When Liza had decided to let Eddie Munson find a home in her heart, she didn't realize that there would be things that she would eventually have to explain to him and that was her first mistake. She had vowed to keep him in the dark for as long as possible when it came to the Upside Down, Liza didn't think that Eddie needed to know what had happened the past three years of her life so soon. So she brushed off anything that alluded to the Upside Down by telling Eddie that it wasn't important. It was extremely hard to keep everything a secret given how much she was around him.
Eddie had witnessed too many panic attacks to count, learning quickly how to help calm her down and even how to spot an on coming episode. He had woken up to her nightmares and held her till she fell back asleep. Each time asking her to tell him what was the cause of these things and each time being met with resistance or the promise of being told at a later date that Eddie wasn't sure was ever going to come.
At first, Eddie had wondered if it was because of Steve. The breakup had clearly done some damage to the girl and it had the metalhead suspicious of the relationship. Maybe all wasn't well in the Paradise the rest of the town saw in the couple, he didn't want to assume the worst but it was hard not to when he saw just how extreme Dustin, Mike and Lucas had become when it had happened. That all was put to rest when he had straight out asked Liza and she had told him that the nightmares and panic attacks predated the relationship, leaving Eddie wondering what it was.
Then he has asked Robin if she knew, the girl was not always the best at keeping secrets and he had assumed that she would be willing to tell him what was the obvious trauma that Liza had been through. Robin however, froze for a few moments before looking at Eddie with haunted eyes to tell him that he shouldn't push the issue and to just be there for Liza. Eddie had stared at the girl, wondering if maybe Robin had also been there for whatever cause the trauma but that couldn't of been right. Liza had told Eddie that she and Robin had become friends over the summer.
Liza's second mistake came in the form of talking to Dustin about Eleven while Eddie was in her room, the were huddled together beside the fridge as they talked in whispers. She had thought they were being quiet, but that didn't really matter when Eddie came into the kitchen to see what was taking Liza so long.
Eddie had over heard only half of the sentence Liza had said. Something about El and how she was adjusting to having lost her powers and Hopper. Eddie had asked what she meant, not in a 'I want to know the secret' kind of way but more of a 'wanting to be able to contribute to the conversation.'
The way the Henderson siblings stumbled over a lie told him that this wasn't something he was allowed to know. On one hand, he wanted to pry. To call them out on their bullshit lie they had come up with, Liza was a horrible liar when she tried to lie to Eddie. But Robins words of not pushing came to mind and he just shrugged and asked Liza if she would be coming back to the room soon.
"Yeah, Rockstar. I'll be in soon."
~x~
The final mistake was when Liza had gotten out of the shower one night. She had thrown on a tank top and shorts, common for her when she knew she would be alone in her bed. She walked into her room, drying her hair with a towel as she hummed to herself. She walked over to her dresser where her radio sat and turned it on, failing to notice the boy on her bed.
"What the fuck happened?"
Liza jumped, dropping the towel as she spun around. Her eyes landed on Eddie, he was sat on the edge of her bed staring at her with his brows furrowed. It took her too long to realize what would cause such a reaction from him, until he was standing and coming towards her. Liza had no where to run and nothing to cover herself with, she had her back up against the dresser physically and against a wall metaphorically.
Eddie was very aware of the scars on Liza's face. The ones she claimed she got from the mall fire or falling as a child but with only her tank top and shorts on, Eddie was shown a whole new batch of shiny pink scars. One on her leg that he knew had come from something being stabbed into her, three claw marks on her arm that were jagged. Every where he looked he saw them and it was clear to him that they were new, some very recent while others maybe a few years old.
"Eddie! What are you doing here?" Liza asked wearily, avoiding eye contact. She stared straight ahead, thankful that Eddie was taller than her as it meant she was left to stare at his chest. "You said you were going to be with Gareth tonight."
"His little sisters sick and his mom needed him to watch her." Eddie answered, not looking at the girls face as he discovered more scars. He was done listening to Robin about not pushing, there was way too much to process right now and he needed answers. Each mark he found only made him want to know more. "How the hell did you get all of these? And don't tell me some bullshit lie."
Liza opened her mouth to answer, her hand coming up to cover the claw marks on her shoulder. She wasn't sure if it was because Eddie was mad at her or if it was because of all the memories that flooded her mind but her breathing was getting shaky and the room started spinning. Suddenly Eddie felt far away as she felt the familiar chill creep up her spine, Liza lifted her head to look at Eddie with panicked eyes.
"I can't-" Liza panted, shaking her head. "I-"
"Oh fuck." Eddie sighed, frustrated with himself for not realizing that ambushing her like that would possibly cause this. He grabbed Liza's hand and gently pulled her towards the bed, making her sit down beside him as he wrapped his arms around her. He rubbed her arm with his thumb as he whispered to her. "It's okay, you're safe. Nothing can hurt you."
They sat like that for what felt like hours to Liza. She wasn't quite sure when she had started crying and she also didn't know when she stopped, all she knew was that her cheek and Eddie's shirt were now wet. Liza focused on the feeling of Eddie's arms around her and the lingering smell of leather.
The blondes breathing was slowly evening out as she thought of ways to explain away the marks on her body. She could blame some on skateboarding, others on accidents but she was tired of lying to Eddie. It was exhausting trying to remember what stories she had given him for everything but she couldn't give him the full truth either, not without consulting the rest of the group. If she told Eddie then something happened, he would be brought into the middle of it just like Robin had been or Max and that would be dangerous.
"Eddie."
"Yeah, Doll?"
"I wanna be honest with you, believe me I do. I wanna tell you what you want to know but I can't." Liza spoke as she pulled back from him to look up into his eyes. He looked confused and like he wanted to speak but it was clear he was going to let her finish what she had to say. "Atleast not yet but I can't continue just lying to you. You don't deserve it, the lying and the being in the dark."
"No, you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to." Eddie shook his head. He felt horrible, he had probably caused the panic attack and he didn't want to cause another. "It's obvious that it's traumatic for you and-"
"What if I told you enough?" Liza interrupted Eddie. He tilted his head as he let her speak. "What if, I told you some of the truth, not all of it but enough that you can kind of understand?"
Eddie thought it over. It wasn't exactly what he wanted, but it was still an opportunity for him to get answers. Liza was offering him half explanations, enough for him to not be fully in the dark. In some way, this was like what he did with his campaigns. Give the party half the answers now and the rest later when it was either relevant or when it was all over.
"Okay, I can deal with that." Eddie nodded, moving so he was now sat facing Liza. He leaned his elbows on to his knees and watched as Liza took a deep breath. "Lay it on me."
"You can ask questions, but I have full power to not answer them." Liza warned Eddie before pointing to her right arm, just above her wrists. It was a small clutter of scars. "I got these from falling into shattered glass, same with my knees. It was at Starcourt, during the fire."
"Why were you still in the mall." Eddie had always wondered why Liza didn't leave the mall. She always avoided talking about that day and he could understand why but she never stated why she stayed behind.
"I can't answer that."
Next she pointed to the scar on her leg, the one she got from the shard of glass when the Byers window was broken by a demodog corpse. She told Eddie that it was also glass, not the full story. Just that she was too close to a situation and that she got stabbed by flying glass while shielding Max. Eddie took it in, the question he wanted to ask wouldn't get an answer so he bit his tongue.
She pointed to the one on her palm, from where she had cut herself with a knife with Johnathan and Nancy. Liza was only supposed to be a lookout while the two drew the Demogorgon out but when Johnathan started to be a chicken she gave her hand to Nancy to cut. She told Eddie that she had done it to herself and when he asked why, she told him that it was another question he wouldn't get an answer to.
With each scar it was easier to pick the details she would tell and which she would omit. She had told him about almost every scar, the face ones that she had gotten but not by who - she couldn't exactly tell him she had been beaten during a Russian interrogation - just that it could have been worse. The only ones she hadn't explained were the claw marks, those were the hardest to explain.
"You don't have to tell me about the claw marks." Eddie whispered, placing his hand on her knee. Liza frowned, she wanted to but how could she? How do you explain claw marks when the only animals that could make marks that size would also kill her. "Only if you want to."
"I promise you, I will tell you it all eventually. Every last detail." Liza grabbed Eddie's hand, squeezing it as she moved closer to him.
"I know, Doll." Eddie said, bringing their hands up so he could kiss her knuckles. He could see the anxiety in her eyes, even with only giving him half of the stories, it was enough to have her shaking again. "You're stronger than you think."
"What?"
"You're stronger than you think. I mean, of course you know you're strong. If you didn't you wouldn't be you, but all the shit you've gone through and still deal with in your mind." Eddie explained, tapping Liza on the forehead. She flinched but laughed as he continued on. "I don't think you realize just how strong you really are."
"This is surprisingly sappy coming from you." Liza spoke, moving herself so she could sit in Eddie's lap. She needed to be closer to him right now, he seemed to be able to calm her just by being around and that's what she needed at the moment.
"I can be a sap sometimes." Eddie shrugged, wrapping his arms around the girls waist. Liza rested her head on his shoulder. "Thank you, for telling me what you could."
Liza nodded against him. She felt a bit lighter now that she had let him in a little more. She knew they had miles to go before she was able to let him in fully but this was progress. The blonde figured that a few years down the road, if Eddie still wanted to be with her, she could tell him. Hopefully they would be out of Hawkins by then and the threat and anxiety of the Upside down would be nothing more than a distant memory.
"Thank you for being so patient." Liza whispered into his neck. "I know it's not easy sometimes."
"For you? Anything." Eddie recited. The words held so much meaning, more than what it had in the beginning. What once was a silly tease, an ice breaker of sorts had turned into something for Eddie to say when he wanted to say more but couldn't. Something he could say in place of three other words that he couldn't let himself say yet.
"Now what?" Liza asked, pulling her head away to look at Eddie.
Eddie looked into Liza's eyes, he could hear the rest of the question. 'Now you know, now what are you going to do?' He wasn't sure what Liza had expected for him to do. Did she think that he would run or laugh at her? Neither were ever something Eddie would do to the girl but he could see the fear. He could show her the scars he had and tell her about them, but she had already seen him shirtless and in shorts. Liza had asked him about his scars and he told her, most were from getting beat up as a kid or from when he did something stupid. There was no big secrets behind them and even if there was, he would have told her. Eddie didn't keep secrets from Liza, he didn't have a need to.
If Eddie was being honest, he didn't know what he was going to do next. Yes, she had given him answers but they weren't the full truth. He wanted to know more but he knew that wasn't going to happen right now, she had promised later and unlike before, Eddie knew that he was going to be told eventually. He was really only left with one option and that was to accept it and move on.
"Now, you don't have to worry about always being covered up. I can tell you hate wearing actual pants to sleep in." Eddie began, he tucked a stray damp curl behind Liza's ear before resting his hand on her cheek. She giggled and nodded, she really did hate pajama pants and she was thankful she could wear shorts to bed around Eddie now. "and we just continue on, ride the wave and see where else it takes us."
The room faded away as Liza stated into Eddie's eyes, her heart picking up pace as she realized just how close their faces were. Every fibre of her being was begging for one of them to make the move, to finally kiss and put the label on whatever they had going on. She could feel Eddie's hand on her waist squeeze, sending shivers and goosebumps all over her skin.
Eddie trailed his eyes down to Liza's lips then back up to her stormy eyes. His brain was at war with his heart. One saying for him to kiss her senseless, to take the chance. The other was telling him it was still too soon, that she may not have fully healed from the breakup and this could spell disaster for them both.
"Leroy! I'm gonna be coming in this room in five seconds. If Munson is in there you both better be decent because I don't need to be scarred for the rest of my life." Robins voice came through the door, bursting the bubble Liza and Eddie had around them.
Eddie groaned, hanging his head back as Liza giggled and climbed out of his lap. Robin pushed the door open, her hand covering her eyes jokingly. She peeked through her fingers before bouncing into the room.
"What are ya doing here, Robert?" Liza asked, her eyes following Robin as the girl threw her coat on to a chair before coming over to the bed to flop down. Robins head was now in Liza's lap, her hands grabbing at the blondes to put them in her hair.
"A horrible day at work has made me need time with my soulmate." Robin shrugged, she looked over to Eddie who rolled his eyes and waved. "And time with our tagalong."
"Hey, if anything, you're the tagalong today, Buckley." Eddie pointed at the girl.
"You're always going to be the tagalong. Even if you two get married, you'll be the other woman." Robin stated to Eddie. They both looked to Liza, waiting for her to agree with one of them. The blonde grinned as she agreed with Robin, not many came above her soulmate. "Ha! Told you!"
"Damn, even if we get married? I'm wounded, Doll. You have hurt me." Eddie frowned, though it was hard to keep it on his face as Liza threw her head back laughing.
"Oh please, you act as if you don't know this already." Liza scoffed. Eddie pointed to his frown, now using his best puppy dog eyes to further prove his point. "Do I need to kiss your feeling better?"
"Yes." Eddie nodded, causing Liza to roll her eyes as she leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Not my feelings but it will do." Eddie shrugged.
"At least it wasn't because you stabbed yourself with a needle again." Liza laughed. Robin furrowed her brows and told Liza to explain. "Oh, when Eddie is sewing new patches on his vest he stabs himself sometimes and he makes a big deal of it until I kiss it better."
"You're ruining my street cred here, Witch." Eddie huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I've seen you get down and tie Liza's shoe for her, any street cred you have definitely isn't with me." Robin rolled her eyes with a chuckle. "You also run a dungeons and dragons club, you have about as much street cred as an ant."
A/n: a shorter chapter (I say even though this is 3192 words) to ring in the new year but it's an Eddie and Liza chapter so I figure it makes up for it. Also Robin and Eddie interactions!!!!
Happy new year!!