hey hi hello. i MUST know more about his involvement in the adult timeline. truth be told i don’t really gaf about the adult timeline but I’m so curious to see how it would play out like this with eddie !!!!!!
im gonna go through his involvement in the adult tl like hes in the show itself bear with me
[warning for drugs, an overdose, suic!de, imagery describing that in the second written portion]
eddie is revealed as a survivor in season 1 episode five as the group's starting to discuss what to do with the blackmail and gather the group that would have gotten it back together. we find out that he got a postcard of his own and ripped it up and shoved it down the garbage disposal because he can't be bothered to deal with whatever it might mean. he decides not to tell travis because he assumes (and is eventually right in the assumption) that it'll just make him spiral. but he doesn't realize until later that morning that it's connected to the other survivors until he gets a phone call from nat.
--
Eddie felt his phone buzz in his pocket, the way it did when he was getting a call. Without looking at the caller ID, he stood up, leaning against the kitchen counter to answer it.
“Professor Taylor, what can I do for you?” He introduced himself, an instinct that persisted even outside of his office on campus.
“Eddie. We need to talk.” He heard Nat’s voice on the other line. “Did you or Travis get one of those fuckass postcards too?” She asked, her voice panicked. Eddie couldn't answer her question verbally, obviously. He glanced at Travis, who hadn't looked up from the paper.
“Miss Watson, it's been a while, how have things been?” Eddie responded, to a confused noise from Nat.
“The hell- No, Eddie, I know it's you.” Nat said, frustrated. Eddie paused to make it sound like whatever he was pretending to listen to was real. “Well?” Nat asked.
“Yeah, I’d bet, let me check my schedule, I’ll see if I can fill in for your class on Monday.” He continued, much to Nat’s protest and confusion. “History of the far East, right? Oh, don't worry, I could have a lesson planned for that within the hour. No, no, don't you worry, Barbara, take all the time you need out with your kids. Alright. Alright. You rest up, now. Alright. Buh-bye.” Eddie ended the call, and put his phone on Do Not Disturb.
--
nat and him talk later as well, and she promises that she won't point the other survivors to him or travis. unfortunately, eddie didn't realize that there would be two postcards delivered to their house, and he had missed the one meant for travis. a week after he clears everything up with nat, travis starts freaking out over the blackmail. he asks eddie if he got a card as well, and eddie denies it (which travis believes because. if eddie though they would only get one card delivered then why wouldn't travis also think that). travis and eddie's storylines only intersect with the rest of the adults through nat, because she's the only one they stayed friends with.
they call nat up around episode 7, and talk it through with her before she leaves for her stakeout. at this point, none of the other survivors have put together that they should find the two. everyone but shauna forgot about them and ofc shauna's still tracing the adam thing.
speaking of, no, eddie doesn't help clean up adam's murder. he's a) not in new jersey in the first place, and b) employed. he has his own pressing issues to deal with in episode 10. im imagining this awful scene of him in the teen tl finding jackie's body that gets spliced with him in the adult tl finding travis's body OH MY GOD. IT WOULD HURT SO BAD. -end season one-
at the start of season two, nat is still taken by lottie's cult, but more around the second episode rather than the s1 finale because then the news has time to reach her. eddie pretty much runs into misty while doing his own investigation on nat's whereabouts and tags along her and walter's investigative work. except he is really running out of vacation days and yes his husband just died but unlike literally everyone else here he is EMPLOYED. HE HAS A 401K.
eddie to literally every single one of the survivors after they all meet up at lottie's cult:
after finding nat, he figures it's alright to head home. he doesn't like lottie, but he knows that she always had a sweet spot for nat, so he figures not much can go wrong at the cult. unfortunately, he can't get a ride back home and all of a sudden he's in lottie's little sharing circle and they're proposing a hunt. and that's when shauna says something Very Wrong that he immediately takes as her having something to do with travis's death. don't ask me what cause the adult tl is a vague blur but it was something drug related (talking abbout misty's plan with lottie and the fent needles or whatever but he wasn't in on that conversation) and he comes to the conclusion that SHE was the one that laced the stuff travis od'ed on.
season two concludes with nat dyng and lottie being dragged away and eddie can't explain it but he knows (or thinks he knows) that somehow shauna's behind all of it. which she's not. but that doesn't mattter to him at that point.
in season three, eddie uses his weekends and free time to stalk shauna. his boss is on his ass for neglecting his lectures but he can't exactly explain the direness of the situation. eddie is immediately on board with misty that shauna killed lottie. again, he didn't like lottie but he hated shauna more. and he knows something's up with tai so he stays away from her. he's part-timing their bullshit at this point.
when shauna snaps against melissa, eddie isn't there to see it (again. employed), but misty breaks it down for him and they both conclude that shauna's fully back in her wilderness mentality.
also, after eddie starts backing misty with her investigation and walter and misty split up is when misty figures that of the first four times in the wilderness weren't the charm, it mght be worth one more shot with eddie, cause it's not like he's taken anymore (shocker: the gay man rejects her)
after van's death, eddie starts openly antagonizing shauna, to which shauna and tai start turning on him. we've established that this guy gets very cold and self destructive after losses. this is the end of season 3 so everything beyond this is just speculation on where the characters will go during season 4.
eddie leaves the group once he realizes he's becoming a danger to himself, but we all know what happens when the survivors try to leave after getting roped back in. tai and misty go after melissa, while shauna goes after eddie. misty can't stop her, so she just gives eddie information about what's going on with shauna when she assumes he needs it.
eddie eventually quits his job at the beginning of season 4. he's been seeing shauna's fuckass minivan everywhere and he realizes that The End Is Nigh. cause we all know she's harboring the same grudges against him from the wilderness. if she tried to kill him out there, she'll do it again 26 years later. he locks himself in his house for a whole episode and a half before finally he decides to pack his valuables and drive down the east coast to give them to a cousin of his before he meets his end. he puts some mighty emphasis on the security of his vintage dishware.
in season 4 episode 5, eddie runs to his car and guns it south. he quickly notices shauna tailing him and after hours of trying to lose her, he decides that it's not worth it to involve his living family in her bullshit any longer (he STILL thinks she killed travis and lottie and did something with nat so. he knows he's next). and he's right to think she was gonna kill him. she had just been waiting for him to leave his house, she learned her lesson not to attack people in their living rooms. eddie drives to the cemetery where travis is buried, and shoots himself in the head as he sees her headlights coming down the road. he always was a fan of romeo and juliet in english class.
--
“Want a smoke?” Eddie opened his eyes to the inside of an airplane. Drenched in dark blue lighting, the plane shuddered with turbulence. Eddie gripped the armrest instinctively, and turned to the voice. Eddie. Eddie was looking at Eddie, the him that he was twenty five years ago, to be exact. Younger Eddie’s brown and green jacket was without wear, his hair trimmed, his earring a single, simple stud. The real Eddie shook his head, processing the question. “Suit yourself.” The younger Eddie -Ed, maybe- said, taking a cigarette out of the box and flicking the lighter on. He took a deep drag.
Eddie looked around the plane. He was belted in, and fussed with the clasp before giving up. To his right was himself. To his left was Jackie. Jackie. Her eyes were blank, her face devoid of any emotion Eddie associated with his sister.
“Jacks- hey.” Eddie managed, his eyes welling with tears at the sight of her, a memory suspended in time.
“Don’t bother. She can't talk. None of them can.” Ed said, gesturing behind the row the three were sitting in. Eddie turned around and saw Nat, her younger self, same as Ed. In the back rows were Ben and Javi. All their faces were blank, unmoving and unfeeling. Eddie tried again to undo his seatbelt, and Ed scoffed. “This is how we remember them. I was confused for a while, and then I realized we never really saw them as people. As individuals beyond whatever we did. Didn't you ever figure that out?”
Eddie turned to glare at Ed, mostly out of confusion. That couldn't be true. He’s fucking with me.
“I’m not fucking with you.” Ed said, like he was able to read Eddie’s mind. “You and I both know that deep down, the people we surrounded ourselves with were just props for boosting our own self worth.” The boy’s words were mumbled slightly, his cigarette bitten between his teeth.
“I don't remember being such an asshole when I was your age.” Eddie said.
“Twenty five years here will do that to you. Took you long enough, I mean, if we had known it would have been over so quick, I would have finished the job before any of this shit happened.” Ed exhaled a cloud of smoke as he talked. A projector whirred to life at the front of the plane, just a few rows up from where they were sitting.
Pasted on the screen was a scene that still replayed in Eddie’s mind occasionally. The razor blades, the miscellaneous pills scattered around. He hadn't been able to finish the job back then. Eddie looked back at Ed.
“I had a good life.” Eddie said finally. “I learned to be happy that you failed that night, fuck you very much.”
“What did you accomplish? Tell me that. You got a nice job, a little house, stayed with him after all those years?” His younger self rolled his eyes. “Just to get pushed to the brink by Shauna and Lottie at the end of it all?” Ed crossed his arms. Eddie was speechless. He had done everything he did to preserve the dreams that the boy next to him had dreamed. On the screen, his current body was projected, laying on the dirt of that cemetery, growing cold. Eddie had to look away, the blood on the gun his hand was holding in a death grip was enough. He didn't need to see his own head.
“Oh, don't bother looking for him around here, by the way. We both know why he's not on this plane. I can still feel that resentment, you know. You can't hide from me.” Ed said, after Eddie’s silence. Eddie was snapped out of his thoughts.
“You don't know anything. I loved that man more than your apathetic ass could ever fathom.” He spat, ignoring the gnawing feeling in his stomach at the comment.
“I can feel that pit in your chest too. Two things can be true at once. I would hope an esteemed history professor like yourself would be able to recognize that.” Ed said tiredly, tapping the ash from his cigarette onto Eddie’s arm. Eddie brushed it away, annoyed. He refused to believe that he used to be that pretentious as a young man. The projector showed scenes of Eddie, Travis, and Nat, a glance at the trio through the years. “Look, you spent twenty-five years talking those two off the ledge. And it fucking killed you, I mean, way before you did.”
“Shut the fuck up. I’ll-” Eddie started.
“Hurt me? Beat me up? We both see the irony in that. Plus, you're not going anywhere with this.” Ed tapped the seatbelt around Eddie’s waist. “Lord knows I’ve tried. Oh, she found you. For my sake, not yours, we're gonna turn that little recap off. I don't want to know what she does with us.” Ed said, looking back up as Shauna appeared in the scene. The projector clicked off, its fans whirring to a stop. That was the first thing Eddie agreed with him on. The momentary relief was replaced quickly by the realization that his life was over. He had died. And now that he was gone, what more was there to discuss? He felt his heart sink.
“What happens now?” Eddie turned to Ed, not able to hide the fear in his voice, or the way his hands started shaking.
“Calm down.” Ed said, leaning back in his seat. “You think I know? We’ll find out together.” Ed closed his eyes with a smile as the plane rattled violently. Eddie glanced at Jackie, back at Nat, Javi, and Ben. They all had the same expressionless looks on their faces. His lip quivered as the lights flickered off in the cabin.
Eddie slowed his breathing as the rustle of treetops underneath the hull rattled the plane.
--
if you read all this i'll give you 5 dollars (no i wont)
