Eddie Munson x Reader pairing
A/n: I’m not like overly proud of this but I still wanted to post it while I’m working on another Steve blurb :)
Summary: Y/n and the gang try to attack Vecna in the upside down (story spanning from episodes 8 and 9)
We were woke up by 7:30. Everyone was awake except for Eddie and me, so they were making quite a ruckus in the kitchen trying to find something to eat. Eddie and I make our way out of the bedroom and take our places on the couch where the group is now sitting. Nancy sat in front of all of us as she explained what she saw.
“He showed me things that haven't happened yet…” Nancy begins. “The most awful things.” She started. “I saw a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins…downtown on fire…dead soldiers… and this… this giant creature with a gaping mouth. The creature wasn’t alone. there were so many monsters. An army…And they were coming into Hawkins. Our neighborhoods, our homes. And then he showed me my mom, Holly, Mike and they.. they were all….” she trails off with tears streaming down her face.
“He’s just trying to scare you, Nance.” Steve ensures her. “Right? I mean it’s not real.”
“Not yet. But there was something else. It showed me the gates. Four gates spreading across Hawkins and these gates…they looked like the one here, at Eddie’s trailer, but it didn’t stop growing. This wasn’t upside down Hawkins…this was our Hawkins” She warns.
“Four chimes.” Max jumps in. “The clock always chimes four times, exactly. He’s been telling us his plan this whole time.” She concludes, shaking her head in disbelief.
“Four kills,” Lucas says. “Four gates. End of the world.”
“If that's true he’s only one kill away,” Dustin states the obvious.
“Jesus Christ!” Eddie swears.
“Try them again!” Steve commands Max. Max gets up and tries to dial the Byers' house again. But not by surprise, no one picks up. She tries again thinking maybe the number could have been dialed wrong but still no one answered.
We try to think about the logic behind the Byers not answering their phone. I suggested that it could be because of Joyce’s new job. I mean, she is a telemarketer now so I’d assume she’d be on the phone for quite a while but Max brings up the point that the line wouldn’t be constantly busy for three days. Whatever is happening here in Hawkins is somehow happening in Lenora.
“But Vecna can’t hurt them…not if he’s dead. We have to go back in there!” Nancy states.
“No! No! No! NO!” Steve, Robin, Eddie, and I all say in response to her crazy idea.
“Because we barely made it out in one piece!”
“Because we weren’t prepared! This time we’ll be ready! We’ll get weapons and protection and we’ll go through the gate, find his layer, and kill him!”
“Or help kill us! The only reason you survived was because he wanted you to! He’s not scared of us!”
“And for good reason!” Robin adds, “We learned something new about Henry/Vecna/One. He’s a number just like Eleven…only evil and child-murdering with really bad skin. He’s super powerful. He could turn us inside out with the snap of his fingers… it’s not a fair fight!”
“So why fight fair?” Dustin says. “you’re right, he’s like Eleven. So that gives us the upper hand. We know her strengths and weaknesses.” Dustin concludes by explaining that when El travels remotely she’s in a trance-like state. That explains what Vecna was doing in the attack of the old Victor Creel house. He was in a trance-like state in the upside-down attacking his victims remotely. He’ll be vulnerable next time he’s attacking. We’ll need a distraction in order to get to Vecna.
Max offers herself as bait claiming that she’s still tagged by Vecna. Still cursed by him. She says that she’ll be able to distract him while the others find him and chop his head off. I feel bad for her, she’s talked to me before about some of the things that upset her. So I can only imagine the memories she’s seeing due to Vecna.
“Whatever it is…whatever you do… try not to miss.” She says.
Eddie tells the group that he knows where we can get weapons. He searches for the phone book located somewhere in the messy trailer. When he finally locates it he sets it down and flips it to the page he had in mind while we all gather around him.
“Check this out! Warzone. I’ve been there once. It's huge. They got everything you need for uh killing things basically…” Eddie explains
“How is this even legal?” I ask.
“Well lucky for us, it just is.” He says. “This place is just far enough outside of Hawkins. As long as we steer clear of main roads we oughta avoid cops and angry hicks.”
“I think if we’re trying to avoid angry hicks we shouldn’t be going to a place called ‘The Warzone.’” Erica suggests.
“Normally I’d agree but we need the weapons.” Nancy starts. “So I think it’s worth the risk.”
“It’s gonna take all day on bikes.” Dustin brings up.
“Oh, we’re not using bikes,” Eddie smirks.
“Oh, you got some secret car we don’t know about, Munson?” Steve asks.
“It’s not exactly a car and it’s not exactly mine... But uhh it’ll do.” Eddie says awkwardly. He directs his attention toward Max. “Hey, red, you gotta ski mask, or a bandanna or something in your trailer I can use?”
“Yeah, I have something that could work.” Max runs over to the trailer next door and grabs a Halloween mask. “Will this suffice?” She asks Eddie.
“That'll do the trick!” Eddie slips on the mask and urges us to follow behind him. He peaks around each trailer until he finds exactly what he was looking for. He tries to be stealthy, but it’s hard to be stealthy when you’re in a group so large. He runs up to an RV parked near all the trailers and jumps inside one of the windows.
The first thing he does when he gets inside the stranger's RV is take off the mask and rush to the front. He complains about how hard it is to breathe in that mask and I can’t help but laugh at him quietly. I’m second into the RV while everyone else follows quickly.
Once Eddie is sitting down in the front seat he reaches for the wires under the steering wheel. He cuts them with a pair of pliers while Steve and I watch. He starts to rub the cut wires together.
“Where did you learn how to do this?” Steve asks, more concerned than wanting to actually know.
“Well, while all the other kids were out learning how to fish or play ball, my old man was teaching me how to hot wire,” Eddie informs him.
“I’m not sure I really like the idea of you driving this thing.” I tell Eddie, fully aware of how he is with driving because I’ve been in his van with him and it wasn’t too pleasant. But driving a big RV with about 10 people or so in it sounds much worse.
“Oh don’t worry. I’m just starting this sucker. Harrington’s got her, don't you big boy?” The RV starts and Eddie quickly moves out of the front seat to make room for Steve. Steve struggles to accept the fact that he’s gonna be the one driving but after it sets in he starts to drive.
The owners of the RV notice and start to get very angry. Steve is going relatively slow so we all yell at him to speed it up. He floors it towards the road and Dustin notes that they look pissed at us.
“Well, it’s not very day you lose your house and your car in one fell swoop.” I announce.
And just like that, we’re on the road. Steve struggles to gain control at first. He’s definitely not used to driving such a large vehicle so it takes him a moment to figure it out exactly. But once he’s got the hang of it we’re set. It’s just a straight shot from this road to The Warzone.
Nancy takes the passenger seat next to Steve while the rest of us sit in the back. I’m practically on Eddie’s lap as we can all barely fit in there. My hands find their way to his hair as Nancy and Steve are talking in the front. Lucas goes to the very back to talk with Max. And I try to have my own conversation with Eddie.
“I’m going back in there,” I inform him.
“you’re going back where, sweetheart?” He asks, genuinely confused. Not really putting two and two together.
“…The upside down,” I say.
“No! No way! You and I staying up here! We can help in some other way, but I’m not going to put your life at risk!” Eddie looks at me with the most unsettled eyes I have ever seen. It hurts to see him worry about me like this but I know that I have to help my friends more than anything…even if it means risking my life.
“Eddie-” I start to say but he interrupts me.
“Y/n, I can’t let you go there… I can’t risk losing you over…over some monster!”
“Eddie, please listen to me, okay?” I stare into his eyes waiting for him to say something but he says nothing. I finish my thought. “This time we are prepared. We’ll have weapons this time, we can actually protect ourselves and fight them off. Vecna won’t be able to hurt me if he’s focused on Max.”
“I don’t like this, y/n. Not at all…” he sighs out loudly. “But I know I won’t be able to stop you. No matter how much I protest you’ve already made up your mind.” He looks defeated and it breaks my heart.
Steve pulls into Warzone and everyone leaves the RV to go inside except for Eddie, Lucas, Max, and I. We’re sitting there talking about Steve and Nancy. We start placing more bets on whether or not they’ll get back together before this whole thing ends. Lucas and Eddie say they won’t but Max and I say they will. Each winner gets $10, $5 from each loser.
While these are frustrating times it’s nice to be able to laugh as a group again. Not having to think about the possibility of death and worrying about our other friends. Steve bursts into the RV and announces that we have to go. The rest of the group follows him in and Erica tells us that Jason was inside. Steve leaves the parking lot as fast as he can without raising concern among the shoppers.
After driving for about 20 awkward minutes we find a suitable plot of empty land to start working on our weapons. Eddie Dustin and I stick together and make our “Shields” out of trash can lids and long nails.
Eddie places one foot on the crate he was using and puts on a production for Dustin and me. “Light but durable. Deadly but reliable... Hear me now! There will be no more retreating from Eddie the banished!”
“You’re really ready for bat-tle!” Dustin chortles. I can’t help but snort at that pun. It was a bad pun, don’t get me wrong. But it was actually kinda funny. Eddie looks over at me with this blank look on his face like he can’t believe I actually snorted at something so stupid.
“Do you get it?” Dustin asks Eddie. “B-a-t. Bat-tle?”
“Yeah, I get it, dude.” Eddie informs him un-enthused. Abruptly Eddie starts to tackle Dustin and they start to wrestle in the middle of this random field. It’s kind of nice to see them happily play but I can’t help but feel a little embarrassed.
“Is that really necessary?” I ask, not exactly annoyed but more exasperated. I look over to see if anyone else is watching them and see that Robin has glanced over while talking to Steve by the RV. “Sinclairs! How are those spears coming along?” I don’t want to pay any attention to Eddie and Dustin.
Lucas gives me a big thumbs up and I take that as a good sign. The thumbs-up is followed by the sound of the brother and sister starting to bicker. Dustin and Eddie continue to play fight as they bring their shields into the playful matter. They urge me to join them but I politely decline as I continue to put more nails into mine.
We all pile back into the RV and Steve starts driving to the Victor Creel house. The ride there is silent because we all know what’s about to happen. We don’t bother trying to cheer each other up with jokes or anything. We accept that this could be the last time we see each other healthy.
when we pull up to the house Max, Lucas, and Erica get out of the RV. We watch them walk up to the door before driving away. Our main target is Eddie’s trailer, where the gate is. We all go over the plan before even entering the trailer.
“We’re gonna run through it one more time, alright?” Nancy directs. “Phase one.”
I answer this one. “We meet Erica at the playground. She’ll signal Max and Lucas when we’re ready.”
“Max baits Vecna. He’ll go after her in his trance.”
“Dustin, y/n, and I lead the bats away.” Eddie answers.
“We go into the hopefully bat-free lair and flambe.”
“Nobody deviates from the plan no matter what, got it?” We all reply with understanding and then head into the trailer.
Steve goes up the sheet rope through the gate first and gets the mattress ready for everyone. We all put our gear through the gate and make it through safely. Once we’ve all made it through we start to go outside and Steve stops us.
“Listen if anything starts to go south at all? Abort. Got it? Draw the attention to the bats. Don’t try to be heroes, you’re just decoys.” Steve tells us.
“It’s alright, Steve. You can be the hero.” I tell him.
“I mean look at us,” Eddie says. “we are…not heroes.”
We all start to go our separate ways as the three others diverge into the woods off to Victor Creels house. Dustin, Eddie, and I start to use all the scrap metal we can find in order to make a cage-looking thing around the trailer for our protection.
“Not bad at all!” Dustin responds.
“Now for the fun part,” I say, elbowing Eddie who gets the hint after a moment. He rushes inside and just stands in awe at his guitar for a minute. “Jesus…” he mutters. “It’s like she was made for an alternate dimension.” He grabs his guitar off the wall and slings it over his shoulder.
“What do you say, y/n? Are you ready for the most metal concert in the history of the world?”
“Let’s do this thing!” We grab the amps and pedals and get them all connected on the roof of the trailer to make sure the noise travels further and louder. Now we just wait for the queue to start this thing. We sit on the roof dodging the fact that we could die. Just like the drive in the RV, we don’t try to make each other laugh or anything. We just talk.
“We’re gonna be fine, right?” Dustin asks me.
“Yeah, we’re all gonna be fine. We have weapons to protect us this time so there’s nothing to worry about” I try to convince him, but I can’t even convince myself of that fact.
“I wouldn’t place any bets, y/l/n,” Eddie says.
“I won’t let anything happen to either of you. I promise.” Now that was easy to believe. I can even convince myself of that because it’s true. I would do anything for either of them.
“Let's hope that's not the case,” Eddie says downward. I can tell he’s scared, that he’s not mentally prepared for this battle.
We get the signal that it’s time for us to begin our distraction. Eddie plugs in his guitar to the amp and begins.
“Chrissy, this is for you!” He starts strumming the chords of Master of Puppets by Metallica. I can’t help but mouth the lyrics as he plays along. He’s starting to get really into it as he starts banging his head along with the song.
“Eddie! Gotta lockdown in T-minus 30 seconds!” I tell him.
“T-minus 20!” Eddie starts to play the riff, and I’m very impressed but can’t say anything. I’m too focused on these bats to compliment him.
We rush inside the trailer where we make it to safety and the bat-like creatures can’t get us.
“Eddie! That was amazing! Most. Metal. Ever!!” Dustin and I coo. Eddie bows and waves mouthing “thank you, thank you.”
We hear the bat-like creatures trying to find their way inside from the top of the trailer. We think we’re fine but we keep our guard up. Suddenly a bat starts to come out of the vent and into the trailer. Dustin and I go after it quickly with our spears.
“There’s no other vents, right?” Dustin intrigues.
Bats start to swarm into the trailer with no warning. We somehow make it into the next room over and shut the door behind but it’s obviously not going to hold out against the major swarm of bats. I urge Dustin and Eddie to go up the sheet rope and they make it through successfully. I’m about to go through when I think of a way to protect them. To lure the bats away from the gate. When I start to turn around Eddie and Dustin start yelling at me.
“Y/n! Y/n come on! What are you doing?!” I cut the sheet rope to make sure they don’t follow me.
“I’m buying us more time.” I move the mattress from under the gate to the side of the wall.
“Y/n no! Stop! Stop! What are you doing!”
I run outside of the trailer and hop on a bike that was placed conveniently on the side of Eddie’s trailer from before. I ride it as fast and as hard as I can. The bats chase me at a rate that ensures they’re no longer at the trailer.
I get far enough away that I can kind of slow down my pace just a bit, only to be knocked off of my bike by one of the bat-like creatures. I successfully protect myself from the bats that try to attack me while I’m on the ground. The spear was really useful in that matter. But once I’m up off the ground, the bats start to swarm harder around me. Attacking me faster than I can fight back. And just like that, I’m on the ground again. I feel the bats biting my limbs and several deep wounds starting to form.
“Y/n!” I hear Eddie calling.
For no reason known to me, the bats drop dead around me. I’m left laying there as Eddie runs up to me as fast as he can. Dustin follows shortly after him. Eddie kneels beside me and holds me while trying to convince me there’s not a lot of blood and that I’m fine. I can feel blood running out of my mouth though.
“You’re an idiot you know that, right?” Eddie informs me.
“Yeah, but I’m your idiot.” I try to laugh but more blood ends up spilling out of my mouth. Eddie puts his hand on my head and pushes my hair back.
“You’re gonna be fine. Do you hear me? Let’s try to get up, alright?” He places his arm under my arm to try and support me standing up but it feels wrong.
“I just…I need to…catch my breath.”
“Okay, no rush. Take your time. Take your time, y/n.” Everything starts to go black. It’s getting hard to see. My heart rate feels normal, but I just feel…tired. I close my eyes and everything is pitch black.
I can hear Eddie speaking. “Chapter 5, Riddles in the Dark… When Bilbo opened his eyes, he wondered if he had; for it was just as dark as with them shut. No one was anywhere near him. Just imagine his fright! He could hear nothing, see nothing, and he could feel nothing except the stone of the floor.”
When I open my eyes again I’m in an unfamiliar place. The room is white with light blue curtains over the windows. The lights are uncomfortably bright. I’m in a very uncomfortable bed and I can feel all the bandages around me. I look to my side and see Eddie, still reading aloud. Unaware that I’m awake.
“…Very slowly he got up and groped about on all fours, till he-” He looks up, and his gaze holds mine. I can see the light spark in his eyes as soon as they meet mine. “Oh my god! You’re awake! Y/n, you’re so stupid!” He comes to my side quickly, taking my hand in his own and kissing it gently. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m feeling…sore. Kinda heroic.” I joke. Eddie laughs just happy to see I’m okay. “How long have I been…ya know?”
“About three days or so…” He breathes out heavily and hangs his head low before raising it back up. “I’m glad you’re awake and all but you’re gonna get a stern talking to when you’re feeling better. Steve was not too pleased with you when he found out.”
“That reminds me… did Steve and Nancy get back together?”
He laughs, like a real gut laugh before answering my question. “No, uh Jonathan or whatshisface came back from California.”
“Are you serious? I owe you $5 now?”
“You sure do.” He says proudly.
“Can you keep reading?” I plead with him.
“Of course I can,” he picks up the book and flips it to where he left off. “Very slowly he got up and groped about on all fours, till he touched the wall of the tunnel; but neither up nor down it could he find anything: nothing at all, no sign of goblins…”
