𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐬

epilogue.

FIVE YEARS LATER, that's when their group of friends all met up again. After the summer was over, Jonathan and Argyle headed back to New York where the two of them got pretty good journalist jobs, Nancy and Robin ended up living in Chicago whereas James started working at the publishing firm Steve said he was gonna be working at, as a published author. His family had been super proud of him when his book came out, sending him photos of themselves with the copy they had bought. (He thought it was embarrassing but secretly loved the endless support.)

And as for Eddie and Rhys, they were both still living in Hawkins. Rhys had originally told Eddie to go out there and find what the world had in store for him, but the Munson had refused and said Rhys was all he needed, which the Campbell found really adorable as he continued to support Eddie working at the high school in Hawkins, as a music teacher.

He communicated really well with students and got along with a lot of them, especially James, Nancy and Jonathan's younger siblings, the ones who were nice anyway. And now, it's been five years since then. And they were all planning a mini reunion at the Hideout.

"Sweetheart, love of my life, future father of my children, my fiancé," Eddie said, entering the bathroom, letting out a small sigh. "I'm gonna need you to hurry your ass up. You're not twenty anymore or a teenager. No one will care how you look." He says and Rhys frowns. "I'm still in my 20's!" He sounds hurt.

"29. You're turning thirty next month, bucko." Eddie grabs the lapels of his jacket gently, leaning in to peck his lips. "Now hurry up, we're gonna be late!" He complains.

When they get there, Nancy, Robin, Jonathan and Argyle are of course already there, seated in a big round booth with James and Steve. James had an arm around his boyfriend and was holding onto him pretty tightly with a wide grin on his face. Eddie still felt that same burst of emotion in his chest. Love.

Just pure love for James Hopper Jr. Long ago, yeah he's mistaken it for romantic love, but he knows now he just deeply cares for James in the way you do for family. So he gets happy when James is ecstatic to see him, waving and smiling widely. "Hey, guys!" Nancy waved them over and the pair came to sit with them, Eddie of course showing off his engagement ring as Rhys watched with a small grin.

"Wow, and I didn't really think you guys were the marriage type." Robin says, her chin on her hand as Argyle chuckled. "That's so great, guys. So happy for you guys. Got you all beat however, because Jonathan and I got married the year we were all last together." Argyle says and Eddie laughs at that.

"We know, we were there."

"Oh, yeah, speaking about marriage..." James spoke up and Steve looks at him with a small blush and coy smile as Jonathan looks at them with a big smile. "Steve is now Harrington-Hopper." This made the table errupt in cheers as Steve shows off his wedding ring which was a single silver band with a little red circle all around it in the middle. Eddie stared at it and smiled, glancing up at them.

Through James' eyes, he always saw the red string, there was one tied between him and Steve, one between Rhys and Eddie, one between Jonathan and Argyle as well as one between Nancy and Robin. Eddie found that kind of beautiful. "That's so cute. When did it happen? And why the fuck were none of us invited?" He then asked, sounding offended as Steve giggled and James chuckles, rubbing the side of Steve's hand.

"It... it was, uh, just me, my parents and Steve... We wanted witnesses there at the courthouse and it was my parents. They were visiting one weekend." He explains and Eddie smiles widely. "That's so fucking cute. When?" He asked and James glanced at Steve who perks up. "Two years ago!" He says, smiling widely. "You two have been married for two years and haven't bothered to say anything?!" Robin exclaimed as if the two were insane.

"We liked it being something just between us, plus, have you guys not heard me call Steve my husband like a million times?" He asked, laughing as he glanced around at them and Rhys looks at him with furrowed brows. "I thought you were just teasing him because he'd get all blushy." He says, as Steve did get all blushy in the face again.

"You guys are so annoying!"

"Says the one who kept their marriage a secret!" Eddie shoves James' shoulder gently and James laughs. "What about you two? What kind of wedding is in store with you two weirdos?" He asked and Eddie looks at Rhys who sheugs, looking at him. "Secretive wedding, no parents because we're both mother and fatherless... uh, and two eyewitnesses? Sound good with you, darling?" The blond asks.

James rolls his eyes, scoffing. "We thought it'd be nice!" He exclaims and looked at Steve. "And it was." The Harrington nods. "Yeah, well Dirty Harry and I are going all out! I'm talking open bar, ice sculptures of us, big dance floor and a whole stage set up just so we can both play guitar and drums together." Eddie said then shook his fiancé's shoulders. "It's gonna be epic and everyone's invited!"

James laughed and glanced between the two. "I'm really happy for you guys. How long have you been engaged?" He asked and Eddie shrugs, glancing at Rhys. "About a year." He looked back at James, shrugging again. "And you still haven't done it yet? Come on, you guys have got a date picked though, right?" He asked and Rhys blinks.

"I'm sorry, are you wedding planning king? You got it wham bam thank you ma'am done in a courthouse. Ours is gonna romantic where Eddie finally puts out on our wedding night and we go to the Bahamas for our honeymoon." He says and Eddie giggles.

"Finally puts out?" James grimaced and Eddie laughed even more as Steve rolls his eyes and then glanced at James. "We got married the day after, that's why Jamie is so judgy." He said and the Hopper looks at him with a fake offended look. "So... you said let's get married and headed to the courthouse after?" Eddie asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Yup."

"That's super cute."

And so, Eddie and Rhys settled on a date, invited everyone they know and cared about that cared about them back. Rhys' friends and old roommates, their friends, their friends' family. It was a nice celebration and James was so amazed by the whole wedding, even asked Steve if he wanted something like this. "James..." Steve's arms slip around his waist. "Courthouse, big venue, whatever, however, I'm happy to get married to you at all." He whispered and leaned up, kissing his cheek making James smile.

"I love you..."

"I love you, now let's go dance, I requested your favourite song." And then There Is A Light That Never Goes Out by the Smiths played over the speakers and they danced together on the dance floor with their friends.

THE END

 

 

 

 

  

  

 

  

authors note
married hoppington and dirty munson. <3 it felt right to end it on that note

me right now bc i'll miss hoppington and dirty munson (again):

+ oh my god i rushed this so much i literally forgot about scoops, let's just say it was renovated to a more modern day look and it's still going bc i love chrissy and her lil cute ice cream shop 🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼