e.m

The voice was deep, raspy, and dripping with amusement.

You spun around so fast you nearly tipped the crate over, gaze snapping to the corner of the room, previously obscured by a costume rack.

Sitting on the floor next to a stack of supply crates like he owned the place, was a guy you definitely hadn’t seen during the excruciatingly boring orientation briefing. Nor had you seen him come in. He was currently engaged in lacing up a pair of heavy combat boots, pausing to look up at you. The first thing that hit you was the hair. A mane of dark, wild curls that defied gravity and seemed to have a personality of their own. The second thing was the rather unique ensemble - for Hawkins, at least - that he wore with such ease. heavy silver rings adorning nearly every finger, and a faded black band t-shirt peeking out from under an unbuttoned flannel and leather jacket.

He looked way less like a seasonal employee at some dumb Halloween event, and more like he was about to frontline for a heavy metal band. You wondered ever so briefly if he played an instrument. 

"I'm going to go with 'mating dance,'" he continued as you didn’t respond. The guy flashing a grin that was equal parts crooked and charming, and it made your stomach flip pleasantly. "Though, I gotta say, the zipper seems to be winning. It's playing hard to get."

You narrowed your eyes at him, refusing to let him fluster you. "It’s not a mating dance. It’s a hostage situation. And I'm the hostage."

"Ah." He stood, the heavy thud of his boots vibrating through the metal floor of the container. He approached you, moving with a loose, easy grace. "Well, I specialize in hostage negotiations. If you’d like some help."

He stopped just barely outside of your personal space, close enough that you could smell him. The faint scent of cedarwood and tobacco enveloped you. It was infinitely better than the chemical fog filling the room.

"Turn around for me," he commanded gently, not really asking.

You hesitated for a split second before turning your back to him. "It’s stuck right in the middle. Either it’s caught on the fabric underneath, or the zipper is just fucked. Can’t move it either way."

You felt the warmth of his hands near your skin before he actually touched you. His fingers were calloused, the cool metal of his rings pressing briefly against your heated skin as he bent at the waist and inspected the damage. He didn't just yank at it immediately. He hummed a low, thoughtful tune, his exhaled breath ghosting over the back of your neck as he steadily worked the zipper. It shot a little chill up your spine.

"You know," he murmured, his voice dropping an octave as he focused seriously on the task. "Most people usually wait until they clock in to start acting terrified. You're jumping the gun."

"I'm not terrified," you lied, watching his focused expression in the mirror. "I'm annoyed. There's a difference."

He let out a low, rich chuckle that vibrated against your back. "Oh absolutely. It's a hostile world for pretty girls with broken zippers.”

“Shit, is it actually broken?” You turned to look back, but one of his hands shot to your waist, stilling your movements.

“Hold still.” 

For another moment, he worked the zipper. Then, slowly, it finally gave. His knuckles grazed your spine with a purposeful precision that was annoyingly enticing. With a final, deft flick of his wrist, the slider clicked into place at the top. He removed his hand from your waist and smoothed both hands over your shoulders, adjusting the fabric, not pulling away immediately. The lingering felt intentional, heavy with unspoken interest.

"There," he said, finally stepping back but keeping his gaze locked on yours in the reflection as he gave a dramatic bow. "Hostage rescued. You're free to go, my lady."

You turned to face him, smoothing down the skirt of your dress and trying to regain your composure. He leaned back against another makeup table, crossing his arms over his chest and looking entirely too pleased with himself.

"Thanks," you said, gesturing vaguely to your back. "You're a lifesaver. Or a zipper-whisperer.”

“I’m normally not zipping them in the direction you needed, but you’re welcome. Anytime.”

Your face flushed slightly at his implication. “Ah. Is that a talent they teach in orientation?"

"Bypassed orientation.” He admitted with a shrug. "Figured I'd wing it. It's just performing and jumping out at people. How hard can it be?"

"I mean, it can take a bit of a physical toll if you’re not careful." You replied, glancing away and already thinking about the bubble bath you were planning on taking later. “So uh, what was your name again? Don’t think I caught it.”

“I didn’t throw it.”

“Good with zippers and funny.”

He smirked slightly, brown eyes glinting with mischief as he stuck out a ringed hand for you to shake. “Eddie. Eddie Munson. Alias Demonic Cult Leader over in house six.” 

You raised an eyebrow but smiled despite yourself. Eddie did indeed have a magnetic, cult leader-esq energy that pulled you in. A chaotic and flirtatious sort of charm that made you want to… What? Sass him back? Rip all his clothes off? Find an excuse for him to touch you again? 

You shook your head slightly as if trying to dispel water lodged inside your ears. Eddie looked at you curiously.

"Ooh, the cult leader. Ambitious, for your first year.”

“Oh?” Eddie looked intrigued.

“Normally Mr. Anderson doesn’t cast just anyone in that house. Since it’s more of a performance than just jumping out to scare people.”

“Guess I’m just that convincing.” He grinned. “Which reminds me - what are you supposed to be, exactly?” 

You glanced down at your costume. “Depends on the night - but today I’m an undead pirate wench in house three. Lots of groaning and dragging myself along the floor. Super dignified. My parents are very proud.”

Eddie pushed off the table with a short laugh, closing the distance between the two of you again. He looked down at you, his expression softening from teasing to something more intense. You didn’t want to admit that it stole just a tiny bit of air from your lungs as he reached out, twirling a lock of your hair around his left index finger thoughtfully.

"Kinda like the sound of that.”

“Oh?” 

“Yeah. A damsel in distress... Sorta."

You huffed out a laugh, pulling back slightly. He let his hand drop to his side. “I’m not a damsel in distress.”

“You seemed pretty distressed earlier.”

Couldn’t argue with him there.

“I would’ve figured it out eventually.”

“Of course.” Eddie inched forward. “But what about now?”

“Huh?”

“Are you still distressed?”

“N-no.” You frowned, trying to ignore the heat that radiated off of his body as a result of his closeness, as well as the fact that he seemed to like the way he affected you.

“I really hope you’re better at scaring people than you are at lying.” Eddie’s voice dropped to a lower register, and goosebumps erupted across your skin. “Otherwise we’re gonna have a lotta really disappointed customers.”

“I’m not -“

“You’re shaking.”

“It’s chilly outside.”

“It’s not that -”

“I run cold.”

“Well, I run hot.” Eddie replied with a wicked grin. “So where does that leave us? Happy to help you again, if you’d be interested.”

At some point during the exchange, you’d backed up enough that you were just inches from the wall of the shipping container. Just one more shuffle backwards and he could’ve had you caged against the wall. Not that you didn’t want him to, exactly. But you’d met him less than ten minutes ago, according to the clock on the wall.

Shit. Almost showtime.

“Well, gates open in twenty. So I’ll have to pass.” You responded, fighting to keep the tremor from your voice. 

"Alright, alright. No need to get flustered on me, sweetheart." The endearment rolled off his tongue effortlessly, natural as breathing. He hooked his thumbs through his belt loops, rocking back on his heels after taking a few steps away. "I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of each other if you change your mind. Or if you have any more… Wardrobe malfunctions."

"I’ll keep that in mind," you said, feeling a smile tugging at your lips even as your brain screamed that this guy was, in all likelihood, not great news. What could a little banter hurt? You’d probably never see him again after the event was done. "Have fun sacrificing virgins tonight, or whatever it is you’re doing."

Eddie grinned. "How’d you know my after-work plans?”

“Oooh, scary.”

“Do you have reason to be worried?”

Heat rose to your face and you prayed it wasn’t visible under your makeup. “If that’s your only sacrifice criteria - then no. I’m perfectly safe.”

“Duely noted.” Eddie laughed, sobering as a gaggle of chatty performers entered the room, all in various stages of having their makeup and costumes on. 

A few of them greeted you before dispersing to cake on more blood, or touch up latex prosthetics. He glanced at them before turning back to you as you sidestepped him to gather your things and go to your assigned role for the evening.

"Break a leg," he called out as you headed for the door. "Or don't. I heard medical is understaffed tonight."

You gave him a thumbs up before stepping out into the cool night air. As you walked away, heading through the fog-filled haunt, you felt a strange prickle on the back of your neck. A distinct feeling of being watched. You shook it off, chalking it up to the eerie atmosphere and the anticipation of the first night of scares.

But you didn't look back.

If you had, you would have seen Eddie Munson no longer inside, against the table with a lazy grin and finding someone else to chat up. He was standing by the open door, watching you walk away into the dark. The playful deviousness had vanished from his face, replaced by something darker. Hungrier. Utterly fixated. He didn’t appear to be looking at just another coworker. He was looking at what appeared to be the only real thing in a sea of plastic props and fake blood. Eddie was intrigued. And he had already decided he wasn't letting you go that easily.

Over the next week, the shipping container and the fog-labyrinth of Hawkins’ Horror Hill became the exclusive domain of your strange dynamic with Eddie Munson. He didn’t feel like just a coworker - more of a constant, chaotic presence.

The man had a terrifyingly impressive talent for materializing out of the smoke machine haze right when you needed a distraction or someone to chat with. On your breaks, he’d steal sips of your lukewarm soda, regale you with conspiracy theories about why the animatronic clown out front kept malfunctioning, and always sit just a little closer than a normal casual acquaintance should.

The friendship felt rather fast, cemented by shared misery and the kind of banter that only develops when you're both covered in real sweat and fake blood. You found yourself seeking him out before the night began, perching on the crate next to him after you’d gotten ready.

You enjoyed the way he’d mock the groups of high school jocks, launching into high-pitched, nasal imitations of them at every opportunity. In return, you provided him with your own real-life horror stories of the last few years that you’d worked here, which reliably sent him into fits of cackling laughter.

It was easy. Electric, even. Honestly, it was probably the only thing keeping you from quitting. You’d already decided that this was going to be the final year lurking in the fog. Leave the terrorizing of paying guests to the high school and college kids of the town from then on. 

But by Saturday night, most of the novelty of the job had worn off, replaced by a grim reality. The autumn air had turned biting, the wind whipping through the cornfields that surrounded the haunt with a vicious chill. The sprung tents and barns that housed the walk-through haunted houses provided little warmth or relief for anyone - especially the performers.

The head of the event, a man named Gary Anderson whose soul seemed to have been crushed by years of minimum-wage management, gathered the shivering actors before opening one evening in the “backstage” area. You found yourself involuntarily inching closer to Eddie for a bit of warmth. He hadn’t been lying. He did run hot. Very hot.

"We need more intensity!" Mr. Anderson shouted over the wind, his voice cracking like a pre-teen boy's. "The word on the street is that the farm in the next town over the road got the cops called on them because the guests were convinced someone was actually getting murdered in one of the houses.”

“D-did they?” A blonde freshman girl asked nervously. You recognized her from the zombie apocalypse house.

“Did they what?” Anderson looked annoyed.

“Did someone actually die?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. Probably not. Who cares.” He began to flip through pages on his clipboard, pulling a red marker from his pocket. “Point is - we need to up our game and really sell this as the premiere tri-county haunt event it’s been for the last fifteen years. We need more panic, terror, gore -”

You felt Eddie’s lips brush the shell of your ear as he leaned in close. “I think he kinda actually wants someone to die.”

“You volunteering, Munson?” You whispered back.

Before he could retort anything, Anderson’s shrill voice cut him off. “In order to make sure everyone’s talents truly shine in the most frightening way possible - we're swapping some positions."

“Pardon?” A bespeckled young man with a dramatic burn prosthetic cocked his head. “But we already -”

“I stayed up all night figuring out who would be best in which locations.” Anderson snapped, cutting him off. “As well as reworking some of the scenes in the houses for maximum terror.”

“Didn’t realize this was such a production.” Eddie murmured, half to himself, half to you.

“It normally isn’t.” You conceded. “Must be scared we’re losing money.”

“Hey - you.” Anderson was suddenly right in front of you, stabbing a finger in your face. "You're moving over to house six. You're gonna be our cult sacrifice."

You raised an eyebrow. “House six already has a sacrifice.”

Mr. Anderson looked annoyed. “It has a bloody dummy on an altar. Now it has you. Take this and go to costuming and change. Then meet Mr. Munson and I over at the house in fifteen, and we’ll go over what you’ll be doing.” He shoved a scrap of paper into your hand with the words Cult Sacrifice scribbled in what appeared to be blue crayon.

“I -”

“Go.”

With a sigh and a shrug, you left as he began barking out new house and role assignments to many of your fellow haunt performers. Eddie watched you leave, fighting back a dark smile. 

The costume you were given was a travesty. While much more comfortable and flowy than your pirate corset, or most of your other ones - you were quite certain that you would freeze to death before you even got to the altar room in house six.

You stood in front of the cheap mirror in the costume trailer in a thin, practically sheer nightgown made of cheap cotton and trimmed with lace. It was stained with fake blood in strategic places, but still offered zero insulation against the forty-degree weather. It hit just below your knees, and the neck was a deep V, held up by two flimsy pastel ribbons that looked ready to tear at any second.

"Great," you muttered, staring at your reflection. Whatever Gary was going for - you hoped the money was worth it. The event didn’t open for a bit, so you kept on your thick socks and pulled an oversized sweatshirt over your head. You’d take them off later.

By the time you got to house six, your teeth were already chattering. Eddie was waiting. He looked the part of the Cult Leader perfectly—black robe hanging open to reveal a torn button-down, his face hollowed out with shadows mimicking a skull design.

“Whatcha wearin?” Eddie asked, good naturedly gesturing to your top. “Didn’t realize my cult sacrifice went to the local community college.”

“Temporary adjustment.” You yanked up the sweatshirt halfway so he could see what you’d actually be wearing. “Classy, right?”

To your confusion, Eddie went still as gaze swept over you. Taking in what he could see of your bare shoulders down to the hem of the nightgown. His jaw worked silently, and you saw his throat bob as he swallowed hard. Something in your gut twisted in delight at the idea that he found your look at all attractive.

"You look..." He started, then stopped, his voice coming out rough and strained. "You look like you're going to turn into a popsicle before the first group even clears the gate."

"Perceptive as always." You let the sweat fall back down and wrapped your arms around yourself in a futile attempt to generate some heat. “If I freeze to death in the name of Gary making a few extra bucks - remember me fondly, would you?”

"Fuck, Gary's an idiot." Eddie replied, tearing his eyes away from your legs with visible effort. He shifted his weight, gripping the hilt of his rubber knife until his knuckles turned white.

“Speak of the devil and he shall appear.” Anderson’s unamused voice cut through the air as he entered, looking frazzled as ever. He shot daggers at Eddie, but glanced at you and let out a low whistle as you pulled your sweatshirt off. You did your best to avoid scowling. “Lookin’ good, sweetie.”

“You inappropriately flirt with all your employees, Gary?” Eddie muttered.

Your boss chose to ignore him in favor of gesturing to the hallway/stage area where you and Eddie’s scene would take place and replay throughout the night.

“Alright, you two. Here’s the deal.” He pointed to the first part of the hallway - usually reserved for the cult leader to stalk through and jump out at random passersby. “You’ll start from here. Eddie, you chase her, and just before she reaches the curtain that separates this section from the next - tackle her.”

“Tackle me?” You frowned. “You didn’t say anything about -”

“There’s mats on the ground.” Gary sounded annoyed. “And Eddie’ll be careful, right? You’re not gonna break her?”

Eddie glanced at you, as if debating his answer. “No, sir.”

“Great. Anyway,” your boss continued. “You’ll scream, fight him, beg for your life, whatever. Improvise. I don’t care, just make it look like he’s terrifying.”

“Sure.”

“The strobe lights are gonna go out for about ten seconds - and in that time, Eddie, pick her up and get her past these curtains to the altar room, where you’ll -”

“He can just drag me.” You interrupted. “I don’t want him to like. Drop me. Or throw his back out.”

“Who’s in charge here?”

“I’m just saying -”

“Can it, missy.”

Eddie stepped forward, looming slightly over Mr. Anderson, who shrank back slightly. “We’ll rehearse it and figure out what works best.”

“Fine. Whatever. Point is, get her over to the altar, and then pretend to kill her. The lights’ll go out again, and you’ll both slip behind this backdrop and run back to the beginning. Then you do it all over again. Capeesh?”

“Capeesh.”

“Great. Run it a few times and I’ll do a walkthrough later to let ya’ll know if you need to change anything.” Gary wrote something on his clipboard as he walked away before calling over his shoulder something about the gates opening in fifteen.

"Okay," Eddie’s voice had dropped an octave, shifting into his stage persona, but his eyes were intense, focused entirely on you. "So, wanna try to escape me before I get you?"

You tried to ignore the way your heart rate picked up at his words. "Y-yeah. Sounds good."

"Don’t worry, I have exquisite control. You’ll be fine.” A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.

You rolled your eyes, moving to your starting mark near the entrance. "See, when you say it like that I get worried.”

“You wound me, sweetheart. I take your safety so seriously.”

You smoothed your nightgown. “Tell that to those thin mats I have to fall on. So much for safety first.”

"I think it’s safety third here," he corrected. "Let's go."

You took a deep breath and started to run, feigning terror and allowing a scream of terror echo through the silent building. Your bare feet slapped against the cold concrete as you bolted.

"Please! Somebody help me!"

Eddie burst from the shadows seconds later, lunging after you. You turned on your mark at the edge of the mats, allowing him to tackle you to the ground. The impact knocked some of the wind out of you, and you tried to scramble backwards. His arms were still locked around your waist,

"Got you," he growled, the sound vibrating through his chest and into yours.

"No! Let me go!" You struggled against his hold, which didn’t seem to loosen at all. 

But Eddie didn't let go.

He held you there under him, his face inches from your own. There was something in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. Or maybe you just hadn’t noticed. Something dark and terrifying. And rather thrilling.

Eddie pressed down a little harder, pinning you there with his hips, one hand braced beside your head, the other holding the rubber knife against your ribs. The remaining air left your lungs in a rush. Up close, the intoxicating scent of him overpowered the stale smell of the haunt. He was close. So close. Too close.

"You're trembling," he murmured, his voice dropping to a whisper.

"I'm acting," you breathed back, though your pulse was hammering so loudly you feared he’d hear it. "It's the c-cold."

"Is it?" He leaned in. "Because I think you're lying."

The banter and sense of theatricality were gone, swallowed by the sudden, suffocating tension between you. This didn’t feel like a quick rehearsal anymore. You were acutely aware of how little clothing you were wearing, the sheer fabric doing nothing to stop the heat radiating off his body. You’d been so focused on his face that you hadn’t realized his knee had slid between your legs, nudging them apart. Upon feeling the friction, you let out a sound that was half-protest, half-something else entirely.

"Eddie," you warned, your voice wavering.

He grinned, a flash of white teeth in the darkness that surrounded the two of you, suddenly lightening his hold and allowing you to scramble up before he grabbed you once more. He dragged you through the curtain that divided the “scenes” by your upper arm, spinning your back towards the altar set piece. With a shove that looked far more dramatic than it actually was, he released you. Your lower back hit the painted wood, and you toppled backwards, landing hard on your elbows as your lower half dangled off the edge of the altar.

The air between you ignited once more as Eddie closed in on you. He was heavy, solid, and everywhere, his thighs trapping your legs as he leaned over you. The billowing robes created a canopy around your bodies as he pinned your wrists above your head with his upstage hand, his grip bruisingly tight.

"P-please," you whispered, looking up at him with wide eyes. You weren’t even sure if that was your line. It sounded pathetic, breathless. “Let g-go.”

Eddie paused, the rubber knife hovering over your chest. He was panting slightly, his minty breath ghosting over your face. His gaze dropped to your lips, then lower, to the rapid rise and fall of your chest beneath the thin nightgown.

For a split second, his grip on your wrists tightened. His thumb pressed your pulse point, as if testing to see the physical effect he had on you. Shifting his hips, he pressed them a bit more against yours, and you felt the undeniable evidence of just how much he was enjoying the “rehearsal”. It didn’t feel like he was acting anymore. While part of you was excited, the other part was rather alarmed.

"You beg so pretty," he murmured, his voice rough but almost reverent. You felt the rubber knife trace along your jawline. "Makes me wanna keep you."

“What the hell, Eddie?”

The man above you retracted his limbs with violent suddenness, scrambling off you and back to his feet. “Fuck. Shit. Sorry. I-”

“Got a little carried away?” You muttered, as he offered you a hand, but refused to meet your eyes. You took it, noticing that his grip was still bruising as he hauled you upright. You swayed slightly, the blood rushing back into your extremities, your skin tingling with a leftover electricity that felt wrong and right all at once.

“Yeah. I… Dunno what happened.” Eddie cleared his throat roughly, adjusting his robe with sharp, aggressive tugs. "That was, uh, let's run it again. Faster this time. Now that we’ve got the movements down.”

You nodded silently, smoothing down the sheer nightgown and taking a shaky breath. You felt shaken, electrified, and a little sick with a confusing cocktail of emotions. Maybe Eddie was just a method actor lost in the zone. Or maybe you'd just let a predator pin you down twice and had enjoyed the thrill of it. 

But as he turned back, his eyes dark and fixed solely on you, you realized with a jolt of shame that you were hoping it was the latter.

By the time the final strobe light flickered and died, signaling the end of the night, you felt like you’d gone ten rounds with a freight train. The adrenaline that had kept you vibrating at a high frequency was fading fast, leaving a heavy, aching exhaustion in its wake.

The "scene" had been a gauntlet. Over and over, groups of guests had shuffled through, shrieking as Eddie chased you down the hallway and watching in terror as he “sacrificed” you upon the altar.

You’d thrown yourself into the role, screaming yourself hoarse, clawing at the floor, thrashing in his grip. The chill was gone, and a sheen of sweat coated your body from exertion. And maybe other emotions, as well.

And as for Eddie... Eddie was terrifying. He was fully committed. Every time he tackled you, every time he pinned you to the ground, there was a ferocity to it that felt almost too real. The audience loved him, and he ate it up.

Meanwhile, you were covered in a layer of dust and grime - knees scraped raw and you knew you’d be sporting a spectacular collection of bruises on your arms and ribs tomorrow from both being thrown around and also where he’d grabbed you. Purple fingerprints had already begun to bloom on your skin like dark flowers.

The physical toll was the easy part to process. It was the other stuff that was proving to be far more confusing. The way your stomach clenched with a sick heat when his weight settled on you. How his breath felt hot against your neck and made you shiver with desire even when he was whispering threats. The way he looked at you.

At the end of the night, you changed your clothes into something far warmer and collected your things. You just wanted to go home. Soak in a hot bath, and scrub off the stage blood, as well as the confusing, electric charge that seemed to cling to your skin like secondhand smoke.

Stepping out into the night air was a relief. The makeshift parking lot just off the country road was mostly empty. The silence felt heavy after hours of screaming as you walked towards your car.

"Hey! Wait up!"

The shout made you jump, your nerves still raw. You turned to see Eddie jogging after you. He had scrubbed off most of his makeup, though traces of shadows still clung stubbornly to the corners of his eyes and hairline. It gave him a feral, sleep-deprived look. He looked wrecked, given that the night had probably been nearly as taxing on him as it was on you, but he was grinning.

"Shouldn't walk out here alone," he said, falling into step beside you, his presence looming large in the dark. "You never know what kind of psycho is lurking in the shadows."

You shot him a dry look, though your pulse kicked up a notch. "Says the guy playing a cultist who just spent eight hours tackling me to the ground."

"Exactly," he said, bumping his shoulder against yours. The contact was solid, grounding. "I know how they think. I'm probably your best defense."

Eddie walked you all the way to your vehicle, leaning against the door as you fished for your keys. The silence between you wasn't uncomfortable, but it was charged. He kept looking at you, his eyes tracing the line of your jaw, the way you huddled into your sweatshirt. It felt like he was undressing you with his eyes, stripping away the layers to see what lay underneath the fear and the adrenaline.

"Uh, thanks." You said softly, finally unlocking the door. "And thanks for... you know. Not actually sacrificing me tonight. Kinda seemed like you wanted to for a sec there."

Eddie laughed, a low, rumbling sound that seemed to vibrate inside your chest. "Well, you kept gettin’ away. You're slippery when you want to be."

"I try." You murmured, opening the door.

"You two!"

The shout cut through the quiet night air, making you both jump. Gary was running at you from the entrance of the main building, looking uncharacteristically pleased with himself. 

"Just wanted to catch you before you took off," he said, beaming. "Feedback was incredible tonight. People were saying house six was the scariest it’s been in years. The 'cult sacrifice' angle? People love your dynamic."

You forced a smile, leaning tiredly against your car door, hoping the darkness hid the flush on your cheeks. People are weird. "That's great, Gary. Glad we could help."

"So, I'm making it permanent," Gary said, checking something off on his clipboard with a satisfied scratch. "I know I made some changes earlier tonight - but you two are staying in the house for the rest of the season. No more swapping. Whatever the hell you two are doing, it’s working for people."

You felt a sudden spike of something - nerves? dread? a dark, curling heat? - in your stomach. "The whole rest of the season?"

"Absolutely," Gary said firmly. "If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Same time tomorrow, alright?"

With a final nod, Gary turned and marched away, leaving you standing there in the dim glow of temporary parking lot lights.

You glanced at Eddie, expecting him to crack a joke or do a little mock-salute. But he wasn't laughing. He was staring at Gary’s retreating back, his expression unreadable in the shadows. Then, slowly, his gaze shifted to you. There was an intense, focused look in his eyes. It wasn't the look of a coworker who was happy to keep a good gig. It was darker than that. Like the look of a wolf who had just been told the sheep pen would remain unlocked.

"Well," you said, trying to break the tension that suddenly felt thick enough to choke on. "See you tomorrow, I guess."

Eddie pushed himself off the car and stepped closer, crowding into your space. He reached out, his fingers brushing a stray lock of hair away from your face, tucking it behind your ear. His touch lingered, his thumb grazing your cheekbone, his skin rough and cold.

"Guess so," His voice dropped an octave, private and low. "Try to get some rest, sweetheart. You're gonna need it."

If you were attracted to men, catching feelings for Eddie Munson was inevitable. Especially if you were friends with him. Especially if you were as close to him as you had been for the last five years. That you were sure of.

What had started out as an unlikely friendship between you and your neighbor Gareth’s obnoxious friend and bandmate turned into an unbreakable bond and the closest friendship you’ve ever had. Sure, Eddie was loud and boisterous and kind of a…dick sometimes, but that was all part of the front. That was just him giving the people of Hawkins what they wanted, what they expected from him. Because he was ‘The Freak’. It was a part that he had learned to play well, but underneath all of that, Eddie was kind, caring, and most of all passionate. 

You were sure that there was no way in either Heaven nor Hell that you could have ever NOT fallen for him, not in this dimension or any other. And with just HOW much time you had spent with him, you should have known that the way things would unfold would be inevitable. 

The tension had been there a while so it hadn’t been shocking the first time that it happened. It was the last weekend that Rick could throw a party before the cold really started to settle in. And of course Eddie HAD to go. Not only did he need to re-up his supply, he had promised you that he’d buckle down and get his shit together this year. Well as best as he could. It was his third senior year and he’d be damned to have to go through another year at Hawkins high, especially without you.

The night had started out the same as many of the nights you’d spent down by Lovers Lake at one of Rick’s parties. You’d been mildly drunk off of your favorite wine coolers, ‘bitch beer’ as Eddie had not so affectionately called them, that he had picked up for you on the way because he knew you hated the taste of the cheap beer he drank. Eddie himself had been high as hell on the new shit he’d gotten from Rick once you’d arrived at his house.

People were scattered around the lake shore or dancing by the bonfire, but you weren’t paying them much attention. Your eyes were glued to Eddie’s face as he went on and on about his current campaign for Hellfire, a hint of a smile playing on your lips as you openly admired the passion he had for his nerd things.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” He asks, stopping in the middle of his story when he notices how intently you’ve been watching him in your drunken haze.

The alcohol settling into your stomach warmed the skin of your face, almost embarrassed that you got caught. Most of the time you could control your alcohol induced word vomit, tonight however was not one of those times. “Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?” The words spill from drunken lips before you can stop them.

Eddie lets out a sharp laugh, poking his index finger into your forehead. “You are drunk, m’lady. No more bitch beers for you.”

Grabbing his hand, you use it for stability to pull yourself into his lap, straddling him. This wasn’t exactly a new thing for you, you’d had a comfortably close relationship with Eddie, sitting on his lap, cuddling when you crashed at his trailer sometimes after Corroded Coffin gigs that ran too late for you to try and sneak back into your bedroom, walking through the halls at at school with his arm thrown over your shoulder or around your waist with a hand tucked into your back pocket. But this felt different.

Taking his face between your hands, you look deeply into the golden brown honey of his eyes, doing your best to ignore the building nest of butterflies in your stomach.”Fuck the bitch beer, Ed. I’m being serious here.” Your face feels hot under the intensity of his stare, the alcohol in your stomach building courage. “You are my favorite person on this planet and the best friend I ever had. I wish everyone could see you how I see you, fuck I wish you could see you how I see you. You are beautiful inside and really fuckin hot outside.”

You don’t know if it’s the weed or the alcohol or just how comfortably close you are to each other or who moves first but a moment later Eddie’s lick-chapped lips are pressed against yours softly. Moving your hand up into his hair, you grab a fistful and pull him impossibly closer. He swipes his tongue across your bottom lip before pulling it gently between his teeth to nip at it. You can’t stop the gasp that escapes as he kisses his way down your jaw, and lower down your neck, nipping and biting and sucking here and there pulling near-lewd sounds from the depths of your throat.

“Y-you know…” You gasp, as his hands start to roam up to your chest, “You’re … ahh.. So much better at this th-than I… uhm…than I imagined.” You can feel the smirk rising on Eddie’s lips just as easily as you can feel the rising in his pants underneath you.

Your face heats as he pulls away from your neck to look at you, eyes heavy with lust. “You’ve thought about kissing me? You naughty little minx.”

Unable to help the laugh that tumbles from your kiss swollen lips, you drink in the look that he’s been giving you, allowing it to fill you up with a strange boldness. “Have you looked in a mirror lately, Munson? I’ve thought about a whole lot more than kissing you.” Leaning forward again, you capture his lips with your own, allowing your free hand to glide slowly down his covered chest, until the tips of your fingers graze him where his body meets yours. Eddie gasps in your mouth, causing the corners of your mouth to turn up into a smile.

“Are you sure you wanna do this?” He asks, pressing his forehead to yours.

Nodding, you move to press another brief kiss to his neck before nipping at his earlobe. “Somewhere a little more private, but yes. I want to do this. I want you.”

After untangling from each other, you both get to your feet. When Eddie moves to take your hand you let him and grin from ear to ear as he guides you towards his van. It wasn’t ideal but Rick’s house was far too crowded and you were nothing if not impatient.

Standing behind the van, you watch the way Eddie ever so carefully opens the back doors  and lays out the blankets across the old stained and crusted carpet. “I uh, pass out in the van sometimes, when I’m too fucked up to drive home.” He states, as if he needs to explain why he has the blankets to begin with. As if you were unaware. 

When he finishes, he makes his way back towards you, almost nervous, as if you’ve suddenly changed your mind and are going to push him away. All you can do is pull him into you by the fistfulls of shirt that you grab for, sealing your mouths together again, craving the taste of cigarettes, shitty beer, and weed that was Eddie. 

“After you m’lady.” His voice is husky after breaking the kiss, the sound alone sending tingles straight down to your core and the sting of his hand on your ass as you crawled into the back of the van has you dripping for him. The inside of the van is almost completely black in the night, the streetlights faintly shining in through the windshield and a few of the windows. Slowly, you move your hands along the worn, soft blanket until the tips of your fingers brush along Eddie’s denim clad knees. You run your hands up his thighs and he reaches for you, grabbing at your hips to pull you into his lap. You push him onto his back reveling at the feel of his hard length pressing against your clothed center. You feel feral for him, like a fire burning through your veins, absolutely soaked for him and he hasn’t even touched you yet. Letting out a low moan you grind yourself down onto him as his warm hands make their way up under your shirt, gliding up your stomach to your chest. Eddie lets out a groan as you grind down harder onto him.

“Fuuuuck.” He hisses, cupping your chest in his callused hands. You feel like your skin is catching on fire between the alcohol and Eddie’s hands on you. Reaching up, you pull your shirt over your head, unclasp your bra and throw them both somewhere towards the front seat. “Where’s a light when you need one?” Eddie chuckles, pinching your nipples.

“You’re an idiot.” You mumble, leaning down to press your lips to his in a fierce kiss. Kissing Eddie was much better than you’d ever dreamed and so easy it was like you’d done it a million times. The way his tongue danced along yours, teeth nipping at your lips in ways that had you gasping for more. 

How was he so good at this? You couldn’t help but wonder, though it was probably best to not think about that while you were grinding onto his erection with his tongue in your mouth.

His mouth moves from yours, leaving sloppy kisses down your throat to your chest where he pulls a nipple in between his lips. The way he’s lapping at it with his tongue before he bites down onto it has you wreathing on top of him, searching for more friction than what you can get with clothes on.

Pushing yourself back, you reach for his belt, but when he stops you, your breath catches in your throat. Had he changed his mind? You can feel that his body underneath you is definitely on the same page as yours is.

“Not yet…” He whispers, trying to sit back up. “I want to touch you first.” He sounds like a desperate man lost in the desert searching for water. When he pushes to reposition you, you let him, moving to lay where he had just been. A sigh leaves you as he continues to explore your body, eliciting tingles as his fingers caress their way down your stomach until he is unbuttoning your shorts and sliding them off with your panties. You are almost nervous, laying before him stark naked as he parts your legs. You definitely can’t come back from this now. But that thought leaves you as a moan leaves your lips, desperate in sound, as he dips his fingers between your thighs. 

“Fuck princess, you’re drenched.” Eddie pulls away and you whine at the loss of his touch until you hear the clanking of his rings falling to the floor somewhere beside you. There is no warning before his hands are on you again, digits slipping into your wet heat, drawing gasps and moans and his fingers work inside of you. He’s never been this hard in his entire life, the noises you make at his touch has him damn near throbbing inside of his jeans. He’s imagined exactly this so many times while he’s fisted himself in the early hours of the morning when he was lying in bed, unable to sleep but never thought it’d ever really be happening. And if this was the only time you were going to be bared before him, his for the taking, he was going to take his time with you, ensuring it was perfect. He’d make sure to memorize your feel around him and the lewd noises he was pulling from you.

He continues his pace, thrusting his fingers in and out of you another moment before he pulls them out completely to rub the same slick fingers into your swollen clit. The gasps and way that you mutter ‘fuck, fuck, fuck’ as he drives you closer to erupting for him, has Eddie ready to go. Just when he thinks you might be about to cum, he stops and pushes three fingers inside of you this time, working with the way you move against his hand to bring yourself more pleasure. At the sound of his name on your lips, Eddie realizes that’s game over for him, he can never go back, he’ll never live in a world again where he hasn’t touched you, and he doesn’t want to. He brings the thumb of his other hand back to your clit to rub circles into it until your body is jerking under him, screaming for him, with your walls pulsing around his fingers.

It was like an explosion rising up from that bundle of nerves through your entire body as you continue to wreath under Eddie’s hands. When you can’t take it a second longer, you reach down to stop him as you try to steady your rugged breathing. “Are you trying to kill me, Munson?”

And that bastard has the audacity to chuckle. Pushing yourself back into a sitting position, you reach over to force his shirt up and over his head, his belt, jeans, and boxers coming off next. You can see him now that your eyes have adjusted to the darkness, long and thick, a bead of precum dripping from his tip. You waste no time crawling onto him,  grabbing him by the base of his dick, positioning it so that you can sink down right onto it. God, you’d been so worked up that there was no need to take it slowly but still you’d let out a gasp at how well he fills you.

“I think I just died and went to heaven.” Eddie whispers.

Grabbing for his hands, you place them on your chest, encouraging him to play with you while you start to move on top of him. He pinches at your nipples as you ride him, ungodly noises coming from his lip, the mix of the two sending you spiraling until you’re nearly coming again. Pulling you down, he sucks one of your nipples into his mouth again and you can’t help but to grind your clit harder onto his pelvic bone as you move over him. The sensation starts taking over you again, so close, you are so close. Riding him harder still, you let your nails dig on his skin as it starts, moaning and screaming for him as your movements become jerky, stars exploding behind your eyelids as you come apart around him, but he still isn’t done with you yet.

Making sure not to slip out, he pushes to be on top of you, on his knees, he slings your ankles up and behind his head as he digs his fingers into your thighs and starts to thrust into you even deeper than you imagined he could. And it feels too good. And he looks so good taking control that a third orgasam is already creeping up over you. You can tell that he’s close. “Use me, Eddie.” You groan and he starts thrusting harder into you, trying to pull out one last explosion from your body. As it rakes through you, you can feel him pulsing inside of you. Carefully pulling out, he plops over next to you, breathing heavily. You smile as you both lay there, satisfied and spent.

After finding your clothes and redressing, you sit next to Eddie, feet dangling out of the back of the van with a burning cigarette between your fingers as you rest your head on his shoulder.

“That wasn’t weird, right?” You keep your voice soft, scared and waiting. Bringing the cigarette to your lips, you inhale deeply before Eddie plucks it from you, taking in a drag.

“Menthol, really?” He asks, letting out a bitter cough. You roll your eyes, knowing he can’t see it and steal your cigarette back from him.

“They’re better than yours, still taste like ass but not nearly as bad.”

“No…I-uh… I don’t think that was weird.” Eddie was never really the shy type, but something about the shyness in his voice makes your heart flutter. But of course, Eddie wasn’t going to leave it at that. “Never imagined I’d actually fuck you in the back of the van outside of one of Rick’s parties, but it was good. Too good. I think I might be dreaming.” He chuckles.

Moving your head, you sink your teeth into his arm causing him to yelp. “What the hell was that for?”

“To prove that you aren’t dreaming.” You say, nuzzling your head back against his shoulder.

The next morning you’d woken up in your own bed with a killer headache and vague memories of the party down at the lake. Flashes of you and Eddie in the back of the van laced those memories and your face began to heat immediately. What was going to happen now? So, what if you’d had sex with Eddie in the back of the van at a party, at the lake? That didn’t mean shit. Well, it did to you but… sexual tension didn’t necessarily mean that both parties had feelings or wanted something more to come out of it. Maybe it was just a one-time thing and… man, you really hoped not. You had feelings. You wanted something more to come out of it. You didn’t want it to just be a one-time thing. But that wasn’t going to be up to you. That was going to be up to Eddie. If he didn’t say anything or hint at there being something more between you than fine. You’d just… try not to think about the way his mouth feels on your skin when you sat together at lunch. Or how good he is with his fingers when you watch him play his guitar. You weren’t willing to risk your friendship over a one-night stand. You could let things go back to normal. Even if that was the best sex you’d ever had in your entire life. For now, you were just going to sleep the day away, it was Sunday and the boys had band practice today anyway so there was no use in worrying about any of it.

The school day had started off fairly normal. The first few classes of the day went by agonizingly slow, while you sat at your desk thinking about Eddie and wondering how things were going to be between the two of you once you finally saw him again instead of listening to what was coming out of the teachers mouths. Once the bell for lunch finally rings, you let out a slow nervous breath as you make your way out of the classroom to find Gareth waiting for you.

“Where were you Saturday?” You ask, falling in line with his steps as you walk together towards the cafeteria. Gareth had been your neighbor since the fifth grade, though he was a year younger than you were because you’d started school a year later than you should have, you’d become friends quickly. It was through him, back in middle school that you’d met Eddie, when they formed Corroded Coffin. 

The boy next to you let out a huff. “I’m failing Spanish. My mom made me pick between the party or band practice yesterday and the show on Tuesday.”

“And obviously you picked the band over the party, smart choice.” You smile, bumping your shoulder into his. “It was pretty standard for one of Rick’s parties. You didn’t miss much.” You could feel your face start to heat up as you thought about your drunken time in the back of Eddie’s van. 

When you strode through the doors your eyes went straight for the Hellfire table. The freshman boys, Mike and Dustin, were sitting already with Jeff and Eddie who was sitting in his usual place at the head of the table, all talking amongst themselves animatedly. 

Gareth took his usual seat next to Jeff but when you tried to sink into the chair next to him, Eddie grabbed your hand and pulled you down into his lap. 

“Hiya, Princess.” He grinned up at you. Butterflies set off in the pits of your belly, though this action wasn’t exactly unusual. As your best friend Eddie had always been touchy and affectionate, and to the other guys at the table this was completely ordinary and they could have never guessed anything had ever happened between the two of you. 

“Munson.” You greeted him, stealing a chip out of his bag on the table. “How many classes have you skipped today?”

“Technically none.” Eddie said around a bite of his sandwich. 

“Eddie!” You warned. Since it was his third senior year you’d spent it trying to help him keep his grades up and making sure he wasn’t skipping too many classes. 

“I didn’t skip any! I was just late to first period. My alarm clock stopped and I overslept.”

Arching your brows you give him a look, you can feel his entire body stiffen up underneath you, but when you smile he relaxes. 

There’s a sudden movement and a gasp and the next thing you know, Eddie’s arms are around your waist and he’s holding onto you while he stands. Your t-shirt is cold soaked and you realize what’s just happened when you turn around to see one of the jocks standing behind Eddie. Jason and the entire basketball team are laughing at you and Eddie, who looks like he wants to knock out the kid that has already scurried away. 

You reach for Eddie who’s glaring daggers at Jason. “It’s just milk, Eddie. We can just run to the trailer and change. Don’t do something that’s going to get you in trouble.” His breathing has started to steady but he’s still watching the jock table as they continue to laugh. 

“You want something, freak?” Jason’s voice carries over the chattering voices in the cafeteria. 

Turning to look at him, you see that he’s standing now, smirking at the two of you, and something deep in your stomach snaps. Turning on your heel you stalk towards the table, ignoring all of your friends calling after you, begging you to leave it alone. 

“You know,” you smiled widely up at Jason, “I try really hard to keep my boys in line. I tell them to ignore the shit that comes out of your mouth, not to snap…” 

“So what? What are they going to do?” He laughs. “You know, you’re kinda hot. I never did understand why you hang out with the freaks. You could be a good girl, sit next to me.”

You grit your teeth, but your smile stays wide as you place your arms around his neck. You can feel all of your boys eyes on you, glancing over you see Eddie, arms crossed over his milk soaked shirt, fuming. Trying to reassure him with a wink, you bring your eyes back to Jason who’s hands have slipped onto your waist. 

“I’m getting real tired of your shit, Carver. You pull another stunt like that, and you’re going to regret it.” Your voice is soft, sweet, though rage is burning through your belly. 

“What are you-“ he starts confused. With him completely caught off guard, you bring your knee up, right into his groan and drop your arms from him, letting him fall to the ground in pain. 

“Like I said, keep fucking with my boys and you’re going to regret it. Next time, I’ll use a fork.” Spitting at him you walk right towards the door. “Munson, let’s go.” You call behind you without looking back. 

The boys at your table, along with every other kid Jason and his goons have ever tormented whistle and clap. Stopping in your tracks to wait for Eddie to catch up, you dramatically bow towards your table, a smile bright on your face before you and Eddie leave the cafeteria and waltz straight for the exit. 

“What the fuck was that?” Eddie demands, taking long strides to keep up with you. “Hey!”

You’re almost to Eddie’s van when you stop, his hand on your shoulder. “I’m tired of his shit, Eddie! He’s not going to treat you like shit anymore! I’m not going to let him!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Eddie threw his hands in the air, something you couldn’t read hiding behind big doe eyes. “I’m not mad or anything, princess. Honestly I’m pretty impressed. I just didn’t expect you to go off like that, you’re always telling me to cool it.”

“Yeah, well you’ve got a record and I don’t and I didn’t intend to do anything at first… I just snapped.” Your wet shirt is starting to get uncomfortable and cold. “Can we please go now? I want to change.”

The entire drive to Eddie’s trailer was silent. He doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t know what to DO. The last time he saw you he’d dropped you off at home after Ricks party where he’d fucked you in the van he was driving right now. He’d hardly thought about anything else since. Even during band practice, he could hardly focus. It wasn’t exactly the way he’d wanted to do it, if he’d ever gotten up the courage to try anything. Not in his van, not outside of Rick’s party, and not drunk but he wouldn’t take it back for the world. And now that he’s just seen you take out his arch nemesis with a knee to his manhood, Eddie was about 99.9% sure he’d fallen in love. But he WILL NOT ruin what he has with you. No matter how badly he wants you, he can’t do it. What if you don’t feel the same way as he does? There would be no way to go back to the happy, comfortable way you are with each other. He doesn’t even want to ask. You, you were far too cool to ever be with anyone like him. You had immaculate music tastes, were constantly reading or writing, you were hot af (literally everyone agreed but he tried not to think about that), and even if you did listen to him rant about D&D, it wasn’t really your thing. He wasn’t cool enough to be with you, and he was ‘The Freak’. He’d never blame you for wanting to pretend that it never happened. Drunk people did stuff they regretted all the time.

When you get to Eddie’s trailer you hop out of the van and walk inside, head full of racing thoughts and stomach a chaotic mess of feelings. Eddie’s uncle is sitting on the couch watching TV, but perks up a bit as he sees you standing in his living room waiting for Eddie to get inside. 

“It’s a bit early to be off school for the day, isn’t it?” You’d grown comfortable with each other, you’d been over enough over the years, and he knew you well enough to know that you very rarely ever skipped school, even though it was common for his own nephew. 

“That asshole Carver had one of his goons spill milk all over me and Eddie so we came to change. I kneed him in the nads for talking shit about our golden boy.” You nodded towards Eddie as he walked into the trailer, closing the door behind him. 

“Attah girl.” Wayne smiles, taking a long sip from his beer. 

Eddie pulls you towards his room, closing his door before he peels off his shirt. 

Plopping down on his bed, you finally feel like you can breathe as you watch him dig through the drawers of his dresser for a couple of t-shirts. “You said you weren’t mad.” 

“Hmm?” He asks, tossing you a soft t-shirt. 

Your eyes rake down his bare chest, taking in the small amount of soft hair on his chest, gaze stopping at his happy trail. 

Clearing your throat, you look back up at him. “You said you weren’t mad, but you were. I saw the way you were looking at me when I was talking to Jason. You looked like you were going to strangle someone.”

Eddie is silent for a long moment. He thought he’d hid it better. He was absolutely pissed, but not at you. “I uh-I didn’t like him touching you.” His face flushed, red hot as he looked away from you. 

You couldn’t help the smile that formed on your lips at this. “I didn’t like it either, I feel like I need about 12 showers.”

Eddie laughed and all the tension in the room eased.

Thanksgiving break was in full swing, a whole week of no school, and you were spending the first night of it at the Munson trailer. You’re pretty sure that Eddie doesn’t already have plans, if did he would have told you about them, so you have already planned everything. You had groceries in your car for the dinner you were planning on making for both Munson men and yourself and had stopped at Family Video to rent a couple movies.

Robin is following you as you mindlessly wander between the shelves of movies. “You know, you guys should come and hang out. The group is having a bonfire. Everyone is going to be there.” She said, picking at the skin around her nails.

You give her the side eye. You were friends with her, of course, and Dustin, and you’d been spending more time with Steve but you weren’t as close with any of their other friends. “Who is everyone?” You ask hesitantly.

“I got Steve to agree, surprisingly for a Saturday, and Nancy and Jonathan and all of the weird children that they come with.” She shrugs.

You’d seen Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers in school your entire life, you'd been in the same grade as them since kindergarten, but you’d never talked to either of them. You were sure Eddie hadn’t either. “I’ll ask Eddie if he wants to go, he might be up for it if Dustin’s there.” You answer, grabbing both of the movies you’d been looking at.

You knock on the old door of the trailer, pulling your jacket closer to yourself in the chilly November air. Less than a minute later, Wayne is welcoming you inside, a bright smile on his face. “Eddie said he was expecting you, but I think he’s passed out in his room.” He says, taking a peak down the hall.

“Oh, it’s fine.” You set your bags down on the counter, the warmth and comfort of the trailer seeping into your bones. “He’ll wake up soon enough I’m sure. You don’t mind if I make dinner tonight do you? I brought over everything.”

His smile is as warm as the trailer is. “Of course I don’t mind, you want some help?” You’ve always loved Wayne. He was the kindest man you knew, he had to be since he’d raised Eddie. When you first started coming around he treated you like you were one of his own. 

“I’ve got this, you go relax. Watch your show.” You say to him as you pull the groceries you brought out of the paper bags and line them up to start prepping. 

You've done this so many times over the years that you already know where everything is and it takes no time at all to find everything you need and get into a rhythm. You’re so lost in the task that you don’t notice when Eddie slips into the kitchen, sleep still in his eyes, curls a mess from laying on them, until his warm palm rests on your hip like it belongs there, and places a soft kiss to your cheek. 

“Smells good.” He says before plopping onto the couch next to his uncle. A warmth washes over your skin as you look over at them. This was your happy place.

Moving to pull plates out of the cabinet, you place them on the counter. “Good, cos it’s done.” Wayne turns the tv off and both him and Eddie take their seats at the table. You hand each of them a plate loaded with food and take your own seat at the table.

Several minutes go by, the sounds of forks scraping across plates fills the room and you smile to yourself. There was no sound quite like that of appreciative men eating the dinner you’d made with care. “So.” You say, filling the silence. “I talked to Robin earlier when I stopped to rent the movies.”  

“Oh, yeah?” Eddie asked around bites of his steak. “What did you talk about?” 

You finish chewing what’s in your mouth before answering. “She invited us to hang out with her friends tonight.”

Eddie looks up at you, raising a thick brow. “Friends like Harrington?”

You already knew that this wasn’t going to be an easy task. You’d actually enjoyed the time you spent with Steve, Eddie probably would have if he tried but they were from opposite ends of the tracks so he was hesitant. “And Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers… the boys will be there too and probably the girlfriends. Mike and Lucas’s. At least for a while. But Dustin will be there for sure.” Dustin was your selling point. 

He doesn’t say anything for a while, mulling it over in his mind. “What are we doing?” He gave in. You smile at him, so hard it almost hurts. 

“Bonfire at Steve’s. It’ll be fuuuuun.”

Eddie is not sure about this. At all. But he could see that you wanted to go, a few of them were your friends too and if Dustin was there then he was sure he could get through it. The beer in the back seat was an added bonus. 

“Everything is going to be fiiiiine.” You tell him as he pulls the van to a stop. He hopes you're right. 

You both get out of the van, grab the four six packs, and head around Steve’s house to his back yard. 

“There she is!” Robin's voice fills Eddie’s ears as he looks for somewhere to drop his beer. He finds a table and makes his way over to Dustin. 

“Hey! You came!” He wraps Eddie in a hug, looking up to see that his eyes are on you. “Ah, I see. How’s that going?”

Eddie looks down to meet his younger friends eyes and smiles. “It’s great, man. I mean, it’s not what I was wanting to happen originally, but you know, it’s great. We’re best friends all the time, and I don’t have to watch her be with someone else while I secretly get to have her.” He realized how bad it sounded when he put it like that. But it didn’t feel bad. Eddie had been terrified that what had happened would ruin his friendship with you. But it didn’t. Now he got to kiss you sometimes and when you stayed over sometimes you did more than kiss and he wasn’t going to complain about you being in his bed. Sure he couldn’t call you his girlfriend so he didn’t get to show the whole world how he felt about you, but if this is all he was going to get, he was happy with it. 

Dustin clapped a hand on Eddie’s shoulder. “As long as you’re happy I’m happy, man.” 

Eddie couldn’t help but watch you laughing by the fire as he sipped his beer. He didn’t think he’d seen a more beautiful sight in his life. He continued to sip on his beer going back and forth between chatting with the younger Hellfire boys and you and the older teenagers. He had to admit, as the hours passed he had been enjoying himself, until he wasn’t. 

You were sitting on a blanket, sipping on your bitch beer between Eddie and Steve. He’d never really gotten to know the guy but he had seemed decent enough over the last few hours. And then he had put his arm around you and laughed at the joke you’d made. Eddie didn’t like that at all. He wasn’t the type of guy that shared. He didn’t think you wanted to be shared. But even if you weren’t technically his, he figured that you two only being with each other while you were sleeping together was one of those unsaid things. Maybe he was wrong. But he sure af fuck wasn’t sharing. He supposed he was going to have to remind you that he was there. 

You were laughing at whatever it was Steve was saying, Eddie’s heart started beating faster as jealousy burned under his skin. This wasn’t like him. Sure he’d been jealous before but not like this. You’d never been his before, and as far as he was concerned you WERE his.

“You want me to get you another  beer, princess?” Eddie asked, pulling your attention from Steve, back to himself.

You look down to the almost empty bottle in your hand. “Uhm, yeah. Thank you.” You grin at him. Something about the way he’s looking back at you feels off. You wonder if maybe it’s just the alcohol. You continue to watch him as he gets up to walk across the yard to Steve’s cooler.

“How’s that going?” You hear Steve’s voice from the other side of you. 

Taking in the last mouthful of your beer, you nod. “Good, I think. I mean, we’re not like official or anything but we’re still… hanging out and I don’t think he’s seeing anyone else.”

“That sounds… not great. I thought you wanted him to be your boyfriend or whatever?” Steve sounds almost worried.

You roll your eyes. Were all boys dumb or just the ones you know? “That is what I wanted, but I wanted to keep my best friend more. If this is what I’m gonna get, then I’ll take it.”

“Have you tried talking to him about it?” Steve asks, looking at you intensely. “Maybe he would be down for it.”

You give him a stern look. “Aren’t you the one that said if he wanted me he’d say something?” He goes to open his mouth again, but Eddie is back so you give him a death glare, a warning to keep whatever comment he was about to say to himself.

Eddie hands you the beer and holds his hand out to you. You look at him curiously before taking it and letting him pull you up. “Are you okay?” You ask when you’re standing in front of him.

“Yeah, I’m good.” He looks from you, down to Steve and quickly back to you. “Let’s go for a walk.”

He’s quiet at first, as you walk together. Something is definitely off with him. “What’s wrong?” You ask, breaking the silence.

“Nothin, just wanted to stretch my legs.” 

You sigh. “Eddie. I know you better than I know myself, I know something is up, you’re being weird.” 

Fuck. Of course he couldn’t be casual about it. Of course you would know something was wrong with him. He had to make something up and fast. “Uhm, yeah. It’s just kinda weird being out here with all of these people, y’know? We don’t usually do this. Still warming up.” He looks over at you and lets out a breath when it seems like you bought it.

“That’s fair, I guess. It is a little weird, isn’t it?” You agree. “But being here with you helps.”

Eddie’s face heats up at your words. “So how’s Steve?” It feels like he has acid on his tongue. He doesn’t care about Steve. He only cares if you care about Steve.

He doesn’t miss the way your eyes roll and the small smile on your lips. “Steve is Steve. I never imagined I’d be friends with him, but here we are.” Eddie’s stomach twists into knots and he doesn’t like the way it feels. The world around him feels like it’s spinning. He can’t tell what’s up and what’s down. So he does the only thing that makes sense to him.

You let out a gasp when Eddie pulls you behind a tree, pushes you up against it and covers your mouth with his. He’s never kissed you like this before, like you’re the only thing anchoring him to the ground. And he’s never kissed you around other people like this before.

You’re kissing him back just as fiercely, hands reaching up to tangle into his curls, holding him closer to you. You don’t even care that the bark of the tree is digging into your back. You're lost in the beer and cigarettes on his tongue to even remember where you are when his hands start to wander from your hips up your stomach. 

“Eddie.” You barely manage to get his name to pass through your lips as his mouth moves to attack your neck. “We’re in public.”

He laughs against your skin. “I’d hardly count Harrington’s back yard as public.”

“Someone’s gonna see us.” You let out a moan as he squeezes your breast. 

Eddie pulls only his mouth from you, to look into your eyes, his pupils are blown. “No one can see us, and no one is gonna find us if you can keep quiet.” His fingers travel to the waistband of your pants. “What do you say, sweetheart? Give me five minutes and we’ll both feel better when we get back over there.” 

You can’t say no. You don’t want to say no. You don’t say anything. Pulling his mouth back to yours, you don’t stop him from sliding his hand down the front of your jeans. Your skin tingles deliciously under his touch. You can feel how wet you are already, the way he pushed you against the tree, the forcefulness of his was so fucking hot. 

His fingers slide between your folds, finding your clit circling it. The sensation that shoots through you has your mouth falling open. It takes everything you have to not make a sound. “That’s a good girl.” Eddie whispers in your ear as he leaves hot open mouthed kisses along the sensitive skin of your neck. 

It’s harder to keep it in when he pushes two of his fingers into you. You pull your bottom lip between your teeth and bite down, trying to keep quiet, fisting his hair as he pumps in and out of you.

“That’s it, pretty girl, you’re doing so good for me.” 

That does it. Your hips jerk as he keeps working you, the sensation builds until stars are exploding behind your eyelids and you're clenching around Eddie’s fingers. 

When you’re satisfied and breathing heavily, Eddie pulls his fingers from between your legs and licks your juices from them, staring you in the eyes. That image will be burned into your retinas for the rest of your life.

When you go to pull at his belt, Eddie places his hands over yours before pressing a soft kiss to your mouth. “We can finish this later, don’t want them to start to miss us.” He winks down at you.

By the time you’re falling back into your seats you’re laughing together. When you look over at him, Eddie seems much more at ease than he did before, now smiling softly at you. Who knew letting him get you off behind a tree would comfort him?

Steve clearing his throat catches your attention. “You guys okay? You were gone for a while.” He asks, raising a brow at you. 

“Yes, Steve. We’re fine. We just went to take a walk.” You’re trying to tell him with your eyes to shut up and but out, with the way he smiles at you knowingly, you’re sure he catches the drift. 

“Can you get the door?” Your mom calls out to you from the kitchen. 

When you pull the door open Wayne and Eddie are both smiling at you, each with a paper bag in their hands. “Come on in!” You gesture to the open house. “You can take those into the kitchen, but try not to touch anything, my mom is going crazy in there.”

Every year for Thanksgiving, your parents had invited the Munson’s over for dinner and every year Wayne brought over a frozen pie and boxed Mac and cheese. It was a tradition that would likely be upheld for years to come. 

You follow behind them, reaching into the fridge while Wayne very carefully puts the bags wherever your mom instructed him too. Popping the can open, you hand it over to Wayne, smiling when he thanks you, and drag Eddie back through the living room where your dad is watching the game and up to your room. 

“The woman is driving me crazy.” You sigh, falling onto your bed. 

The bed next to you sinks down when Eddie sits, dropping a hand into your thigh. “She’s just stressed. She wants to make sure everything is perfect. I hear that moms take holidays real seriously.” He says, trying to lighten the mood. 

You can’t help but to roll your eyes and smile just a little bit. You know he’s right. “Yeah… I guess.” 

Your breath catches in your throat when he leans over to kiss you. Sure, you’d kissed him before, several times now, but it had never been so … casual. 

Eddie is incredibly nervous. More than that. Why were you always making him so damn nervous? He needed to breathe. He needed to relax. He needed to smoke but he wasn’t going to disrespect your parents by doing that at their house. But he was nervous. Because there you were looking so good fucking beautiful and he just needs to tell you how he feels. 

Yeah, so what Thanksgiving was probably the least sexy holiday to spill his guts but he didn’t think he could wait the month until Christmas. He just wanted to no needed to tell you that you’re the most important person in his life and that you’re the most beautiful human to have ever walked the earth and that he had been thinking about you every second of every day since he met you and FUCK he was so in love with you that he could hardly stand it and he just really, really wanted to be your boyfriend. He wanted everyone, every single person on the planet to know how he felt about you and he never wanted to see Steve Harrington’s arm wrapped around you again. 

Eddie hated that it took him realizing that he was jealous to understand that as amazingly mind blowing as the sex was, it wasn’t enough for him. It would never be enough for him. He didn’t want to bite his tongue whenever he wanted to tell you those three words. He didn’t want to worry that you might find someone who had the balls enough to ask you out, and that you’d leave him completely at a chance for something real. Not when it could have been a chance with him. He wanted everything with you. The stressful holidays, marriage, a couple of mini munsons, coming home from work to each other, growing old together… but to do that he had to get over his damn nerves and say it out loud. 

Inhale. Exhale. You’ve got this Munson.

“Hey, I wanted to ask you something.” The relief is immediate as the words leave his lips. And the look on your face almost has him second guessing himself. 

“Okay, shoot.” You say as you watch him. He’s suddenly worried that he’s going to throw up in his mouth. 

Inhale exhale dumbass. 

“Well the thing is-” before he can get all of the words out the doorbell rings. Fuck! Your eyes go wide as you check your watch. 

“I have to get that!” You say jumping up off the bed to race out of the door. 

Eddie wondered if you were expecting someone, usually it had just been the five of you. Letting his curiosity get the best of him, Eddie gets up and makes his way to where you’re standing at the front door hugging Steve who is looking right at him. Now he’s about 99.8% sure he’s going to throw up as a pit carves itself into his stomach. 

You turn towards him with a huge smile on your face. “Steve is having dinner with us, his parents are out of town but he has work this week so he stayed behind.” It was a pretty solid reason for Steve to be standing in your living room. But somehow Eddie didn’t think that was the whole truth. Maybe it was the jealousy talking, but he didn’t believe for a second that Harrington wasn’t trying to steal his girl. 

All during dinner Eddie barely said a word. You could tell, very easily that he was stewing over something, you just didn’t know what. Well. That wasn’t completely true. Eddie seemed to be trying to hide the fact that he was mad dogging Steve. You thought he’d be over the not liking him thing by now. Yeah, so they had different crowds but they both loved the shit out of Dustin and you were friends with both of them so you figured they would have some common ground. Apparently not. 

You waited to say anything. You wanted to talk him down but not in front of everyone. So after you said bye to Steve and Wayne had called it because he had work early the next day, you dragged Eddie back into your bedroom and turned to face him, arms crossed over your chest. 

“What is your deal? And don’t tell me it’s nothing because it’s pretty damn obvious that something is going on with you. You were just fine until Steve got here. I thought you were on decent terms with him at least.”

The way Eddie’s face contorted into something very near rage made your stomach hurt. “A heads up would have been nice.” He huffed. Turning away from you. “I would have liked to know he was going to be here at least. I didn’t think I was going to get ambushed by Steve.” 

“Why are you being like this? He hasn’t done anything to you!” Your face was starting to get hot. And not in the fun way that it did when Eddie was flirting or grazing the skin of your thigh. 

You and Eddie almost never fought. Not really. Bickered, absolutely. All the time. But there had only ever been a couple of actual fights and you could tell by the tension building between you that this was going to be one of them. 

“Why do you like him?” Eddie’s voice is getting louder with every word. “Why does everyone like him so much?”

You can’t actually believe what you’re hearing. He sounds jealous. Which is weird to you because Eddie has never been a jealous guy. He’s never cared who you hung out with because he always knew that he was your best friend. Hell. He has loads of friends you were friends with. 

“Are you fucking kidding me right now, Edward Munson?” You can’t help it. You’re starting to get mad. He’s in your house. Taking his anger out on you like you did something wrong. 

His eyes are growing darker as each word leaves your mouth. “No, I’m serious. What is so fucking great about Steve Harrington? Hmm? First it’s Dustin who talks about him non-fucking-stop. And you’re probably next since it seems like you can’t get enough of him.”

You are seeing red. You don’t know where any of this shit is coming from. He has never, never been like this before. “For the record, Dustin has been friends with him for years. You’ve only known the kid a few months. And Steve hasn’t done anything! He didn’t have anyone else to spend Thanksgiving with so I invited him to dinner so he wouldn’t be alone! No one should have to be alone for the holidays.”

“So what, next you’ll be inviting him to join you in bed? Is that it?” 

You seem to have forgotten how to breathe. Or think. You’re not even sure you’re a real person anymore. You’re more sure you ever were. Or maybe you fell asleep and don’t know how to wake up because there is no way that those words actually came out of his mouth. 

“Get the fuck out of my house and don’t speak to me again.” It was harsh. You don’t really care. Until Eddie looks like a kicked puppy. Like he just realized how royally he fucked up. 

Why the fuck did he just say that? What the fuck is wrong with him? He’s never seen you so mad, at him or otherwise. “I am so sorry.” He tries to say but you’re not hearing it. “I didn’t mean it, I swear I didn’t. I was just …”

“I don’t give a shit. That was so uncalled for. Get out. Right now. I don’t want to look at you.” Your voice is even. Quiet. Eddie decides that’s worse than yelling. His heart is in his stomach and he doesn’t know what to do with himself or how to move. But he manages to put one foot in front of the other until he’s out of your room, out of your house, and he’s getting in his van and driving him in silence, tears pricking the corners of his eyes.