hauntlikeaghost0:

horrible timing | e.m.

eddie munson x henderson!reader

summary: it takes literally being dragged through hell for eddie to be brave enough to admit his feelings to you

warnings: swearing. general st angst. basically fluff. eddie may be a bit ooc, this is my first time writing for him.

a/n: this is inspired by the request from @bde-break-down-energy . i tried to get it as close to what you asked for but i haven’t written in a hot minute so i’m a bit rusty. really hope you like it though!

“this is so stupid. this is so fucking stupid!!” you yell out into the silence of lovers lake, angrily tearing your jacket off your shoulders and throwing it at the panicking boy behind you. nancy had followed a screaming steve into the murky waters just moments ago and robin had instantly followed her. already, the guilt of not selflessly throwing yourself in after them was eating you alive.

“no, no, no, no, no.” eddie mutters behind you, each repetition louder than the last. the boat rocking as he attempts to pace. he’s been on the verge of a breakdown since what occurred in his trailer and this was starting to feel like his last straw. quickly, he puts a firm (but shaking) hand on your shoulder and pulls you to face him. “you are not following them!”

his voice is strained, fear radiating from every part of his existence and for a moment all you can think about is how very far away this eddie is from the slightly unhinged, happy go lucky eddie you had first encountered all that time ago while dropping your brother off to his dnd game. this image almost makes you hesitate.

“i have to!” you shout back. panicking at what could already be happening right below your very feet. “if something happens to them and i didn’t even try to stop it, i couldn’t live with myself, eddie.”

he groans, rolling his eyes. why do you always have to be so stubborn? his mind begins racing, searching for something he could say to make you stay with him right now, to keep you safe. he wishes he could at least hug you, press his lips to yours and savour your presence, but he hasn’t even had the balls to tell you how he feels. he’s standing before a person ready to throw themselves into an unknown alternate dimension to protect their friends and he can’t even tell you he’s had a crush on you ever since he met you, for fear his feelings won’t be reciprocated.

you open your mouth to say something, eyes soft around the edges but face set and determined. his breath hitches in anticipation but all he’s met with is a soft smile before you’re jumping in after your friends.

at the sight your body disappearing into the unknown at the bottom of the late, eddie’s heart breaks slightly. he’s not good at being heroic, at being brave but the second you’re out of sight he’s already moving towards the side of the boat, taking shallow breaths. he would stupid not to follow you.

as his body hits the cold water, and he forces himself to paddle towards certain danger, he remembers the first time you came to one of his shows. he remembers seeing you in the crowd, how his heart leapt as you bobbed your head along to his songs. he remembers when you sat through the end of his campaign, confusion constantly written on your face but cheering along with everyone else and complimenting his plot. he remembers the hug you gave him after finding him in reefer ricks shed, how you clung to him like you needed him too, like he wasn’t a suspect in a murder case, like he wasn’t even a freak. he would be completely stupid not to follow you.

you let out a yelp as your back collided with solid concrete, groaning and slowly moving to stand. screams echo from ahead of you and before you know it your sprinting towards your friends a measly pocket knife in your hand for protection. the sight of steve’s bleeding bare torso has you grimacing and quickly kneeling down to stick your small blade into the bat-like creature with its tail around his neck. with each monster you and your friends fend of, it seems another one appears and you worry you’re just too outnumbered.

heart hammering in your chest, you push your knife into another creature, yelping as it struggles beneath you. grunts and gasps can be heard from around each of your friends, wild curses pouring from robin. how many times will you be caught in these life or death situations before hawkins finally gets tired of torturing you?

shakily rising to stand, you free your blade from the demobats slimy flesh. head turning wildly as more beasts come into view. for a second the light of hope dims inside you, maybe we won’t make it out this time? maybe this is one supernatural occurance too far? however, lighter fluid is quickly poured over your dying flame as you see a wild head of curly hair storming it’s way towards you.

eddie grips the boats ore in his hand and you take a moment to appreciate how attractive he looks with his hellfire t shirt soaked through, hair disheveled and gaze determined before you have to snap back into action. he instantly begins smacking vecna’s guard dogs down, along with the rest of the group, and soon enough you’ve done enough damage to make a run for it.

nancy takes the lead, everyone on her heals until they reach the shelter of skull rock.

in an instant eddie is by your side, turning you to face him again and scanning his eyes over you intensely, searching for injury. you raise a shaking hand as if to say ‘ta da!’ and mutter out a quiet but resounding. “i’m fine.”

he breathes out a sigh of relief and collapses back to lean against the curve of the rock. “fuck me, i’m so glad you’re not dead.”

you laugh and follow his movements allowing your head to loll to the side and rest on his shoulder. it feels so trivial to grin at the butterflies filling your stomach as he leans his head atop yours, given your situation, but the comfort you find in his presence is enough for you not to care.

it’s hard to pin point when you realised you’d started to fall for eddie. your friendship with him came so unintentionally that having proper feelings for him felt so impossible you must have denied it for ages. maybe it was that one time he smiled at you at one of his gigs, super wide and childlike, like he’d never been happier in his entire life and you almost choked on your drink with how taken aback you were by the feeling flooding your chest. actually, it was definitely then. that when you realised you’d probably die for eddie munson.

a ring clad hand intertwines with yours and squeezes, you look up at him expectantly. he nods towards the rest of the group. “we’re moving again.”

you begin to take a step and feel eddie’s grip loosen slightly. with a pause you shift your hands together again, holding on tightly. “can you just keep hold?” you ask him quietly. “just a little bit longer.”

his heart clenches in his chest and he smiles reassuringly, tilting his head in a slight bow. “as long as you like.”

eddies mind is so thoroughly engrossed in how tender your being with him he hardly has a moment to be surprised at the fact nancy wheeler has guns. when you’d rested your head on his shoulder he’d felt his heart swell. your weight was secure and steady against him. despite him being no hero, no knight in shining armour, you still turned to him to hold you steady, to be your rock. he was proud of that. when you’d asked him to keep hold of your hand he almost cried at how small you seemed, how timid. this big personality he was so used to being surrounded by was exhausted by this battle they were fighting and under any situation he never could deny you. so he just managed to follow along as they plotted their way to nancy’s house, distracted by the security of your hand in his.

when the first earthquake hit you instantly gripped onto eddie, hands grasping his shirt as his armed wrapped around your side and you both fell to the ground, your head in his chest and his elbows in the dirt. it took a few moments for you to look up, instead keeping your eyes screwed shut for a minute your head against eddie as you waited for your chest to stop heaving. since the events of the last few years every sudden movement makes you flinch so you aren’t surprised the earthquake shakes you up a bit. eddie’s hand runs once, twice down your back. “you’re okay.” he tells you. “it’s okay.”

after that he watches you like a hawk. his hand stays firmly in yours, thumb rubbing over the back at random intervals, quick to grab a hold of you and any nearby solid object each time a new earthquake hits. he takes a moment to realise this is the most you’ve ever touched. you’ve been friends for a while but you’d never been close like this. he’d never touched the small of your back before, never felt the curve of your spine, never even wrapped his hand around your bicep. and thought this isn’t the situation he always imagined that happening he would be ungrateful not to appreciate it anyway.

as you finally reach nancy’s house some of the tension loosens in you, though maybe you’d play scared just a little bit longer if it meant eddie would keep holding you in that way. as you step over the threshold you expect to feel relief but feel a sharp shiver crawl up your spine as you see the wheeler’s warm and welcoming house being infested by the upside down.

“are you cold?” eddie’s voice draws your attention for the nightmarish scene. you run a hand down your arm and feel the scattering of goosebumps. you suppose the absolute terror had distracted you from the chill temperature.

“i guess,” you say and then instantly regret your words as you watch eddie begin to shrug off his jacket. you take a step away from him, holding a hand out to refuse his offer but he just knocks it out the way.

“don’t try and fight it.” he says stepping close and laying the warm leather over your shoulders. in any other situation, you might resist a little bit longer but the weight of the jacket is so comforting and as you slowly slide your arms into the slightly too long sleeves, you’re enveloped in eddies scent. it’s cigarettes, a hint of weed and something you assume must be sandalwood.

he pulls on the lapels so it’s tighter over your front and his eyes sparkle beautifully. “looks good on you.”

you only roll your eyes and follow the rest of the group further into the house for fear your blush will grow even brighter. however, you just make it to the bottom of the stairs when you realise eddie is no longer beside you. panic instantly rises in your throat and you turn on your heel quickly. you are forced to pause when you realise he’s still with you, stopped just a few paces behind.

“what’s going on?” you say, anxiety clear in your voice, slowly walking towards him as though something terrible was about to be revealed to you.

“nothing.” he says quickly, rushing to calm you. “nothing to do with this.” he gestures grandly to the hideous sight around him, the silver on his hands glinting in the dim light.

you step closer, pushing him to explain.

he sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose (a tad dramatically). “this is terrible timing.” he says dejectedly and it’s true. this confession had been on the tip of his tongue for about a month now, growing closer and closer to spilling over each time you touched him, each time you looked at him, each time you were near him. and of all those times he chooses now. not that time he almost said it at hellfire club, or at the record store or even on stage at one of his shows. no, he finally grows the balls to tell you whilst searching for weapons to fight of monsters in an alternate dimension. 

he takes a deep breath. “i …. like you.” the words drop from his mouth slowly, like they were completely foreign to him. your brow furrows, does he know you have feelings for him? is he about to reject you? tell you you’re better as friends? you open your mouth to explain but he cuts you off.

“like really, really like you. like lose sleep at night thinking about you and how much i like you.” you feel you’re cheeks heating fast and a smile forms instinctively. “not in a weird way or anything!” he clarifies. “i just think you’re so…” he searches for the word, “so beautiful. and i know your henderson’s sister and that’s kind of weird. but when i look at you i just want to smile and it’s cliche and gross and i kind of hate myself right now but…. but i’m just so, i don’t know, giddy when i’m around you.” he shakes his whole body as though to demonstrate and then abashedly brings a previously shaken hand to the back of his neck, looking up at you from under his lashes. “i don’t know” he sighs. “all i know is that if anything bad happens to one of us today and i hadn’t told you that i’d feel pretty fucking pathetic.”

you laugh. it’s a sharp, short laugh that tore through you. and you can’t tell whether it’s shock, or relief or sheer happiness that elicited the sound but it makes eddie stiffen. you fail to notice. smile so wide your cheeks begin to hurt. his gaze is steady on you, nervously awaiting a reaction.

“i really, really like you too.”

he’s right, as the words fall from your lips with timing does seem incredibly obscene but you’re too happy to care. you step towards him and raise a hand to his cheek, gripping it tenderly.

“god, eddie. i like you so much.”

his whole body seems to relax and that famous smile spreads quickly across his face. that stupidly beautiful smile that made you realise you wanted this boy to be all yours. this beautifully deranged boy.

“you do?”

eddie’s voice is shy and almost completely unfamiliar. you only nod in response, eyes taking in his every feature. now that your reciprocated feelings are clarified you want to do everything you had always imagined; like run your fingers through his hair, play with the rings on his fingers and kiss that pretty smile off his face.

naturally, you go with the latter.

due to the wide smiles on your faces, the first collision of your lips isn’t perfect. it’s a bit too teethy and you keep letting happy giggles slip through. but, after a pause to collect yourself, you press one slow kiss onto his lips, arms over his shoulders. you move to pull back but his hands find your hips and grip them tightly, pulling you back towards him. your knees weaken and your lips meet his once more. you fit together slowly, lips moulding and pulling apart, the trace of his tongue and the nip of his teeth. you have a newfound motive to make it out of this hell hole alive, if being kissed like this by eddie is what awaits on the other side.

when you finally pull apart, he smiles down at your, raising a hand to push a strand of hair behind your ear.

“when we get out of this shit hole, i’m going to take you on the best date of your life.”