Looking at how much Mario cares for Luigi is truly touching. They really care about each other. Even to such lengths that Mario was willingly putting himself in dangerous situations to save his brother from what he perceived to be a threat! He really does care a lot about his brother… I wish one of my sisters could’ve been like my own Mario. Maybe I wouldn’t be what I am now.
did some art for a streamer i like- go check out FunkadelicPeach on twitch/youtube, super chill dude and the community is banger (and i post some art in his discord that i dont here!)
summary | you wait anxiously for your study session with your ex-best friend and freak of Hawkins, Eddie Munson, but a walk down memory lane makes it even more complicated
notes | okayokay this one took longer than I had planned but it's like twice as long as the first one which is great since that one blew up and people have been asking for the next part!! also I'm starting a taglist, message or comment if you want to be added to it!
Even after the two decades of the same beeping noise waking you up each morning, a jolt ran through your chest as the sound rang out in the silence. Your eyes flew open in the dark as you smacked the plastic until it went quiet. You’d always been a deep sleeper, your parents joking that it would take a 9.0 magnitude earthquake to wake you up on your own. Even then, however, you’d still wake in a jolt, as if you’d been shot with a shock of electricity.
Your feet dragged across the soft carpet towards the bathroom and twitched in reaction to the freezing tile. Mornings were always slow and routine like this, your eyes squinting at the light as you entered the tile bathroom and open, ready for the day as you exited. You tugged on the same pair of jeans from yesterday and padded over to your dresser.
Your fingers danced across your shirts, trying to find one that seemed to call to you for the day. You ran through everything you'd be doing and made sure the potential shirt would be up for it all. You froze for a moment, thoughts lingering on the one task you'd almost forgotten: tutoring Eddie Munson after school.
Without thinking you reached toward the back of your drawer for the black and white baseball t-shirt with the logo you helped design. You'd stopped wearing it a long time ago, brushing the entire era of its use out of your mind. It would make Eddie smile, you thought. But you couldn't give off the wrong impression. He can't know you think of him when he's not forcing his presence into your life.
It was finally starting to feel comfortably mundane opening up the library early each morning at the school you'd called home for so many years. It was awkward to still live life in a place you couldn't wait to escape, but it helped that you could simply stay in your favorite part of the whole experience: the Hawkins High School Library. You still felt excitement at being able to help run it with the authority you had been dying for as a student. Eventually, the aide before you got another job at another school and you begged for the position. The pay wasn't much, but it was definitely good enough for now.
The day felt long just like usual, but you tried to use all the empty hours planning and preparing for your tutoring session with Eddie. Part of you was looking forward to it, filled with the jittery excitement that took you back to your senior year, but the rest had been overtaken by rational thought and bitterness. It was better- no, smarter to stay professional with your former best friend. No feelings, no expectations. Just a book report.
Despite your conscious effort, the whole ordeal clogged the front of your mind the entire day. You shelved books and wondered if he'd have you read to him again like you used to. You organized catalogs and hoped he wouldn't ask you how college was coming along. You sharpened pencils until they could be used for surgery while anxiously wondering if maybe today he wore his Hellfire shirt and that maybe you should have worn yours then you could be matching, but would he even want to match with you? Would he care? It's been two years why would he still-
"Peachy-pie!" his voice called over the low groan of the library doors. You jumped in your seat slightly, surprised at the noise, but more at the person behind them. You took in his presence and frowned slightly, glancing over to the clock.
"I thought we said after school?" you asked, eyebrows still furrowed in confusion. Eddie gave you a lopsided half-smile and strode behind the counter towards you.
"We did," he nodded, glancing over at the doors once before slipping onto the floor with his legs crossed in front of him. He smiled sweetly up at you, his neck craning to see you clearly since his back was pressed firmly against the wood cabinet next to you.
"Then why are you-"
"Have you learned to keep a secret yet, or are you still a human megaphone?" he asked, his large eyes staring up into yours. You stammered and frowned, but he waved his hand and shook his head as soon as you started. "Doesn't matter. Anyways, I pissed off Jason Carver again and I'd rather spend lunch in here rather than pretending that I could win a fight."
You smiled and stared down at him for a moment. He tilted his head slightly, letting his bangs fall into his eyes.
"Against Jason alone or with all his buddies?" you asked playfully, turning in your chair slightly.
"All his buddies," Eddie answered, nodding once with confidence.
"Then yeah, no. You couldn't win," you said, turning back to your work. Eddie raised his eyebrows and twisted up onto his knees so that the top of his head met your shoulder.
"But alone?" he questioned, his eyes filled with childlike curiosity. You smiled harder and hummed for a moment in thought.
"Maybe not win, but you'd definitely do some damage. At least show him that you're not one to mess with," you said.
"I thought the leather and devil horns did that for me."
"Sort of, but to Jason that just makes you... I don't quite know the word," you said, biting your lip as you frowned. Eddie watched you work, letting his chin rest against the desk.
"A freak," he finished, his voice softer. You shook your head quickly and let your hands pause against the stacks of paper.
"No. Well, sure, to him, maybe. But just a target, I guess. Someone who he thinks should be taught a lesson," you said, going back to sorting the paper in front of you.
Eddie nodded his head slightly and stayed quiet, watching you work. A voice in the back of your head told you to scold him for being behind the counter. Be professional, it hissed. But you ignored it, thinking that you'd let any regular student hide from someone like Jason Carver with you.
"Like old times again," Eddie mumbled, his speech garbled slightly as his head rested its weight against his chin on the desk. You looked down at him quickly, eyebrows furrowed in curiosity.
"What is?" you asked. He tilted his head to look up at you better, letting his cheek press against the wood instead.
"This. Spending lunch on your right. Talking like we used to," he said, gazing up at you with those wide brown eyes. Your cheeks flushed and you turned away, but you still felt those eyes on you. "I really started to think you hated me. Thought you'd started calling me a freak with everybody else."
"I could never hate you, Eddie," you said, eyebrows furrowing deeper.
"You forgot about me then. That's the only other explanation for where the last two years went," he said, his voice deeper than before in seriousness.
"It's not either of those," you said quickly, blinking a few times and shaking your head as you looked down at him. He frowned back at you, but still didn't raise his head.
"But it is something?" he said, deep brown eyes widening. You opened your mouth to speak, but shut it quickly and shook your head, turning back to your work.
"I graduated, Eddie. Our lives just... changed, is all," you shrugged. Eddie stayed quiet for a moment, his eyes still on you. In the thick silence, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. He stood slowly, chewing on his lip.
"You suck at lying, you know that?" he said, standing over you. You sucked in a breath and turned to look up at him defensively. "I'll be over at your place around four, 'kay Peach? Pencil and everything."
He mustered a small smile before turning to leave, his long legs moving swiftly under him as he went.
-Two Years Earlier-
The gym was built in the center of Hawkins High School and was obnoxiously large. You couldn't help but roll your eyes as you walked inside, following close behind Eddie in the crowd of seniors. He glanced behind him to make sure you were still there, close enough to touch. You looked back at him, holding eye contact for a moment before looking away bashfully simultaneously.
He'd been looking at you that way a lot recently, like out of everyone and everything in the whole world, you were the only thing he wanted to see. Granted, it was mutual. You practically couldn't function without Eddie by your side. But despite the pink cheeks and stolen glances shared between the two of you, neither one had made a move, silently waiting for something to give the last push.
Eddie stepped up onto the bleachers easily, his long legs carrying him higher than most of the other students, including you. You let out a soft grunt as you took the first large step, fighting to keep your balance as people tried to push past you. Just as you raised your foot to step up the next one, a faceless thug bumped your shoulder, knocking your weight forward. You gasped hard enough to make your throat burn as you reached out to catch yourself.
Eddie caught you first, grabbing your elbow firmly with one large hand while pushing the assailant away from you with the other. Your hands held onto his bicep tightly, pressing into the thin fabric of his shirt.
"You okay?" he asked, his voice raised over the loud hum of the crowd. You nodded quickly, keeping your hands around his arm as you followed him back up the steps. Slowly, your hands slid down from the thick muscle of his bicep to his elbow, to his wrist, until your hand was wrapped securely in his. Your hands were cold against his, a detail that made him smile. You always complained about being freezing in this hellhole of a school.
You tried to focus on your surroundings instead of the boy's rough palm and metal rings pressed against your soft, chilly flesh. For a moment, you imagined what it would be like to hold his hand like this all the time. Or have it against your cheek...your thigh...your neck, even.
You blinked a few times and sucked in a breath, squeezing Eddie's hand once before pulling away casually as you found your seat next to him. He wasn't as quick to lose contact as you were, letting his hand linger on your shoulder or your elbow as he looked around the gym and sat down.
“Watch out, Sweetheart! Your man’s on the move!” he called, smile lines creasing into his cheeks as he pointed at your former crush dribbling a ball across the court. You rolled your eyes and smacked his chest with the back of your hand. He chuckled and subtly scooted a little closer to you so that his entire left side was pressed against yours.
It was embarrassing now to imagine yourself being so in love with someone like Steve Harrington. Sure, he was cute enough, but there wasn’t much future for a boy like him. For someone else, maybe, but not for you. You didn’t want the white picket fence and two point five children like everyone else. You wanted drama and variety and excitement. Someone to keep you on your toes... Like Eddie.
“Did you hear that Wheeler girl dumped him?” you asked, leaning closer to the boy so that he could hear. He turned to you with wide eyes, the sly smile that was always on his lips wider than before.
“She dumped him?” he asked, his dark eyes shining with excitement. You couldn’t help but laugh with him, his joy was just so contagious.
“Keep it in your pants, Munson,” you chuckled with a nod.
Usually, you ignored the Hawkins pep rallies. It was loud and fake and a total waste of perfectly good (and quiet) study time. But with Eddie, it could actually be fun. Maybe not in the same way as it was for everyone else, in that it was completely lacking any school spirit. It was really just an hour-long comedy show where you could both point and laugh at all the silliness of your midwestern high school.
It was cathartic, really, especially for Eddie. A way to safely get back at all of the jocks and preps that loved to whisper and point at him when they thought he wasn’t looking. His hair was officially considered Long by now, his bangs grown out and his curly mullet extending down a little past his shoulders. Paired with the new patches on his denim vest and the newly official Hellfire Club shirt, he was openly very different.
You could tell the feedback was starting to get to him, his smile dimming every time the word “freak” was tossed around the lunchroom. But he was still your Eddie. He still made jokes and tried to brush it all off. Still, it hurt your heart to watch your best friend try and choose between living a peaceful life or living an honest one.
As the event came to a close, you felt Eddie start to get antsy next to you. All of the cheering and commotion was starting to get to him, you guessed. Once the bell rang, he was instantly on his feet, hand wrapped around your elbow. You pulled your discarded sweater back into your arms and started to stand, but you felt Eddie’s hand pull you up hard.
“Ow, Eds what the-” you started, frowning up at him.
“We gotta go,” he mumbled in your ear urgently, nudging the back of your knee with his. You blinked and tried to weave through the crowd, following his order the best that you could.
You felt his brown locks hitting your shoulder as he whipped his head back and forth, looking around nervously. His chest was pressed to your back, his arms almost covering yours protectively.
“Eddie, what’s going on?” you asked impatiently, glancing at him behind as you stepped carefully down the stairs. He let out an irritated huff and wrapped his arm securely around your waist and led you down the bleacher steps faster than before. He was more aggressive than you were at moving through the crowd and, in a matter of moments, had you out of the gym and tucked carefully in the hallway next to the water fountains.
“I think people are starting to get an idea about us,” he said, jaw clenching anxiously. The breath rushed from your chest as you looked up at him, your eyes wide. You put his words next to his actions and felt your heart sink down to the bottom of your stomach. You fought to keep your thoughts in your head and not bleeding onto your expression and sucked in a breath.
“Which you don’t want,” you said, your voice dangerously monotone. Eddie’s frown deepened slightly as he shook his head.
“It’s not that- I-I just don’t want you...You know how they see me,” he stuttered, trying to find the words that he desperately didn’t want to be true. You nodded and fought the lump back in your throat.
“No, I get it,” you said softly, turning away from him slightly. He caught your elbow with his thick hand, pulling you back instantly.
“Don’t do that,” he snapped, his voice low and pained. You stared up at him, your eyes locked with his as you both tried to understand the other person’s logic.
“I’m not doing anything, Eddie. You’re the one dragging me out of the gym just because you're scared someone is gonna think you like me,” you said, your top lip twitching upward slightly. Eddie shook his head quickly, his frown deepening.
“You don’t understand-”
“I think I do, Eds,” you sighed, pulling your arm out of his grip and starting back down the hallway. You were grateful that your brain washed all of your sadness into anger, it was easier to manage. Less embarrassing at least.
You turned the corner of the hall and heard a sharp whistle in your direction, your eyes already rolling in disgust. “Eddie, I’m done having this conversation.”
Three boys took up the spot where you assumed Eddie would be. Jocks. Probably on the baseball team. If you had to guess their names, you’d say “Bad”, “Fucking”, and, finally, “News”.
“Can I help you with something?” you asked defensively, your eyebrows furrowing. The one on the left smiled at you and you instantly felt bad for treating Eddie so harshly. He knew how to handle these situations better than you did.
“Yeah, actually! We were just curious to find out when you, ya know, started the whole...Devil Worship thing?” the center boy asked, his eyes shining with mischief and sinisterness. You stared back at him, face twisted between confusion and anger. “Or- I’m sorry- is it Beelzebub?”
You’d forgotten that you had the option of running, or maybe you just knew how futile it would be. No matter the reason, you stayed planted in the center of the hall as the three boys began circling you menacingly.
“Asmodeus, maybe?” the other asked, chuckling.
“You boys sure do know a lot of famous demons,” you mumbled, looking away from their faces the best you could. The center boy stopped in front of you, squaring his shoulders parallel to yours.
He wasn’t all that tall, definitely not taller than Eddie, but he made up for it with muscle. His arms looked like tree trunks, a product of years of batting for the Hawkins baseball team. He stomped his foot towards you quickly, bringing his fist up to punch you. You flinched and fell back, waiting for the blow that never came. Their laughter was uproarious and made bile rise into your throat.
“Poor little freak!”
“No, no, man. He’s the freak. She’s our little freakette.”
You hated the feeling of tears inching closer and closer to your waterline. You hated that your tailbone hurt from catching your fall. You hated that you didn’t just stay with Eddie like he wanted you to. Everything about this moment, you absolutely hated.
“Don’t fucking call her that,” a voice called out, stabbing lowly into the laughter. A tear dripped down your cheek as you recognized the voice paired with the curly-headed silhouette.
“Speak of the devil,” one boy smirked, turning towards him.
“Literally!”
“Yeah? Wanna take that bet?” Eddie spit, his jaw clenched tightly. You stared up at him from your place on the ground, but his eyes didn’t even glance to meet yours. You weren’t sure if you even wanted them to. They were darker than usual. Wide and pitch black with anger.
“Who knew the way to get you to fight back was mess with your little pet?” the middle one said, his thin lips pulled into a tight smirk.
“Who knew you had so much of a goddamn death wish to even try it?” Eddie shot back, his voice low and thick with resentment.
The boys each narrowed their eyes at the other, fists clenching at their sides. You sucked in a quick breath as they took hurried steps toward each other, Eddie growling deep within his throat.
Everything was a mess of fists and shouting as they collided. You couldn’t focus on either one of them long enough to figure out who was winning but guessing by the grunts of pain that you sadly recognized, you didn’t think it was Eddie.
You rushed to your feet as fast as you could, wheezing slightly at the pain in your lower back. You locked your eyes on the assailant and shot yourself as best you could towards his back, wrapping your thin arms around his neck. You had a short moment of pride, you successfully jumped on someone’s back and sabotaged his next hit. But it quickly ended with the blunt impact of his elbow against your cheekbone.
You fell off his back and hit the floor hard, your body dropping like a sack of bricks. You swore he knocked a chunk out of your face, like the place he hit was now a gaping hole in your cheek. The breath sprinted out of your chest and your eyes shook in their sockets from the pain.
You heard Eddie yell louder than you’ve ever heard him but couldn’t quite make out the words. Your hands shook as you reached up to cradle the side of your face weakly. A few more blows landed between the boys before you felt arms scooping you up off the ground and jogging away. You winced at how tight he was squeezing but could tell it was just Eddie not wanting to drop you and not the death grip of an angry baseball player.
“Is my face still there?” you asked, your eyes opening slightly to see Eddie’s freshly cut lip and bruised cheek. You’d never seen him look so panicked, so scared. But even in the intensity of the moment, he breathed out a gentle laugh and glanced down at you.
“Yeah. Still there,” he huffed, slowing his steps to a stop so that he could set your feet down onto the sidewalk. You opened your eyes fully and looked up at the boy to find him just covered in blood and sweat. You let out a short laugh but immediately winced and grabbed at your cheek.
Eddie stayed quiet as he led you back to his van, his hand against the small of your back to keep you steady. He slid the side door open and locked his arm solid in front of you to use as a handle to jump inside.
Your tailbone burned as you took your seat on the right, waiting patiently for him to join you. A few seconds later, he was hopping into his seat next to you, stuffing his key into the ignition. The tape from earlier blasted from the speakers just for Eddie to smack his entire hand against the radio to turn it off.
You sat next to him in silence, both of you trying to catch your breath. Your chest felt heavy on top of every other body part that ached within. Eddie’s breathing was uneven and heavy, like it was getting stuck in his throat for every inhale. He sounded like he might cry, which only made tears shoot to your waterline and quickly drip down your cheeks.
You were able to stay as quiet as possible for as long as you could before you had to take that telltale sniff which made Eddie’s head whip to your direction, wide eyed and panicked.
“Sweetheart, hey. Hey, it’s okay. Everything’s fine,” he murmured, leaning over from his seat to pull you closer to him.
“I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you,” you whispered, burying the good side of your face into his shoulder.
“No, I was being dumb. I-I should have just told you what was up from the beginning,” he sighed, rubbing your back gently.
“I didn’t realize things were getting this bad,” you sniffed, leaning back to look over him. He shrugged and looked back at you, scanning the growing mark just under your eye.
“Me neither. Goddamn, you bruise like a peach,” he said, chuckling lightly as he reached up to tilt your chin so he could get a better look.
“You should see the other guy,” you smiled, cutting your eyes at him from the side. He laughed softly and brushed his thumb over the mark as gently as he could.
“My poor peachy girl,” he smiled, licking his lip.
“Careful, Eds. That’s what got us into this mess,” you said softly, looking down at your lap. “Me being ‘your girl.’”
“You’ve always been my girl. And you always will be. I got us into this,” he said back, his hand still holding onto your cheek. You stayed quiet for a moment, not daring to look up into his big, brown eyes.
“But earlier...You didn’t want anyone to think...” you mumbled, taking another pathetic sniff. He tilted your jaw up to look at him finally, his large eyes filled with affectionate concern.
“I didn’t want anyone to treat you like they treat me. It had nothing to do with you or how I want us to be,” he said, his words genuine and thick with honesty. You swallowed and watched him with wide eyes.
“And how do you want us to be?” you asked quietly, chest tightening. Eddie looked back at you for another moment, thinking of the words to accurately describe the depth of his answer.
“I... I want us to be...like this. For as long as humanly possible. Just me and my peachy girl,” he said slowly, his thumb brushing against the bottom of your lip. You stared back at him, heart blossoming into your throat. He flashed a gentle smile, and you dragged him into a tight hug, letting his arms wrap around your waist to tug you into his lap.
“Me, too, Eds,” you murmured, letting your head rest against his shoulder. He squeezed you tighter for a moment and let his fingertips brush up and down your spine gently.
“I think I’ll start calling you that,” he said, leaning back to look up at you for a moment, a soft smile painted across his lips. “Peachy.”
-
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