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After literally saving the world with Steve multiple times, he didn't seem to trust you enough to come along on his joint mission with Henderson, Max, Robin, and Nancy.
"Someone has to be on Munson watch," he whispered to you in a dimly lit corner of Reefer Rick's boathouse.
"Dude, he's not going to go anywhere. If he leaves here he's dead, the entire town is probably out for his head by now," you argued.
"Yea, and that's exactly why someone needs to keep an eye on him. What if those asshole jocks find him alone here?"
"Then we're both dead."
Steve sighed.
"Look, I don't want you getting hurt after..." he trails off.
"You can just say it, you know? God, I'm so tired of everyone walking around on eggshells around me. Just go, Steve, I think I'd rather just stay here with Eddie "the Murderer" Munson than wander around Hawkins with you right now."
Steve flinched, but knew better to argue with you, not when you'd just come around to staying save with Eddie.
"We'll check up on you using the walkie and we'll bring food later. Just radio us if you need anything, okay?"
You turned away, already heading to the corner opposite Eddie. Steve, sensing it was best not to push your luck, set a walkie down at your side before sighing and turning one last time to look at you and then Eddie and left without saying another word. You and Eddie heard a car engine start and fade away in the distance until Steve was gone. Surprisingly, Eddie spoke:
"Thank you for staying with me," he said. "You really did have to-"
"I didn't want to," you interrupt. It's dark in the boat shed, but you could've sworn you saw Eddie's face drop ever-so slightly. You felt a slight guilty pang in your heart. "Uh, but I am glad I did."
Eddie smiled slightly at your weak attempt to fix his ego. It went quiet for a moment and you could hear the lake water lapping gently on the shore and a chorus of cicadas sing their song. You felt, for the first time in a while, peace.
"Do you remember when we first met?" Eddie asked, interrupting your moment and sitting down beside you on the floor. He was so close his leg was touching yours.
It was an odd question to ask and it was an especially odd time to ask it, but you decided it might be interesting to entertain him- clearly he was trying to make some point.
"I think it was last year, wasn't it? I think I remember you fucked with Billy's..." you started before stopping yourself. You hadn't allowed yourself to think of Billy in the short time he'd been gone. It was too painful. The Battle of Starcourt Mall wasn't something you wanted to remember. When you thought of Billy, you thought of nights out in his car, making out and talking for hours until the sun came up over Hawkins. You thought of leather and of that spiced cologne he liked to wear that he swore was imported from Italy, but you were convinced it was just another Calvin Klein cologne. You thought of how electric his blue eyes turned before he kissed you and you remembered the first time he told you he loved you and how he made every time he said it after feel just the same and just as new as the first.
"I'm sorry," Eddie said. "You and Hargrove dated for awhile, it's fucked for me to bring it up right now."
You shook your head, wiping tears that threatened to spill. Nobody really had given you the floor to speak about Billy and you wanted to take advantage of it as long as Eddie allowed you to.
"No, it's fine. Uh, anyways, I remember you had fucked with Billy's tailpipe-"
"Stuffed it full of hair gel."
You laughed.
"Yea, and he was fucking pissed. I had to tell him not to kick your ass. I think you wanted that fight, though. I remember seeing you leaning on the car next to Billy's and waiting for his reaction."
He gave a small, crooked smile.
"That was part of it. You know, y/n, that's not the first time we met, it's just the first time we ever spoke."
You raised your eyebrows. He continued on:
"It was my junior year, so you would've been a sophomore. I remember you were listening to your Walkman in the hall and you were wearing some cropped Smiths shirt. Carol said something nasty to you, but I don't even think you heard her because you were in your own world. You were carrying a bunch of books and for some reason, I felt like being a dick. I had bumped into you and you spilled everything, but you didn't even take your headphones off when I bent down to pick up your stuff. Then, I saw you with your band at some Halloween party and you were actually good. I think that sort've surprised me. Nobody ever expects high school bands to be decent. Hell, my own band fucking sucks, but yours was good enough to shut Carol up. I decided that night was going to be the night I finally worked up the guts to talk to you, but I think you were too drunk after your set to remember me embarrassing myself trying to talk to you. I think I also saw you make out with Hargrove after... anyways, I don't know why I'm telling you all of this, but I guess the entire fucking world is going to shit, or maybe this is just the only time I've been aware of the world going to shit, because Steve said this has happen before... I guess I'm just trying to get something out to you before those shits find me or I go out like Chrissy or get the electric chair in some state prison somewhere."
You felt the remaining air in your lungs turn stale. It felt like you couldn't breathe. Did Eddie Munson just confess that he's liked you for years?!?!
"Do you remember Cole?" you asked.
Eddie looked confused.
"Yea, I played D&D with him a couple years back. He's an OG member of Hellfire. Couldn't forget the tall fucker. What's he got to do with this?"
"My freshman year, I'm not sure if you noticed me, but we had history together. I sat in the back in Mrs. Dale's class and she made you sit up front, do you remember that?"
He nodded.
"Only because I failed her class the year before," he mumbled
You continued on:
"You wore an Ozzy Osborne shirt one day and and Echo and the Bunnymen shirt the next. I used to sit next to Cole and never really talked to him, but on that first Friday of the year, you both wore the Hellfire shirts and I asked about them. Cole told me about your club and D&D and I think he was sort've into me now looking back. I told him I thought you were cool, because I had the biggest crush on you, because who else in this shit-hole town listens to Echo and the Bunnymen or Black Sabbath?"
Eddie smiled, his crooked grin growing wider by the second.
"Cole told me you were fucking some girl from Plainsville. He also told me that you weren't really a "girlfriend type" and I'd have better luck with Mrs. Dale than with you."
"That fucker, I'm going to kill Preston if I get my hands on him."
You laughed.
"I think I have you beat," you said. "I don't think you remember me at all from history."
He shook his shaggy head.
"No, I don't," he agreed. "You know, in my defense, I slept through most of that class and you were all the way in the back."
"I noticed you, even though you were all the way in the front."
He gave a small chuckle.
"How do you feel now?" he asked, softly, almost delicately.
You sighed.
"If you'd asked me a year ago, I think I would've jumped your bones."
"Hey, my bones are just as springy now as they were a year ago, so have at it."
You shook your head and then, without thinking, you gave him a soft kiss on his lips. His small mouth molded perfectly to yours. The kiss was tender and delicate, not at all what you expected from Eddie "the Murderer" Munson. When you pulled apart, Eddie was surprisingly breathless.
"Can I ask you something?" his voice was shaky.
"You just did."
"Why did you ever date someone like Hargrove in the first place?"
"He could be sweet. I liked that about him, but I never liked him when he got angry. I guess I dated him, because in some weird way, I knew he loved me and I felt the universe owed him someone to listen. He'd been through enough alone."
"Are you just kissing me because I saw someone get murdered?"
"No, idiot, I'm kissing you because you have nice hair, good taste in music, and because I like kissing you."
Eddie gave the widest shit-eating grin before you wiped it off his face by kissing him as hard as humanly possible. You lost yourself in the kiss. You didn't feel the loss of Billy as heavily with Eddie and maybe there'd be a day when you didn't feel it at all anymore. You felt hopeful and stupidly infatuated with Eddie Munson.