschool, highschool sweethearts actually, but they had never told you specifically about what happened. It was nice to hear, incredibly sweet to know, but you felt like that piece of information was going to lead to something else you weren’t necessarily going to like. And you would be right. 

“Who knows, maybe you and Eddie will end up like me and your mom after this whole thing.”

You scoffed. Safe to say you didn’t find that amusing, you just grabbed a snack and headed upstairs where you could forget all about the assignment. 

You set it down somewhere far away from your bed, where it could be kept out of sight and hopefully not heard. But in a weird way it still felt like it was watching you, and you wished you would have fought harder for Eddie to take it home with him.

The first thing you did was get some homework out of the way, it meant you were free to focus on other stuff over your weekend. That took longer than expected, but once that was out of the way, you wanted to take a shower, feeling like you needed it after being around Eddie for so long earlier in the day. 

The baby was left in your room, deciding it could be left alone for as long as it would take for you to clean yourself. However, you didn’t realize how wrong that would be. 

You had barely stepped under the water when you heard it cry for the first time. You huffed, dropping your head onto the shower wall in irritation. The water was switched off and you wrapped a towel around yourself, basically marching back into your room intending to shut it up as fast as possible. Turns out it just needed holding or something, which pissed you off even more. Why did the fake baby need to be held? You were busy. 

As soon as it calmed, you were off again, hoping this time you would be undisturbed. Of course you weren’t. 

This became a routine. You would be under the water for barely two minutes, and the baby would start screaming in your room again. It happened a few times, with you going between rooms, before you called it quits, marching down the stairs with a towel on and dripping wet hair, fake baby clutched in your arms possibly a little tighter than a baby should be. 

“Can you please, take this thing for a little? I’m trying to shower and it won’t stop crying.”

Your parents looked amused at your annoyance, but they took it nonetheless. A cranky Y/N was never a fun Y/N to be around. They would know, considering they’d raised you. “Of course. We’d love to spend time with our grandbaby.”

You still despised that they were leaning into it so much. They truly were as bad as Eddie with it all. You handed the baby over to your father, who immediately coddled it with a concerning amount of care. All you could do was roll your eyes and trudge back up the stairs, hearing them coo over the fake baby much too loudly, just to get on your nerves. 

Thankfully, this time around it went smoothly. You managed to take your shower in peace, then do your whole routine afterwards without being disturbed. But after that, you had no choice but to face the music again and take charge of that dumb baby. 

For the rest of the night, it didn’t bother you much (which you would be eternally grateful for). It actually allowed you to get a good night's sleep for a while, a few hours at least, and in the end it wasn’t even the thing that woke you up. 

The sound of the phone ringing was far from a pleasant way to be woken up, especially when it was all so sudden. You had been completely knocked out, wanting to get a full rest so you could go ahead with your plans the following day. It was a Saturday, so you were supposed to be getting up bright and early to hang out with your friends. You’d thought maybe if anything was to keep you up, it would be that damn plastic baby, but no, it was someone deciding to call you at four am. 

The time was actually the only reason you picked it up, just in case it was an emergency or something along those lines. Funnily enough, it wasn’t. Much to your dismay, it was Eddie deciding to be an asshole. “Hello?”

“Wakey wakey, sleeping beauty,” he teased. You groaned, already tempted to hang up so you didn’t have to listen to his idiocy. It was like he could already tell what you were thinking though, and he demanded you didn’t put the phone down, and instead heard him out. “I just wanted to see how Oz is doing.”

There was a long silence following those words that convinced him you either hadn’t heard him, or you’d hung up, but he could still hear your breathing. “Are you kidding me! You woke me up at four am to ask how the fake baby’s, fake doing?”

You heard him huff. “Stop calling him fake, he’ll hear you,” he insisted. 

“Oh my god, Eddie, I’m hanging up.”

“No!” he said. “Hey, if we’re gonna co-parent then we have to communicate!” 

You hated to admit that he was technically right. There was no way you could pass this assignment if you didn’t talk on the regular, at least for these next two weeks. After that you never had to talk again if you didn’t want to, and you probably wouldn’t if you had it your way.

“Not in the middle of the night, Eddie!” 

The yelling made him shy away a little bit. He suddenly went quiet, and you felt a little bad for scolding him like that. But then he opened his mouth again and you felt like you could rush over there and strangle him. The exhaustion was spurring you on. “But is he okay? Can I talk to him?” he questioned.

If he could see the look on your face, he would be surprised an individual could show so much annoyance towards a single human being. “I’m hanging up now,” you told him. 

He tried to protest, but evidently the line went dead very quickly after you uttered those words. His pleas were useless, essentially. 

You’d hoped that was the end of it. As soon as you’d put the phone down, you huffed, then turned over in your bed, pulled your covers up as high as your chin, and closed your eyes again. You planned on going straight back to sleep, so you could be well rested by the time you got up to head out to your plans tomorrow– with enough time to drop the baby off at Eddie’s trailer. But it seemed he had other ideas. 

The phone rang again, much to your dismay. You cursed under your breath, letting out a long breath that was supposed to let out your anger so you didn’t completely explode on him. It didn’t work though.

You raised the phone to your ear, not being nearly as polite this time around. “What do you want!”

He laughed, nervously. “I fear this is a bad time,” he tried to joke. 

You weren’t planning on sitting there at four am and listening to his stupid behaviour. “You’re gonna be the one to wake the baby if you don’t stop. So, Munson, go to sleep and leave me the hell alone, for the love of god.”

»»——⍟——««

The next morning, despite all the mishaps in the night involving your sleep, you were up bright and early. It was practically the crack of dawn, but you still started to get ready for your day. It actually brought on a wonderful plan that you thought would be very enjoyable. If Eddie wanted to dump the baby on you at a time he knew would be inconvenient, you could easily do the same to him. 

After getting ready and leaving your house, you headed for the trailer park, baby under your arm probably looking like a crazy person. Though you wouldn’t have looked out of place in this area of Hawkins all that much. 

You still remembered which trailer he lived in all the way back to when you were a kid, he hadn’t moved since the last time you’d been there. Despite how long ago that was. When you made it up the small porch to the door, you made sure to knock extra harshly. You felt a little bad for whoever else was inside, but they weren’t your concern right now. 

It wasn’t opened straight away. In fact it took another round of loud knocking for someone to slowly open the door and reveal you. Thankfully, the person opening the door was Eddie, just the guy you needed to see. 

“Morning, Munson,” you chirped, looking at the very clearly disheveled man. His hair was a complete mess, unbrushed and all over the place, falling out of the loose bun he’d thrown it in last night. His eyes were barely open, and the sun was clearly blinding him, which he tried to block out with his hand. He was still in pajamas, and your knocking on his door seemed to be the thing that had woken him. “Don’t you look refreshed,” you poked. 

“What are you doing here? It’s so early,” he whined.

You beamed, this was exactly what you’d hoped for. “Here’s your baby. Take care of him today, I know how much you missed him last night.”

He was still out of it as he took the baby that you pushed into his chest. You weren’t planning on saying anything else, just bidding him a goodbye and turning on your heel to leave. That would have been the plan, had you not been caught by his Uncle, the man having wondered who was at the door and talking to the kid so early in the morning. At the sight of the familiar face, though the one he hadn’t seen in years, he greeted you fondly. “Y/N? Hey, how are you? It’s been a while.”

The smile on your face wasn’t a fake one, you didn’t need it to be when it came to Wayne, he was truly a sweetheart, unlike his nephew. He had always been kind to you. “Hi, I’m good. How are you?” 

“Great, actually. ‘M just making breakfast, would you like to join us?”

Both you and Eddie jumped at trying to turn down the offer, the boy insisting you were busy and you saying pretty much the same thing. In reality, you had time to kill before you were due to hang with your friends— the one part of your plan to annoy Eddie that hadn’t been entirely thought through— but you really couldn’t think of anything worse than being forced to sit and eat with the boy you couldn’t stand. “Really, it’s okay.” 

“No, come on in.” The sweet look on his face made you feel like you couldn’t say no, even if you desperately wanted to. “Anything for Eddie’s lady friend.” 

You could hear the boy protesting that nickname to his uncle as you took a step inside, being pointed to the kitchen where breakfast was cooking. Wayne made some quick excuse about how he’d ‘be right back’ and then you and the boy your age were left standing there awkwardly in the room together. 

There were a tense few moments where neither of you really knew what to say. You didn’t want to be rude to the boy in his own home, you’d done a lot of things but that just felt unacceptable to you. And Eddie didn’t really know what he could say that wasn’t overly mean.

You decided to try and break the tension. Just by being polite. “So, uh, you guys do this every single day?” you asked. It seemed a little excessive, the full spread. You couldn’t imagine they managed to eat it all, everyday without fail. Sometimes you barely had enough time to grab toast before you left for school.

His head shook, messy curls moving with him. “No, uh, every Saturday. It’s his only day off, so we usually spend it together.” The confession made your heart sink a little. You were well aware Eddie hadn’t had the greatest home life in the world, and it was just him and his uncle now, So the fact you were dumping this baby on him, on the one day a week they got to spend together, when all you were really doing was going to meet your friends; you felt bad.

“That’s sweet.” 

The awkward silence was back, and it seemed like it was there to stay.

When the older Munson came back you were overjoyed. It felt as though a little bit of that tension slipped away. “Take a seat. You kids dig in. Maybe little Ozzy can even have some too.” 

Your brows raised. “You know its name?” you asked, a little shocked.

The man chuckled, beginning to plate up his food as he motioned for the two of you to do the same. You were a little more hesitant than the boy beside you, all because you weren’t in your own home, but you eventually followed along. “Are you kidding? I’ve seen that baby every day for these same two weeks, for the last three years. I’m very familiar with my fake grandson by now.”

Almost like he knew he was being addressed, the baby began to cry in Eddie’s hold. “Very familiar with that sound too.” 

“So am I after someone dumped him on me yesterday.” Your words were obviously aimed at the curly headed boy, who just glared back at you, mumbling something under his breath like the baby knew he was talking to him. 

Wayne found your bickering entertaining. He thought you were like actual parents, a married couple who loved one another but couldn’t help but argue at every little thing. 

You whined, not liking that none of them were taking you seriously when you said you hadn’t enjoyed taking care of it. “Seriously, it wasn't cool Eddie, I didn’t want that thing last night.”

“Stop calling him a thing! He can hear you,” he insisted. You rolled your eyes, flipping him off when you thought Wayne wasn’t looking. He was though, but he wasn’t going to scold you, he was actually enjoying watching this go down. He had no idea how the two of you had gone from borderline friends as kids, to enemies now, but he was absolutely going to let you know he found it hilarious. You were so much more alike than you realized. 

You were relieved when the baby finally stopped screaming, though you had to admit it was a little entertaining to watch Eddie pretend it was a real baby. He shushed it as he swayed with it in his arms, and he practically cheered silently when it stopped with the ‘tears’. He was taking this whole thing more seriously than you ever would, so you supposed you could thank him for that when you ended up with a good grade. 

“You're good with it,” you commented. The ‘it’ had him glaring at you, but it only made you grin wider. You lived for pissing Eddie off. “Okay, fine. I guess he’s pretty cool.”

“He gets that from his daddy,” he boasted. 

You hated that you laughed. There was no way for you to even cover it up, he’d seen it, and he was going to bathe in the fact you found him funny. If it was anyone else you probably still would have been giggling at the dumb joke, but you were determined to keep up a facade that it was a shitty joke and nothing more– it had just caught you off guard that’s all– or at least that was what you were telling yourself. 

That one moment had seemed to break all the tension that had been lingering since you got there. From that point onwards, the three of you were laughing openly, making jokes left and right that brought the room’s atmosphere up to joyful, rather than distasteful. 

You left the Munson trailer that day with a smile on your face. In a way it felt like you had a different view of Eddie, one that you used to have before highschool hit. You didn’t think of him as quite the same freak as you did when you first saw him this morning. Only, you were going to have to keep that information to yourself if you didn’t want to be ridiculed alongside him. 

Turns out, sharing a breakfast with Eddie Munson really gives you a new outlook on the guy.

»»——⍟——««

Despite being held up at breakfast with the Munsons, you still had an ample amount of time before your plans with your friends. You got to the cafe early, just taking a seat and ordering water for the time being until they arrived. As you thought back to how you spent your morning, you didn’t notice the small smile inching its way onto your face. If you had, you would never have believed you were grinning at the thought of Eddie Munson. 

“What’re you smiling at?” you heard, snapping out of your daze to find Chrissy and Marianne taking a seat each opposite you. It quickly dropped, and a heat found its way to your cheeks. 

Thankfully, you were saved the task of coming up with a lie to tell them, when the bell above the door rang, signaling the rest of your friends bundling through the door, talking loudly as they slotted themselves into any spare seats at the table you’d picked. You were truly saved by the bell. 

After everyone was settled and had ordered their drinks, and the occasional muffin– not that you could eat anymore after the large breakfast you’d consumed– conversation seemed to take a turn and point directly to you. You didn’t love being the topic of said conversation, especially not when they were using it to bitch about people, but there wasn’t much you could do when it was seven to one. “So, Y/N, how’s it going with Mr Freak?”

At first you were unsure what she meant, still coming down from the high of the morning, but then it clicked. “Eddie?” you asked. She nodded, though pulled a face at the sound of his name. “It’s uh, it’s alright, I guess.”

They laughed. “Alright? You’re not actually starting to like that freak are you?” It’d probably be the funniest thing in the world to them if you admitted that you started liking Eddie Munson. He was less than worthy of being friends with one of Hawkins cheerleaders, and they made that fact known every time they saw him. “You’re not gonna be the next social pariah, are you?”

You forced a laugh. “No, god no. That freak? I just meant… he’s not tried to make me an unbearable, weird nerd yet. He’s kept that to himself.” He had actually kept all the nerdy stuff from you, but that was because you hadn’t asked anything about it. You just didn’t have much of the heart to say anything else about him that was meaner. 

There was a chorus of giggles, followed by your ‘friends’ delving into a round of mocking Eddie relentlessly. They didn’t hold back, and usually neither would you, but it didn’t feel right now. There was something in your gut that was telling you it wasn’t right to make fun of him, not when he wasn’t even that bad. 

It was now when you realized that your friends were the entire reason you stopped liking Eddie in the first place. There wasn’t exactly a better reason than that. They’d just been a huge influence, when they maybe shouldn’t have been. But now was too late to take back everything you’d ever said and done. 

Maybe now you could change though. Sure you couldn’t take it back, but you could try and make up for it all. Prove you were better.  

»»——⍟——««

The first health class after you were handed the babies, was more to check on your progress than teach you anything. Until your names were called for you to go up and talk to your teacher, you and Eddie just sat there, talking while you waited. 

The more the two of you talked to one another, the better you began to get along with him. He wasn’t as bad as you’d tried to make him out these past few years, and the same could be said on his behalf for you. But just because you didn’t think he was so bad after all, didn’t mean that your friends didn’t still hold their grudges against him. Conversation was about your interests, though you didn’t have that much in common, but you at least tried to seem interested. 

“So, cheerleading… that seems fun.”

It was the only thing he could think of, and it made you chuckle. It was clear he had absolutely no interest in your hobby. “It is fun, I enjoy it. It’s exercise I guess, though maybe the people could be better,” you commented. 

He scoffed. “You think?” He was obviously being sarcastic. You both knew you could do with better friends, but there weren’t many great options in Hawkins. It just so happened that you might have picked some of the worst ones. 

“I know they’re, well, horrible, but they can be okay sometimes.” It was the truth. When you were alone with some of them, they could be the greatest friends you ever had. It was when they were in a group that they seemed to change– they obviously felt like they needed to impress everywhere by being cool and mean. “Some of them value popularity too much, I think. Other than that, they can be sweet.”

He didn’t entirely believe that, he thought some of them were just the mean girls at heart that they acted like. But he wasn’t going to argue with you on it. You changed the topic for him anyway. 

“Uh, so, you’re in a band right? Corroded coffin. What’s that like?”

He couldn’t believe you even knew the name, he didn’t actually know how you knew it, but he wasn’t going to question it. He liked the fact that you’d remembered that small detail about him– and that you weren’t mocking him for it like your friends would do. It was a positive change. 

“Amazing actually, I love it. You should come see us play at the hideout sometime.”

You thought about it briefly. “Maybe I will. I’m sure you guys are great.”

It was actually easier than you expected to find a common interest. You didn’t think you would at first, but then the address of his band reminded him of something you said a few days ago. “You knew Ozzy. Is the princess cheerleader secretly a metal fan?”

It was a well kept secret, though you never thought it needed to be a secret in the first place. You thought it was beyond weird to have to keep your music taste unknown, but your friends were odd in that way. If they knew the sort of bands you liked, they would probably isolate you quicker than they had Eddie when they first started high school. 

“You could say that, but I can’t say I’m that big of an Ozzy fan.”

His jaw dropped, like you’d just said the most despicable thing he’d ever heard. “What? He’s part of, like, the greatest band ever. Even better than Metallica.”

Now was your turn to be hit with the repulsion. “No way. Metallica are so much better than Black Sabbath!” you argued. His face twisted into one of disgust. Right then and there, he could’ve claimed you were just as bad as all the others. Though he would only be joking this time. 

“I love them both, but you’re crazy.”

There was a tap on your shoulder that pulled you out of your heated debate with Eddie. You turned to see one of the basketball players you didn’t really know, holding out a folded slip of paper towards you. He edged it closer to you, and you took it with a tight lipped smile. Those players could be so awkward at times, he could have told you who wrote it, at the minimum. 

You found the note was from Chrissy, who was extremely curious as to why you seemed to be getting along so well with Freak Munson. Your eyes searched the room for her as your heart slowly sank into your stomach. No longer did you feel the easy feeling you had when you and Eddie were talking, she’d spoiled that atmosphere. When you locked eyes with her across the room, she furrowed her brows, nodding her head slightly in the direction of the boy next to you. You just shrugged, growing sheepish. 

Eddie, although curious as to who was sending you notes, didn’t ask, nor did he notice the sudden change in behavior when you turned your attention back to him. 

There wasn’t exactly much time for him to figure it out considering Ozzy began to cry. It was like perfect timing. The boy aimed to make some sort of joke about whose parent's responsibility it should be to stop the crying, but you weren’t laughing by the time it left his lips. “The better parents got this,” he teased. All eyes were on the two of you and you just wanted it to stop. 

“Uh, you do it. I’m gonna run to the bathroom.”

To say the two of you had just been bonding five minutes ago, he didn’t know where the sudden coldness in attitude had come from. He had expected you to jokingly contradict his teasing. He didn’t have time to ask, you were gone before he could even pick up the baby. “Okay… Looks like I’m doing it then.”

»»——⍟——««

The Munson boy didn’t see you again until later that day, like after the final bell had rang, signaling for everyone to go home. He managed to catch you before you got into your car, offering you a shy smile. He was unaware if he’d been the cause of the energy change earlier, so he was a little timid when approaching you. “Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to take care of him together for a little while. We’ve probably got more hope of passing if we do it together.”

You didn’t know if that was true, considering you’d done most of the project already in individual shifts, never actually together aside from the time you shared breakfast with him. It did make sense though, so surely there could be no harm in agreeing to it. “Yeah, um, come over in an hour?” you suggested, earning a nod. “You remember where I live right?”

There was another nod and a promise to be there near enough on time. He took off afterwards, with Ozzy held under his arm securely as he jogged back to his van. There was a faint smile on your face as you watched him go, but it quickly faded when you noticed the cluster of judgemental stares just a short distance away. You hadn’t even known your friends were there, but you didn’t plan on hanging around to find out what they had to say about the interaction you just had. 

Once inside your car, you let out a deep sigh, hating that it felt like you were living some sort of double life. You wanted to be kind to Eddie, even if it was just for as long as this project lasted, but he was actually funny, and sweet, and you didn’t have to try to like him. Your friends on the other hand… well that was a different story. You thought they needed to give him a chance, though they probably never would. 

“Way to go, Y/N. Picking the most accommodating friends possible,” you grumbled. 

The drive to your home was silent, filled with the thoughts of how you were supposed to win in this scenario. How did you stay friends with Eddie, and your cheerleading buddies all at once. And even as you pulled into your driveway, you still didn’t have an answer.

You headed into your home, stumbling across your mom in the kitchen, knowing you needed to tell her about your plans. “A friend’s gonna come over to study in a little bit. Is that okay?” you asked. She looked unsure, but that was primarily because she wasn’t a huge fan of your friends. You knew once she found out it was Eddie, she’d be all over the idea. “It’s Eddie,” you sighed. 

Her entire face lit up. “Oh, that’s great! I can’t wait.”

“Try to keep the excitement to a minimum. We don’t want to scare him away,” you teased.

There was a knock on your door not that much later. You’d been putting chips into a bowl for a snack, but you paused to go and answer the door, letting the boy follow you inside after a quick greeting. 

“Want anything? Chips?” you offered, holding the bowl out to him. Ozzy was in one hand, but with the other he took a greedy handful, winking at you when you scoffed and pulled the bowl away. You hadn’t intended for him to have so many, but now like half of your snack was gone. He was just proving that he had, very literally, not changed since he was a small child. 

You were planning to take off upstairs when your mother caught you. 

“Eddie, oh hello!” your mother greeted, pulling the boy into a tight hug he couldn’t escape from. It would have been funny– the look on his face– had it not meant that your mother had decided she loved the boy like her own son. She wasn’t supposed to be so accepting of him already, you were still trying to wrap your head around the fact you didn’t hate him. 

The woman was practically suffocating the poor boy, so of course you had to step in and save him. “Okay, mom, let him breathe.”

You guided him away from her, allowing him a moment of peace. He liked the affection though, he didn’t tend to get all that much. If your mother wanted to dote on him, he was happy to let her, even if it made you a little disgruntled. 

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I’m just so happy that Y/N finally has a friend over.”

Your brows furrowed, eyes narrowing as they looked in her direction. “I have friends over all the time,” you pointed out. And you did, your house was like the main hangout spot, and your mother was almost always there when they did come over. You had no idea what she was talking about. 

“None that I like,” she muttered, hoping it wouldn’t offend you too much. If you were being honest, it wasn’t a big surprise at all. In fact, it was always a bigger surprise when someone did like them. You could hear Eddie chuckling quietly, and you gave him a swift elbow to the rib, which earned a groan of pain. Neither of you were planning to address that your mom had referred to Eddie as a friend. 

“Well, before you decide you hate anymore of my peers, we’re gonna go to my room and take little Oz with us.” You took the plastic baby from the boy, pressing a dramatic kiss to its head as you began to lead the way out of the kitchen and to the upstairs. 

The Munson boy offered your mother a polite smile, though he was amused that you were finally accepting Ozzy in the way that he did. After that tiny interaction, he turned and followed you blindly, like a little lost puppy. It would’ve been charming if he didn’t keep tripping over his feet– courtesy of him not looking where he was going, which he probably should have known was really dumb. 

You laughed at him more than once, and if you caught him on a good day he might admit that your laugh made him feel some kind of way. But as for now, he’d keep that information to himself. 

The few hours together in your room were spent with Eddie putting off study, taking care of Ozzy and the occasional burst of conversation when the boy couldn’t keep a random thought to himself. It continued throughout the entire time he was there, but by the end of it, you were much more happy to entertain him.  

“You know what,” he began, head dangling over the edge of your bed, eyes focused on where you were sitting on the floor of your room. Your eyes were drawn from your textbook to his face, and the sight of him so comfortable in your room brought a smile to your face. “I’m really glad we got partnered for this project. I’ve missed talking to you.”

It wasn’t what you were expecting him to say, it’s probably the most vulnerable he’s been with you. “I think I have too.” 

You watched as he climbed off of your bed, moving to sit beside you on the floor, he did it under the guise that he’d help you with your studying, but considering he was a three time repeat senior, you didn’t know how much help he could really offer. He’d probably end up just sitting there and bothering you the whole time. It was very Eddie of him.

That was exactly what he did. Every time you tried to turn a page, or scribble something down, he was there to try and mess something up. Whether it was poking your cheek or tugging on a strand of your hair. He was always there. 

“I swear to god, Munson. I’ll kick you out if you don’t get your hands off of me.”

He chuckled, placing his hands in his lap to show you he wouldn’t bother you anymore. That didn’t last long though, not when he then kicked his foot against your leg. You groaned, dropping your pencil and shooting him a heavy glare. “You’re so annoying,” you whined. 

You didn’t realize how close the two of you had gotten amidst all the teasing, but now it was all you could focus on. If he inched forward only slightly, you were positive your lips would touch. And you hadn’t yet decided if you’d mind. You didn’t get to though, because before you could edge close enough to actually share a kiss, there was an interruption.

“Eddie! Your uncles on the phone,” your mom called. 

The yell snapped you both out of the situation you had found yourselves in. Your cheeks grew hot, and you could see the way his tinted a light shade of pink. The two of you had almost kissed, and you had no idea how you had let that happen. “I should, uh, go see what that’s about. He probably wants me home.” He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck nervously, eyes looking anywhere but at you so you didn’t have to face what you’d just almost done. It was something that was going to be put to the back of your mind so you didn’t have to deal with it anytime soon. 

“Yeah, yeah, go.”

You smiled at him as he got up to his feet, grabbing his stuff and rushing to the ajar door of your room. “Do you want to keep Ozzy tonight?” he asked. 

“Yeah, that’s fine with me.”

And with that he left, offering you a small smile that seemed a little forced, before taking off. You let out a breath when he was finally out of sight, letting your body relax. You hadn’t even realized how tense you’d been before. Eddie Munson was doing weird things to you, and you didn’t know he had the power. But, you seriously needed to figure out how to put a stop to it before it got bad. 

»»——⍟——««

Halfway into the second week of the project, when the big test you’d been studying for was approaching, you felt like you were on the very edge of sanity. You were so close to tripping over to insane. 

You’d thought the almost kiss would have made things weird with Eddie, but it actually just made you closer. You had graciously offered to take Ozzy for the night, considering Eddie had told you he had a gig at the hideout. You were just trying to make things easier for him to handle, but now you were beginning to seriously regret being so kind. The screaming while you were trying to study was sending you crazy. You were desperate for the baby to be quiet, but it seemed like all it wanted to do was ruin your night. 

At first you tried sucking it up, but then everything started to pile up and you were positive you were going to scream if you didn’t solve the problem. So although you tried to put it off for as long as physically possible, eventually you just couldn’t, you had to give in and call him. 

You had no idea how far into the set he must be, or if he’d even be able to answer the call, but you were seriously begging that there would be a miracle or something and he would. You stood there by the phone like an idiot, twirling the cord around your finger to try and soothe your nerves as it rang. You were so terrified he wouldn’t be able to come to the phone, and really you didn’t know what would happen if he didn’t.  

It took a few rings, so many that you thought it wasn’t going to be picked up, but at the possible last minute, a rough voice came down the receiver. “Hideout,” the unknown man said simply. 

“Hi, um–” It was like all legible thoughts left your brain. You had no idea how to describe Eddie to the man that might not even know him. “I’m looking for Eddie. H-He’s in the band that’s playing.” You could hear the music over the phone, and it was loud, your only sign that the band was in fact still performing. It made you feel even worse. 

“Munson?” he asked. He obviously knew him very well. 

“Yeah, yeah. Munson.”

He told you to hold on, then must have taken off, because all you heard was more or less silence and the faint sound of the band. It did suddenly stop, and it brought the tears from earlier back to your eyes as the guilt set into your stomach. You had a fear that he was going to be so mad at you, and you didn’t think you could take that. 

“Hello?” He sounded confused. You supposed being told to stop your set and answer the phone to some random girl didn’t really give someone a lot of context. He probably even considered not bothering at all, but now here he was. 

“Eddie? It’s me,” you said. You really hoped he would recognize your voice just from that. He did, your voice practically played on repeat in his head all day everyday. 

You could physically hear the confusion twist into concern when he next spoke. Getting a call at the bar he hung out was arguably the biggest red flag ever that something was wrong. “Y/N? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” he asked. All the questions came at once, questions to you, ones he needed himself answering. There were a lot. 

“I’m– I don’t want to ruin your night, but I really need your help.”

Those words didn’t instill him with the confidence that you were okay. If anything it made him more bothered that he wasn’t already by your side. If he could solve your problem, then he definitely would, but he was still yet to learn what it was. “Okay, um, where are you?”

“At home. I-I’m not in danger or anything, just need some help.” Even if you weren’t in immediate danger, he could tell you were on the verge of tears, or already in tears, just from how your voice shook with your words when you spoke. “I- It’s probably stupid, and I’m dragging you away from your fun. I’m sorry, Eddie.”

“Hey, no worries,” he assured. His voice sounded so kind that you wanted to cry all over again. It was becoming a very familiar feeling this evening. “I’ll be right over. Give me, like, twenty minutes and I’m yours.”

Your thank you was barely loud enough to be heard, but he caught it just before he hung up. He hadn’t thought his night would end so early, it usually didn’t when he was performing with Corroded Coffin, even if it was a school day, but he was happy to cut it short if you needed his help, and you seriously sounded like you needed his help. 

He was even quicker than he said, which told you he’d been speeding. Usually you’d chastise him for being so unsafe, but you didn’t have the energy this time around. 

By the time he knocked on the door, you were so exhausted from your own emotions that the words just fell out. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” you began to furiously mutter as he stepped through your door. He had barely even gotten a foot through before the words started spewing out of your mouth. He hadn’t yet been able to tell you that it was okay. “I know you were busy and I really didn’t want to call, but I–”

He shushed you, shaking his head. He could hear Ozzy’s screams from somewhere in the house, but they sounded muffled, like you’d tried to hide it or something. Usually it would’ve made him laugh, but he didn’t think now was the time. “It’s okay. We were about finished anyway,” he promised. It was a lie, there was actually a while left in their show, but they could play without him. Plus it wasn’t like many people would miss him, there were only around four people in the audience. You didn’t need to know any of that though. “Tell me what’s going on.”

You’d never seen him so caring and concerned, but it was a nice change. “I– I have to study, and I don’t get half the stuff i’m supposed to a-and I can’t get the dumb baby to stop crying,” you whined, the tears spilling over your cheeks as all your problems came back to the surface of your mind. “I just… I’m overwhelmed,” you concluded. 

He frowned, though in true Eddie fashion, he couldn’t resist cracking a joke that he hoped would make you feel better. “You know, you really shouldn’t talk about our child like that.”

You rolled your eyes, but nevertheless still chuckled a little bit at the comment. It wasn’t enough to completely cure your sadness, but it helped. “Shut up and please make it stop,” you begged, eyes pleading with him desperately. 

He didn’t need to be asked a second time. As those words left your mouth, he took off, heading in some random direction in the hopes that he might find where you’d hidden the baby. It didn’t occur to him until after a while that he could have just asked you where it was. So he headed back to where you were standing, still in the same position looking as sad as you were before. “Where exactly is our child?”

The fact he referred to Oz that way made you smile a little. “Uh, he’s in my closet, under a few blankets and pillows and stuff,” you said shyly. It made him cackle that you’d gone to such an extent, and it was probably the exact opposite of what your assignment said you were supposed to do. This was more like what Eddie thought being your partner would be like. 

“You’re so amazing, sweetheart.”

The pet name made you flush. You wouldn’t have been surprised if he could feel it from all the way over where he was standing. It slipped out so casually, and you weren’t even sure he had noticed it, but it made your stomach flutter. Little did you know, he had noticed. He hadn’t meant for it to come out, it’d be something he’d been calling you in his head, never with the intention for it to be spoken allowed, but now he was freaking out. He just hoped you hadn’t found it too weird. 

Thankfully, he wasn’t to notice any embarrassment on your face, he had already turned away in his own humiliation before he could see yours. 

He scurried away to your room, already knowing the path from his visit the other day. You left him to it for a little while, needing a moment to breathe and clear your head before you joined him. You also needed to know that the crying had stopped before you headed up the stairs, just so you didn’t explode. 

You thought ten minutes was a good amount of time. And you’d been right. When you ascended the stairs, moving down the hall to your bedroom, he was standing inside, Ozzy in his arms as he swayed a little from side to side. It was a cute sight, and it further solidified your idea that with all this practice Eddie would surely end up being an incredible dad. 

“How do you do it?” you asked, sounding more than amazed at his abilities. He scoffed, downplaying his talents. There was no way you were going to allow that though. “Seriously, Ed. He was screaming for like three hours before you showed up.”

You watched him wince, which didn’t look like a good sign of something. You had no idea what that something was though. “What?” you quizzed. 

“That’s gonna really mess up our grade,” he teased. 

You scoffed, slapping your hand against his chest. He laughed loudly, setting the now calmed baby on your bed somewhere. Your attention wasn’t on that though, you were much more focused on the boy himself. 

It felt like he was a miracle worker. You hadn’t ever looked at the Munson boy like you did now, like he was some sort of guardian angel sent down to you. Maybe your thoughts were clouded, maybe you weren’t thinking straight, but he had never seemed more attractive than right now. 

He must have noticed a sudden shift in the atmosphere too, because there was a glaze that came over his eyes when he looked at you. You couldn’t begin to explain, but you weren’t going to try to. 

There was a weird sort of magnetism that suddenly appeared between the two of you. You felt yourself edging closer to him, and you from two weeks ago would probably have recoiled in disgust, but you were the one leaning into it most right now. So much could change in such a short time and it shocked you to think about it really. You wouldn’t change it for the world though, even if you were given the choice to. 

Eddie must have been feeling the same way. His hands lifted from his sides, settling on your face so he was practically cradling it. It was the most loved you’d felt in a while, and you really hoped he felt the same way about it. 

His touch on your cheeks made your heart pound in your chest. Your breathing was noticeably heavier, though you really hoped he didn’t notice your nerves. You’d be mortified if he knew how tense you were right now. “Y/N…” he whispered. His thumb was stroking over your cheek, which could definitely feel the heat on your face. 

“Just kiss me,” you hissed. 

As soon as he heard those words, sort of his confirmation that this was okay, he was lunging forward. You had zero idea how it had happened. To say you hated the guy such a short time ago, you were pretty much solidifying your changed feelings for him now. He was gentle with it, though you could tell he was holding back, whether that was for your sake or his. You would have been perfectly happy for him to kiss you with vigor though.

Your hands got tangled in his hair, and although he would usually hiss at the terrible pain that shot through his scalp, he found he didn’t mind it so much when it was you. He never thought the day would come when he was in this position, but here he was, a prime example that wishes do in fact come true. 

You were first to pull away, but not because you particularly wanted to, just because you needed to breathe. You couldn’t imagine passing out from lack of air while kissing Eddie was going to do well for any potential relationship. 

“Wow,” he whispered. You chuckled nervously, though you really hoped he didn’t mistake those nerves for disgust or disappointment or anything. He didn’t. He just no longer knew what exactly to say to you. You were the same way, feeling like a shy school girl all of a sudden. Never had you kissed someone and wound up with that reaction afterwards. Eddie was just… different. 

“Yeah,” you sighed, dreamily. 

There was a beat of uncomfortable silence before he spoke up. “I’ll take this rascal for the night. Let you have a nice break.” You were happy to have him take the plastic toy, wanting it as far away from you as possible for the night. A peaceful sleep was all you could ask for. With each word he edged a little closer to your front door, though really he didn’t want to leave. If he could stay with you, especially after that kiss, he would jump at the opportunity. “Goodnight Y/N. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight.” You watched as he descended down your yard to his van, which you noted was parked hastily half on and off the curb. It made you chuckle, but you also found it sweet that he’d been in such a rush to get to you. At that realization, that he’d cared so much that he probably broke multiple driving laws, you couldn’t let him leave so easily.

“Eddie?” you called. He stopped walking, turning on his heel to look at you. He hadn’t expected you to jog up to him, but within seconds you were standing in front of him, grinning widely. It was the happiest he assumed you’d been all night, and he was glad he could be the cause. You didn’t say anything else, just pressed a sweet, quick kiss to his lips. A goodnight kiss you would have called it. “Thank you.”

He was blushing like crazy when you pulled away, and although this was now officially the second time he’d kissed you, it had caused him to be a stuttering mess. “It’s no p-problem.”

»»——⍟——««

The whole night you were thinking about that kiss with Eddie. Your dreams were filled with the way his hands caressed your face, how soft his lips felt against yours. You were still actually rather surprised how soft his lips had been. You woke up the next morning with that same dumb smile on your face that you’d fallen asleep with. 

You almost couldn’t wait to see him when you woke up. Getting ready consisted of you practically bouncing all over the place with your excitement. It just couldn’t be contained. However, you didn’t have the pleasure of catching him before class. He was nowhere to be seen. Eddie wasn’t exactly Mr Punctual, so you suspected he would arrive much later than he should. You would just have to deal with seeing him when he finally showed up. 

You thought you’d seen his van in the parking lot, but considering there was no sign of him inside, you assumed it was just a similar model or something that you mistook for his. You hated to admit that it made you a little disappointed. 

But, you trudged inside anyway, and found some way to busy yourself while you waited for your class to start. It just so happened though, that it looked like you were going to have to entertain your friends. Although you tried to avoid them, keeping your head down while at your locker, hoping they could just walk past and miss you, they spotted you right away. Maybe it was the bright cheerleader uniform that gave you away. “Y/N!” one of them called in a high pitched, grating voice. 

You looked over your shoulder with a faked smile. “Hey,” you greeted. 

“Feels like we haven’t seen you in forever. You haven’t abandoned us for Munson have you?” Chelsea chuckled. To her that was probably the funniest mental image in the world, but you just had to hold back from rolling your eyes. 

“Can’t have our girl with that freak. Sort of ruins our reputation.”

You frowned. “Stop,” you whined, before you could really tell yourself to shut up. It felt wrong to be letting them speak about him like this. If he was here now he would probably be devastated too. He might not always show that the stuff people say about him gets him, but you’ve started to notice he takes stuff to heart just like anyone else. You’d noticed in conversations with him recently that he was pretty self-deprecating at times, but the stuff he said was stuff you’d known your friends to yell at him. It made your stomach sink each time. 

Little did you know, out of the corner of her eye Chelsea had seen the mane of curly hair coming out of a nearby classroom. It was the same one he held his club in, and in tow was one of his younger friends who frequented Hellfire. “Oh, come on. Are you really going soft for that loser? What happened to the girl who used to despise him more than we do?”

It was in that moment where you felt painfully pressured to join in. You wished you had the strength to walk away, tell them no or stick up for him. Any of those things would have been a billion times better than giving into what they wanted and being horrible. “I’m obviously only using that freak for the grade. He just started getting clingy, can’t take a hint apparently,” you laughed. 

They had somehow timed it just right, so Eddie walked by just as the laugh tumbled out of your mouth. It felt like someone had just staked him in the heart, and he had no idea how he was supposed to react. Although the pain was only emotional, it really did feel physical for a while. He could’ve sworn his heart was cracking in his chest. Dustin saw the previous joyful expression on his face drop.

“Come on. Let’s get out of here,” the kid suggested. He didn’t think his friend needed to be subjected to anymore of this cruelty. 

He wouldn’t budge though, he was still standing there. He needed you to see the pain you were causing him, how you’d made him feel in the hopes it would drown you in guilt– if you could even experience such an emotion. “I didn’t know you were so shallow,” he called. It was clear to him that this was the first time you were realizing he was there. There was a fear slipping into your eyes, and you resembled something like a deer caught in headlights. “Glad to know what you really think of me.”

“Eddie–”

“No. No, I wouldn’t want to take up anymore of the princess’ time. I’m clearly not worthy.” He turned on his heel and began walking the other way. There wasn’t even anything down there that he needed, but he just knew he couldn’t face walking past you like that. Dustin followed, shooting you a harsh glare over his shoulder for hurting his friend. For the last couple days, due to all of Eddie’s girly ramblings about you, he assumed you’d changed, but now here you were proving that idea wrong. He couldn’t even imagine how truly crushed his friend was, or how pissed he was, considering Dustin himself was pretty damn pissed. 

The look of betrayal on his face hurt more than words could explain. The guilt was multiplied by at least a million. You knew you shouldn’t have said anything, you didn’t even know why you opened your big mouth to say something in the first place. It was dumb, painfully so, and it was going to take a lot to try and make up for this. And it was going to have to start with you rethinking who your friends were. You couldn’t claim to have a crush on a guy if you surround yourself with all these people who openly mock him, and you didn’t even come to his defense. 

“Excuse me,” you muttered quietly, pushing your way through the group of girls who didn’t even hear you, just so you could follow after him in the direction he took off. They didn’t know where you were going, but even if they were curious, you wouldn’t care to explain to them. You didn’t need to justify having to swallow your pride in order to talk to a guy they thought was a social reject. 

You had to chase after him like a scolded puppy, calling his name more than once. All eyes were on the two of you as you walked the maze that was the halls of the school. If he finally did give you the time of day to talk to him, you knew there was no way you could do it in front of all these people. They didn’t need to hear it. 

“Eddie, please, just give me two minutes,” you begged. The way you pleaded with him seemed to get through to him for a minute. He paused, despite Dustin’s insistence that he shouldn’t give you the time. 

He was whispering something to the kid that you couldn’t hear, but it must have been something along the lines of him giving the two of you some time. Henderson made it known how angry he was when he walked past you, glaring so harshly that you thought his look would kill you if it could. You couldn’t do anything but look away from him in discomfort, he was proud of himself at the fact he’d made you squirm. 

As soon as Dustin was gone, you took that as your sign to get started. “I’m-I’m sorry,” you began. You heard him scoff, but you also couldn’t blame him for that, that was in fact an incredibly lame ass apology. You just didn’t know what else you were supposed to say to him. 

“You’re sorry? Is that all you have to say for yourself?” People seemed to think it was exciting to watch you get yelled at by the resident freak of Hawkins. Eddie notably didn’t like jocks, and they’d seen him start arguments with Jason on more occasions that they could count, but never once had he gone for a cheerleader like this. It was like a once in a lifetime thing. 

Your eyes were growing teary. You knew it was pathetic to try and cry in the hopes it would make him kinder. It was completely unfair actually, but you weren’t sure what else to do. “I-I don’t know what to do. What do you want me to do? I’ll do anything.”

He huffed. “You want to do something for me?” It was more of a rhetorical question but you nodded after it nonetheless. “Leave me alone. Go back to your great life, and your perfect little friends, and stay away from me,” he hissed. 

He hated the look that crossed your face, but he hated even more that he was so upset by it. Why did you still have control over his heart when you’d been the one to rip it out of his chest in the first place? It wasn’t like he had done anything to deserve it. “Is that really what you want?” Your voice was so quiet that he almost didn’t hear it, and he wished he hadn’t because that sentence was truly the final thing that solidified the crack that ran down the middle of his heart. His answer to this was going to finish the both of you. 

He didn’t want to say yes. No matter how much his brain screamed at him to tell you no, he couldn’t listen to it. “Yes.”

You inhaled shakily, visibly holding back tears that his words had brought to your eyes for the second time. You wished you had just never opened your mouth, then you really wouldn’t have been in this situation. “Right. Okay.” If you could have just left it at that, the two of you might have ended on the slightest of better terms, but you just had to open your mouth again. “Are you sure there’s nothing I can do? I-I don’t think you realize how serious I am when I say I’ll do anything.”

It looked as though he might have considered it for a second or two, but ultimately he decided against it. “I have to get to class,” he muttered, attempting to walk past you. 

Your hand wrapped around his bicep though, a small smile crossing your face. “Since when have you ever been on time for class, Munson?” you tried to joke. He didn’t seem to think it was funny, trying to brush you off of him. It only served to make you more sad if anything. You frowned as you removed your hand from him like he wanted you to. “Sorry,” you muttered. 

It was painfully awkward. You tried to offer something that would make him feel better, a kind act that was meant to try and get you back on his good side. “I, uh, I can take Ozzy for the day, and night, if you want.”

He had forgotten that the baby was still in his grasp, probably much too tightly considering the anger in his body right now. But he didn’t care about that so much. Now that his attention was drawn back to it though, he realized how much he didn’t want to spend the rest of this project trying to act civil with you. “Forget it. I’ll finish the project on my own, that way you can go back to being Hawkin’s perfect, princess cheerleader sooner.” It stung a little, but you supposed you’d earned it. 

He was completely avoiding your gaze, and you wished you could have said you blamed him. “Eddie…” Your voice was so weak that it almost convinced him, but he was determined to be stronger than that. He wasn’t going to give in to you just because he felt bad, you had made him feel so much worse than you were feeling right now, you deserved to feel like this. He didn’t even look at you as he walked away. 

If you didn’t have a class that you needed to get to ASAP, you could have potentially broken down into tears right there. You felt horrible, in a way you’d never felt before, and the guilt was already eating you alive. 

»»——⍟——««

It had been days since Eddie last spoke to you, and you felt like you were having withdrawals. Your original plan was to essentially never speak to him again after your project was over, but now you actually found yourself missing him and his shitty jokes. It was incredible to you how close you could get to someone in less than two weeks when doing such an involved assignment together. In any other situation, Eddie probably would have made a joke about how Ozzy now had to suffer with divorced parents, but that was missing too. There was a lot less humor in your days.

It wasn’t like you hadn’t tried, you had attempted many times to talk to him, but he didn’t want to hear it each and every time. He wouldn’t say anything to tell you to go away, he just ignored you. He actually wouldn’t even look at you. It made the class you were partnered together for painfully awkward. 

“Hey, Eddie,” you greeted, wringing your hands together nervously. He didn’t look up from where he was scribbling in his notebook. He never actually did work in this class, you knew that much, so you knew he wasn’t planning on starting now. You didn’t let him tell you you couldn’t sit beside him, you just sat down. You did hear him grumble about it though. “How’s it been going with Oz?” 

Before all this happened, he would have been over the moon that you were referring to Ozzy with a nickname, rather than calling him an ‘it’ still. Now though, he hadn’t even allowed you to take him for any period of time– not the days you were scheduled for, or the nights– he’d been doing it all. You knew he must have been exhausted, and you wished he would just ask for your help. You never thought you would be willing to care for a fake baby that just screams all the time, but now here you are. 

He didn’t answer you, which had you sinking down into your seat more. You were embarrassed. “Miss Y/L/N, is there something you’d like to share with the class?”

You had been so caught up in Eddie that you didn't even realize the class had begun. Now all eyes were on you, Chrissy and the other jocks snickering in their seats at the expression on your face. You had gone from a kicked puppy to sheepish. 

Your voice was quiet when you spoke. “No, sir. Sorry.” The man had noticed you looked a little more down today, and he put the pieces together and assumed it was something to do with Munson. He didn’t know what teenage relationship bullshit was going on, and he absolutely didn’t want to get into it, but he would step in if he thought it would affect your grade. For the most part he knew it would be fine, considering Eddie was always good with this assignment, but he would intervene if he had to. 

He nodded. “Alright, then. So today’s task requires communication. I’m expecting you and your partner to consider the financial responsibilities of having a kid. Are they going to college? How are you going to save that kind of money? It’s vital that you talk about this.”

The gesture made you smile at Mr G, grateful that he’d picked up on the fact you were trying to right a wrong and given you this opportunity. He flashed you a smile, one that he knew you’d recognise as being for you. Even if he was annoyed previously that you’d been talking when he was trying to conduct his lesson, he still had some decency to try and help. You didn’t talk again until he set you off on your tasks, giving you all the okay. 

“So, dad, you emotionally ready to plan for Oz to go off to college? Won’t be too sad watching him go?” When he didn’t respond you tried to crack a joke, hoping you could earn a smile or something at the least. “They grow up so fast don’t they?”

You watched as the metalhead’s hand shot up in the air. It took barely a minute for your teacher to recognize it, nodding his direction. “Can I go to the bathroom?” You visibly deflated, but it wasn’t like the older man could tell him no if he wanted to. 

“Sure.”

From there you were left sitting by yourself, taking Ozzy from Eddie’s desk and playing with the dolls hands for something to do. Your teacher felt pity for you, even if he didn’t know the full story of what was going on– he did have some idea considering gossip spread like a wildfire in high school— but he usually stayed out of it. Right now there was nothing he could do, so it seemed, that would help.

After failing to have Eddie actually speak to you directly, even at the instruction of your teacher, you thought your only other option was to approach his friends. 

You took your chances when you couldn’t see him at the lunch table. Him and his friends sat at the same one every day, so you knew where to look, but you had to wait for an opportunity when he wasn’t there. That wasn’t often. It took a lot of waiting, and glances over your shoulder that probably made you look pretty obsessive. But eventually, you watched as he left the cafeteria for some reason, giving you the perfect chance to head over to the table to talk. 

“Uh, hi,” you greeted, coming to a stop at the end of the table. They all turned to look at you. Some looked confused, others looked annoyed, and one of them, Jeff you thought his name was, seemed like he was prepared to greet you. That was until Dustin nudged him and shook his head. Though he was one of the youngest sitting there, it very much appeared like he was sort of running the show. The distaste within them all at the sight of you made you even more uncomfortable than you already were upon approach. “Looks like he’s told you guys then. But I just, I want to apologize, please.”

Your eyes were pleading with anyone of them that would look at you, but it seemed like none of them wanted to hear it. “Dustin,” you called. “If anyone could convince him to give me another shot, it’s you. Please.” Everyone had turned to him now, to try and gauge what he was thinking of doing. 

There must’ve been something about you that changed your tune since the last time you held an interaction with the younger boy. Whether that was your eyes, what you were asking him, or maybe he just realized you were serious about this. He thought a lot of things about the cheerleaders within this high school, but he didn’t think a single one of them would go to these kinds of lengths to embarrass someone they saw as even less than beneath them. 

It was probably that which gave him the confidence you were genuine. He cared about Eddie, and if he thought there was even a slight risk being posed to his friend, he wouldn’t go through with what you were asking of him. “Well, he’d totally not love it if you dropped those friends of yours, and he’d probably not love it if you made some sort of grand gesture to show him you were serious,” he said, raising his eyebrows and flashing you an awful attempt at a subtle wink when he spoke. 

It took you a second or two to catch on, but when you managed it was like a light bulb went off in your head. Everyone at the table, despite the fact they were still confused, saw the way in which your eyes lit up, a gasp tumbling past your lips. You placed your hands on Dustin’s shoulders, kissing his cheek gratefully, ignoring the way he blushed brightly. “You’re a lifesaver.”

With that you scurried away, bidding the table a few half-hearted goodbyes. You had a plan to concoct, so there wasn’t really any time for you to waste. You needed to find a quiet place as soon as possible where you could sit and brainstorm what this big grand idea might be. That place happened to be the library, which was basically empty considering it was lunch time. It was perfect. 

The dropping your friends part would be easy, you could say one wrong thing and you would be dead to them in seconds. So, as long as you said something about Eddie’s good nature, it would be fine. As for a gesture that would change his mind about his feelings towards you, that would be a little more difficult. Eddie was already quite the extravagant guy, so you thought it would be difficult to do something that would impress him. But you were sure you’d be able to manage eventually. There had to be something you could do that was so out of character for you that it just screamed ‘I have a huge crush on you’.

You were very stuck in your own thoughts for a while, the end of your pencil in your mouth as you chewed mindlessly. You were so distracted that you didn’t notice someone else coming into the room at first, not until they spoke to you. “Excuse me, do you–” He stopped when he realized what his mistake had been. He hadn’t realized he was speaking to you until you raised your head, though in hindsight it probably should have been obvious. Maybe it was the jacket thrown over your cheer uniform that meant he just didn’t notice. 

“Hi,” you said, weakly. The clear look of disgust on his face made your chest ache. He just scoffed, shaking his head and trodding further into the library. It looked like he was looking for something, probably one of his nerdy ones. 

With a sigh, you realized you didn’t particularly want to still be there when he came back from being lost amongst the shelves, not if he was only going to look at you with those same hatred filled eyes all over again. You didn’t know how much more of this cold shoulder you could take from him. 

“I’ll win you back Munson,” you whispered, eyes in his general direction though you could only see quick sightings of him as he moved along the shelves. “I swear by it.” 

You began to pack up your things, hurriedly. Thankfully, you managed to head out before you saw him again, but he saw the back of your retreating figure just as you left the doors. He felt a little disgruntled. His half a question had been the most interaction he’d had with you in weeks. Though he was the one who was rejecting any form of communication with you, he had to admit he did miss talking to you.

»»——⍟——««

To say you were nervous for the day was an understatement. Your regular life was going to change for the sole reason of a boy. You had thought about it deeply, whether you wanted to make such a sacrifice for some guy that you decided you had feelings for within a week, but then you thought of all he’d done for you and made you feel in those seven days– which was so much– and then you knew this was the right decision. 

Upon entering the school, the first thing you needed to do was track down your fellow cheerleaders and give them a little piece of your mind. It wasn’t hard to find the preppy girls with the bright uniforms and high ponytails. They were in the courtyard, some sitting, others standing around and mocking anyone they set eyes on. 

Maybe if you hadn’t seen Eddie with a couple of his friends just around the corner, you might not have gone through with it, but you knew at that moment that it was really important for you to do this. Not only was it for him, but you as well. It’d make you feel like a better person to know you weren’t tearing people down everyday like they were. You might have been doing it for a while, but now was the time you put a stop to it. 

Even if you wanted to turn back last minute, they happened to spot you before you could consider doing so. 

“Y/N, there you are! We didn’t think you were ever gonna show,” Chrissy said. Usually you would have faked a smile as they all turned to welcome you, but not this time around. They were a little confused as to why you weren’t in uniform, you always were normally, it was sort of the rules. “Why aren’t you dressed for practice?” she asked. 

It was a little difficult for you to grasp how exactly to begin what it was that you wanted to say, so you thought you needed to just spit it out while you still had the guts. “I actually need to talk to you guys about something.”

Chelsea gasped, feigning sympathy. “You can tell us anything. We’re all friends here.” Her tone was painful to listen to. It was so clearly fake that you pulled a face. Usually you wouldn’t bother acknowledging it, but it was bothering you more than it ever had before right now. Now that you had mentally addressed the fact that they were pretty unbearable to be around to the average person, you found you couldn’t tolerate them any longer either.

You took a deep breath, partly to calm your nerves and partly so you wouldn’t scream at Chelsea for being so aggravating. 

“I’m quitting,” you said simply. “I don’t want to do cheer anymore.”

There were a couple gasps here and there, and though they pretty much all seemed shocked, some didn’t care as much as others did. Some were more confused than shocked. You deciding out of nowhere that you were quitting cheer, right after the events that transpired with Eddie, seemed too convenient for the two things not to be related. And of course, someone had to open their big mouth and question it, but not in the nicest way they could. “Is this because of Munson? You’re doing what that freak wants now?”

You were completely unaware that Eddie could hear your entire conversation, and he wasn’t exactly overjoyed about the way he was being spoken about. He assumed you were once again going to let those comments about him slide and he didn’t think he wanted to stick around to see how this panned out. So, with little words spoken to his friends, he took off. 

You rolled your eyes. “This isn’t because of him, it’s because you guys are assholes,” you told them. You saw the slight hurt on their faces, but surprisingly didn’t feel bad about it at all. “You’re, like, the worst friends anyone could ever have.”

Marianne scoffed. “Like he’s any better?”

“He is. He’s so much better than any of you will ever be.”

It seemed like none of them really knew what to say. They hadn’t expected this to be the way the conversation panned out– not in a million years actually. “You’re actually defending that freak, right now?” one of them asked. 

You huffed. “Stop calling him that. He has a name!” Even though you had originally felt slightly bad for how things were going down here, the more you spoke and the more they insulted the boy you liked, the more you were grateful that you’d gotten the weight of all of this off of your shoulders. The way your pisces had picked up meant attention was being drawn to you all now– once again you couldn’t have cared less.

“You know what, Y/N, if you’re gonna be his guard dog then you’re off the team.”

You laughed, right in their faces, it was like they had completely disregarded the statement that had started this whole discussion. Could they really kick you off of the team if you had quit moments beforehand. “I’m perfectly okay with that. You’re doing me a favor actually.”

Little did you know, although that conversation hadn’t exactly been heard by Eddie, it had been heard by one of his friends who would be sure to tell him exactly everything that happened after he left. Jeff was positive his friend would want to know. 

After the way you spoke to your ‘friends’ earlier today, you didn’t exactly have anyone to sit with when lunch rolled around. It meant your plan would be able to be carried out easier, considering your full attention could be put on to it, but it did mean you looked a little odd lingering in the doorway of the room. 

In the cafeteria, you had to wait for Dustin’s signal before you were going to make your little scene. He was supposed to tell you when the perfect time was, not only for Eddie, but when the room was at its busiest. The two of you agreed that although it would be terrifying, it was only really meaningful when the most people were there. If you were admitting your love to a crowd of only a couple people, then you weren’t really showing that you meant your words. Instead, you would wait until the peak of lunch, when Eddie had a dip in conversation that would give you the perfect opportunity. 

The signal was a simple wave that you were waiting for. You leaned against the doorframe of the cafeteria entrance, eyes locked on the table where the hellfire club sat, talking theatrically amongst themselves like they always did. Your eyes were on Dustin specifically, though occasionally they would stray to the head of the table where the boy you were desperate to impress sat– unsuspecting of what was about to go down. 

As soon as you saw that brief wave you headed over, ignoring the murmurs from your old friends when they saw you pass by. “Eddie?” you called, sweetly. 

However, he was far from so kind to you, turning to look at you with what could only be called a look of disgust. He sighed, dropping his food back into his lunchbox. “Why can’t you take the hint? Have you really not noticed that I don’t want to talk to you?” It was the first time he’d spoken to you in days, and the most words he’d said in a while now. 

You may have been easily pushed away before, but now you weren’t taking no for an answer. “No, this time you’re going to listen to me.”

He was about to protest, but then you turned to Dustin before he could. 

The curly haired kid offered you a hand, to which you thanked him, stepping up onto the chair and then the table in tow. Eddie was watching you in complete confusion, looking between you and Dustin in the hopes that one of you would give him some idea as to what was going on. He didn’t like being out of the loop like this, and he had no idea when you and the kid had gotten so friendly with one another, but he didn’t love it. 

You cleared your throat, shaking off your hands in an attempt to get rid of all the nerves. “Excuse me?” you yelled. Munson’s heart sank; this wasn’t what he was expecting– he couldn’t even try and take a guess of where this might be going. The chaos of the room calmed down, all eyes turning to look at you. “I have something to say,” you announced.

There were some people who yelled things at you, saying that they didn’t care or stuff along those lines. It earned some laughs, but you weren’t going to let that stop you. 

You took a deep breath, glancing at Eddie once before you looked out around at the groups of people watching you. It was slightly intimidating, especially when you could see your fellow cheerleaders giggling and pointing at you, making literally no effort to hide it. “I’m in love with Eddie Munson!” you yelled. 

There was a chorus of gasps from various places around the room. “You what?” you heard Eddie ask. He sounded entirely shocked. 

Rather than look out at the crowd, you turned to look at him again. This time around you spoke directly to him, rather than to all the other people who didn’t really need to understand the weight of your words. You hoped this way it would appear as though it was coming more from the heart. “I think I’m in love with you. And I’m sorry for being such an asshole, but I need you to forgive me.”

He looked like he didn’t know what to say, so you took the opportunity of the silence to keep talking. 

“I– I wasn’t fair to you, but it’s only been a couple days and I miss you already. And I miss taking care of that dumb baby with you,” you laughed, coaxing him into a chuckle as well. To anyone who wasn’t a senior partaking in the baby assignment, they probably thought you sounded crazy– or you’d actually had a child with Eddie– which was another shocking admission if you had. You liked how promising it was that he was laughing with you. Surely that meant you were back in his good graces. “I don’t know how you did it, but you enchanted me, and I don’t think I can come back from this.”

He was standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, a look of interest on his face. It was like he was thinking over what you were proposing, and he wanted to make you sweat. But you could tell he was trying to bite back a smile. “I mean, I guess Ozzy’s missed his mom.”

Your entire expression changed. Those words had filled you with a hope that you couldn’t begin to explain. “So, what d’you say? Give me a second chance?” 

He motioned for you to get down from your place on the table. Like the gentleman he was, he helped you down, and only then did you start to feel a little shy. You didn’t know what it was, considering you’d just been perfectly fine with hundreds of eyes on you. Something felt different now, whether that was just because it felt more real or intimate, you didn’t know. “Hi,” you whispered. 

“You just can’t take no for an answer can you?” he teased. You were glad you could pick up on the fact he was joking, otherwise that sentence would have killed you. He beamed at you as you shook your head, and it was something about your smile that told him he had to kiss you that second. He couldn’t wait another moment for this, not when the last time he’d kissed you had been forever ago. 

You weren’t sure who initiated the kiss first, but you didn’t even care, it just felt right. You both knew people were watching, which probably should have made you a little uncomfortable, but for some reason it didn’t, you actually hoped your ‘friends’ were watching so they could realize how wrong they’d been. Right now you were just completely blinded by everything Eddie. The way his lips felt, the tightness his hand used to grip your waist– like he was scared of you disappearing, and the way your senses just screamed him. 

He was the first one to pull away, though his hand found the back of your head and kept you close. 

You rested your forehead against his, uncaring of those who were still watching you. Most had turned away by now, deciding they didn’t care one bit about your private life, but there were still a few stray spectators. You really didn’t plan on paying them any attention though, not when you knew they were only interested in using this as gossip they could spread around. “I’m so glad this went well,” you breathed, painfully relieved. “Do you know how embarrassing it would have been if you just rejected me while I was up there?” 

That thought made him laugh. “That’s what I should have done. Got your heart racing a little bit,” he tormented. You rolled your eyes, bumping your fist against his arm. His laughter died down a little, the boy suddenly becoming serious. “Thank you. I seriously appreciate the effort you went through to make this apology. No one’s ever done something like that for me before.”

It felt like an honor to you to be able to provide him with love he’d never gotten before. “Well, I plan to be around for a while, so there’ll be plenty more where that comes from,” you promised. His whole face lit up. 

“I hope so.” Despite the fact there were still people around, specifically Eddie’s younger friends who were still very much intrigued in the fact the boy had finally managed to get a girlfriend, he kissed you again. 

If the kids wanted to stare like you were some sort of tourist attraction, that was on them. Though they were still planning on vocalizing their disgust. “Guys, come on, your child’s watching,” Mike attempted to force you apart. To be fair to him, it did work, the two of you pulled away from each other laughing, turning your heads to where Ozzy was planted on the table where Eddie had been sitting. 

“Your friends are weird,” you muttered, grinning up at him so he knew you weren’t being judgy, just ‘observing.’ 

He nodded, squeezing you into his side. There was a kind kiss placed on your temple. “Well, you better get used to it. You’re one of us now.”

+ Bonus scene:

Graduation day was a day Eddie never thought he’d see. Out of the three he should’ve seen, he was actually only on his first one. It was an achievement for everyone, but it was a different level of achievement for him. And it was even more incredible that he actually had a girlfriend to share this with. He thought that was another day that would never come. All around, today just felt surreal. 

Wayne had cried once already, though the younger of the two insisted he couldn’t do it again unless he wanted him to get emotional too. And for the most part he’d been able to stick to that promise. 

You and Eddie met up outside the school, something that was pre-planned so the two of you could hang out before the ceremonies started. Your parents were with you, along with your younger brother, the four of you in conversation while you waited. They were actually the ones who noticed him first, and they looked more excited to see him than you did. They loved the idea of you and Eddie– your mother had always thought it was only a matter of time before the two of you got together. 

You only realized he was there after your parents stared over your shoulder for too long. “What are you guys looking at?” you asked, looking behind you to find the two Munson’s approaching– with Wayne fussing over the tie he’d made Eddie wear– he kept claiming it needed to be straightened. 

A small squeal left your lips, rushing over to him before it became clear to him that you were running at him. He was taken a little off guard by your body colliding with his, but he accepted your hug nonetheless, wrapping his arms around you. He was in a better mood than you thought you’d ever seen him– maybe that was because he was finally making it out of school.

“I missed you,” he muttered, pulling back from you to place a kiss on your lips. You grinned, trying not to flush at the behavior, he very easily made you flustered. “You saw me last night,” you reminded him. 

He shrugged. “Still missed you,” he told you, before you pulled him back in for another kiss. To say he was the one claiming he missed you, you were the one who was desperate for him to keep kissing you. Since the day you’d made things official, only a few months back now, you had adored him. At first he thought you might go back on all you said to him the day you admitted your feelings, but you weren’t ashamed of being with him like he worried you’d be. 

The sound of a throat being cleared had Eddie’s eyes snapping open. At the sight of your father, he pulled away– though he didn’t exactly want to. “Uh, as much as I love this greeting, your dad’s sort of watching.” He was right, and it looked as though the man could kill. You groaned, brushing your nose over Eddie’s before you fully pulled away. 

“Well, in that case, we should get going. Let’s go, Munson,” you instructed, tugging on his hand to lead him inside the school building. 

It was all over so quickly. You didn’t know how but it barely felt like any time at all had passed before you’d walked the stage, grabbed your diploma and were now being engulfed in a hug by your loving boyfriend and his uncle. Your family had already suffocated you with love, so now it was their turn. Plus you thought Eddie deserved even more love than you’d received, and both you and Wayne were happy to give that to him for as long as he pleased.

“Munson! I wanted to talk to you.” The sound of a voice calling his last name made his head turn. It also unfortunately meant that your hug had to come to a swift end.

Eddie hadn’t expected for Mr G to need him for anything, but when his beloved teacher called his name, he felt like he had to see what it was that he wanted. It wasn’t like the man could give him detention or anything of the sorts– which he was glad for considering he’d given some of the teachers a few of his true thoughts about them. He’d used some colorful words. 

“What’s up?” he asked.

For a second the teacher's eyes flickered to you, offering you a kind smile when he noticed you were there. It actually made the moment better.

“I’m probably not supposed to. But I thought I’d give you this, for old time’s sake.” He offered out the fake baby that resulted in your relationship, a sweet gesture. It was probably less than practical— in what world does a graduating twenty-year old need a plastic baby from his health class— but it was more about the memories that made it important. You could have sworn you saw Eddie’s eyes water a bit. “The batteries are out, so it won’t start randomly crying or anything. I just thought you might like it. As a reminder of something good that came out of having it for so long.” 

The younger of the two nodded, and you and Wayne watched on fondly. “Thank you. Don’t know how I’d get by in that big cruel world without my Ozzy,” he joked, but the thank you was completely genuine.

Conversation was made for only a short time longer. He bid you and Eddie good luck, and the two of you thanked him for being the indirect reason your relationship had begun, and then all of you were on your way, back with the final member of your little, funny family.

++Bonus bonus scene:

When you and Eddie got together back in highschool, neither of you truly thought you’d last. Even if you wanted to be with him forever, the odds weren’t in your favor, it was rare that highschool relationships made it past college— even though Eddie wasn’t going to college.

But here you were, almost a decade later against all odds. You’d gotten the degree you’d worked your ass off for, with your boyfriend taking the time to visit you at your college of choice as often as he could, and you had landed yourself a pretty decent job that you were proud of. Meanwhile your boyfriend was beginning to make it big in the musical world like he’d wanted. He started off his proper music career the same way it had run in highschool. A couple days a week he’d perform at the hideout, while working part time elsewhere for the money. One day he just got lucky, and now here he was on his way to stardom with you by his side.

Things were good, even better now that there was the impending arrival of your first child. It had been unexpected, but you and Eddie were over the moon either way, and you were going to try to be the best parents you possibly could be— even despite your jobs that require so much time and work. You’d do anything to make it possible to give this baby the most love and best life they deserved.

Just because you had begun to plan for them, didn’t mean you’d considered arguably the most vital part about having a baby. The two of you hadn’t thought about baby names, at all.

The realization didn’t even hit you until you were lying there in the hospital bed, squeezing Eddie’s hand half to death as birth kicked your ass. He was trying to help as best he could, stroking your hair and letting you take your pain out on him. The pain in his hand was nothing compared to what you were feeling, he couldn’t really complain.

“We didn’t pick a name!” you hissed, a sob bubbling up in the back of your throat from the pain. He tried to reassure you that it didn’t matter. He’d heard people say in movies and such before that sometimes the name just comes to you after you see your baby for the first time. And he was desperately hoping for your stress levels that it was true. “We’ll get one baby. I promise.” 

You winced. “There isn’t really a lot of time.” 

He was a lot more concerned about you than a name right now. What was important to him was that you just got this baby here safely, without worrying about anything else. And he told you that, to which you hastily agreed when you were informed it was time for you to start pushing. Though you were terrified beyond words, you didn’t really have much of a choice. But at least you had Eddie there every step of the way to calm your worries in any way that he could. 

There was never a moment where your hand went unheld, or you felt even slightly alone. He was proving once again that he was the most perfect man you had ever met. This was furthered when he showered you in praise after your baby, a healthy baby boy, was set on your chest for the first time. Both of you were emotional, arguably him more than you, but he still made sure you felt eternally loved.

“Any names spring to mind?” he asked, trying to rapidly wipe at the tears leaking from the corner of his eyes. He heard you laugh, like a part sigh of relief, and another part so overjoyed.

Your eyes were difficult to pull away from the baby on your chest, but you managed long enough to look your lover in the eye while you provided him with an answer to his question. “Ozzy,” you breathed. “His name’s Ozzy.” 

The nurses might have thought it was weird, because they didn’t understand the backstory behind the name like you and Eddie did, but it meant more to the two of you than you could ever begin to explain. You watched as your boyfriend’s eyes welled up at the mention of the memory that had brought you two together in the very beginning. “That’s perfect. With that name he’s gonna be the coolest baby ever. If only Mr G could see the real Ozzy Munson.” 

You hummed, stroking your thumb over his tiny head. It felt like an impossible task to be able to cherish all the features of the newborn in the way that they deserved. “Maybe he can after things calm down a little. I’m sure he’d like to see the family he played a part in creating.” 

Eddie beamed, dropping a kiss to the top of your head and then Ozzy’s– though the one Ozzy got lingered for much longer. “I think that’d be awesome.”

━━━━━━━━━♡♥♡━━━━━━━━━

eddie munson taglist - @pastel-abyss-x @lilylilyyyyyy @spideysbae @lexi-2004 @escape-in-time-x @liltimmyst @fandomxo00 @youcantseem3 @sharnnnnnn @dreashappyworld @audhd-dragonaut @liltimmyst @ruinedbythehobbit @eddiemsbandana

[farfromharry]

Beth [ 25 ] | Dad!Eddie Munson fic

Twenty-Five, Hawkins, Indiana

Word count - 4150

Warnings - angst ig idk

a/n - its over 🥲

━━━━━━━━━♡♥♡━━━━━━━━━

January 2000

Running a diner hadn’t always been your dream, not right from being a little girl anyway. You hadn’t really had many aspirations as a kid. And although your husband had the one, become a successful rockstar, it had never been realistic, had never taken off for him. Kids in trailer parks didn’t get to have big dreams. But that was different for you now. You ran your own business, alongside the love of your life, and you had the opportunity to expand it even more. You loved your home, but you were unsure if you could pass this up.

It had been Tulip’s mom who told you about it. A big, rundown space out in Maryland where you could do some TLC and probably have it up and running this year as a second Sunshine’s diner. Over the years since the remodel of your own beloved one in Hawkins, it had become a hell of a lot more popular.  It was always busy, bustling with customers day and night, some who weren’t even from the town themselves– admitting to you or your staff that they had traveled a fair way to come and check out the infamous eating place. You were always honored with that news.

That, and your husband’s die hard approval, were the final things that pushed you into saying yes. The only problem was that you would have to completely uproot your life and move away from your family for who knows how long. You wouldn’t allow it to be a permanent move. For all the bad memories you had in Hawkins, you had amazing ones too. 

You also weren’t the only people you had to consider. For Jessie, the decision had to fall to you, he wouldn’t know any better either way. For Lola, it was pretty much the same, though she was just starting school– she had few friends there, but you knew your bubbly girl would easily make some more at whatever school she ended up in. It was Beth that made the decision so hard. Her whole life was here and had always been here. You felt terrible pulling her away from everything she had ever known, and even though you knew she’d adjust, there was still an underlying feeling of guilt in your chest. 

The decision to move had been many weeks in the making. The idea was first proposed to you just after you gave birth to Jessie, and you took the time from the end of November to now to make up your minds and finalize any plans. Within that time was when you asked Beth for her approval. It wasn’t an easy choice to make, no matter how much you wanted it. 

You and Eddie sat her down one day after school, and she knew instantly from the sheepish looks on your faces that something was wrong. “What’s going on? Did someone die? Are you pregnant again?” The questions just came flying out before she could stop them. 

You chuckled. It was always amusing to you that she thought that you having another baby was worse than someone in the family dying. “No, baby, we have something to ask you.”

That didn’t quell her worries. The longer the pause between whatever you had to say was, the more you could see her nervously shuffling on the couch in front of you. The worst of the worst possibilities were running through her mind right now. Meanwhile, you were trying to silently guilt Eddie into being the one to break the news. She had a soft spot for her dad after all. He gave in in the end with a large huff. 

“Me and your mom have the opportunity to open a second diner,” he began. Her face lit up. She loved the diner so much– specifically the free food and desserts that you allowed her to have– so of course she was ecstatic for you. She didn’t know why you seemed so unsure though. “The problem is, we’d be opening it in Maryland. So we’d have to move for a while.” 

She frowned. “Move? Like out of Hawkins?”

“Yeah, babe. Out of Hawkins,” Eddie confirmed. 

She visibly deflated, any excitement from the prior news dissipating fast. For a short while she didn’t say anything, which didn’t give you or your husband much to go off of to deduce how she was feeling. Being a mind reader probably would have come in incredibly helpful right about now. Eddie had never felt so unsure about his own daughter’s feelings. The two of you let her think though, tried to let the news set in for her so she could make up her mind, but eventually you were itching to get an answer. 

“Bethy? How are you feeling?”

She took a few more seconds to try and put it into words. “I– Will we still get to see everyone?” she asked. Your heart wanted to break at the idea of her believing a move would stop you from seeing your family. You guessed that was why she’d been so quiet. 

“Of course. We’ll come back all the time, and they can come visit as well. It’s not forever, sweet girl.” Your husband was so gentle with her, voice so soft that you could barely tell he was the same man who many had been scared of in his teen years. 

Now that you and Eddie had finally gotten the families you’d wanted since you were small children, there was nothing in the whole world that could make you give that up. They meant everything to you, and you loved that they meant everything to Beth also. 

“If it’d make you happy, then I think we should do it,” she concluded. To say she was only thirteen– very soon to be fourteen (god where had the years gone)-- you thought it was really mature of her. She wasn’t thinking about herself right now, or being selfish in her decision like most children might, she wanted to do this for you. She thought that you and Eddie did so much for her that it was only fair that she allowed you this. Although she might have friends and a life here, she could have one in another city too. There was always the option to call her friends at home from wherever she was. 

You turned to Eddie with a grin that couldn’t be contained, not even with your hardest attempts. “Yeah? You’re sure?” 

“As long as I can have the biggest bedroom,” she teased. 

The two of you chuckled, pulling her into a hug between the three of you. You would never be able to verbally express the amount of love that sat deep within your chest for the girl that was in your arms. She was something special, and you’d known that since the very day you met her. You were honored to be able to say she was your daughter. 

Packing was a whole other process in itself. If you hadn’t known you were coming back here eventually, you might have been more emotional about the whole thing. There were certainly moments where you and Eddie got caught up looking at things you’d forgotten before you placed them in a box, but it was more tiresome than anything. He was getting visibly more bored than you were, and when your husband got bored he got whiny and very childlike. He would slump down somewhere and complain anytime you asked him to do something. It would get to the point where you just did it by yourself.

Beth tried to help. She took her stuff and sorted them into piles, but she needed your help to find the most efficient way to pack them up completely. As for Lola and Jessie, they just had the time of their lives messing around in empty boxes. If Eddie hadn’t been a grown man, he might have joined them. 

The whole thing took much longer than you would have liked, what with a lack of help, but in the end it was done and you were just glad it was over. To make up for not helping, Eddie basically waited on you hand and foot when you sat down to have a break. You were laid on the couch, and he heavily encouraged you to take a nap with the promise he would do whatever the kids needed so you didn’t have to. Obviously you took him up on that offer. 

When you woke up a few hours later, you expected there to be chaos all throughout the house, but instead your kids seemed happy and sated with their father in the kitchen. Jessie was in his dad’s arms while the man moved around the pretty much empty cupboards, like he was looking for something, while Beth and Lola set the table. There was the smell of pleasant food in the air, so you knew Eddie hadn’t cooked, you just didn’t know who had. 

“What smells so good?” you asked, suppressing a yawn and rubbing your tired eyes with your fist. 

At the sound of your voice your husband turned his head, flashing you a sheepish smile. It was then that you knew no one had cooked at all, he was spoiling your kids once again by ordering takeout. This was exactly what happened when you napped when it was time for everyone to eat. You gave him a look that told him you would let it slide this time, purely because you were much too tired to argue with him right now, but he would think twice before he did it again. It was just as easy to wake you up and politely ask you to cook as it would be to phone for takeout. 

“Why don’t you girls sit down? I’ll get your food,” you promise your two daughters. They thanked you, and it was a good thing you knew your girls because food was dished out correctly the first time. Eddie was notorious for forgetting. 

It hit you while you were eating that this would be one of the last times that you got to spend like this in the cabin. Even when you did come back, it wouldn’t be the same. Beth probably wouldn’t want to eat with her family, Lola wouldn’t be your adorable toddler anymore and Jessie wouldn’t be a baby that needed you for everything– he was going to be able to walk and talk– and you were positive you felt your heart crack at the thoughts running through your head. You tried to push them aside so you could enjoy the moment now, but they were constantly lingering in the back of your mind. 

Eddie must have noticed that you were slightly down, his free hand coming to intertwine with yours on top of the table. You shot him a grateful smile, and with that your mood felt slightly elevated. 

As the two of you laid in bed together that night, you couldn’t help but resort back to questioning whether this was the right thing to do. Did you really want to leave your whole family and life for a restaurant that might not even run successfully? Just because Sunshine’s diner was successful in Hawkins, a small town without many options of restaurants, didn’t necessarily mean that it would be successful in a bigger place. 

“Are you sure about this?” you asked your husband, fingertips drawing circles on his clothed chest absentmindedly. 

At first he was confused, but then his tired mind caught up and it clicked. “Hell yeah. Everyone here loves the diner, ‘M sure everyone in Maryland will too.” The way he believed in you always made your heart soar. There wasn’t a single ounce of doubt in him aimed your way. He thought you could do anything you set your mind to, and hell you’d succeed in it too. It made you all the more glad that this was the man you were raising children with– they would know just how loved they were and all the opportunities in life that came with that. 

You didn’t say anything else after your initial question, just cuddled closer to him and pressed a kiss to wherever your lips could reach. He understood what you were doing, you were thanking him without having to say it. The two of you fell asleep that night both on the same wavelength about the decision you were making. 

Your birthday being the day after New Years had always been a little weird. Most people in your life would be hungover after celebrating the start of another year, and so they never really wanted to celebrate with you on your actual special day, it was always the day after, or before. But that had never happened with your new family. As soon as they learnt the date, they were understanding. It didn’t matter if they passed out from so much to drink on New Years, they would still throw you a party the following night that was all about you. This time though, it wasn’t necessarily going to be just about you, but your family too. 

This party presented you with the perfect opportunity to tell everyone about your decision to move. It was hard getting such a large group of people together all at once, so you were going to steal the chance while you had it (even if that meant the mood of your party was dampened a little.) 

No one suspected a thing, except Wayne and Petal you supposed who you’d told about your plans. You thought of all the people they deserved to know first. So that evening, your friends and family showed up at diner with wide smiles and gifts in hand for you. You greeted them all like everything was completely normal, and you didn’t think a single person suspected a thing. 

The night ran smoothly for the most part. Everyone was having fun, you and Eddie included, no matter how many times you had to tend to your worked up baby. Jessie might have been the saddest one of everyone here– and he didn’t even know what was going on. When it came time for the announcement, when you and Eddie managed to find each other in the crowd, you grew nervous. The idea of upsetting your family made your chest ache. 

Your husband was the one who caught everyone’s attention, and you grew a little more anxious once all eyes were on you. You subconsciously searched the crowd for your kids, finding Jessie in his Uncle Steve’s arms looking more than content, Lola with her grandpa– which was expected, he was always her favorite– and Beth talking her Aunt Tulip’s ear off. Knowing you had their support as much as they could offer, was what spurred you on to push aside your worries and just tell them what this whole ordeal was about. 

“We have something to tell you all,” you began, taking Eddie’s hand in yours as a means of extra support. You watched all of them, their faces ranging from nervous to confused. Some were comforting, mainly Wayne and Petal, but that did nothing to ease your dread. Something in the back of your mind told you that this was a bad idea and that you shouldn't uproot your entire lives for this–it sounded suspiciously like Tulip.

“Are you pregnant again, already?” Steve groaned. 

With a nervous chuckle, you shook your head. “No, not pregnant.” One squeeze to your husband's hand had him assuming the bearer of bad news, it wasn’t one he particularly liked, but he really had no choice. You weren’t going to do it, and he wasn’t evil enough to make his 13 year old do it either. He cleared his throat. “Um, there’s no easy way to say this, but we're moving to Maryland.” 

The confession was met with silence and blinking eyes. It was so quiet, you swore you could hear your heart beating incessantly. Steve was the first to break the silence, “Maryland?” 

You jumped into the conversation, “we got the chance to open up a new diner there, and we took it.” It was going better than you expected, well as good as you could gather considering the silence, no one was screaming or crying yet at least. 

“That’s great,” Hopper celebrated, making you feel better about making this decision. “When are you guys set to leave?” 

“Couple days. The cabin’s already packed up, which is why we wanted to do this here,” Eddie informed. “We know it’s short notice, but we didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.” It was true, you thought the longer you waited to tell everyone, the less of a teary goodbye you’d have. You didn’t want a party or going away presents or anything of the sort. You simply wanted your family to know and be happy with the route your business was going. 

The news was taken a lot better than you thought it would be. While everyone was celebrating and happy for you, there was one noticeable figure who didn’t seem to share the same sentiment. Her support would have meant so much to you, but it was the only one you seemed to not have. 

Tulip had been suspiciously quiet since you first brought up your announcement, and for her best friend, that meant nothing good. Her husband wasn’t there to hold her hand through the news, instead approaching you and Eddie to give your squirmy baby back to you, while also offering his congratulations. Beth had also left her, and was now having a teary moment with her best friend, who was probably going to be the hardest person for her to part with. Her and Eleanor were inseparable usually. While she was alone, your husband took the opportunity to approach her to see how she was feeling about all of this. 

“Hey,” he said, quietly. 

She turned her head to him, offering a small, tight lipped smile that didn’t reach her eyes. He knew her far too well to know that she wasn’t taking this news well right now. 

“Talk to me, Lippy.”

She frowned, trying to ignore the tears that desperately begged to well up in her eyes. She didn’t want to cry, she thought she was being dramatic, but this was her best friend, who she’d never been apart from for longer than a few days at most. It felt impossible to her that she’d have to be so far away from him for who knows how long. He wouldn’t be a twenty minute drive away when she needed him anymore– and she needed him a lot. “Do you have to go? I don’t want you to leave me,” Tulip admitted. 

“I have to,” he said.

She shook her head. “But we promised we’d leave together.” He could see she was getting a little more emotional now, and he wasn’t the greatest at comforting anyone, let alone her. She wasn’t the kind to show emotion like this. “I don’t want you to leave.”

He pulled her into his side, resting his cheek on top of her head as they shared a short hug. If he could feel the traces of her tears, he didn’t say anything. “It’s not forever. Hawkins will always be my home.”

She shook her head. “You’re still leaving me, and making me cry. God you’re such an ass.”

He chuckled. “I’ll miss you so much,” he told her honestly. The pair didn’t share their feelings with one another often, they thought they were way too good for that and it was just unnecessary, so the fact they were both being genuine right now, and not cracking jokes about how they wouldn’t even notice the other was gone, was a surprise. You would’ve been shocked if you were there to hear it. “And I’ll miss the Harrington clan. Not Steve though.”

It was the first laugh he’d managed to get from her since he approached to check how she was doing. Although he was a lot happier that the mood was lightened, he couldn’t help but tell her something else that was on his mind, something he wasn’t sure he’d ever told her before. “I love you, Tulip,” he said.

She was a little hesitant to say it back, not wanting to get more vulnerable than she’d already been. “I love you too, Teddy.”

There was a kiss placed onto the top of her head. “I think you’re going to be my hardest goodbye, Lippy,” he admitted. For a second he backtracked. “Don’t tell Wayne that,” he warned, pulling her back into the hug, then he remembered to add another thing. “Or Petal.”

She grinned against his shirt, and he knew then that his secret was safe with her. “Deal.”

The day you left Hawkins was an emotional one. There were many hugs, tears and at one point you thought Nora and a couple of the Harrington kids were going to have to come with you, because they just weren’t letting go. Watching Eddie and Tulip’s goodbye was the one that made you tear up the most. Not even your own goodbyes made you feel that way. They both just looked so sad and helpless, and you knew it’d take them a while to adjust to living without each other. But after a long while of promising you would come back as soon as the new diner was up and ready, you were finally allowed to pile into your car and start your journey. 

Jessie and Lola were both in their carseats, the younger sleeping and the older one fighting the sleep that threatened to take over her. As for Beth, she had Bat cuddled up on her lap, singing along quietly to the music playing from the radio. It made you and your husband smile. 

The journey was long, and the three children hated being cramped in the back for hours on end– you hated it too, so much complaining was beginning to get to you. You were glad when it was over. 

Your kids had yet to see the new house. Considering it was partly across the country, you didn’t want to just up and take them to view the place when you and Eddie already deemed it to be perfect. It was everything everyone could wish for– the stereotypical family home that neither of you had ever had. They would surely love it and all the space they would get for themselves. Beth was excited to decorate her own room. So excited that as soon as she got over the initial shock when first entering the house, she ran off to pick out her new room, her sister toddling behind her. You reminded her to keep an eye on the three year old, not wanting her to hurt herself, but you could trust your eldest, she was smart. 

Your son was a little rowdy, clearly ready for a nap after such a long day of traveling. He went down easy in his little travel bed, and then you and Eddie were left to yourselves for the first time today. Traveling cross country with three kids was not ideal in any circumstance, especially when two of them were so young. It was a nightmare, it felt like all you’d heard all day long was whine after whine. It was like you could breathe for the first time since the day began. 

“Wine?” Eddie asked, pulling the bottle he’d hidden from you in his bag.

You grinned, nodding your head as you followed him into the kitchen. Some of your stuff had already been moved to the house with the help of your friends, so all he needed to do was find the box that contained the wine glasses, or any glasses really. It took him longer than it should’ve, because he kept looking in the wrong place, but it was funny to you at least. It was the sort of lighthearted behavior you needed after such a difficult day. 

He poured probably way too much wine into a glass for you, but honestly it was encouraged. 

“Welcome home,” Eddie muttered, leaning over to press a sweet kiss to your temple. You beamed, tucking your head into his shoulder as you took in the empty room in front of you. It was hard to believe that this was all yours, but now that it was, you couldn’t be more happy. Though this might just be temporary, it was like the start of a whole new life. No one knew you here, no one knew the reputation Eddie carried, and it was like a weight lifted off of your shoulders. 

“To our new life,” Eddie said. His glass was clinked with yours in a cheers motion. “To our new life,” you muttered, sipping from your drink. 

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[farfromharry]

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Beth [ 24 ] | Dad!Eddie Munson series

Twenty-four, Jessie

Word count - 5666

Warnings - mentions of birth and i literally have no idea

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November 1999

For the first few months, you hadn’t mentioned anything about the baby to anyone. It was one big thing after another that you didn’t want to take attention away from, but at a certain point you couldn’t hide it anymore. Your babies were the first ones you told, as you and Eddie believed they deserved to know before anyone else. The new baby would affect their lives more than anyone else in your families, so you thought it was only fair. 

You were hoping that telling your kids about the new baby would go increasingly better than it had the first time around. You didn’t need another Beth situation like that of the first few months of Lola’s life. But she was older now, and knew what having a sibling was like, so she’d hopefully be more open to it this time. Lola? Well, she was still fifty-fifty, you wouldn’t know until you told her. 

You and Eddie decided to sit the two kids down on the couch, sitting across from them with, probably creepy, smiles on your faces. Bat decided to join them also, adorably, situating himself in Beth’s lap, deciding he was going to take a nap there.

Although the elder of the two was confused about all this formality, not used to the randomness of her parents acting so serious, she didn’t say anything just yet. She did eye you both though, so you knew that she wasn’t happy about this situation. As for your Lols, she was using her dad as a jungle gym. She could never sit still for too long, and she was giggling away as she crawled all over her dad. He usually would have entertained her for a while, had you not needed to get this news out. 

“Lola girl, need you to sit down for a few minutes,” Eddie told her, kindly, dropping a kiss to the top of her head. He didn’t want to upset her or make her think she was in trouble at all, and although she let out a little huff, she did sit down for him. However, she did steal one of his big hands to hold with her tiny ones in her lap. 

“We have some news,” you started. You had already agreed your husband would be the one to tell them, as he was probably the one they would take it the best from. Your girls were wholeheartedly daddy’s girls. You could hear quiet ow’s falling from Eddie’s lips as he pulled his hand away from his daughter, she’d let her impulsivity get to her and sunk her teeth into her father’s hand just because. He didn’t seem to like it. 

Beth sighed loudly, slouching. “Are you dying?” she asked. You hadn’t expected such a grim question to come your way, and you were a little shocked that she’d even ask that, but either way you had to give her an answer. 

You and Eddie both tried to answer at the same time, with you reassuring her that you were perfectly fine, no one was dying, and your husband muttering something about how your news was even worse than that. Although, you’d expect any regular thirteen year old to be concerned by those words, Beth was used to her fathers shenanigans by now. “Oh god, is Auntie Tulip pregnant again?”

The man beside you began to chuckle under his breath, and you had to whack his thigh for him to shut up. He would have a field day telling his best friend that one. 

“Look,” he began. “We don’t want you to worry, because it’s a big change, but you’re going to have a new baby sibling in a few months.” He did a little show of jazz hands that was supposed to make the news go down more lightly, but you didn’t know if it had worked. You had yet to gauge the reaction of the kids. 

“Huh?” Lola asked, cocking her head to the side in confusion. 

You thought it was positively adorable. 

“There’s a baby in mom’s stomach, Lala,” your eldest explained. It was clear even that brief statement didn’t help her entirely get what was going on, but she had a better idea than before, and it broke her little heart. 

“Baby?” she whimpered, her big brown eyes welling with tears. You hadn’t expected such emotion to overcome her, but it was mere seconds before she burst into tears right in front of you. You tried to reach for her, hoping she would let you welcome her into your arms and soothe her sadness away. But she wouldn’t let you. She outright refused to go anywhere near you. She didn’t hold the same view for Eddie. 

She was more than happy to force her way into his lap, burying her head in his chest as she cried. “Mater,” she mumbled. 

Your brow furrowed, repeating the word to yourself under your breath. Beth was once again happy to help with the bewilderment. She seemed to be very good at doing that today, so much so that she hadn’t even voiced her own reaction to the news. “She means traitor.”

You muttered an ‘oh’, taking a little offense to the words of your child, but you brushed it off due to the fact she was a small child dealing with some pretty big emotions. Though you didn’t know exactly what was wrong, and she probably wouldn’t tell you now, you could probably make a pretty accurate guess.

Eddie, though he really should be acting like a parent right now, was finding her rejection of you actually rather amusing. “Mommy’s a big meanie, right?” It didn’t matter to him that it took two to tango apparently, he was pinning this all on you to earn brownie points with your child. You hated that she nodded too. 

“Now who’s the mater?” you grumbled. 

You shot your husband a glare, watching as he got the pleasure of cradling your toddler to his chest, big hand stroking her back in hopes of cheering her up a little bit. Knowing he was loving this only made you scoff, deciding you were going to head out and take your beloved Beth with you, maybe then the two of you could talk about how she felt at the information of a new baby in the house. “Come on, Bethy, we’ll leave these maters here.”

She was happy to follow, on the condition that she could bring Bat along with her. The cat didn’t protest, happily being scooped into her arms, so neither did you. 

“Lols?” Eddie spoke quietly. She shook her head. He tried again, but only got the same response, so he had no choice but to stop letting her hide. She didn’t take too lightly to that, trying to fight back against her dad. “Need you to talk to me, my pretty girl. I can’t have you all upset like this.”

She sniffled. “I-If mommy has a baby, I won’t be the baby anymore.” The words had only made her cry harder. She didn’t mean to, but telling her dad the truth had only brought all the emotions back up in her chest. 

With that admittance, Eddie knew that she was just scared. It was exactly what had happened with her sister when she was born. “Oh, sweet girl,” he frowned. “You’ll always be our baby.” That much was true, even though she hadn’t been the youngest for a few years now, Beth was also your baby. None of your kids would be made to think they were anything less than vitally important in your lives. 

Her teary eyes peered up at him, a pout prominent on her lips. “Promise?” It hurt his heart that she wasn’t entirely convinced, but he would sit there and reassure her all day long if he had to. 

“I promise.”

The further along in your pregnancy you got, the more your girls warmed up to the idea of having a new sibling in the house. Lola was particularly excited, she already loved her big sister to death, she was positive she’d love this one just as much, if not more. And she would have been more excited the day of that baby's arrival, had she not been so sleepy from a nap. 

Going into labor in the middle of the day was not what you wanted to do. In your mind there were still a thousand and one things you needed to do before you had this baby, you’d been so busy the entire month, what with trying to plan a surprise for your husband’s birthday– now really wasn’t the time for them to decide to make their appearance. But of course you can’t predict or choose when stuff like this is going to happen.  

Despite having done this once before, Eddie was freaking out again, big time. You tried to put off alerting him for as long as you could handle, gathering your belongings, letting Wayne know and then waking your toddler from her nap. Beth was at a friends for the time being, though she would have to go back to her grandpa’s when she got done with that. So all you had left to do was make your husband aware and pray that he wasn’t too irritated you’d waited so long to tell him.

He had been in the living room playing some song on his guitar to pass the time while you and Lola napped in your bedroom. The exhaustion that had accompanied this pregnancy had really been wearing you down; part of you was glad to have a toddler by your side that you could have mutual naps with, though it often left your husband lonely. Only on occasion would he join the two of you. When you’d woken after your first contraction, you had heard the soft strumming, leaving you with the impression that you had time before he realized something was wrong. Thankfully he never did notice there was a problem occurring just beside the room he was in.

In the first moments when you let him in on the fact you were in labor, you didn’t know if he was going to explode. He seemed angry with you, with the fact you hadn’t let him help and had instead suffered in silence. He could have done half the things you did with more ease and you could have been off to the hospital in a third of the time you were now. However, he wasn’t going to yell at you when he knew the kind of pain you were in, that was a step too far in his book. “Let’s just get going, yeah?” 

You didn’t like the animosity that was lingering over the two of you as he scooped up Lola. With regrets about your prior decisions of the day, you followed him out of the house, making sure the door of the cabin was locked and going over your mental checklist to make sure you had everything. 

The first stop was Wayne’s, the man kind enough to allow you to drop Lola off there for him to take care of her while you were at the hospital. Just like the first time you gave birth, when he was generous enough to watch over Beth, he was going to bring both girls to the hospital after your baby was born. Though you weren’t sure when that was going to be just yet. It seemed like they wanted to take their time with their exit, which wasn’t really good news for you. You’d preferably like them out as soon as physically possible. 

“Eddie,” you whined, blindly reaching for the man’s hand. He offered it to you with a frown, painfully sympathetic to the position you were in. “Please tell your kid to get out of me,” you begged. You sounded so desperate that it physically hurt his heart. 

He sat on a chair beside the bed you were in, bringing his head down near your stomach. His mouth was basically against your skin now, and you could feel the vibrations of his voice against you. “Hi, baby, it’s your dad,” he greeted them first off. “We’re so excited to meet you, but we can’t if you don’t get out of there.”

You smiled sweetly at his words. He just always seemed to know the perfect thing to say.

It was probably just an amazing coincidence, but it seemed like Eddie’s little chat with the baby did actually speed up the whole process. Within the next ten or so minutes, you were ready to start pushing.

You could admit that this time around was a lot harder than last time. This baby decided they were stubborn, much more than your Lola, and they were adamant they were staying in your womb for as long as they could. Although it was tiresome and grueling, it all became worth it when the nurses announced you had a healthy baby boy.

When the little boy was placed on your chest, you had flashbacks to the first time you met your precious Lola. The feeling was the same, one of warmth and nothing but bliss towards the child that had made you a mother again. It didn’t matter that he was screaming or covered in weird goo, he was yours, you and your husband had made him out of love. It was a feeling you would never be able to verbally explain to someone who hadn’t had kids. But you were sure it was what heaven on Earth felt like.

Despite the chaos of the room around you, your little boy was all that you could focus on, at least until you were informed they needed to take him to be cleaned up. It was the only moment you’d really been given to breathe in hours, no one bustling around you or shouting instructions at you, it was pleasant. 

Eddie took the opportunity to talk to you, praising how well you did. “He’s perfect. I’m so proud of you,” he gushed, brushing your sweaty hair away from your forehead. You flushed under his compliments. He didn’t stop there, they kept spilling out of his mouth without a filter, all the way until your baby was brought back to you. 

The yet to be named Munson, the youngest of the bunch, was practically passed out. You’d think he was the one who’d just experienced childbirth with the way his eyes were glued shut as he snoozed in your arms. 

“Such a sleepy baby, huh?” Eddie muttered, stroking over the minimal hair on the little boy’s head. 

It was a beautiful sight to see your husband so entranced with the baby. You wished he could see how amazing of a dad he was from your perspective. He would truly be blown away. Which is all the more reason why it would be so special that your boy decided to make his appearance on the day of the thirtieth. It was by pure chance that your eyes had caught the clock beside your hospital bed, but you were forever glad you did, because it was you who had the pleasure of telling your husband that this little baby was his first birthday present of the day. 

“Hey, Eddie. Look at the time,” you whispered, not wanting to startle the newborn resting in your arms. There was a smile on your face that was nothing but blissful. The hustle and bustle of the evening had finally calmed down, and only now were you realizing it was almost four in the morning on the thirtieth. Your baby boy was born in the early hours of November thirtieth, conveniently, your husband’s birthday. “Happy birthday, honey. To both my guys.”

He let out a quiet laugh, running his thumb over the baby’s cheek. “My own little birthday present, huh?”

That fact was bathed in by him for the rest of the morning, while you got your rest and Eddie got the chance to hold your baby for a little while. It gave him the chance to think about names, you would be way too exhausted to even begin to consider them, so he thought he would take that burden off of your shoulders. You didn’t need any more struggles to handle. He proposed the idea once you woke up.

“I uh, I was thinking of baby names while you were asleep,” he told you. While you fed the little boy, he held your other hand, occasionally dropping a kiss down onto the back of it in a sweet gesture. “I think I’ve got one I really like.”

You hadn’t expected him to take the initiative, but you were happy to hear that he had. “Hit me,” you said. 

“Well, I wanted to stick with the little song theme we’ve got going,” he explained. You honestly didn’t expect him to stray from that anyway. But you could say you were excited to hear his suggestion. You were so tired that you would probably end up agreeing to it anyway. “How about Jessie?”

You were quiet while you thought it over, testing it a few times to see how it felt. “Where’d you get that?” 

He smiled. “Jessie’s girl, Rick Springfield. Played non-stop this one summer I visited Tulip in New York. Hated it at first, not my style, but it grew on me,” he explained. There was a dumb little grin on his face while he told you the story. It showed you how much such a simple thing meant to him and your heart fluttered. That was the summer he’d got lost on the subway, ended up in Brooklyn like a lost puppy and Tulip had had to bribe him not to tell her mom. “It’s a really good memory. Mostly.”

You were more than happy to accept that as your son’s name. The final decision came to the baby himself though, hoping he’d maybe give a sign or something if he liked it. It probably sounded silly to most, but Eddie would always indulge your silly behavior. “Let’s see what he thinks, huh?” You stroked his cheek lightly, and his little eyes blinked open. “Hi, Jessie. How’s that sound?  You wanna be Jessie Munson?”

You could’ve sworn the little boy smiled at you, and he definitely squeezed your finger. Maybe it was just wishful thinking but you swore that was him telling you yes. 

Like he felt the same, your husband’s eyes flickered to your face. “Jessie it is.”

Only shortly after you named your boy, were you greeted with a knock at the door. It was still early, barely even nine, so you assumed it was a nurse or someone, but then you were met with the kind face of Wayne. 

The first visitors in to see the baby, were of course your family. Beth had done this once before, but she was over the moon to do it again with a baby brother this time. Lola sort of knew what was going on, but she was a little too small to have a complete idea. Wayne was just happy to be meeting a third grand kid. 

The first thing you noticed when the three entered the room was the tired expression written all over your eldest’s face. She was far from a morning person, the opposite of how she used to be, but also the opposite of her younger sister, of whom was almost bouncing off the walls of the room she was so awake. “Hey, sleepyhead,” you greeted, pulling her into a quick hug as she checked on you. Her eyes weren’t on you though, even as she asked questions about how you were and how everything went. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from the sleeping boy in your arms. 

You noticed. “He’s cute, huh?”

She nodded, itching to climb on the bed with you. You happily invited her up. She made herself comfortable, resting her head on your shoulder so she could gaze down at the baby while Lola scurried off to her father. You could hear her saying the word baby over and over again, so it was obvious she was excited. Beth was happy to make her greeting to her brother quick so that her sister could meet him sooner. She might explode if she didn’t meet him sooner. 

“What’s his name?” the teen asked. 

You glanced at your husband, offering him a sweet smile. “Jessie.”

She repeated it to herself quietly. She wouldn’t know where it came from, probably never having heard the song that was released before she was born, but the smile on her face was telling you she liked it. The older man who was still in the doorway however, got the reference, grinning to himself knowing it was his nephews doing. 

A single look from your youngest daughter told you she was desperate to meet him, unable to stay still in her father’s grasp. You didn’t want to force her to keep waiting any longer, so you summoned your husband over to take Jessie from you.

It was familiar, watching Eddie sit Lola on his knee while he helped her hold Jessie. You recalled him doing the exact same thing with your other baby the first time she was introduced to Lola. Now though, she stood watching over her dad’s shoulder, but he still made sure to keep an arm around her to make sure she felt included. You felt transported back to where you were four years ago, with Wayne by your side congratulating you. “Another beautiful baby. D’you think this one will be the last?” he asked. 

You couldn’t have gotten your answer out quick enough if you were being honest with yourself. “Definitely. No more Munson babies from me.” Eddie was yet to be told that part, but he didn’t really have much of a choice but to agree. The older man would happily back you up if need be though. 

“Who needs more when you’ve got the three cutest babies in the world?” You silently agreed, pressing a kiss to the top of sleepy Beth’s head. She hummed quietly, snuggling closer into your side. “Sometimes I can’t believe Eddie helped make them.” One of your favorite things about the older man was his ability to make you laugh with his jokes and random comments every now and then. You didn’t even know if he knew how funny he could be sometimes. 

His tone changed quickly, upon his eyes landing on the sight of his nephew and two of his kids. It was a sight he thought he would never see, unsure whether the child he raised would ever want to raise some of his own, considering the parents he had that had left a pretty permanent mark on who he was. “It’s crazy remembering he’s a dad sometimes,” he told you. There was a look in his eye that you couldn’t quite explain, but you would assume it was overwhelming love or pride– or something similar to that. “I’m so proud of the both of you. You’re amazing parents.”

You hadn’t intended on crying during this visit, but you supposed all the new emotions within your body meant it was inevitable. “God, Wayne. You big sap,” you teased. You dabbed at the tears leaking from your eyes, making the man grin. 

“Sorry, Sunny.” He aided his words with a kiss on the top of your head, and a tight squeeze. It was after that that he left you to get his own cuddles in with the babe. 

Your hand was stroking Beth’s wild hair as she fought sleep. She was still trying to come around after being woken up a couple hours earlier. If it was any other time of the day she probably would have been just as bouncy as Lola at the prospect of the new baby, but as for now, her excitement would come later when she finally got her energy back. “He’s really cute, mom,” she said. 

You smiled. “You think?” There was never more pride for a mother than being told your baby was cute. You could hear it over and over. 

“Yeah. Can I help take care of him?” She had never offered to do that for her sister before, maybe that was due to her age when her sister had been born, or just because she thought you could handle it, but that didn’t matter, you were honored by the offer anyway. 

“Of course you can. Thank you, baby.”

She did in fact grow more and more excited over Jessie throughout the day. They stayed for as long as they could, keeping you company until visiting hours were over. You were sad to see your two babies go, convinced you didn’t get enough cuddles from either of your girls today, but you didn’t have the energy to argue. You were much too tired and Wayne could tell, scooping Lola up into his arms to stop her from poking at your cheek any more. 

“Well, we’ll let you get some more rest. God knows you’re gonna need it,” the man joked. You both knew he was right. You had pretty much forgotten what it was like to care for a newborn, what with both your kids having slept through the night for a while now. It was going to be a whole new round of hell for you both. But, you were willing to make these kinds of sacrifices for your boy. 

“If he’s anything like you said Eddie was, we’re gonna need it.” You had been told by Wayne on many occasions that your husband was a screamer as a kid. You had seen that behavior exhibited in your Lola a little bit in the first few weeks of her life, but it hadn’t lasted as long as you expected it to. It might be a whole different story for Jessie though. You would come to find that in the next few weeks.  

He didn’t find that joke amusing, despite the fact that Beth definitely did. She was giggling as her father glared at you. She was the one to dispel his anger thankfully. You could almost visibly see him deflate when she tackled him in a hug. Eddie loved all his kids, but you could tell he had a different connection with Bethy. He reminded her that he loved her, then the same for Lola, before his beloved uncle was leading them out of your hospital room for the night. You’d see them again soon enough. 

You started letting friends come by the day before you were due to go home. Certainly more would be showing up at the cabin throughout the week, all of whom wanting to be introduced to the new member of your big extended family. You would have no problem with it, though you were glad they were so kind to do it in small groups, lord knows so many people at one time would be overwhelming. 

The first non-biological family visitors were of course the Harringtons, insisting they had to meet him before the rest of your friends did. 

“Munson, not only did you steal my birthday, but now your kid stole it too?” His voice was much too loud for the hospital room, startling both you and your husband who had been having an extremely quiet conversation. Both sets of eyes jumped to him and immediately took to shushing him.

“Dude, he’s sleeping,” Eddie whisper-yelled. Tulip was happy to scold him with a slap to the arm, glaring at her husband for being so irresponsible. He looked back at the three of you with a look of complete disbelief on his features, finding it hard to believe he’d only walked into the room and suddenly he was the bad guy already. That was actually a common occurrence for Steve, though he would always argue it was never his fault.

He rolled his eyes at the sudden attack. “So, where is he?”

“Sleeping,” Eddie repeated, nodding his head in the direction of the small bed just beside you both. He looked so effortlessly peaceful in his slumber, but if Steve kept up his loud tone, he wouldn’t stay that way for long. The metalhead was happy to lead his friend to look, insisting that it was okay as long as he was silent. 

While the two men admired the baby, you found yourself talking with Tulip, discussing how you were, how she was, all of it. You were too distracted talking with his wife to even notice when Steve had taken your boy into his arms with the help of your husband. If there was one thing Harrington could do, it was look like a dad always. He looked so at ease and peaceful with a baby in his arms, so used to holding his own that it just became natural for him. 

“What d’you think, Steve?” he asked, eyeing the man holding his son in case he needed to step in at any point. It didn’t matter that Steve had been a father almost as long as Eddie has, he was still terrified his newborn son may get harmed in some way– even if that was due to being held incorrectly by the man who was practically a pro by now. 

“Had to have a boy too, huh? Right after I had a boy,” he grumbled. It was a dumb thing for him to be annoyed about, but he was also Steve, if there was something silly to be made over, he definitely would take that chance. Regardless of what he was saying, he was still smiling down at the baby boy smiling in his arms. “On my birthday, as well?”

The new father scoffed. “Hey, it’s my birthday too that I’m giving up.” It truly wouldn’t be a family related event if the two didn’t start arguing at some point, that was what they were best at. They would never just admit they were friends, they always had to make things awkward. 

He huffed. “Okay, maybe that was a coincidence. But the gender too?”

Eddie felt like his head was going to explode. “That was a coincidence too!” he borderline yelled. Then he remembered that his baby was still asleep and lowered his voice so he wouldn’t wake the newborn. “You know we don’t get to choose, right? I’m not copying you, Steve. Get over it.”

That was pretty much how the rest of the visits from the couple went too. 

Going home with three kids rather than two was strange. It was so weird to think that just a couple days ago, Jessie was in your stomach, and now he was in your arms as you brought him inside his home for the first time. It was truly a surreal feeling that you didn’t think you would get over any time soon. 

Lola ran inside as soon as the door was open, scouring the place for the house cat who would probably be sniffing around his food bowl like usual. Beth followed suit, offering to be the one to feed Bat for you so you didn’t have to worry about doing so. And who were you to say no to that offer? It allowed you the opportunity to go and lay Jessie in his new crib in the nursery. You’d had to transform one of the girl’s rooms in order to have somewhere for your boy to stay. It was less than ideal, but this cabin meant a lot to a lot of people, and you didn’t plan on getting rid of it. 

As you settled the baby boy down into his crib, Eddie practically clinging to your back, you couldn’t help but think about how perfect your family was now. It had never been your intention to end up with three kids. If you told you from fifteen years ago that you’d be in this position now, you probably would have freaked out. Never did you think you’d be a good mother, due to your own bad role model growing up. But here you were, arguably one of the greatest mothers you knew. And even if you weren’t, at least you loved your kids to death. 

“He’s so gorgeous,” Eddie whispered, pressing a kiss to your temple. 

You hummed, leaning back into him. “We made him.”

The next kiss was placed on your clothed shoulder. “We did. And he’s absolutely perfect.”

The two of you stood there fawning over his sleeping form for a short while. You had no idea how long it’d been when a shrill cry erupted from his mouth, but you certainly didn’t waste a single second when it came to taking him into your embrace. You held him as close to your chest as you possibly could. When he’d begun to cry, you pouted, cooing quietly. He had barely been out of them and he had already decided he didn’t like it. “Oh no, what’s wrong my Jessie boy?”

Eddie watched on with such adoration. The sounds of your child crying were never particularly enjoyable, but right now he couldn’t find it in him to find it as awful as he would say in the middle of the night. 

The first sign of what it was like to raise three kids at once was shown to you within the next few minutes. While your baby boy cried his little lungs out, your other two found themselves fighting like the sisters they were. “Daddy!” Lola called, sounding as though she was distressed. You could see the concern flashing in his eyes before she tamed it with her next words. “Beth took my toy!”

Your husband sighed, dropping his head onto your shoulder in exasperation. This was going to be more difficult than you originally thought. Your kids could certainly make it easier on you if they tried, but they certainly weren’t going to try. “Go on, dad. You’ve got work to do.”

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[farfromharry]

Beth [ 24 ] | Dad!Eddie Munson series

Twenty-four, Jessie

Word count - 5666

Warnings - mentions of birth and i literally have no idea

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November 1999

For the first few months, you hadn’t mentioned anything about the baby to anyone. It was one big thing after another that you didn’t want to take attention away from, but at a certain point you couldn’t hide it anymore. Your babies were the first ones you told, as you and Eddie believed they deserved to know before anyone else. The new baby would affect their lives more than anyone else in your families, so you thought it was only fair. 

You were hoping that telling your kids about the new baby would go increasingly better than it had the first time around. You didn’t need another Beth situation like that of the first few months of Lola’s life. But she was older now, and knew what having a sibling was like, so she’d hopefully be more open to it this time. Lola? Well, she was still fifty-fifty, you wouldn’t know until you told her. 

You and Eddie decided to sit the two kids down on the couch, sitting across from them with, probably creepy, smiles on your faces. Bat decided to join them also, adorably, situating himself in Beth’s lap, deciding he was going to take a nap there.

Although the elder of the two was confused about all this formality, not used to the randomness of her parents acting so serious, she didn’t say anything just yet. She did eye you both though, so you knew that she wasn’t happy about this situation. As for your Lols, she was using her dad as a jungle gym. She could never sit still for too long, and she was giggling away as she crawled all over her dad. He usually would have entertained her for a while, had you not needed to get this news out. 

“Lola girl, need you to sit down for a few minutes,” Eddie told her, kindly, dropping a kiss to the top of her head. He didn’t want to upset her or make her think she was in trouble at all, and although she let out a little huff, she did sit down for him. However, she did steal one of his big hands to hold with her tiny ones in her lap. 

“We have some news,” you started. You had already agreed your husband would be the one to tell them, as he was probably the one they would take it the best from. Your girls were wholeheartedly daddy’s girls. You could hear quiet ow’s falling from Eddie’s lips as he pulled his hand away from his daughter, she’d let her impulsivity get to her and sunk her teeth into her father’s hand just because. He didn’t seem to like it. 

Beth sighed loudly, slouching. “Are you dying?” she asked. You hadn’t expected such a grim question to come your way, and you were a little shocked that she’d even ask that, but either way you had to give her an answer. 

You and Eddie both tried to answer at the same time, with you reassuring her that you were perfectly fine, no one was dying, and your husband muttering something about how your news was even worse than that. Although, you’d expect any regular thirteen year old to be concerned by those words, Beth was used to her fathers shenanigans by now. “Oh god, is Auntie Tulip pregnant again?”

The man beside you began to chuckle under his breath, and you had to whack his thigh for him to shut up. He would have a field day telling his best friend that one. 

“Look,” he began. “We don’t want you to worry, because it’s a big change, but you’re going to have a new baby sibling in a few months.” He did a little show of jazz hands that was supposed to make the news go down more lightly, but you didn’t know if it had worked. You had yet to gauge the reaction of the kids. 

“Huh?” Lola asked, cocking her head to the side in confusion. 

You thought it was positively adorable. 

“There’s a baby in mom’s stomach, Lala,” your eldest explained. It was clear even that brief statement didn’t help her entirely get what was going on, but she had a better idea than before, and it broke her little heart. 

“Baby?” she whimpered, her big brown eyes welling with tears. You hadn’t expected such emotion to overcome her, but it was mere seconds before she burst into tears right in front of you. You tried to reach for her, hoping she would let you welcome her into your arms and soothe her sadness away. But she wouldn’t let you. She outright refused to go anywhere near you. She didn’t hold the same view for Eddie. 

She was more than happy to force her way into his lap, burying her head in his chest as she cried. “Mater,” she mumbled. 

Your brow furrowed, repeating the word to yourself under your breath. Beth was once again happy to help with the bewilderment. She seemed to be very good at doing that today, so much so that she hadn’t even voiced her own reaction to the news. “She means traitor.”

You muttered an ‘oh’, taking a little offense to the words of your child, but you brushed it off due to the fact she was a small child dealing with some pretty big emotions. Though you didn’t know exactly what was wrong, and she probably wouldn’t tell you now, you could probably make a pretty accurate guess.

Eddie, though he really should be acting like a parent right now, was finding her rejection of you actually rather amusing. “Mommy’s a big meanie, right?” It didn’t matter to him that it took two to tango apparently, he was pinning this all on you to earn brownie points with your child. You hated that she nodded too. 

“Now who’s the mater?” you grumbled. 

You shot your husband a glare, watching as he got the pleasure of cradling your toddler to his chest, big hand stroking her back in hopes of cheering her up a little bit. Knowing he was loving this only made you scoff, deciding you were going to head out and take your beloved Beth with you, maybe then the two of you could talk about how she felt at the information of a new baby in the house. “Come on, Bethy, we’ll leave these maters here.”

She was happy to follow, on the condition that she could bring Bat along with her. The cat didn’t protest, happily being scooped into her arms, so neither did you. 

“Lols?” Eddie spoke quietly. She shook her head. He tried again, but only got the same response, so he had no choice but to stop letting her hide. She didn’t take too lightly to that, trying to fight back against her dad. “Need you to talk to me, my pretty girl. I can’t have you all upset like this.”

She sniffled. “I-If mommy has a baby, I won’t be the baby anymore.” The words had only made her cry harder. She didn’t mean to, but telling her dad the truth had only brought all the emotions back up in her chest. 

With that admittance, Eddie knew that she was just scared. It was exactly what had happened with her sister when she was born. “Oh, sweet girl,” he frowned. “You’ll always be our baby.” That much was true, even though she hadn’t been the youngest for a few years now, Beth was also your baby. None of your kids would be made to think they were anything less than vitally important in your lives. 

Her teary eyes peered up at him, a pout prominent on her lips. “Promise?” It hurt his heart that she wasn’t entirely convinced, but he would sit there and reassure her all day long if he had to. 

“I promise.”

The further along in your pregnancy you got, the more your girls warmed up to the idea of having a new sibling in the house. Lola was particularly excited, she already loved her big sister to death, she was positive she’d love this one just as much, if not more. And she would have been more excited the day of that baby's arrival, had she not been so sleepy from a nap. 

Going into labor in the middle of the day was not what you wanted to do. In your mind there were still a thousand and one things you needed to do before you had this baby, you’d been so busy the entire month, what with trying to plan a surprise for your husband’s birthday– now really wasn’t the time for them to decide to make their appearance. But of course you can’t predict or choose when stuff like this is going to happen.  

Despite having done this once before, Eddie was freaking out again, big time. You tried to put off alerting him for as long as you could handle, gathering your belongings, letting Wayne know and then waking your toddler from her nap. Beth was at a friends for the time being, though she would have to go back to her grandpa’s when she got done with that. So all you had left to do was make your husband aware and pray that he wasn’t too irritated you’d waited so long to tell him.

He had been in the living room playing some song on his guitar to pass the time while you and Lola napped in your bedroom. The exhaustion that had accompanied this pregnancy had really been wearing you down; part of you was glad to have a toddler by your side that you could have mutual naps with, though it often left your husband lonely. Only on occasion would he join the two of you. When you’d woken after your first contraction, you had heard the soft strumming, leaving you with the impression that you had time before he realized something was wrong. Thankfully he never did notice there was a problem occurring just beside the room he was in.

In the first moments when you let him in on the fact you were in labor, you didn’t know if he was going to explode. He seemed angry with you, with the fact you hadn’t let him help and had instead suffered in silence. He could have done half the things you did with more ease and you could have been off to the hospital in a third of the time you were now. However, he wasn’t going to yell at you when he knew the kind of pain you were in, that was a step too far in his book. “Let’s just get going, yeah?” 

You didn’t like the animosity that was lingering over the two of you as he scooped up Lola. With regrets about your prior decisions of the day, you followed him out of the house, making sure the door of the cabin was locked and going over your mental checklist to make sure you had everything. 

The first stop was Wayne’s, the man kind enough to allow you to drop Lola off there for him to take care of her while you were at the hospital. Just like the first time you gave birth, when he was generous enough to watch over Beth, he was going to bring both girls to the hospital after your baby was born. Though you weren’t sure when that was going to be just yet. It seemed like they wanted to take their time with their exit, which wasn’t really good news for you. You’d preferably like them out as soon as physically possible. 

“Eddie,” you whined, blindly reaching for the man’s hand. He offered it to you with a frown, painfully sympathetic to the position you were in. “Please tell your kid to get out of me,” you begged. You sounded so desperate that it physically hurt his heart. 

He sat on a chair beside the bed you were in, bringing his head down near your stomach. His mouth was basically against your skin now, and you could feel the vibrations of his voice against you. “Hi, baby, it’s your dad,” he greeted them first off. “We’re so excited to meet you, but we can’t if you don’t get out of there.”

You smiled sweetly at his words. He just always seemed to know the perfect thing to say.

It was probably just an amazing coincidence, but it seemed like Eddie’s little chat with the baby did actually speed up the whole process. Within the next ten or so minutes, you were ready to start pushing.

You could admit that this time around was a lot harder than last time. This baby decided they were stubborn, much more than your Lola, and they were adamant they were staying in your womb for as long as they could. Although it was tiresome and grueling, it all became worth it when the nurses announced you had a healthy baby boy.

When the little boy was placed on your chest, you had flashbacks to the first time you met your precious Lola. The feeling was the same, one of warmth and nothing but bliss towards the child that had made you a mother again. It didn’t matter that he was screaming or covered in weird goo, he was yours, you and your husband had made him out of love. It was a feeling you would never be able to verbally explain to someone who hadn’t had kids. But you were sure it was what heaven on Earth felt like.

Despite the chaos of the room around you, your little boy was all that you could focus on, at least until you were informed they needed to take him to be cleaned up. It was the only moment you’d really been given to breathe in hours, no one bustling around you or shouting instructions at you, it was pleasant. 

Eddie took the opportunity to talk to you, praising how well you did. “He’s perfect. I’m so proud of you,” he gushed, brushing your sweaty hair away from your forehead. You flushed under his compliments. He didn’t stop there, they kept spilling out of his mouth without a filter, all the way until your baby was brought back to you. 

The yet to be named Munson, the youngest of the bunch, was practically passed out. You’d think he was the one who’d just experienced childbirth with the way his eyes were glued shut as he snoozed in your arms. 

“Such a sleepy baby, huh?” Eddie muttered, stroking over the minimal hair on the little boy’s head. 

It was a beautiful sight to see your husband so entranced with the baby. You wished he could see how amazing of a dad he was from your perspective. He would truly be blown away. Which is all the more reason why it would be so special that your boy decided to make his appearance on the day of the thirtieth. It was by pure chance that your eyes had caught the clock beside your hospital bed, but you were forever glad you did, because it was you who had the pleasure of telling your husband that this little baby was his first birthday present of the day. 

“Hey, Eddie. Look at the time,” you whispered, not wanting to startle the newborn resting in your arms. There was a smile on your face that was nothing but blissful. The hustle and bustle of the evening had finally calmed down, and only now were you realizing it was almost four in the morning on the thirtieth. Your baby boy was born in the early hours of November thirtieth, conveniently, your husband’s birthday. “Happy birthday, honey. To both my guys.”

He let out a quiet laugh, running his thumb over the baby’s cheek. “My own little birthday present, huh?”

That fact was bathed in by him for the rest of the morning, while you got your rest and Eddie got the chance to hold your baby for a little while. It gave him the chance to think about names, you would be way too exhausted to even begin to consider them, so he thought he would take that burden off of your shoulders. You didn’t need any more struggles to handle. He proposed the idea once you woke up.

“I uh, I was thinking of baby names while you were asleep,” he told you. While you fed the little boy, he held your other hand, occasionally dropping a kiss down onto the back of it in a sweet gesture. “I think I’ve got one I really like.”

You hadn’t expected him to take the initiative, but you were happy to hear that he had. “Hit me,” you said. 

“Well, I wanted to stick with the little song theme we’ve got going,” he explained. You honestly didn’t expect him to stray from that anyway. But you could say you were excited to hear his suggestion. You were so tired that you would probably end up agreeing to it anyway. “How about Jessie?”

You were quiet while you thought it over, testing it a few times to see how it felt. “Where’d you get that?” 

He smiled. “Jessie’s girl, Rick Springfield. Played non-stop this one summer I visited Tulip in New York. Hated it at first, not my style, but it grew on me,” he explained. There was a dumb little grin on his face while he told you the story. It showed you how much such a simple thing meant to him and your heart fluttered. That was the summer he’d got lost on the subway, ended up in Brooklyn like a lost puppy and Tulip had had to bribe him not to tell her mom. “It’s a really good memory. Mostly.”

You were more than happy to accept that as your son’s name. The final decision came to the baby himself though, hoping he’d maybe give a sign or something if he liked it. It probably sounded silly to most, but Eddie would always indulge your silly behavior. “Let’s see what he thinks, huh?” You stroked his cheek lightly, and his little eyes blinked open. “Hi, Jessie. How’s that sound?  You wanna be Jessie Munson?”

You could’ve sworn the little boy smiled at you, and he definitely squeezed your finger. Maybe it was just wishful thinking but you swore that was him telling you yes. 

Like he felt the same, your husband’s eyes flickered to your face. “Jessie it is.”

Only shortly after you named your boy, were you greeted with a knock at the door. It was still early, barely even nine, so you assumed it was a nurse or someone, but then you were met with the kind face of Wayne. 

The first visitors in to see the baby, were of course your family. Beth had done this once before, but she was over the moon to do it again with a baby brother this time. Lola sort of knew what was going on, but she was a little too small to have a complete idea. Wayne was just happy to be meeting a third grand kid. 

The first thing you noticed when the three entered the room was the tired expression written all over your eldest’s face. She was far from a morning person, the opposite of how she used to be, but also the opposite of her younger sister, of whom was almost bouncing off the walls of the room she was so awake. “Hey, sleepyhead,” you greeted, pulling her into a quick hug as she checked on you. Her eyes weren’t on you though, even as she asked questions about how you were and how everything went. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from the sleeping boy in your arms. 

You noticed. “He’s cute, huh?”

She nodded, itching to climb on the bed with you. You happily invited her up. She made herself comfortable, resting her head on your shoulder so she could gaze down at the baby while Lola scurried off to her father. You could hear her saying the word baby over and over again, so it was obvious she was excited. Beth was happy to make her greeting to her brother quick so that her sister could meet him sooner. She might explode if she didn’t meet him sooner. 

“What’s his name?” the teen asked. 

You glanced at your husband, offering him a sweet smile. “Jessie.”

She repeated it to herself quietly. She wouldn’t know where it came from, probably never having heard the song that was released before she was born, but the smile on her face was telling you she liked it. The older man who was still in the doorway however, got the reference, grinning to himself knowing it was his nephews doing. 

A single look from your youngest daughter told you she was desperate to meet him, unable to stay still in her father’s grasp. You didn’t want to force her to keep waiting any longer, so you summoned your husband over to take Jessie from you.

It was familiar, watching Eddie sit Lola on his knee while he helped her hold Jessie. You recalled him doing the exact same thing with your other baby the first time she was introduced to Lola. Now though, she stood watching over her dad’s shoulder, but he still made sure to keep an arm around her to make sure she felt included. You felt transported back to where you were four years ago, with Wayne by your side congratulating you. “Another beautiful baby. D’you think this one will be the last?” he asked. 

You couldn’t have gotten your answer out quick enough if you were being honest with yourself. “Definitely. No more Munson babies from me.” Eddie was yet to be told that part, but he didn’t really have much of a choice but to agree. The older man would happily back you up if need be though. 

“Who needs more when you’ve got the three cutest babies in the world?” You silently agreed, pressing a kiss to the top of sleepy Beth’s head. She hummed quietly, snuggling closer into your side. “Sometimes I can’t believe Eddie helped make them.” One of your favorite things about the older man was his ability to make you laugh with his jokes and random comments every now and then. You didn’t even know if he knew how funny he could be sometimes. 

His tone changed quickly, upon his eyes landing on the sight of his nephew and two of his kids. It was a sight he thought he would never see, unsure whether the child he raised would ever want to raise some of his own, considering the parents he had that had left a pretty permanent mark on who he was. “It’s crazy remembering he’s a dad sometimes,” he told you. There was a look in his eye that you couldn’t quite explain, but you would assume it was overwhelming love or pride– or something similar to that. “I’m so proud of the both of you. You’re amazing parents.”

You hadn’t intended on crying during this visit, but you supposed all the new emotions within your body meant it was inevitable. “God, Wayne. You big sap,” you teased. You dabbed at the tears leaking from your eyes, making the man grin. 

“Sorry, Sunny.” He aided his words with a kiss on the top of your head, and a tight squeeze. It was after that that he left you to get his own cuddles in with the babe. 

Your hand was stroking Beth’s wild hair as she fought sleep. She was still trying to come around after being woken up a couple hours earlier. If it was any other time of the day she probably would have been just as bouncy as Lola at the prospect of the new baby, but as for now, her excitement would come later when she finally got her energy back. “He’s really cute, mom,” she said. 

You smiled. “You think?” There was never more pride for a mother than being told your baby was cute. You could hear it over and over. 

“Yeah. Can I help take care of him?” She had never offered to do that for her sister before, maybe that was due to her age when her sister had been born, or just because she thought you could handle it, but that didn’t matter, you were honored by the offer anyway. 

“Of course you can. Thank you, baby.”

She did in fact grow more and more excited over Jessie throughout the day. They stayed for as long as they could, keeping you company until visiting hours were over. You were sad to see your two babies go, convinced you didn’t get enough cuddles from either of your girls today, but you didn’t have the energy to argue. You were much too tired and Wayne could tell, scooping Lola up into his arms to stop her from poking at your cheek any more. 

“Well, we’ll let you get some more rest. God knows you’re gonna need it,” the man joked. You both knew he was right. You had pretty much forgotten what it was like to care for a newborn, what with both your kids having slept through the night for a while now. It was going to be a whole new round of hell for you both. But, you were willing to make these kinds of sacrifices for your boy. 

“If he’s anything like you said Eddie was, we’re gonna need it.” You had been told by Wayne on many occasions that your husband was a screamer as a kid. You had seen that behavior exhibited in your Lola a little bit in the first few weeks of her life, but it hadn’t lasted as long as you expected it to. It might be a whole different story for Jessie though. You would come to find that in the next few weeks.  

He didn’t find that joke amusing, despite the fact that Beth definitely did. She was giggling as her father glared at you. She was the one to dispel his anger thankfully. You could almost visibly see him deflate when she tackled him in a hug. Eddie loved all his kids, but you could tell he had a different connection with Bethy. He reminded her that he loved her, then the same for Lola, before his beloved uncle was leading them out of your hospital room for the night. You’d see them again soon enough. 

You started letting friends come by the day before you were due to go home. Certainly more would be showing up at the cabin throughout the week, all of whom wanting to be introduced to the new member of your big extended family. You would have no problem with it, though you were glad they were so kind to do it in small groups, lord knows so many people at one time would be overwhelming. 

The first non-biological family visitors were of course the Harringtons, insisting they had to meet him before the rest of your friends did. 

“Munson, not only did you steal my birthday, but now your kid stole it too?” His voice was much too loud for the hospital room, startling both you and your husband who had been having an extremely quiet conversation. Both sets of eyes jumped to him and immediately took to shushing him.

“Dude, he’s sleeping,” Eddie whisper-yelled. Tulip was happy to scold him with a slap to the arm, glaring at her husband for being so irresponsible. He looked back at the three of you with a look of complete disbelief on his features, finding it hard to believe he’d only walked into the room and suddenly he was the bad guy already. That was actually a common occurrence for Steve, though he would always argue it was never his fault.

He rolled his eyes at the sudden attack. “So, where is he?”

“Sleeping,” Eddie repeated, nodding his head in the direction of the small bed just beside you both. He looked so effortlessly peaceful in his slumber, but if Steve kept up his loud tone, he wouldn’t stay that way for long. The metalhead was happy to lead his friend to look, insisting that it was okay as long as he was silent. 

While the two men admired the baby, you found yourself talking with Tulip, discussing how you were, how she was, all of it. You were too distracted talking with his wife to even notice when Steve had taken your boy into his arms with the help of your husband. If there was one thing Harrington could do, it was look like a dad always. He looked so at ease and peaceful with a baby in his arms, so used to holding his own that it just became natural for him. 

“What d’you think, Steve?” he asked, eyeing the man holding his son in case he needed to step in at any point. It didn’t matter that Steve had been a father almost as long as Eddie has, he was still terrified his newborn son may get harmed in some way– even if that was due to being held incorrectly by the man who was practically a pro by now. 

“Had to have a boy too, huh? Right after I had a boy,” he grumbled. It was a dumb thing for him to be annoyed about, but he was also Steve, if there was something silly to be made over, he definitely would take that chance. Regardless of what he was saying, he was still smiling down at the baby boy smiling in his arms. “On my birthday, as well?”

The new father scoffed. “Hey, it’s my birthday too that I’m giving up.” It truly wouldn’t be a family related event if the two didn’t start arguing at some point, that was what they were best at. They would never just admit they were friends, they always had to make things awkward. 

He huffed. “Okay, maybe that was a coincidence. But the gender too?”

Eddie felt like his head was going to explode. “That was a coincidence too!” he borderline yelled. Then he remembered that his baby was still asleep and lowered his voice so he wouldn’t wake the newborn. “You know we don’t get to choose, right? I’m not copying you, Steve. Get over it.”

That was pretty much how the rest of the visits from the couple went too. 

Going home with three kids rather than two was strange. It was so weird to think that just a couple days ago, Jessie was in your stomach, and now he was in your arms as you brought him inside his home for the first time. It was truly a surreal feeling that you didn’t think you would get over any time soon. 

Lola ran inside as soon as the door was open, scouring the place for the house cat who would probably be sniffing around his food bowl like usual. Beth followed suit, offering to be the one to feed Bat for you so you didn’t have to worry about doing so. And who were you to say no to that offer? It allowed you the opportunity to go and lay Jessie in his new crib in the nursery. You’d had to transform one of the girl’s rooms in order to have somewhere for your boy to stay. It was less than ideal, but this cabin meant a lot to a lot of people, and you didn’t plan on getting rid of it. 

As you settled the baby boy down into his crib, Eddie practically clinging to your back, you couldn’t help but think about how perfect your family was now. It had never been your intention to end up with three kids. If you told you from fifteen years ago that you’d be in this position now, you probably would have freaked out. Never did you think you’d be a good mother, due to your own bad role model growing up. But here you were, arguably one of the greatest mothers you knew. And even if you weren’t, at least you loved your kids to death. 

“He’s so gorgeous,” Eddie whispered, pressing a kiss to your temple. 

You hummed, leaning back into him. “We made him.”

The next kiss was placed on your clothed shoulder. “We did. And he’s absolutely perfect.”

The two of you stood there fawning over his sleeping form for a short while. You had no idea how long it’d been when a shrill cry erupted from his mouth, but you certainly didn’t waste a single second when it came to taking him into your embrace. You held him as close to your chest as you possibly could. When he’d begun to cry, you pouted, cooing quietly. He had barely been out of them and he had already decided he didn’t like it. “Oh no, what’s wrong my Jessie boy?”

Eddie watched on with such adoration. The sounds of your child crying were never particularly enjoyable, but right now he couldn’t find it in him to find it as awful as he would say in the middle of the night. 

The first sign of what it was like to raise three kids at once was shown to you within the next few minutes. While your baby boy cried his little lungs out, your other two found themselves fighting like the sisters they were. “Daddy!” Lola called, sounding as though she was distressed. You could see the concern flashing in his eyes before she tamed it with her next words. “Beth took my toy!”

Your husband sighed, dropping his head onto your shoulder in exasperation. This was going to be more difficult than you originally thought. Your kids could certainly make it easier on you if they tried, but they certainly weren’t going to try. “Go on, dad. You’ve got work to do.”

━━━━━━━━━♡♥♡━━━━━━━━━

[kaylans-imagines]

lola 🥹 my baby. and jessie❤️❤️

[babyrunsforfanfic]

The Mixtape Detectives

summary: in which eddie tries to be nancy drew

or; in which eddie finds mixtapes in your car and steve’s and decides that the two of you both have to be seeing someone! so he has nancy and robin help him try and figure out who… while they’re all completely missing the signs around them.

steve harrington x fem!reader

warnings/tags: “secret-relationship” trope, but they aren’t doing much to hide it everyone else is just oblivious, the reader and steve have opposite music tastes (steve listens to top 40’s and the reader listens to hard rock / metal), fruity four appearances, background robin x nancy, upside down never happened everyone lives ok, minor talk about steve having absent parents, minor drug use

wc: 3900ish

eddie munson grinned to himself as he drilled his fingers against his knee, his eyes hazy as he leaned his forehead against steve’s passenger side’s window. the glass was cool against his skin, and eddie snickered when steve leaned back in the driver’s seat.

“still alive over there?” steve teased, and eddie snickered again as he glanced toward steve. “i haven’t seen you this high in fucking ages, dude.”

“pretty sure ‘m jus-” eddie huffed as he bent down, fingers yanking open the glovebox right at his knees. “need music.”

“carefully just, fuck-” steve swerved as eddie harshly leaned back, tugging out two handfuls of loose tapes that steve had a bad habit of just.. throwing back into the glovebox. “stay steady dude i don’t want to have to get vomit out of my fucking car.”

“shut up!” eddie groaned as his fingers and rings clacked against the different plastic casings of the cassettes now in his lap. “stevie your music taste sucks.”

“hey!” steve hissed, and eddie couldn’t help but laugh as steve swatted his right hand toward him, left still firmly on the wheel. “bruce springsteen and elton john do not suck!”

“oh steve…” eddie trailed off, abandoning several cassette tapes that fall to the floor, even if steve did suck a sharp breath through his teeth. eddie’s brow pinched, fingers tapping against a cassette that didn’t have a title printed on it. “what’s this one?”

“oh uh-” steve tried to make a grab for it, but a car cutting in front of him forced him to slam his right hand onto the steering wheel. “is private.”

“oooh, pri-vate.” eddie stresses both syllables of the word, before he popped it into the radio and pressed play.

static happened for a second, before the intro of fucking ‘necropobic’ by slayer starts. eddie can’t help but immediately balk, especially since steve… steve doesn’t even seem like the music is bothering him. no, instead steve taps his fingers against the steering wheel, and he looks like he is at-fucking-ease.

steve and eddie don’t say anything for the entire two minutes the song plays, and eddie isn’t surprised when the next song that plays is ‘stranger in a strange land’ by iron maiden. eddie just watched, wide-eyed and mouth slightly agape, as steve harrington sings under his breath to fucking iron maiden. the same steve harrington who would jokingly complain about his ears bleeding whenever eddie had control of the radio.

when steve and eddie pull into his driveway, carefully parking behind nancy wheeler’s car- eddie is stunned when steve turns and grins at him after he’s turned the car off. his dark-tinted sunglasses are hanging near the tip of his nose, and steve harrington fucking winks.

“told you my music doesn’t suck, munson.”

•••

a week later, while steve is stuck waiting for his car in the only mechanic shop in hawkins— eddie is sitting in the basement of the harrington house, with nancy and robin sitting in front of him.

steve’s parents had long since moved away to who knows where, and apparently they were ok and trusted steve enough to make sure the house didn’t collapse on itself.

“can you repeat that?” nancy’s brown is furrowed, and robin is chomping on a popsicle stick as she eyed eddie intently. “you think what?”

“i think that our stevie boy is hooking up with someone!” eddie is adamant, and he points at the piece of paper he’d brought with him. he’d managed to sneak the mixtape out of steve’s car long enough to catalogue what songs it had on it. what eddie hadn’t expected was for steve to bang on his door, not even five minutes later, with his hands on his hips, looking for it. “stevie doesn’t listen to slayer, buckley!”

“it’s just music, eds-” nancy started, though the girl smiled as eddie huffed out a noise of disagreement.

“no! top 40’s is just music.” eddie jabbed his finger toward the paper, which nancy turned so she could look at the entire list. “steve ‘the king’ harrington does not listen to alice cooper!”

“i mean he could just be trying to branch out y’know? we all like different music and stuff, maybe dingus is just trying to expand his horizons and shit.” robin pulled the wooden stick out from between her teeth so she could speak, tongue tinged blue as she wet the corners of her mouth. “maybe that’s all it is, eddie! maybe you’re reading too much into it.”

“no, i’m gonna find out who it is.” eddie is grinning, a slow ear to ear thing that has both nancy and robin let out sighs. “now, are you two with me?”

“ugh, fine.” nancy agreed after eddie sent her a puppy dog look. nancy cast a look to robin, eyes softening slightly, as the trio heard the front door above them unlock. “you in?”

“i’m in.” robin quickly agreed, especially as steve began his quick descent down the basement stairs. eddie quickly snatched up the paper, folding it along the creases before he jammed it deep into his jacket pocket, just as steve entered.

“hey jerks!” steve had an ear to ear grin, a couple boxes of pizza propped against his hip. “look who i find wandering the neighborhood.”

you stepped out from behind steve, a twelve pack of beer in your own hands, and you scoffed playfully as you flipped steve off.

“fuck off, stevie.” you rolled your eyes as you moved toward the trio, smiling widely as you grinned at robin and nancy. “girls i have so much work drama to fill you in on.”

nancy squealed, instantly helping you set the beers down, as robin grabbed you into a tight hug- before the three of you wormed around steve. you all moved as a unit, bounding up the stairs, as steve chuckled.

“glad they get along, aren’t you?” steve smiled to himself, setting the pizza boxes open. eddie watched steve curiously, before he nodded with a grin.

“of course, they all seem to get along great.” eddie shuffled, helping steve break apart the twelve pack, while steve set out a couple of coasters. “car okay?”

“yeah, brakes were just a little fucked.” steve shrugged, before the sound of footsteps down the stairs happened. steve smiled as you bounded down the stairs, trailed after by both robin and nancy. “aw, just talking about you three.”

“oh really?” you grinned wide, dropping a stack of napkins and paper plates on the table. “anything exciting?”

“reminiscing how you joined our little group, actually.” steve grinned and you laughed shyly, rolling your eyes as you dropped onto the loveseat.

“i was high out of my mind, alright?” you scoffed, before smiling as steve dropped down so he could sit next to you. about six months prior to now, while almost greened out, you’d marched up to the four at a party and declared you were all best friends. you’d all been inseparable pretty much since. “can we dig in, i’m starving.”

everyone moved after that, dropping to sit and flip open the pizza boxes. while you slid a couple pieces of supreme onto your plate, steve slyly tapped his knee against yours while everyone else was distracted, especially when eddie jumped up to turn the television on.

“you look real pretty today.” steve whispered, and you smiled towards your plate, accepting a beer when steve offered one out to you.

“thanks, stevie.” you murmured, shy as steve threw his arm behind you to rest along the back of the sofa.

no one noticed, just as no one noticed your shirt.

iron maiden clearly displayed across your chest.

•••

eddie rifled through the box you usually kept in the passenger seat floorboard of your car, an extra pair of your sunglasses drooping down his nose. his van had absolutely refused to start that morning, and since you’d been the only one that was awake when eddie called… you’d offered to drive the brunette to work.

“god at least you have a good music taste.” eddie chuckled, pinching a metallica cassette between his middle and pointer finger.

“yeah?” you giggled, flipping your blinker on as you came to a stop at a red light. “whose music taste are you bashing?”

“stevie’s,” eddie chuckled, dropping the bin of tapes back at his feet.

“aw, it can’t be that bad.” you teased, though you felt your cheeks warm as you took the left turn once the light had turned green. you honestly had no problem with steve’s music taste, truly you didn’t. “some of the stuff he listens to is cute, y’know?”

“cute?!” eddie guffawed and you nodded as you tucked your bottom lip in between your teeth.

“yeah!” you defended, shrugging as you came to a stop at another traffic light. you tapped your fingers against the steering wheel, offering eddie a slow shrug of your shoulders. “some of it is cool, y’know. good make-out music and shit.”

“make-out music?” eddie was grinning now, a wide ear-to-ear thing as he cackled out a laugh. “you’re making out with people to music now?”

you shrugged, especially as eddie continued to grin at you from your peripheral.

“i’m human, eds?” you couldn’t help but giggle, especially as eddie jammed his finger to turn your radio on. “i don’t think that tape is rewound-”

eddie listened, repeatedly pressing the rewind button, before he stilled as you started to drive again. the tape was quiet, barely any static coming through, before it started.

the intro of bon jovi’s, ‘you give love a bad name’ crooned from your car’s speakers- and eddie felt his jaw open as he turned to openly stare at you. you had taken to singing along to the words, tapping your fingers perfectly to the beat- and eddie realized you must’ve listened to this song countless of times to know every fucking lyric.

when you pulled up front of the music store, you flashed eddie a smile, as you pushed your sunglasses down so you could look at eddie with a small smirk quirked on your mouth.

“like i said,” you grinned even wider then, shoulders shrugging as you gestured toward the radio. “some of the shit he listens to is good make-out music.”

“tell me you’re joking.” eddie’s jaw is still hanging open, and you shrug as you instead shift your car into park. “no no, tell me the tape playing isn’t your fucking make-out tape.”

“what? do you think i make-out with people to metallica or some shit?” you’re grinning instead of smirking, and eddie bobs his head into a quick nod. “i don’t listen to this shit all the time, eds, but master of puppets doesn’t exactly give ‘let’s kiss’ vibes.”

eddie is still looking at you, mouth slightly agape, especially as the next song plays. ‘take me home tonight’ by eddie money starts to play, and you’re openly giggling now- as eddie’s cheeks flush.

“do you wanna borrow it?” you question, and you don’t wait for an answer as you click the rewind button twice, and then eject the tape. you hold it out while it’s between your pointer and middle finger, and eddie takes it from you as he slowly blinks. “there you go.”

eddie climbs out of your car slowly, and you grin as you blow him a kiss.

“nance is gonna pick you up once your shift is over, she’s the only one off today, just letting you know.” you’re smiling softer now, before your eyes flash mischievously, and nod your head toward the tape. “take notes munson, i want that back.”

as you pull away, eddie is still standing shocked in the parking lot.

•••

a day later when eddie is sitting in steve’s basement again, he can’t help but feel deja vu trickle up his spine. nancy and robin are sitting across from him, the three glancing at the pieces of paper that eddie had been looking over pretty much his entire shift at the music store. steve was upstairs showering, while you were currently on your way over, having gotten held up at your job instead of being able to get off at your usual time.

“so you think that steve’s best match…” nancy trails off, brow furrowed as she leans forward to look at the paper closer. “beth wildfire? why does that name sound familiar?”

“she’s the girl i told you about, nance.” robin reminded her girlfriend, speaking around a mouthful of doritos. eddie’s brow is furrowed, so robin quickly continues to ramble on. “she was the goalie on my soccer team, this other girl like slid into her right? and ended up breaking one of beth’s legs, and like the whole bone came out of her knee.” robin stuffed another chip into her mouth, missing the small smile that nancy had on her mouth at the rant robin had unintentionally started to go on. “it was insane! i think she ended up having to get screws put in her knee or something. but also, i’ve heard her music and i don’t think she’d listen to any of those songs that were on that mixtape.”

“you don’t think so?” eddie raised his eyebrows, and when robin shook her head immediately, he groaned and crossed her name out.

“also jason carver, really? that’s the best you have for her?” nancy jabbed her finger toward the list of guys eddie had made for you, which prompted eddie to shrug.

“look, she didn’t say she was dating anyone, just making out! isn’t her type like pretty guys or something?” eddie explained, hair moving wildly around his shoulders as he began to talk with his upper body.

“is whose type pretty guys?” steve’s voice rang out, and eddie quickly grabbed the list, crumpling it up as he shoved it into his pocket before he turned around.

steve stood at the bottom of the stairs, hair wet with his hands on his hips as he eyed the group- the trio sheepishly smiling toward steve. steve quirked an eyebrow, as his eyes flitted between everyone’s faces, before he looked back to eddie. a beat or two passed, before you bounded down the stairs, your own hair wet and in pajamas.

“you stop at home and shower?” nancy changed the subject, glancing at you, and you paused a second before you nodded.

“yeah, felt grimy after work.” you shrugged, slyly ghosting the fingers of one hand against steve’s hip as you moved by him. “excuse me stevie.”

you plopped down in the empty chair, before you tucked your knees to your chest and smiled widely at the group. “what are we watching? pick something good up after work, rob?”

robin and nancy were both up then, quickly discussing several movies they’d both apparently rented from family video. eddie excused himself almost as quickly, bounding up the stairs to go smoke before the movie started. while nancy and robin were preoccupied with each other, steve made his way to the side of your chair, and perched himself on the arm before he bent down so he could whisper in your ear.

“thanks for taking a shower with me.” steve’s words were quiet as you let out a soft hum of acknowledgment, and steve tucked a few wet strands of your hair behind your ear. “feel okay?”

“little tired,” you shrugged, blinking sleepily towards steve and he smiled fondly at you as he smoothed his hand over the back of your head. steve hummed softly, and after a quick glance to make sure nancy and robin were occupied (they were), he pressed his lips to your forehead in a soft kiss. “we cooking tonight or ordering in?”

“figured we’d cook, maybe.” steve shrugs, before he ends up sliding so both of you are sitting in the chair together. you uncurl your knees from your chest, letting steve prop your legs over the chair arm, as you end up half balanced on one of his thighs. “i have stuff upstairs to make spaghetti, or i could make burgers instead?”

“hm, spaghetti.” you tuck your head into steve’s neck, and he freezes slightly- before he smooths his hand over your back carefully.

“they’re gonna think somethings up, baby.” steve murmured and you whined softly, shrugging your shoulders. “they are.” you let out an indignant huff, pressing yourself tighter against steve, who made no actual move to peel you off of him. “do you not care anymore?”

“you’re the one who cared if they knew.” you mumbled your words against steve’s chest, and steve stifled a laugh as you snuggled closer and shut your eyes. “if i want to snuggle my man, ‘m gonna snuggle him. don’t care what they think.”

steve said nothing further, instead cradling you to him, with one arm as he used the other one to snag a throw blanket. he covered both him and you, letting you snuggle as close as you wanted. interestingly, robin and nancy didn’t spare either of you more than a glance, and that was just to see if either of you had any input on the movie they watched (you didn’t). even eddie didn’t comment when he made his way back down the stairs, flicking off the overhead lights before he launched himself onto the couch.

while the movie played, the shining, specifically, steve kept his arms wrapped tight around you. none of your friends said a word, even as the group (minus you, seeing as you’d drifted off before the movie had even been chosen), talked through the film.

when you finally woke up as the end credits started, you yawned, and uncurled yourself from steve. steve watched appraisingly as you stretched, tank top riding up on your hips as you stretched your arms high above your head. you let out another yawn, before you turned and smiled at steve.

“i’m gonna go start food, wanna help me, baby?” your voice was soft and it was clear you were still half-asleep, and steve nodded following after you slowly.

interestingly he noted, no one batted an eye at your use of the pet name. when steve was at the top of the stairs, he heard the crinkle and low voice of eddie, rattling off a couple names to robin and nancy. the two girls seemed to put their input in, and steve was still chuckling when he joined you in the kitchen.

“what’s funny?” you murmured, soft spoken as steve wrapped his arms around you from behind, pinning you to his chest as he ducked his head down. steve pressed a soft kiss to the top of your head, watching as you turned a burner on. “hm?”

“pretty sure eds and the girls are trying to figure out if we’re dating someone.” steve chuckled, nosing at your hair as he watched you dump a thing of hamburger meat into the pan.

you giggled at that, since the two of you had already filled each other in on the weird moments about music with eddie when you’d been driving with him. neither of you were worried about him though, not really anyway.

“funny.” you murmured, and you didn’t protest as steve plucked the spatula out of your hand, though he still kept your back pressed to his own chest. “think they’ll end up confronting us?”

steve chuckled, shaking his head as he thought about the trio downstairs in the basement, before he spoke.

“oh without a doubt, baby.”

•••

a week later, eddie sat in the back of his van with both nancy and robin, the van facing toward the drive-in’s screen. some double horror feature was playing, and while both you and steve had bailed, the trio had still wanted to attend. steve apparently had a migraine and you the stomach flu, so the trio had just sent you well wishes and still went.

eddie took a slow drag of his cigarette, glancing around as he eyed the cars that surrounded him. everyone was waiting on the second movie to start, the first having been over for a couple of minutes already. nancy whined when robin smacked her arm, and eddie jumped as robin smacked his too. when eddie turned, robin was grinning- gesturing a hand out into the crowd.

“isn’t that steve’s car?” robin was grinning even wider now, and eddie cackled as he stubbed out his cigarette. “oh my god it so is isn’t it?”

“and the windows are fogged up.” nancy giggled, and eddie grinned at his two friends, before he gestured toward the car with his chin.

“what do you say about going and saying hi?” eddie was grinning even wider when the two girls jumped up, and eddie followed suit after closing the back of the van.

steve’s noticeable car was several rows ahead of them, the last in the row. the windows were fogged, and eddie couldn’t help but stifle a laugh as he neared the driver’s side window. eddie could hear music playing from inside, madonna’s ‘crazy for you’ crooning from the car’s speakers. eddie grinned wide at nancy and robin, before he rapped his knuckles against the window.

a beat passed, then two, and eddie knocked again. he could hear mumbling inside the car, clearly steve’s voice, though he couldn’t make out the second. when another beat passed and the music was turned off, eddie knocked for the third time. eddie smiled again at robin and nancy who crowded closer as the driver’s window started to roll down before…

holy fucking shit.

you were perched in steve’s lap, lips red, smiling shyly up at the trio. steve was under you, hair mused as he grinned cheekily at eddie, before his eyes flickered to robin, and then to nancy’s. you were in a tiny sundress, something drastically different than what you usually wore, and eddie swallowed harshly when steve slid the strap of it back up your shoulder fondly.

“hey guys.” you were grinning, all teeth and crinkled eyes, before you extended your hand with a small giggle. “nice to meet you, ‘m stevie’s girl.”

no one made a move to shake your hand, and when you brought it back in, steve extended his own. he was flushed pink, lips puffy from being kissed, and he licked at the corners before his grin widened.

“nice to meet you all, i’m hers.”

•••

eddie had decided on that night that he was a terrible fucking detective, and had somehow missed what’d been clear as day right in front of everyone’s eyes. you and steve later explained you hadn’t hidden your guys’ relationship for any malicious reason, it was just new and you both weren’t exactly sure where it would actually lead.

years later, at your wedding with steve, neither of you could explain to anyone other than your three closest friends why your favorite present was what it was. it wasn’t large or expensive by any means, but the second both you and steve had seen it, you both had erupted into a fit of giggles.

inside of a shadow box were the following items;

one the right, the list from the tape in steve’s car.

on the left, the list from the tape in yours.

at the bottom, in between those, two unlabeled cassette tapes side by side.

just above the two tapes was what had really sent you and steve into a fit of hysterics.

it was two separate lists of names of students that had gone to or once attended hawkin’s high.

some x’d-out, some circled, some underlined.

the most interesting thing, however?

neither your name or steve’s were anywhere on it.

[farfromharry]

In another life | Eddie Munson fic

Summary: Eddie bumps his head after a fight with you and experiences two separate dreams of what his life could be like if things with you were different. When he wakes up back in your arms afterwards, he learns to appreciate what he has.

Word count - 6620

Warnings - a little angst ig, mentions of injury

━━━━━━━━━♡♥♡━━━━━━━━━

One of your favorite parts of the Christmas season was all the celebrating that came with it. The movies, the snacks, the hot drinks to keep you warm in the cold weather. All of it. That paired with the joy of having someone you adored to spend it with, made your entire month perfect. 

Only, this year you didn’t get to share them as much as you would like with your boyfriend. Instead, you spent a lot of time with his Uncle while Eddie worked. He would usually join you when he got home in the evenings, cuddle you on the couch while a movie played on the TV, sometimes even falling asleep on you from such a long day. Even though it wasn’t exactly what you were craving, you still cherished that he wanted to be close to you and spend any spare time he had with you. 

You thought today would be just like that. Mugs of hot chocolate were on the coffee table, one waiting and ready for him when he got back. Gremlins played on the TV in front of you and Wayne, the two of you entranced in the cliché story. You heard the front door open, what with the faulty lock that made it so difficult to pry open, but you didn’t hear the sigh he let out as he tried to pull off his heavy boots. 

“Hey, missed you today. Do you wanna join us?” you asked, kindly, flashing him a smile over the back of the couch. 

He shook his head, struggling with the laces on his shoes that he couldn't seem to undo. With a huff, he gave up, deciding he’d ask you for help or something. “Not tonight. Just want to take a hot shower and then go straight to bed. ‘M tired.” You could hear the exhaustion in his tone and all you wanted to do was bring him into your arms and make him feel better. 

You frowned. “You could still do that, but you could sleep here. Just spend time with us, y’know. Haven’t seen you all day.” It felt like you hadn’t seen him a lot at all actually recently. 

It was an innocent enough request. You hadn’t meant anything by it, but he did take it to heart. It felt like a criticism from you and he was far too tired to listen to you tell him all the different things he should do to make himself better. “Can you get off my back? I said no,” he snapped, practically hissing at you. 

Both yours and Wayne’s eyes widened immensely. Eddie had almost never spoken to you this way, and you had no idea why he was starting to. “What?” you asked, chuckling a little bit at the confusion you felt. 

He didn’t seem to find it funny at all. He ignored you, back to fighting with the laces that kept his boots tightly secured to his feet. By the second he was growing more and more frustrated, and it was due to the fact he’d had such a long day and now when he was supposed to be able to finally relax, things were piling up again that were getting him heated. Why wouldn’t the shoes just come off? What kind of witchcraft was keeping them on his feet? He was positive he had never once struggled this much with a pair of dumb shoes. And why did you have this sudden need to cling to him when he didn’t want you to?

“Eddie, calm down,” Wayne advised. He knew it wouldn’t go well if he started a fight over something so dumb. 

It didn’t seem like he planned on taking the advice that was offered to him, instead he was going to make the situation a thousand times worse. “I said, get off my back. I don’t want to watch the stupid movie!” 

A quiet gasp tumbled out of your mouth at the bluntness. “Eddie, it was just a suggestion. There’s no need to–” You were going to say something about how there was no need to blow up or overreact, but you thought your choice of words might be poor. Knowing your luck, it would only serve to make him even more angry. 

He was looking at you with nothing but rage in his gaze. “There’s no need to, what?”

The more he acted rudely towards you, the less you worried about protecting his feelings. If he wanted to be an asshole then you weren’t going to coddle him by any means, you’d let him, and you wouldn’t hold back when it came to giving him the same sort of attitude. It wasn’t like you were in the wrong here, you hadn’t even done anything. “There’s no need to yell at me like a complete dick!”

“Excuse me?”

Neither of you had noticed how Wayne was looking between the two of you, shifting uncomfortably. At first he thought this would just blow over. Maybe Eddie would apologize for snapping, or you would just give up on trying to fight with him, and at that point he’d shrunk into the couch and made himself as small as possible. But then no one stopped, you both kept shouting back at one another. That was when he knew he had to leave– when it became too uncomfortable to bear. 

“I’ll be… in the other room,” the older Munson excused himself, shooting the two of you one final nervous glance before he took his mug of coffee and left you to it. 

Wayne tried not to bother himself with your fights when an argument would occur. You were young, and in love, but that didn’t mean you were going to agree on everything all the time. It was none of his business when the two of you would yell at each other over something dumb, even if it was happening in the middle of his living room. He would always lock  himself away in his room, or even leave until the two of you were done and happy to make up. There had rarely been an occasion where he thought he might need to step in. His nephew would never hurt you. But today he’d seemed to be in a foul mood and he was a little more concerned than normal, his hand hovering over the doorknob just in case.

“Look what you did. You made Wayne uncomfortable,” you pointed out. He scoffed, loudly enough that Wayne actually heard it in the other room. 

“Oh, I did that? Not you and your incessant nagging?” 

His words cut deep, and you wanted nothing more than to knock some sense into him so he’d drop the attitude. He’d already scared off Wayne, he didn’t really need to be making the situation any worse for himself. If he was smart in any way, he would apologize now and the two of you could move on like nothing happened. 

“If you want to turn this into a big fight because you’re angry at the world or whatever, then we can. But I’d recommend apologizing while you still can, you ass.” That should have been his sign, but for some reason his thoughts were clouded and he didn’t notice. 

“What is your problem? Have you been holding all this anger back, just waiting for a moment to yell at me or something?” he hissed. 

You grumbled. It wasn’t like you could’ve snapped if you wanted anytime soon, he was never home. “You’re avoiding me lately anyway, asshole,” you said. There had been a lot more late nights than usual lately, and it scared you. You hadn’t ever thought Eddie would be the kind of guy to cheat on you, but the thought was crossing your mind more and more as the days passed. It felt like you’d barely seen him these last few weeks. “You’re always working. If you are actually where you say you are.”

There was an eye roll, a scoff and then he was taking off. Your eyes widened, watching in disbelief as he approached the front door of the trailer. He didn’t even hesitate to throw it open, not looking back at you as he descended the steps. 

“Where are you going?” you hissed. “Are you really just gonna walk away rather than talk about this?” You thought he was being childish. He had come home and started the fight with you in the first place, and now he wasn’t enough of a grown up to talk it out with you so you could get to the bottom of it? It was incredibly frustrating.

You followed him to the door, watching as he took off, ignoring his van like he was going to walk to wherever he was going. 

Eddie was in such a haste that he hadn’t noticed the ice covering the floor. When coming into the house, only from his van, it was easy to avoid, but now that he was going further, out into the open part of the trailer park with no destination in mind, it wasn’t so easily avoidable. 

His feet went out from under him when they came in contact with the slippery floor. You gasped at the sight, watching as he landed flat on his back, head coming in contact with the floor under him– hard. That had to at least be a concussion. “Oh, my god. Eddie!” 

»»——⍟——««

Eddie had no idea how he ended up outside the Harrington home. The last he remembered, he was just leaving the trailer, you in tow yelling at him to come back, but you were nowhere to be seen, and nothing explained why he didn’t remember the journey of getting there. The sound of a female voice startled him, as well as the hand on his arm. It was definitely not your voice. 

“You ready to go in, honey?” she asked. 

His eyes bulged when they landed on Nancy Wheeler, clinging to him like she wasn’t completely disgusted by his presence all of a sudden. He was painfully confused. “What? Nancy?” He was looking at her like she was crazy, and it made her laugh. 

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling okay, honey?” He hated that she kept calling him that. She raised her hand, setting her palm on his forehead to check if he had a fever. “No fever. Did you hit your head or something?”

“I’m fine.” He tried to brush off her touch, not wanting you to appear and find her clinging to him like this. It seemed if anyone had bumped their head it was her, not him. Never in his life had she even spoken this many words to him, or looked at him for so long in one sitting. He didn’t know what alternate universe he was suddenly in, but he didn’t like it one bit. She just rolled her eyes at his odd behavior, deciding to keep her hands to herself if he was in a weird mood. “Come on, they’re waiting for us.” 

His feet kicked into gear before his brain did. He hadn’t even realized they were moving at first, but then the red door of the home was growing closer to him.

A fake smile was plastered on Nancy’s annoyed face as the door was pulled open by Steve. He was grinning, and he looked happier than Eddie had ever seen him. He invited the pair in, greeting him like they were the oldest of friends. He was even pulled into a hug by Harrington, which was far from their usual dynamic. By now there would have been at least three insults thrown either way in normal circumstances. It was horrible. 

“We’re so glad you guys could make it.”

He led the pair inside to the table, and Nancy grumbled under her breath when Eddie didn’t pull her chair out for her. He didn’t think he had ever done that for anyone, he might like to think he was a gentleman, but that was something he’d never considered. 

The two sat side by side, as Steve bustled around trying to pour drinks for them both. Eddie was still waiting in anticipation for the arrival of the other mentioned person of the Harrington household. Other than Nancy– who was apparently involved with Eddie– he had no idea of another person his friend had ever been truly interested in. It was driving him crazy to try and work it out. 

Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long though, for Steve called for his lover, who came wandering out of the kitchen with a bowl of food in hand. Whatever it was, it smelled good. 

He gasped at the sight of you, dressed in the ugliest Christmas sweater he’d ever seen, and a long hideously colored skirt that you would usually fake a gag at when shopping. There was an apron thrown over the top of your clothes, and if he looked close enough, he could see a bump that wasn’t usually there. 

He almost choked on his drink, which earned him some weird looks. 

“You okay, Eddie?” you asked, grinning at Steve as he peeled the apron from your figure. He muttered something about you being silly and forgetful and it made the metalhead sick to watch. Never in his life had he wanted to see you so in love with another person. 

There were many things he could have said, should have said. There were also a lot of things he wanted to ask, but he wasn’t sure if he could. This whole thing felt like a big, cruel prank, but he couldn’t fathom why any of you would do such a thing to him. Unfortunately, the only thing he could think of was probably the dumbest thing possible. “You’re pregnant?” he blubbered. 

Kids were something you and he– well not this you, but you you– had talked about before. It wasn’t always a frequent topic of conversation, what with considering the two of you lived in a trailer with his uncle and definitely didn’t make enough money (even combined) to raise a child. Seeing you pregnant felt a little like an out of body experience. 

He watched as you grew a little embarrassed, incredibly familiar with the look by now. But the look on Steve’s face was nothing but pure joy. He reached his hand over to your midsection, cupping the small bump and beaming. “We were gonna tell you guys tonight. Didn’t think you’d notice.” Apparently he hadn’t realized how painfully obvious it was. 

“Congratulations,” Nancy gushed. 

After the supposed ‘good’ news, the dinner started as normal. The three ate while Eddie just uncomfortably stared at them, trying to figure out what alternate universe he’d been transported to. No one noticed for a while, just continuing on with normal conversation about the pregnancy and baby stuff that he really didn’t want to be involved in. The way the woman beside him kept referring to him and their everyday lives like this wasn’t the weirdest thing that had ever happened to him, it was only serving to make him more uncomfortable. 

He barely realized when the conversation had been shifted to a topic about him. “So, Eddie, how’s your Uncle?”

His face contorted into one of confusion, his head cocking to the side a little as he looked at Harrington– well he guessed you were somehow both Harringtons if that large ring on your finger had anything to say about it. “My Uncle? Wayne?”

Nancy placed a hand over his, trying to lace her fingers with his. He didn’t want her too though, shooting her a look as he tried to pull it away. She glared, gritting her teeth as though it would stop Eddie from acting like a child in front of their friends. As soon as he gave up, slumping down in his seat, she plastered a false look of sympathy on her face. He was honestly shocked how quickly she could fake emotion like that. And it made him realize that whatever she was about to say about Wayne, she didn’t feel as sad about it as she was making out. 

“He’s taken a turn for the worse. We don’t know if he’ll make it to Christmas day,” she explained. 

Eddie’s eyes widened, head snapping her way. “What? What are you talking about!”

She spared him a glance, pouting her lips. “He’s not taking the news too well.”

This was the metalhead’s worst fear. He couldn’t take this fake lovey dovey, happy family act anymore. He didn’t know what this was, but it was far from funny by now. His hands came down onto the table, standing up from his seat like he was about to make a statement. All eyes shot to him, conversation stopping amongst the three. Eddie began to feel uncomfortable knowing he’d created a scene, but there was no stopping now, he had to speak his mind. “What is going on here?”

His girlfriend or whatever the Wheeler girl was supposed to be, gasped at this. “What is going on with you? Everything’s fine,” Nancy said, embarrassed by his display. She hated that he seemed to be acting out like this, he was really ruining the image they created for themselves in front of the most put together couple they knew. She had no idea how they were supposed to come back from this little breakdown of his. 

“It’s not fine!” he insisted, raising his voice. “None of this is real! It-it’s some kind of sick joke.” By the minute he was growing more and more frustrated. 

His distress was only trebled when you began to show him the care he was so used to seeing. You reached over the table, setting your hand over his in the hopes it may bring him a little bit of comfort. It didn’t, it actually only made him feel a hell of a lot worse. “Maybe you should go lie down or something,” you advised.

He shook his head. “No, I’m not gonna lay down, I need you to tell me what the hell is going on,” he groaned, bringing his hands up to pull at his hair. 

“Eddie, you need to calm down, you’re going to–” You didn’t get the opportunity to finish your sentence before the man started feeling dizzy. He reached his hand out to hold onto something so that he wouldn’t fall, but it didn’t help as much as he’d wished it would. Within seconds he was stumbling and landing on the floor for the second time that day, hitting his head on something on the ground. He found himself unable to focus on all the faces that appeared in his cloudy line of sight. But the last thing he remembered seeing was a look of concern on your features as you called his name.

»»——⍟——««

The next time Eddie woke up, he was terrified of the idea that he was still in the same awful situation. But as he looked around, he noticed the small signs of this being his room– just a hell of a lot tidier. He was relieved to be out of the nightmare that was being married to Nancy Wheeler, while watching the love of his life be all lovey dovey with Steve Harrinton. It was very literally torture; he couldn’t think of anything worse. He had no idea why his brain thought of such a thing, or had to impose it in his thoughts. 

He was slow when pushing himself into a sitting position in his bed, worried that the two occasions where he’d hit his head might have made him a little dizzy. He didn’t want to make anything worse than it was, or be taken back to that awful dream. “Y/N?” he called, quietly, testing the waters to make sure you were actually here. 

There were the sounds of feet padding towards the bedroom, and he let out such a large sigh of relief when he saw that you were standing in the doorway with a smile on your face. There was something different about you still– and he was so confused as to why you weren’t angry with him after the fight– but he was just happy to see you more than anything. “Morning, sleepyhead,” you greeted. 

“I am so glad to see you,” he gushed, laughing quietly as he opened his arms to beckon you over. The grin on your face was wide and made his chest feel all warm and fuzzy. 

You didn’t waste any time, happy to find yourself tucked into his side comfortably. This was a warmer greeting than you were expecting to receive, but you weren’t planning on arguing about it. “You practically passed out when you got home yesterday,” you said, trying to untangle some of the knots that had accumulated in his hair while he slept– that was the first sign to Eddie that something was wrong. His hair wasn’t all in his face like usual, and your hands remained on top of his head rather than following his curls down his shoulders. “So, there’s a couple people who’d like to see you.”

You called a ‘come on’ and then the door was being pushed open and someone else was entering. Another couple sets of feet were not what he was expecting. He thought maybe you’d gotten a dog or something that he just couldn’t remember. He was positive he would have remembered having two kids though– even their faces (though a clear perfect mix of you and him) were unfamiliar to him. 

The two climbed onto the bed, calling for him and throwing their arms around him. Despite his confusion, he didn’t want to make them feel bad, so he hugged them back tightly. They seemed comfortable in his arms, especially the little one who was curled into him.

“Lisa had something she wanted to ask,” you told him, twirling the girl’s curly hair around your fingers.

Okay, so Lisa was the taller one, the one he was assuming was older. He couldn’t say he was a fan of the name, he didn’t know where it had come from, but in all your talks about kids that had never come up. He liked the idea of more fun and ‘cool’ names. Lisa just wasn’t an Eddie sort of name.

“Will you come and build a snowman outside with me and Maggie before dinner?” she was asking so shyly, like there was a large chance of him saying no than saying yes. He couldn’t actually imagine a world where he’d say no— even if he was apparently in it— he used to love building snowmen with Wayne as a little boy.

So the other one was Maggie. For a second his brow furrowed, was this the fucking Simpsons or something?

He looked between the two sets of puppy eyes, same as his own, and he knew he couldn’t say no. “Yeah, of course.”

The two squealed, running out of the run, no doubt to throw their warm winter clothes on for the snow. You turned to him with a bright grin, thanking him for doing it for them. It was that that made him believe he didn’t do it a lot from your perspective, and it made his heart sink to think he wasn’t the husband he always promised you he would be one day. If this was the path your life was going to take, then something must go really wrong at some point. He hated the idea of something taking a turn for the worst and ruining your relationship.

Your voice snapped him out of all those bad thoughts. “You need to get up Mr Lazy, we have family coming,” you told him. It was supposed to be a reminder, but considering he didn’t know anything right now, it was news to him. 

“We do?”

“Yeah. They always come on Christmas eve. You have the memory of a goldfish I swear.” 

He grumbled a little, at the idea of having to fake a smile and personality that wasn’t his all night, but nonetheless climbed out of the warm bed. It must be new, or at least not his old one, because it felt so much more comfortable than normal.

It’d been while he was passing the mirror on the way to his closet that he caught sight of his hair, and it spurred a feeling of distress in his chest. “My hair!” he whined, refusing to tear his eyes away from the sight of it in the mirror. “What happened to it?”

You chuckled, finding it amusing that he was genuinely horrified. “It’s just tangled. Run your fingers through it for a while, sweetheart. It’ll be fine.”

“No. My long hair. Where’d it go?”

Now was your turn to look slightly horrified. It was the first time he’d looked away from himself in the mirror since first glancing its way as he got out of bed. He didn’t know why you looked so disgusted. “We cut it off years ago Ed. You decided it was immature and too much of a hassle.”

He had said the latter before, but the only issue was that he never actually meant it. He loved his hair, more than so many things in his life and even if he got frustrated with it sometimes, he would never cut it off. He found it hard to believe that he would ever be boring or lazy enough to actually go through with cutting it off like he always claimed he was going to. “Oh. Yeah, silly me.” He had to try and play it off like he knew, so you didn’t think he was up to something. 

Apparently you didn’t know him well enough to be able to tell that he was acting all weird. 

This weird behavior continued all day long and it took you a while to realize that something was going on with him. He wasn’t reciprocating anything like usual, not your love or the kids’. You’d yet to ask him about it, wondering if he’d just had an off day or woken up on the wrong side of the bed or something. If it hadn’t changed by tomorrow then you’d definitely have to ask what his problem was, this wasn’t exactly in the Christmas spirit. You’d at least hoped by the time dinner rolled around he would be a little less strange. You didn’t want your guests to be weirded out by his behavior.

He, with the help of your eldest kid, who he’d learned through some very sneaky questions to be seven, was setting the table while you made dinner. He was happy to help, and tend to the other child, the five year old, whenever she needed it. 

You’d pop in every now and then to talk, but it was never anything important, not until just before your guests were due to arrive. “Oh, before I forget, Dustin called and said he couldn’t make it,” you informed him. “I-If I’m being completely honest, I sort of expected it. It’s not like he ever even tries to make it when we make plans with him.”

He didn’t have a single idea of what you were talking about. Dustin was always on time or showing up hours early to plans, whether he was the one to make them or not. The kid used to beat him to Hellfire sometimes. “What do you mean? Why would he not come?”

“Well, after everything that happened with Steve–”

He cut you off, with a little bit of urgency. “Wh-What happened with Steve?”

Your eyes flickered to his face, trying to gauge if he was serious. “Gosh Ed, did you hit your head or something, sweetheart?” you joked, throwing your arms around his neck. He’d never been so hesitant to touch you before. Usually, affection came easy to the two of you, but this didn’t feel right to him. “Steve, he-he didn’t make it out of the thing with the bats– back in eighty-six.”

He was under the impression that it was still eighty-six. It had never crossed his mind that it might be a different year. But he was struggling to come up with a way to ask you what year it was without finally pushing you over the edge of being suspicious to demanding to know what was wrong. “Right, yeah. That must be– How many years ago now?”

“Almost twelve years now,” you frowned. Nineteen-ninety seven, the thought of that was crazy. How could he have missed eleven years of his own life– especially when so much happened.

“Wow,” he muttered, letting you slip out of his grasp to head back to the kitchen so your food didn’t burn. Meanwhile Eddie needed to welcome the few guests that had knocked on your door. They only consisted of Wayne– who he was glad to see was doing well this time around– and his mom? He hadn’t seen the woman in many years, since he was a kid and she left him and his dad. He had no idea what she was doing here and he didn’t know how he was supposed to fake a reaction to that.

He hadn’t realized that he’d just been standing there staring, but the longer he did stand there, the more he noticed about them. The two looked happier than he’d ever seen them, and Wayne definitely had a hand on the woman’s back. Were they a couple?

You must have realized that they hadn’t been invited into your cozy trailer yet, making your way to the door where Eddie stood gaping at them like an idiot. “Sweetheart, you not gonna invite your poor parents in out of the cold?”

Parents. That word continued to ring through his mind as he stepped out of the way so they could come in. They immediately rushed for the children, the two babies happy to see them. His movements were sluggish as he closed the door behind them, watching what he thought was a sweet reuniting moment. The kids seemed so happy to see Wayne– and his mom, which told him she must come around often. 

For the first part of dinner Eddie stayed quiet. He listened mainly, trying not to get too lost in his own head. But he thought if he listened, maybe he could get some sort of clue what the fuck was going on. 

“So, how are my grandbabies?”

Wayne’s question sent Lisa into a whole spiel about math at her school. She sounded as though she really loved it– like almost as much as he loved D&D– and he really didn’t understand how this could be his child. He was a nerd, for sure he could admit that, but he wasn’t that level of nerd. 

Eddie had never felt so soulless while sitting there at the dinner table, listening to the small child ramble on about things he couldn’t care less about. Maybe it was a horrible thing to say, especially if this was his life and these were the kids he’d helped bring into the world– but he just didn’t understand when things got so boring. You and he used to have so much fun, your similar personalities meaning you were always on the same page about so much stuff, how the hell did you become so stiff and boring after having kids, and why were they the same way? Oh no, was he the same way?

“Ed, you alright, sweetheart?” you asked, noticing he wasn’t participating in conversation like usual. On any other night he would be asking the kids all sorts of questions so he could engage with them. 

He looked like he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t. He felt bad, seeing the slightly dejected look on the youngest’s face, but he couldn’t sit there any longer and pretend like he didn’t hate every single second of this dinner– his usual favorite meal of the day too. 

He faked a smile. “I, uh. I’m not feeling too good, I’m gonna go get some air.”

The concern on your features should have made him suck it up, at least you weren’t married to Harrington in this dream. He could live with boredom surely, it probably wasn’t that bad when you got used to it, and maybe he could convince you to come out of your shell a little bit, do more fun stuff. “Do you want me to come with you?”

“No, no it’s okay. Stay with the kids, entertain the guests and all that,” he assured.

You didn’t seem entirely convinced, but let him go nonetheless. He spared a last glance to the family sitting at the table, begging that this too was a horrible dream. He didn’t know why he couldn’t seem to catch a break, but it made him realize he needed to be much nicer to you whenever he escaped this trail of nightmares. 

When he stepped outside he immediately regretted not bringing a jacket along with him. It was cold, painfully cold, but he didn’t feel like heading back inside to find one anywhere. Instead he just made his way down the dying lawn of the trailer park, where a car that definitely wasn’t his beloved van was sitting. “I can’t believe this is my life,” he whined, burying his head in his hands as he continued walking. 

He didn’t know where he was going, and he probably should have checked, but he was too in his own head to remember to do so. If he’d been looking, he probably would have seen the same patch of ice that he originally slipped on laying in his path. For the second time, his foot went from under him and he wound up hitting his head on the ground due to the same bit of ice on the floor. “Not again,” he groaned. 

»»——⍟——««

The third time Eddie woke up, he was scared. He didn’t want to sit up to find that the love of his life was married to another one of his friends, or that he was painfully miserable in a life with the person he adored most in the world. He wanted to go back to the way things were. He realized now that he’d been unfair and slightly ungrateful to you when you were arguing, but now he was willing to get on his needs to make a heartfelt apology if it meant things would go back to normal. He would literally get on his knees and beg for your forgiveness if that was what you wanted him to do. 

He was planning on calling out to you to make sure you were there, but you were speaking before he could. “Hey, you’re awake,” you stated, breathing a deep sigh of relief. There was a cold towel or something pressed to his head by your hand. He wasn’t sure it was helping.

When he looked at you, you noticed something switch in his eyes. He went from being slow and drowsy to alert. He pushed himself up into a sitting position on the couch, which you tried to discourage him from doing considering he could potentially have a cousin from the hit on his head. “I’m so glad you’re here. You are regular you, right?”

Your brow furrowed. You had no idea what he was talking about. “I think so? You must have hit your head pretty hard, huh?”

You tried to begin fussing over him, but he grabbed your wrists to stop you from doing so. The look on his face seemed to be genuine, so you knew that he really was startled. “Please tell me you’re not married to Harrington, or that Wayne isn’t my dad, or that we don’t have really boring kids.” 

His words only made you all the more bewildered. You assumed that he’d hit his head harder than you originally thought. “Eddie, what? None of those things are true. Are you okay?” 

He sighed, slouching against you a little. There was an atmosphere of relief surrounding him, and you didn’t know what sort of crazy dreams he’d had but they clearly were very out of the ordinary. Right now it seemed like he just wanted you to hold him. All thoughts of the fight earlier pushed aside, you wrapped your arms around him, guiding his head against your chest and stroking his hair.

“My head is pounding.” That he’d expected. “How long was I out?”

You frowned, guiding your fingers through his curls. “A few hours. We were worried about you,” you told him. Only then did he realize Wayne was a few feet away, messing with his hands nervously as he watched his nephew regain his consciousness on the couch.

The memories of the fight the two of you had seemed to hit him then. Despite the heavy feeling in his head and the slight dizziness, he was overwhelmed with guilt. He didn’t even know why you were helping him considering the way he’d been awful to you. He had no right to be so rude just because he’d been having a bad day, and he knew he needed to apologize, especially if he ran the risk of losing you like he’d done more than once in his dreams today.

“I’m sorry,” he said, simply. “I want to watch Christmas movies with you and Wayne, and decorate the place and spend time with you. I swear. I didn’t mean anything I said. I’m so sorry.” 

You shook your head. “You were an asshole, but I guess you paid a price for it, so…” you trailed off. The scoff he let out made a grin cross your face. But he supposed he deserved it.

“So I’m forgiven?” he asked, wanting to check.

You beamed harder, leaving his side momentarily. He didn’t know what you were doing, nor did Wayne by the looks of it. The two Munson’s just had to wait for you to come back from whatever you were doing rustling around within his room. When you came back you were carrying a familiar piece of red material, as well as the VHS of the exact film you’d be watching when he came home. 

“Put this on and watch this with us, and you’re completely forgiven,” you promised.

Even though he didn’t really want to, he took the santa hat from you and sank it down onto his head. He looked positively adorable with the little frown and the fuzzy material on his head. He wouldn’t let you stand there and ‘admire’ him any longer though, if the two of you (plus Wayne if he wanted) were going to watch a movie, then he wanted to be as comfortable as possible cuddled on the couch with you. At least that way he could take a nap if he wanted to.

You didn’t protest, this was what you wanted to do. Since the moment he left for work that morning, you had wanted him to fall asleep on your shoulder like this as Gremlins played on the TV. It didn’t matter what was happening in the movie, not to you anyway, not when Eddie was snoring lightly with the cutest of smiles on his unconscious face. 

You couldn’t help but wonder if these dreams were better than the ones he’d had earlier and were what was causing his smile. Little did you know, it wasn’t the dreams that were making him happy, it was his real life. Despite the fact that in those nightmares he was married to you, the two of you living out your lives together— this was a thousand times better than that. He seriously couldn’t ask for more from you than this.

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Beth [ 23 ] | Dad!Eddie Munson series

Twenty-three, Oops baby

Word count - 5418

Warnings - drinking, eddie being drunk, mentions of throwing up and stuff

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March 1999

One of the issues with having kids in your home was that they got sick from the easiest things, and in turn while caring for them, you often found yourself sick as the parents too. It was awful, basically a guarantee whenever either one of them picked something up from school– usually Beth. This time around though, Eddie had been the only fortunate one in the family, something he rejoiced in. 

Both your little girls were backed up with colds, fevers keeping them restricted to their beds basically at all times. At first you were fine, looking after your babies as normal, but you quickly found that within a day or two, you weren’t feeling too hot either. Whereas your girls were stuffy and uncomfortably warm, you were throwing up your guts and feeling as though you required days of sleep due to extreme fatigue.  

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