#hellcheercountdown

@hellcheerxmas

"Aren't you cold?" Chrissy has asked Eddie almost every day since the weather turned.

And his answer is always, "Nothing I can't handle, princess."

But she feels off about it. She knows leather holds in heat, so his torso's fine. Yet even with his long hair, she can't help but notice how red the tips of his ears get against the rest of his pale skin. Being bundled up in fuzzy socks, heavy coat, scarf, mittens, and earmuffs, she's feels something beyond selfishness.

After a few weeks, she just can't stand it anymore. He's walked her out to her car every day since she broke up with Jason ("Don't want that asshat bothering you any more than he already does.") so she figures it really is the least she can do.

One day, out of the blue, she walks up to Eddie in the hallway, unaware and unfazed by anyone who might be staring.

"What's up, sweetheart?" He cocks his head to the side as she produces a small dark blue box from behind her back, pushing it toward him.

"I don't think it'll clash with your look," she muses, biting her lip nervously as he slowly opens the gift.

"Oh, wait—am I supposed to wait 'til Christmas?"

He has that handsome, crooked grin on his lips and she giggles. "Just open it, silly."

He does so, unfurling a full-length black knit scarf and staring half in awe. Chrissy waits with bated breath for his response. "Chrissy, this is...this is—"

"I-It's nothing," she stutters. "I just...wanted to make sure you're not cold. Or that you don't catch one." She talks slower, feeling she may have gone a bit far, that it might be inappropriate to buy him something so early into their relationship.

But he looks at her with wide, unguarded eyes before dropping the box and wrapping her in a bear hug, lifting her off the ground. She squeals when he growls with delight, letting her go as he examines her gift. "I didn't know a scarf could be so...pretty."

"You really like it?" she asks, relieved.

"I really do," he assures her, "thank you so much." He dons the scarf, wrapping it loosely twice around his neck. "And it doesn't clash at all, baby."

@hellcheerxmas

Chrissy's not having a great day. She's already bombed at least one midterm, she's sure of it. Luckily, her grades can take the hit, but her mother still won't be happy.

It feels like Jason keeps staring at her any chance he can get, without a doubt trying to figure out why his girlfriend suddenly dumped him just a few weeks before Christmas break. She told him multiple times that she just wasn't happy and needed to be alone for a while, which is true, but he just doesn't seem to understand the concept.

So he stares at her as she opens her locker, her eyes heavy with stress. She unlatches the lock, opens the door, and has to hurriedly catch a small object trying to fall out. Chrissy opens her hand to see that it's a small candy cane, the kind you buy in big packs, with red and green stripes all around.

Perplexed, she immediately turns to Jason, but he's long gone. She's sure he knows her combination, and she hasn't had the chance to change it yet, but he wouldn't walk away without seeing her reaction if it was him.

There is...one other person that might know it.

Someone else who's stood by her at her locker countless times.

She searches over the heads of the other students and finds him. Eddie's gathering some books out of his locker down the hallway, but he turns directly to her once his is closed, giving her the sweetest smile she's ever seen from him.

He saunters into the stream of people heading away from her, leaving her blushing bright red with a pleasant flutter in her stomach. She's only been tutoring him for a few weeks, but the effect he has on her is getting harder and harder to ignore.

She's closed her locker by the time she finally sees the small note attached.

@hellcheerxmas

The pretense of studying has all but disappeared for them both. Sure, they still study because Eddie desperately needs to pass this year, but now he gets a kiss on the cheek for each correct answer and one on the lips for each assignment finished.

It's a Saturday and they're at his trailer, so kissing comes much easier than when Chrissy's afraid of being caught by her mom or a teacher. He's getting so many answers right, in fact, that he's concerned they'll both get chapped lips by the end of the day.

He winds up kissing her cheek when she turns her head towards movement outside, gasping at the change in the weather. "Oh, it's snowing!"

He looks to find that it's unfortunately true. He'd never been much for the stuff, but Chrissy's excitement stays his tongue as she flits to the window with a huge smile. "It's the first one of the season. I wonder if it'll be good packing snow."

"I don't wanna burst your adorable bubble, princess," he begins regretfully, "but the weather said it's supposed to turn to slush." Just as he'd anticipated, her shoulders slump a bit and he feels awful. "Sorry."

She turns to fix him with an amused little grin. "As if you can control the weather. Yes, this is all your fault, Eddie Munson." She giggles as she sits next to him again, another kiss gracing his cheek. "I demand you build me a snowman as recompense."

"First chance I get," he promises, tickling her side as she swats at his hands. "Hey, the heat's not the best in here. Want some hot chocolate?"

She hesitates then, the usual response sticking in her throat. Why should she say no? He's not going to tell anyone who could possibly mention the consumption of such empty calories to her mother. So she smiles wide and nods with a little hum.

He fixes them up in no time, two mugs of hot cocoa mix blended with milk, miniature marshmallows floating at the top. Now that it's sitting in front of her, her resolve waivers and she swallows hard.

"Wait, wait-" He returns to the fridge, pulling out a metal can of spray whip, shaking it vigorously before pointing it over her mug. He sprays out the biggest circular mound of whipped topping she's ever seen, and she can't help her wide-eyed alarm.

He sprays even more and now she's shaking her head. "Ah, shit, that didn't work." He makes little indentations on each side, forming and fluffing it before stepping back. "Ta-da!"

"Yes," she says a little shakily as he licks his fingers. "That's...a lot of cream."

Eddie makes exaggerated gestures toward the cup, but she shrugs in question. "It's a snowman!"

Her forehead wrinkles at him before she cranes her neck down to look closer, and it does kind of look like a snowman. She snickers, hiding her face in the crook of her arm on the counter as she giggles.

"I tried," he admits with a chuckle, spraying some whipped cream into his mouth.

"It...it works," she says in encouragement, realizing he doesn't need any as he does the same artwork to his mug. Chrissy smiles the whole time, watching his look of concentration with adoration.

"Oh, my God, I'm a genius, hold on." He whips a cabinet door open and takes out a bag of small pretzel rods.

She gasps, catching on to his idea. "Gimme." She holds out a hand and he places two pretzel rods in her palm. Soon, their snowmen have arms. She was about to ask if they had anything for eyes when- "Oh, no, they're melting!"

"Quick, bite the heads off so they don't suffer!" They do so, trying not to laugh or inhale whip up their noses. He takes his seat beside her again, the deliciousness coating their tongues as they observe their masterpieces.

"You're cracked," she cackles as he kisses her cheek. He tilts her chin toward him to claim her mouth, licking the sweet off her already sugary lips.

@hellcheerxmas

Nancy had warned Eddie and Chrissy the evening before the next school day with a phone call: word was out about the two of them at Hawkins High.

They both figured it would happen eventually, but hoped the news would somehow stay quiet until after winter break, when they'd have time to prepare themselves. Instead, news broke the last period of the day, a full week before break, when someone told someone else told another person's best friend that they saw the Freak holding hands with Chrissy Cunningham as they left Melvald's.

Now, Eddie and Chrissy wait in his van, eyeing the entrance to the high school with queasy stomachs—hers moreso than his.

"Maybe it won't be a big deal," Eddie muses, rubbing a hand over his mouth and partially muffling his words. "Maybe someone will get in a fight today and we'll be old news by lunch."

"I don't think it would work like that," she counters quietly. "Being who we are, I just..." She cuts the sentence short, praying to God he doesn't take the words that did escape the wrong way.

"I know, I know," he fills in, looking down at the steering wheel, "you're the queen slumming it with the Freak—"

"Please don't ever say that again," she pleads urgently, turning and fixing him with wide eyes. He simply nods, taking her hand. "That's not what I meant, even if that's what they think."

"But it could be what they think, sweetheart." He squeezes her hand gently. "We just have to be ready for that."

A few minutes later, because they'll be late if they wait any longer, they walk through the doors of the school still holding hands.

And yes, the noise somewhat dies down around them. Yes, many people stare. But as they survey the faces turned their way, they find mostly surprise and bewilderment. One person even laughs a little before their face grows serious, realizing it's not a joke.

But after they pass, people turn away and conversations commence, and it slowly dawns on them both. Nobody's coming after them with torches and pitchforks. Nobody's yelling angrily in their direction. If anything, people seem to have brushed it off as yet another great mystery of Hawkins.

It doesn't just feel like an amazing relief.

It feels like a damn miracle.

Especially as they reach the end of the first hallway and Chrissy glances in the direction of Jason's locker, its owner standing nearby. He's already staring, unblinking, before he turns back to remove more books, never saying a word.