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ace-writes-stuff · 2 years

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Those Good Days Passed | Chapter 2

| Eddie Munson x Henderson!Reader |

A/N: Hello again, friends! As you can see, I’ve made a new writing blog! Long story short, I didn’t realize that most of Tumblr’s tools can only be utilized on one’s main blog, so I decided to separate my writing completely and make this! Hopefully, this will help out with some house cleaning stuff in the future! Thanks for your support and understanding - yall literally made me blush when you started asking for a taglist on the first chapter! That is all :)

Summary: First days can be hard, especially when you work with Eddie Munson and your little cousin comes in with some strange requests.

Contents & Warnings: Fem!Reader, Reader is over 18, Multichapter Fic, Reader rides a motorcycle, MINORS DNI

Previous Chapter: Cabin in the Woods

Word Count: 4.3K

Chapter Two - First Days & Final Countdowns

The sun was barely making its way through the trees when the birds started chirping outside your window. The cabin was great. It was cool in the daytime with the aid of a bunch of box-style air conditioning units that only made weird sounds half the time they were on, and it was warm at night either because you had a fire going or the heat from the day hadn’t entirely burnt off yet. Truly, you couldn’t have asked for a better place to stay the summer.

It also helped that the cabin was free.

Nevertheless, you genuinely enjoyed staying there, especially when you were a kid and the leaking pipe in the bathroom wasn’t your responsibility to fix while your uncle was away. Seriously, why did he leave you in charge, knowing he had a leaky pipe?

As the bird's song grew to the point where you couldn’t ignore it any longer, you sat up in bed with a groan. All that driving and running around yesterday had really done a number on you. Not to mention how Dustin and his older sailor friend had peer pressured you into eating way too much shitty fast food from the cafeteria. It was delicious at the time, but now you just felt sluggish. Which was a problem because during all the commotion of getting a job, meeting Dustin’s new friends, then having to cart him all the way back home after he dragged you out to the highest point in Hawkins to set up his ‘miracle of science’ that would allow him to talk to his ‘totally real and not made up’ girlfriend, you had completely forgotten to set the alarm to get up for work.

9:07

That damn alarm was taunting you with its stupid bright red letters as you scrambled to throw on some clothes, narrowly avoiding falling onto the floor as your legs got caught in your jeans. Luckily, you had just enough sense last night to throw your bike keys onto the hook before drifting off to dreamland, so there was no need for a search and rescue mission between couch cushions. It saved you a bit of time not having to look for them, but that didn’t mean you weren’t barreling down the quaint little Hawkin’s roads trying to make it to work on time.

To your surprise, when you had finally made it to Tape World’s doors sporting your sleek new blue employee vest, the place was still locked up. With eyebrows raised, you took a second to check your watch.

9:30

You weren’t early, but you weren’t late either, so where was Eddie? You peaked inside, but no dice. Was he late?

After another minute or two, you built up the courage to knock on the closed glass doors. Maybe he was just in the back organizing a few things and forgot you were coming?

“Eddie?” You tried calling out, thinking that maybe he had heard the knocking and assumed it was just an over-eager customer trying to beg their way into an early store entry.

“Yes?” His voice answered, only it wasn't where you expected it to be. Nope! Instead of being in the store, he was standing right behind you. You hadn’t even heard him until he was right up on you.

“Holy shit-” You gasped before letting out a laugh as he threw up his hands like you had somehow also surprised him.

“Woah! Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. I probably should have announced myself, huh?” He was quick to apologize. “I got here early, so I thought I would just go ahead and grab us those breakfast sandwiches I talked about yesterday.”

It was at that point you finally noticed the two decently sized tinfoil-wrapped squares he was holding in his left hand. How sweet. He had grabbed you breakfast for your first day. You almost wished he had taken you with him though so you could have had a chance to meet some more people your age. It was a little embarrassing that you had to rely on your little cousin and his surprising number of older friends to keep you company through the summer. Nevertheless, you took the breakfast sandwich that was offered to you with a quick but genuine thank you.

Shortly after that, the doors were unlocked, and the two of you were using that same glass display case he had hopped over yesterday as a makeshift breakfast table. The sandwich was…nice, in a greasy comfort food sort of way. Definitely not a well-balanced breakfast, but it was still a decent way to start the morning, especially because you hadn’t had time to grab anything to eat in your rush out the door. It also helped that the sandwich was free. Couldn’t complain about free food.

The register was next on the agenda after the quick meal, and damn, was that stupid thing way more complicated than it needed to be. You had to press like fifteen buttons just for one sale to go through, and that was if they decided to pay in cash. Checks and credit were an entirely different beast, and by the end of Eddie’s miniature crash course, you were beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed.

“Now you’re looking at me like I’ve got three heads,” Eddie remarked with a lopsided grin, referencing the conversation you two had had only a day prior.

You dropped your head forward between your shoulders in defeat, laughing at yourself for a moment. Working the cash register truly couldn’t be that hard. It just had a learning curve, right? Maybe after a few sales, you’d be an expert. You were usually pretty good at picking up things like this, but for some reason, it just wasn’t clicking at the moment.

“Oh, trust me, by the end of the day, I’m going to make this register my bitch.” Perhaps it was false confidence, but you figured you’d at least be somewhat proficient with it by closing time, and if you weren't, nobody could say that you just laid down and took it.

“Those are some bold words coming from someone who just tried to charge me six hundred dollars for a cassette.” Eddie snarked, ripping the mock receipt from the top of the register and holding it out for you to read.

Sure enough…

$600

“Oh, come on! I just forgot to add a decimal!” You groaned, snatching the receipt and chucking it into the garbage. “Give me another one! I swear I got it this time.” The determination to get this right was practically flowing through your veins at this point, but Eddie was already making his way back towards the front of the store.

“As much as I would love to watch you struggle some more, we’ve gotta open in less than a minute.” The keys jangled around loudly in his hand as he swung them around a few times before inserting them into the lock. “Better luck next time, Henderson!” He announced loudly as he pulled the door open with a dramatic flair.

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes at him. The guy was like a walking cartoon character. All long and lanky limbs, flailing about like a medieval fool. It was ridiculous. What was even more ridiculous though was that it was actually starting to grow on you.

“Mark my words, Munson!” You tried to sound serious as he approached the counter again, but you broke as he leaned forward into your space.

“Go on,” He prompted, big brown eyes staring right back down into yours as a smirk pulled at his lips.

You hesitated for a moment. You knew what you wanted to say, but it was like the words had gotten lost on their way out. Your mouth fell open, but just as you were about to speak, Eddie leaned forward again.

“Oh? What will she say?! I'm quivering in anticipation!” And he did. Quiver that it is. Hell, he practically shook his whole body. He even brought his arms up to his chest before covering his cheeky grin with both ring-clad hands.

“Go to hell,” You scoffed jokingly, rolling your eyes again before pushing the big dufus away like you would somehow remember to function if you got your personal space back.

“Oh, I’ve been, sweetheart.” Eddie claimed, then leaned over the glass counter like he was about to whisper something of the utmost importance, “and they named me king!”

It was dumb. He was dumb, but he still made you laugh. Harder than you had laughed in months, actually. There was just something so endearing about the way he held himself and galavanted around like he didn’t have a care in the world. Maybe he didn’t, but you seriously doubted that. Nevertheless, the guy was funny, and you really had to hand it to him.

Just as you were about to say something extremely well thought out and definitely not the first thing that came to mind, the door chime dinged. It was…Dustin? What was he doing at the mall so early? Especially after the night you two had had.

“Do you have anything educationally Russian in here?” He asked, and wow, that was a sentence you never thought you’d hear from your little cousin, but at this point, you really shouldn't have been shaken by anything he said anymore. The kid was weird, but the good kind.

“I’m sorry?” Eddie answered, squinting his eyes and jutting his head forward in utter confusion, and to be honest, you had half a mind to do the same.

“Why do you need something educationally Russian?” You paused for a moment to think back. It wasn’t a new band. It definitely didn't have anything to do with D&D. Maybe he was researching that little Russian girl that had been roaming around Hawkins around the same time as that Byers kid went missing? But why now?

“No time for questions. I’ve already wasted enough time waiting till morning. I really need this now, so do you have it or not?” The impatience was practically dripping from Dustin’s voice.

Till morning?

“Dustin, is this why you were acting so weird last night?” You accused, folding your arms across your chest and fixing him with a look. Dustin’s demeanor immediately changed. He stood up straighter, and his eyes flicked from Eddie, back to you, then around the store, before finally settling on you again.

“Weird?” He scoffed, “I wasn’t acting weird. Why do you think I was acting weird?” Dustin was definitely acting weird. He had practically been silent the whole way home. At first, you thought that maybe it was because his totally real girlfriend hadn’t answered his many, many calls, but now with him asking about Russian tapes, you just knew that something was up.

“C’mon, kid. You know you can talk to me.” He used to come to you for everything, but the time apart had done a number on your relationship. Still, the two of you were close, and no amount of time could ever change that.

Dustin’s face contorted slightly as he thought about it. It took him a moment to come to a final decision, but when he did, his eyes flicked over to Eddie.

“It’s okay. He’s cool, aren’t you, Munson?” You reassured, throwing a hand up to pat Eddie on the shoulder.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Totally cool. The coolest.” Eddie crossed his arms in front of his chest, nodding in agreement but still looking completely lost at what was happening. You couldn’t blame him though; even you felt like you were falling behind a bit.

Despite all that, Dustin still beckoned the two of you closer, looking cautiously around the store like he had done before. You and Eddie acquiesced, leaning down into his space to hear him out. It was then, in a quiet voice, he said,

“I intercepted a secret Russian communication.”

Well, that was the second thing you never thought you’d hear from your little cousin, but it looked like today was just chock full of surprises.

“You intercepted a secret Russian communication?” Eddie repeated slowly, his eyes wide, as he took a moment to glance over at you, but Dustin was already snapping at him.

“Don’t say it so loud! You’re going to attract attention to us! We don’t know who could be listening!” The kid practically shouted in a hushed voice, dragging you two closer into a huddle while throwing nervous glances over his shoulder to ensure Eddie hadn't outed you all.

“Dustin- Relax. There’s no one in the store.” You tried to soothe, but he still seemed skittish.

“Do you have the tapes or not?” He asked quietly after a breath, keeping his eyes closed this time.

Unfortunately, you had only been working at Tape World for a little over two hours at that point, so you had absolutely no clue if you had what Dustin was asking for. Eddie, on the other hand, had the place practically memorized by now, and with only a few short minutes of him sweeping through various tape-filled aisles with his tongue poking out slightly in an effort to stay focused, he came back with a handful of ‘Russian for Dummies’ tapes.

Almost immediately, Dustin was shoving them into his bag and trying to head toward the door. You, of course, went to stop him, but Eddie beat you to the punch.

“Woah, woah, woah, little gremlin. You gotta pay for those.” There was no malice in his voice, but he was beginning to sound a bit exasperated by your cousin's eccentric behavior, and as much as you loved him, you really couldn’t blame Eddie for being a bit vexed.

Without a word, Dustin shot you a pleading look. You had the money to cover him, but you were also really hoping to use said money for something other than a beginner's guide to Russian.

“How do you even plan on translating this secret message? It's not like you can just pick up a language from listening to a few guides.” You prodded, hoping it might knock some sense into him, but this was Dustin, so it didn’t.

“I can’t, but Robin can,” Dustin explained. “She’s got magic ears from band. She's already got a few words translated from just the recording and a dictionary. With this,” he held up his bag with the tapes, “she’ll be unstoppable.”

“Hold on. Rewind. You got Buckley translating this?” Eddie questioned, which seemed to surprise Dustin.

“You know Robin?”

“Yeah, we’re both in band. Which means,” Eddie took a finger and tapped the side of his head. “I’ve got magic ears too. I can help.”

As enthralling as this all was, it was only a matter of time before someone else came waltzing through the doors and ruined the secrecy of the conversation. You relayed that to the group, but Eddie and Dustin seemed more interested in bickering back and forth on whether the metal head was worthy enough to help in his quest to become a Hawkins- no, an American Hero. However, almost on cue, a small group of young girls entered the store, followed closely by a larger group of adults, possibly their parents, so you all were forced to decide on a game plan.

“Fine,” Eddie conceded, “You take the tapes to the sound wizard, and during our lunch break, we will meet you at…”

“Scoops Ahoy.” Dustin finished, and Eddie suddenly looked distraught.

“Scoops? As in the Scoops Ahoy where Scarrington works?” Munson practically groaned.

“Look- do you want to help or not?” Dustin remarked shortly. Eddie huffed at the display before giving a curt nod.

“Fine. Fine. We’ll reconvene at Scoops and decipher this stupid message. Clear?”

And Dustin was practically out the door as he called back, “Clear!”

What the fuck had just happened?

Secret Russian communications? Magic ears? Either you had gotten boring while you were away, or Hawkin’s had become a lot more exciting.

That didn’t exactly matter at the moment though, because despite the promise of a grand adventure come lunchtime, you still had to work for at least the next couple of hours. Thankfully though, as soon as Dustin left, things really seemed to pick up. Between the group of young girls and their parents, the pack of jocks, and the small group of young teenage boys you could have sworn you had seen before, there was barely any time to think about the insane conversation you had just had.

That being said, the closer it got to your lunch break, the more anxious you felt. It wasn’t a pit in your stomach type of anxiety though. No, it was more of a something exciting is about to happen kind, which was only exacerbated every time there was a lull in the customer load, and Eddie would drift back over to you and start speaking to you in a horrible Russian accent.

“Is zis not ze tape you are looking for, Keptin?” Seriously, it was like he was mimicking Checkov from Star Trek. Wait. That was exactly what he was doing!

“Are you saying I look like William Shatner?” You questioned with a laugh, plucking the cassette he was holding out to you. “Because personally, I like to think that I give off more Bones vibes. I even took a first aid course last semester.”

“She knows Star Trek too? Be still my beating heart!” Eddie commanded jokingly before throwing his head back and clutching his chest like he might faint.

“Oh, Ha Ha.” You scoffed before pushing him out of the way. “You’re so funny, Eddie. You should audition for Saturday Night Live! The crowd would just love you.” The sarcasm was practically dripping from your voice as you popped the cassette Eddie had handed you into the player.

As the rocking synths of Separate Ways by Journey filled the little store and the patrons slowly filtered out, you helped Munson prepare to momentarily close up shop. It was only some minor organizing and making sure that the register was locked and the amounts were correct, but by the time you two were finished, you were practically vibrating.

It had been so long since you had a proper adventure. Sure, there was the very real possibility that Dustin was completely overreacting and the Secret Russian Communication was just somebody messing with him last night, but for now, you wanted to keep your hopes up.

Eddie seemed less than convinced but just as enthusiastic as he flicked off the lights and held the door open for you.

“What a gentleman,” You teased, and instead of rolling his eyes or tensing up, he doubled down on the act of chivalry, bowing his head, and extending a hand out to beacon you forward.

“Of course, m’lady. Only the best for the co-ruler of Tape World.” He stated, dropping his voice an octave like he was trying to imitate a knight or something else heroic.

“Oh? I’ve already been promoted to co-ruler?” You questioned with a quiet laugh as Eddie locked the door to your little kingdom.

“Oh, yeah. Just wait until you can work the cash register, then you’ll really have some power. I might even let you choose the music one day, princess.” How was he such a nerd yet such a charmer all at the same time?

“Yeah, yeah, your highness,” You rolled your eyes, trying to look annoyed instead of flattered, “Less chatting, more walking! We got a quest to complete.”

And with that, the two of you set out for Scoops Ahoy. It was a long and perilous two-minute walk, but somehow you both made it relatively unharmed. There had been a close call with a spontaneously combusting milkshake, but you still managed to make it to Scoops alive and clean.

Surprisingly though, when you arrived, there was no one at the counter. There were customers eating, so they had to be somewhere close by. Perhaps in the back?

DING DING DING DING

The sharp sound made you jump. You looked around to find the source, and it was Eddie, slapping the service bell around like it had insulted him.

“Jesus, Eddie! What is wrong with you?!” You grabbed his wrist to stop him from ringing the bell again, but it was too late. The little wooden window behind the counter swung open with more velocity than you thought was possible, and standing there, looking at you, was Steve Harrington.

“What?!” The sailor snapped before realizing who you were. “Oh. It’s you! We’ve been waiting for you all-“ but Dustin pushed his way into view, effectively cutting Harrington off.

“Hurry up and get in here!” Your cousin commanded before slamming the window shut again with a loud Clack!

For a second, you and Eddie just stood there looking at each other. What the hell were you two getting yourselves into? Still, you eventually made your way past the counter, and before you could even knock, Dustin flung the door open and pulled you both inside.

“Woah, cool it, Gollum!” Eddie hissed, brushing himself off after the door was slammed closed again.

The room was small. Well, it was the same size as Tape World’s backroom, but with what could only be described as a translation station, it seemed a lot smaller.

There were Russian characters on a whiteboard, and a girl was sitting at a table, sprawled over a piece of paper with about a sentence worth of translations on it. That wasn’t the only one though. There had to be at least a dozen sheets with various Russian words scribbled all over them next to her. She must be the one with the magic ears.

“Alright! Just so everyone is up to speed. Eddie, this is Steve. Steve, this is Eddie. Robin and Eddie already know each other, but Robin doesn’t know my cousin, so uh… this is her,” Dustin introduced weakly before picking up the recorder on the table.

“This is the Russian communication I intercepted with Cerebro last night. So far, we’ve got ‘the week is long, the silver cat feeds.’ According to Robin, we’ve got about half of the message, but there’s some tricky words at the end we’re still trying to figure out.”

“The message also makes zero sense, so we think it’s coded.” Robin threw in at the end before giving you a tight-lipped smile and a small wave. “The tapes have helped a bit, but most of its conversational, and these Russian dudes sound like they’re just saying random stuff.”

As Dustin played the tape, you tried your best to listen for any familiar words, but alas, you didn’t know a lick of Russian. Eddie, however, was doing that thing with his tongue again, so he must have been onto something.

After a few minutes of replaying the message over and over again, Eddie snatched up the Russian dictionary and furiously flipped through the pages. “I think he’s saying colors in the middle. Play it again.”

Finally, he settled on a page and showed Robin as the message was repeated once more. Sure enough, it was a match. As Buckley scribbled the corresponding words up on the board, he went to play the message again.

This time, it was Robin who caught on first. For a while, it was just the two of them bouncing dialogue off of each other, but somehow, at the very end, you managed to guess a word or two.

By the end of lunch, the message was mostly deciphered, but it still made no sense.

“The week is long. The silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west.”

“Maybe it's some sort of Russian lullaby? I swear that music in the background sounds familiar.” Steve tried but was almost immediately shut down again.

“Yeah, Harrington. I’m sure the Russians are planning to sing our government to sleep so they can stage an overnight Coup d’état.” Eddie remarked, rolling his eyes as he started for the door. “C’mon, Henderson. We’re already late.”

“Sorry, guys! Maybe we’ll think of something tomorrow? How hard could a top-secret encoded message be to decipher?” You were trying to stay positive, but the thought of this all being for nothing was really starting to get to you.

With one last wave to the Scoops Troop, you and Eddie were out the door and shuffling your way back towards Tape World.

“How long were we in there? We definitely blew past our lunch break,” Eddie snorted, making you glance up towards the giant clock that hung in the food court.

As you marked the time, you couldn’t help but notice the color of the clock's hands. “Huh, funny. It’s the same colors from the message. Blue and Yellow.”

“Spooky! Maybe the evil Russians are working to take over Starcourt mall! Those bastards!” Eddie teased, shaking his fist in the air like he was actually upset.

“Oh, shut up, Munson. I just thought it was a funny coincidence.” It was bizarre, but you could just be seeing patterns where there were none at all. Nevertheless, you decided to leave the mystery-solving until tomorrow and focus on figuring out that damn register for the time being. Still…

“When blue meets yellow in the west.”

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