Dustin watched as Wayne Munson replaced Eddie's old missing poster for a new one, one that didn't include people's drawings of a devil horn and tail on Eddie's picture, and a pentagon over the information that would've helped to locate him.
Dustin placed down his tray of cups before limping towards the somber man, alerting him of his presence with a polite, "Mr. Munson." As Dustin got closer, Eddie's uncle turned his head to look at him before turning back to look at the picture of his nephew. "I'm Dustin Henderson. Can we talk?" Dustin added.
Mr. Munson shook his head as he turned around to face Dustin, "I can't imagine we got anything to talk about. My nephew is innocent. He's still missing. I'll put up as many posters as I need until he's found. Good day to you," Mr. Munson replied as he picked up his bag and prepared to walk away.
"I was with him," those four words that left Dustin's mouth were enough to make Mr. Munson stop dead in his tracks. "I was with him when the earthquake hit," Dustin added.
Wayne refused to meet Dustin's eyes as he spoke, he didn't want to accept the fact that his nephew had passed while the whole town was on a mission to harm him, "And... where is Eddie now?"
Dustin's lip quivered as he took Eddie's necklace out of his pocket and held it out for the man in front of him, "I'm... I'm so sorry."
Wayne took the necklace from Dustin's hand, tears slowly starting to fall from his face as he let out a shaky breath. He walked over to the nearest cot and sat down on it, staring at the necklace in his hand. Dustin limped over and sat next to him. He hated having to lie to Mr. Munson. It almost felt real, almost felt like Eddie really never made it out of the Upside Down.
"Mr. Munson, if it makes you feel any better, Chrissy's best friend, Y/n, she believed him. I don't think there was ever a doubt in her mind that Eddie didn't kill Chrissy. When she saw that Eddie was about to go through the earthquake alone, she ran to him and... and she stayed with him," Dustin began, watching as Wayne nodded through teary eyes.
"I wish everyone had gotten to know him. Really know him. Because they would've loved him. Mr. Munson. They would've loved him," and Dustin felt that in that moment, he didn't have to lie, because it was true. They would've. "Even in the end... he never stopped being Eddie. Despite everything. I never even saw him get mad. He could've run. He could've saved himself. But he fought. He fought to protect this town. This town that... hated him. He isn't just innocent... Mr. Munson, he's... he's a hero," Dustin explained, watching with guilt and sadness as Mr. Munson sobbed.
... (two months later) ...
You and Eddie had managed to leave Hawkins after you withdrew all of the money you had from the bank. You and Eddie decided to rent a small one-bedroom apartment in New York. It was smaller than what you were used to, but comfortable. When the two of you first moved in, Eddie had insisted that you take the bedroom considering you were the one paying for it. He bought a single sized bed that doubled as a couch and made the living room double as his bedroom. For some reason, your mother never questioned the withdraw of money. You hoped the reason being because you were 18 so you had the right to do so, not because she might've died when the gates opened up.
The news of the Hawkins murders thankfully hadn't made it to New York, so Eddie's name was in the clear as long as the two of you laid low. You had managed to snag a job as an aerobics instructor at the local gym, while Eddie got a job working as an audio engineer at a nearby concert venue.
You sat reading the newest issue of Rolling Stone that Eddie had purchased at some point in the week. You kept reading the same sentences over and over, the magazine not having your complete attention as your mind had drifted back to Eddie. Over the past two months of living with him, you had managed to fall even more in love with him. You had kept your feelings hidden. Things were going so well, you didn't want to risk messing anything up, so you kept your mouth shut.
Eddie had gotten you to start listening to the metal bands he liked, and in return he had started listening to your type of music. Your eyes jerked to the door when you heard it creak open, watching as Eddie entered, grinning when he saw you reading Whoopi Goldberg's interview in the magazine.
"Have we seen 'The Color Purple?' It sounds good, I think we should see it if we haven't already," you said, smiling as Eddie sat down across from you.
"Mhm. Hi," he smiled in return, taking the magazine and flipping through the pages.
"Hey, I was reading that!" you whine, a pout forming on your face as he continued to search the magazine, presumably for something music related.
"You were?!" Eddie teased, placing the magazine back down onto the table. At that point you didn't want to read anymore, Eddie's company was better.
Things went quiet between the two of you. Eddie had an unreadable expression on his face, he looked like he wanted to speak but you weren't sure.
"Did I ever say thank you?" he broke the silence with the question.
"For what?" you asked, unsure of what he was referring to.
"For saving my life. I dunno, sometimes I feel like I ran away again. Like, by surviving and coming to New York, I was just running away. But I think I would've been more of a coward if I had died and left you and Dustin to possibly die, too. I mean, I don't know, I just feel a little selfish about it sometimes," Eddie admit.
You sighed, placing your hand on top of Eddie's before speaking, "I'm glad you survived, Eddie. It was the bravest thing you could've done. And, I don't know how many times I have to say it till you believe me but you truly are a hero. You were the entire time, running or not, it doesn't matter. It never did. You're a hero, to the core. Always have been, always will be."
"Let me make it up to you," Eddie smiled, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
You quirked your brow, curious as to what he had in mind, "I'm nervous," you admit.
"Y/n the Beautiful, are you ready for fourth base?" Eddie exclaimed. You looked up at him in awe and adoration as he removed his shirt and revealed his tattoos to you. Slowly, he approached you, allowing you to get a better view of his ink adorned skin.
Your hand dragged down his right arm which had three tattoos. The first one you noticed, one that you had seen before, was the bats. Moving your hand slightly to the inside of his arm, was what looked like a puppet on strings, or, a puppet master. Then, on the upper-outside of the same arm, was what looked like a dragon. "What's this one?" you asked, your fingers dancing over the ink.
"It's a wyvern," he replied. You nodded your head even though you had no clue what that meant.
Your eyes flitted up to his chest. Right below his collarbone sat a tattoo of a black widow, and below that one was a zombie-looking demon.
All of the tattoos suited Eddie perfectly. You found it a little ironic how they all perfectly predicted the events of the terrors that occurred two months ago.
You met his eyes, they were urging you to say something, to admire him, to admit your true feelings for him.
"So...?" he spoke with a sultry tone, which only made your want for him grow.
"Yeah, they're nice. They're very, very nice," you replied, your mouth felt dry as your gaze moved from his eyes down to his lips.
He tsked you, "Come on, princess, I thought after all this time together you'd learn to be honest with me. Tell me honestly what you think of the tattoos."
"I- I think they're... they look really, really hot. You look really, really hot," you stammered. In the blink of an eye, you felt his thumb and index finger pinching your chin, forcing you to meet his gaze.
"Thatta girl," he praised, moving to squish your cheeks in between his right hand, forcing your lips to jut out. The metal of his rings were cool on your face.
He walked closer to you, your nose was practically brushing up against his chest. You then remembered that he was shirtless. You tried your best to keep your eyes on his, but the chain that was hanging from his neck and dangling in your face was making it very hard for you to do so.
It was weird. After all of this time spent flirting with Eddie, you never thought the day would come where something might happen between the two of you. You weren't complaining, though.
Abruptly, you stood up, courage washing over you. You grabbed the hand that held your face and held it in yours, leading the two of you to the couch/his bed.
You sat down on the mattress, Eddie following you shortly after. You turned to face him. He had a smirk on his face and a dazed look in his eyes.
"I think I'm in love with you," the words slipped past your lips without you thinking, Your eyes widened at your abrupt confession. You were about to mutter out an apology but before you could, Eddie slammed his lips against yours.
A gasp left your lips as you began to kiss him back, the unrestricted passion taking over. You had wanted this for so long, and it felt so right. As Eddie deepened the kiss, his hand moved from cupping your cheek to slightly tugging on your hair, eliciting a small whine from your lips.
You fell onto your back, Eddie moving to hover over you, his hair falling past his face and slightly tickling yours. You pulled away from him to speak, "I've wanted this for so long. Wanted you for so long," you panted, your eyes meeting his.
He quickly slammed his lips back onto yours, pulling away to take a deep breath to reply, "Been wanting you for years, princess. 'S been so hard to control myself around you."
You wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him closer to you. You didn't think you'd ever felt so much love for another person. You were positive he was who you wanted to spend the rest of your life with. "I love you," you let out breathily.
"I love you, too... M'lady," Eddie smirked as he watched a goofy grin spread out across your face at the new nickname.
"Wow, m'lady. That's a new one, I like it," you laughed.
A comfortable silence surrounded the two of you. In that silence you realized that the radio was playing the entire time in the background.
Your smile grew tenfold as you registered the song that was playing. You could hear Ian Curtis of Joy Divison faintly sing Love Will Tear Us Apart, which just so happened to be the first song you and Eddie had listened to in your shared apartment.
"I love you, I love you, I love you," the words rolled off of your tongue repeatedly, like a mantra.
Eddie grabbed your hand and placed it over his heart. You could feel it beating against your hand, and you looked up at him like he was your God, like you worshipped the ground he walked on, because you did. "You feel that, m'lady?" he asked you. You nodded in response. "It's beating for you," his words came out clearly.
In that moment, you wanted nothing more than to jump his bones. Your lips found their way back to his. His torso pressing right against your crotch. One of his hands found your hips, holding you against him, and the other stayed planted next to your head, holding himself up. The two of you began to move together, small whines of 'Eddie' falling from your lips as he moved with you. He let out breathy grunts and at some point his hand had left your hip, you were moving against him at your own pace. Instead, the hand that once held your hip had pushed your shirt up, allowing his ring-clad hand to trace up your chest.
You were close, so close, and he wasn't far either. That was, until the front door to the apartment swung open. A loud scream escaped Dustin's mouth as his eyes found the two of you.
Eddie quickly got off of you, the tent evident in his pants as he tried to readjust himself. You pulled your shirt back down and flattened out your hair, glaring daggers at Dustin for ruining your moment with Eddie.
"Thanks for the awesome welcome present," Dustin seethed as he slammed his bag down onto the floor, shutting the door behind him.
"Wh- I thought you weren't coming for another four hours?!" Eddie exclaimed, desperately searching for his shirt.
"Yeah, got here early. Tried to call, nobody answered. I can see why," Dustin spat, tossing Eddie's shirt at him. Eddie stumbled back as the shirt smacked him in the face.
"Dustin, hi! Eddie didn't tell me you were coming," you smiled awkwardly at the teen.
"It was supposed to be a surprise! So, surprise!" Eddie said through gritted teeth, wishing that Dustin hadn't arrived so goddamn early.
"Yeah, I'll be taking the other bed," Dustin said, no, demanded.
"O-of course. I did laundry this morning so the sheets are all fresh. Um..." you trailed off, trying to think of something else to say. "Welcome to New York?" you cringed at your words.
"Yeah, thanks," he sighed, picking up his bags and bringing them into your room that he would be staying in.
You turned to Eddie who was frozen in place, his eyes wide as he processed what just happened. "I'm so sorry, y/n/n. I thought he was coming later, I would've never-"
You cut him off with a kiss, "It's okay, really. Besides, that was just a teaser. There's much more where that came from," you smirked.
"Jesus Christ, I leave the room for one goddamn second and you're already down each other's throats," Dustin scoffed as he walked back out into the main room.
"Oh, come on, Henderson. Don't tell me you're not like this with Suzie-poo," Eddie teased, ruffling the boys hair.
"That's none of your business. I actually have boundaries that I like to keep in place because I respect other people," Dustin smacked Eddie's arm away.
The three of you broke out into a fit of laughter as you embraced in a group hug.
"We've missed you, man," Eddie sighed as you all pulled away.
"Yeah, I've missed you guys, too. Hawkins isn't the same without you," Dustin frowned, taking a deep breath in before speaking up again, "The club's doing good, too. We've got a pretty sick campaign going right now."
"Well, you'll have to tell us all about it," you smiled in response.
Things were starting to feel like they were going back to normal. Like all of that loss and tragedy was finally taking the backseat. It felt good, it was good.