the babysitter: part one - eddie munson x fem!reader
summary: Eddie Munson knew he wasn’t the kind of guy that had life smiling at him. So when the opportunity to get the girl of his dreams came along, he knew he had to grab it. With a little help from his neighboor, Max.
pairing: Eddie Munson x fem!reader
word count: 2.305
warnings: some language; the italics are supposed to be Eddie’s thoughts.
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It was late may and summer break was just around the corner. Hawkins was starting to feel the heat of summertime but there was still a soft chilly breeze during nighttime. The sky was full of stars, not a cloud in sight. Eddie was sitting outside his trailer, playing guitar looking for a bit of inspiration. He enjoyed nights like this. Just himself and his music. The adrenaline of a concert was incredible for sure, but he really enjoyed the peace of just jamming alone in the trailer park, having a smoke or a beer. He had been like this for hours now and he knew it was getting late, though he didn’t seem to care at all; there wasn’t much for him to do that night after all.
He had started humming another song when heard the front door from the trailer across him open. The neighborhood was quiet at the trailer park. It was a weeknight and it would be hard to believe that anyone could be going out at that time in the night.
Across his trailer lived a mother and her fifteen-year old daughter who actually attended his school. What was her name again? Mavis, May, Max!, he thought. Max was her name. He’d seen her with Henderson and Sinclair once or twice. As far as he knew they were somehow friends.
To his surprise, when the door was opened, he saw nobody else but you, the girl of his dreams. It was a bit odd, he shook his head confused at your sight. What could you be possibly doing there at such late hours? And where did you come from? He had been sitting outside for a few hours and hadn’t seen you arrive and he would’ve definitely noticed you arriving. From where he was standing, he could recognize you talking to Max’s mother before walking towards your car, parked a few inches from his van. His gaze followed you and his heart was racing, hoping you would notice him sitting there.
Eddie had been crushing on you for months now. You two shared a few classes together, but belonged to different social groups. Not that you were the most popular girl in school, but Eddie was an outcast, the town’s freak. People didn’t want to be seen talking to him and as much as you didn’t understand why, you kept a distance from him. You were polite to him if you passed by him or when needed to have some sort of contact, but nothing much except for one particular morning.
It was a friday morning, first period and Eddie was half-asleep at his desk. He had stayed up all night after a concert and didn’t want to admit it but he had a little hangover. It had been an awesome concert and he might have been a little out of line celebrating with his bandmates. The last thing he wanted was to hear Ms. O’Donall’s voice, but he needed that C so badly. Skipping school was not an option. He was almost dozing off completely when he felt a light touch on his right arm.
“Hey, do you have a spare pen or pencil?” Your voice was so soft, angelical almost. A better sound than any Metallica guitar solo and he knew he could listen to it for hours long. “Were you asleep? Shit, sorry… I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
“It’s uh.. it’s fi-fine.” As he raised his head he tried to process whether he was dreaming or not.
“Are you ok? You look… well, like shit.” You chuckled shyly. Eddie had tried to talk to you a few times before, but failed at every attempt. He couldn’t get you alone or something always came up before he could even say ‘hi’. And there have been other times when he just got cold feet and ran away. Now, when it finally happened he looked like shit. The worst part is that he was aware of that. Still, Eddie couldn’t help but smile, sensing some concern in your tone. Not only his dream girl was talking to him, but you were also worried about him.
“Yeah, I’m fine… just a long night. I had a concert yesterday with my band.” It wasn’t his intention to brag about it, he was just being honest. But it was hard to avoid the sparkle in your eyes when he mentioned his band. He suddenly felt a bit confident; girls like guys in bands, right?
“I didn’t know you were in a band! That’s rad!” Eddie smirked. “This was working”, he told himself, trying to keep it cool. You were genuinely interested. It was his chance.
“Yeah, Corroded Coffin. We play every…” Or it could’ve been if it wasn’t for Ms. O’Donall walked in the room to start the class.
“Oh that sounds really cool, but about the pen, do you have a spare one?” You asked, nearly turning around. He knew the moment had passed so he simply nodded, handing you his only pen. “Thanks! I’d love to hear more about your band some other time.” You smiled one last time at him before moving your attention fully to the front of your classroom.
Ever since that day, his crush has gotten worse. Eddie just couldn’t stop thinking about you. He couldn’t tell if you had only been nice that morning, but he longed for friday to see you in class again, hoping you would finish that talk.
During class, he couldn’t simply focus on anything else other than you. Sitting behind you, he’d paid attention to the way you ferociously took notes or how you always engaged in the book discussions with Ms. O’Donall. He’d usually think that someone like that was a nerd, but he just thought it was cute that you seemed so dedicated.
And then, there you were, standing a few inches from him, from his house. Eddie stood up and tried to reach for you, but you were already inside your car, driving past him when he got the chance to wave at you.
Disappointed, Eddie saw as your car drove away from the trailer park. Maybe you didn’t really see him. It was a bit dark in the trailer park and you were focusing on driving. So you’d probably missed him. The thought of being ignored by you was devastating and he didn’t want to think of that. He got back inside and stared at his neighbor's trailer from his kitchen window. His curiosity was killing him. Why were at Max’s house? And so late? Was there any chance for you to come back? Eddie knew he wasn’t the kind of guy that had life smiling at him. So, whenever life threw an opportunity like that he needed to grab it by the horns.
.....
The next morning Eddie was up earlier than usual. As a matter of fact, he barely slept at all. He was already a night owl with a messed up sleep schedule, but he just couldn’t sleep after seeing you. He was agitated trying to understand your visit to the Mayfield trailer and coming up with a plan to find out which reasons have brought you there. He ultimately decided that the most reasonable thing to do was to simply talk to Max about you, even though he had never exchanged more than a few words with the girl. He stood outside by his van waiting for Max to catch her when she came out for school hoping she’d give him any info.
“Hey, red!” Max had barely left her trailer, headphones around her neck when she saw her neighbor approaching her.
“Jesus, creep! What the hell?! Were you waiting for me?!”
“Well, good morning to you too.”
“Morning, creep.” Max flinched. She had been living for a little longer than a year across from Eddie Munson and that was the first time they were properly speaking, besides the civil neighbor treatment of ‘hellos’ and ‘good mornings’. “What do you want? I already told Dustin I’m not interested in joining your stupid club.”
“First of all, ouch” He brought his hand to his heart in a dramatic gesture, which only made Max roll her eyes at him. “I was just trying to be a friendly neighbor and thought I could give you a ride to school. Better than skating all the way.”
“I don’t skate to school, weirdo… I take the bus.” Eddie nodded. It did make more sense for her to catch the bus other than risking herself on a skateboard across town. “And you want to drive me? Just like that? Out of the blue? Yeah, that doesn’t sound creepy at all.” She quickly hopped on her skate trying to move away from Eddie, but he managed to catch up with her, standing in her way.
“I’m not a creep, red… it’s just a ride.”
“That’s what a creep would say! Did you know there's dozens of serial killers out there?”
“I’m not a serial killer… just trying to be a decent neighbor.”
“Yeah, and that’s what a serial killer would definitely say to convince a victim.” Max didn’t know much about Eddie Munson. Sometimes she heard him arriving late in the night at home, usually with his guitar and some music equipment. She knew it was because of his band and she knew that some of her friends hang out with him to play that dragons nerd game.
Word on the street was that he was a drug dealer and the town considered him a freak. But could he really be a freak? Like in a creepy way? They were living across from each other for a year now and he hadn’t done anything to prove he was dangerous as people said. He was just acting like a stupid nineteen-year old or whatever his age was. “So you either tell me what you really want or I’m screaming.”
“Look, red, I am not….” Before he could say anything he noticed Max was starting to actually scream. At first he thought it was a joke, but then he saw she was being dead serious. “Ok, ok! Jesus H Christ!”
“The girl that came by your house last night.” So that's what this was about. “What was she doing here? Do you know her well or anything?”
“Oh, Y/N? She’s just uh… helping us out. She was just staying with me while my mom was at work.”
“Like a babysitter?” Max rolled her eyes again. She didn’t want to admit that but yes, like a babysitter.
“I’m fifteen, I don’t need a babysitter! She’s just helping us out. My mom has two jobs and it’s just the two of us… it’s hard, you know?” Just like the whole town, Eddie was aware of the tragedy that happened to Max and her family. He felt bad for having her saying all those things to him, a stranger. He did understand how hard it was for her mother to provide, after all his uncle had been doing the same for him all his life. “My mom needs to work, but she doesn’t want me to stay alone so Y/N hangs around here sometimes with me until my mom gets back. Why do you care about that?”
“I need to talk to her. She’s got my pen and I would like to have it back.”
“And you really expect me to believe that’s the reason why you want to talk to her?” Men could be so dumb sometimes. And apparently it didn’t get any better with their age.
“What other reason could I possibly have, child?”
“Uh, maybe you have a massive crush on her and I’m assuming you want my help to get to her, right?” Eddie was about to protest, but they both knew that it was pointless. Max was right and it didn’t take much to figure that out.
“That would be.. uh, cool I guess.”
“So let’s say that I can let you know when she’ll be around or if we’ll be hanging out somewhere else so you can drop by?” Eddie nodded, agreeing upon that offer. It was better than he had anticipated. He had expected to maybe get her number or that Max could talk about him, but that was a better outcome.
“Good, so what’s in for me? I mean, I could be potentially connecting you and the love of your life.”
“Uh, I can still give you that ride to school.”
“You know, I’d really like some new cassettes. I’d say five is a fair payment.”
“Five new cassettes? Heck no, red.” Eddie said. That was a lot. Did she think he was made of money or something? “I’ll give you one. My pick. Perhaps I can open your music horizons.”
“Three cassettes, Munson. And I get to pick. I don’t want any of that metal crap I assume you like.”
Eddie thought for a second. He knew that there could be easier and cheaper ways to try and talk to you. However, having Max’s help would be a shortcut. Not to mention that he would be getting the chance to talk to you in a different environment than school, where you would be away from your friends and away from all the other stuff that kept him from succeeding at talking to you.
“Deal.” He eventually said, presenting his hand so Max can shake it to seal their arrangement. It would be worth it.
“Deal.” She agreed. “I’ll tell you which cassettes I’ll take later. Now, come on! I don’t want to be late.”
Eddie looked confused as he saw Max walking towards his van parked between their houses. “You did offer me a ride to school, right?”
“Yes..”
“Good, I’m taking it… And we’re listening to Kate Bush on the way.”
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author notes: hello, beautiful creature! thank you for reading this far! this is my first time posting any fanfiction on tumblr and I’m very anxious about it. I have been writing for a while, but I never had the courage to post. special thanks to @icouldntfindquiet, @vanmccannonlyfans and @mywritingonlyfans for encouraging me to post this story. I’m planing for this to be a three-part series and any feedback or comment is highly appreciated since I’m working on improve my writing. I also want to tag the lovely @wrenniebaby because they are one of the sweetest people around here and I love their writing, so I’d love to get their feedback on this. once again, thanks for reading! <3
ps: If anyone wants to be tagged in next parts, please let me know :)
