no one noticed
eddie munson x reader
part i
masterlist ☆
part ii | part iii
summary: being paired up for a project with eddie leads to a beautiful friendship, it's inevitable that you gain a crush.
warnings: PINING, slow burn, fluff, slight self-deprecating thoughts?, reader is an academic achiever/seeks academic validation kinda (self insert lmaoo), reader has long hair, the upside down doesn't exist here, lmk if i missed anything!
a/n: this is longer than i expected it to be, maybe i'll even make a small series of this :3 lmk if you guys would be interested!
feedback + reblogs are appreciated! ☆
the morning started out as it always does.
your alarm wakes you up, you get ready for school, say goodbye to your mom, and maybe grab a quick snack before heading out and driving to school. the usual routine.
it's your senior year, it's supposed to be the best year of high school. though, so far it has been very disappointing. you blame yourself for not being as extroverted as you hoped to be during your freshman year, now you don't have as many friends as middle school you had envisioned.
but you do have robin.
she's been your closest friend throughout the years, having met her in freshman year in the library, where you spent your lunchtime at, and you're okay with just having one close friend. you've come to peace with that. robin has been the bestest friend you've ever had, she's became a confidant, and you never have to put up a front with her. it's easy to talk to her, she has that sort of power somehow. what usually takes you a few weeks to become comfortable with someone new, it had only been a mere few days before being totally comfortable with robin.
as you walk into the school, you walk to your locker, seeing her right beside it.
"hey robin," you smile at her as she moves out the way for you, "good morning."
she returns your smile with her shoulder to the locker beside your own, one bookbag strap hanging from the other, "goood morning!"
you grab the materials you need for the first class of the day, "what's got you so happy this early?" you yawn.
robin shrugs, "can't a woman just be happy to see her best friend?"
rolling your eyes playfully, "of course you can!" you smirk at her, closing the locker and adjusting your bag on your shoulder, "...but maybe it has to do with a certain bandmate of yours?" you whisper.
she gasps, whispering back, "what! no. definitely not, definitely did not talk to her just a few minutes ago."
you laugh as the bell rings, signaling the start of the day.
"guess i'll see you at lunch?"
she nods, "can we go to the cafeteria today instead of the library? forgot my lunch today, woke up late."
you both begin to walk to the direction of your classes, "yeah that's fine, see you there!" giving her a side hug, you both go your separate ways.
it's now your class before lunch, history.
the day has felt longer than usual. you can't wait for it to be over and have your after school nap.
dropping your bag beside your desk, you sit and take out your notebook for the class.
the other students come walking in, he sits in his usual spot behind you.
you sit up straighter, god i'm so embarrassing.
usually, you hate having to have people sit behind you. it always feels like their watching your every move. of course, it's not true, but you can't help but think it. it's why you always sit in the back. but unfortunately, those seats were taken when you had walked in the first day of this class.
it's even worse when you think the person behind you is cute.
you move your hair to your shoulders, hoping it covers the sight to your notebook. you're just shading in the margins.
you look up when the teacher gets up from his desk, class is about to start.
"alright class, let's get started."
he walks over to the door and shuts it, and begins taking attendance.
"well, for today it'll be fairly easy. you won't hear me talk much today," the class let's out sighs of relief, the jocks who get along with him laugh playfully, "alright, alright. you won't be doing that after what i tell you."
oh no. you already know what he's about to say.
"we'll be doing a project! you'll be grouped up in pairs." immediately people begin to look at one another, already knowing who they want to be paired with, you look around, you don't really talk to anyone in that class. though, nancy wheeler has been kind to you, hopefully she'd want to pair up with you. but probably not, since barb and jonathan is in this class too. you can still hope though. any of them!
"before you get excited, i'll be the one assigning groups. it'll be at random."
now, the class really does let out sounds of disappointment and dissatisfaction.
"i told you, you wouldn't like it!" he laughs and clears his throat and goes back to his desk, grabbing a piece of paper and going back to leaning on his podium.
"alright, let's see here." he goes on to list the pairings, you anxiously wait for your name to be called.
please. please, please, pair me with nancy. or barb. or jonathan.
"nancy wheeler and-" please! "barbara holland."
well, okay. that's fine, who else is left? you'd been so caught up in waiting for your name that you hadn't kept up with who was called and who hasn't. jonathan! he hasn’t been called yet. please, please, please-
"y/n l/n and-" oh shit, that's you. "eddie munson."
oh shit, he's behind you.
the girl in front of you turns around and whispers to you, "good luck."
should you turn around? if you don't what if he thinks you're upset about being paired with him? you should probably turn around, the teacher keeps listing names, and you look back briefly.
he's already looking at you and you awkwardly make eye contact; you give a small smile and turn back around. okay that wasn't so bad right? dang it. you've tried your hardest to not talk to him. but if you think someone's cute you should want to talk to them, right? wrong. you never know what to say when you like someone, how can you even like someone without talking to them? you don't know, but it happened anyway. and now you're basically being forced to talk to him.
robin's going to love this.
"okay, now that you know who your partners are, i'll talk about what this project will be about. you and your partners will come up with a topic, it'll have to be a significant part of history. you'll make a presentation where both will have to speak in front of the class. you can bring in photos, poster boards, anything to aid the presentations. it's not necessary, but it could earn you extra points!"
he looks over to the clock on the wall, "... i'll give you until the end of class, which is about," he looks down to his wristwatch to double check, "40 minutes from now, to come up with a topic, come to my desk to let me know you've come up with something before leaving class, please."
clapping his hands together, he sighs, "alright! pair up!"
everyone begins to move to be with their partners, darn it. all you have to do is turn around. it's not that big a deal. as nervous as you are to talk to eddie, your grade matters more than a silly crush.
you turn around in your seat, grabbing your notebook and putting it in your lap. finally looking up you see him tapping his pencil on his desk, also looking up. the awkward eye contact again, awkward to you at least.
okay. maybe you can fail one project.
who are you kidding, your parents would look at you crazy if you came home with a failing grade.
"hey." you finally say, giving him another shy smile. god damn it why are you so awkward.
he nods, "hey." he leans onto his elbows, looking away, "it's alright if you wanna switch partners y'know? or if you wanna work alone, or something."
you look at him in surprise, "no! it's fine. i don't mind working with you, sorry if i gave that impression." furrowing your eyebrows, dang it maybe your nervousness made him think that.
he looks back to you, "really? i wouldn't want to bring your grade down, straight A student." he smiles. okay, now he's just messing with you.
you can't help the heat that rushes to your cheeks, so he must know about you then? how does he know that?
"funny that you think i would let that happen." you laugh.
he leans back onto his chair, arms now crossed on the table. "alright then, are you sure you wanna be my partner, then?" he looks at you, eyebrows raised.
"yes, i'm sure." you now lean on his desk, arms also crossed.
"do you have any ideas for our topic?" you grab the notebook from your lap, grab a pencil, and put it in between you both on the desk.
he sits up now, leaning on the desk, mirroring your actions.
oh no, he's close now, breathe.
he scratches the back of his neck, "uh... not really."
"alright, that's fine. uhm," you look at the clock, "we have about 35? 30? minutes, so we have time. we should just pick a few things and then we can pick the one we like best, yeah?" you write in your notebook, ideas, and underline it. you look back up and find eddie looking down at your notebook before looking back up as well.
"yeah, that sounds like a good idea."
you tap your pencil and bite your lip, thinking.
"hmm... we could do like the great depression or something." you murmur and write it down.
as you have your head down to write it, you miss eddie's panicked gaze. he's never really had much care for these types of things since usually whoever he's partnered with doesn't even bother talking to him and do it all themselves, doesn't even give him the chance to contribute. he quickly tries to think so that he can add something too.
"uh, the- what about the american revolution? or something? i dunno."
you look back up, "yeah! you wanna write that?"
you offer the pencil to him, "sure." he takes it, turning the notebook towards him, feeling a bit insecure about his handwriting compared to yours that's above his own. it isn't the neatest, and he never really cared about it, but he can't help it when you look at him like that.
the rest of the time goes by like that, going back and forth with ideas, your notebook page filled with both your handwriting.
"okay, we have like 10 minutes left. do you have a favorite?"
you tilt your head as you wait for an answer.
"uh," he bites his lip as he looks down at the list, "the invention of the printing press?" to be honest he just picked a random one.
"cool! i'm alright with that." you smile as you put a small star beside the idea.
"hmm... would you want to do a poster board? or anything?"
no, honestly he would not. but he looks at you and can tell that you really would, anything that would earn extra points, right? he smiles.
"i wouldn't mind it. i could buy the stuff for it." he doesn't have the money for it, but he'll just have to sell more of his stuff for it.
"really? no that's okay, i'm the one that wanted to do it."
"nooo," he gives you a pointed look, playfully scolding you, "i'll buy it. what do we need for that?" he plays with the end of his hair twisting it in front of his face. a nervous habit of his, you make him nervous. not that you realize.
"well, the board, some markers, we could use mine since i already have some, and some glue. we could print out the stuff we need at the library, once we find out whatever we need to print."
"alrighty then. we made a lot of progress today then, huh? i'm the best partner you could have! we're really an unstoppable duo, right here." he puts his hand up for a high-five.
you give him the high-five, ignoring the tingly feeling on your hand, and it wasn't from the impact.
"oh yeah, totally." you laugh.
"i don't like that tone." he squints at you.
"what do you mean? i'm serious! we are the best duo." you smile.
"alright, i believe you." he smiles and stretches.
the bell rings, and it feels like suddenly the day went by too fast now.
you stand and grab your things, writing your names on an index card and the topic for the project.
eddie stands as well, about to say something but you beat him to it.
"let's go turn in our topic."
he usually is out the door when they do this, okay.
you both walk to the teachers desk, you smile and give him the index card.
he takes it and looks up with a smile, "great topic!" he looks over at eddie, "hopefully she rubs off on you!"
you frown and look over at eddie, who gives him a sarcastic smile and nod.
you both walk out the classroom, "do you have lunch after this?" he asks.
you stop in your tracks, about to walk to the cafeteria to meet robin.
"yeah i do, do you?"
"yup." he smiles and walks beside you, making your way to the cafeteria.
"y'know i was always scared to talk to you." he gives you a side eye, before looking straight again.
"what? of me?" you look over at him incredulously.
"oh, totally. thought you were scary, y'know being a smarty pants and all."
ah, so he's messing with you. again.
"ha ha," you roll your eyes, though you're smiling, "very funny."
"you know those candies? what're they called? smarties? yeah, that's you."
"what? it's a candy!" you laugh.
"so? that's still you."
"okay, okay. i'm not that smart alright?" you shake your head, still smiling. you can't stop smiling.
he looks at you like you're crazy. "you're kidding, right? don't you have like, the highest grade in the class?"
you shrug, feeling shy. "could be better, though."
the cafeteria is in view now, and you desperately need to change the subject. "well, guess this is where we go our separate ways." you sigh dramatically.
"i guess so." he breaks eye contact and looks around, "you could uh, sit at our table. if you want."
"oh! uh... i wouldn't want to bother-" "you wouldn't be."
you smile at him and he swears he can hear his heat beating out his chest right now.
"thank you. but i was gonna meet with my friend robin. i'll see you tomorrow in class, though."
"right, yeah, that's fine. see you tomorrow." he opens the door to the cafeteria and dramatically makes way for you to pass through.
you wave him goodbye as he makes way to his groups table, you see robin at your usual spot.
oh you aren't going to hear the end of this.