Work Text:
You should have known exactly how this would turn out when Eddie, deadly bored one evening, as you were desperately to get his attention back to the things you were supposed to be tutoring him on, had seemed to jolt back to life, giving you a piercing look.
“What would you do if I got a C on that exam?”
You’d blinked at him.
“What do you mean, what would I do?”
“What would I get? What’s my reward?”
A silence.
“…the satisfaction of knowing you’ve done a good job and a better chance at graduating this year?”
He shook his head, but, to be fair, you knew that would never work on him. There was a somewhat crazed glint in his eyes when they met yours, and, for some reason, you found yourself holding your breath. It was almost embarrassing how strong your reaction was when he looked at you like that, and yet you understood exactly where it came from. When Eddie looked like that, it felt like everything was possible. Like you’d follow him to the end of the world if he asked. It made it so easy to understand why the people in his group had chosen him to be their leader.
“How about a kiss?”
Your eyes went wide at the suggestion.
“What?” you managed to squeak out, and his grin widened at your reaction.
“C’mon, princess. You gotta up the stakes a little here.”
You could feel your cheeks burning, and you resisted the urge to chew on your lower lip at the suggestion.
It’s fine, you told yourself. He’s not being serious, and even if he was, that’s not going to happen.
“B,” you said.
It took him a second to process it before he lifted an eyebrow, amusement already dancing in his eyes, knowing he had you right where he wanted you.
“B minus.”
“Fine,” you sighed. “B minus on your next exam and… Whatever. That.”
Maybe the way he leaned back in his chair with this satisfied, shit-eating grin should have alarmed you, but truth be told, you didn’t think anything of it.
Clearly, that had been your mistake, because when he triumphantly walked over to your little corner in the library, isolated and well hidden behind rows of books, and slammed a piece of paper on the table, all you could do was blink. A big red ‘B-‘ was circled at the top.
“The old bat thinks I cheated and she might not count it,” Eddie said, “but that’s the proof right there.”
“That’s—” you grabbed the paper, eyes quickly scanning the answers, recognizing the subject you’d been trying — and failing — to teach him about. “That’s really good,” you admitted. “Well done, Eddie,” you added, shooting him a bright smile.
For a second, all he did was stare, eyes widening a little, and then he cleared his throat, turning around swiftly enough that you couldn’t see the blush creeping on his face, so you were faced with the symbol of some rock band you didn’t know on the back of his jacket.
“Yeah, well, what can I say? I had an incentive.”
He glanced at you over his shoulder, and that was when it dawned on you.
The kiss.
He’d been serious about that?
You felt your heart leap in your throat immediately, heart starting to hammer without a warning at the thought of kissing Eddie. You’d been so, so sure he hadn’t meant it.
“Don’t—” you could feel your voice falling into a whisper. “Don’t make fun of me, Eddie.”
It wasn’t not like it would be the first time a guy’s pretended to show interest only to rub in your face how stupid you were for thinking it was sincere later on.
The surprise on Eddie’s face, if anything, was an indication that that kind of cruelty hadn’t even crossed his mind.
“What? I’m not making fun of— I’m the one who asked! What do you even—”
You took a deep breath, and he watched your demeanor carefully, brow furrowed.
“Hey, you know, it’s fine if you don’t want to—”
“No!” you were quick to protest — a little too quick, and you cursed yourself immediately. What if now he thought you were interested? What if he thought it was weird, or gross? What if your interest made you ridiculous in his eyes? You wished the thoughts wouldn’t plague you, but you simply couldn’t help it. Maybe, if anyone had shown you sincere interest at any point, you wouldn’t have such a hard time with it. “No, it’s, uh— I said I’d do it, right?”
“Right, but you don’t look thrilled about it, so if you want to back out, you know that’d be cool with me, right? I wouldn’t force you to do anything, you know?”
Finally, you relaxed a little, enough to give Eddie a small smile.
“I know, sorry, I’m just— I’m a little nervous.”
He shook his head, raising his hands as if to show you he didn’t mean harm.
“Hey, no problem, I’m not asking you to marry me, you know? It won’t mean anything, it’s just for fun.”
Your heart sank so brutally it might as well have dropped out of your chest. Of course. Of course. Why would it mean anything? Why would you have even entertained that thought?
“No, no, I know,” you protested — too quickly once more, “it’s just I don’t, uh, have a ton of experience? So I’m a little nervous.”
That was an interesting understatement, only technically not a lie, but you were not going to tell him that this was your first kiss. You couldn’t. You knew for a fact you were far from the only person in Hawkins High with no experience, and yet you couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of shame over it — couldn’t help but tell yourself that no one had ever found you interesting or attractive enough to pursue you, and that it was on you. The fact that you’d be kissing him over some— bet only added to the embarrassment, and after what he’d just said… Well. You didn’t feel like letting him know was even an option.
Thankfully, Eddie wasn’t privy to all the thoughts that were spinning in your mind, and he just grinned at your admission.
“You don’t have to worry about that, princess. I’m a good enough kisser for the two of us. I promise you’ll enjoy yourself and, well, if I have to sacrifice myself for that, I say that’s a pretty good way to go, wouldn’t you say?”
This time, you couldn’t help but letting out a chuckle. Eddie was good at that, releasing tension with jokes. He seemed to easily feel when the people around him needed a laugh, and he wasn’t afraid to let his pride take a hit if it made them feel better.
That was something you really, really liked about him.
“Fine, so, uh…” You got up from your chair somewhat awkwardly. “Should we…?”
He gasped and faked a pearl-clutching motion.
“In the library? My, that goes against all of my principles!”
It was your turn to give him a grin.
“I mean, if you don’t want to…”
His demeanor shifted instantly, and so did his eyes. The way he took you in, eyes quickly traveling down your body and back up almost made you shiver. Your stomach twisted into a knot, your breath quickened, and you realized that this was actually happening. You were about to kiss Eddie Munson. In the library, of all places, fortunately almost completely empty at this time.
He took a step towards you, and you stood in place, leaning back just a little to rest some of your weight on the table. Eddie didn’t stop until he was standing right against you, and you found yourself gripping the table as a desperate attempt of keeping your heart under control. With how loud it was beating, you had a hard time believing he couldn’t tell.
“Oh, I want to,” he said, one of his hands coming to cup your face. It felt rough and calloused against your skin, but you didn’t mind. You held his gaze at first as he studied you, all too aware of how close his chest was, how his hips were almost against yours. You didn’t dare to touch him, unsure of where your hands should go, where they were supposed to go. After a few seconds, though, you could feel yourself grow heated under his touch, and you were sure he could tell.
Averting your eyes, you mumbled “So, are we doing this, or—”
His mouth was on yours immediately, and you gasped. His hand was still on your cheek, thumb coming under your jaw to tilt your head up, and it was all your mind could focus on. He kissed you slowly, lips moving against yours carefully, but with an underlying eagerness that had his body tense as a bowstring as he tried to hold himself back, tried not to scare you away. He’d promised you you would enjoy this, and he would make sure you would. He wasn’t going to— to fucking pounce on you like an animal, when you’d just told him you were nervous.
No matter how much he wanted to.
You didn’t notice him opening and closing his hand near your waist, resisting the urge to pull you closer.
Your eyes were closed, kissing back almost carefully. His body felt hot against yours, but maybe you were the one heating up, you genuinely couldn’t say. Finally, one of your hands came to rest on his arm, and another one moved higher, fingers hesitantly threading through his long hair. You weren’t sure of what you were doing exactly, but you did know you wanted more of— of this.
He pulled away just a second, allowing the two of you to breathe, and he opened his eyes to get a good look at you.
It turned out that that was a mistake if he wanted to keep behaving himself. Seeing you so close, with your eyes focused on him, lips parted and slightly swollen, panting softly— that was a sight that almost drove him crazy.
He leaned forward again, eagerly, kissing you harder, hand gripping the table with everything he had to keep himself in check.
And then, he felt you moaning softly into his mouth, and that was when he finally lost it.
His hand came to grab your waist, pulling you closer, hips now pressed into yours, chest flushed against you. You were just so fucking soft under him, head tilted up towards him. There was so much he wanted to do to you.
You tried to respond in kind to his energy, fingers pulling on his hair a little as if there was a way for your mouths to get closer. You were pressed against the table, body slowly leaning back, your knees threatening to give in underneath you. Finally, you felt his tongue brushing against yours, and you moaned again, which only seemed to make him more eager.
Your elbow had come to rest on the table and you were half laying on it when he stopped abruptly, body half-covering yours. Another uncontrollable, but fortunately quiet, moan escaped you once more, and Eddie had to do his best both to stop himself and to hold back his own groan. How the fuck was he ever supposed to stop if you sounded like that?
This was just— this was just unfair.
Damn, he should have gotten you to his car before cashing in on that kiss, then he wouldn’t have felt so bad, but you’d been standing there looking like such an angel, and then you’d started teasing, and he just— He hadn’t been able to hold back.
But he definitely wasn’t going to fuck you in the library.
Not that he’d have minded, or that he hadn’t gotten handsy in here before, but he— That wasn’t how he wanted things to go, for his first time with you. Even if the way you were looking at him right now, with your beautiful eyes wide and expectant, pupils dilated, half-laying on the table, made you the most tempting thing he’d ever seen.
Truth be told, it terrified him, how you made him feel. The desire, he could take, he could act on, but he knew he’d crumble the second you’d touch him in any other way.
“E-everything okay?” you asked, worried eyes searching his when he didn’t move, one hand reaching up to touch his cheek.
He was quick to move away, taking that hand in his instead to pull you back on your feet.
“So, what’s your verdict?” he asked with a grin, just as quick to let go of you and to take a step back, the best way to make sure he didn’t do something stupid. “Am I a good kisser or what?”
You hadn’t thought your cheeks could burn even more.
“Um,” you mumbled. “Yes. Good. Was it— Did you, uh, enjoy yourself as well?”
You didn’t manage to read the emotion that passed on his face then, but he swallowed, and then he nodded.
“Yeah, princess. I definitely enjoyed myself.”
The words brought a small smile to your lips that you tried your best to hide. He didn’t add anything, though, and the silence that followed was incredibly awkward.
“So, do you want to work on—”
“It’s going to be weird if I stay,” Eddie interrupted you quickly. “We should just skip the lesson for today.”
“Oh, uh, yeah, right, you’re— you’re probably right about that.”
“But we could do that again later this week.” A silence. “Working together, I mean.”
Why had he said that? He could have just left it hanging, for fuck’s sake, and— He was behaving like a fucking freshman. What the fuck.
“Sure, sure,” you were quick to agree. “So I’ll… see you next time?”
“Right. See you.”
When Eddie fled the scene, you were left wondering what had come over you just minutes ago, and trying to quell the beating of your heart. Your fingers ghosted over your lips, and you found yourself chuckling to yourself without making a sound. You weren’t sure what to make of all of this, but even your anxious mind had to come to the conclusion that he wouldn’t have kissed you like that if he wasn’t at least attracted to you, and that thought was— nice. You could live with that.
If you’d seen the triumphant way Eddie punched the air with his fist when he walked out of the library, it would only barely have added to the little cloud you were sitting on right now.