Long time in-patient y/n was looking forward to her upcoming discharge date from the Hawkins Memorial Hospital. That is, until she became acquainted with an unlikely familiar face, Eddie Munson.
This is a fix it fic following Stranger Things season 4, volume 2. In this fic, we’re going to forget the fact that the Duffer Brothers decided to delete Eddie from the series. :-) These events take place after the battle in the upside down. I’m also choosing to change the ending of season 4 by having the issue with the upside down resolved, therefore, Hawkins is not plagued by the massive earthquake that resulted in new portals being opened.
Slow burn, angst with a happy ending, fluff, smut in later chapters. ♡
Mentions of mental health struggles, SMUT (in the later chapters, 18+ to read this story), angst with a happy ending, canon-typical violence.
“Your what now??” Wayne exclaimed, eyes bulging out of his head, a confused expression painted across his face.
“My brother…?” she began. Exhausted from her prior panic attack, y/n forgot for a second that she had never told Wayne about Dustin. In fact, no one in her life knew she had a brother. Given the current state of their relationship, she had always felt it was best if she kept that fact to herself. It happened to work out in her favor that Dustin went to a different elementary school than her and by the time he reached Hawkins High, she had long graduated.
“Oh, you don’t know!” she softly stated, realizing the topic had never been brought up before.
By the time she finished explaining the whole story to Wayne, it was past 10pm. Wayne had waved off multiple nurses coming in to inspect why the curfew wasn’t being respected, growing more irritated with each half hour visit. It certainly didn’t help that the most persistent nurse coming around was Margot, who had garnered quite the reputation for being a bit of a… well, to put it lightly, she wasn’t the most patient nurse around. She was known for snapping at patients, y/n having been on the receiving end of her wrath a few times, and her coworkers alike. Wayne didn’t like that, in fact, he and Margot had developed quite the feud over the past few weeks. Wayne wasn’t one to tolerate rudeness, especially towards the patients, and he made Margot well aware of it. While staying (somewhat) professional, they were constantly bickering, Margot often being the one to instigate their conflicts.
Once y/n finished telling him the whole story, they were both quiet for some time. Wayne wanted to choose his next words carefully, understanding more than ever why she had been apprehensive about opening up. His train of thought was abruptly interrupted when Margot came rushing into the room.
“How many times do I have to come in here to tell you two to be quiet!” she yelled, flailing her arms angrily.
“Margot! Would you just… Give us a minute!” Wayne snapped back, losing his temper. “I’m sorry,” he began, pressing his fingers to his temple trying to collect himself. “Just give us a few minutes, please.” His plea was in no way a genuine request, more so a stern demand.
With a huff, Margot crossed her arms and stormed off, this would not be the last he heard from her.
The tension in the room lifted a bit following that interaction, y/n unable to hold back a snicker. She knew Wayne would be paying for that later. Her giggle was infectious, Wayne letting out a roar of laughter.
“Well kid, I’m sorry you had to go through all that crap. But your brother reaching out is a good thing. Maybe you guys can patch things up!” he suggested with a warm smile.
Y/n paused, smiling sheepishly. “Yeah, maybe… What if he hates me?”
“Have you ever gone out of your way to make plans with someone you hate?” he asked, amusement painted on his face. Over time, Wayne had gotten pretty good at deconstructing her anxieties and helping her see how silly they were.
“No… I guess you’re right” she said with a weak laugh.
“Always am,” he winked and stood up, “now, I better get going before little miss attitude comes back around. You get some sleep; I’ll see you in the morning with breakfast.”
“Goodnight, thanks Wayne.”
With a nod and smile, he reluctantly headed towards the front desk, presumably in an attempt to patch things up with Margot. The last thing he needed was another complaint to their boss on her part.
While she normally gets woken up from the sun beaming through her window, this morning’s culprit was the harsh overhead lights shinning above her. Most likely exhausted from the night before, y/n had slept in much later than she usually does. 8 in the morning wasn’t exactly considered late, but to her standards it definitely felt like it. Y/n took the term ‘early riser’ to a whole new level, typically waking up around 6am each day. She barely got the chance to rub her eyes before Wayne came by with her breakfast tray. Despite her state the night before, she was unusually chipper today.
“What’s on the menu?” she asked energetically.
“Woah there, you beat me to it!” said Wayne, obviously startled by her pep. “Today we’ve got scrambled eggs, an orange and water!”
Y/n grabbed the tray from his extended arms and began eating. The eggs were always questionable, but today they weren’t so bad. Nevertheless, she gobbled them down quickly to avoid dwelling on any weird textures or flavours. A technique she adopted early on in her stay here. Wayne continued doing his rounds and upon his return, y/n already had the empty tray waiting for him to collect.
“You trying to win a race, kid?” he joked, noting how quickly she had finished her food.
“Guess I was hungrier than I thought.” She noted. “Last night took a lot out of me.”
“No kidding, glad it hit the spot!”
“Ehhh, I wouldn’t say that” she quipped.
Wayne snorted, knowing exactly what she meant by that. He was no stranger to the food provided here, having the misfortune of trying it a handful of times when he forgot his lunch at home. “How are you feeling today?”
“Honestly, good. It’s weird, I usually feel awful for a few days after having a panic attack.”
“That’s great to hear, when are you seeing your brother?” he asked.
“11am, he’s meeting me here.”
“Have you cleared that with reception yet,” he started, the question rather redundant given that she had just woken up. “I’m not sure that we’re allowing visitors at the moment.”
“Oh, I was hoping we could arrange our walk then and I could sneak away like I usually do.”
Wayne’s eyes widened and he motioned his head towards the hallway, a gentle reminder that this arrangement could easily get them both in trouble if overheard.
“By sneaking away, I mean going to the bathroom!” she said in a less than convincing tone.
“Nice save” Wayne said sarcastically. “But yes, that should be fine.” he concluded in a low tone, nearly whispering.
Y/n giggled. “Perfect, I’ll see you at 11!”
As luck would have it, y/n had a busy morning prior to her meet up with Dustin. Relief washed over her upon reviewing her schedule, knowing that her packed morning would leave her little time to worry and overanalyze the many possible outcomes of seeing her brother.
Her scheduled meet up with Wayne went according to plan, and she was able to scurry down to the lobby of the hospital without any issues, Wayne keeping an eye out for trouble while she was away. Once there, she found a seat near the entrance and kept to herself to avoid any suspicious glances from the staff. She thanked her lucky stars that she changed into her regular clothes instead of her normal inpatient attire, given the many nurses wandering around who could easily identify her.
She anxiously glanced at the clock, keeping her head down the rest of the time to avoid detection, growing more restless as the seconds passed. Despite being early, she worried that her allotted time would run out before she could speak with her estranged brother.
Those thoughts faded away when she spotted a pair of dirty white sneakers planted in front of her. She shot her eyes up, only to be met with her brother grinning wildly.
“Dustin!” she exclaimed; her tone coated in disbelief.
Before she could process what happened next, Dustin had already wrapped his arms around her seated body. A few moments passed before her stiff demeanor softened and she leaned into the hug. She was the first to pull away, giving him an apologetic look.
“I’m sorry, I don’t have a lot of time.” she began “How are you?”
“I’m great! Thanks for meeting me, I know it’s been-“
“14 years… I know. I… I didn’t think you remembered me.” She stated, eyes meeting the floor. There was a moment of silence before she continued. “I don’t mean to be abrupt but… Why did you call?”
“I would have sooner if I knew you were here! I should probably start by apologizing, really, but I know you don’t have time for that right now. I always wondered why you left...”
Her eyes started to tear, images of her long-lost childhood flashing back. Her mouth opened in an attempt to speak, but the lump in her throat prevented words from coming out. Dustin seemed to notice and took her silence as an opportunity to get everything off of his chest.
“You know, Mom still talks about you and the ‘good old days’, as she likes to call them. Not very often, but she still does sometimes. Usually when you get a little bit of wine in her.”
They both chuckled simultaneously at the thought, she remembered her mother’s fondness of wine. She never drank much anymore, likely due to y/n’s father often abusing the substance. With him being drunk more times than not, Claudia felt it was best if her daughter had at least one parent that wasn’t inebriated all the time. That didn’t stop her love of wine however, which she was able to rediscover once she met Dustin’s father; a stable man for the most part.
“Does she still drink white?” she asked, a small smile lighting up her face.
“That woman loves her Chardonnay” Dustin retorted meeting her gaze.
After a moment of slightly awkward silence, y/n mustered enough courage to speak.
“So what made you come looking for me? I mean, how did you know where to find me? Or that I was even in Hawkins?” she inquired, her initial plan of asking one question at a time failing from eagerness.
“Well, like I said, Mom doesn’t like to talk about the past much, she never told me why you left, or where you had gone. I stopped asking after a while and accepted the fact that you just weren’t around anymore. It wasn't until my friend mentioned you in conversation that I had to reach out.”
“Your friend?” she asked, perplexed.
Of all the people she knew in Hawkins, she couldn’t pinpoint a potential mutual friend they might have. Their age gape being the main factor, her lack of current contacts being the second. It had been months since she had a visitor, let alone a friend reach out.
“Yeah! Eddie, I mean, our friend now, technically!” he exclaimed excitedly. “I wish I had known you two we’re friends, I would have reached out way earlier!”
Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t help the confused look that was now painted across her face. Eddie was her age, and they hadn’t known one another for long. Why was Dustin hanging out with a 20-year-old? And why was Eddie talking to him about her?
“I know, why am I hanging out with him, we’re in a club together at school, and well… With everything that’s been happening, we grew closer.”
She couldn’t help her seemingly useless questions, her mind felt like it was on autopilot.
“Hellfire Club! You know, D&D? It’s a-”
“Fantasy game, yeah. I used to play as a kid. I think I left it at mom’s place when I moved away.”
“That was yours???” he exclaimed “Oh you’re so much cooler than I remembered you being.”
“Well you were 7 so, i don't know how credible your accounts of events are” she teased.
“Hey, I’ll have you know, my earliest memory was from the age of 2 when you insisted on making me watch the entire Star Wars series.”
“Okay, those are good movies! Forgive me for trying to educate the youth on amazing cinema!” she retorted in a playful tone.
“I never said that was a bad thing.” he replied with a kind smile.
She returned the smile feeling warmth in her heart. Their interaction was going better than she had hoped. “So, are you still into all of that stuff?”
“What, you mean nerdy stuff?” he asked, amusement in his tone.
“Yeah, or was my attempt at corrupting you into a geeky lifestyle unsuccessful?”
Dustin chuckled, “It’s no wonder Eddie likes you. Yeah, I’m still into all that stuff” he confirmed, his last few words accompanied with air quotes.
She felt her heart skip a beat, replaying Dustin's words in her head. ‘Eddie likes me?’
Her thoughts were racing, Dustin’s admission, whether intentional or not, of Eddie’s feelings had her reeling. Did he really mean that in the way she thought he did? Was she getting ahead of herself in thinking that Eddie felt the same way about her as she did for him? She must have been lost in her thoughts longer than she noticed as she was interrupted by Dustin’s voice calling her back to reality.
“Y/n?” he asked tentatively.
“Yeah, sorry, uh... Yeah Eddie’s great. We just met not long ago. I had no idea you two were friends. I guess we never got on that topic.” She offered.
"Well, now that the cat's out of the bag, we should hangout sometime! Us three! You know, if you want to..." he trailed off not wanting to seem too eager.
"Yeah, i'd like that" she replied, still harping on her brother's previous sentence. Was she reading too much into it? He could have simply meant that in a casual way. The same way you "like" ice cream or cats. She was lost in her thoughts, so much so that time had escaped her. She was brought back to reality when, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Wayne marching his was over to her looking less than pleased. Crap.
The angry look on his face, accompanied by his sheer size must have been intimidating. This was evident in the look of terror displayed on Dustin's face. "Y/n......Y/n!" he whispered urgently with fear in his tone.
"It's okay! That's Wayne, he's cool." she responded attempting to reassure him.
"Is he?!" her brother exclaimed.
Before she could reply, Wayne was now hovering over her grinning wildly, a look he had only given her a couple of times previously. She was in big trouble, and she knew it.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news here, but." Rather than finishing his sentence, he gestured towards the clock. She read the time and froze in fear. She was about 15 minutes late to getting back to her unit.
"Oh, shit!!" she exclaimed. "I'm sorry Dustin but i've gotta go!"
She quickly got up from her seat and began retreating to the elevator, Dustin following close behind her before Wayne gently stopped him by placing a hand on his chest and shaking his head, a motion advising him to stop right there.
"Ok, uh, i'll call you!" Dustin exclaimed as she got into the elevator. She gave him one last smile before the doors closed, and slowly turned to face Wayne. Her face contorted in fear and remorse as she braced herself for the lecture of the century.
After a long awaited new chapter, here it is! Not proofread, i was too excited to post it lol :c
Let me know what you think & if you’re interested in being on my tag list ♡
Tag list - @kik51199 , @ladyapplejackdnd , @motheraiya , @jqfan-oxa , @kaqua , @munsonzzgf , @haleighdriver , @thatlonelyalto , @ghoulsgraveyard , @sxpphicfxiry , @hellbaby237 , @grey-water-colors , @tubble-wubble , @moviefreak1205 , @piperd06 , @thats-s0-ravenn , @thegirlwhohides , @starryeyedkoko , @eddieshands86 , @xhorror-nerdx , @fandomsunited , @girlsvvish , @idkidkknemore , @chloe-6123
