Chapter Text
You woke up with a ping of guilt in your stomach - and all you could think about was Eddie. If he saw you now, you were only proving him right - you were still in love with Billy. You didn't regret breaking up with him, but you sure as hell missed being with him. Eddie, on the other hand - he was perfect for you. He treated you like a queen, respected your boundaries and consistently supported you - Billy was his polar opposite. Yet, here you were - sitting in the back of his Camaro, staring out the window at his figure. He was standing against the back door, smoking a cigarette while staring into the distance. His mind seemed preoccupied, though his aviators clouded any sense of emotion. Slipping your boots on your feet, you stepped out of the car, snapping him out of his train of thought. "Morning - how'd you sleep?" He tossed the cigarette to the ground, crushing it with his boot as he shoved his hands into his pockets.
"As good as I possibly could have." You responded quietly, giving him a soft nudge. You both stood in silence for a few minutes, your head instinctively resting on his arm as you leaned back against the car.
"Hey - I want to thank you for last night. I know I don't deserve it, but you listened - I appreciate you being here. More than you know." You felt your chest grow heavy at his words. There was a slight tremble in his voice, though he attempted to mask it by clearing his throat.
"While I wish we could've had this conversation a long time ago - you can't change the past. All you can do is look forward and learn from your mistakes. You're a good man, Billy Hargrove - and once you can see that for yourself, you can begin to heal." You looked at him as you spoke, despite his insistence to stare forward. After a moment he reached for your hand - and though you hesitated at first, you eventually intertwined your fingers with his, giving his hand a soft, reassuring squeeze.
"I should - we should get going. The sooner I get on the road, the better. Got a long fucking drive." He dropped your hand and walked to the drivers side of the car slowly, while you stepped into the passenger side. The ride home was quiet, and despite the dreary morning, he refused to take the sunglasses off. He stared forward, intent on the road, never reaching for the radio. Your eyes followed your surroundings as he drove, head resting against the window. When you finally reached your house, you turned to face him. "Billy, please.. look at me." As he turned, you reached forward, lifting the shades from his eyes. His inciting blue hues were glazed over, locked on yours intently.
"Promise me you'll take care of yourself, okay?"
He nodded, but didn't say a word.
"I love you, Billy."
You turned quickly and opened the door, stepping out of the car so he couldn't see you cry. You began walking to your front door, but stopped abruptly by a hand on your arm. You turned, your lips almost instantly locking with Billy's. Eyes fluttering closed, you stayed in his embrace for as long as he allowed, only pulling away when he did. You were dazed by the sweetness and passion of the kiss, your body feeling weak when his body was no longer there for support.
"I love you, too. Always will."
He looked at you for a long moment before he walked back to his car. You stood and watched until he pulled away, only walking to the house when his car disappeared down the road.
Once you got to your bedroom, you broke down - crying into your pillow for what felt like hours. You felt broken, as if you just lost someone close to you - but deep down, you knew it was for the best. You needed closure, and this was the first step - you could finally focus on your relationship with Eddie.
Sometime later, you left your room to get a bite to eat. It was already dark outside at this point, and you wondered how much of the day you wasted. As you opened the fridge, the phone rang - but you ignored it, pulling out the ingredients to make yourself a sandwich. It began to ring again almost instantly, so you decided to pick it up.
"Hello?"
"Finally. Where the fuck have you been?" Steve's voice came from the other line, speaking frantically.
"I was in my room, didn't hear the phone ring." You lied. He sighed from the other end, clearly talking to someone that was with him. "Steve, what's going on?"
"Look, it's too much to explain - I need you to meet us at Eddie's trailer. Like, ten minutes ago."
"I don't have a way of getting to you, my moms not home -"
"Fine, we're coming to you."
Before you could respond, he hung up, and immediately - your mind began to race. You paced the living room until you heard a car screech to a stop in front of the house. You pulled your front door open to see Eddie, his soft brown eyes immediately boring into yours. "Eddie - what's going on?" You questioned, but he didn't respond until he pushed you inside.
"I need you to just let me talk, okay? This is going to seem confusing, and fucking crazy - but I don't have a lot of time. There's something I have to do - something that could save the town. And I just - I don't know if I'll come back from it, so I needed to see you. There's things I need to tell you, and I'll regret it if I don't say them now -" His words were interrupted by Steve, who was standing outside the car, leaning on the front of it, pointing to an invisible watch.
"Tick tock, Munson - running out of time. Literally."
"Fuck off, Harrington. I need a moment with my girl- I need a minute, okay?" Eddie retorted and pushed the door shut.
To say you were confused was an understatement - this had to be some kind of sick joke, right? Despite your confusion you stayed silent as he asked, crossing your arms.
"I need you to know that I'm going to fight to come back to you. But if I don't make it.."
Fuck. You could feel the tears brimming at the corner of your eyes, but you quickly wiped them away.
"I need you to know how much you mean to me. That first night we met - I know you always say I saved you, but I think you saved me. I thought true love was bullshit before I met you. You loved me for every one of my flaws, and never tried to change who I was." He reached forward, placing his warm hands on your cheeks. "I love you, so fucking much babe - so goddamn much." Leaning forward he placed a soft kiss to your lips, wrapping his arms around you securely. You returned his embrace, allowing your tears to fall into his shirt as you held onto him. As he slowly pulled away, he wiped your tears with his thumbs, giving you a soft smile. "Hey, don't cry - I'll always be with you, okay?" He reached forward and touched where his guitar pick necklace rested on your neck. "I promise Steve will explain everything when we come back."
"I love you too, Eds. I'll be waiting right here when you come back - I need to know when your safe."
He nodded, slowly letting you go as the horn from the car honked. "I'm coming, I'm fucking coming." He called out. Just as fast as he came in, he left. Your mind was swimming with questions - where was he going in such a rush? Why was there a possibility that he wouldn't come back? You made your way back to the bedroom, slipping your headphones over your ears as you crawled under the covers. The music wasn't enough to drain out your thoughts, but it helped you fall asleep.
You woke up a few hours later to a rumbling, followed by a violent shaking in your room. The walls were rattling so loudly you thought they would collapse. You quickly got out of bed and sat underneath the small desk in your room as you heard things fall from shelves in the house, glass shattering. The lights flickered off and you lost all power, sending you into a panic. You closed your eyes tightly and stayed completely still, hearing branches break and car alarms going off outside. It lasted for what felt like forever, but within a few minutes, it was seemingly over. Slowly standing, you moved around your room, heading to your dresser where you knew you kept a flashlight. As you pulled your door open and walked down the hallway, you stepped around anything that had fallen, avoiding the kitchen where you knew there was broken glass. Kneeling on the couch, you pulled the blinds open - your mothers car still wasn't home. You could faintly see fallen trees and smoke in the distance, followed by flashing lights. You began to worry about your mom, your friends - Eddie. His words repeated over and over in your mind - that he was going to fight to come back to you, that he might not make it. Panic set in, but in that moment, there wasn't anything you could do, anyone you could call. You were forced to wait, so you did just that - dozing off into a light sleep on the sofa.
The streams of sunlight coming in the window forced you to wake up groggily, your eyes adjusting to the change of light. Once you could focus, you could see everything that littered the floor. In all the time you've lived in Hawkins, you never experienced an earthquake - but what's if that's not what this was? You knew there was strange things that went on in Hawkins - kids would go missing, the mall going on fire - the talk of monsters that lurked in an alternate dimension. You believed it was possible, but never asked questions or got involved.
As you stood to begin cleaning, you heard a knock at the door. Figuring it was your neighbors checking in, you moved to the front door, pulling it open. Steve stood at the forefront of the small group, immediately wrapping his arms around you. "Thank God you're okay." He sounded relieved, and in that moment, you were too. "Same with you guys."
Your relief was quickly replaced by something entirely different when you noticed Dustin and Nancy behind Steve - but no Eddie. "Can we talk?" Steve asked, telling the others to wait outside as you led him in. You shut the door behind him, immediately turning to face him with your arms crossed. "Steve, where's Eddie?"
He reached for your hand, but you refused it. "You're gonna want to sit down.."
"Steve, just fucking talk to me. Where is he?"
"Sit down."
You sighed and sat beside him, tapping your leg impatiently. "Steve, I swear to God-"
"Eddie's gone." He finally made eye contact with you, a solemn look behind his chocolate hues. You felt your heart sink as he spoke, but the words didn't quite settle. "Gone? What do you mean?" Your mind went back to the last conversation you had with him. Wherever he was going, he knew there was a possibility of no return. He came and said his goodbyes because he knew he wasn't coming back.
"Wherever he is, we're going to get him back." You spoke through trembling words. As you went to stand, Steve grabbed your arm again, this time more gently. When you sat back beside him, you could feel his eyes on you. "He's.. he's dead."
At first, the words didn't register. Denial was your first response, your body frozen in disbelief that this was your reality. You wanted to scream, cry, throw anything you could get your hands on - but your body was tense, sitting completely still as you stared forward. As much as you wanted to break down and cry, you couldn't - and suddenly, you felt really fucking stupid that you spend the previous day crying over Billy.
"How did it happen?" You managed to speak after moments of silence. Steve reached out for your hand, holding it in his own tightly.
"He was trying to protect the town - trying to prevent what happened last night. The alternate dimension you've probably heard rumors about? It's real. Monsters are real. Hawkins is fucked.." His voice began to trail towards the end, cracking slightly. You tried to wrap your mind around everything he told you - and while you didn't want to believe it, it was almost too insane to make up. At some point Steve let go of your hand and place his head to his hands, pressing on his forehead roughly. "Now people are left without homes. The hospitals are full, people are missing, dead -"
"Yeah - I haven't seen my mom, either."
He looked up at you, running his hand through his hair. "Max is in the hospital.."
You froze again. "Is she going to be okay?" You asked softly, but he couldn't give you a straight answer. "I don't know - something tried to take her. Her physical body is here, but - they think she's in some kind of coma. They can't get in contact with her mom, either. And Billy-"
"He left town. There's no way to contact him."
Anger flooded your body, your fist balling beside you. "How could you keep this from me, Steve? I could've done something - I at least could've helped. You didn't even give me a fucking chance." Tears finally began falling from your eyelids, your body weak as you brought your legs to your chest. You wrapped your arms around your knees securely and covered your face, emotion overwhelming you. After a few minutes Steve placed a hand on your back. "Eddie didn't want you getting involved - he didn't want you putting your life at risk. He told me that if I told you, and I quote - that he'd shove his foot so far up my ass I wouldn't see straight."
You caught yourself in a half smile, but quickly reverted back to a frown. "Max - is someone at the hospital with her?" You asked, pulling your head up to lock glances with him.
"The kids are all there - we were headed there too, just wanted to talk and check up on you first." You felt better knowing that if she woke up, she'd be in good company. "Do you want to come?"
"I'll go there a little later - I want to clean up a bit, maybe get some sleep."
Steve looked at you as he always did - like a concerned mother. "I'll be fine. Just come back later, okay?" He nodded, leaning to place a kiss on your forehead. "You know I will."
He gave you a soft smile before standing, headed towards the door. "Hey, Y/N -" You looked up at him.
"I'm sorry." His smile slowly faded as he stepped outside, pulling the door shut behind him.
You cried, screamed as loud as you could - you couldn't believe he was gone. You were going to have to learn to live without him - though you weren't sure you could.