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#also metalheads with jocks apparently

fuckmymunson · 1 year

Note

eddie who has a reputation to uphold, the weird and scary freak who wears chains and big metal rings and always goes on tangents about his hatred for the popular kids, not a sliver of fear or weakness in his eyes. eddie who at the same time never leaves his house without the light yellow scrunchy with daisies on it that you gave him, always on his wrist or wrapped in his hair.

eddie who’s sweet n soft on you in a way he never is with anyone else 🥹

💌 a/n: Oh god, this, this, this, this. Please, I don’t ask for much. I’m so happy to get back to writing! Hope you like it!

🪷 Check my recent poll ¡! 📌

“I lost it” His voice sounded almost defeated, and quite inopportune.

“Eddie!” You jolted in your place, closing the light green locker door. Behind it, there he was, the big, scary, mean freak of Hawkins High. Covered from head to toe in chains, leather, ripped jeans, black, black, all black. With dark, unruly hair and a chunky rings.

But also, with puppy eyes, and a quivering lip.

“You scared the shit out of me, Eds” The frown on your pretty face made his heart jump inside his chest. You were an angel, a sight for sore eyes.

“I lost it” He repeated.

“You lost what?”

“I’m sorry” Eddie looked down, apparently now his Reeboks were the most interesting thing.

“Care to explain what is missing and why are you apologizing?” Crossing your arms over your chest, you waited, for almost three minutes.

“I lost the scrunchy you gave me” He finally admitted, like a criminal at trial.

Eddie heard you sigh, to his ears, was a sigh of disappointment. In reality, it was a sigh of relief. Only Edward Munson knew how to make a simple thing as a scrunchy into a faithful message.

“That’s it? Eddie, it’s just a hair tie” You shook your head, still not comprehending the dimensions of his problem.

“It’s not just a hair tie!” He exclaimed, now almost offended, of course only he could switch mood that easily. A few curious students looked at your way, still wondering how did an adorable piece of cotton and sunshine like you, was dating the metalhead, three-times senior freak of not only high school, but of the whole town.

“Yes it is, love. I can just give you another one, don’t worry— Look, I can give you the one I’m wearing…”

“I don’t want that one” He said, his words sounding almost like a tantrum. “I want the one you gave me on our first date, the yellow one with little sunflowers”

“Daisies, Eddie” You corrected him with a smile. Only Eddie was able to remember such a tiny detail and forget a crucial detail.

Only Eddie was able to make you feel loved, cherished and appreciated. He was so different from every other person you have dated before. He snatched your heart from the very first day and it’s been a daily occurrence for almost a year. The scary, weird freak, the person considered a devil worshipper, the mean senior who had the admirable (or idiotic) courage to stand out against others who felt like they had the right to humiliate and ridicule those who weren’t like them. Your Eddie, the one who broke a jock’s nose one time for slapping your ass walking through the halls. Your Eddie, who waited patiently until every extracurricular activities you were into were over, so he could drive you home and hold your thigh and listen to you throughout the whole ride. Your Eddie, who loved Saturday night because it meant movie night, cuddles and kisses. The mean freak who let you braid his hair, paint his nails, sew his old t-shirts.

The Eddie Munson who was scared of spiders but wasn’t scared of a hundred people crowd. The boy who initiated a food fight at the cafeteria and had to go to the nurses office because an orange hit his eye and he realized he was allergic to them. The man who every Friday made fairy tales, knight stories and evil monsters come true and walk this very earth with just his voice and his imagination at his D&D club. Your Eddie, who on your first date, dropped a chocolate milkshake on top of your white dress, forgot to fill his fuel tank, and had to push his van all the way to the nearest gas station.

That’s how the bright scrunchy ended up in his hair, in a makeshift ponytail that you made by running your delicate fingers through his tangled hair.

That was your Eddie.

Your Eddie. Yours. Yours.

“Fine, let’s go find it” You said, grabbing his hand and kissing his knuckles. “Tell me what you did today…”

Sorry for any mistakes! English is not my first language. Thank you for reading!˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

#Anya is writing! ᜊ( ᜊ ´ ˘) ੭ #Anya’s love letters! ۪ 💌 ۫#Anya dreams of Eddie!(〃＾▽＾〃)#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x yn #eddie munson oneshot #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson blurb #stranger things fic #eddie munson fics

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mrsjellymunson · 6 months

Text

The Biology Tutor

📕 Lesson 1: Female Anatomy

Continue studying: Lesson 2: Male Anatomy | Lesson 3: Human Reproduction | Extra Credit 01: Communication Skills

Pairing: Virgin!Eddie Munson x fem!tutor!reader

Summary: Eddie’s failing class, so you decide to offer two different styles of biology tuition, textbook-based and *ahem* practical.

W/C: something around 4k (I didn’t do a word count after editing, sorry)

CW: 🔞 18+ MDNI!, NSFW, PWP, smut with a story. Exhibitionism (f), mutual masturbation (m+f), swearing, innuendo, pet names, slight sub/dom dynamic, subtle size kink? Both Reader & Eddie are overage. No y/n. Reader’s appearance is not described, it can be whatever you like.

A/N: A cute little bit of biology lesson-based smut. I’m a sucker for virgin!Eddie and wanted to see if I could write him. Let me know how I did! 😄

My masterlist

You’ve had a crush on the guy in your Biology class since the beginning of the year when you first saw him ranting on a table in the cafeteria. There’s something about him that’s so different from the guys you’d usually go for. You run in completely different social circles, you with the academically-gifted ‘Brainy Bunch’ (an eye-rollingly terrible moniker coined by the we-think-we’re-so-clever jocks), and him with his nerdy friends. Despite this you find him unusual and intriguing, not to mention hot as all hell. You guess the ‘freak metalhead’ look doesn’t work for everyone, but his long hair and rebellious dark ink are certainly doing it for you. You really want to discover what’s underneath those layers of denim, leather and torn shirts, your imagination only able to go so far as you ponder his form late at night in your bed.

However, girls talk, and you’ve never heard of him being with any of them, or even speaking to all that many. For all his bravado and apparent confidence, you’re reasonably certain that Eddie Munson is still a virgin.

And for some reason this draws you to him even more.

You’re pretty sure you’ve caught Eddie checking out your ass as it’s perched on a high stool while he sits behind you in the biology lab. On days when you’re in this class you’ve started to wear your tightest jeans, and your shortest skirts (though if anyone asked you’d insist it was a coincidence).

Somehow you’ve become inexplicably clumsy (but only in this class, how odd…), often dropping your pencil and having to bend over to pick it up, occasionally chewing on the end in contemplation when you know he’s watching, much to the chagrin of your teacher.

“Never put anything in your mouth in the lab, you should all know better by now.”

You smirk at the innuendo in Eddie’s direction and he quickly looks away, ears exposed by his lab-regulation tied-back hair a little pink at the tips.

You also often ‘forget’ or ‘lose’ equipment, asking him if he’s got a spare, or could he please get you a replacement from the cupboards, which he’s always more than willing to do (giving you ample opportunities to observe his denim-clad ass as he does so).

“Damn, I seem to be one test tube short. Eddie, would you be a doll and get me one from the cupboard?”, crossing your legs and subtly ensuring the hem of your skirt rides up just a little more.

Eddie looks you up and down (result!) and agrees.

“Thanks, you really are my knight in shiny, um, leather?” You wince slightly at your clumsy comment, but he takes it in his stride, continuing the bit by replying,

“Here you go, your majesty”, bowing theatrically and presenting the glassware to you atop his forearm, making you grin.

In another lesson: “Shit, I tore my filter. Eddie, do you have a spare?”

“Anything for the Princess of Biology.”

He gives you a little smirk, and you feel your cheeks heat slightly. You can’t help gazing at his strong, ring-clad hands as he hands you the little circle of absorbent paper.

It becomes somewhat of a game, you playing the Princess and he the rescuing knight.

But for all your teasing you genuinely do actually want to help him pass the class. You don’t want him to have to repeat the year - you’ve seen him play at The Hideout and you know he’s meant for greater things.

It’s just biology, it can’t be any harder than what little you’ve picked up about that complicated game he plays, which seems to be all numbers, convoluted plots and organising “campaigns”, whatever they are. You’re sure he could pass if he’d just apply himself.

Or, perhaps, he just needs the right tutor…?

You’d broached it with your science teacher, offering to help ‘any students who were behind’ for extra credits. After he’d agreed you’d approached Eddie that same day, offering to come to his home and help him with his overdue assignments.

He was confused and skeptical at first, thinking this could all be some elaborate prank, but you were gentle and persuasive, and he’d agreed to pick you up later that day.

You’re sitting on his worn-out sofa, draped with a well loved but soft blanket. You’ve spent the last hour trying to get Eddie to understand cellular respiration (“Isn’t it just, like, breathing in and out?” “No, Eddie, this is cell biochemistry, it’s a bit more complicated than that”), but nothing you attempt seems to be working.

He’s despondent, won’t look at you, and seems resigned to his fate of never passing this particular subject, interjecting with statements like,

“Look, it’s just not going in.”

“I don’t know how to make it stick.”

“I don’t think I’ll get it, Princess, even if you beat it into me.”

The innuendo (accidental or not) is driving you crazy. As is Eddie’s lack of self belief.

You’d even tried explaining it by using D&D analogies.

“Think of the chemical reactions like individual characters interacting in groups. Like, if this particular troupe disband and some make allegiances with another, the group has different skills and attributes now, right?” But after a promising start even that doesn’t seem to hold his attention.

In fact, the more animated you get and closer you sit, the more distracted and fidgety he becomes, unwilling to engage fully with you and shifting uncomfortably.

You move further towards him on the sofa, determined to give it one last shot, and force him to make eye contact with you.

Their colour and depth surprises you as you look into them properly for the first time, noticing their rich, swirling chocolate and whiskey hues.

Your eyes briefly drop to his lips, the soft pink, plump, velvety pillows looking mightily enticing. God, they’re perfect.

Goosebumps rise on your arm as you feel his surprisingly soft curls tickle your shoulder.

Okay, you knew he was cute, but up close? Fucking hell…

You lean across your notes and over to the text book that’s on his other side. Your thighs are touching, and as you twist the side of your breast makes contact with his arm. If he looked slightly down and towards you he’d be able to see right down the neck of your tank top. You kind of hope he does.

Huffing, you prod at the book with your hand, hoping that the diagram on the page might make everything clearer. The movement makes your boobs jiggle a little.

You hadn’t noticed he’d stopped breathing and he suddenly lets out a huff of breath, covering it with a badly faked cough. His cheeks have flushed a light shade of pink.

So, you definitely weren’t imagining all that stuff in class.

Fuck it. You consider this might be the only opportunity you might get to do this, so decide to grab it. After all, academic tutelage was only part of your motivation to get him alone, and something you’ve been thinking about for a long time, one of the fantasies that keeps you up at night, pops into your head. One that would definitely get his attention. And if you can’t help his confidence academically, perhaps you can help with it somewhere else. Call it interpersonal tutelage…?

With as much nonchalance as you can muster, you say, “Um, maybe we should take a break. Y’know, relax a little?”

You scootch away to the end of the sofa, putting your back against the armrest and bringing your feet up onto the cushion in front of you. You grab a couple of throw cushions and slot them behind you, getting comfortable.

Eddie seems to relax a little too once you’ve moved away, but still looks uneasy.

God, are you really going to do this? What if he screams and runs away, or worse, tells his friends, or your classmates..? No, you’ve been thinking about this for far too long. Oh, fuck it x 2…

Feigning a stretch, you arch your back and place your hands at the back of your waist, pushing your chest, and breasts, upwards. Then you move them to the sides of your ribs, glancing over the sides of your boobs, seemingly-innocently pushing them together. You move a hand underneath one of your breasts, cupping it gently in the crook of your thumb and forefinger.

Eddie is still sitting tensely on the front edge of the sofa cushions, stealing sideways glances at you through the curtain of his hair.

“C’mon, Eddie, get comfy with me. It’ll help, I promise.”

Self-consciously, Eddie shifts himself and sits facing you, cross-legged, at the other end of the sofa. You give him a soft smile, which he returns with a slightly bashful one of his own, afterwards rolling his lips inwards between his teeth.

Okay, it’s now or never. Are you gonna be able to concentrate on this, Eddie?

You hum quietly, and almost closing your eyes you run a palm down your chest and over your belly. You drop one knee slightly out to the side, and run your hand down the inside of your thigh and back up it, eventually pushing your fingers between your thighs and cupping your mound with your palm.

You see Eddie’s eyes widen and hear a stifled choke.

Your hand moves to fully cup your breast, and you lightly trace your thumb over your hardening nipple whilst the hand between your legs begins to apply gentle pressure, making you inhale deeply.

Eddie watches you, agape, bringing his hands together and clasping one hand over the other in front of him, you surmise to disguise his burgeoning bulge.

You open your eyes a little, keeping them soft and half lidded, and gently smile in Eddie’s direction, ensuring he’s still watching you.

Using both hands to pop the button and lower the zipper on your jeans, you tease yourself by running the pretty elastic trim of your your panties between your fingertips, pulling it slightly away from you and letting it snap back onto your abdomen.

“Uh…”, he swallows hard, and you internally groan at the sight of his Adam’s apple bobbing in that delicious neck, “What’re you doing..?”

“What does it look like I’m doing, Eddie? I’m… relaxing…”

Sighing out the last word, you choose this moment to slip your hand down the front of your underwear, sliding over your mound and dipping just the tip of one finger between your folds, feeling the wetness that’s already pooled there. Your forehead furrows a little and you let out a quiet, contented hum.

Eddie’s eyes widen further and his eyebrows disappear completely under his bangs, and he sounds a little like he’s suffocating.

He tries to move further away from you along the sofa, unsuccessfully however as he’s wedged against the other armrest.

“Uh, I can, y’know, leave, or you could use my room, or, I can take you home, or, or-”

He’s babbling, and looking everywhere but at you. That’s not what you want at all, and you’re also concerned that he looks so uncomfortable.

“I can stop, if you want…”

He rushes out a reply, almost shouting the first syllable.

“N-NO! Um, no, it’s okay, really.”

“Okay, Eddie, stay right there. Keep your eyes on me, I wanna give you a show.”

He looks even more shocked, jaw dropping open, and you think he might bolt. But after a moment it’s clear that despite being full of anxiety, fear and self-consciousness, his curiosity, hormones and horniness are winning out, and he fixes his gaze on you.

He manages to squeak out, “Ok-aay…”

You lift your hips, using both hands to push your jeans and underwear down your legs until they reach your ankles. You slowly splay your knees, finally exposing yourself fully to Eddie’s gaze. One hand comes back to your breast, and you pinch your fabric-covered nipple between your thumb and forefinger.

He takes in the sight before him, the soft fur around your core, your wet folds glistening in the dim light of his living room, your sultry gaze, the peaks of your hardened nipples now visible through the thin fabric of your top.

He lets out a stuttering breath as his hips involuntarily shift underneath him, trying to find some friction.

“Jeezus fuck, Princess, are you tryin’a kill me?”

You try to think of something that might help relax him.

“If it helps you can imagine that we’re still studying. How about a quick lesson in female anatomy..?”

You move your hand down and with featherlight touches trace your fingertips around your pussy.

“Now, this whole area is my vulva.”

Eddie gulps.

Making a vertical line you trace your fingers over your wet lips.

“These are my labia.”

Eddie’s lips press together and he lets out a stammering hum, closing his eyes momentarily before snapping them back open so he doesn’t miss a thing.

“Are you paying attention, Eddie? This part is really important. This-,” you inhale sharply as you trail your wet fingers upwards and make contact, “This is where you’ll find my clit- fuck-”

It feels so delicious you almost don’t manage to finish your sentence, and you let out a long, low hum. Part of you doesn’t want to stop, but you’ve got more planned. Moving your fingers down again, you say,

“And this, here? This is my vagina…”

With a smile, you watch him stare as you dip a fingertip into your sopping hole, letting out a low moan as you gradually slip it inside of you.

“You know what the g-spot is, Eddie? I can show you where to find it, if you want me to…?”

You slide your finger in further, curling it towards your front wall, almost managing to tickle that certain spot within and letting out a loud groan.

At the other end of the sofa Eddie gasps an inhale, whimpering slightly, and you see him press the heel of his hand into his crotch. The combination of his sounds and actions is making you impossibly wetter - the boys you’ve been with before didn’t do much of either, and you didn’t know how much it turned you on.

You watch his face as he stares intently at your weeping centre as you slowly, so slowly move your finger in and out a few times.

“D’you think you’ll remember that, Eddie?”

“I promise I’ll fuckin’ try, Jesus Christ…”

He swallows again, exhaling heavily.

Deciding it’s time for the main event, you bring the hand that was squeezing your breast down your body, moving your fingertips to your clit and applying gentle pressure.

“I want you to see how wet you make me, Eddie. I want you to know how much I enjoy you watching my ass in biology class, how often I’ve thought about it when I’m alone. How much I like checking yours out in those oh-so tight jean- oh!”

A particularly exquisite circle followed by a firm press on your clit makes you moan out loud. The combination of both your hands has you close, closer than you imagined you’d be at this stage. It takes much longer when you’re by yourself, and you’re surprised and excited by just how much you’re enjoying having Eddie watch you.

Eddie’s fully gripping himself through his jeans now and is breathing heavily through his nose. He looks big, and you salivate at the thought.

You really want to see what he’s been hiding inside that tight denim.

“Show me, Eddie, I wanna see you.”

Hesitantly, never having experienced anything even close to this before, Eddie mumbles,

“You, uh…?”

“I wanna see you. Take out your cock. Let me see all of you, please.”

He’s rubbing himself, and you can see how strained his jeans are, a wet stain now visible in the dark fabric.

Slowly, eyes never leaving your face and looking for any tiny indication that you’re uncomfortable or have changed your mind, he slowly undoes his button and pulls down his zipper.

His languid pace is killing you, but in a good way; you realise he most likely has no idea what this is doing to you.

He rearranges the front of his jeans, opening the fly wide and leaving nothing but a thin layer of checkered cotton covering his member. The tent it’s creating is impressive.

He watches you stare and run your wet tongue over your bottom lip.

Letting out a nervous breath between pursed lips, he pushes one hand beneath the waistband of his boxers, using his thumb and two fingers to hold his cock at the base. Using his other hand he slowly, agonisingly slowly, pulls the fabric out and downwards, gradually exposing his full member to the lights of the room and to you.

You pause your own movements and spend a moment taking it in. It’s long, with an impressive girth - you briefly wonder whether he knows what he’s packing - and it’s the prettiest shade of pink you’ve ever seen. Lengthy, veined, slightly curved, and thick, so thick.

Eddie watches your expression for a moment. Satisfied that you’re not freaked or about to run away screaming, he brings the rest of his fingers to join the others, wrapping himself fully in his fist and squeezing gently, causing a little bead of precum to collect on the tip.

You take in the sight before you for a few moments, then utter, completely honestly, “Eddie, in case no one’s ever told you this, you have a really beautiful dick.”

His face and neck turn the second-prettiest shade of pink you’ve ever seen.

“No one’s ever told me that before, Princess.” Adding, almost in a whisper, “In fact, no one’s ever seen it.”

He chuckles lightly through that last sentence, embarrassed at what he’s just admitted. The ego boost of your comments has clearly given him some confidence though, as he adds with a slight smirk, a little breathy as he runs the pad of his thumb unhurriedly over his tip, “You, uh, really think so?”

Oh, so he likes me watching him too?

You can’t take your eyes off of it.

“I really do, Eddie. It’s so pretty.”

As if to confirm your statement you resume your hand movements, adding another finger and resuming circling your clit with the other. You notice that Eddie’s started moving too, his hand moving over himself in a deft gripping and twisting motion, his hips bucking up every now and again.

For a few moments neither of you say anything, the only sounds in the room your combined panting breaths and the lewd movements of wet skin.

Your clit is swollen and supremely sensitive, and, pushing in a little further, your fingers just tickle that exquisite spot within you.

You moan as you imagine it’s Eddie’s pretty cock inside you. That he’s leaning over you, thrusting into you, hitting that spot effortlessly. Maybe even talking to you, telling you how good your pussy feels, how well you’re taking him…

Suddenly your eyes roll back in your head and your mouth hangs open, a gutteral moan emerging from your chest as you get closer and closer.

Bringing your attention back to him you mumble, hurriedly,

“Jeezus Eddie, I’m gonna cum, you wanna see me cum?”

“Fuck, sweetheart, I’ve never wanted anything more in my entire fucking life.”

Eddie’s words come out in a spluttering rush and on his last word your breathing halts, your muscles lock and you cum, hard, clenching around your fingers and letting out an involuntary strangled scream.

Somewhere in the back of your fuzzy mind you think you hear Eddie let out a loud, “Holy shhhiiiit!”

You come down a little, opening your eyes and locking them with Eddie’s. You ride out your aftershocks, humming as you feel your fingers inside of you and your juices running down them. You eventually remove your fingers from your cunt, leaving its puffy wetness fully on display, and trace them around your lips and clit.

“F-fuck, Princess, that’s the hottest goddamn thing I’ve ever fuckin’ seen…”

Eddie’s red-faced and panting, his cock still very much standing to attention in his now vice-like grip, the tip an angry red and leaking copious amounts of precum. His eyes are blown dark, the chocolate rims almost completely obscured. His face and neck are flushed and he’s covered in a sheen of sweat, and he’s clenching his jaw, looking like he’s trying desperately not to bust.

“Are you ok over there, Eddie?”

“Shit, yeah, yes, I mean, fuck.”

Breathily, you ask him,

“Do you wanna cum?”

“Fuck yes, I just, I didn’t know whether you wanted me to.”

“Oh I do Eddie, I really do. It’s your turn now. You gonna cum for me? Please, let me see you lose it, show me everything you’ve got.”

He breathes out a loud sigh in what seems like relief. You like how good he’s being for you, learning yet more about yourself that you didn’t know before.

His fist speeds up as his other hand comes to hold his balls, deftly stroking and rolling the flesh. His brow furrows deeply and his lips clamp shut around a low moan. He’s staring intently at you, eyes flicking between your face and your still-dripping cunt.

Suddenly his expression turns to one resembling surprise, as his eyebrows lift and his mouth opens, a string of expletives leaving those perfect, plump lips,

“Fuck, fuck, Jeezus, motherf-, oh my-, fuckfuckfuuuck!”

His jaw drops as his abdomen contracts, and his eyes fix on your cunt as he jets hot ropes of white cum into the air and over his fist and t-shirt. There’s so much, and it seems never ending.

The sight is even better than you’d imagined it might be and your hips buck up into your hand, making you press your fingers into your clit again triggering another aftershock, and you find yourself moaning along with him.

For a few moments there’s more silence, aside from your panting and heavy breathing.

Eventually Eddie chuckles a little, and you huff a breath out through your nose with a smile on your face.

You’re both a sweaty, sticky mess, but neither of you care.

“Fuck, Eddie, that was…” You’re lost for words.

“Amazing? Incredible?” Seeing the grin plastered across Eddie’s face is easily as gratifying as all the other stuff you’ve done tonight.

You both giggle as Eddie says, “Fuck me, Princess, you’re definitely the best tutor I’ve ever had.”

Neither of you really want to move, but some cleanup is definitely necessary. Eddie takes the blanket from the sofa and throws it in the washer, cleaning up quickly in the bathroom, letting you know when it’s free and returning in a change of clothes, throwing the others in with the blanket.

As you both process what’s just transpired you share timid glances and half smiles.

You both sit on the sofa again as you start to pack up your notes and books. In another unforeseen realisation, you’re surprised at how much you’ve enjoyed Eddie’s company, and the warm feeling you get inside every time he looks at you is entirely unexpected.

You realise you’re gonna have to be the one to say something, and give Eddie a smirk.

“So, how about next time we do some practical revision on, maybe, male anatomy?”

He looks a little surprised, but certainly not unhappy at the suggestion that there might actually be a ‘next time’.

“You really wanna, uh, tutor me again?”

Nodding in the affirmative, you reply, “Oh yeah, I think we’ve both learned a lot this afternoon.”

Holding his gaze, you suggest,

“Same time next week..?”

Continue studying with Lesson 2: Male anatomy

A/N 2: I’ve been having thoughts about making this a miniseries, so please let me know if you’d like to see a second “lesson” 😉

Thanks so much for reading!

Likes are great, but please also consider supporting writers with comments and reblogs - they help fics get seen, and it genuinely means the world! 🌍 ❤️

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#virgin!eddie munson #virgin!eddie munson x tutor!reader #eddie munson #stranger things #eddie munson smut #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x fem!reader #Eddie Munson x you #biology smut #the biology tutor #female anatomy lesson #Eddie munson x fem!tutor!reader #stranger things fanfic #Eddie munson fanfic #Eddie munson smutty fanfic #smutty fanfic

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hairmetal666 · 1 year

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Eddie is sixteen and his magic is incredibly volatile. He's powerful and he has trouble not accidentally casting when his emotions are high (which is always) or casting on a whim, not being careful enough of his words, and suffering the unintended consequences. Wayne ends up hiding the grimoires and family journals until Eddie learns a little more control, and is the first to realize that Eddie casts better while he's playing music. They develop a system, by no means perfect, where Eddie composes a song based on how the spell feels.

Sixteen is also the year Eddie falls in love. He's always known he liked boys, but never thought about relationships. He lives in Hawkins and is a witch, for god's sake. He sneaks off to Indy, goes to bars, but can't imagine having something like a boyfriend.

Jackson is new in town, already 17 but in Eddie's grade. It starts as friendship, but before long Jackson kisses him. Eddie thinks it's like a fairytale. It ends when Jackson's military dad is transferred to a base overseas. It's mundane. It rips Eddie's heart to shreds.

After, Eddie does a spell. He knows he shouldn't; he's too upset and his magic is unpredictable at the best of times. He doesn't care. He grabs his guitar, starts playing. The song is melodic, layered, sad. He starts babbling, casting a spell to never fall in love by creating the most beautiful, unrealistic boy in the world. He won't remember some of what he says--and that's a problem-- but knows he talks about a boy with a map of the night sky on his body, the loneliest king, the prettiest man in Hawkins, jock with a heart of gold, lover of nerds and small children, throws himself into danger with little thought for the consequences, shockingly kind, fantastically mean. He knows this person can't be real, too many contradictions, too many impossibilities.

Enter Steve Harrington.

Eddie knows Steve. Everyone does. And sure, the guy is hot as hell, but the worst kind of douchebag jock, so Eddie never really considers him worth thinking of. And that would probably continue, but his new Hellfire recruits think the sun shines out of Harrington's ass, and apparently Robin Buckley is his best friend. It doesn't add up and Eddie's usually great at math.

Time passes and he starts to get it. He watches Dustin and Harrington do the dorkiest, nerdiest handshake and the joy that contorts Steve's face. It's so fucking beautiful, Eddie has to look away. He comes upon Harrington and Erica Sinclair bickering, both smart-assing, listens to the way Erica giggles about it once she thinks no one can hear. Or when he watches Steve drop Max Mayfield at home--Max who Eddie has never once seen smile, who he's always been just a little bit afraid of--and she's laughing and teasing him, beaming.

It's inevitable when they become friends. Steve is a wonder. Constantly a surprise. So pretty it's like looking directly at the sun. When Steve tells Eddie that he's bisexual, it drops off his tongue with no hint of unease, no consideration for how he's upending Eddie's world view.

One night they're getting high, just the two of them, and he's asking if Steve wants to shotgun and Steve smirks and leans in, and then they're kissing. Doing way more than kissing.

They keep hooking up, but it's nothing. It's Steve Harrington. Steve Harrington who wants the all-American white picket fence, wife, 2.5 kids, and a dog. Not a dnd playing-metalhead-nerd-witch dude. And if Eddie feels himself growing inexplicably more and more fond, well, he's made damn sure love isn't in the cards for him anymore.

They're laying in Eddie's bed one night, Eddie tracing gentle fingers between the moles and freckles on Steve's back.

"That tickles," Steve murmurs. "What are you doing?"

"Mapping the constellations," he whispers.

Steve's laugh vibrates Eddie's ribcage, as does the rumble of his voice saying, "my mom used to do that when I was a kid. Said she was looking for the big dipper."

He presses his lips against the top of Steve's spine to stop from saying something unkind about his parents, who never loved their absolute gift of a son enough, leaving him lonely and forgotten in that big, cold house. He freezes as soon as he has the thought, remembers that spell. It's nothing, of course. The spell was to repel love, not get Steve Harrington into his bed.

They keep sleeping together, spend almost all their time together. Eddie's enamored but it doesn't matter. Steve isn't his, not really, and never will be. Eddie made sure of it.

But one day Steve comes over and sees this old Casio keyboard Gareth brought over.

Steve flips it on, starts hitting notes; at first dicking around, but then sliding into Clare de Lune.

"You play the piano?" Eddie asks. He knows he has a dopey smile on his face, his heart doing something terrible in his chest even though he's not in love.

"Took lessons until I was ten," Steve smiles up at him, blushing when their eyes meet.

Eddie has to walk away or he's going to do something like drop to one knee and propose. Steve keeps playing, transitioning from Debussy to something infinitely sweeter, so sad it makes Eddie's heart ache.

He stands in the doorway to his bedroom for at least thirty seconds, before storming back into the living room. "What are you playing?" he demands.

It startles Steve, whose fingers still as he looks at Eddie with giant eyes. "Uh, I don't know. It gets stuck in my head sometimes. I thought it was Ozzy or Dio or whatever. It only happens when we're together. You don't recognize it?"

Eddie recognizes it. Eddie recognizes it and Steve shouldn't know it. Eddie didn't write it down , just like he didn't write down the words of the spell.

"Get out," he says. Mean because he's trying not to fall apart.

"What? Eds, what're y--"

"No, you need to leave, Harrington. Right fucking now."

"Eddie, tell me what I did. Let me fix it, please."

"Not on you. But you have to go," Eddie is shaking and Steve's eyes fill with tears.

He doesn't fight, though. His mouth pinches and he shoves his way outside.

Eddie panics and cries, tries to remember as much of that fucking spell as he can before Wayne comes home.

The first words out of Wayne's mouth when he sees Eddie curled up on the couch are, "What'd you do this time, kid?"

He spills it all, every last detail, and Wayne listens in silence, eyebrows peaked.

"It's that Harrington boy?" He asks when the tale is told.

"How'd you know?" Eddie asks.

"Are you kidding me? I see the way you look at each other. You love him?"

Eddie nods, burying his face in his knees. "He doesn't want this, though. He only likes me because I fucking spelled him to."

Wayne rests a hand on Eddie's shoulder. "Kid, I thought I taught you magic better than that. Better go make things right while you can. Then we're going to have a long talk."

Eddie wants to ask what the point is in making it right. It's already too late, after what he's done. Still, he makes the drive to Loch Nora.

Steve opens the door in sweatpants and a stretched out t-shirt, his hair undone. He's sad, Eddie realizes.

"You here to tell me what I did yesterday?"

"Like I said, it wasn't you. Can I come in?"

Steve nods, steps aside.

"Well?" Steve prompts.

Eddie explains exactly what he did four years ago, what it lead them to. When he finishes, he braces for Steve's anger, for yelling. Instead, Steve throws his head back and laughs.

"You're not mad?" Eddie asks. "Or you're so mad that all you can do is laugh?"

"Not mad," Steve confirms.

"Why not? How can you trust me now? Trust this?" He gestures between them.

"I don't know, dude. It's not like you...designed me, or something. I didn't wake up one day when I was fifteen with a bunch of new moles. I told you about my mom. Plus, that would be medically concerning. And I definitely already had crushes on other boys. So, you didn't make me bi."

"What about being kind? What about the kids and being protective?"

Steve just shrugs. "I think a lot of that was due to Nancy, but I guess I can't stay it wasn't the spell."

"You're too calm about this. I took away your free will!"

"Did you?" Steve raises an eyebrow, way too unbothered. "Maybe the spell brought us together. Took a damn long time to do it, but I don't feel like I have no choice in this." He turns more towards Eddie, taking his hands. "I like what we have. But if you don't feel that way, we can end it."

It's Eddie's turn to laugh. "Not feel that way? Harrington, I don't know if you've heard, but you're the man of my dreams. I am, unfortunately, wildly in love with you. I just--this isn't what you want, right? Not forever. You want a wife. Kids. All that shit."

"Who says? We could have a family, Eds, if we want. Hell, we already do! We're raising six kids. And, yeah, maybe I will decide I want a wife and all that one day. I'm 90% sure nothing magical is stopping me. The only thing that is, the thing that matters, is that I want you. Not because of a spell." Steve smiles, face turning a delicious pink. "But because I love you too."

He squeezes his eyes shut to force back the tears that want to fall, kisses Steve instead. Their mouths slide together in perfect sync, and Eddie wants to get lost in it forever; in Steve's lips on his, the snag of his teeth, the way he clutches at Eddie's curls.

When they pull apart, Steve starts laughing again. "I can't believe I'm your perfect man."

"Oh my god," Eddie's face flares with heat. "You have to forget this ever happened. Your ego's too big as it is."

"Nah, this? This I'm remembering forever."

They kiss for a long time before Steve says, "I think I understand why that song was so sad now. You should write us a new one."

Eddie pulls Steve close, thinking that he'll write Steve whatever he wants for the rest of their lifetime.

#steddie #eddie x steve #steve harrington #eddie munson #practical magic au #eddie munson is a witch #wayne munson is a witch #i put a spell on you #spell casting shenanigans #steve harrington is eddie's impossible dream guy #musical spell casting #angst #happy ending #magic #ficlet #one shot #good uncle wayne munson #steve harrington plays the piano

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dwobbitfromtheshire · 5 months

Text

Stuck Between a Jock and a Metalhead

Summary: Nancy, on a whim, decides to visit Steve at Scoops Ahoy, which leads to her overhearing confessions from Steve that leads her to think about the decisions she's made. A few days later, she decides to come back. She finds him being hit on by the town freak. What's a girl to do? Oh, get stuck in a freezer with the both of them.

TW for SA. Yes, even though Jonathan didn't touch her, it was a form of sexually violation. We don't bring this up enough or the fact that Nancy shoved her feelings about it aside and then slept with him after being convinced to. It wasn't fair to all parties involved, but most importantly, Nancy and Steve, that this was how they started out. Yes, Steve was violated, too. I will be addressing that in another chapter. If you're going to do this in fiction, address it so all parties can have closure. Anyways, this chapter is dedicated to my fellow SA victims. Yes, I am a victim of SA, and some of my feelings bleed through there. This is for me and others like me. I also felt like I needed to do it for Nancy and her character, whose agency is constantly being taken away. She was in control when she slept with Steve but not when Jonathan took her picture and it was certainly in question when she slept with Jonathan. People always flip it around so Jonathan doesn't look quite so bad. Sorry, this is so long. I hope I did Nancy justice.

Chapter One - Chapter Two - Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Jonathan wanted to give Nancy her stuff back, which was awkward, to say the least. Unfortunately, he got called into the Hawkins' Post when Nancy showed up, and so, he left her with Will. It was another awkward moment. What do you say to the person who's older brother you dumped?

"I'm glad you and Jonathan are able to be friends," Will said.

"What? Oh, yeah, me too," Nancy said and paused. "You're not upset with me for breaking up with him, are you?"

"No! I mean, it sucks but if things aren't working out between you, you shouldn't make yourselves miserable trying to make it work," Will said. "Jonathan told me some of what happened, not all of it, and he's glad that it went the way that it did. It could have gone much worse. The fact that you still want to be friends with him means something to me, too. I'm glad that he'll have someone to hang out with who isn't me."

"Yeah, me too," Nancy said softly.

"Of course, I understand if it's still awkward. If you want to leave before he comes back, he said your stuff was in a drawer in his room," Will said.

"That'd be great, actually. I promised Holly I would take her to the mall. I thought I would surprise her with an old friend," Nancy said.

"Steve?" Will asked.

"Yeah," she said and turned to head towards Jonathan's room.

"Nancy?" Will asked.

"Yeah?"

"You're a great big sister," Will said.

Nancy was grinning from ear to ear when she entered the room. While it was true that Dustin was her favorite and apparently, Steve’s as well, she did have a soft spot for Will, too. Nancy hummed thoughtfully as she looked around the room. She pulled out the bottom drawer of Jonathan's desk. Nope, she didn't see anything that looked like it belonged to her. Just to make sure, she pressed her hand to the back of the drawer. Nancy frowned when she came into contact with a small cylindrical object. Curious, she pulled it out. It was one of Jonathan's rolls of film. She wondered what was on here. Her curiosity won over, and she unrolled it, holding it up to the light. Her heart stopped. No, these photos were destroyed. Jonathan wouldn't still have copies? The proof was in her hand, though. He had somehow kept them.

She vaguely heard the front door open and the sound of Joyce's voice filtering in from the other room. Nancy knelt on the floor, still clutching the evidence in her hand. Everything had happened so fast then. . . Will went missing. . .Barb went missing. . . There was a monster on the loose, and she didn't have time to think about Jonathan taking those pictures. It wasn't just of her. It was of Tommy, Carol. . .Steve. She thought back to their argument in the woods.

"You said I was saying something, and that's why you took my picture," Nancy said.

"I saw this girl trying to be someone else. It was like you were alone or you thought you were, and you could just be yourself," Jonathan had said, and as she thought about it, that was fucking creepy.

You were alone, or you thought you were. No, there was someone in the bushes taking a picture of her most private intimate moment.

"That is such bullshit," Nancy had told him. "I am not trying to be someone else. Just because I'm dating Steve and you don't like him - "

"You know what? I just thought it was a good picture," Jonathan said.

So, him saying earlier before that he shouldn't have taken that photo that had been just bullshit? The more Nancy really thought about it, the more she realized how wrong it all was. . . How wrong Jonathan was and how he wasn't even sorry for taking that photo. He had invaded her privacy, not just hers but Steve’s as well. She felt sick to her stomach. She had slept with someone who didn't care about whether or not her privacy had been violated and who didn't understand the boundaries he had crossed even with his reason for doing it. Keeping the copies of the photos had proven that. And she had gotten mad at Steve for breaking his camera when he was just defending her and himself. She thought about Jonathan's hands all over her, and she wanted to be sick. She kept pushing it away, pushing it down and pretending like what Jonathan did wasn't that bad. She had gotten mad at Steve for wanting to pretend that everything was okay for one night when it was really her who was pretending and laying it all on Steve, too.

"I saw this girl trying to be someone else."

"This isn't you, Nance."

Why wasn't it her? Why was sleeping with Steve. . .being with Steve wasn't for her? Why couldn't everyone see that it didn't matter what it looked like on the outside to them? On the inside, Nancy wanted to be with him. . .wanted to make love to him. It only mattered what she wanted, what Steve wanted. They made the assumption that she didn't really want Steve, and without even really realizing it, she started to believe it, too. She had always been a planner when it came to the things that had mattered to her. She had planned on being with him the moment he started talking to her. She had made plans to sleep with him. All that she wanted was for it to mean something to him, and it did. When she told him to stop, he did. When it came down to it, Steve had made sure that it was her who made the first move when it came to initiating sex because he knew she felt more comfortable taking control and he wanted it to be what she wanted. . .the way she wanted it.

Sure, she had feelings for Jonathan, but she hadn't planned on sleeping with him. . .on acting on her feelings because something had been holding her back. It hadn't been just Steve, but it had been the most important part. She had been slightly drunk that night and filled with a euphoria that her plan to take down the lab was going to work. . .that she was finally going to get justice for Barb. She had wanted it to be Steve beside her. She had been set on believing that she had been settling for Steve, but maybe it was the other way around. Maybe she was just settling for Jonathan. God, she was an awful person. The sound of Joyce walking down the hallway with Will broke Nancy out of her thoughts.

"Why are you here without Jonathan?" Joyce asked.

"I'm not alone. Nancy's here. Jonathan had gotten called to the Post. Nancy came here to collect her stuff," Will said.

"Oh, that's always tough," she heard Joyce say, and then she popped her head into the room. "Nancy, honey? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Really," Nancy said weakly.

"I would believe that if you weren't crying," Joyce said.

Nancy hadn't even noticed it until she had pointed it out. She touched her cheek and realized it was wet.

"Oh, I am crying," Nancy said. "He kept this."

"What is that? Is this one of Jonathan's film strips?" Joyce asked. "Full of sentimental photos?"

"I wouldn't call them sentimental," Nancy scoffed.

"May I see?" Joyce asked softly.

She really didn't want to, but she knew Joyce, and she knew how determined she could be. She released the roll into her hands, biting her lip. Joyce held the strip up to the light. Nancy watched her pale considerably, and she rolled it back up. Joyce turned to Will, who was standing in the doorway looking concerned.

"Will, go into your room and blast the music," Joyce said. "I don't want you to hear any of this."

"Mom - ," Will started to say and she gave him a look.

Will looked at Nancy and then wandered off toward his room. A moment later, they heard the music blasting.

"Do you drink coffee?" Joyce asked softly.

"Yeah," Nancy said.

Joyce helped her off the floor and walked her into the kitchen. She started the coffee and placed a box of tissues in front of Nancy. The roll of film was placed on the table, and honestly, it felt like it was staring at Nancy. Suddenly, Joyce set a steaming mug in front of her.

"Do you want me to call your mom?" Joyce asked softly.

"What? No, I'm okay," Nancy said.

"I understand if you wanted to press charges against Jonathan," Joyce said gently.

"Press charges?" Nancy asked.

"For taking those photos of you with Steve. That was Steve’s house, right? The night Barbara died?" Joyce asked. "Look, when Hopper gets busy with work, he usually comes over to complain about Mike and El. If you feel that it's what you need to do, I'm not going to be mad at you, sweetheart."

"I couldn't do that to you and Will," Nancy said and sipped her coffee.

"So, what do you want to do?" Joyce asked.

"I just want to move forward, but I need time to let myself feel all of this. When Barb died, I tried so hard to pretend that everything was alright, that what he did was okay because, in a way, it led to us finding Will. We knew what happened to Barb. I pushed what he did to the back of my mind. He captured me in my most intimate moment. It was my first time with Steve. . . With anyone," Nancy said. "And the bigger picture was Will and Barb. It made it easier to focus on that and push everything else aside. It was too much on top of everything else."

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart," Joyce said.

"I understand, I think, why he did it," Nancy said.

"You do?"

"He spends so much time behind the camera that he can't see the boundary line, and in some way, I think he uses that to keep people at arms length but at the same time, trying to get to know them. And I understand that he probably doesn't even know that he crossed a boundary, that it's harder for him to recognize that. He uses the camera to push people away, and sometimes, in doing so, it hurts them because it's easier to do the wrong thing in order to protect yourself from being hurt. I think if he just steps out from behind the camera, he'd get a clearer picture," Nancy sighed.

"I noticed that too," Joyce said softly.

"I know all of that and know he wasn't intentionally trying to hurt me, but he did. He crossed a line, and I just need time, I think, to be around him again," Nancy said. "I don't know how to do that, considering I work with him."

"You leave that to me," she said, patting her hand and squeezing it gently.

"I think it wouldn't have been so hard right now if I hadn't acted on my feelings for him," Nancy said.

"I think it would help you if you talked about it with someone. It doesn't have to be your mom, but it might be better if it was," Joyce said softly.

Joyce didn't say anything else, just squeezed her hand as they finished drinking their coffee in silence. A moment later, they heard Jonathan come through the door, and judging by the sound of his voice, Hopper had arrived at the same time that Jonathan did. They immediately noticed the tension in the room.

"What's going on? Nancy?" Jonathan asked, and she refused to look at him. "Is that my film? Did you go through my things?"

"Oh, getting mad about your invasion of privacy is not something that you want to do right now, Jonathan Byers," Joyce said.

Nancy's jaw clenched, and her cheeks flushed with anger. She picked up the film, stood up, and chucked at him. It bounced off his head and landed near Hopper's feet.

"You asshole! You kept copies of the photos!" Nancy shrieked.

Joyce placed her hands on Nancy's arms, rubbing them in comfort.

"Nancy, honey, I got this," Joyce said.

Hopper picked up the film and unrolled it, held it up to the light.

"Jesus," Hopper said, and his jaw clenched, his eyes looking at Jonathan in anger. "Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you would be in if anyone else found these? Do you have any idea what you did to Steve and Nancy by taking these photos? Do you know what this photo is?"

"It's just a picture, and I forgot I had them," Jonathan said.

He actually looked guilty, and Nancy wondered if he actually felt bad about taking them or that he got caught.

"They're just pictures," Jonathan repeated.

"Considering both Nancy and Steve were underage at the time. . . You were, weren't you?" Hopper asked, and Nancy nodded. "That's child pornogrophy! Even if Nancy didn't charge you, I would still have to arrest you for that alone. Not to mention taking the photos of the other kids involved without their consent. I could add harassment charges to that as well as trespassing. With what a hard ass Steve’s dad is, he could throw everything at you, and he would have the resources to do it, too."

"I was looking for Will," Jonathan said defensively.

"The minute you started snapping these photos is the minute that you stopped thinking about Will, so don't use your brother to try and escape the fact that you fucked up," Joyce said and sighed.

"Do you want to press charges?" Hopper asked Nancy.

"No, I just want to go home," Nancy said.

She suddenly realized that she wasn't all that angry right, she was mostly just tired. Just so drained of everything. Maybe she'll be angry later.

"Hop, do you want to take Nancy home, please? I want to talk to Jonathan," Nancy said.

"Sure," Hop said and looked at Nancy softly as he pocketed the film. "Come on, kid."

The first few minutes of the ride back home was a silent one at first.

"You going to be okay, kid?" Hopper asked.

"I thought it didn't bother me what he did. I thought it was Steve who was overreacting when he broke Jonathan's camera, but maybe it was me who was underreacting. I want to forgive him, but I think I need to feel everything that I've been pushing away right now," Nancy said. "In time, I think I will be okay."

"I've seen you take on anything. You're one of the strongest kids I know," Hopper said. "You're definitely going to get through this. You got someone to talk to? I'm terrible at giving advice, but I've got two ears."

Nancy laughed as she thought about Steve and Eddie.

"Yeah, I've got friends," she replied.

They fell into silence again as she thought about what she was going to tell Steve and Eddie.

"So, Steve broke Jonathan's camera, huh? Good for him," Hopper said, and Nancy laughed. "You know, I have to ask Steve, too. I'm not going to arrest Jonathan either. I can't with the pictures that are also on the film."

"I know," Nancy said softly. "Steve would never tell his dad, by the way. He hates his dad."

Once they made it to her house, she climbed out of the vehicle and thanked him before entering her house. Karen was busy doing laundry, so Nancy quietly climbed the stairs to her bedroom, where she threw herself onto her bed. There was a tiny knock on her door, and she smiled when Holly's blonde head popped into the room.

"Nancy?" Holly asked, and suddenly Nancy remembered that she was supposed to take Holly to the mall.

"I'm sorry, Holly, I know I was supposed to take you to the mall, but I don't really feel good right now," Nancy said. "Can we do it tomorrow?"

"Okay! I'll be right back," Holly said.

When she came back, her arms were full with her blanket, pillow, and stuffed rabbit. She threw them on the bed and struggled to climb on up.

"What are you doing?" Nancy asked.

"Moving up my nap time, duh," Holly said. "You can snuggle with Bobby since you don't feel so good."

Nancy smiled as she held her rabbit to her chest while Holly snuggled into her side. God, she wanted to stay like this forever. She couldn't wait to spend time with her tomorrow. It will be a brand new day and one step closer to a new beginning.

Chapter Five

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sixofpomegranates · 2 years

Text

☠︎ Tutor ☠︎

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Carver!Fem!Reader

Word count: 13K (it's a long one | That's what she said.)

Summary: Trading tutoring for guitar lessons, Reader’s hopeless crush on the towns freak doesn't seem so hopeless after all.

☞ Picture does not describe the looks of the reader!

A/N: !Body & Skin color Neutral! Reader! IMPORTANT: Jason is also still alive. Reader is Jason's cousin and grew up with Robin as her best friend. They worked together with Steve at Scoops Ahoy.

CW: Smut, Fluff, Angst 18+| Eddie (Bullying/Self-Deprecation/Feeling of not being good enough) It is implied that Eddie has ADHD or is at least in the spectrum, [y/n] (Rich Parents not supporting your dreams/Shady family wealth-white supremacists) Mentions of Vecna/Chrissy/S4/Near-death experience/Scars/Nightmares, Pining, Drugs & use of (Weed), Making-out, Fingering, Penetrative Sex (Virginity/Loss of virginity, Unprotected, Creampie)

Pinning my tutoring flyer on the board in school, I sigh. Another year of tutoring to have more than this couple of peanuts my parents consider my pocket money, I guess.

Fun fact, it's called pocket money because it's little enough to fit in your pockets, even if Dad gives it to you in pennies.

But okay, I want something, I'm eighteen, and I am able to earn the money for it. Sure, my uncle and aunt just bought Jason a new car because our family name's soaked in wealth, and apparently, we think that the price of a dead girlfriend is exactly the same as for an Audi 5000CS Turbo Quattro; but okay...

If anyone in my family would know that the disaster that was March and the giant earthquake were actually a real-life boogie man coming to collect teens; and that there was something the kids I tutored over the last years called 'The Upside Down', I'd get my guitar lessons paid within the blink of an eye...

But Robin, Steve, and Nancy were very clear about why I've got to keep it to myself.

So no hero status or guitar lessons for me, only tutoring either a child that Steve will adopt the second it comes into his five-mile radius or a stupid jock that will try flirting with me every session and stare at my cleavage instead of his books.

Simply not fair.

As somebody reaches past me to grab my flyer, I jump so severely that my headphones fall off my ears, and the smell of marihuana fills my nose.

"Jesus," I mutter, turning to the person behind me and meeting the face of Hawkins's most hated man. Eddie Munson.

March has fucked up everyone; me being particularly jumpy and having my walkman on all the time is actually one of the better outcomes.

Eddie is now hated by most. They couldn't link him to a satanic cult (Just officially named him a freak and loser that likes dungeons and dragons, which seems to be a gateway drug to demon worshipping now...) and with the government and Chief Hopper's help, they also stopped trying to convict him of Chrissy's murder, but the town hates him.

They still believe he has something to do with it, whether proven innocent or not.

How he still makes it through the day, a big smile on his lips, truly baffles me.

"So, you're tutoring?" he asks, not looking up from my flyer. I nod. "Yeah, need the money."

"You only tutor the freshmen or..." "Everyone's welcome," I smile, turning off my music. "Even the full-on, nonconformist metalheads."

Cocking his head, he raises his eyebrows. "You really think you could help me pass chemistry with Kaminsky?"

"Depends." "On what?" I grin. "If you pay for your lessons."

Faking a heartbroken reaction, he giggles. "And that after I saved you from being demobat food. I'm a hero, y'know?"

Shrugging, I pin another flyer on the board. "Well, Munson, what can I say? We are living in a material world, and I am a material girl."

Eddie pulls a face as though he is about to vomit. "Gross, don't Madonna me."

"I Madonna as much as I like to," I laugh, punching his chest gently. "So, chemistry, anything else you'd need help with?"

That is when the bell announces lunch. I watch the metalhead tense up before me but still trying to play it cool.

"Uhm, we can talk about it while having lunch," I offer, but he shakes his head. "Nah, I- They throw stuff at me when I enter the cafeteria, so I'll just relax outside a little," he tells me, still smiling, but his eyes can't hide anything.

He's afraid.

"Yeah, sure," I smile back. "After school?"

The hallway starts to fill with students, and Eddie becomes visibly uneasy. He already begins removing himself from the conversation, turning around only to lift his flyer. "After school," he calls over to me and vanishes in the crowd.

*****

After school, I wait outside for Eddie, having him see me and smile from afar, ditching Dusting and Mike while they're still talking to him and running up to me.

"Hey, Carver," he says teasingly, making me smile. "Hey, Edward."

He nods, knowing he deserves the comeback. "You shall be forgiven."

"Okay, business talk. What classes do you need help with?" I ask, looking around. My parents insist on my cousin driving me home for safety, and I really want to avoid Jason seeing me with Eddie.

"Well, chemistry is currently the biggest problem. Have you heard of Kaminsky's All-or-Nothing Test?" I nod. "That's the one you have to take if you screwed up every other test-" Realization washes over me. "Oh, Eddie."

He smiles at me apologetically, cheeks turning a little pink.

"Why didn't you say something earlier? I- We could've studied together."

He shrugs. "To be fair, I know we were in the Upside Down together and stuff, but I didn't think we'd know each other enough to ask."

True, we don't. I'd only ever seen Eddie from afar in school or at the mall. And before all hell broke loose with Chrissy's death and those bat-things nearly killing him, I'd actually been massively intimidated by him.

He is loud, handsome, and definitely a little crazy; that had been enough to keep me away.

But since the Upside Down... That place and all that comes with it – let's just say it helps you forget your social status and makes you become allies even with the handsomely crazy ones.

"I- I still would've helped you if you'd asked. You have to graduate this year, or else-" He interrupts me. "I know. I just didn't want to be a burden. Like, 'Oh, you killed a bat for me, now I have to study with you.'"

"You're not a burden, Munson," I tell him, looking into his warm, brown eyes.

"Heard different things before, and you only say that because you haven't tried studying with me yet," he grins. "So, how much per lesson?"

"How bout a deal?" I ask him back before all bravery can leave me. Eddie's lips split into a gorgeous but mischievous smile. "Oh, I'm good at dealing."

"I swear if you pull out your lunch-" Before I can end my sentence, he's already pulled out the black metal box containing his drugs.

"Eddie, you're not paying me with drugs," I tell him sternly, forcing him to put the lunchbox back into his backpack.

"It's good stuff," he tries to assure me, but I shake my head, hardly able to bite back a grin. "And I still don't want it."

After a final try at handing me the metal box, he shrugs, putting it away.

"You play guitar, right?" I ask him as if I haven't been part of the most metal concert the Upside Down has ever experienced. "How bought instead of paying me, you teach me? I wanted to take classes with that money anyway."

He blinks at me a couple of times before letting out a loud, excited laugh. "Y-Yeah. Totally. I- I taught it myself, so if I can learn it, you can learn it."

"Cool," I answer. He scratches the back of his head, echoing me, "Cool."

We stare at each other for a moment, somehow not knowing what to say. God, this is awkward, isn't it? Am I making it awkward?

Quickly clearing my throat, I announce, "I'm babysitting Mike and Holly tonight, and the Wheelers always allow me to bring company. So, bring your books, and we'll see how bad the situation actually is."

Eddie smiles, as he almost always does. It is actually quite distracting. "Okay. Uhm, then I meet you there at...?"

"Six," I blurt out, then giggle a little anxious. "Six. Great," he chuckles in reply.

Before either of us can say another word, our attention is drawn to a small group of jocks, Jason being their leader, on their way to us and their cars.

"I'm gonna drive the kids home," Eddie tells me, still smiling as if he could hide the real reason he wants to leave. I grant him the illusion of having fooled me, smiling, "Okay. See you tonight."

I watch him hurry away, get Mike, Lucas, and Dustin – including their bikes – into his van, and drive off. Jason rushes now closer, having seen us from afar. He lays his arm around my shoulder, pulling me uncomfortably close.

Maybe I'd felt safe being protected by him when I was five, but now I only see the always returning, dangerous paranoia in him. The way he brutally beat Lucas, saying he protected Max but left them both behind as the Upside Down ripped through the old Creel house... He isn't the same person he was before Chrissy died anymore.

"Hey, was the freak bothering you?" I struggle out of Jason's hold, walking to his car. "No, he wasn't, and don't call him that."

He opens the car, throwing his backpack into the backseat. "Come one, [y/n]. You know this guy's a satanic cult leader and murderer. Think of what he did to Chrissy."

It always spins back to this. It always becomes religious. Religion, whichever you pick, can be beautiful, but unstable people will always find a way to turn it into a weapon for their insane reasoning.

"He didn't do a thing to Chrissy, and you know it," I tell Jason, hating that I can't just explain everything to him. I honestly don't even think he would believe me. He's too far gone.

"I know what I saw," he insists as we sit in the car, harshly gripping my wrist. "Around him, things happen. Strange things, evil things."

His fixation on Eddie never eased, even after he was proven innocent. Jason believes in everything being the fault of the sweet metalhead, simply because he was in the wrong place, with the wrong person, at the wrong time.

"You need some serious therapy before this whole town joins your bullshit again, and we have a second Salem witch trial on our hands," I snarl at my cousin, ripping my wrist from his grasp.

The more delusional he becomes, the more violent even his slightest actions become.

"I'm just watching out for you," Jason tries to explain, driving out of the school's parking lot. "Do me a favor and don't," I ask of him, looking out of the window.

My conversation-ending tone, however, isn't enough for him. As if he could frighten me with his tough-guy act, he threatens, "Stay away from Munson, or I'm telling your parents."

I nod. "Well, in that case, I'm telling Aunt Iris and Uncle Frank of how you faked a house break-in to hide the aftermath of your School's Out Party '84."

The discussion finally dies. Jason turns on the radio, listening to the religious station he's recently so obsessed with, and I continue staring out the window, watching cars pass us by.

*****

After getting Holly to say goodbye to her parents, I tuck her in and walk into Nancy's bedroom. I sit beside Robin on the bed while Nancy does her makeup at her vanity.

"Hey, Nance? You think you could borrow me your notes for Kaminsky's class?" I ask as she is done putting on mascara.

"Yeah, here," she smiles, handing me her pink folder. "So you're really tutoring tonight instead of going out with us?"

I roll my eyes, laughing. "And I am babysitting, so you can go out."

"And we're very thankful for that," Robin snickers, styling the mane of the little plush zebra on Nancy's bed. "So, who's the poor soul fucking up chemistry?"

"Eddie," I answer, looking at the folder to avoid meeting their eyes.

"Oh, so it's that kind of a study date," Nancy says, and I meet her grin through the mirror.

"What? No. He needs help with Kaminsky's All-or-Nothing Test, and in exchange, he'll teach me how to play guitar," I begin explaining myself, but Robin nudges my arm, rolling on her back.

"Funny, 'cause when Steve needed tutoring, you were very clear about not being into trades, even when he offered you free ice cream."

"She's right," Nancy giggles, agreeing with Robin.

"No, she's not. I worked at Scoops myself, so I didn't need free ice cream. Eddie plays guitar exceptionally well, and I wanted to pay for classes with the money I would've earned. Two birds with one stone."

"And it has nothing to do with you having the hots for Munson?" Robin asks me deadpanned, and I fall silent. I feel my face heat up and shake my head.

Rolling back onto her stomach, Robin smacks my arm. "Oh, come on. [y/n], we grew up together. Journey, Led Zepplin, Dio, Black Sabbath... The phase when we were thirteen, and you were dead set on marrying Eddie Van Halen? How you drooled every time Munson passed Scoops when we were working?"

Nancy laughs loudly, and I shrug, regretting always telling Robin everything, although I know she can't keep secrets for longer than thirty minutes.

"So... I may have a type. That doesn't mean I have the hots for Eddie," I blatantly lie, Robin raising her eyebrows and grinning at me. "Which Eddie? Ours or Van Halen?"

"Fuck you," I cuss, making her only hug me and laugh at the fact that I never really curse.

Knocking on the door, Steve comes in, scanning Nancy up and down. "Hey, are you ready to leave? Mike is talking to El on the phone, and I'm getting really bored alone downstairs."

She nods, and so we all make our way downstairs. I send Mike to his room, telling him to call Eleven from the phone upstairs and walk to the front door with my friends.

Steve opens the door, almost bumping into Eddie, who was about to knock. "Munson," Steve says, surprised. "Harrington," Eddie replies, also greeting the other two. "Robin, Nancy."

His eyes fall on me, and I smile, "Hey. You got your books?" He nods, lifting his black backpack. I step aside, letting him in, "The living room's to the left. I'll be there in a second."

As Eddie can't hear us anymore, Robin grins, wiggling her eyebrows.

I ignore her. "Bye, guys. Have fun." "You too. Do nothing I wouldn't do," she cackles. I raise a brow as she hugs me. "Do I need to remind you that you're gay?"

Sticking her tongue out at me, she drags Steve to the car, Nancy already warming it up.

"Isn't Eddie coming with us?" he asks, confused, Robin wiggling her eyebrows again. "He and [y/n] are having a study date."

Steve's mom-mode kicks in the second he hears that. "Should we stay and help them study?" "Go to the movies," I insist. "Please, I can't work with you eyeing us down."

"You're staying in the living room and do nothing any of us would do. Except for Nancy. You can do what Nancy does," Steve tells me sternly.

I raise my eyebrows. "So, I'm allowed to have a shotgun and shoot Vecna?"

"No?" he asked me as though I'm completely nuts. "You can study. Nothing else."

"Yeah, no dirty couch sex," Robing calls over, making Nancy look mortified. "Robin," she exclaims, then looks at me with a pleading gaze, "Please don't have sex on my couch."

"I hate all three of you," I tell them, closing the front door just in time to hear Robin call after me, "Nah, you love us."

Shaking my head, I return to the living room, where Eddie is busy walking and looking around.

As he notices me, he grins. "I like this place." I smile back. "Yeah, the Wheelers have good taste."

Stretching his arms out, he spins slowly in the living room. "It's so big. I mean, look at this. All of this is the living room, and nobody sleeps here."

"Your uncle sleeps on the couch?" I ask without thinking, quickly regretting my question.

Eddie's cheeks become red, and he stops what he's doing. "Folding bed, but it's a good one..." he tries assuring me, voice falling flat with embarrassment.

I smile at him, sitting down on the carpet and unpacking my study materials on the coffee table. Grabbing his hand, I make Eddie sit beside me and hand him Nancy's pink folder.

"Y-You have a pretty handwriting," he compliments me while flipping through it. "Oh, those are Nancy's notes. She's so anal about them," I tell him, handing him some of my notes for comparison. "That's mine. Not that clean."

After staring at them for a few seconds, he looks at me. "Huh. Like yours better."

"Charmer," I say, my face becoming hot again. To distract, I hand Eddie my chemistry book. "Here."

"What are we doing?" Eddie asks as I hand him a bunch of sticky notes.

"We're transferring my notes into your book. I like to use those to write down simplifications, extra notes, and explanations, and then I stick them on my pages. I also color-coordinate the highlighter I use with the color of my sticky notes. I believe it's more comfortable to learn if it's easier on the eyes..."

Feeling Eddie stare at me, I stop talking, look back at him, and ask, "What?" He chuckles, shaking his head. "Nothing, just... thanks."

*****

"Wrong again. Maybe we should focus on-" After hours, I finally feel my patience running thin. "Eddie?"

"Huh?" He asks as though he hasn't been staring at me for the last five minutes.

Fuck, am I so boring that he starts zoning out?

"I was talking to you. I- Can you please try to concentrate?" I ask him, smiling, trying not to sound offended.

He nods, stretching a little before leaning over our books again. "Totally. Yeah. Sure. Sorry."

As he answers the question wrong again, a deep frown appears on his face. I sigh, putting my pen down. "Okay. How bout a break? I'll need to get Mike to go to bed anyway."

He nods, almost relieved, and I make my way upstairs. After some debating and a non-verbal threat, I take the phone out of Mike's room, and it's lights out as his parents requested. I know he'll still stay up some hours reading his comics, but I'm willing to let that slip.

When I come back into the living room, Eddie's gone. Instead, he sits outside on the porch, smoking.

"Hey, is that marihuana?" Of course, it is. He smiles at me charmingly. "It's just a little pot to help me concentrate," he says as if I wasn't about to jump his throat.

A wave of anger rushes over me. "Are you even taking the whole thing seriously? I mean, I've been sitting in there for three and a half hours, trying to teach you something, and the first chance you get, you run outside to get high."

I walk back inside, starting to pack my stuff. I apparently thought too highly of Eddie due to my years of crushing on him. I should've known he wasn't taking it seriously, but I just made a fool out of myself.

I hear fast footsteps behind me. "Hey, hey, [y/n]. Look, I'm sorry. I really just smoked some to concentrate." I turn around, and Eddie steps closer, pleading, "[y/n], please. I have no reason to lie to you. I promise I want to learn."

"Didn't seem like it," I murmur, and he nods.

"I- I know. It's- I struggle to focus, always have. If something isn't interesting enough, my brain just shuts off and then does silly little things it finds more interesting – like counting the little daisies on your top."

We both look down on my shirt and then at each other.

"Please, let's try it again. I swear, no more drugs, and you get me on my best behavior," he asks of me, giving me this distracting big smile again while he cups my cheeks.

"Okay," I nod, without even thinking twice. "Okay?" I nod again. "Okay, Munson. Sit down."

We sit back down, and for the next minutes, I could swear he tries really hard. But as we start working on a practicing sheet with many questions on it, his concentration seems to crumble again.

"I- I'm sorry. I think I mixed the questions up," Eddie mumbles, angry at himself.

"You always keep looking down on the next question while solving the one above," I observe, and he nods. I hand him an empty piece of paper. "Here, try that."

He holds it up, confused. "A piece of paper?" I take it, laying it over his worksheet. "As a divider. We cover the next questions, so you can't look at them."

From here on out, it actually seems to work. Yet, I yawn, exhausted from the hours of work before.

"I'm hopeless, aren't I?" Eddie asks, grinning at me. "No. I'm just tired," I answer. "You're actually doing well."

His grin becomes wider. "I so do not believe you." He gives me a gentle shove, making me giggle, "I'm serious. Especially now that we stopped you from mixing up the questions."

"Do you think I'll pass the test?" This time Eddie seems more serious; there is no smile on his face that would indicate that he has any hopes for it. "If you study enough... I mean, Kaminsky's tests are super hard, but like, I'll help you as much as you need me to."

"Nice way to say that I'm fucked, Sweetheart," he coos, hand moving up to my face again. His cold rings burn on my hot cheeks. "You have to study for your own finals. I can't have you hold my hand through my own mess."

"Eddie, I have my studies down and don't mind helping you," I tell him, although I'd rather whine as he removes his hand. I wish he would've left it there.

"Hey, you know what my mom made me do whenever I wanted to achieve something?" I ask him, taking one of Holly's green sheets of crafting paper and folding it in half. "Goal cards. Write down the reason you want to graduate."

"The reason? I'd say because I'm twenty and can't repeat class again?" He deadpans, making me shake my head.

"Not like that. I meant the hopes you have." Licking my lips, I admit, "Like, when I was thirteen, I made one, saying I wanted to learn how to play guitar. Inside I wrote that I was doing it to become a famous musician and marry Eddie Van Halen. Even glued a picture of him in it."

Eddie is quiet for a moment, then bursts into laughter. I shove him. "Stop laughing. I'm trying to help you here."

He nods, whipping away some tears, "Uh-huh." "Fuck you," I tell him in fake appall.

Eddie collects himself, shoving me back and mocking me, "Oh, such big words from such a proper little lady."

As calmness returns to the room, he grabs his pen and the card, opening it. He stares at it for a while, pen ever so often pushing onto the paper, but no words come out.

"Do I have to write it down?" he asks me, a little defeated, this time without a smile. "If you want, you can tell me, and I'll write it down for you," I offer, and he hands it over to me.

Eddie is silent for a while, caught in deep thoughts. Suddenly he says, "I- I want to graduate, so I'm not ending up like my dad."

I look up at him, not yet writing. He continues to explain himself, "He dropped out, married his high school sweetheart, and just barely got by with petty crimes or – you know – selling drugs and stealing cars. Then mom died, and he just spiraled, became violent..."

As his voice loses its strength, I ask, "Where's he now?"

Eddie shrugs. "Does it matter? Prison? Maybe dead?" he says. "Uncle Wayne took me in after CPS contacted him about my dad breaking my arm when he was high... He told his younger brother to fuck off, and we haven't heard from him since."

We're quiet. I don't know what to say. I can't even remember his parents. I only know the version of Eddie that he is now.

"I changed my mind," he then says, tapping on his goal card. "Write that I wanna be a better nephew to Wayne... Don't wanna be a burden anymore, a fuck-up."

I shake my head. "Eddie, you're not a burden. Your uncle loves you."

He nods. "And I only disappoint him. I can't even fucking finish high school. I sit in my room all day, preparing for my D&D campaigns or playing guitar. I sell drugs to assholes that love beating the crap out of me for being a freak, and now I am also a satanic cult leader with demonic powers that murdered Chrissy and two other guys I didn't even know... Yeah, [y/n]. I totally don't sound like a burden."

I'm shocked at how low Eddie seems to actually think of himself. Behind this always smiling and joking façade, there seem to hide years of self-hatred and a, probably trained by his father and the school system, thought of being a worthless burden.

"You took in freshmen, nerdy little kids that don't fit in. You let them be part of your club so they wouldn't have to be alone or get bullied," I argue, having him shrug. "Somebody had to. People can be real assholes."

"You saved Hawkins." "Not like I can tell anyone about it."

I smile a little, "Well, you also saved me from those bats, almost getting killed while trying." "Matter, of course. Everyone would've done that."

I shake my head, "No, they wouldn't, and you know it. Jason didn't care for Lucas or Max, even though he claimed to have beaten Lucas to protect her. He just pissed himself, ran away, and saved his own ass."

Eddie gives me a half-hearted smile and lays his hand on mine, patting it several times. I close the cart and hand it to him. "How about you keep your goal card and write something inside it once it feels right, okay?"

He nods, putting it between the pages of his book where I think it will get forgotten. Then he opens the book on one of the other chapters, pointing at something.

"Can we go over that E cell stuff again?" He asks, clearly wanting to change the subject. I nod. He's been open enough for one evening. "Sure."

After learning for another hour, I fall asleep, face on the coffee table. When I wake up, Eddie is gone, only his leather jacket draped over me like a blanket. In my book, I find a small note asking me to study with him at his place on Friday.

*****

"You call me, and I'll pick you up; my number's on the back," Jason lectures me as he holds his car in front of the Munson trailer, handing me one of the phones from his duffle bag. "I'm meeting with friends, but should you need anything-"

"Don't sell your soul to the devil, and please call me. Yeah, I know," I interrupt him, eying the mobile phone in my hand. "Those things are starting to become really small, or am I crazy?"

He sighs, hating that I am going to spend the day in the trailer his girlfriend died in, with the guy who was the last to have seen her alive.

"Seriously, [y/n]. The minute he tries something, or you realize you're in a circle of blood with strange symbols drawn around it-" "Yeah, because that happens so casually often," I interrupt my cousin again.

"This is about your safety," he tells me as though I am unreasonable. "No, this is about you being paranoid and needing therapy," I answer, grabbing my bag and getting out of the car. "Thanks for driving me. See ya later."

I walk over to the trailer, knocking a couple of times. After a few seconds, Wayne Munson, Eddie's uncle, opens the door.

"Yeah?" he asks, holding a baseball bat behind his back. A safety precaution, I understand but disklike that he has to have.

"Hi, Mr. Munson. I'm here to see Eddie." He eyes me up and down, and I add, "I'm his friend. I help him study."

He looks over my shoulder, nodding to Jason's car with his chin. "And your friend in the car? That's Jason Carver, that little bastard," he says, highly suspicious of me.

"He's my cousin. My parents want him to drive me around since the earthquake," I explain, and his face becomes softer. "I'm sorry, Kid. I-"

I interrupt him with a smile. I understand why he has to be protective of Eddie after all that happened. "No, don't worry. I'm not crazy about that mental case either," I say. "Uhm, can I come in? I'm afraid he might get out of the car if we stay out here for too long."

Wayne lets me in, closing and locking the door behind me. From Eddie's room comes the sound of an acoustic guitar playing 'Sweet Leaf', one of my favorite songs.

"Eddie, your friend is here," he calls down the small hallway. I join him, calling, "Hi, Eddie."

We hear some rummaging and cussing, then Eddie practically rushes out of his room, only wearing his boxers.

"Hey, [y/n]," he greets me as I instantly look the other way, feeling my face burn like fire.

"Son, put some damn close on. You're in the presents of a lady, for God's sake," his uncle scolds him, and after a millisecond, Eddie cusses like a sailor.

"Shit, fuck. Sorry, I just woke up. I- It'll only be a second," he tells me, and from the bumping sound, I figure he almost ran into his bedroom door.

"Uh-huh. Take your time," I tell him, finally looking in his direction again as the door closes.

"Now, [y/n], can I offer you something to drink?" Wayne asks me, and I shake my head. "No, thanks. I'm good," I tell him, looking around the living area I know pretty well in both this dimension and whatever the Upside Down is.

It is scary to think that the portal simply closed, not leaving an ounce of trace that it ever even existed.

My eyes fall to the folding bed, open in the middle of the room. Eddie's uncle rushes over, taking the blanket and pillow and putting them inside the couch's storage department.

"Sorry, he didn't tell me he'd expected someone," he explains, embarrassed, folding away his bed. I smile at him, shaking my head. "Don't worry. Really."

The awkward silence is broken by Eddie coming out dressed in black, ripped jeans and a washed-out band shirt.

"Hey, hi," he greets me again. "Hi," I answer.

"I- I made the study cards you told me to," he explains proudly, and I grin. "Do they work?" "I think so. C'mon."

With his hand on my back, he escorts me to his room, signaling me to sit down on his bed. I, instead, only put my bag there and look around his room. In bright daylight and without the risk of dying or Robin screaming that we need music to save Nancy, it's actually nice in here.

It helps that it's also cleaner than last time and smells like air freshener and fresh linen.

"Edward, the door stays open," Wayne calls into the room, just as I pass a pile of clothes next to his closet, to look at the small, hand-painted figures that I think belong to his dungeons and dragons game.

I turn around, looking at Eddie. "So, the door stays open," I tease him jokingly, and he nods, becoming red while scratching the back of his curly head.

"Yeah. When something happens again, Wayne can give me an alibi saying he saw you the whole time during your visit and that you were okay."

My smile instantly vanishes, and I begin to apologize, "Oh, right. Sorry, I didn't think of that. I thought it was because-" "Because I'm having a pretty girl in my room?" he asks, tilting his head and stepping closer.

My breath hitches as he backs me up closer to the wall; I bump into the dresser behind me. "Naughty girl," he whispers with a mischievous grin as he cages me between his arms and his dresser.

I shake my head, becoming dizzy, "I- I- I didn't-" He chuckles, "I'm just teasing you, Carver. Calm down."

I am almost disappointed as he steps away, truly having only teased me. I turn my back to him before he can see the look on my face, but my gaze meets a mirror, showing me my pout.

Silly. It's silly that I'm sad he wasn't actually flirting with me. I focus on the guitar hanging in front of the mirror. Sweetheart, that's what Eddie calls the guitar. I begin chewing on my bottom lip, telling myself that I don't need this metalhead to like me back.

It would be too difficult anyway. Especially in fucked up times like these, where we don't know when Vecna returns.

Doesn't make me want Eddie any less, though...

"You like her?" Eddie asks behind me. I nod, suddenly feeling his hand on my shoulder, moving me back to the bed. "Well, not gonna let you touch her just yet. You need to learn acoustic first."

As I sit down on his bed, Eddie takes the black acoustic guitar full of band stickers that was leaning next to it and kneels down in front of me, showing it to me.

"This is Honey. She was my first guitar, first love, if you will," he chuckles. "She's pretty," I whisper. Eddie nods, "Glad you think so, 'cause she's yours now."

"What?" I exclaim, making him laugh. "Don't look so shocked," he says. "You need a guitar to practice on."

"But she's yours." He nods again, laying the guitar on my lap. "And she's been painfully neglected for years now, especially since I bought Sweetheart. Now take her and be good to her."

"Thank you," I whisper, following the outline of an old Metallica sticker.

As I look up, mine and Eddie's eyes meet. He'd been watching me closely. We grin at each other a little stupidly, and I feel my heart race like it's trying to win a marathon.

"I made you something," he says suddenly, jumping up and grabbing a bunch of small cards from one of his drawers. "Those are the different chords and where you have to put your fingers."

On the cards are drawn guitars necks, dots on the exact spots where my fingers need to be. "These are awesome, Eddie. And you really made those cards for me?"

He nods, cheeks turning pink, "We have a deal, after all. And if I teach you how to play guitar, I damn well will make sure you're becoming a real star at it."

I put the guitar aside and take his jacket out of my backpack, awkwardly and completely flustered, handing it to him. "You forgot your jacket at the Wheelers' home a couple of days ago."

"I didn't want you to freeze," he says, throwing it aside. "Why did you leave?"

"Because I know the reaction people have when they see me. I didn't want Mike's parents to think I was there to sacrifice their kids or have them be mad at you for letting me in."

I bite my lips again. "I wish you would've stayed. We could've gone home together." "I could've driven you home..." he smiles for a second before it vanishes again. "But people know my van, can't have you be seen with me."

Before I can stop myself, I say, "I don't mind being seen with you, Eddie."

He stares at me, touched, chocolate brown eyes becoming glassy, "T-That's a C. You think you can play it?" he quickly asks, swallowing hard and handing me one of the cards as a distraction.

I take the guitar but struggle with my finger placement. Eddie notices it and crawls behind me on the neatly made bed.

Hands on my waist, he makes me sit between his legs and helps me hold the guitar correctly. "Is that okay?" he asks, looking at me over my shoulder.

I nod, and he takes my fingers, placing them on the strings. As they are placed, he hands me a pick and helps me play that note. It sounds correct, and I smile at him. Eddie smiles back at me as though I just performed a concert for him.

"There you go, rockstar," he chuckles, placing my fingers differently again.

For a while, we play the chords, and I become more and more comfortable with his arms around me. It feels nice. Safe and calm.

We're both ripped from the moment as Wayne knocks on the open bedroom door. "Hey, you two. I'm going to work. Can I leave you both alone?"

Eddie nods, barely acknowledging his uncle. "Uh-huh."

"Eddie, are you sure-"

This time he looks up, interrupting his uncle, "Yes, Wayne. We're just playing guitar and studying a little. I promise nothing shady will happen." Eddie looks at me, "Right?"

I nod, assuring his uncle, "Oh, yeah. Absolutely not. I'm also getting picked up later."

The man nods, hand running over his head. "Okay. I- I'm just worried."

"I know," Eddie tells him, this time seeming to accept and understand his uncle's worries. They share a serious look that shows concern and affection.

Then Eddie smiles again, pointing at the polaroid camera on his dresser, "Hey, can you take a picture of us?" He asks, having his uncle nod. "Sure, son."

"That's okay for you, is it?" Eddie whispers into my ear, making goosebumps appear on my skin. I grin, nodding lovesick.

After taking a picture of us, me seated between Eddie's legs, the guitar in our hands, Wayne hands the picture to his nephew, wishing us goodbye, "It was nice to meet you, [y/n]. See you in the morning, kid."

"Oh, I'm gonna keep that one," Eddie whispers delightedly, looking at the picture.

I put the guitar aside, trying to look at the polaroid. "Why?"

"No reason," he tells me, standing up. I follow him, "Why, Eddie?"

"Because you look cute in it," he says, but this isn't enough for me.

I try to grab the picture, but he holds it up. Therefore, I stand as close to him as possible, standing on the tip of my toes to reach it.

Eddie wraps an arm around my waist, starting to spin us around. "Care for a dance, milady?

"You're so weird," I giggle, unable to reach the picture, but holding on to his wrist.

"Oh, Sweetheart, I'm completely insane," he tells me, stopping our spinning. "Now sit down and tutor me."

He softly pushes me back on the bed, and I make myself comfortable, looking at my own study cards while Eddie sits down next to me, going through his own. I have no idea where the polaroid picture went, but I sure hope I don't look ridiculous in it.

After two hours of learning together, Eddie lies back, staring at the ceiling. "I need a break."

I put the guitar aside and join him. "Same. My fingers are killing me."

"Yeah... Takes some time till you build up calluses," he chuckles, taking my hand into his, gently kissing my sore fingertips and stealing my breath. "Pretty soon, your pretty lil fingers will look like mine."

I don't know how he does it, but Eddie makes my heart beat so fast I feel like becoming dizzy; he always had me wrapped around his finger in that way, even as I only knew him from afar.

He's everything that my parents taught me to avoid, but I want to admire him forever.

"So you think I'll pass the test?" He asks me with a crooked smile, luring me back into reality. "Hm... I'd say I'm 99.9% sure," I smile, making him nod bothered as he lets go of my hand.

"Yeah, still room for me to fail." I prob myself up on my elbows, assuring him, "Well, I believe you'll make it."

A grin creeps over his features, making me certain that mischief is brewing together a plan under his curly mop of hair. "Would you be mad at me if I'd smoke one as a reward?"

I shake my head, and he sits up, grabbing a pre-rolled joint from his cluttered nightstand. "Do you want to...?" He offers, lighting it and taking a hit.

I shrug, uncertain since I've never done something like it before. "Uh... I- I don't know."

He looks at me with a serious face. "Hey, I'm not somebody that's pressuring others into things. I just thought... Would you want to try it? Now would be your chance, and it's safest to get high for the first time when there's somebody with you who has experience and watches over you."

I sit up as well, nodding. It isn't like I never wanted to try it.

"You sure?" He asks sternly, trying to avoid a reaction of mine that is solely based on the need to impress him.

I nod again. "Yes. Please."

Eddie leans over, holding the joint's butt to me. I lean forward, lips on the joint, taking my first pull; his eyes are on me, face as close as possible to inspect me.

"There you go. Small hits, baby," he coos his instructions. "Hold it, and now let go," I do as he says, coughing a little due to the smoke in my lungs. "Burns a little, I know."

It is hard not to stare as we lock eyes, his chocolate brown ones metaphorically bringing me to my knees. He has me smoke half of the joint, and as stupid as I feel for thinking like that, it feels intimate.

The way his big hands bring the joint back and forth between us, the gentle way he coos and praises me, and his eyes, his eyes are on me, so fascinated and intrigued as though I am one of the dirty magazines he unsuccessfully tried to hide under the bed.

I love that gaze of his and want to find a way to make it stay, although I probably just over-romanticize it because of the pot and my crush on Eddie.

As he puts the joint's end into the ashtray on his nightstands, I let myself fall back onto his mattress. "This feels nice," I say, feeling wholly carefree and peaceful for the first time since Vecna.

Eddie lies down beside me, explaining, "Yeah, it's the good stuff. Knocks us out for a while, perfect for relaxing."

We lay on our sides, facing each other. As he reaches out and brushes his knuckles over my cheek, I notice some ink on the back of his hand. I take it and read, 'Clean bedroom. [y/n].' on it.

I like my name on his skin; a weird thing to feel, but it fills me with a bit of pride.

"You forgot that," I tease him, pointing at the to-do list on the back of his hands. He chuckles, "Baby, I wasn't in school so that I could clean up."

I sit up, looking around. Then I giggle. "Okay..." "Hey," Eddie warns me in fake appall. "I even changed the sheets today."

I'd noticed the sweet, floral smell of the linen under me earlier, so I nod. "I appreciate the effort," I tell him, laying back down and kicking off my shoes.

"Where will life take you after graduation, Carver?" He asked as I make myself comfortable on his mismatched set of pillows.

"Where will it take you?" I ask back, but he quickly dismisses my question. "We both know I'll stay trailer trash, now answer me."

I sigh, saying my secret plan out loud for the first time, "I'll take the trust fund I'll gain access to once I have my diploma and run."

He furrows his brows. "So you'll leave us?"

"I meant that metaphorically," I say, making him look confused. "My family had different funds set up for me when I was born. One for high school graduation, one for college, one for marrying, and one for when I have children – a son, to be specific..." I explain.

"That sounds like a very thought-through version of manipulation," Eddie concludes, angered, seeming disgusted by my family's forced conforming.

"It is. I grew up thinking that I have to achieve all these set goals, but now..." Another sigh escapes me. "We don't know when Vecna will return, and every fight becomes more dangerous. I don't want to go to college and become a rich, famous, whatever. I don't want to play happy housewife for an upper-class jock my parents pick for me.

"If I die, I want to be able to look back and know I chose my happiness instead of social obligation."

My whole life, I'd been the perfect, preppy, old-money daughter my family had wanted. I exceeded in school, never went to parties, and stayed away from 'bad apples'. But I'd almost died, and as the weeks had passed, I came to realize that I would've left a life of unfulfilled dreams behind. One I'd only lived to make my parents proud.

"You thought about that a lot, huh?" I nod. "Ever since the bats attacked us."

My hand wanders over Eddie's stomach, resting on a spot I know is now holding a serious scar. He'd gotten it while protecting me from the bats as I'd tried to lure them from the trailer.

"Does it still hurt?" "Only sometimes. At least I have some very metal scars now," he jokes, hand coming up to my thigh.

Under my clothes, I hide some scars as well. It's not like I am ashamed of them. Why should I be? But they need to heal and fade enough to stop looking like bites first – as my family believes they come from an accident caused by the earthquake.

"What about yours?" Eddie asks, and I nod. "Same here. Do you sometimes dream of the Upside Down?"

"Aren't we all?" he chuckles, pushing down the trauma we all experienced. "It took me a while to even realize that all that actually happened, and when the wounds stopped hurting..."

"It'll get easier," I assure him as his arm moves up to my waist—another spot where a scar rests. I'm surprised he still remembers all of the spots.

"Right, wasn't your first rodeo," he remembers. "So, what are you doing with the money? Your trust fund, I mean."

I grin, biting my bottom lip, "You know the retail park between Hawkins and Derry?" "Who doesn't?" he laughs. "I wanna rent a space there and have my own music store. Sell instruments, cassette tapes, records... All of it."

Eddie's eyes become wide, sparkly. I seem to have piqued his interest. "Sounds amazing." "You think?" I ask, and he nods. "Totally. We'll always have music, so you'll always have a job there."

Either his reaction, his touch, or the pot – maybe all three of the things combined – have me smile. I prop myself on my elbow, hand dancing over the letters of his old Black Sabbath shirt.

"If you're not too set on becoming trailer trash..." I start, feeling his heartbeat under my fingers. "I could always use a good business partner who loves music."

"Be careful with those words, Sweetheart," Eddie warns me, propping himself up as well. "'Cause if you mean them, you'll never, never, ever get rid of me."

As he begins towering over me, I whisper, "Sounds good to me."

And just like that, his lips collide with mine. I feel like bursting into flames, like I am losing my mind, and as though I only imagine this moment. I let myself fall back into the pillows, taking Eddie with me as he crawls on top of me.

The kiss is heated and longing. Eddie's hand cradles my face, wanders upwards, and his fingers tangle themselves into my hair. I gasp into the kiss as he tugs on my hair, my hips jolting up due to the literal electricity he created within me.

Suddenly the kiss stops. Eddie sits back up on his heels and looks as though he just violated me. "I- I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you. That wasn't okay. You're high, you're-"

I sit up as well, embarrassment almost making me dizzy as I admit, "That had nothing to do with me being high. Did- Did you just do it because...?"

He shakes his head so harshly that I fear he'd give himself whiplash. "Was looking for a chance to do that for a while now."

I can't believe his words, asking, "Really?"

Eddie nods, looking me up and down as he licks his lips, "Jesus, you're so fucking pretty. Makes me dizzy."

We giggle and smile at each other childishly. I'd never thought he'd be interested in someone like me. I'm not an innocent, happy-go-lucky, preppy cheerleader like Chrissy was. I'm not a cool, not caring what people think of me – metalhead like him.

I am basic, normal. I go to school and do my homework, I listen to all types of music, mostly not even caring for genres since I mix through them all the time anyway, and I dress uncoordinated, solely based on what makes me happy that morning.

I've always thought I was invisible, one of the nice girls you see for five minutes in a movie and have totally forgotten about by the time the credits come on. This had given me some advantages as we saved Hawkins but socially made me feel out of place...

Eddie leans closer again, making me back onto the pillows, his knee between my legs. "That okay?" he asks softly, and I nod.

He towers over me, making my heart beat irrationally. He's so beautiful, and the fact that he wants me has me forget everything, even my name. I push myself up, cupping his cheeks; our eyes lock as he looks just as surprised and overwhelmed about all this as I am.

This time, I kiss him. His lips are soft and gentle as he kisses me back, hands carefully roaming my body as though I'm made of glass. I kissed a few guys before, but none of them had ever made me feel like this.

It feels so right. Like I was made to be in Eddie's arms, being accepted although coming with nothing else to offer than myself.

As our kiss becomes messy, something I've never experienced before, our hands become greedy and inquisitive. As my nails dig into his upper arms, Eddie's hand cups my clothed breast, groping it harshly.

As I moan into the kiss, he chuckles, kissing down my neck and plastering its skin with hickeys and soft love bites.

I moan again, hips jolting up and causing me to whimper as I accidentally rub my most sensitive area against his thigh. "Fuck," I softly cry, repeating the motion once more.

Pecking my lips softly, Eddie places himself now entirely between my legs. I can feel his erection through our clothes, right where I want him most.

"Nice, huh?" he asks teasingly, rolling his hips against me and enjoying how my eyes roll back.

Our lips find each other again, and while we sloppily begin making out again, our bodies move in unison, friction having us moan and gasp into our kisses.

As his hand sneaks under my shirt, cool rings kissing the warmth of my body, I stop Eddie. Propping myself up a little, I stammer, embarrassed, "Can we just- I don't- I never..."

I've never done anything like this before. Before today, I never kissed somebody with this much passion, never let one touch me like this. I've never felt this need, lighting my body on fire, before... And it scares me. I am not sure if I want to go any further than this.

Eddie smiles and softly chuckles. He leans down, kissing my cheek. "No worries. Rule one of being high is not to make big decisions when high. Have two tattoos proofing that point."

Somehow, I expected him to be mad at me.

"So you're okay with just kissing?" I ask, concerned, but he drops onto his elbows, forehead against mine. "I could do that for a lifetime."

Turning on some music, which plays softly in the background, we fall into another kiss, and another, and another. At one point, Eddie even has me sitting in his lap, hands groping my ass as he bucks his hips against me.

Only as our lips are sore, we cuddle on his bed, lips still coming together for little kisses from time to time.

I fall asleep in his arms, feeling safe and happy; I dream of this moment lasting forever.

*****

The next time I open my eyes, it is dark around me. I hate being in the dark, I become nervous and scared. Time has shown me over and over again why I should stay away from the darkness, but Eddie's chest, slowly rising underneath me and his arm around me, have me calm.

Closing my eyes again, I try to go back to sleep.

"She was supposed to be home hours ago, old man!" An angry voice yells outside the trailer.

"Listen, I am sure there is an explanation-" an older voice tries to communicate calmly but is interrupted.

"I don't give a shit about your excuses. You and that satanic scumbag-"

The older raises his voice warningly, "Hey, be careful what you're saying."

Eddie moves underneath me, laying on his side and pulling me into a hug. Suddenly he jumps up, turning on the lights. "Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit."

"What is it?" I ask sleep-drunkenly. "We fell asleep, Sweetheart. It's 5 a.m.," he explains loud but softly.

I jump out of bed the second my brain processes his words. "No!" I exclaim, looking at the radio alarm on Eddie's nightstand. I pull on my shoes, Eddie throwing over his jacket.

"[y/n]! [y/n], are you in there?" The angry voice from before yells, and I have a realization. "Fuck, that's Jason," I tell Eddie, who nods, handing me my backpack.

We rush outside and see Jason and his friends in front of the trailer. Wayne stands there on the steps, a baseball bat in his hand. They're all looking at Eddie and me.

I look back and forth between Wayne and Jason. "I- I'm so sorry. We fell asleep, I-" "I called you a hundred times," Jason interrupts.

I push past Wayne, walking down the steps. Eddie's uncle keeps him in the trailer, not letting him out.

"I just told you I fell asleep," I answer my cousin as he walks closer, looking at my disheveled appearance, then at Eddie's.

"What have you done to her, Munson?" Jason growls, and I step between him and the stairs. "He did nothing. What's wrong with you?"

He's clearly drunk and out for confrontation with his favorite victim.

"Fuck, you smell like a distillery," I mutter, having to look away to catch a huff of fresh air.

"We're leaving. Wait till Aunt-" my cousin tries to threaten me, grabbing my arm and walking us to the car. I shake my head, interrupting him. "You're drunk. I'm not letting you drive me."

As I try to pull my arm from his grasp, he hardens his grip. "[y/n]," he warns, trying to drag me to the car. "No," I exclaim, trying to stop walking, but Jason becomes rougher. "Ow."

"Hey, don't grab her like that," Eddie calls over, forcing himself past his uncle.

"Or what, Freak? What satanic monster from hell do you want to summon here in front of everyone?" Jason asks, irritated, fumbling his keys out of his pocket, a little cross keychain on it.

By now, half of the trailer park residents have noticed what is happening. All looking, nobody intervening.

"Man, just- just let go of her arm," Eddie tries to reason with Jason. "Please, you're hurting her."

As he takes a couple of steps closer, my cousin raises his keychain. "Don't come near us."

"Eddie, it's okay," I tell the sweet metalhead, then look to his uncle, who has his baseball bat equipped. "It's okay."

"Are you sure, girl?" Wayne asks me, concerned, but I nod.

"Yeah. I..." I finally can escape Jason's grasp and look at him and his friends. "Is anyone of you guys sober?" None are, so I sigh, "Kay. Give me your keys and get into the car."

Jason obliges since me driving the car means he gets what he wants, and I leave with him. I have the drunken jocks get back into the car, noticing that one had held a wheel-wrench the entire time.

I buckle Jason in the passenger's seat, make sure his friends buckle in as well and grab the wrench. Shaking my head, I look over at Eddie and his uncle, waving at them and trying to force a smile on my lips as I got into the driver's seat.

Leaving the trailer park, the drunks in the back fall promptly asleep, while Jason seems to calm down, experiencing an adrenaline crash. He tells me the addresses of his friends, and I drive everyone home.

"I was worried," he explains, head heavily resting on the headrest of his seat.

"I know," I sigh, having just dropped off the last one of his friends.

"I miss Chrissy," he mumbles, and I watch him take out the little velvet box he carries around everywhere. "I thought we would be together forever."

Jason had planned on proposing to his high school sweetheart after graduation. Chrissy was dead for months now, but he still carried the ring around.

I look at the broken shell of a man beside me. Jason had lost his mind when he'd lost his girlfriend. Our family believes he just needs time, but he desperately needs therapy.

He wasn't always like this; he was a good guy; we grew up like siblings – Yeah, sure, he was a little douchey sometimes, but he was the guy nice to mostly everyone—a preppy, old-money boy.

His moral compass hadn't been broken before he came into contact with Vecna's darkness.

"Eddie didn't hurt Chrissy," I tell him, but he looks at me with tears in his eyes. "I know what I saw."

I can't tell him about the Upside Down, which makes me helpless. I have to sit between the chairs, see Eddie being hated, and watch my cousin lose his sanity, and there is nothing I can do about it.

"Look," I start, carefully thinking of how to phrase my sentences, "I know what you saw. I know how it looked like and how much it scared you, but Eddie was solely at the wrong time in the wrong place when... when Chrissy and Patrick were attacked."

Jason looks at me in disbelief, his eyes wandering down to my neck, where he notices the marks left by Eddie.

"So that's how it is," he says disgustedly, sitting back in his seat and refusing to look at me again. "You let the freak fuck you, and now you're excusing him and his actions. You're choosing him instead of your own family and friends and completely disregard his victims."

"That's not what I'm doing, Jason," I say. "If- If you really think there is something evil and satanic going on... Maybe the monster hunted Chrissy and Patrick, and when it attacked, Eddie just happened to be there."

He shakes his head. "Munson is a vessel. I don't know when he became one, but I know what got him there... This satanic game and the music he listens to."

"Jason, Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy game. It's like being the main character in The Hobbit. You know we loved that book when we were younger. It's harmless, and Eddie is basically a sweet nerd with rough edges. And his taste in music...

"It's just metal. You know it doesn't make you a murderer. You secretly bought me my first Black Sabbath cassette tape when Mom and Dad forbid me to have it."

He ignores me, angry tears in his eyes while he continues to fidget with the velvet box in his hand. I start the car and drive us to my place. I am too tired and frustrated to drive any more than that.

*****

"[y/n], do you have any idea how worried we were?" my father yells angrily, Mom agreeing. "You stay out all night, and your cousin has to pick you up from a trailer park."

I sigh, pressing my palms onto the cold kitchen table. "Come on. He was drunk as hell. I had to drive him and his friends home. You can barely say he picked me up."

Jason had used the hurt he felt from losing Chrissy and our talk in the car to unload all his paranoia of the night on my parents, then went to bed in our guest bedroom, leaving me to pick up the mess.

"Still, your behavior-" I interrupt my Dad, "I know. I made a mistake, and I am sorry. Can I now please go to my room?"

"No. I don't want you to see that boy anymore." "What?" I ask loudly.

"This Munson kid has caused enough harm. I will be damned if I let you end up like Chrissy Cunningham," Dad yells determent, making me shake my head.

"Eddie had nothing to do with Chrissy's death."

"We don't know that for sure," Mom says, trying to be the calm voice of reason as my father becomes angrier by the second.

"Yes, we do," I argue. "Jason has been spinning out of control for months now. Why isn't anybody in this fucking town questioning his bullshit accusations?"

Mom hands my father his coffee, and he takes it to the living room. Simply leaving the discussion like he always does. Then she sits down beside me, trying to hold my hand.

"People wouldn't find it so easy to believe if the Munson boy hadn't given them so many reasons to."

I let out a sarcastic laugh, then scoff, "Funny, 'cause when people tried to – very rightfully so – suspect that our family's wealth comes from decades of slavery and human trafficking, you both told me that foolish people are willing to believe everything just to run their mouths."

"[y/n]..."

I shake my head, so angry at my family's hypocrisy, "You're not treating Eddie fair. You're judging him and his character through his upbringing, social status, and nonsensical rumors from an unstable family member."

"Hun, I know you like that boy, and dating a bad boy sounds exciting for girls your age – I know, I've been there – But boys like that have the power of ruining your life."

"You don't know him, Mom," I tell her, tears in my eyes. The Upside Down had thoroughly messed up my relationship with my family. "When the earthquake hit Hawkins, I was with Eddie and our friends. If he hadn't been there, I would be dead now. He saved me."

Mom looks at me, shocked. I've refused to talk about the accident until now since I still haven't thought out a perfect lie. I see the pain in my mother's eyes, I know she loves me, and after so many died due to the earthquake, it terrifies her that I could've been one of them.

"Mom, Eddie's a little weird, sometimes completely bonkers, loud, and obnoxious, but he is neither dangerous nor bad for me."

She presses her lips together, trying not to mess up her perfectly applied lipstick. Then she nods. "Go to bed. We'll talk once you have had some sleep."

I go to my room, locking the door behind me. Dressing in some fresh underwear and an oversized band t-shirt my mother hates, I lay down on my bed.

It's already light outside, soon, my dad will go to work, and my mom will pop some uppers and drive around town, spending some money on things we don't need and thinking about what to serve for dinner.

I wonder if I would've ever noticed how dysfunctional our family is, even with all our money, wouldn't I've gotten involved with Will's vanishing?

Would I've ever known how much more important my happiness is than following my family's plans and traditions?

Knocking on my bedroom window pulls me from my thoughts. On the tree branch in front of my window stands Eddie.

"What are you doing here?" I ask as I open it, letting him in.

"I wanted to see if you're okay... And I brought your guitar," he smiles, turning the strep across his chest and putting Honey into my view. I'd forgotten the guitar in my hurry.

"I'm sorry, [y/n]. He grabbed you really hard. I- I should've defended you," Eddie says, hands running up and down my arm, causing goosebumps to appear.

"Jason was drunk and with his friends. They were only looking for a reason to hurt you," I tell him as he hands me the guitar, and I place it on the floor next to my vanity.

I turn on some music, not too loud to annoy anybody, but loud enough to hide that I wasn't alone. Eddie, meanwhile, starts snooping around, almost reminding me of a puppy being in its new home for the first time.

"Now that's a preppy room. I've never seen a preppy room, but this one..." he chuckles, his big button eyes filled with amusement. "I know. Mom decorated it."

He looks further around while I sit down on my bed. As he opens my closet door, a poster of Eddie Van Halen has him crack up before he goes on a deep dive to see all the things I hide in there from my parents.

"Now, that's more like you," Eddie exclaims, pulling out my old working uniform. "You know, I always walked by Scoops Ahoy when I was at the mall... Always hoped to see you."

With butterflies in my stomach, I watch him hang the uniform back into the closet. "I saw you walking by a couple of times. Why didn't you talk to me?"

He shrugs, walking to the end of my bed. "I chickened out. I mean, would you've actually talked to Eddie 'The Freak' Munson, or would you've called for Harrington to protect you?"

"I would've loved having you talk to me," I assure him, and he begins to grin. "Careful; I might start believing you had a crush on me, Sweetheart."

I crawl to the end of my bed, pulling Eddie down by his jacket. His grin becomes bigger before his lips press down on mine. I shuffle back to my pillows, pushing his jacket over his shoulder and throwing it aside. We kiss again as he makes himself comfortable between my legs.

Eddie breaks the kiss, whispering, "I need to leave before your parents come in and find us like that."

His knuckles brush over my cheeks, a soft smile on his lips, and I realize that I don't want him to leave—the quite opposite, actually. I want him to be even closer to me.

"My door's locked," I tell him with a cheeky grin. "They think I'm sleeping."

His softness quickly begins harboring an aura of mischief. "Naughty little thing," he whispers, pressing his lips against mine.

The kiss becomes rough and demanding as Eddie growls into it, starting to explore my mouth with his tongue. After hours of doing nothing else last night, his hands on my body and lips on my own feel natural. My fingers glide into his curly mane while I start rocking my hips against him, searching for friction.

An excited whimper leaves me, and I reach for his belt. "N-No, Sweetheart," Eddie stops me gently. "We have no condoms."

"Pill," I exclaim, needier than planned. "I'm on the pill." He raises his brows for a second, and I add, "I started taking it as part of a feminism phase Robin and I had."

Eddie props himself up, looking at me, insecure. "And you're sure you actually want that? I'm not really the upper-class jock your parents want for you."

I'm looking up at this intimidatingly looking metalhead, smiling. Looks can be so deceiving. "I know, and I like you better that way," I tell him, watching his self-doubt melt away and replace with a contented smile.

Pulling his shirt over his head, he tosses it somewhere in my room. I goggle at his naked chest, the tattoos, the scars, the happy trail. I'm close to tears, and I don't know why; my body feels like I'm being lit on fire; all I can think of is how badly I want him.

"I want you," I whine, hips moving up against nothing. "Please..."

Eddie leans down, pecking my lips for a moment, "I know, baby. I want you too." As he moves back up, he grabs the hem of my shirt, waiting. I lift my back enough so he can take it off me. He tosses it over his shoulder, eyes locking with my breasts.

"Shit," he mutters under his breath, eyes wandering across the room for a moment. As he looks at me again, he licks his lips. "You're so beautiful."

He drops onto his elbows, kissing me again. Eddie's hands roam my body; thighs, stomach, breasts; there is no place he doesn't explore. So at one point, his fingers glide over my clothes pussy.

I try to move into his touch. Eddie chuckles, pulling my panties aside and letting his fingers run through my folds. He grunts into the kiss, moving up a little, "Holy fuck, Sweetheart. You're so wet."

I nod, embarrassed, swallowing a loud moaning the second he touches my swollen clit. He shushes me gently, pecking my lips, then moves his fingers to his mouth. They glisten in the morning sun, and as he licks my wetness from them, I become dizzy for a second.

Eddie grins at me, fully aware of the effect he just had on me. He comes closer again, kissing me and letting me taste myself on his tongue. Then he kisses my neck, wandering down and stopping at my breast, gently sucking on my left nipple while playing with my right one.

I struggle to stay quiet, hating the thought of having to wait any longer. "Eddie, please," I whine, hips jolting up and meeting with his clothed erection.

He grabs the waistband of my panties, making me lift my hips to help him remove them. They are quickly thrown aside, my hands on his belt again. This time I'm triumphant; Eddie climbs off the bed, taking off his jeans, underwear, and shoes.

I bite into the pillowy part of my bottom lip as I'm met with the view of his hard, veiny cock, making him chuckle and kiss me playfully all over the face as he climbs back on top of me.

Guiding his cock up and down my pussy, he coats himself with my arousal, using it like a natural lubricant. "Ready?" he asks, and I nod, grinning excitedly.

Lining up with me, he pushes in slowly until he fully bottoms out inside me. My eyes press shut, and a whimper leaves my lips at the stinging. My nails dig into the skin of his upper arms. Eddie doesn't move anymore, giving me time to get used to the new, stretching sensation.

"Doing so good, baby," he whispers, kissing my cheek, the corner of my lips, and then me fully. I melt into his gentle touches, hands stroking up and down my sides.

"So beautiful," he grins. "And all mine." I nod. "All yours."

Eddie begins to move, making me feel so full, that I think I'm about to break in two, but instead, every thrust of his makes me feel alive.

I want more, figuring out how to meet his thrusts, moving against him. Our breathing becomes louder, moans and praises are spoken with hushed voices.

Eddie doesn't pick up the speed, my bed already threatening to give us away. Instead, he becomes harsher, administrating long and deep thrusts that make my eyes roll into the back of my head.

I moan loudly, arching my back. In an instant, his hand covers my mouth. "We need to be quiet, baby," he reminds me quietly but doesn't stop pounding into me for even a second.

I moan into his palm, holding onto his wrist, so his hand doesn't move from my mouth. "I know. I know, don't worry. I'll make sure they don't hear you," he promises with a low grunt as he rolls his hips into mine.

Our eyes lock, his gaze full of lust and admiration. Sweat makes his hair stick to his forehead. His thrust become more demanding, and I hear my own wetness every time he rocks against me.

As control seems to escape us, Eddie's deep, husky moans become louder. The secrecy of having raw sex that I was taught would get me to hell before marriage feels so filthy, yet it is heaven.

My nails dig into the flesh of his back, and his lips press kisses against my shoulder and collarbone, occasionally biting into it. Tightening around Eddie, I am on the edge of my orgasm.

"Fuck," he moans. Our eyes meet again, his hand still over my mouth. I lift my hand as he curses again, clasping it over his mouth.

His hips stagger at this before a moan vibrates in my palm. I come right then. I fall apart into millions of pieces and am put back together a new person—a free one that doesn't care about any social status anymore.

If this is wrong, if this is sin, I want to be amiss for the rest of my life.

A deep growl is muffled in my palm as Eddie comes, both of us silencing the other's moans as we ride out our high.

As his hips still, our hands retreat. Stupid, exhausted grins on our lips; he kisses me and pulls out. I whimper at the sudden emptiness, having him chuckle and lie beside me.

Eddie pulls me into a tight embrace, and we just lay there, wrapped around each other for a few minutes, listening to nothing but our breathing.

My head rests on his chest, fingers circling his tattoos and dark pink scars. We're both sweaty, but neither of us cares. This moment is perfect.

"[y/n]?" Eddie whispers into the silence, hand locked around my waist to ensure I stay put.

"Hm?" I hum, looking up at him. "Your parents want you to stay away from me, right?" He asks, insecurity, sighing deeply as I nod. "Figured."

"Eddie..." I whisper as he sits up, grabbing his boxers. He shakes his head, pulling them up. "No, they're right. You'll find better, deserve better."

I stop the curly-headed metalhead before he can dress any further. Hand on his arm, I lean close. "Don't say that. I- It's only until we're graduating. Once I get my money, I'll move out, and we can be together... If you still want that."

He looks at me for a second, then whispers, "Your family will be furious with you." I nod. "Yeah, but they'll calm down once they see how happy I am... I hope."

I don't have much faith in it, but I refuse to live the miserable life my parents approve of. Eddie's tongue swipes over his lips while he is thinking; I can visibly see the cogs turn behind his chocolate eyes.

"So, that would make one month where I don't get to hold, kiss, or even talk to you," he says emotionless.

"Is that okay?" I ask, unsure. We are rushing; the decisions are way too extreme for the little time we spent like this.

But like I said, Vecna could return at any moment. We could die faster than we seem to be rushing. I have to go all in and live.

Eddie turns to me, the knuckles of his ringed fingers brushing offer my cheek. "Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens," he hums a familiar quote, proving him to be a soft nerd under all his leather and chains.

"I have been head over heels for you since I was seventeen, and until everyone thought I was a murderer, I never even dared to look at you for too long. I can handle loving you from afar for a month."

My heart skips a beat as I echo, "Loving me?"

Pressing a kiss on my lips, he chuckled, "Seriously, if you haven't picked up on that by now, you're the one who needs a tutor."

He pushes me back into the pillows, climbing on top of me. Insecure all my life, I absolutely don't mind being completely naked in front of Eddie. He makes me feel safe and like it doesn't matter what I look like.

"Shit," I cuss, remembering his test. "How are we going to study for your test?" Kissing the tip of my nose, he smiles, "We don't. I can handle my studying, [y/n]. I'm a big boy. You just keep practicing with Honey, so I can have a jam session with my girlfriend soon, okay?"

Girlfriend. I am Eddie 'The Freak' Munson's girlfriend.

My life has been full of titles until now, the cheerleader, teacher's pet, Jason Carver's cousin, golden child, tutor, babysitter... But this is the first one that I feel proud of, the first one that feels authentic.

➤ Here is Part 2: Girlfriend

#eddie munson x reader #eddie stranger things #eddie x reader #eddie munson angst #eddie munson #stranger things fanfic #stranger things smut #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson smut #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson x fem!reader

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steddiebang · 7 months

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Steddie Bigbang Weekly Round-up: October 8 - October 14

patron saint of lost causes (October 8) Author: genesisofrhythm (@ruthofrhythm) / Artist: Alex Callahan (@getlostlosingsleep) “Of course I know who you are, King Steve,” Eddie sneered, jumping out of his van and approaching him.

Steve rolled his eyes. “Former King Steve, if you will, kind peasant. I’m more of a knight these days.”

After Steve fails senior year, he’s forced to return to Hawkins High as a super senior in a last ditch attempt at graduating. The year picks up when he develops a crush on Eddie Munson but unfortunately for him, a bad first encounter leaves them at odds. Eddie is impossible to avoid now that the kids have all joined Hellfire so Steve just hopes he can get over this stupid crush before it becomes exceedingly obvious.

Or: The only thing worse than having to repeat 12th grade was falling in love with someone who hated you.

i sing the blues and you swallow them too (October 9) Author: @notesappwitch (tumblr) / NotesAppWitch (ao3) / Artist: @cuips-not-cute (tumblr) Eddie and his bandmates have been traveling from town to town, tavern to tavern, trying to make ends meet for who knows how long. Travelling and playing music for mostly uncaring people isn’t the way any of them want to live, but it’s their lot in life.

Nothing about Hawkins is different from any other town they’ve been to, except one very handsome lord who keeps making eyes at Eddie across the tavern, and also the giant monster that’s apparently plaguing the village and ripping holes in their dimension and doing its best to kill them and everyone else.

Luckily for Eddie, the very handsome lord also has a slew of teenage adventurers, an ex with great aim, and a best friend that can turn into a wolf. There’s never an easy way into the (literal) lap of luxury, but despite it all, Eddie will get himself there one way or another, and maybe awaken something about himself in the process.

today is a new day to find you (October 12) Author: formosus_iniquis / formosusiniquis / Artist: sammichesnstuff / sammichtastic / Artist: milkychai / milkychai Eddie is having the worst day known to man. It might qualify as a catastrophic event. Missing homework, lunch spilled on the cafeteria floor, broken strings at band practice, and that’s not even touching Steve Harrington.

Steve Harrington who keeps talking to him like they’re friends. Steve Harrington who has become a new person overnight. Steve Harrington who keeps making hypotheticals about time loops. Steve Harrington who is somehow the best and worst part of his day.

Tell Me Then Would You Lend A Hand (October 13) Author: funeralbeldam / Artist: rrrrraatt An exploration of Steve’s trauma. How it affects his everyday life, opens him up to Vecna, and sends him on a path of self discovery as the world is ending. His relationships with his friends - most notably one Eddie Munson - and how he views his own self worth. How one man will tear down Steve’s curtain to reveal the truth inside, through the power of music. Who says metalheads and jocks -turning-punks can’t get along?

First Face That I Saw (October 13) Author: Eddywow Eddie was used to seeing sad people. Sad families, sad parents, loved ones torn up over the ever-moving cycle of life.

Lost in Me, Lost in You (October 13) Author: hfcsteddie (twitter) / hfcsteddie (tumblr) / clinicofart (ao3) Author: tsmkeelerx (twitter) / steddieasxshegoes (tumblr) / tsmkeeler (ao3) / Artist: pinklunamoth (twitter) / Artist: goingsteddi3 (twitter) / goingsteddi3 (tumblr) It was the summer of 2019. Steve Harrington was being pawned off at summer camp instead of fending for himself. On the first day, he befriends a quiet musician who also happens to be his roommate. He’s not like Steve’s other friends. He’s… different. It’s different. It was a breath of fresh air from the life he left behind in Hawkins. But as the summer rolls on, Steve and Eddie grow closer. The distance that threatens their friendship becomes too much for their summer to handle. A few years after graduation, a promise tethers them back to that same summer camp that that brought them together in the first place. Is this a second chance at friendship or something more?

scheming on a thing (October 14) Author: greatunionic (ao3 / tumblr) / Artist: daysarestranger / singinginmay It’s 1994, and Eddie’s been a guest of Uncle Sam at Pelican Bay since it opened in ‘89, when his public defender stopped defending and he resigned himself to the sixth to life bag the Spring Break of ‘86 had left him holding. Sure, the series of frantic transfers that made Wayne and the party lose track of him (and cost him his unlikely prison penpal, Steve Harrington) truly were a bummer, but life’s actually not too bad, in the long run: he’d got three hots and a cot, ya know, and sometimes a few of the other inmates actually believe him when he tells them he’s innocent. Still — the new lawyer and paralegal shaped suspiciously like one Erica Sinclair is starting to give him pause, and make him wonder if the story’s not quite over yet…

Or: a story about seven letters, the worst love song ever written, and a heist.

The Last Song (October 14) Author: @henderdads / Artist: @hextotal Eddie Munson and his brother, Dustin, are sent off to Hawkins, a small coastal town in Georgia, to spend their summer with their uncle. Thanks to a church fire and sea turtles, Eddie reconnects with his uncle Wayne and falls in love with the local heartthrob, Steve Harrington. He rediscovers his love for music as hardships are placed before him and through all of it, learns to be a little bit kinder and love a little bit harder.

9 upcoming projects to be posted next week (Oct 15 - 21).

*To keep up with all the Steddie Bigbang 2023 posting, be sure to follow us @steddiebang or track tags #steddiebang23 masterposts, #steddiebang23 project promo, or #steddiebang23 upcoming projects.

#steddiebang23 #steddiebang23 weekly roundup

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morganski-19 · 11 months

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Steddie Week Day 2: Angst

@steddie-week

apparently, I can never leave things as a one-shot so today's submission is a continuation of yesterday's. tomorrow's will also be a continuation of this idea so I will properly link it all once it is done.

part 1, part 3

Steve walks up to Eddie’s trailer, muttering small encouragements under his breath. It’s no big deal, just him and Eddie alone. No one to take his focus away or distract him before he says something stupid. No, just him and Eddie in an empty trailer, alone.

He knows exactly what’s going to happen. Eddie’s going to say something nice like he always does, and Steve is going to flush. Struggle to find something to say in return and instead, just make a total fool of himself and say something too far. Eddie will laugh it off like he does and it returns back to the comfortable silence between two good friends.

Because it totally wasn’t awkward to just sit in silence with someone while skirting off touches and trying too hard not to stare that you just end up doing it anyway. Totally not awkward.

All Steve hopes is that he can get through one night without spiraling. Being around Eddie was enough, he can’t let his mind wander to places he knows he’ll never come back from. If he leans into the touch that Eddie loves to give or the smile that seems to form whenever Steve is around, there will be no coming back from that. He’ll tell Eddie how he feels and how he wants this to be more. But it can’t.

Eddie didn’t like Steve like that. Hell, Steve didn’t even know if he liked guys. Under the assumption that he did, Steve couldn’t help but think that he was so not what Eddie’s type would be. He couldn’t imagine a metalhead dating a preppy ex-jock like him. No, he’d go for someone a bit more rough around the edges. Someone who liked the same music and movies, who didn’t have to stop and ask a million questions every time he talked about something Steve didn’t understand. Someone who didn’t have bad days where his head just couldn’t stop spinning and any small noise made him want to throw up.

Someone who wasn’t Steve. Because Steve seemed to mess up every relationship he’s ever been in, and he didn’t want to mess up whatever he had with Eddie.

He knocks on the trailer door, taking a deep breath before putting on a smile he knows is fake. There is stumbling around coming from inside the trailer before the door whips open, Eddie greeting Steve with his big smile. “Stevie, glad to see you actually showed up.”

“I said I would, didn’t I,” he says, trying to be playful but just coming off annoyed.

Eddie rolls his eyes. “With the way you’ve been avoiding me the past few weeks, I was waiting for a phone call with an excuse.” He leads Steve into the house, shutting the door behind them. “But here you are, and as promised. The late tapes.”

He holds out a stack of two tapes. “There’s supposed to be three,” Steve comments as he takes the tapes out of Eddie’s hands.

“I am well aware of that. I thought we could watch that one since I know you’re not a fan of horror. Don’t want to have to hold you’re hand when you get too scared.”

The lump returns in Steve’s throat. “Thanks,” he squeaks out, unable to find a response that would make him look better. He really does hate horror movies.

Eddie brushes him off. “What are friends for, right? Go on, settle in. I’m getting a beer, want one?”

Steve gives him a small nod and focuses on the couch, sitting in his normal spot. Eddie wanders off to the kitchen, muttering something Steve can’t make out under his breath.

Friends. Steve and Eddie were friends, nothing more. He knew that, forced himself to recognize it on a daily basis. It used to bring him some happiness, knowing that he at least had Eddie in his life. But as they got close, the affection he had for the other man only grew. Now being around him hurt.

Because Eddie would throw around words not knowing how they would affect Steve. Calling him nicknames that bordered on the line of romantic. Calling him sweetheart or princess just to crawl under his skin, but them having the opposite effect, only making Steve flush instead of getting annoyed. Saying “It’s a date” when they both knew it wasn’t. It was just a regular hangout, but Eddie would call it that just to tease him.

And Steve couldn’t stop his reactions. His face would betray him as blood rushed to it, painting his face red. His throat would close up with a lump so big that he could barely get a word out. Insides tying up in a knot only to remind him that he was so out of his comfort zone.

He doesn’t really know why he acts like this, usually acting so smooth and confident around the people he likes. Maybe because there was always the knowledge in the back of his head that if he struck out with the next girl, there would probably be one that wanted him. Even when he was constantly striking out, he never was short on finding words, instead, they just flew out of his mouth in the most awkward way possible. But he was Steve Harrington then, that at least got him something.

That something didn’t work with Eddie. His ‘Harrington Charm’ was put on the sidelines when the other man was around. Because when Steve was around Eddie, he wasn’t ‘Steve Harrington the old king of Hawkins High’. He was just Steve, plain old Steve who was traumatized and hurt beyond what any other person his age has been. Steve who was fragile and gentle in all the right ways. Steve who was insecure about his appearance and wondered who could see through the cracks of his mask enough to see that he’s not who he claims to be.

Eddie never saw that though, even though the mask tends to slip whenever Steve was around him. Because out of all the things Eddie did, he never pitied Steve for his pain, never made him feel less than for having a bad day. Never expected anything more from Steve that he couldn’t give, only wanted what he could. He just wanted to be around Steve for Steve.

It was so easy to fall for Eddie because of that. How could he not? It sometimes felt that there were only two people in the world who knew who Steve really was, Robin and Eddie. The two people he could be himself around and would never get any judgment from. And Robin was his platonic soulmate, it only made sense that the other person would take the other side of his heart.

“Alright, Stevie,” Eddie plops down on the couch and hands Steve a beer, clanking their bottle together. “Let’s watch this thing.”

Eddie tosses his arm across the back of the couch, hand ghosting over Steve’s shoulder. He shifts, pulling away from the touch he so wants to sink into. “Yeah,” he mumbles. “Let’s watch it.”

#steddie #steddieweek2023 #steddie fanfic #steddie fanfiction #steve harrington #eddie munson #angst #pining #pinin and angst always seem to come together when I write #day 2 #day two angst #stranger things #stranger things fanfic #part two #ficlet #steddie ficlet

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kurokoros · 7 days

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I think s4 sucked.

While I liked Eddie because it reminded my husband of himself and me of my friends in high school (metalhead nerds), he played the role Steve had in Dustin's life. They didn't really elaborate on his presence in his life or why Dustin looked up to him, when the few times Eddie interacted with Dustin that they showed us from the first appearance he's mean and brash to them. Steve was suddenly pushed away to write in a character they could have die without everyone being upset they killed Steve (which, jokes on them because Eddie got a HUGE cult following).

The whole relationship talk between Steve and Nancy completely undid their growth and relationship from past seasons. It felt surreal for that conversation to happen. The whole Jonathon Nancy thing was weird too. Honestly, they should have just written a break up in and the season would have acted out the entire same way, it just felt like they forgot it?

Also, they have no clue how small towns work. I could get behind the lab, because there are many random ass military bases in the middle of nowhere in the Midwest. There are random research facilities. But you expect me to believe there's suddenly a MALL? not only a mall BUT A SECRET LAB WITH HUNDREDS OF WORKERS??? like yes suspend your disbelief but cmon

I definitely agree with your first two points.

and oh my god the mall thing just pisses me off soooooo much! like, I grew up in a small fucking town in Wisconsin, okay? population ~5K. my graduating class was under 120 people. you have to drive thirty minutes in any direction to find a shopping center bigger than the local family-owned grocery store or the dollar store that came eventually. we're talking small-small, everyone knows everyone, cows and cornfields smalls.

S1 basically nailed the small town vibe. the kids all knew who Steve was in episode one because of his reputation. some guy in town recognized a picture of Will as "Lonnie's kid". some random guy recognizes Nancy on sight after the whole spray-paint incident. Powell and Callahan know about Joyce's history of paranoia. etc.

the only questionable thing was the AV club radio because lmao with what funding??? but I'll give it a pass for being relatively inoffensive.

S2 was a good follow-through.

and then S3. what a fucking shit-show. first of all, no one would build a mall in the middle of nowhere, when Hawkins is supposed to be like an hour outside of Indianapolis or something. who built the mall? the russians? where did they stay while building it? how did no one clock the sudden influx of fucking russians in small-town America??? where is the logic duffers??? did you take it out back and shoot it like you did with Hopper and Steve's characterization in S3??? how did Nancy not know who Robin was when they've been in the same class for years? How does Robin know so many languages? Hawkins would have like one secondary language at best, the rest are just a lazy way of telling the audience Robin is smart.

S4 almost got the vibes right again, but there's Eddie, school weirdo that's never been mentioned, and the creel house murders, which would have been well known in earlier seasons, and former jock Steve has NO INTERACTIONS with the basketball team that he would absolutely know!!! (and hawkins apparently has a swim team, which I call bull on because this school doesn't have the funding, but it's crumbs for Steve so it gets a pass).

#strangerthoughts #alisha babbles #anonymous

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thiswildearth · 2 years

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Metal Lords was a p cute movie. and i got thoughts and idk who to tell

im a metalhead and i dont think even id like to hang with hunter as he is in the beginning. I know a lot about the bands i like but im excited about telling my friends about em, not trynna make em feel bad and like they gotta catch up

hunter is a shit head kid tho and defo is still learning to be a person and of course has totally grown a bunch by the end of the movie. (still got growing to do but that the journey of life all the way thru) Speaking of shit head and doing a full send into bad person territory; the number of slayer shits is totally a red flag but i was glad they didnt play any of their music. having the shirts does make sense for the character, hes been into metal for only a few years and they are huge and an intro for lots of people.

i feel like the vibe’s so different with different sub genres because i like power and folk mostly. so I like dumb funny bands and so do my buddies i talk metal with. even with death metal i only listen to the bands i know were a bunch of nerds having fun not taking themselves WAY too seriously (if you know who im talking about apparently he still hasnt chilled). i was stoked to see dnd in the movie because the overlap between those groups is a big one. more in the metal heads like drama and gravitas and pretend direction than the dnd peeps like metal way i think?

speaking genres. its a funny scene to say theyre a post death doom metal band but i dont think they are? they play too fast to be doom. the lyrics and tone could be doom there’s definitely despair and distortion but its doesnt distort in the way i think of doom. I’ll admit im not an expert, the closest i get to doom in my everyday listening is sludge metal so maybe im being to harsh in looking for a thicker sound

almost all the bands on the poster who clearly are influences on the band are heavy metal, thrash metal and NWOBHM. (the official netflix playlist on spotify also is these genres) hell he’s even got a Ghost BC poster and they’re rock, metalheads just like their spooky vibe. there is a Black dahlia and two other posters i couldnt read which probably means death metal. but the point is most of their influences are Heavy Metal and that comes thru. as Lordi would say “Now this is heavy metal!”

the story itself is good too but i just got that much to say about it. got a good moral? its most metal to be confident in yourself and not just conform to what the stereotype of a metalhead is because that’s still basing yourself on others. be nice to people cause if your being a dick why do you think your any better than that jock whos also a dick.

its a coming of age movie with a banging sound track.

#i like a lot of other subgenres but i aint tryna flex a resume #whatever #metal lords #movies #dont fight me about genres too much we all know theyre mutable #the other thing about the movie is anytime i see a long haired boy i wish i looked like that #thats disphoria baby!#ALSO #fascinated by their weird devil horns fist bump they do

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puppetoffthehook · 1 year

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Billy also beating the shit out of anyone who calls Eddie a freak.

It’s kinda obvious that the bullying of Eddie comes from being a nerd and a metalhead in a conservative town where jocks are treated like royalty. It’s also a huge class issue.

Most of the jocks appear to be on the high end of the class spectrum, either upper or middle class. Some are lower class like Billy whose family is above the poverty line though we don’t know how much. (Most of that money apparently being his father’s because Susan winds up moving them to the trailer park when she can’t afford the house anymore)

Eddie has lived with Wayne for who knows how many years and mentions his dad was obviously some kind of criminal because he taught Eddie how to Hotwire cars and was no longer in the picture probably due to jail time.

Billy would hate that shit. He specifically bullies Steve because he was “king” and a rich boy to boot. He wants to dethrone him to prove that he, a working class boy, can be better than him. So imagine him seeing this boy who lives on or below the poverty line who just doesn’t give two shits what people think of him. Billy would fucking deck a guy who tries to treat Eddie like shit.

#billy musings

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originallandlockedmariner · 2 years

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“You mentioned that you were wrong about your entire jr. high wardrobe in one of your journal page posts - care to elaborate? And also, is jr. high different in Canada?”

A. Wardrobe includes awful choices of attire, but for sense of my argument, will also will include ridiculous early puberty mustaches, no style hairstyle, and trends like multiple Swatch watches on one arm?!

B. Preppy frat dipshit meets jock meets stoner burnout meets burgeoning punk new age asshole meets metalhead meets David Byrne oversized suits wannabe was my go to style

C. Middle part for years. Then discover gel and Corey Hart apparently? Then grad day side part until finally it all disappeared and I have none.

D. Different? Like different than American? Or different as in comparison to now? I’m gonna go with yes? ;)

#me #my words

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hawkinslibrary · 4 years

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What do u think about the new filming pics of natalia, gaten, and sadie? 😶

i’m gonna try putting this under a read more but if that doesn’t work please stop reading if you don’t want any kind of spoilers !! i’ll be using my spoiler tags, too, so remember to blacklist/filter out ‘s4′, ‘st4’, and the ‘spoilers’ tags !!

seriously -- this goes in depth about set pics, audition videos, and theories.

i’m so sorry this is so incredibly long lmao. i’m just sitting on all this s4 stuff and i want to talk about it.

bottom line, i’m excited. i’m just happy to see that they’re filming again tbh, and i hope that they’ll be staying as safe and healthy as possible and that there won’t be any more major delays.

as for the content, i’m pretty happy about that, too. i love all of these characters and dynamics pretty equally, so any content with any of them is great to me. i think there was also a pic of priah on set that day, too, but it was far away and you couldn’t really see her that well. ultimately, it seems like there will be a lot of s1 and s2 vibes with the whole school setting, as a large part of the main cast will be together at hawkins high instead of off doing their own things during the summer.

i know a ton of people want a winter season, but i personally think it’ll be spring and i think nancy’s outfit in particular kinda points in that direction. plus, i don’t think they’d skip past nancy, robin, and jonathan’s senior year or the party’s first year of high school/el’s potential first year of school ever. they could do fall again and start right where we left off in s3 with the 3 month time jump, or they could do flashbacks to the holidays and time we’ll be missing. but i think the bulk of the season will be set in spring. spring has easter, easter = resurrection, david keeps referring to hopper being alive as a resurrection, strangerwriters twitter specifically brought up making easter jokes with hopper’s name, etc.

i have to bring up the s4 audition tapes that surfaced a while ago. i know they’re a controversial topic (are they real? should we put any thought into them? do they actually reflect any part of s4 at all? why would these be open to the public if they’re legit? etc., etc.), but for this ask and for the part of me that’s grasping onto like... any potential s4 info, i’m gonna be looking at them as if they’re real.

this one is for ‘warden hatch’, who is the head of a psychiatric hospital. now, we know pennhurst is gonna be in s4. we know natalia filmed there before production shut down. people said maya was also on set that day. the scenes in this audition have him talking to two girls who happen to be very smart and have a taste for investigating. they’re obviously lying about being in college (or, at least, at that particular college with that particular professor), so i think it counts as confirmation that the two of them are still in high school, or at the very least working around hawkins. i just can’t see why nancy would be at hawkins high if she wasn’t still a student.

this one is for ‘eddie’, the ‘80s metalhead who is into metallica, loves d&d, and is a potential ally. he’s also apparently a drug dealer. so. his audition mentions hellfire a lot. ‘the hellfire club’ is the name of the first episode of s4. and now we have a picture of gaten on set in a shirt that says ‘hellfire club’. at the end of s3, in the news report, they allude to dungeons and dragons being linked to satanism. it seems like this is something the hellfire club (apparently, a club for lovers of d&d) will be dealing with. there’s also a present rivalry of ‘jocks v. nerds’ with the club and the basketball team, which we know will also play a part in s4. in the audition, ‘eddie’ is talking to ‘paul’ (”you were wearing your weird al shirt”) and ‘curtis’ (”you were wearing whatever shit your mom got you from the goddamned gap”), who are... obviously dustin and mike. they tell him that ‘fred’ (lucas) will be missing the club meeting because he has to play basketball.

which brings us to ‘jason’ and the most uh... obvious? of the audition tapes. this is a scene from a pep rally for a championship basketball game, where ‘jason’ literally name drops heather, billy, and hopper, who all “perished in that fire” (aka the cover up for the battle of starcourt). now, ‘jason’ is dating ‘molly’, a cheerleader who goes to ‘eddie’ to buy drugs (which i think is the second scene included in ‘eddie’s’ audition above). this second ‘jason’ audition has the pep rally scene as well as a scene where ‘jason’ tells the basketball team they need to hunt down the ‘freaks’ in the hellfire club (but especially ‘eddie’) because something happened to ‘molly’ and he blames them (bc of the whole drugs and satanists thing). one of the basketball players speaks up to tell him that they aren’t satanists, it’s just a d&d club. i believe this basketball player is lucas (”and how exactly is it you know all that?” “my sister, she’s like.. a total nerd. she plays sometimes.”) and the basketball team/jason have no idea that he’s affiliated with the hellfire club.

so there are a few different situations which could lead up to the scene in the pictures with dustin and max, but there’s one more audition i need to talk about first. this isn’t the full audition because the original was deleted, but mrs. kelley is the new guidance counselor at hawkins high. her audition video seems to be a scene where she’s talking to a student about their home life and their grades. the situation in the scene is very reminiscent of max’s current situation and i think the full scene even mentioned the loss of a brother or something ? so, one parent is drinking and having to work two jobs after one asshole stepparent leaves, but things are still better with them gone. i think max might be retreating a little, pulling away from the party. in fact, i think both physical and emotional distance is going to be a theme in s4. like, not only is everyone in different places, but they’re going to be drifting into new situations with new people and new interests and all these new personal conflicts, i guess.

so, if we’re operating under the assumption that the audition vids are legit, maybe the scene is after the pep rally and dustin is checking up on max. she’s been hit pretty hard by billy’s death bc despite everything, despite how messed up and complicated everything was, he’s still been right there with her for years and she had to watch him die brutally. maybe she doesn’t want to think about it and maybe when ‘jason’ mentions his loss, it brings everything to the surface. or, maybe the scene is after the hellfire club meeting. dustin could be asking if she’s seen lucas or if she wants to be his replacement at the meeting. whatever it is, it doesn’t look like it ends on a very positive note.

uhhhhh in conclusion, nancy’s outfit suggests a spring season, she should still be in school along with robin, dustin is a part of the hellfire club, max is emo, and i’m very excited and happy.

#you literally just asked what i thought of some pictures i am so embarrassing #thank you for the question though !! 💖#answered #Anonymous #s4 #st4 #spoilers

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blog-generic-flipper · 6 years

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worst releases of 2017

Glue is still a band people like??

that dude jimmy’s existence and the fact that people pay attention to him

“hey check out my new power electronics album it’s a 7 CD collection of 3 hour long tracks coming soon on hospital productions”

finding out people you associated with for years are abusers

and people still are friends with them

having to immerse yourself in ~scene politics~ if you want to play shows even though it’s all obnoxious juvenile bullshit and everyone sucks

punk as a whole being a cesspool of boring garbage that exists for most people as a backdrop for social functions and personal gain via cutthroat capitalism disguised as “DIY”

the overuse of the term “social capital” by those with no understanding of what it means or knowledge of cultural capital or symbolic capital which they often confuse it with

add “gaslighting” and “emotional labor” to that list

"10 Reasons Why Every Band Should Conform To My Narrow, Lowest Common Denominator Informed Ideas Of How To Perform Music (And Also Should Only Play For 7 Minutes Max)"

"10 Reasons That Prove I'm A Boring Pedestrian Who Doesn't Appreciate Challenging Artistic Expression Or Even Understand That Performance Itself Is An Art Form And Doesn't Have To Always Appeal To Everyone"

"10 Reasons I'm Using To Justify Saying 'That's Just The Way Things Are' So They Do Stay The Way They Are, Because Punk To Me Is More About Social Hierarchy Than It Is About The Music, Politics, Experimentation, And Acceptance Of True Outcasts Which Are Integral Aspects Of The Punk Aesthetic"

dude we fucking get it, you just heard Death Church......but you’re never gonna be Matthews, Blinko, Greville, or any combination of the three, so please fucking stop ruining their style with tryhard riffs that go on for too long and aren’t memorable

and every goddamn band does it now

is deathwish inc still a thing?

oh yea they are because Converge put out another steaming pile of shit

I really don’t feel too compelled to listen to your 8th “new gorenoise project” after the first seven weren't too impressive

old alt bands trying to stay relevant by using art that looks right off the youth attack catalog from 2010 and touring with artists who stopped being relevant like 4 years ago

apparently shitty screamo (sorry....”skramz”) bands and bands who sound like bad marilyn manson ripoffs are to be considered deathrock and/or noise rock

people say “skramz” and “emo violence” with no sense of irony

the people who were the ones shitting on art punk and noise the hardest for years are now jocking that shit and starting bands but still treating it as a joke

turnstile is a band and apparently they played in israel LOL

realizing that nu metal is just sludge for normies and Dystopia is just nu metal for crusties

look dude......using too much chorus pedal on both guitar and bass, writing one song about a graveyard (that’s actually just a generic anarcho-punk nursery rhyme) and having a tonedeaf singer who moans through too much reverb doesn’t make you a goth band even with your super cool pre-distressed Sisters Of Mercy shirt

also bands who clearly like New Order and Tears For Fears but not enough to not blatantly rip them off

youth crew probably

“all cops are bastards” chanted with total sincerity as a supposedly meaningful chorus to a “political” song

comic book villain laughing being overused

the new wave of punks trying to play industrial that they think is original even though they just sound like the worst of skinny puppy and have never even heard of SPK

nyc as a whole

holy shit why is there so much oi

tuff guy gruff vocals are getting more hilariously unbearable by the day

and they were already fucking outrageously goofy to begin with

punks using poppers but not for their intended purpose

is the term “female fronted” still used as a genre by dipshits

the continuing adventures of the infantilization of women, poc, and lgbtq individuals -- as well as taking those with chronic illnesses and disabilities lightly and treating them as if they’re being unreasonable -- in punk, a subculture which claims to embrace leftist politics (see #7)

“hello it is I an uninformed metalhead shitass duebro here to tell you why caring makes you stupid” by metal sucks dot com

sweet christ if your tape is being used as a release it’s not a demo -- just title your fucking tapes so they’re distinguishable somehow when I type in “demo 2017″ while looking for it

chances are, if you did just call it “demo” I didn’t even bother because I know it’s gonna be knockoff Peni riffs and stompy big bad boy drums or “mutant so weird true freaks” bullshit

or “raw punk” aka “we just heard disclose lol”

I’m honestly not sure which of those is more unbearable at this point it’s a tough call

all music is bad

the end see you next year fuckers

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dwobbitfromtheshire · 5 months

Text

Stuck Between a Jock and a Metalhead

Chapter One - Chapter Two - Chapter Three - Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Nancy waited for her sister patiently at the bottom of the stairs, but she was taking longer than she should have for someone who knows now how to get dressed herself. She was just about to go up there when Holly came bounding down the stairs, her blond hair loose around her shoulders.

"I'm ready for the mall, Nancy!" Holly exclaimed. "I put on makeup just like you would."

Nancy put her hand over her mouth, trying to stifle the laughter. Holly was wearing bright blue eyeshadow that was spread across her eyelids and well over her eyebrows. It made her look permanently surprised. She had lipstick spread across her lips and around them.

"Did you look in the mirror yet, Holly?" Nancy asked.

"No, does it look bad?" Holly asked.

She couldn't help it, she burst into laughter. It caused her mother to come in from the living room.

"What is going - Oh my goodness," Karen snorted.

"Apparently, she put on makeup just like I would," Nancy giggled.

Karen picked up the polaroid from the hallway table and snapped a picture.

"Can I see, Mommy?" Holly asked, and she showed her. "Oh! I look so silly. I look like a clown."

Holly giggled and honked her nose. Nancy swooped her up in a hug and pressed a hard kiss to her cheek. Karen had snapped another picture. Nancy settled her on her hip.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up, and then I'll braid your hair," Nancy chuckled as she bounded up the stairs.

Karen dropped them off at the mall, announcing as they got out of the car that she would be running errands and that she would be back soon. Nancy scoffed as she watched her mother drive away. She knew exactly what kind of errands she would be doing. Ally told her what she saw her mother doing at the mall. . .checking out Billy like most women. Not only was it disgusting because he was an evil asshole but he was also the same age as Nancy. Honestly, his personality was too ugly for her to find him attractive. That was the difference between him and Jonathan. . .intent. It was also the fact that Jonathan actually gave a shit about his brother. Maybe that was attracted her to Jonathan in the first place. Before Nancy could venture further into her darkening thoughts, she felt a tug on her dress.

"Come on, Nancy!" Holly said.

She smiled at her sister and took her hand, deciding to enjoy the outing. Nancy and Holly went to the bookstore first, where she had to pull Holly away. She was really happy that Holly was interested in reading but she also needed to buy her shoes before lunch. The kid was outgrowing the shoes faster than she could wear them out. Of course, with the new shoes, Holly also wanted a dress to go with them. She ended up finding a purple one with flowers on it and one that's similar to hers for Nancy. They twirled in front of the mirror.

"What do you think? Should we pay for them and wear them out of the store?" Nancy asked.

"Yes!" Holly grinned.

Once they paid for them and got bags for their other clothes, they started heading towards the food court. Nancy made sure they chose a place that served chicken nuggets. While Holly loved all food, chicken nuggets were always a must with her. She was looking for a place to sit down when she spotted Eddie sitting with a couple of his friends. He spotted her, and his face brightened up at the sight of her.

"Nancy!" Eddie exclaimed, waving her over.

He had forgotten that his legs had been wrapped around the chair, and in his hurry to jump up, he stumbled to the ground. His friends burst into laughter. Nancy giggled.

"You want to meet my friend Eddie?" Nancy asked Holly.

"Yeah, he looks funny!"

Carrying their baskets and their bags, they wandered over to the table. Eddie dusted himself off and stood up. He smiled when they arrived at the table.

"Nice face plant, Eddie," Nancy said.

"I meant to do that," Eddie said.

"If your purpose was to kiss the floor," Nancy said, and his friends laughed. "Then yeah, you succeeded."

"Nancy Wheeler, these are my friends Gareth and Jeff," Eddie introduced. "They're also in Hellfire and in my band, Corroded Coffin."

"Oh. You didn't tell me you were in a band," Nancy said.

"You didn't tell her you were in a band?" Gareth asked him mockingly.

"Our band?" Jeff asked, and Eddie rolled his eyes.

"And who's this little lady?" He asked.

"My sister, Holly," Nancy introduced.

"Hi, Mr. Eddie, we got matching dresses!" Holly said.

"I see that. You guys look like a couple of pretty princesses," Eddie said.

"Who also fights dragons!" Holly exclaimed.

"Well, would a couple of princesses who fight dragons want to sit with us?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah, you aren't scary," Holly said as she plopped down in the seat next to him while Nancy sat on Holly's other side.

"I'm not? Well, that's a first," Eddie said.

"You're fluffy like a teddy bear," Holly said. "Eddie! Teddy!"

"I think that name is sticking, man," Jeff said with a snicker.

"Am I scary?" Holly asked.

"Oh, yeah, very," Eddie said with a gasp and clutched his chest, causing her to giggle. "So, what else you get?"

"The Hobbit. Nancy said I would like it," Holly said. "Our bubba, Mike, won't let us use his book."

"Oh, you're going to love it," Eddie grinned. "Why won't this Mike let you use his book?"

"Mike is an asshole," Holly said seriously, and the boys struggled not to laugh.

"Holly!" Nancy exclaimed. "You shouldn't call him that!"

"What if he is being one?" Holly asked.

"Yeah, Nancy, what if he is being one?" Eddie asked, and she glared at him.

"You still shouldn't," Nancy said.

"You call him that all the time, Nancy!" Holly exclaimed.

"Eat your chicken nuggets, Holly," Nancy said, trying to hide her amusement.

"You ladies doing more shopping after this?" Eddie asked.

"No, Nancy's going to take to me Scoops Ahoy to get ice cream, and she's got a surprise for me," Holly said.

Nancy mouthed Steve’s name over Holly's head, and Eddie grinned.

"That sounds like fun," Eddie said.

"Well, look at that. . .we've got to go," Jeff said, nudging Gareth.

"Oh, yes, we just remembered we've got that thing," Gareth said.

"We were supposed to browse the new music store after lunch," Eddie frowned.

"Well, like we said, we've got that thing," Jeff grinned.

"Teddy! Do you want to come with us?" Holly asked. "Do you know Steve? He works there."

"Oh. I know Steve. I like Steve," Eddie said.

Jeff and Gareth shared a knowing look. Nancy grinned. It looked like they suspected the same thing that she did.

"I like Steve too," Holly grinned.

"Holly, who told you that Steve works there?" Nancy asked.

"Mike," she replied.

Nancy rolled her eyes. Of course, that asshole would ruin the surprise.

"You just called him that word in your head, didn't you?" Eddie grinned and winked at her.

Nancy blushed and rolled her eyes.

"Well, we've got to go," Jeff grinned. "Have fun with Eddie."

"Teddy, you mean," Gareth said as they stood up.

"Bye, Mr. Gareth! Bye, Mr. Jeff!" Holly exclaimed.

"Farewell, Princess Holly," Gareth bowed.

"Oh, fiercest warrior and slayer of dragons," Jeff bowed. "Farewell."

Holly giggled and waved at them until she couldn't see them anymore. She sat back in her seat.

"I like them," Holly said.

"Eh, they're okay," Eddie shrugged with a grin.

"I like Jeff. He's cute, but he's too old, though," Holly said.

"You hear that, Nance? He's cute, but he's old," Eddie grinned.

"Oh God," Nancy laughed.

"Kids say the darndest things," Eddie said.

Once they were finished with their food, they started walking towards Scoops Ahoy. Holly took Nancy's hand and then Eddie's.

"So, you don't get lost," Holly said.

"Smart," Eddie said. "Metalheads like me are very well known for getting lost in malls."

"I didn't know that," Holly gasped. "Nancy, we can't let him get lost."

Nancy's heart fluttered in her chest as she watched Eddie converse happily with her little sister. He was great with her, too. His grin was so wide as he talked animatedly with Holly that he was flashing his dimples. They were very cute and suited him well. Eddie noticed her staring, and he winked at her. Nancy felt her cheeks warm.

"There it is!" Holly exclaimed. "That's it, isn't it?"

"Yes, but - " Nancy started to say.

Holly slipped from their grasps and ran ahead of them. They started running after her, but she was quick to dive between people's legs.

"Jesus! This kid is fast!" Eddie exclaimed.

"Holly!" Nancy yelled.

Suddenly, they heard her scream and they were running faster than ever. They found her lying on the floor, a large stony faced man glaring down at her. Holly's bottom lip was trembling. Nancy realized that it was the delivery guy who had dropped off the ice cream. He growled at Holly, and crocodile tears started welling up in Holly's eyes.

"I'm sorry I ran into you. I didn't mean to," Holly whimpered.

"Hey! The kid said she was sorry! Do you have anything better to do than to scare the shit out of her?!" Eddie snapped, and the man was growling at him now. "Do you understand me? Fuck off, man!"

Nancy knelt down next to Holly and pulled her to her side. The man stepped into Eddie's face menacingly. There was a flash of fear in Eddie's eyes, but he stood his ground, clenched his jaw, and stared at the man right back. When the man realized he was drawing attention from other people, he snorted and walked off. Holly pulled herself out of Nancy's arms and threw her arms around Eddie's legs.

"Are you okay, Teddy?" Holly asked. "I thought he was going to hurt you."

"I'm okay, sweetheart," Eddie said and scooped her up. "Are you okay?"

"I think I scraped my elbow," Holly said.

"Well, let's get that fixed up, shall we?" Eddie said and pulled out his first aid kit. "We can use Princess Nigel. Steve gave him to me, and I named him."

They went to the nearest bench where Nancy pulled Holly into her lap. Eddie knelt in front of her and started patching up her elbow. He stuck his tongue out while he worked.

"I'm sorry for running away, I just got excited," Holly sniffed.

"Well, you scared the crap out of me and your sister, but I think you scared Nancy the most," Eddie said softly.

She didn't realize how close to crying she had been until Eddie had said something or that she was shaking.

"I'm sorry, sissy," Holly said.

"You're okay now. That's the important thing. Always hold hands, though, okay? Promise?" Nancy asked.

"Promise," Holly sniffed. "I'm sorry too, Teddy."

"It's alright. You know, I get into accidents all the time. I'm a huge klutz which is why Steve gave me this," Eddie said as he slipped it into pocket. "I gotta say, though. You're a lot braver than I would have been. I would have shit my pants."

"Then Nancy would have to change you just like she did when I was a baby," Holly giggled.

Eddie and Nancy laughed.

"You know, since you got injured in the line of duty, I think this little warrior deserves a piggyback ride," Eddie said and turned around.

Holly cheered as she wrapped her arms and legs around him. He snorted like a pig and started walking with Nancy, who was gazing at him fondly.

"Teddy! Always hold hands, remember?" Holly asked.

Eddie grinned and held out his hand towards Nancy, wiggling his fingers at her. Nancy blushed and took his hand. Somewhere along the way, their fingers slid together. When they entered the parlor, Holly immediately jumped down from Eddie's back and started running towards the counter. Steve ran out and met her halfway, scooping her up.

"There's my girl!" Steve exclaimed.

"I missed you!" Holly squealed and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"I missed you too, pumpkin," Steve said.

"I like your outfit," Holly said.

"I like yours," he replied.

"It matches Nancy's outfit," Holly stated proudly.

"I see that," Steve laughed. "But you know what it needs?"

He took off his hat and plopped it down on her head. She giggled madly.

"How do I look?" She asked.

"Better than I do in the hat," he said. "What have you been up to? Catch me up."

"Me and Teddy almost got eaten by a troll!" Holly exclaimed.

"Okay, I'm a little lost," Steve said.

Nancy watched with a smile on her face as Eddie and Holly both recounted the story in their own adorable way. She loved the way that Holly lit up with both of them. Looking at Steve with Holly, she knew without a doubt that she was still in love with Steve, but there was also something else stirring for Eddie as well. As she looked at both of them, she knew she couldn't put them through what she put Steve through, especially since she could recognize that Steve and Eddie were starting to like one another. She couldn't come between that, and she couldn't mess it up for Holly. If only there was a way for her to be with both of them. Her eyes slid to Robin's, who was now looking at her with wide eyes. It looks like she figured it out, too. Robin slowly raised her hands and gave her two thumbs up. Nancy didn't know what that was supposed to mean. She ignored it and sat down to enjoy some ice cream with the three of them, pushing aside the warm feelings of affection in her stomach.

Chapter Six

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literateape · 6 years

Text

Everything You Need To Think After Watching Black Mirror: Season 4

By Keith Gatchel

You put off watching it until now. I did, too. In my case, I make it a point to watch the episodes in order, so I'm not tempted to skip one because I'm afraid of the concept. But, this season of Black Mirror seemed to benefit in that way, like an album, more so than previous ones. So, let's go through each episode, with the calm, cool academic composure fans of speculative fiction are known to keep.

SPOILER ALERT!! EVERYONE DIES. BUT, BY THAT, I MEAN, WE ALL DO. IT'S THE CIRCLE OF LIFE. ALSO, THIS TO KEEP FROM SPOILING WHAT HAPPENS IN THE FOURTH SEASON OF BLACK MIRROR, WHICH I ASSUME YOU CONSIDERED FROM THE TITLE ABOVE. BUT, STILL, IN THE END, DEATH COMES FOR US ALL. SPOILER ALERT.

"USS Callister":

To start off, stand-up comedy, and specifically The Daily Show, helped me call out my own beliefs, with scalding hot comedy, that made me question why I had them in the first place. Having said that, USS Callister burns so damn hot that I love it. To keep it simple, I have enough in common with Robert Daly to relate to him (…to a degree) who’s probably also had him as a friend (but, none of you, of course…). I, too, thought the episode would be the usual "guy gets girl from jock" scenario, perhaps with a Back To The Future-like uppercut, or a riffing on it of some kind. But, instead, Daly turns into Billy Mumy in It's a Good Life and gets called out on his control issues. When it turns out the characters in the game were live-avatars (is that what we're calling them?), I was worried we'd get a retread of the "White Christmas" episode.

But, really, it just used a concept. That seems lazy at first. And, the more episodes Black Mirror has, the more it’ll tend to stretch their concepts. But, seeing as it's already an anthology show, and one that's earned its stripes, let's not ding it when other writers want to play with the toys, too. What sold it and brought out the originality was how lived-in the concept was: gameplaying aside, what else do people do with genetic-memory-scanners? Do people save their deceased souls in the cloud and talk to them? Can you save multiple copies of them to sell or hand out? Can police use this to interview murdered victims from the dead? Haven’t these all already been episodes?

But, specifically, how the episodes rifted on Star Trek until the end. I thought the “cloud of code” was a bit shoehorned in, but it worked. Also, making Cristin Milioti’s real-life counterpart steal the extra DNA needed an ending of some kind, too. The subplot was too good not leave out, but did it really have an end? Did she stay and watch Robert die? Can the live-avatars still contact her, or her them? Did anyone see her leave Robert’s place, seeing as how she’s the last one to see him alive? But, to wrap up, the nihilist in me loved the fact that victory for the little people in the computer was the sweet release of death (“I really hope we die”), and the Star Trek fan in me loved that they flew into a reboot (and finding Aaron Paul).

“Arkangel”:

Black Mirror has a tendency to ride some of their concepts too long in an episode, spending too much time establishing or reestablishing it. Usually at about the 15 minute to halfway point, you know what the story is and you just want to get it going. In this case, it felt like they kept starting different stories that just introduced new concepts: the girl goes missing, she gets a tracker implanted, she gets violence censored to her, her grandpa has a heart attack, but it’s not fatal, then it flashes forward to when he does pass away, and so on…

They’re all well-written scenes, but the story keeps stopping once a new concept is introduced to start on another. Plus, I’ve always thought Black Mirror’s idea of “blocking” people is weird, where you’d just see a hazy pixilation and muted sounds. Wouldn’t that also be terrifying, especially to a child? Can't they still hurt you? I like that the effects it had on the daughter once the parental blockers were removed, but I couldn’t tell how that really effected her as a teenager (angsty, yes, but not too much more than a normal teenager).

I also really liked the scenes of Rosemarie Dewitt looking through her daughter’s eyes, like Being John Malkovich, and I like everything she did here (and, just her in general). And, slipping contraception into a shake is plenty reason to get your face beaten in. But, much like “Shut Up And Dance”, that other episode where everything turns out to be a game show, and the one where the husband yells at his cheating wife for an hour, this one was well done, but needed to fill in a lot of gaps.

“Crocodile”:

The more I think about this episode, the more I find what I think it was trying to do, and then realize it didn’t do that. What the episode did right was start off on a great murder scene and subsequent disposal. I have a personal affinity to scenes where characters have to get rid of bodies, and it’s shown as realistically as possible. I’m going to assume I’ve just watched too many super-hero and action movies, where thugs and henchmen are thrown about, but I find it hilarious when the time, weight, and reality of cleaning up your own murder is depicted. Make it as boring and inconvenient as possible. I love it. Even once it became clear that the episode was going to be about a series of murders, I got into it.

And, I like a story where our protagonist spirals deeper and deeper into evil, or misfortune, and never gets out in the end. Or, I love stories where the killer gets away. Just the fact that it’s unexpected can be enjoyable. However, this never seemed to achieve it’s goals. It never really became a series of causes and effects, because there were too many coincidences with memory readers and pizza-vans (and a blind baby). It never really became a showcase for technology because it’s too specific (or are you a successful developer who’s 2 murders could be discovered after a car accident 3 stories down and perfect mind-reading?). Even when they tried to show Mia in a dark hood under back-lighting, resembling the Angel of Death, it felt underwhelming.

It never became a story of a killer getting away, because she’s about to get caught at the end. Plus, we never really got to know Mia very well in the first place. And, while the scenes with the investigator are well directed, and the devices are fun to see in action (the investigator carries around beer!), the fact that you only get a weird flash of a person leading out if they’re trying not to think of murder undercuts that technology as well. In fact, aside from being well shot, can anyone think of anything this episode achieved?

“Hang The DJ”:

This was another perfect balance of story-telling and concept, and another example of the show upending that concept halfway instead of riding it. The whole thing starts off with a familiar date, but with armed guards, and then sleeping over in a house neither of you own (did anyone else think those houses looked like the bathrooms you see at parks?). The whole thing felt natural, but raised questions from the beginning. Specifically, were these people on a dating website? Or a part of some social club? Or part of a closed community?

I loved how it became a streamlined romantic comedy, with “The System” playing matchmaker, best friend counsel, and by the end, the controlling parents the kids have to run away from before the arranged wedding. In this case, though, you start to wonder what else these people do, and why they are never talking to their friends. I assume we all realized it was a simulation once Amy noticed the rocks always skipped “no more or less than 4 times”.

But, that didn’t diminish how I identified with the characters (although, I’m going to assume they are also live avatars, because that’s how this show rolls). Their ruminations on love kept things going to the point that by the time Amy wants to get the hell out, I was on board with them pulling a Logan’s Run and booking it.

“Metalhead”:

Probably the most original episode this season, and the one each Black Mirror season seems to have where they throw off the ties to the rest of the episodes (I’ll get to whether it’s an anthology or a shared universe below). This is a pure cat and mouse chase with any semblance of background or world-building getting run over by a either a survivor or a Terminator-Dalek.

First off, anyone who isn’t scared of an unstoppable killer robot has apparently never had a nightmare, ran for their life, or done both. I’ve read/heard some people complain about the black and white, or how that’s just used to make it seem original. But, it makes the light pop and helps with the fact that, yes, the “dog” wasn’t great CGI. And, while I feel like too many times lately we’re expecting our action movies to be more and more streamlined, this episode earned the right to leave out exposition so we can imagine why they’re risking lives to get one, or a box of, teddy bears.

“Black Museum”:

Overall, “White Christmas” was better. But, it also had the advantage of being first (and Jon Hamm). In both cases, it’s great for the show to have place where it can dump a few ideas together that won’t all fill around an hour, even though the narration of Rolo Hanes took away from scenes that could have really stood on their own. But, we all jumped up when we saw the red sucker in that display case (…there’s a sentence).

So, this brings us to the well-suited cigarette-smoking narrator in the room. Black Mirror tends to get referred to as “the new Twilight Zone”, and while it very much holds up to that title, most people tend to just use that as short-hand for “anthology”. However, the Twilight Zone tended to also lean towards the supernatural and science-fantasy, whereas Black Mirror is all about technology’s affect on us. So, is Black Mirror a shared universe like some people are starting to think? Charlie Booker officially said “No” to that… and done.

What Black Museum did was not show us a world where all the other episodes are intertwined, but, I think, showed us a world where those particular events happened. If the universe is part of a multiverse and everything that can happen will happen, this is one where the Black Mirror episodes happened together. Thus, if you’re watching any other episode, that is in it’s own universe. It just so happens something similar ended up in the Black Museum (also, there’s a universe where Hitler got the atomic bomb first, so maybe let’s not jump into multiverse travel when we get to it). The reason I bring up the connections/lack thereof, is because at the end of it, after Charlie Booker is done playing “Night Gallery”, the new kid burns it all down.

I hope this is the show acknowledging where it’s gotten repetitious, making this it’s version of a cliffhanger episode. They know it’s the last one most people will watch. So, even though I do love the live-avatars (really), I hope this is the show promising to shake things up going forward. Or, even if it doesn’t, it’s still an amazing show. I barely even mentioned the music.

Rankings, best to worst:

USS Callister Metalhead Hang The DJ Black Museum Arkangel Crocodile

#Black Mirror Season 4 #Black Mirror Season 4 Review

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