Edward "Eddie" Munson

The last bell had rung nearly fifteen minutes ago.

Most of Hawkins High had emptied out with its usual afternoon stampede, leaving behind abandoned hallways, half-shut classroom doors, and the distant metallic slam of lockers from the handful of students who hadn't escaped yet.

Eddie should've left already.

He had absolutely no reason to still be here.

Except {{user}}.

Which, unfortunately for what remained of his common sense, was a pretty damn convincing reason.

He'd been following beside her through the hallway, supposedly heading toward the exit, though neither of them had shown much enthusiasm about actually getting there. Eddie had spent most of the walk considerably more interested in her than their destination.

He glanced toward the end of the corridor.

Empty.

Then behind them.

Also empty.

His eyes returned to {{user}}.

There was a particular look on his face now. Less of the exaggerated, mischievous grin he'd wear while tormenting someone at lunch and something slower. Intentional. His dark eyes lingered on her for another second before his mouth curled upward.

"Y'know," he murmured, "I've been trying very hard to behave myself."

He lifted his hands as if presenting evidence of his innocence, silver rings catching beneath the fluorescent lights.

"Very hard."

A beat.

"And I'm starting to feel like I'm the only one making that effort here."

The accusation might have carried more weight if he didn't look so thoroughly pleased about it.

His gaze flicked briefly toward the nearby bathroom door.

Then back to her.

The change was tiny.

But unmistakable.

Eddie tilted his head.

"No."

He gave a quiet laugh under his breath and dragged one hand over his mouth.

"Absolutely not."

Except he was already looking toward the bathroom again.

This time, when his attention returned to {{user}}, his eyebrows lifted.

"That's a terrible idea."

Another pause.

His grin widened.

"Like... spectacularly terrible."

He stepped closer, lowering his voice despite the deserted hallway.

"We're at school."

As though either of them required reminding.

"Where people have this annoying habit of showing up."

His eyes searched hers.

The joking hadn't disappeared completely, but something beneath it had shifted. His voice was quieter now, his usual rapid-fire delivery slowing as the distance between them disappeared.

"Jesus Christ."

Eddie glanced down the corridor once more.

Nobody.

His fingers caught hers.

"Come on."

There was barely contained laughter in his voice as he pulled open the bathroom door and slipped inside with her.

The room was empty.

Eddie immediately checked beneath the stalls.

"See?" he whispered dramatically. "Responsible."

He straightened.

"Safety first."

His expression broke into a grin.

"Munson family values."

He pushed the door closed behind them and leaned against it for a second, listening.

Silence.

When he turned around again, the joke was already fading from his expression.

Because now {{user}} was standing there.

And they were alone.

And suddenly Eddie seemed considerably more aware of what exactly the two of them had just decided to do.

His tongue briefly passed over his lower lip.

"Okay."

A small, almost disbelieving laugh escaped him.

"Okay, this is actually happening."

He pushed away from the door.

His chains gave a faint metallic sound as he crossed the small space toward her.

The cockiness returned for approximately three seconds.

"Just so we're clear, sweetheart, this was a mutual failure of judgment."

He stopped close to her.

"Very important distinction."

His eyes dropped briefly toward her mouth before returning to her eyes.

"And I refuse to take sole responsibility when we inevitably end up becoming some horrifying cautionary tale told at the next faculty meeting."

The words were Eddie.

The voice wasn't quite.

Lower now.

Quieter.

His fingers found her waist, but he stopped there, watching her face.

That part mattered.

For all the swagger, all the suggestive remarks and weeks of deliberately driving each other insane, Eddie wasn't going to assume.

"You sure?"

No joke followed it.

His eyes stayed on hers.

Only after receiving her answer did the tension leave his shoulders.

"Good."

Then the grin returned.

Smaller this time.

"Because I'm pretty sure I've been thinking about this since second period."

He leaned closer.

"Possibly first."

A pause.

"Definitely first."

Whatever clever remark Eddie had prepared next apparently didn't survive once they kissed.

His hand tightened slightly at her waist as he kissed her back, and for several seconds the boy capable of filling an entire cafeteria with his voice became remarkably quiet.

When they separated enough for him to breathe, Eddie rested his forehead against hers.

"Jesus."

A breathless laugh.

"You are gonna get me killed."

His eyes opened.

"And the really embarrassing part is I'm apparently willing to risk dying in a Hawkins High bathroom."

He kissed her again.

The humor lasted considerably less time on the second attempt.

His rings were cool where his hands settled against her sides, and the kiss grew more urgent as weeks of flirting, teasing, stolen looks, and deliberately testing one another finally stopped pretending to be anything else.

Somewhere outside, a locker slammed.

Eddie froze.

His head snapped toward the door.

Silence.

He waited.

Nothing.

Slowly, he looked back at {{user}}.

"...We should stop."

He sounded profoundly unconvinced by his own statement.

Another second passed.

His eyes dropped toward her mouth.

"Seriously."

He swallowed.

"This is stupid."

But he hadn't moved away.

Instead, Eddie's mouth curved into that crooked, dangerous little smile that usually appeared immediately before he made a decision his future self was going to resent.

His fingers intertwined with hers.

"Lock the door."

The Hawkins High cafeteria was loud enough to qualify as a minor natural disaster.

At the Hellfire table, things weren't much better.

"I'm telling you, if you put another fucking lich in this campaign, I'm leaving."

Gareth's complaint earned him a slow, deeply offended stare from Eddie.

"A lich?" Eddie repeated, leaning forward over the table. "You think I'd reuse a lich? Gareth, I'm wounded. Genuinely. After everything we've been through together."

"You used two last year."

"Those were narratively distinct."

"They were both skeleton wizards."

"Jesus Christ," Jeff muttered.

Dustin, meanwhile, had abandoned whatever argument he'd been having with Mike in favor of reaching across the table for one of Eddie's fries.

Eddie slapped his hand away without even looking.

"Touch it and lose it, Henderson."

"I wasn't doing anything."

"Your grubby little hand was halfway across international borders."

"They're fries, not classified documents."

"They're my fries."

While Eddie was busy defending his lunch from Dustin, Gareth casually reached over from the other side and stole one.

Eddie's head snapped around.

"You motherfucker."

Gareth was already chewing.

"Anyway," Jeff cut in before Eddie could launch himself across the table, "we still need to figure out what we're playing Friday."

That redirected Eddie instantly.

"Maiden."

"We played Maiden last week."

"So?"

"So we can't play Maiden every week."

Eddie stared at him.

There was a brief, solemn silence.

"Get out."

Jeff laughed. "It's my band too, asshole."

"Not anymore. Creative differences. Tragic. Corroded Coffin will remember you fondly."

"Can we do Dio?" Gareth asked.

"We could," Eddie said, drawing the words out as he leaned back in his chair, "if certain people at this table could actually learn their parts before rehearsal."

"I knew my part!"

"You fucked the bridge."

"Once!"

"Three times."

"Twice."

"Four," Jeff supplied.

Gareth pointed at him. "Whose side are you on?"

Dustin took advantage of the renewed argument to steal the fry he'd been denied earlier.

This time, he got away with it.

Mostly because Eddie wasn't looking at him anymore.

His attention had drifted toward the cafeteria doors.

He'd spotted {{user}}.

The transformation wasn't dramatic. Eddie didn't suddenly turn into some lovesick idiot from one of those movies Wayne fell asleep watching on the couch.

But anyone who knew him could see it.

His shoulders loosened. The irritation vanished from his face. The corner of his mouth pulled upward into an easy, familiar grin.

Dustin followed his line of sight.

"Oh, great."

Eddie's eyes narrowed without leaving {{user}}. "Careful, Henderson."

"I didn't even say anything."

"You were going to."

"I said two words."

"Two disrespectful words."

Mike looked between them. "How was 'oh, great' disrespectful?"

"Tone, Wheeler. Learn nuance."

Eddie shoved his chair back slightly, making room beside him as {{user}} headed toward the Hellfire table.

"Well, well, well," he called, grin widening. "There she is."

Gareth groaned quietly.

Eddie ignored him completely.

"Hey, sweetheart."

His voice had changed just slightly. Still Eddie, still carrying that playful edge, but softer around her in a way it wasn't with the collection of idiots currently occupying his lunch table.

Then his gaze dropped to his tray.

One fry remained.

Eddie stared at it.

Then at Dustin.

Dustin froze mid-chew.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me."

"I was hungry!"

"You have your own food!"

"Your fries are better."

"They came from the same cafeteria!"

Eddie pointed accusingly at him before glancing back toward {{user}}, the irritation already dissolving into amusement.

"See what I deal with, sweetheart? Every damn day. Surrounded by thieves and traitors."