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sherifftillman · 1 year

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Pairing: Eddie Munson x Nancy Wheeler (Edancy)

Genre: fluff

Word count: 5.7k

A/N: Okay, so maybe I'm the clown for thinking that putting a "short blurb request" prompt for my 2k follower celebration would actually help me keep things concise and maybe I can never shut the fuck up but finally, she's here. @heroeddiemunson sorry for the wait lol, but here's your "tunnel of love" request for edancy <3

Nancy lets out a disgruntled breath as she puts her car into park and turns off the engine. As if finals weren’t enough of a stressor, on top of finally breaking up with her long-distance boyfriend, of course Mike had to go and get himself detention and of course Mike forgot to pick up something for his latest D&D campaign and of course Mike left it until the last minute to remember he needed it before the session and so of course Nancy has to play courier. What else could she possibly be doing with all this spare time everyone just assumes she has?

Getting out of the car, and taking a deep breath of the freshest air the trailer park can offer to recompose herself, Nancy stands tall and heads over to the door of the Munson trailer, rapping her knuckles against it three times sharply. She expects a quick and easy transaction with Eddie, that he must be expecting Mike anyway so it’ll only be a few minutes. Then it’s back to the library once again. So she jumps up in alarm when a far more weathered face greets her instead. “Oh! I’m so sorry, Mr Munson!”

“’S Wayne,” he grunts sleepily. “’M not your teacher.”

“R-right, again, so sorry. Um, I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything? I was just trying to find Eddie, I’m here on behal-”

Wayne’s tired face lights up at that. “Oh, you are here for the boy? Come on in, I’ll go get him,” he shuffles back with the door as he pulls it open.

“Oh, please, Miste- Wayne, I’m not here to stay, I just need to get something from him -”

“No, I insist, come on in! It’s gonna take a minute or two before he even realises I’m in the room with those damn things on his head, and the sun’s mighty vicious today,” he shields his eyes and looks up at the clear blue sky.

The knowledge of how to truly win an argument, Nancy had learned in her years, also comes with knowing when to back down. And she was not going to win against Wayne Munson. She steps carefully over the threshold as Wayne heads into what she assumes is Eddie’s room. She studies the alarming amount of mugs and caps that adorn the walls with great interest as the thin walls of the trailer betray the confidentiality of the men’s conversation.

“Boy. Bo- Boy!”

“Okay, ow, what the hell? Why’d you smack me?!”

“I didn’t smack you, I smacked those goddamn soup bowls off your head. There something you wanna tell me?”

“What do you mean?”

“I knew it. All this I’m not going to prom, old man. When were you going to tell me you found yourself a date, huh?”

“I have no clue what you’re -”

“Cute, too! Seems a little, uh, how do I put it? She’d be good for you.”

“Here we go again.”

“Look, I’m sorry, kid, I just… You’ve never had it easy, and I just wanna see you have at least one normal high school experience, is that too much to ask?”

“Well, sorry to disappoint, old man, but I’m still very much repulsive, thanks.”

“Have you not been listening?! Tell that to the girl that’s literally waiting in the other room.”

“Wha-?”

“Don’t you worry, I’ll step out, give you two some privacy. You know, you really are cutting it fine, leaving it so short notice before the dance.”

“You look like you just woke up, you’re in your bathro-”

The door wrenches open, and Nancy quickly turns her focus onto a mug shaped like Garfield as Wayne rushes out with a, "Please pardon me, I'm just going to - I just remembered I have to - Edward!" is the last thing he shouts over his shoulder as the front door swings shut behind him.

Softly laughing under her breath, Nancy looks over at where he had emerged from to see Eddie leaning himself against the doorway. "The elusive Elder Wheeler? To what am I owed the pleasure?"

Nancy scoffs and rolls her eyes, "I literally just came here on Mike's orders, he wants some… Character, thing, I don't-"

"Ah, the paladin wants his character pack. Leaving it a little late," he notes with a frown.

"Yeah, well, that's my brother," Nancy comments with an air of impatience.

Eddie cocks his head to lean against the frame, too. "What's the rush, Wheels?"

Taking a moment to silently mouth the nickname judgingly, Nancy shakes her head. "Finals week? Ring any bells?" He scrunches half of his face up, scratching at his unobscured temple.

She shakes her head at him, a laugh of disbelief under her breath, and he grins, "Oh, please, there is no way in hell that you, Nancy Wheeler, have to worry about finals. I bet you’re a shoo-in for all the big ones, Harvard and Yale must be cat-fighting over you.” He holds his hands in claws and moves them around to illustrate his point.

Nancy feels her cheeks flush warm at the thought. “I’m already going to Emerson, yes, but I need to set an expectation of myself.”

“So, set it low and then wow them when you’re there,” he shrugs, as though it’s the easiest solution in the world. Nancy tuts at him, but that damn smile just won’t leave her face. Eddie shoves himself away from the doorframe and gestures towards his bedroom, inviting Nancy over. “I promise, it’s decent in here, I thi- Oh,” he ducks his head around and kicks his leg somewhere that Nancy can’t see before looking back over at her and beaming, “Okay, now it’s decent.”

“Really, I just need whatever Mike’s supposed to get, I -” Feeling defeated for the second time in the space of minutes, Nancy stands tentatively in the doorway, her eye immediately catching the record player sitting on the floor with giant headphones resting next to it. She chuckles, “So that’s what he meant by soup bowls.”

“You journalists just can’t keep your ears to yourself, huh?” Though Eddie’s head is buried in a cardboard box that looks as though it’s tied together with nothing but spite in and of itself, Nancy can hear the smirk in his voice. “Sorry that the old man assumed you were… Y’know.”

“Oh, don’t even - it’s fine,” Nancy waves her hand, regardless of its total redundancy to an obscured Eddie. “Though I’m a little intrigued what he thinks you’re yet to experience out of high school after that long.”

“Okay, firstly, ouch. Contrary to what people say about sticks and stones, words can hurt too, Wheeler,” Eddie stands tall, one hand full of a paper binder wrapped in elastic bands, the other splayed across his chest in mock offence. He then sighs, “He thinks I oughta go to prom. I heard him talking on the phone to, uh.” He starts clicking his fingers over and over. “What’s the name of that kid with the glasses on the paper? His mom.”

Nancy politely hides the laughter that bubbles from her lips with her hand. “Why would Fred Benson’s mom be calling Wayne?”

“Her husband works with him at the plant, and she cooks meals for us both because she doesn’t think either of us know what a vegetable is,” he shrugs, while very obviously, very poorly fighting off a large smile. “But from what I could tell, I think ol’ Freddie’s got a little proposal of his own in mind for prom night,” he singsongs coyly, waggling his eyebrows at her. Nancy groans, her face deflating, and Eddie cackles. “Aw, c’mon, it’s not like he’d even have a shot anyway, right? Is, uh… Byers coming down, too?”

Nancy winces painfully. “Uh, no. No, he’s not. We’re not…” She tries to look around for something to distract her, settling on knitting her eyebrows at a sealed loaf of bread that’s sitting on the floor.

“Oh! Sorry. To hear that, and also bring it up, I guess? I dunno, I’m not really good at the whole… Y’know. There’s obviously a reason why Wayne’s practically marrying me off to the first girl to cross this threshold in god-knows-how-long,” Eddie rambles awkwardly.

Nancy breathes out a laugh through her nose. "It's whatever," she shakes her head. "I'm probably not even gonna get to go, anyway."

Eddie's eyes widen in shock. "Hawkins High's top reporter, not attending the biggest event of the year?! Surely you don't need a date."

"I don't," she states plainly. "But my dad's been all, no daughter of mine is going to a dance alone! And for once, Mom's decided to be a united front with him, so…" She half-shrugs. "Besides, even if I did go dateless, I'm sure Fred's still gonna glue himself to my hip, anyway," she adds exasperatedly, pulling a face.

Eddie could never have predicted that he was about to witness the most beautiful sight of his life. He would never have even guessed what that sight would have been. He'd never understood the analogy of a lightbulb referring to having an idea until he watched Nancy Wheeler illuminate right in front of him. Her posture straightens, the picture of elegance. Her mouth moves slightly, quickly, silently, her eyes squint every few beats, her nose scrunches every fewer. She pauses for half a second, eyes glanced to one side as her lips push out to the other, and then she nods.

She takes a deep breath, about to start presenting her argument, when Eddie interrupts. "You about to ask me to prom, Wheels? 'M flattered."

She looks at him indignantly. "How did you -?"

"It makes the most sense, right?" he asks. "We both get something out of it: you get to go to prom, simultaneously keeping your parents happy while also pissing them off because, well," he gestures to himself. "I get to give the old man what he wants, for once. You have a failsafe against Benson. And your brother's face is gonna be priceless."

She shakes her head in defeat, “Alright, you got me. I didn’t even think of that last one, that’s three to one in my favour, I guess.”

“Eh, let’s call it three to two,” Eddie turns his nose up. “Little Wheels deserves a little payback from that one stupid nat 20 perception check that overrode three sessions' worth of writing.”

Nancy giggles, “Must be a family thing. Dustin didn’t talk to me for three weeks when I figured out who his main big bad guy was.”

Eddie’s face once again falls into shock. “You’ve played?! How is this the first I’m hearing of this?!”

Nancy’s Casio watch beeps at her, telling her it’s time to go pick up Mike. With a modest smile, she reaches over and takes her brother’s character pack from Eddie, tucking her chin into her shoulder as she says, “Maybe I’ll tell you next Friday.”

Eddie watches in awe as she takes one more moment to contemplate the whole bread thing, swivels around on her heel and walks out of the door purposefully. He blows out a breath he didn’t know he was holding back, shifting his bangs around his forehead.

Eddie Munson’s about to take Nancy Wheeler to the prom.

~~~

“Hey, sweetie! How was your… Thing, tonight? Kill any bad guys?” Karen Wheeler asks her son, who’s already running up the stairs.

“Oh my god, Mom, I already told you, today was the first session of a new cam- Nancy! You home?!” Mike shouts as he continues to stomp through the second floor of the house.

“I’m down here with Mom,” she calls back to him, and he groans in anguish.

“Then get up here! I’m not walking up and down again!”

Karen’s brow furrows. “Now, why on earth does your brother want to see you so bad?”

Nancy smiles coyly. “Why, indeed? I better go find out.”

She finds her brother standing in front of her bedroom. “I’m supposed to give you this? I dunno, what are you even doing with Eddie? He’s actually cool. What, is he paying you to help him cram for his exams?”

“If he’s not telling you, chances are there’s a good reason,” she shrugs, snatching what Mike’s holding from his grip and shoving him out of the way, quickly shutting her door behind her the second she crosses the threshold into her room. She opens the tea-stained envelope with “For Elder Wheeler’s Eyes Only” written on it, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. Inside is a written note:

Elder Wheeler,

It seems you and I have been bound by fate to accompany one another on a most dire quest: conforming to the formal societal standards of the true evil cultural event known as “prom”. And so, much like every adventuring party, we must establish some specifics first. Namely:

What colors are you wearing? (Research tells me that the more a party of two matches aesthetically, the more the conformists like it. Which will make your parents hate it even more.)

When should our epic journey start? (Remember, we have to make time to hit all our quest markers at House Wheeler, House Munson and then the dreaded Hawkins HIgh.)

I know that traditionally, the man of a two-person party is the one who plans these things in advance, but I also know enough about you, Elder Wheeler, to assume that you would rather be in charge. And so, I am more than happy to comply with whatever you have planned for us.

I shall await your response from the young Postmaster Wheeler.

Sincerely,Eddie the Banished

The smile on Nancy’s face grows tenfold as she reads it over and over. She describes the dress she has in mind to Eddie in as much detail as she can, tells him to be at the door for 6pm to allow ample time for parent reactions and then the eventual photo-taking before going to Wayne’s for more photos, and then getting to the prom itself.

Shoving the paper back into the envelope and finding a sticker and some tape to hold it back together again, Nancy knocks sharply on the door opposite her own.

Mike emerges with a tired, “Can I help you?”

She holds the envelope out. “I’ll have him tell me if the tape’s been compromised. And I’m sure he’ll make your life hell for it just as much as I will.”

Mike rolls his eyes as he takes it back. “Can’t even have one cool older friend without you ruining everything, jeez,” she hears him mutter under his breath as he shuts the door in her face.

Biting her lip, Nancy pivots back round and practically skips back into her bedroom, swinging the door shut behind her, leaping onto her bed and picking up her landline phone to start dialling her best friends’ phone numbers.

Eddie continues to utilise Mike as his little messenger boy, to the postmaster’s chagrin. One time after borrowing some of Gareth’s art supplies to colour various shades of purple onto a sheet of paper, asking Nancy to circle which is closest to the colour of her chosen dress. One time to ask her if she’s allergic to anything a corsage could be made of. And one time to just send a note that reads, It’s just fun to make young Michael work.

~~~

At 6pm sharp, the door knocks. Four quick taps. Another quick one. A sequence, quick, slow, quick. A final quick one. Nancy smirks as she spells out the Morse code that only one person she’s expecting would be nerdy enough to know — h-e-r-e.

Karen, who has been pestering her daughter over this mystery man she’s been hinting at for the last week or so, practically flies to the door. She pauses for a moment once her hand is on the doorknob, using her free hand to smooth herself down before stepping back with the door as it opens. She’s got her big hostess smile on - which falters the moment she sees that Munson boy on her doorstep. “Oh. Michael! It’s your… Dice and… Dinosaurs friend!”

Nancy, who’d made it to the top of the stairs by this point, hangs back, biting her lip as she watches Mike, with all his fake bravado, stammer, “Oh, uh, hey, Eddie! Wasn’t expecting - what brings you t-?” The rest of his sentence is knocked right out of him as he looks down, Nancy presumes at his outfit. "N- No, no, there's no way, you -" His jaw hangs as he looks up at his sister standing halfway down the stairwell.

Karen swallows hard. “...Ted? Honey? You might wanna come out here and see this.”

Eddie watches everything happen in awe, how Nancy seems to be reacting so nonchalantly over the family reacting in her perfectly orchestrated chaos. Those words shouldn’t even go together, but Nancy Wheeler makes it so.

Eddie squeezes his eyes shut and shakes his head, rebooting himself, as Nancy joins him at the foot of the stairs. “Looking good, Wheels,” he grins, and she tuts, rolling her eyes.

“You don’t scrub up too badly yourself, Munson,” she leans in to tap him on the nose and he inhales deeply, holding it in for a few beats longer than necessary as she walks past. He follows her as she walks through to the back yard, shouting behind her, “Well! Where’s your camera, Dad? We don’t have all night!”

Eddie bites back the reaction that so badly wants to leave his lips as he sees the backdrop that’s hanging from the branch of a nearby tree. Though he may not know her well at all, even Eddie knows that this has Karen Wheeler written all over it. Nancy holds his arms as she guides him into position, instructing him on how to pose as a very red-faced Ted Wheeler marches out. Through the toothy grin Eddie’s forcefully presenting to the camera, he tells Nancy, “I feel like I look like a penguin in this get-up.”

“Maybe a little,” she mutters back, “but a handsome penguin all the same.”

Laughter brimming in his tone, Eddie asks, “Am I the most handsome penguin? Do I make all the other penguins go…” Suddenly unsure of what sound to make, Eddie makes a squawking sound unheard of from any man or beast. Nancy looks at him with a look of confused bewilderment, and Eddie clears his throat, his face falling into a stoic deadpan as he bashfully admits in a murmur, “I have no idea what a penguin sounds like.”

Nancy laughs, but it’s not the way people usually laugh at him. She’s laughing with him, just as his friends do, except it can take months, if not years for the people he recruits into Hellfire to understand his sense of humour. All he’s really had with Nancy has been the one conversation they had two weeks ago, and a few notes back and forth.

He’s pulled out of that train of thought as a resigned Ted asks, “Are we done here, now?”

And that’s when reality hits. When Nancy is exaggeratedly sweetly smiling, “Come on, Dad, didn’t you want to immortalise your little girl getting taken to her last school dance?” That’s why Eddie feels so connected to her already. Because she’s putting on a show. There’s no reason to believe Nancy actually feels anything herself, she doesn’t even know Eddie. At best, she’s done her research to know just how to make this charade look believable.

So, the very least he can do is owe it to her to not let her down by looking so sombre at his own realisation. A horn sounding from the other side of the house startles everyone except Eddie, who announces, “Our chariot awaits, Elder Wheeler.”

“Wh- You’re not taking that van you drove up in?!” Karen asks.

Eddie tuts, “And have your daughter show up to her senior prom in it?” He shakes his head. “Come on, now, Mrs Wheeler, she deserves better than that, right? My uncle Wayne’s borrowing a Cadillac from someone at the plant for the night, he’s here to take us back to take some photos of his own before he takes us to school. I'm sure you won't mind me keeping that ol' van here in favour of your daughter riding across Hawkins in style.”

Karen loudly hums her dismissal. “Mm-mm, there is no way that my Nancy is walking through a - a trailer park,” she mouths those two words, “when I’ve spent so much time on her looking this good!”

“And might I add what a fine job you’ve done, Mrs Wheels,” Eddie smiles exaggeratedly. Nancy tucks her head behind his arm to let out a small laugh.

This time, it’s Karen’s turn to resemble a human beetroot as she slaps her husband’s shoulder, who groans. “Well, go on then, Karen, invite the man back here and he can take his own damn photos and get outta here!”

The pain of all of this feeling like nothing more than a farce, hits twice as hard for Eddie when he sees how proud his uncle looks of him. He’s even dressed himself in a suit as though he were a real chauffeur. This level of deceit feels far worse than it does knowing that Nancy’s only acting in spite of her family, and yet she’s a natural. She comforts Wayne, asking him if he needs a minute, but the man isn’t stupid, he knows that he’s not welcome in this house a second longer than absolutely necessary. He takes out his old camera, the one held together by scotch tape and sheer determination, and Nancy’s back to directing how they should pose.

Eddie takes a deep breath before smiling into each shot, before eventually cutting himself off with a, “C’mon, now, old man, there’s fashionably late and there’s straight up tardy!”

“Yeah, you know all about that, don’t you, boy?” he asks with raised eyebrows, making himself, Eddie and Nancy laugh. Mike laughs at his words, too, but a clip round the back of the head from his father soon shuts him up again.

Nancy makes small talk with Wayne throughout the entire car ride, and while Wayne constantly makes comments that he keeps including Eddie in, the latter can only bring himself to respond in one-word answers or generic non-committal sounds as he formulates another way to find an excuse to find one more moment with Nancy tonight. Of course, he’s her foolproof back-up for if Fred tries to make an unwanted move on her, but he can’t rely on only being able to approach her while she’s uncomfortable. He remembers them talking about the advantages both of them would have. How she thought she had three pros to his one, but he corrected her to balance it out a little more. But still, Eddie could make the argument that he has one more thing to gain. Maybe he could ask her for a dance. Just to piss off someone who asks him what he’s doing at prom, there’s gotta be at least someone who does that. Yeah. That’s what he’ll do.

Nancy calls out his name as she rifles through her purse, bringing him back to reality. “Brought something for you.” She hands him a folded up photograph, which he unravels with a growing smile on his face until his lips near enough reach his ears. He doesn’t recognise the child in the purple robe, but he can see what looks like a very young Dustin, Lucas and Mike, all dressed up as their characters sitting around the table. The table is littered with a dungeon map, miniature figures and dice of all numbers. And, sat next to Dustin, is a slightly older girl, the nest of curls adorning her head styled in a way that shows off her homemade elf ears, holding the cloak she’s wearing as she’s obviously mid-speaking.

Eddie chuckles under his breath, “You’ve been a player this whole time and didn’t think to hit us up once?!”

“Yeah, I mean, it was just to keep the kids happy. I sort of, half-grew out of it, half-lost interest when it became very obviously Mike’s Thing that he wouldn’t want his older sister anywhere near.” Nancy sighs, “But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss Catriona Valthana from time to time.”

“Well, if you ever wanna reprise her, you know where we live,” he gestures to Wayne and himself, and his uncle nods through the rear view mirror.

Nancy laughs, “Maybe. But, I figured, that makes us even now, right?” Eddie looks at her in bafflement, trying to figure out how she was able to read his mind like that, but she mistakes it for confusion. “Y’know, back when we were saying, I was three for your two things we get out of this?” she asks quietly, looking over at Wayne to make sure he couldn’t hear that part. Eddie simply nods sadly, pocketing the photo and patting where it sits in his breast with another fake smile before remaining silent for the rest of the journey.

They clamber out of the car once they’re in the parking lot, both thanking Wayne profusely for driving them there and agreeing on a time he should pick them up again. They both stand together to wave him off, and once he’s out of eyesight, Nancy claps her hands together, bouncing as she spins to face Eddie, who presses his lips together. “S’pose I better go find Jeff, now.”

Nancy narrows her eyes. “Oh. I - Yeah, if you - aren’-?”

He shrugs, his voice almost monotonous, “It’s like you said, we’re all even now, right? Now you can just enjoy your prom, nothing else attached. I’ll still keep an eye out for Benson for you, but… Enjoy your prom, Wheeler.” Eddie nods one more time before walking off into the building, rendering Nancy glued to the spot, speechless. Sure, she’d been having fun putting shocked looks on her family’s faces, but Eddie was having fun with it, too, right? He’s always been a stick-it-to-em kinda guy, and he had his personal hang-up with Mike. Like, yeah, he plays pretend at D&D at least once a week, but was he really so good at it that he could switch up so quickly?

She eventually makes her own way into the hall, very quickly accosted by her group of girlfriends. “What gives, Nance?” Robin asks. “I thought you said you were coming with that Eddie guy, why’re you coming in separately?”

She explains everything that’s happened throughout the night, and is met by three identical looks of disbelief. “What?” she laughs.

“Oh, come on, I know you’re still hung up on… Whatshisface, and all, but… Isn’t it obvious?” Vickie asks, shaking her head.

“I’m guessing not!” Nancy starts to sound exasperated as she looks to her oldest and dearest friend.

“Nance…” Barb starts, softly. “Do you not think that maybe there was one more reason someone like Eddie Munson was willing to go to a school dance with you, specifically?”

“Yeah, like I said, he wanted to make his uncle happy, and I happened to be there, and -”

“Listen to me,” Robin holds Nancy’s shoulders. “The whole of band was buzzing because he even turned down Chrissy Cunningham when she asked him after she and that Jason douche broke up. And that was days before you called to say he’d asked you.”

Vickie gestures to Robin, following up with a, “Now, if he was just going to prom to stick it to the man while making his uncle happy, don’t you think it’d have been a bigger middle finger to everyone else for the outcast to take the head cheerleader?”

Nancy looks over at Eddie, who’s stood with Jeff and his date. Jeff’s clearly trying to get Eddie to keep engaging in conversation, but something about him isn’t as… Spirited. “Then why didn’t he just outright ask? Why wait for me to be the one to suggest it? Or, at least, I was about to, but then he beat me to it -”

“Didn’t you say he asked you about Jonathan?” Barb asks. “He probably just didn’t even think it was an option.”

Nancy sighs deeply. “I gotta fix this. But, then, how? Like, wha- If that’s how he feels, what am I supposed to do, only humour him until it’s time to go to Boston? Expect him to go long-distance, even though that’s the thing that ended my last relationship? I don’t -” She growls in frustration. “Why are men so…?” Another sigh.

The girls all hug her, which she finds great comfort in. After they all go and get themselves something to drink, Nancy starts formulating plans in her head. Halfway into the dance, Barb’s about to tell her that maybe she should just relax, forget about it and enjoy the night when she sees it. Her back straightens up. She starts mouthing silent words to herself, her eyes and nose moving with them. Her lips purse off to the side as she looks in the other direction, and her friends grin back at her. She looks over at them and, with a knowing smirk, clears her throat. “Excuse me, ladies.”

She weaves her way through the crowd until she finds Eddie, skulking in the shadows as Jeff and his date dance the night away. He raises his eyebrows at her, looks around, and then frowns in another direction. “Benson’s all the way over there, I didn’t see him come near you.”

“I know,” Nancy states, holding her hand out. “I’ve decided I want my picture back.”

He frowns, “The… One of you playi- Okay,” he shrugs, taking it out of his pocket and placing it in her palm. “That all?”

Nancy buries it in her bag, then throws her hands up in the air and tuts dramatically. “Tsch, now would you look at that? I guess I’m back to owing you.” Eddie’s eyes narrow as she holds her hand out again, this time chewing her lip before asking, “Care to join me for an apology dance?”

Eddie smiles back, a real, genuine smile, as he shakes his head in feigned resignation and takes her hand, allowing her to lead him to the dancefloor. As they sway together, neither of them especially knows how to start talking. Or maybe they don’t need to. Maybe just staying here, holding each other, is enough.

After a while, Jeff and his date join them. Quickly followed by Robin, Vickie and Barb. Not another word is uttered between Eddie and Nancy without it being a part of the group’s conversation, a topic of great frustration every time the girls convene in the bathroom - including Jeff’s date, who also seems to really be rooting for the pair. Even Chrissy, who wanders in during one bathroom break, immediately becomes invested in what becomes of the two of them. Nancy promises that by the end of the night, she’ll have at least started a conversation about it. Whatever Eddie decides to do is up to him. In the meantime, they all chat, sing, and dance the night away between them. By the end of the night, Nancy's cheeks ache from smiling so much.

It finally happens as they’re waiting for Wayne. All the others in their little party have been collected, leaving just the two of them. “Alright, alright, I guess I’ll admit,” Eddie starts, “prom was actually… A lot of fun.”

“You gonna tell Wayne that?” She asks with a knowing smirk.

“Absolutely not,” he laughs, and she does, too. “Don’t you dare tell him, I’ll deny everything.” Nancy draws a fake zipper across her lips, and Eddie nods at her in thanks. “Besides, I… Probably wouldn’t have had any actual fun if you hadn’t… Y’know. Done the whole thing and asked me to dance and whatever. So. Thanks. You didn’t have to.” He’s starting to go into his recluse again, which Nancy’s determined not to let happen.

“Sure I did, I owed you one, remember?” He waves her off, and she sighs. “Plus, I… I’m sorry… If you felt like I led you on.”

He inhales sharply. “All’s good, Elder Wheeler,” he lies. “I knew what was expected of me, we delivered on that, nothing more, right?”

“I don’t - see, that’s the -” Nancy sighs. “I’ve had, so much fun with you tonight. Like, the most fun I’ve had in months. But I didn’t want tonight to be just some rebound to get out of being single for a night, and I didn’t want to pursue anything before I left for Emerson because - well, because clearly distance is more of a dealbreaker for me than I thought, and that’s not fair on either of us, but I just… I just… Want to bottle up tonight. And just keep that, without all the other stuff to stress about.”

Eddie doesn’t speak for a few beats, but finally pipes up with a, “So, why stress about it?”

Nancy’s face scrunches up in bewilderment. “What?!”

“You heard. Stuff like this shouldn’t be stressful, it should be fun.” Eddie turns his whole body to face her.

“Right, and that’s what this was! It was so much fun, but there’s so much else at stake here, an-” Nancy’s interrupted by Eddie’s hands cupping her jaw and his lips pressing against hers. She pushes an indignant trill out from behind her lips as laughter bubbles from Eddie’s, breaking the kiss entirely. “Eddie! That’s - this isn’t right, it’s not fair to either one of us in the grand scheme of things -”

“So, who says we gotta think that broadly?” He asks. “Why can’t we just enjoy ourselves right now?”

“But you were so…” Nancy looks deflated, and Eddie snorts out a laugh.

“Yeah, I got real melodramatic, huh? But that was then, and this is now. And right now, Wheels, I really wanna kiss you again.”

“You can just call me Nancy, you know,” she muses, moving around to position herself better in front of him.

“I could, but where’s the fun in that?” He grins before bending down to kiss her again. And this time, right now feels like it’s happening at a snail’s pace as Eddie's arms snake around Nancy's body. Right now feels as though it could last an eternity as Nancy holds his face.

Until a car horn sounds, revealing a very smug-looking Wayne Munson beaming at them through the window. “I’ll just do an extra couple laps for you two lovebirds. Don’t mind me!”

#edancy #eddie munson x nancy wheeler #nancy wheeler x eddie munson #eddie x nancy #nancy x eddie #*myfics #*2kcelebration

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