a-is-away

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JOSEPH QUINN as EDDIE MUNSON 🎸 STRANGER THINGS 4 Chapter One: The Hellfire Club

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sorry i’ve disappeared guys .. here’s some eddie gifs to make up for it 🫣

They would’ve loved him. Even in the end, he never stopped being Eddie, despite everything.

[a-is-away]

Endless Gifs of Steve Harrington (99/?) Stranger Things • 3.07 The Bite

[a-is-away]

chapter 9: don't you want me

summary: in which eddie and alex have a drunken night in.

warnings: swearing/strong language, drinking, drunk people, flirty! steve, steve x alex, love triangle, mentions of domestic violence, (sort of) fake dating, sexual themes (ooooooh)

part 8: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/779867095860232192/chapter-8-children-of-the-grave?source=share

[alex.]

“WHAT ARE YOU looking at?” a voice over my left shoulder made my hair stand on end. i jumped about ten feet in the air, swinging around to see steve harrington looming over my shoulder. 

“holy shit, steve, go away!” i yelped, whacking his chest. he laughed, stumbling back.

“damn, you’ve got a mean swing!” he laughed. i can’t believe this asshole is laughing at my genuine distress. 

i huffed, fluffing my hair away from my face. i pushed the video cart down a new aisle. “leave me alone.”

harrington followed me around, walking around the other side of the aisle. he stopped my cart by standing opposite of me. “i will once you answer my question,” i looked up from my stack and made eye contact with him. his face had a distinct puppy-dog quality to it. “what are you looking at?”

wanting him to leave me alone, i answered: “eddie and i are having a movie night tonight and i’m trying to decide what to bring.”

“ah,” he turned away from me. crossing his arms then his legs, he stood against one of the shelves. “what’s the deal with you two anyways?”

pride flared in my chest. “what do you mean?” 

“are you two, y’know, a thing?” blush spread across my face and my ears burned.

“oh, god, no,” i denied, gasping like a sad, floppy, fish out of water. “he’s my best friend,” i answered, definitively. he didn’t seem like he liked my answer, judging by the prodding look on his face. i continued, “we’ve been friends since middle school. i used to be the smart kid. goody two shoes, top of the class, always sat at the front. big teacher’s pet type.” 

“doesn’t sound like you’d be best friends with the…” he started. i raised my eyebrows in warning, and he snuffed out the insult he was about to hurl. “the troublemaker, we’ll say.” 

“you’d think,” i continued, “but doing all that put a big fat target on my back. i found a friendship with him, because he had plenty of targets on his. he didn’t think i was annoying or a show off, and i thought he was cool. we liked the same music and had the same hobbies outside of school. we’ve been best friends ever since.” 

he turned back to me, his arms still crossed. “so that whole thing on stage the other night was just an act?” 

i furrowed my brows and stared at the ground. i wracked my brain. did everyone think us performing and singing was a sexual thing? i mean, i did put my head on his shoulder and we sang into the same mic. so close it felt like a puppetmaster was guiding our strings rather than us having an awareness and a control over ourselves. but, hey, sex sells, so maybe that wasn’t the worst conclusion. “that wasn’t really supposed to be a thing, honestly,” i said, looking at him. “but, yeah, that was just a performance.” 

steve nodded. he pushed my cart down the aisle a little as i backed up, continuing to put tapes away. “so then, as far as your movie night goes, what are the options and activities?” 

we had spent the morning rewinding tapes, slipping them back in their boxes, then shelving them again. i was currently sorting through the comedies. “well i need something funny or lighthearted. plot optional. activity wise, i told him that i’ve never tried alcohol before so we were planning on drinking together.”

“you’ve never drank before?” he asked incredulously. 

“well, no, i haven’t,” i said with a huff. “i wasn’t really cool in high school so i wouldn’t know what it’s like to do all that stuff.” i began to put vhses back at a faster pace, irritated. he touched a nerve that i didn’t realize was so sensitive. 

“yeah, well,” he picked up a couple of my vhes and began putting them back as well. “it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.” i paused. i looked at him. his eyes looked distant. 

“steve ‘the hair’ harrington admitting being cool isn’t everything? alert the media!” i said, trying to lighten the mood. 

it was his turn to huff. “yeah. i mean, after i didn’t apply for college and my dad wanted me to get some ‘real world experience’ before working for him, i began working for scoops ahoy, and let’s just say all that popularity went down the drain.” he gave a thumbs down. meanwhile, my eyebrows nearly shot up to my hairline. i turned and faced him.

“wait, wait, wait,” i held in a laugh. “you worked at scoops ahoy? at the mall?” 

“yup,” he took a stack of vhses now and pulled the cart towards him. i leaned over the cart and rested my face in my hands, looking up at him while half-bent over like a nosy child. 

“did you wear the-”

“the hat? and the sailor uniform? yeah,” he rattled off, seemingly used to the endless questions. 

the thought alone made laughter bubble up in my chest. “oh my god. can you say the line?” 

he rolled his head back and shut his eyes. “please don’t make me.”

“oh you’ve got to say it now. say the line.” i poked his shoulder, moving in on him.

he hung his head. his hand covered his face as he mumbled out, “are you ready to set sail on this ocean of flavor with me?” i guffawed with laughter, doubling over on the vhs cart. 

“holy shit, no way!” i cackled. “ocean of flavor! how did robin let you get away with that?” 

“hey, she worked there too! it’s how we met, thank you!” he shoved vhses back in their spots and pulled the cart out from under me. i stumbled, laughing still. 

“oh, my god, stevie, i needed that,” i followed him along as he walked to the next aisle. the aftertaste of the nickname caught in my mouth. stevie? that was… new. 

“y’know, that’s not even the most interesting part,” he said. he leaned back on his hands on the cart. “i was there when the mall fire, happened, too.” 

the mood switched on a dime. “really?” i said, in awe. “i thought there weren’t any survivors. what happened?” 

steve stood up straight, walking past the cart and leaned over me just a bit. “if you want the full story,” i felt two inches tall, “it comes at a price.” 

i gulped. this was like making a deal with the devil. “price?” 

“dinner and a movie. with me,” he said. the wind had been just about knocked out of me. 

“a date?” i asked, precarious. my heart raced, my palms perspired, and i felt simultaneously twenty pounds lighter and heavier.

he nodded, a sense of swagger and confidence in his posture. “just one date, lexi.” he held up a finger.

a smile slinked across my lips, although i tried to fight it. i bit my lip and looked to the floor. my stomach fluttered. risk-taker and girl who goes on dates were never my characteristic traits, but now that i stood pinned by steve’s gaze, i had only one option. 

inhaling, i said, “fine. one date. but it’s just so i can hear that mall fire story.” he grinned, triumphant. he poked my shoulder. 

“alright, how about teen wolf? i think it’s finally showing at the hawk,” he said. i felt dizzy. did i actually agree to a date with harrington? 

i heard myself agree and set a date for after work next week. i mumbled out the words, “well i will let you finish these up, i need to go through rental records.” i made my way to the desk and when i saw steve go back into the adult section, i threw my head in my arms and huffed. my head was reeling. then, guilt sank in, hot and fiery in the pit of my stomach. was this a betrayal to eddie? but steve was different. he had shown me that he had changed. he showed up to the show, he would stay late after work to help me. plus, to see him around the kids, it was encouraging. 

i heard the front door chime and i sat straight up. “welcome to family video!” i turned on my customer service voice and was shocked to see dustin and mike walking in. they marched up to me. “oh, hey, guys, steve is…”

“guys, what the hell? i told you i’d pick you up after eight,” steve fussed, his hands on his hips, walking out of the adult section.

dustin was the first to speak. “we’re not here for you,” he said, matter-of-factly. 

steve looked dumbfounded and just a touch hurt. 

“we wanted to talk to alex about hellfire,” mike piped in. pride flushed through me.

“yeah?” i was honestly quite flattered. 

steve rolled his eyes. “whatever, talk about your nerd game, i have actual work to do.” he walked backwards and back into the adult room. 

“what did you want to talk about?” i grinned, leaning over the counter. “i get off work in about thirty minutes, so you’ve got until then.” 

dustin and mike slung their bags on the ground and leaned on the counter with me. “so, ophyra, she’s an ex noble right?” mike started.

“correct. her kingdom was overthrown by a band of mercenaries when she was young, so she decided to take to the streets and become a thief to survive,” i explained giddily. 

“so, i was thinking, what is aguilos somehow was part of the mercenary group that killed your family? like, he himself didn’t do the killing, but the faction is the same one,” mike explained, dustin nodding along with him. 

i gasped. “ooh, that could be really interesting,” i said, “and maybe eddie could write in a big reveal that causes a rift in the party but ultimately they have to band together for the greater good.” i began to ramble on with mike, explaining how dramatically our stories intertwined. the thirty minutes before the end of work flew by. steve would periodically slowly walk around us, clearly snooping, just to get a hint of our conversation. although, every time we mentioned anything particularly nerdy or fantastical, he would roll his eyes and walk away. i wondered whether or not it was bad enough to get him to rescind his date invitation. 

after a while, my eyes darted to the clock. “ah, my brothers in arms, unfortunately, i have to get going,” i lifted up the partisan of the desk in front of me, slipping around it. they began to follow me with much dismay. 

“are you sure? i’m sure eddie won’t mind,” dustin insisted. i guffawed in response.

“oh, i’m sure he absolutely would mind. eddie despises tardiness from others,” i said, beginning to slip off my vest and walk towards the employee’s only door. “you boys would do well to remember that.”

they exchanged looks. before i made it through the door, i stopped, turned on my heel and crossed my arms. “this is where we part ways. you can now go bother steve, but i better not see you two in the adult section,” i peered down at them, pointing at them in a rather maternal fashion. 

mike rolled his eyes and dustin harumphed. “whatever! we’ll see you friday!” they took off, undoubtedly to the restricted section. i walked back through the door and punched out, collecting my things from my locker just as robin made her way in through the back door. 

“hey, rob,” i smiled, “thanks for covering tonight.” she began to fumble with her lock, twisting her combination.

“oh, yeah, no problem,” she gave me a toothy smile, “i don’t mind, but i’m sure steve does.” 

remembering the afternoon, my face heated, “oh?” 

“yeah, he’s, like, totally bummed,” she cracked her lock then opened her locker, throwing her bag inside. “he likes hanging out with pretty women.” she teased. 

i flushed further, “oh, i’m sure he does.” i held my arms and chewed my lip. “so much in fact, he asked me to see a movie next week.” 

robin turned in a flash to me, grabbing my arms over where i held them already. “holy shit, no way!” she left in a flurry, and i heard her yell something along the lines of “you finally did it!” to steve. laughing, i punched in her ticket for her, knowing she’d forget, and shut her locker back, clicking the lock. i shuffled out the back door, walking around the side of the building to the front parking lot. i unlocked my car door, started my car, then made my way back home. 

mom and dad had left early this morning, so when i pulled into the driveway i had my music turned up a little louder than usual. i parked a little further up so eddie could easily park behind me, then walked up towards my house. i unlocked the door, slipped inside, and ran upstairs to change. 

after changing into a pair of grey and black sweatpants and a dio shirt eddie gave me for my birthday, i picked up the phone and ordered a large pizza, half hawaiian and half pepperoni and olives. we both had our own little freaky orders for pizza. 

by the time i had prepped the movies and various other snacks, i heard the front door open and a loud, “honey! i’m home!” sounded before the front door shut. 

i yelled back, “ricky!” in classic ‘i love lucy’ fashion. i made my way out of the living room and into the foyer, giving him a quick and gentle hug. “are you ready for the best movie night and alcohol fest and hang out ever?” i asked, examining the bag that he had carried in. eddie picked up the bag, presenting it to me. 

“inside we have: budweiser, bartles and jaymes, and smirnoff. we can mix it with whatever you’ve got here, or just do shots, dealer’s choice,” eddie winked, gesturing to each container in the bag. 

“where did you get all this?” i asked, watching as he began to walk into the kitchen, following side by side. 

“fake ID. i’ve been twenty-one for three years now,” he explained, taking the drinks out of the bag and setting them on the kitchen island. the light from the kitchen window streamed in behind him. it was golden, swirling his black hair in a halo that almost knocked me off of my feet. he was angelic in this light. i smiled. 

“there’s a song in there somewhere,” i mused. “when does the drinking start?” i asked, excitedly.

“oh, whenever,” he replied, taking out the bottle of smirnoff. it was a large glass bottle with crystal clear liquid inside. “but we have to start with vodka. liquor before beer, you’re in the clear.” he also grabbed out some red solo cups he no doubt swiped from his house, then poured a tiny bit into each. he handed me mine. “the trick for shots is to breathe out, then drink. it has something to do with the oxygen in your mouth making it burn.” 

i listened intently, swirling the liquor around in my cup, eyeing it carefully. “no chasers?” 

“ah,” he said, snapping his fingers, then pulling out two mountain dew cans from the paper bag, sliding one over to me. while cracking it open, he said, “nothing finer.” 

i gave him a half incredulous look as i opened my own can. guilt settled into my chest as i eyed the cup. “i’m not a bad person if i drink this,” i affirmed to myself. my mother’s words echoed in my head. memories of her scolding me for mentions of eddie or stating desires that did not fit into her cookie-cutter idea of a life. i remembered one time how she struck me across the face for snapping back at an insult she hurled at eddie. since then, around her, i simply bit my lip and ignored her words. 

eddie must have seen my eyes glaze over because he walked up to me and held my face. “absolutely not, alex. you’re the best person i know,” he said, his expression warm and gentle. 

i dodged my eyes and laughed nervously, “you must not know a lot of great people, then.” 

he ducked down and found my eyes. although i tried to again look away, he followed me, both of us twisting while i tried to move away and he pursued just the same. i couldn’t help but laugh. 

“i know only the best,” he smiled, softly, as i relented my eyes to him. 

i smiled, flush settling onto my cheeks. i held up my cup to him. “you ready, then?”

eddie walked backwards to his side of the counter. he took his red solo cup in his right hand, his mountain dew in the other. “bottoms up,” he cheers’d our cups, then with an exhale, we both downed the clear liquor.

much like the cigarette, it burned. as it went down my throat, it felt like the alcohol had melted through the roof of my mouth and swam into my sinuses. hacking out a cough, then heaving back in, i fought the acid climbing up my throat with a deep chug of mountain dew. holding my wrist to my mouth, i huffed, “eugh. that’s horrible.” 

“vodka’s the best because it doesn’t taste like anything,” eddie said, only requiring a small sip to cleanse his palette. 

“no, that definitely tasted like something. it tasted like ass,” i huffed, shivering, then sipping again from the mountain dew can. eddie barked a laugh, then poured me another. 

looking at him with wild eyes, he said, “you need two to start feeling anything.”

taking the next shot that was not any better then quickly chugging more mountain dew, i huffed in a few big breaths. “god, that’s terrible. we’ll see if it’s worth it later.” 

eddie smiled, mussing with my hair. “trust me, it’s really fun, i promise.” 

i heard the doorbell ring. i set my drink down and said cheerily, “pizza!” i took off to the front door, plucking bills out of my back pocket for the delivery guy. i opened the door, took the pizza from the delivery driver, thanked him, then gave him his payment. i slid back into the kitchen, the underside of the hot pizza box nearly burning my hands. 

“pizza gods, we thank you,” eddie clapped his hands together, gesturing upwards to the sky. 

i giggled in response, then said, “want to see the movies i picked out?” he nodded and followed me with his bag of booze. moving to my living room with the bigger television set, i put the pizza down on the coffee table. i then knelt down and held up three vhses to eddie. “risky business, sleepaway camp, and,” i paused for emphasis, “sixteen candles.”

eddie looked impressed. “you have picked out almost every genre of movie. well done, girl.” 

“never doubt me, eddie,” i smiled. “which one first?”

“oh, absolutely sixteen candles. we have to start off strong,” eddie set the bag down and then threw off his jacket onto my parent’s white with bamboo print couch. he flopped down, watching me intently as i loaded up the vhs. 

the movie started and we found ourselves almost snuggled up together. my knees were tucked in and rested against his, pizza box on our lap. our drinks sat on the table on top of coasters, mine green and his yellow. when i ate, i ducked my head down over the box as to not drop any food anywhere, and he graciously did the same. we almost knocked heads on multiple occasions as we ate. 

about thirty minutes after our shots, i felt my joints loosen and the stress roll off of my shoulders. my movements felt flimsy, and my head swam a bit. “i think i’m feeling it,” i told him. 

“already?” he quipped, smirking at me. he sucked on his thumb, removing a bit of pizza grease from it. my gaze lingered on his tongue darting out of his mouth for a moment too long. i looked back to the movie with a swallow and a nod. 

i reached forward to the coffee table and gulped down a few sips of my drink. the more i drank the less i noticed the alcohol taste. “it’s not the worst,” i said. my head felt heavy. i chugged until the drink ran dry. before i could stop, i felt air bubble up in my throat and i belched. my face went red with shame and i began apologizing, “holy shit, i’m so sorry!” eddie cackled with laughter, tipping his head back and putting a hand on his forehead. 

“nice one, alex!” he borderline giggled, and i buried my face in my hands. 

“that’s so humiliating,” i said. i leaned over and hid my face directly in his chest. he put his arm around me in a hug. 

“i guarantee you, there will be more humiliating things you’ll do than burp,” he laughed, rubbing my arm. 

“oh, god,” i flushed, “i hope not.” 

“it’s a right of passage, alex,” eddie said, finishing off his drink. “being drunk is fun but it’s also regret. you take one with the other.” he leaned forward and grabbed two more of the same drinks. “another one?”

i took it from his hands, cracking it open. with another chug, i felt the stress and worry of everything drift away. i rested my head on eddie’s shoulder and sank into the haze. 

i wasn’t sure how we ended up out by the pool, but after four more drinks, anything felt possible. we had stumbled our way out, kicked off our shoes and socks, and dove our feet into the frigid cold pool and crisp night air. our drinks were left on the pool deck beside us. 

we were talking about corroded coffin when steve’s nagging questions swirled around in my head. gulping down another sip of lukewarm beer, i turned to him. “hey, eddie,” i found that it was harder to talk with my usual deftness of tongue. he looked at me sidelong. focusing carefully on my next words, i said, “steve said something funny to me today.” he furrowed his brows. suddenly, the memory of our date plans invaded my brain. eddie would freak out if he knew. my inner conscious (potentially the small ounces of sobriety left in my body) decided that i couldn’t, wouldn’t, talk about it. we were having too much fun to ruin it over some date that wasn’t even a real date. 

it wasn’t a real date, was it? 

putting all my effort into selecting my next words, i said, “steve asked if we were like, sleeping together.” saying it out loud felt ridiculous. silly, even. i paused, waiting for his inevitable hideous laughter.

instead of eddie bursting out laughing like i thought he would, he just said, unreadably, “oh?” 

i nodded. i felt too warm in spite of the nipping cold surrounding me. “so, like, it gave me an idea. if he thinks we’re a thing, maybe on stage that could be our, y’know, like, our thing?” i felt stupid. downright moronic. and the drinks didn’t help, they just made the embarrassment more searing. he looked out to the rippling water of the pool. oh, god, i made it weird. i put my head in my hands before i heard his words, rubbing my face harder than i usually would just to get some relief for my swimming head. 

“like fleetwood mac?” he asked, a positive lilt in his tone. 

“yeah, exactly like fleetwood mac,” i said, “but, like, we aren’t actually together,” i clarified. i peered up between my fingers at him, and i saw his sultry and playful smirk dance across his lips. 

“i like it.” my heart soared. “we’ll pitch it to the guys at band practice. i think we should try it out at our gig next week, see how the crowd feels it.” i felt like jumping for joy. eddie liked my idea! my face cracked into an unabashed grin. 

“yeah!” i cheered, giggling like an idiot. “wait, eddie.” he looked at me, and before i could manage to hold back, i blurted out, "are you a virgin?"

his mouth dropped open and he let out a breath. "uh, well, no." he answered.

my ears turned red. "oh, my god, that was such a tmi question," i held my mouth. "that is so humiliating."

"no, it's fine," he smiled, laughing nervously. "told you you'd do something more embarrassing."

i laid back on my back and hid my face. "oh, my god," i said. curiosity still burned in me. "but... what happened?" i asked as he laid back with me.

he looked at me hesitantly, then breathed out. "well, it was at a metallica concert. her name was stacy, she was older than me, and was hot as hell. long legs and this long brown hair." a slight sense of jealousy burned through me. "she went to state, and after the concert she brought me back to her dorm and, well, the rest is history."

"college girl, huh?" i played it off, leaning into him, then away. "did you ever see her again?"

"nah," he stretched his arms up and rested them under his head. "still got her number though."

i hummed a response and nodded. he looked at me, "what about you?"

a shiver ran down my spine, "uh, nah, not me. not yet."

"what's taking you so long?" eddie laughed, "you're hot stuff!" he said, a little too loudly.

"i just!" i barked back, "haven't found someone i trust enough yet." our gaze lingered on one another.

he nodded, as if to say it was fair, then said, "well, i think we should go practice that number, yeah?" i smiled back at him as swept his feet under him and stood up. he extended his hand to me. i took his arm in mine and followed him to stand, shaking off my icy cold wet feet. we trodded inside, wandering to the kitchen, then taking another insufferable shot. before i knew it we were upstairs in my room, facing my wall as if it was an audience. he had brought the remainder of the handle of vodka upstairs with us, and we stood, practicing our songs.

“so, so,” i slurred, “i think we should do like,” i walked up to him and we stood chest to chest. “you put your head here,” i put my hands on my chest, tilting my head back. “and like i sing with my head back.” 

eddie’s pupils dilated. “like in your boobs?” my face went hot and i found myself at a loss for words. his drunk voice had the faintest bit of southern twang to it. 

“uh,” i gulped, “yeah, but like, don’t move your face or anything, you just rest it there.”

he grinned, his face red from the alcohol and blush of our conversation. “okay, i’m not complaining,” he said, a wicked tone in his voice. “so like,” he put his forehead on my neck, putting his arms in position to play guitar. his breath fell on my chest, “like this?” my breath quickened. eddie’s head fit into the swell of my breast, and he looked upwards at me. every part of me was swimming. electrified. 

“uh, huh,” all logic had left me. he brought his head upward, looking into my eyes. i smelled the alcohol on his breath. saw his pupils dilate. gaining a bit of composure, i went for the handle of vodka on my dresser and took a gulp. “we are so good at this,” i said, handing him the bottle. his cool eyes trailed downwards down my body then to the bottle. he knocked it back. 

“why don’t we play some music and practice with it?” i moved across my room to the boombox in my closet, trying everything to shake the feeling in my hands and my head. he was drunk, i was drunk. my conscience fought with me. i took out a shoebox of mixtapes. i found one from a few years ago, labeled “9th grade�� with stars and hearts. at this point, i was still trying to keep my music safe enough for my mother’s ears, so i was curious as to what type of stiff music was on it. putting the tape into my boombox, i stood up and met eddie. eddie sat on the floor, drumming his hands absently on the handle of vodka. i sat down across from him. 

the electric ticks of don’t you want me by the human league crackled to life on the boom box. i let out a laugh. “oh my god, i love this song,” i said. 

“god, alex, lame and mainstream much?” eddie said judgementally. 

“come on, this song is so good!” i took his hands in mine and stood up. “just dance with me,” i clumsily brought him to his feet. he stumbled close to me, his face rosy and his hair messy. the song began singing, and with a few pokes to eddie’s chest, he started singing along. 

“you were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar,” he started, “when i met you.” he slid away from me and to the left, assuming his stage position. okay, so we’d practice with this. he kept singing and i danced a little, moving my fingers on an invisible keyboard. 

when he got to the pre-chorus, i harmonized with him, “don’t, don’t you want me?” i slinked towards him, his eyes trained on me. “you know i can’t believe it when i hear that you won’t see me.” we were definitely pitchy and out of tune, but the alcohol gave me the confidence to belt through it. 

when the repetitive “don’t you want me”s sang out during the chorus, we sang back to back, then twirled to stand in front of each other, our foreheads meeting. our bodies pulsed to the beat. we both breathed, out of breath. my verse started, but i found myself at a loss.

i stared at him up through my eyelashes. my every thought became him. his curly black hair, his big brown eyes, his soft lips. lips. mouth. tongue. i licked my bottom lip. he mirrored me. his eyes searched mine. i searched his. 

i wasn’t sure how we had gotten so close. how his head had ducked toward mine, or how my hand had ended up in his hair. i wasn’t even sure how i had stood on my tip toes, or how he steadied me with his hand on my waist. 

all i knew was that in a matter of moments, his lips were on mine. at first it was a brush, then it was a hard, forceful, intentional kiss. his arms grappled around me and mine clutched around his shoulders. my heart pounded. my lips and hands were clumsy, the alcohol pouring through my veins. i felt… alive. invincible. his tongue swiped across my bottom lip and i sloppily mirrored him. heat flushed throughout my body. then, guilt creeped in. as if my sober mind resurrected to tell me how terrible of an idea it was. you'll regret this, she purred. 

i pulled away. his eyes fluttered open, deep brown eyes peering into mine. “i’m sorry,” i choked out, heaving in deep breaths. my hands were still on his shoulders.

he shook his head. “don’t,” he ran a hand up my waist. “this is just practice, right?” he said convincingly. i didn't know if he was convincing me or himself.

my heart fluttered. my stomach sank. i didn’t know what to think, or do. “right,” i blurted. right, just, practice. if it was just practice, why was he was so gentle yet needy, so careful with me? why did i want to grab his face and do it all over again? why did i not want it to end?

i bit my now-swollen lip and stepped back. the music still played from my boombox. “i think we should get ready for bed,” i said, voice now croaky. he tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear, held my chin for a moment, then stepped back, his hands in his back pockets. his movements were out of control. he was drunk.

he spun, stumbling for a moment, then he collapsed on top of my bed. “good idea. goodnight,” he murmured. once in a lifetime by talking heads was next on the mixtape, and i walked over and shut it off. my own movements were winding and jerky. i did not have complete control over my body. i was drunk, too.

climbing under the covers, with eddie now sound asleep, i curled up and laid facing away from him. my heart was still pounding. 

that didn’t just happen, right?

a/n: AAAAAAAAAAA

part 1: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778657655075094528/chapter-1-i-think-were-alone-now?source=share

part 2: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778730940998500352/chapter-2-road-to-nowhere?source=share

part 3: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778843558479380480/chapter-3-hold-the-line?source=share

part 4: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778918955907678208/chapter-4-for-whom-the-bell-tolls?source=share

part 5: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/779107967954010112/chapter-5-no-one-like-you?source=share

part 6: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/779110159190491136/chapter-6-fight-for-your-right?source=share

part 7: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/779240191185518592/chapter-7-metal-gods?source=share

[a-is-away]

[a-is-away]

would anyone be interested in one-shots between gap year updates?

maybe some x reader potentially ?? question box is open for requests <3

[a-is-away]

dreamboat

[a-is-away]

oh he’s so baby

[a-is-away]

chapter 8: children of the grave

summary: in which hellfire has their first session.

warnings: swearing/strong language, smoking, jealous! eddie (again) (kind of a running theme), little lost sheepies intro story, alex and eddie are cute, mention of drinking

part 7: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/779240191185518592/chapter-7-metal-gods?source=share

[eddie.]

IT HAD BEEN a month since that perfect night and alex was essentially in the band by this point. she had even started playing keyboard for some songs, saying she had taken lessons when she was younger and could remember some basics. we wrote another couple of songs, one called teenage rampage that had a real edge to it, and another called freak on a leash. no need to explain where the inspiration for that song came from. 

by the end of october, i was finally ready to start hellfire. unfortunately though, i was down a few players. given that it was a huge campaign, i needed as many players as possible. gareth, alex, brian, and jeff were all signed on, but i needed seven people. three more players to round up. 

i drummed my fingers on my jaw while staring outside the window in mrs. o’donnell’s class. she was yammering on about some math concept i didn’t care to listen to, and i wracked my brain for potential children of the grave i could recruit. 

my teachers had long given up on asking me to pay attention. after seeing me go through the classes for the third time, they did not care to fight with me over grades or attendance or conduct. they likely wanted to see me fail just so i could get out of their face. 

i looked back down at my page. i was drawing out the maps we would be using, as well as sketching out creatures and monsters i would be using for combat. i decided this year i would make iron-on shirts, so i drew some sketches for that as well. i heard the bell ring, so i shoved all of my drawings and papers into my bag. 

i made my way for the door, dodging classmates that avoided my touch. they likely thought they’d be possessed by whatever weird demon haunted me. to retaliate, i lunged at them with gnarled fingers, making a haunting cackle. they flinched away, one of the girls gasping, “oh my god,” and another hissing under her breath, “fucking freak.” the words used to sting, but after six years in high school, one gets used to the names. 

finally, it was lunch. i found the usual table i sit at with gareth, jeff, and brian. they had beat me there, so i gathered their attention by throwing my lunch bag and backpack on the table with great enthusiasm. “gentlemen,” i said. they all hushed their conversations and turned their heads towards me. “hellfire’s 1985 to 1986 year campaign is prepared to commence.” they all gasped and pumped their fists. 

“hell yeah,” gareth cheered. i placed my foot on the chair in front of me, my hand across my chest like a noble statue. 

“the name of the campaign is…” i drew it out, the three men in front of me leaning in with anticipation. i took my foot down, planting it on the other side of the chair, and wriggled my fingers in front of me, “the cult… of vecna!” deviously looking from person to person, they all made oohs and ahhs, leaning in to glean more information on the new campaign. “this will be combat-heavy, so choose your classes wisely. this will not be for the faint of heart,” i warned. there was that three-players-short caveat i unfortunately had to discuss, though, so i huffed to bring them in again, throwing myself into the chair. 

“what’s wrong?” jeff asked, brow furrowed. 

“well, there is one small problem,” i sighed, dramatically, placing my face in my hand, turning my face away. 

“oh, no,” brian gulped. 

“what’s the problem!” gareth begged nervously. 

“we don’t have enough players. between you three and alex, we need three more,” i said. a gauntlet. a challenge. i looked at them sidelong between my fingers. they all looked apprehensively amongst each other. 

“i don’t know anyone,” gareth started.

“you guys are kind of my only friends,” brian chirped. 

“do you even think other people would want to join?” 

enraged, and somewhat offended, i stood up. “i didn’t realize you three weren’t one to rise to the challenge!” we caught the attention of a couple other tables, but i didn’t care. “just for that, i will be the one to choose who joins us. who will be brave enough to journey through my ruthless campaign. to the death!” i pointed to the sky, then began my prowl through the lunchroom. i felt their gaze on my back, along with a couple other wandering stares. 

most people avoided my gaze. i immediately avoided anyone with a cheer uniform or football jersey; i knew that attempt would be DOA. i considered some of the nerds, but they were all pouring over books or homework. then, my eyes connected with three young freshman. one with curly hair, a weird al tshirt, and a toothy grin. the other with slightly greasy black hair and a preppy get up that did not look like it meshed well with him at all, and the final boy had a bit of acne and pants that settled much higher than his ankles, indicating a recent growth spurt. they all seemed… awkward. misfits. like little lost sheep in need of a shepherd. 

in that moment, i knew i had found my final players. 

they sat on the end of a long table, herded together and giggling amongst each other like school girls. other freshman ignored them like the plague, sitting far down towards the other end of the table. i brazenly sat across from them, folding my fingers together and staring them down. they looked at me, slightly terrified of what i would do. 

“we don’t have any lunch money,” the weird al kid squeaked, clearing his throat and then saying in a deeper tone, “please leave us alone.” 

“you boys seem in need of an adventure,” i leaned in. this clearly piqued their interest, their expressions wide and exchanging glances amongst each others. 

the tall one eyed me carefully. “what kind of adventure…” he asked.

“yeah, like is this a drug thing?” the one with black hair seemed apprehensive as well. 

“mike!” and “dude!” came out of the other two’s mouths, whacking either of his arms. he yelped and rubbed his arms.

i felt a slight stir in my chest. yikes, is that how i’m known? “ah, my reputation precedes me,” i said, sheepishly. “but no,” i leaned onto one shoulder, “this is a matter of dragons, cultists, brotherhood,” i waved my hand in the air then clenched it into a fist. “you three seem up to the challenge.”

the weird al kid quirked his eyebrow. “dragons?” he exchanged knowing looks with the other two, “as in, dungeons and dragons?” 

i shot up out of the seat. they knew! “so you’re familiar with the perils and the treachery of the great game?”

“duh!” the boy i assumed to be mike said. 

“of course!”

“it’s only the greatest game ever,” the weird al kid stood with me. “we’ve played since middle school, only…”

“... we’re down a dungeon master,” the tall one said, and mike’s eyes met the floor. “are you putting together a club or something?”

i crossed to the other side of the table. “putting together? we have already assembled,” i put my arms around the shoulders of mike and weird al kid, pointing to my table, “we have been awaiting our final members.” 

“count us in!” weird al kid grinned. “mike? lucas?”

lucas did not say anything, but mike said, “hell yes count us in.” 

i took my arms off of their shoulders and stepped backwards, looking at lucas. “lucas is it? don’t miss out on this golden opportunity: the opportunity of a lifetime,” i offered, hyperbolizing just a hair. he looked to the other two who gave him encouraging glances. he huffed.

“alright, lead the way,” he said. i clasped his hand, giving it a firm shake. 

“welcome to hellfire,” i gave them a grin. “now, won’t you all meet your brothers in arms?” 

⛧☾༺♰༻☽⛧

on friday, it was finally time to begin. i told the new members and original members to meet in the drama club room friday night at six.  i was waiting outside, sitting on the sidewalk, smoking. the other three were already inside, so i just waited for our new lost sheep, and alex.

i saw alex’s car pull into the school parking lot. the light inside her car highlighted her blonde curls, and i watched as she checked her lipstick in her rearview mirror. a smile fell across my lips as she opened her car door with her bag slung across her. we made eye contact across the parking lot and she waved, her walking speed picking up to an almost skip.

“hey, eddie!” she beamed. she was wearing a long, brown skirt, a white blouse, and a quirky little black hat. she saw one like it in a magazine and knew she had to have it. it suited her. she then joined me by sitting beside me on the curb, giving me a one-arm hug. 

“hey alex, or should i say ophyra?” i leaned into her hug, referencing her character. 

a grin spread across her face, then she sat up straight and clasped her hands together, and said with a swoon, “oh great and sadistic dungeon master, how will you torture us with this new campagin?”

i stuck my cigarette back in my mouth and crooned, “you will see, brave one, how sadistic i can be.” i leaned in towards her and exhaled my smoke into her face. she wafted it away, and i saw the smallest bit of flush creep up her neck. 

“it’s a shame we’re replacing our friday night movie nights with dnd,” she said, her arms wrapping around her knees. “not that i’m not excited, but i’ll miss our time with just the two of us.”

my heart quickened. “just the two of us?” 

alex looked at me. “well, yeah. you’re my best friend, eddie, i enjoy time with just the two of us.” the sparkle in her eye made me feel like i was on a planet without oxygen. 

the tightness in my chest did not subside. her hair slipped from behind her ear, cascading down and covering her face. my hand moved before my brain could comprehend what i was doing, and i tucked her hair back, the middle part of my finger tracing along her jawline. my eyes widened and i jerked my hand away, taking a breath of my cigarette as i furiously stared at the ground. what the fuck? why did i do that? real casual, edward.

i cleared my throat, “we should do another movie night, then. just the two of us. maybe we can workshop a couple songs, or, something.” 

“well my parents are going to be out of town next weekend, maybe we could do something at my place,” she offered, reaching towards my hand. i eyed her, then noticed she was trying to take hold of my cigarette. i handed it to her, amused. 

“i wouldn’t mind that. where are they off to?” 

she took a drag. she only coughed once. impressive. “new york. it’s their anniversary, so they’re going to see a play and all that.” she handed it back. 

“sounds like the perfect opportunity for havoc,” i said, grinning devilishly. she laughed. we both watched as a familiar car pulled into the parking lot. she tilted her head. 

“is that…” she started, standing up. i stood with her, watching as our new recruit dustin got out of the passenger side door. she began walking towards him, then it felt as if my world shattered as i watched lucas, mike, and steve fucking harrington get out of the car. 

“you’ve got to be shitting me,” i said, throwing my cigarette on the ground and grinding it with my foot. 

“steve? dustin? guys, what are you doing here?” she asked. i watched as she met with steve at the front of his car, giving him a full-blown full-frontal hug, then pulling away and hugging dustin. they get full hugs and i only got a pity side one-arm thing? 

“these three needed a ride to this, uh, thing,” steve said, waving his arm in the direction of the school.

dustin piped in, “uh, uh, uh, it’s called dungeons and dragons,” he said, matter-of-factly. “one of the greatest games ever, one that your tiny little brain could not comprehend.” he wagged his finger in his face. well, he got that tiny part right. “right, yeah, whatever. they needed a ride, so,” steve explained to alex. his eyes connected with mine. i tried to remain cool. calm, collected. i probably instead looked like a homicidal maniac ready to pounce. “but, uh, what are you doing here?” he looked back to her.

alex looked back at me and smiled. i tried to manage the sourpuss expression likely slinking across my face. “i play the great game,” she said. steve looked surprised. “i have been looking forward to this campaign for months.” 

steve looked utterly dumbfounded. “i didn’t realize this type of thing was your thing,” he said. 

“there’s a lot you don’t know about me, harrington.” she turned on her heel and walked with the rest of the boys back towards me. 

“see you back at ten thirty!” dustin called.

“woah, wait, ten thirty?” steve asked, exasperated. 

“we’d go longer but these boys have a curfew,” i stood and shouted back at him. i shrugged as i walked backwards and into the school building. we had propped the door open with a rock, slipping into the drama club room without worrying about keys or janitors or locks. 

we walked into the dimly lit room. i had prepared the room with mood lighting, maps on the giant wooden table, and my dungeon master books and folders blocking off the head of the table. last year, the drama club made a throne for the spring play, macbeth. they weren’t using it, so it became my throne. “welcome, brave adventurers.” gareth, jeff, and brian were all sitting inside in their unassigned-assigned seats, and the rest trickled into the remaining seats. 

gareth sat to my right, my right hand man, and alex sat to my immediate left, my left hand woman. everyone began pulling out their papers, dice sets, character sheets, pencils, and notebooks. alex was the dedicated notetaker for the group. she put the date at the top of her paper, and looked my way, giving me a slight nod.

“gentlemen, and lady,” i stood to look over my books, commanding the room. “we begin your story in mokhbar. it is a sprawling city known as a large religious center. freedom of expression and thought are both encouraged here, protests and discussion groups rampant throughout the city. although, just because freedom of thought is allowed, does not mean all thoughts are well intentioned.” i pulled three minifigures out from behind my folders and placed them on the map in front of us. “here, gathered in the seedy underbelly of the city, we have an elf in fine garments, a half-orc in thick, studded leather, and a human, in a light tunic with a metal breastplate adorned across his shoulders. alex, brian, and mike, will you introduce your characters?” 

alex grinned and set her pencil down. she began to describe her thief, using gestures and transforming into a different girl altogether. she put on an accent and held her head high. 

then, brian introduced his half-orc barbarian named duluth, and mike introduced his human fighter named aguilos. after explaining to the party what they were all doing there (robbing a nearby shrine), i dove into how jeff and dustin’s characters knew one another. then, how gareth’s lone wolf character and lucas’s town guard character stumbled upon all of them in the shrine, entangling them in a task. the task in question: taking out the leader of a nearby group of religious zealots: the cult of vecna. 

alex furiously took notes, and as the story unfolded, the players seemed amped up to continue. i had finished taking them through a village investigation and a scurry with a band of goblins on the outskirts of town when my gaze fell to my watch. 

“the last goblin falls with a snarl, turning into a choked gurgling of the blood that flooded his throat. you look around to the battlefield before you, before setting your gaze on the fortress ahead. you know that inside houses the cult you have been tasked to destroy. and with that…” my eyes fell to every player, their breaths held in anticipation, “that is where we will end this first session.” 

a chorus of “aww”s and “ah!”s met me as i began to close my books. 

“that was so good!” jeff cried, smiling with gareth as he affirmed the same. i felt on top of the world, lighter than air after a good session. i grinned. alex shut her notebook and began putting away her things, talking with some of the others about the session. 

“some of your best work, eddie,” she said, closing up her messenger bag. “i’m surprised the newbies could hold their own.” 

“hey! we’re the best goblin slayers on this side of the mississippi,” dustin said hyperbolically. 

“dustin, literally no one says that anymore,” lucas said, mike nodding in agreement. 

dustin sighed. “whatever!” he slung his backpack over his back. “same time next week, eddie?” he grinned his toothy smile, pointing at me. i couldn’t help but give one back. 

“of course, young dungeon divers. hellfire club awaits you,” i said, giving him a little bow as he, lucas, and mike walked out of the drama club room. 

i said my goodbyes to gareth, jeff, and brian, leaving just me and alex in the drama club room, packing up the rest of the session. 

“god, and the way we all met was so funny!” she laughed, handing me a map that i stuffed into a cardboard file box that held all of our dnd props. i kept it tucked away so i didn’t have to continue to take the props back and forth every friday; i would inevitably forget things. “it was just perfect. i cannot wait for next week.” i felt my face flush a bit.

“i’m glad you all liked it. i mean, you saw how hard i had been thinking about it. it’s just so exciting to see it come to fruition,” i beamed. i walked back over to the table after setting down the props in the corner. “ready to go?”

“yeah,” she said, resigned. we began walking out of the drama club room and i shut out the light. walking down the hallway, she said, “hey, so, next weekend, when my parents are out of town…” she trailed off. 

i looked at her, searching for her eyes. “yeah?” 

“um,” she went pink. i slowed my pace, putting a hand on her arm.

“what’s up, wilson?” i asked, “you okay?” 

she shut her eyes then breathed in. “eddie, i want to get drunk. i want to know what it’s like and i want to have grown up experiences because, well, i am one now.” it was as if a cork had been removed from a shaken bottle of champagne; the words wouldn’t stop bubbling out. “and i know you have contacts for booze and, i don’t know, i trust you.” she faced me head-on. she looked so earnest, so brazen. “i want to get drunk with you is what i’m saying.” 

stunned, i initially didn’t know what to say. she gave me those pleading eyes, and i just felt my chest unwind a bit. “of course, alex. hey, you pick the movie, i’ll get the booze, and i’ll make sure you don’t do anything stupid.” 

alex positively beamed. she threw her arms around my shoulders in a quick but crushing embrace. “thank you, eddie! you are the coolest guy ever.” i was again, stunned, but anything to get her to throw her arms around me like that. she smiled then took my arm in hers and pulled me towards the door. 

the night was pitch black and i walked her safe and sound back to her car. she got in the driver’s seat, and i kept her car door open to say my final goodbyes. “so, i’ll see you next saturday? seven o’clock?”

“on the dot,” she said, cranking her car. “see you then, dungeon master.”

i shut her car door, then she shifted into reverse, and i watched her drive away into the night.

god, i loved dungeons and dragons.

part 1: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778657655075094528/chapter-1-i-think-were-alone-now?source=share

part 2: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778730940998500352/chapter-2-road-to-nowhere?source=share

part 3: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778843558479380480/chapter-3-hold-the-line?source=share

part 4: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778918955907678208/chapter-4-for-whom-the-bell-tolls?source=share

part 5: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/779107967954010112/chapter-5-no-one-like-you?source=share

part 6: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/779110159190491136/chapter-6-fight-for-your-right?source=share

[a-is-away]

new chapter should be out within the next couple of days 😎 been doing some traveling but i’m so excited for the next couple chapters

[a-is-away]

chapter 7: metal gods

summary: in which eddie and alex play at battle of the bands.

warnings: swearing/strong language, anxious! alex, skin picking/anxious behaviors, honestly just a fun chapter, alex gets a little jealous ooooo, smoking cigarettes

part 6: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/779110159190491136/chapter-6-fight-for-your-right?source=share

[alex.]

“EDDIE, I DON'T think i can do this.”

we stood in the wings. out on stage was a band from franklin college. they rocked. seriously rocked beyond any of our capabilities. and they had that confidence, that metal devil-may-care attitude. and i was totally freaking.

i paced around in my brand new combat boots (so not metal) and clutched my arms. i had teased my hair to the heavens and put on makeup so heavy you could probably see it from outer space. my hands were shaking, my heart felt practically tachycardic, and i continuously paced back and forth among the bandmates. “they’re gonna eat me alive. they’ll know i haven’t done this before.”

“no they won’t, and you’ve done this a hundred times before. you even did it in front of judges at the audition!” eddie said, watching me. his eyes were lined with smudged eyeliner that i helped him apply. i also helped gareth and jeff with their eyeliner. brian declined, saying his parents would freak if we did that to him. 

“that was different! there wasn’t a whole crowd out there, there wasn’t…” i was about to mention harrington and robin but i didn’t think it would help. “point is, it’s way different, and i don’t think i can do this.”

eddie stopped in front of me, towering over me as i almost bumped into him. he grabbed my shoulders and shook me one time. his doe-like eyes bore into my soul and he said, “alex. you are the reason we’re here. you are a kickass singer and metal as fuck. get out of your head and get into the band.” his words were harsh, but they gave me the kick in the pants that i needed. “now, we’re going to go out and melt those assholes’ faces off.” i kept repeating his words in my head as the previous band left the stage and as they announced us. i repeated them as we walked up to the stage and i peered out into the crowd of the small venue. towards the back by the bar, i spotted and made eye contact with harrington and robin. they both gave me a small but encouraging wave. in favor of keeping my composure and cool girl image, i ignored it and stared straight ahead into the blinding lights and dark void of the crowd in front of me.

“you ready?” gareth mouthed as i turned around to fully look at him, turning my back to the crowd. i gave him a small nod. just like we rehearsed, i slipped a cigarette out of my bra (it was a little damp from the nervous sweat), and i turned to eddie. our mics were on either side of the center stage, creating a symmetry within the five bandmates. gareth on drums in the back, jeff and brian towards the wings, and us in the middle. cigarette between my lips, i leaned forward and he lit his lighter by striking it on his pants in one swift movement. it was always so fucking cool. he lit my cigarette for me. i heard a whoop from the crowd, and a couple of spare claps. just as i looked up at eddie through my eyelashes, gareth cried out, “one, two, three, four!”

eddie slid the lighter into his pocket and began to play the opening lick, just as rehearsed. he had his bandana in his back pocket that swayed slightly as the music picked up. with shaky hands, i took the cigarette out of my mouth and held the mic. breathing in still burned and felt like i was inhaling a campfire when i took a breath in, but it was getting easier. my hands shook and i prayed that no one in the audience could see. i sang out the first lyrics: “burned so bright but killed me slowly.” my voice was rough from the smoke, and a little shaky. i turned fully to the audience, bending a little bit forward. the choreography was practically second nature to me now. eddie liked perfection. i wanted to give him as close to perfection as i could. 

between lyrics i took another drag. “got me hooked until i couldn’t breathe,” i sang. i shook my head to the song. “he was my cigarette and i knew it.” i heard a cheer from the crowd. were they making fun of me? i broke choreography and stole a glance at eddie, who met my eyes and gave me a nod. “keep going,” he mouthed to me. i looked forward and took another shaky drag of the cigarette. 

i sang the next verse with growing confidence. i moved around the stage, singing the lyrics, connecting with various audience members that had herded towards the front. when i got to the pre-chorus, i slowly walked up to eddie, taking the cigarette from between my lips and putting it between his. i brought my arm to rest on his shoulder, which wasn’t rehearsed, but it felt right. he took the lead for the pre-chorus, and leaned into it. between refrains, he took a drag and let the smoke billow out of his mouth and sometimes his nose. the drums picked up to double time and the music swelled to reach the release of the chorus. the lights were blinding and both eddie and i began to sweat. i turned as we sang “cause he’s like brimstone, fire, he’s my one desire,” to stand back-to-back with eddie directly in the center of the stage. we fully leaned against each other for support, and my head fell back to rest on his right shoulder, the one closest to the front of the stage. the audience cheered a bit, and i felt officially egged on. i pumped my heel to the beat of the song, adding a whinier tone to the chorus as it went on. “‘cause he’s like brimstone, fire, he’s my one desire,” i sang, mic held over my head. i peered into the audience with sultry eyes, my head on his shoulder. 

i took the cigarette back from him as we transitioned into the third and fourth verses, exchanging the parts and cigarette back and forth. the rush of the venue made me understand the song more. no amount of obsessive workshopping could match the feel of the sweat on my forehead, the coil in my belly ready to snap, the fast beating of my heart, the ache of my feet in these new boots. i couldn’t catch my breath and yet it was as if i was breathing deeply for the first time.

we repeated the chorus twice, then it was time for eddie’s solo. i yelled out, “eddie!” to prompt him into it. he then took center stage and i stepped back, dancing with the music, but not enough to distract. a couple girls (presumably drunk) towards the front of the audience screamed as he leaned into the guitar solo, thrashing his wild hair around, lunging forwards as he worked the guitar. it just added fuel to the fire. maybe it was the rush of the performance, or me feeling second-best on stage, or pure unadulterated jealousy, but as the solo came to a head and we went back into a final chorus before the ending refrain run, i stood directly opposite to eddie, resting my outstretched arm on his shoulder. his mic was back on its stand, so i put my mic between us. we sang the rest of the chorus like this, breathing back and forth, the smoke mixing around the mic. i put my forehead against his as we sang out the last line of the chorus: “i can’t breathe without him (her).”

i whisked away for the last of the refrain, whipping my hair with me. the rest of the band chanted out, “brimstone, fire, she’s my one desire.” i slapped my leg in time with gareth’s drums while jeff and brian clapped along to the two-one beat. eddie played embellished riffs between each line, adding fuel to the fire of the song. the music swelled, the crowd grew anxious, then began to sing along. it only took about thirty seconds before the cigarette was essentially done, so i took it out of my mouth, holding it up to the sky, signalling to the band the next refrain would be the last.

“hey, hey, hey!” i threw the cigarette on stage, stomping it out with my boot, “she’s my one desire!” we sang out.

when i heard the saying, “the crowd goes wild,” i always suspected it was hyperbole. in those fleeting moments, however, i finally understood what they meant. cheers, applause, and whistles all sounded as we exited the stage, louder than the sound of our set. back in the wings, a couple people from the next band patted us on the shoulder, holding up their pinky and index fingers at us. i felt as if i was truly on drugs. the rush from the performance, from the crowd, from singing with eddie and moving with him…

past the wings was a door that led straight to the back parking lot. we exited into the cool night air, and we all simultaneously yelped. “holy shit!” i yelled, practically cackling. eddie ran up and whisked me up in his arms, spinning me around in his rib-crushing grip. “eddie!” i yelped, cackling. i wrapped my arms around him. he put me on the ground and we grabbed each other’s shoulders, shaking each other. “that was…”

“incredible!” gareth said.

“our best run yet!” brian said. 

“there’s no way we don’t win,” jeff started.

“unless they have no taste,” brian pointed. 

“or no soul!” eddie finished. he stood, arm around me, then grabbed onto gareth’s shoulder. he stuck his arm in the middle, then we all followed suit. “here’s to the demons that possess us. corroded coffin yesterday, today, and forever!” 

“forever!” we all chanted, throwing our arms in the air. 

“we should get back in there, yeah?” i said, tucking a strand of my curly hair behind my ear. “can’t miss the verdict!” 

“after you,” eddie gestured around the side of the building so we could sneak back in through the front. 

getting back into the building and into the crowd was a blur. many came up and told us how great we were, how they loved our sound. a couple girls came up and hit on eddie, some guys came up and hit on me. we all were in a rush to get back to the main area, we mostly brushed them off. 

by the bar in the back of the venue, i spotted robin and steve. another band had started playing rather loudly, so when we met, we had to practically scream to hear each other. robin gave me a quick hug, yelling in my ear, “you were so good!” i thanked her, then harrington pulled me into a hug next. i hugged him over the shoulders as he hugged my waist. i would be lying if i said it wasn’t nice.

he pulled away and shouted close to my ear, “that was insane, lexi!” he shook my shoulders a little bit, then held his hand out for a high five from eddie. i turned to eddie, and he looked surprised, then gave him a high five as prompted. steve leaned into eddie’s space, and said, “i didn’t realize you could play like that! you rocked!” 

eddie looked troubled. his brow furrowed, his mouth agape. he nodded and clapped steve’s upper arm, saying, “thanks, man.” he gave me a look that asked if i heard what he heard, and i gave him a look that replied that i did. 

harrington returned to my side, watching the band up on stage. the rest of the band filed against the bar, eddie on my left side talking to gareth. “i would have asked you out sooner if i knew you were this good,” steve leaned into my ear, his breath warm on my neck. a chill went down my spine. i looked up at him. maybe the rush of the performance or my racing heart made me smile. maybe steve was starting to soften some. then again, maybe i was, too.

the last two bands played well, and there was a lull while the judges tallied and discussed the winner. i began nipping at my nails, holding my arms, and chatting with eddie off to the side. “it’ll be okay if we don’t win,” i said. “it was just a practice run through. when we one day play the garden this will all be a funny memory,” i smiled, nervously. eddie smiled back at me. 

“i didn’t think anyone could be as neurotic about this as eddie,” gareth said, butting in, “but i stand corrected.”

“never underestimate alexandra wilson,” eddie threw his arm around my shoulder, and i held onto his forearm. i pointed at gareth to emphasize his point. 

just as we launched into another conversation, an older man with wild, curly hair and a paisley shirt that looked fished out of a fashion bin from 1967 strode across the stage to the center. the crowd held their breath as he tapped the mic. “thank you to every band who showed up here tonight,” he said. i pulled eddie’s arm down from around my shoulders and held his hand down by my side. “music is the cornerstone of our individuality and our society. without music, we have no love. no purpose. no foundational lens of which to see the world through. and it is for this reason we hosted this battle of the bands, to bring to the surface real, true musicians, and snuff out those who only care for fame and glory.” wow, this guy truly overestimated the impact a central-indiana battle of the bands could have on society. then again, i found myself holding my breath and not being able to look away from the stage. “the winner our trusted judges have selected is…”  the man held a slip of paper in his hand, which he unfurled as he looked at the audience. 

i closed my eyes, telling myself it would be okay if we lost. if it all ended now. we still had fun, and that was what mattered. i began to chew my lip as i squeezed eddie’s hand.

“... corroded coffin with the cigarette song!” my eyes shot open, and my head snapped to eddie, whose eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his skull. the band collectively screamed, looked between each other, then jumped up and down like fish in a barrel. i threw my arms around eddie as he threw his arms under mine, squeezing me in the tightest hug i’ve ever received. after he let go and embraced the band, i turned and hugged robin and steve, who had yelled their congratulations over the crowd. 

in a blur of cheers, eyeliner rimmed eyes, and sweaty bodies, we muscled our way to the stage. the paisley-shirted man gave us the grand prize of one hundred dollars, plus a pin for each member of the band. a small enamel pin the size of my thumbnail, it had in black lettering over silver backing, “‘85 central indiana battle of the bands.” i held it in my hand so tight in fear of losing it, then waved to the audience and at steve and robin with my free hand. 

i kept looking to eddie, to reassure myself that this was real, and that i had just won a competition with my best friend and band mate eddie munson. with him, in that moment, we were unstoppable.

part 1: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778657655075094528/chapter-1-i-think-were-alone-now?source=share

part 2: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778730940998500352/chapter-2-road-to-nowhere?source=share

part 3: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778843558479380480/chapter-3-hold-the-line?source=share

part 4: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778918955907678208/chapter-4-for-whom-the-bell-tolls?source=share

part 5: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/779107967954010112/chapter-5-no-one-like-you?source=share

[a-is-away]

chapter 6: fight for your right

summary: in which eddie gets jealous and corroded coffin preps for the botb.

warnings: swearing/strong language, jealous! eddie (again), flirty! steve (again), asshole! steve, grumpy! and bitchy! eddie, tobacco/cigarette use,

part 5: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/779107967954010112/chapter-5-no-one-like-you?source=share

[eddie.]

WE BREEZED THROUGH the audition, seeing as we were only one of three groups to show up at that day. we had been practicing multiple times every week after school and on weekends. i wasn’t sure how alex managed to show up to all of them, but she did. 

her face lit up when she sang the song. she would bring a notebook and take furious notes, workshopping the lyrics and her intonations and the meaning behind it. she was so meticulous but so dedicated. it didn’t dawn on me that corroded coffin was missing a fifth member until she showed up. 

she still can’t smoke a cigarette for shit, though.

“it burns!” she huffed out, practically hacking up a lung, holding it far away from her and out towards me, her face hid in her elbow. 

“it so doesn’t!” i laughed, taking it from her. “you’re just new to it. you’ll get used to it, it’s like alcohol.” 

she gives me a look, pulling her knees to her chest and resting her cheek on her leg. “you know i don’t drink, eds.” 

ever the cautious woman, she was always hesitant to try anything mildly rebellious in fear of her mother. i took a puff of the cigarette, breathing out the smoke into the air. “yeah, i know,” i said. i let the cigarette half hang out of my mouth, reaching my arms up and resting them behind my head, knitting my fingers together. 

we sat on my bedroom floor, papers scattered everywhere, us leaning against my bed. initially, she came over to “help me with homework”, which never got very far. i didn’t care to do it, and she just needed an excuse to get out of the house. we also planned for a movie night, and not wanting to return to family video, i let alex pick the movie, but i requested something fun and lighthearted. she vetoed my request for the dark crystal (she said the muppets in that movie creeped her out), so she brought the movie valley girl. basically uptown girl in a song, nicolas cage plays this punk rock guy who meets this, well, valley girl, and the rest is history. i remarked on our similarity a couple times, to which alex laughed and said, “you wish!” we spent the movie curled up on the couch, her leaning against me, and our heads together. we had the best snacks, courtesy of family video. sour patch kids, reese’s, popcorn, and cookies that alex had made. 

after the movie and for the last few hours, we had been talking about her character for my next campaign. i was planning for it to have some edge to it. satanic panic was funny to me, and bringing in elements of cultists and demons brought a political edge to the whole thing. i was also planning on bringing in lord vecna, one of my favorite villains in the dungeon master’s guide. i had been waiting for a good campaign to bring him in as the big-bad-end-game. given that this could be alex’s last, with her going to college next year, it felt like a good time.

“i fixed my van, so you don’t have to drive me to school anymore,” i told her. “my carburetor was busted so i had to install a new one. all fixed, though.”

“oh, thank god,” she said, huffing. i snapped my head towards her.

“what do you mean ‘thank god’?” i said, offended. her mouth quirked like she was hiding a smile. 

“i’m kidding! i’ll miss hauling your sorry ass around,” she said. “at least now i won’t have a work stowaway.”

“you love your work stowaway.”

“... maybe.” she teased. moving on from the offensiveness of her comment, i turned to other matters. “how’s work going, anyhow?” i asked, shutting my eyes, the cigarette calming my nerves a bit. 

“not bad,” she replied. “new assistant manager position opened up with janice going on maternity leave, so i’ve been temporarily promoted.”

i sat up and looked at her, yanking the cigarette out of my mouth. “no way dude! that’s huge! look at you, little miss assistant manager!” i nudged her ribs. i couldn’t suppress my grin nor my pride.

she looked a little shocked, “really? i didn’t think it’d be that big of a deal, it’s only temporary.” 

“it so is! are you kidding?” i wrapped her in my arms and pulled her close and she stumbled into me, laughing that bell-like laugh of hers. “i’m so proud of you.”

she softened into my arms, hugging me back. she exhaled and i felt her grin against my shoulder. “thanks, eds…” she hesitated, “that means more than you know.”

“plus, that’ll look so badass on your college app,” i said as i pulled away from the hug but kept her close. 

“y’know what. you’re right. mom was saying that i would be much better off having put that effort into college classes or that i need to get a real job,” she lulled her head backwards onto the bed, her body resting close to mine. her dark blonde hair fell away from her face. her head fell onto my shoulder, her weight settling into me. it felt like a butterfly landed on my shoulder, and i feared moving in case she got startled and fluttered away. “but i think this an accomplishment.”

“i think so too,” i said, smiling back as we pulled away. i gazed into her blue eyes for a moment, then sat back again. we lingered closer after the hug. her eyes slipped down to her watch, and she huffed. “it’s getting late, i need to be getting back.”

i nodded, standing up and extending a knight-like hand to her, helping her up off the ground. she took it and curtseyed. “well thank you for all your help, study-buddy,” i said, elbowing her arm and she elbowed me back. “make sure you’re still practicing the song and everything. can’t have you forgetting the words on stage.”

alex gave me a slight glare. “thanks, mom, i’ll be on it,” she picked up her messenger bag off of my floor. she opened the door to my room, then made her way to the door of the trailer. “i’ll see you at band practice?” she turned around as i reached for the door. 

“that you will,” i twisted the door knob. she wrapped her arms around my shoulders, squeezing for a fleeting moment, then stepped out of the door. she waved goodbye as she unlocked her car door and drove into the night. 

the twisting feeling in my chest didn’t go away. i watched her car disappear down the road, then turned on my heel and shut the door behind me. now alone, i made my way back to my room and cranked up the music on my boombox. shuffling around my room, picking up papers, i spotted alex’s wallet on the ground. the floral, pink pattern contrasted heavily with the dark colors of my room. “shit,” i huffed. a slight giddiness fell over me, a grin tugging at my lips. i could always bring it to her tomorrow, surprise her at work. feeling particularly triumphant with my devious surprise plan, i put her wallet on my night stand, then plopped down on my back on my bed. the loud music quieted the thoughts in my head, and i drummed my hands on my legs. i should really learn how to play the drums. 

i listened to bruce dickinson’s scratchy vocals until i slowly drifted asleep, waking up after my cassette had run out of songs to sing. i checked the clock. 3 am. the witching hour. i fake cackled, tapping my fingers together with a sleepy effort behind it. man, i had to piss. stumbling out of bed and into the bathroom, i did my business, then took off my pants and threw them into the dirty clothes hamper. throwing my shirt off as well, i rinsed my face with water from the sink, then walked back into my dark and cold bedroom. i threw the remaining clothes left on my bed onto the ground, then crawled under the warm sheets. feeling thoroughly enveloped, i dozed off once more. 

i woke up to the blaring sound of my alarm, sending a jolt of energy through my body. i opened my eyes wide, blinking away before slamming my hand down on the noisy, pain-in-the-ass clock. rather than gracefully standing and waltzing through my room, i rolled onto the floor, rubbing my eyes aggressively with the butts of my hands. i groaned, then sat up. i could be late to my first class. agreeing with myself that the right thing to do was to be to fall right back asleep on the ground, i drifted off in the pile of my dirty clothes (or were they clean? i was never sure).

next thing i knew, i heard my uncle’s knocking on the door, and his quiet voice calling, “eddie? you still here?” the wake-up jolt returned, and i stood straight up, glaring at the clock. shit. 8:42. 

“shit!” i yelled, grabbing at my nearest set of jeans and hopping to put them on. they were half rolled inward from the last time i threw them off, so i had to hop extra aggressively to slip them on. throwing on my nearest clean t-shirt and my battle vest, i grabbed my backpack, alex’s wallet, and my keys from the hook by my room door. i yanked the door open to see wayne standing on the other side. “i’m late- good to see you,” i said, patting his arm. wayne gave me a half smile, nodding. 

“have a good day at school,” he said, slipping into the bathroom. 

i threw a container of leftovers and the family size bag of pretzels left on the counter into my lunch pale, then ran out the door. 

i made it to family video at about nine o’clock. i made great time, if i do say so myself. my wheels squealed as i swung into the parking lot, my music rattling my windows. i grabbed alex’s wallet from the passenger seat. jumping out of my van, swinging my key ring around my finger, i looked into the giant window of the family video. i saw the outline of two people, one i knew to be alex, the other i was hoping i was mistaking for someone else. they stood close, alex carrying a stack of what looked like vhs tapes in her arms. i paused before opening the door, took a breath, then waltzed in with the best swagger i could muster.

“welcome to family video,” alex said, glancing over at me, but not quite taking me in. she continued to maintain eye contact with steve. okay, ouch. steve looked at me, then an almost evil smirk came across his face. 

“if it isn’t eddie the freak munson,” he turned his whole body, arms crossed, leaning against the front counter. as if on a swivel, alex’s head snapped to look at me, her eyes widening. 

“eds! i did not even see you- what are you doing here?” alex said, setting the vhs tapes down on the counter and walking up to me. i took her wallet out of my back pocket.

“you left your wallet at my place last night,” i said, loudly and confidently enough for steve to hear. i put it in her hand. 

“oh my god, i cannot believe i forgot it,” she put it in her pocket. “i’ve been looking everywhere for it. thank you so much, but, oh my god, do not tell me you cut class to bring me this.” 

i gave her a cheeky grin. “couldn’t let you drive around without a wallet, now could i? i’ll be out of your hair,” i gave a pointed look to steve, “just had to drop that off on my way.” 

“oh, it’s no worries,” she followed my gaze to steve. “i was actually just telling steve about corroded coffin.”

i swallowed. was this asshole about to convince alex to leave the band? or make fun of it to my face? this band has been part of me since middle school-

“she was just telling me about the battle of the bands thing you guys are doing,” he said, his hands in his pockets. “i’ve never been one for metal bands, but i mean,” he rested his arm on her shoulder, slightly putting his weight on her. i felt my face grow warm and my stomach churn. “i’ve got to see what our girl can do.”

our girl? fucking hell he knew how to push my buttons. “she’s really the best. she basically wrote our best song. she smokes on stage during it and everything.”

“oh, well, not yet, technically, but i’m getting there,” she slid out from under steve and raised her hands defensively. thank god she moved. i don’t know what i would’ve done if he had kept his arm on her. 

was that a normal thought to have? is it normal to get that jealous? yeah, actually, when your ex bully was friendly with your best friend, i had a damn right to get pissy. steve interrupted my train of thought and said, “i didn’t realize you were that badass, lexi.” 

“i did!” i said, with more urgency than i intended. 

alex graciously moved on, saying, “i’m not sure about that, but you and robin should really come check it out.” she looked back and forth between us. 

“alright, i’ll be there, friday night, yeah?” steve said, his eyes boring a hole through me. 

“you know it!” i said. a hefty silence fell over us. thankfully, alex piped in again.

“thank you so much for bringing me my wallet, eddie,” she smiled her gorgeous pearly white smile, then said, “anyways, i have to work on this display and you need to get to school.” 

i snapped my fingers then clapped, walking backwards, “you know it. see you around, alex… harrington,” i glared one final time at him. he tilted his head back at me. i walked backwards out of the family video. 

god, i can’t stand that son of a bitch. 

the irritation carried me through my classes all the way to band practice. we sat around the garage, waiting on alex to arrive. i was practicing the guitar solo for our song, and i kept slipping up on the final part. i grunted and groaned, the effort of redoing the riff over and over grating on my nerves. “ugh!”

“woah, eddie, you good?” gareth asked, sitting on the drum stool and talking with jeff, swivelling around to face me. the question alone set me on edge.

“yes, gareth, i am perfectly fine, except i can’t get this fucking riff right,” i snapped. it wasn’t his fault necessarily, i was just generally pissed off. 

“you’ve been practicing it non-stop, maybe you just need to leave it alone for now,” he suggested. oh, that did it.

“battle of the bands is in three days and your idea is to not practice?” i asked, setting my guitar down and standing up. 

“uh… uh, well,” he gulped. “i’m not trying to start anything, eddie, but-”

“uh, uh, but what? this has to be perfect! we can’t look like a fucking joke,” i said. my engine was revved. the other members looked at each other. “what!”

“nothing,” jeff said, darting his eyes away, starting to practice part of the song.

we heard the door to the garage open, and alex came in, messenger bag slung around her shoulder. i tried to not be offended by the band sighing in an almost relief, but my fuse was already lit. “nice of you to join us,” i said shortly. i put my guitar strap around my shoulders and stood at one of the two front mics. 

“sorry i’m late, robin wouldn’t stop talking my ear off over this movie, just couldn’t get free!” she said, clearly not reading into my tone. she began putting her bag down and grabbing her papers. “i’m ready though, let’s get this thing started.”

gareth looked between us, then settled into his seat and grabbed his drumsticks. “uh, huh,” i said, dismissing her robin claim. steve knew how to get under my skin, alright. i rolled my shoulders. “we’ve got to start practicing with the cigarette,” i said, pulling out my cigarette case from my back pocket. “we’re down to the wire here,” i gestured one of the cigarettes out to alex. “start us off.”

alex went slightly wide eyed. “uh. okay,” she said, taking it. “you got a light?” i already had my lighter out, and i slid the lighter across the leg of my jeans, both opening the lid and lighting in one swift motion. her mouth quirked and she put the cigarette in between her lips. she leaned forward towards me, catching the fire. expecting her to immediately start hacking up a lung, i stepped back. surprisingly though, she did alright. she steadied herself, holding onto the mic. i nodded to gareth. he then counted us in, then i started the guitar lick while jeff followed with brian. it sounded right, and it sounded good, but i found myself obsessing over the details. brian rushed a note, or gareth’s double time slipped for a moment.

i held my breath as alex began to sing, her cigarette in one hand, mic in the other. “burned so bright but killed me slowly,” she started. i could tell she was holding in a cough, but she powered through. we sang through the first verse, she took a drag between each line. at one point between the pre-chorus and chorus, she almost hacked up a lung, hanging onto the mic stand as she turned back. i rolled my eyes. she was actually doing alright, my nerves were still touchy. alex walked over to me during the chorus, cigarette in hand. she put it between her pointer finger and thumb. as i sang backing, i watched her, my eyes following her every move but not turning my head away from the mic. she moved closer to me, singing, and then moved the cigarette right in front of my mouth. understanding her gesture, and the genius of her move, i took the cigarette from her with my mouth. i sucked in the smoke, holding it in place with my teeth. 

the song progressed as usual, and once the nicotine has settled my nerves, i felt better about our performance. alex improved the more we rehearsed, and although i felt i needed to be better about my solo, i knew we were as close to perfect as we could get. 

“alright, guys, keep rehearsing, we’ll practice again on thursday night and before the performance. yeah?” i confirmed in the final huddle. 

“hell yeah”s and positive responses came from the band. although it was a bit cheesy, we all placed our hands in the middle, then said our band cheer: “here’s to the demons that possess us, corroded coffin yesterday, today, and forever!” we pumped our hands then broke, moving then to begin to pack up. it was around ten, and the stars were beginning to shine outside. brian and jeff were the first ones gone, then alex and i walked out together, saying goodbye to gareth and gareth’s parents. 

outside, she followed me to my van. we were discussing how excited we were for friday and the performance when she said, “hey, eds?”

“yeah?” i opened the back of my van, putting my guitar case and amp in the back. now that i’ve gotten my van back i’m more inclined to tote my equipment back and forth. 

“i’m sorry about inviting harrington and robin without running it by you,” she said. i stopped. i shut the doors and leaned back against them, looking her in the eyes. she was chewing on her lip and held her arms in her hands. 

“oh, hey, it’s okay,” she only made that face when she was worried. i felt the pang of guilt from my outbursts earlier. shit, i did that to her. i made her worry. “really. i mean it. honestly, the more people there the better. we gotta get the word out about us.” i put my hand over hers. “sorry, i was kind of an asshole earlier. that guy just gets under my skin.”

she huffed and look away. “yeah, tell me about it. i ripped him a new one for calling you a freak, though.” my heart warmed. 

“oh, yeah? i would’ve liked to see that,” i grinned. she laughed at me. 

“i’m sure you would. anyways, i gotta get going. but i’ll see you thursday, yeah?” she smiled that smile of hers that could warm even my cold, dead heart.

“see you then, rockstar.”

a/n: guys the next chapter is my absolute favorite so far so stay tuned ~

part 1: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778657655075094528/chapter-1-i-think-were-alone-now?source=share

part 2: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778730940998500352/chapter-2-road-to-nowhere?source=share

part 3: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778843558479380480/chapter-3-hold-the-line?source=share

part 4: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778918955907678208/chapter-4-for-whom-the-bell-tolls?source=share

[a-is-away]

taglist

okay now that i've posted a few chapters of gap year let me know if anyone would like to be added to the taglist 🥳 🎸

[a-is-away]

chapter 5: no one like you

summary: in which eddie smokes and alex writes a song.

warnings: strong language/swearing, tobacco use, shirtless! eddie, classicism, alex's mom is a bitch, flirty! steve, jealous! eddie

part 4: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778918955907678208/chapter-4-for-whom-the-bell-tolls?source=share

[alex.]

THE WEEKEND HAD been uneventful. nothing but reading up on colleges to apply to in a few months after my gap year, working at family video, and worrying about eddie. those were my most common to-dos on any given weekend, anyhow. my mind kept floating back to saturday morning. i wondered whether or not harrington’s senseless flirting hurt him in some way, and it had slowly been eating at me. i found myself distracted at work, eyes drifting to steve while i was lost in thought. he would always give me a presumptuously flirty look in return, and i’d run off and find something else to do.

maybe that’s why i turned our go-to radio station up a little louder than i liked and sat outside of eddie’s trailer ten minutes earlier than expected. i drummed my fingers nervously on the steering wheel and peered out into the trailer park. the wide gravel driving path cleaving the couples acres of grass, sprawling towards the woods that kept the trailer park contained. there were almost all single wides with some rv’s scattered here and there. there were the occasional fenced in areas, housing independent sheds or dogs, or, in the munsons’ case, a white and green striped van with the hood popped and an under-the-car roller left beside it. i always found his trailer homey. at least, it felt more like home than mine. no disapproving looks from my mother or empty chairs where my father was supposed to be. with trashcans outside and a couch on the front porch, i felt the childhood memories soaked into the very bones of the trailer. 

the time ticked on while i waited for eddie. my shift didn’t start for at least a couple of hours so i didn’t mind waiting, but i was worried he’d be late. he never cared much for school, always had trouble focusing in class or turning in homework assignments. it’s why he had repeated senior year, now, a third time. i picked at my nails. he was so genuinely brilliant, it never made sense to me that he’d flunk out a second time. if he had just applied himself…

i groaned. i sounded like a school counselor. or, worse, my mother. i hated the resentment that bubbled up whenever i thought about how we could be going to college together right now or working together somewhere in the city if he hadn’t just showed up to class more or actually did the work. before my thoughts could continue down my own frustrated tailspin, mr. munson’s truck pulled into the drive beside mine. i decided i’d try and talk to him (i did always love our short but sweet conversations) but i’d make it quick, seeing as he did just come back from the night shift at the plant. i stepped out of the car onto the grass just as he got out of his truck. he looked confused for a second when he saw me, but then settled into recollection.

“hey, mornin’, alex,” he said, his southern drawl heavy and like molasses. i heard a bit of southern accent in eddie’s voice after he had a long conversation with his uncle. 

“good morning, mr. munson.” i shut my door and walked around the front of my car, giving him a handshake. his white wifebeater was slightly dirty with his light blue over shirt in a bit more spotless state. he had an old blue ballcap on, shading his eyes. “i’m here to pick up eddie for school. he hasn’t made it out yet.”

he huffed in thought for a second, locking his truck door then heading towards the trailer. i followed behind him at a reasonable distance. “he has a habit of sleeping in, but i’m sure you knew that.” he took out a pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket, pulling one out then slipping the box back inside in a habitual manner. he began to climb the steps as he pulled out a lighter from his pants pocket and lit his cigarette. his heavy workboots sounded out against the porch and i just patiently waited and watched him. my mother always taught me to never go into anyone’s house uninvited. smoke plumed from his lips, turning to me and giving a hint of a smile. his eyes creased in the same way eddie’s did. “you can come on inside, i’ll go check on him.” he took out his keys with the cigarette perched in his mouth, sliding it into the lock. i followed him inside, wiping my feet on the doormat inside. 

the curtains were drawn on the windows and it felt slightly warmer inside than on the outside, like the house was an oven that soaked up the early morning sun. mr. munson took his hat off and placed it on one of the hooks pinned to the wall, filing it in with the rest of the collection. i had been here quite a few times when mr. munson wasn’t home, always telling my mother i was somewhere else entirely. eddie and i would watch movies or i’d watch him write songs (occasionally suggesting a lyric here or there) while i read or worked on homework. we had many failed study evenings, starting off strong then spiraling into making brownies at three in the morning or coming up with even more backstory for my hellfire character. this year i would be playing an elven assassin-thief with daggers as her weapon of choice. i was so excited for the new campaign, i knew eddie had been working hard on it, day and night.  

i followed mr. munson further into the house, shutting the front door behind me. “eddie, i’m back,” he called into the trailer. 

“hey!” i heard eddie call from the bathroom. at least he was alive. just taking fucking forever. 

“your friend is here,” mr. munson replied, letting some of the smoke out into the house. he opened the window in their kitchen, flicking some of the ashes out on an ash tray on the window sill, then opening the fridge and rummaging around inside. 

“what?” eddie called, the bathroom door opening and steam billowing out from down the hall. i saw him coming around the corner before he saw me, a towel slung low on his waist and his hair slightly frizzy and wet on the ends. “do you mean-” he saw me then. his mouth hung open, though no words came out, and his eyes nearly bulged out of his sockets. 

it’s not like i had never seen eddie shirtless before. we had went to the hawkins public pool over the summer when it wasn’t too busy (he hated every moment of it) and i had seen him in only black swim trunks then. maybe it was the towel or his new tattoo swirling across his chest or the pure lack of preparation to see him shirtless that i froze when he did, like a bird seeing its own reflection. he looked… good. not too carved or formed like some of the guys i knew, but rather, steady and lean; weight in the right places and bulk where you wouldn’t think there would be any. his tattoos looked, admittedly, way cooler when you could see them all together, like a collage of ink and ivory, hand crafted by his own mind and the tattoo artist’s talent.

i continued to stand frozen, opening my mouth to say something but shutting it before something stupid spluttered out. “hi,” i eventually choked, waving sheepishly. christ above, what was my problem? 

“shit!” he cried, snapping out of his daze and covering his chest with his arms.“why are you in here?”

“mr. munson let me in!” i yelled back, defensively. 

“a warning, next time!” 

i saw mr. munson’s shoulders rise and fall as he let out a sigh, accompanied with a swirl of smoke. “i did, kid.” 

“i’ve been waiting outside for ten minutes, eddie,” i said, nearly spitting the words out. 

“you have?” he said, looking at the clock that hung on the wall in their living room. “oh, shit!” he took off down the hall, “i’ll be ready in two minutes!” he yelled back.

i couldn’t help but laugh when i heard his door slam. mr. munson stood up to his full height, stretching his back slightly and taking his overshirt off. he tossed it onto the counter, then set out some leftovers. i saw a glimmer in his eye while he continued his daily routine, not paying me much mind.

it was actually three minutes when eddie practically dashed to meet me. “i am so sorry, dude,” he said, grabbing his back pack from the countertop and smiling at his uncle. “have a good night?” he asked.

“yeah,” he said, nodding his head. “y’all have a good day, now. when you coming back?”

“not ‘til after you’ll be gone,” eddie replied, taking an apple from a bowl on the countertop and his lunchbox as well. 

mr. munson gave eddie a look they’d only understand, as he was a man of few words, and said, “well, i’ll see you tomorrow.”

“see you,” eddie said, opening the door and escorting me outside.

“goodbye, mr. munson,” i smiled and waved at him, and he nodded his head in reply. 

we stepped back outside into the humid indiana air, eddie taking the lead back to the car. he made his way over to my side and waited for me to unlock it, then opened the door for me in a rather gentlemanly manner. he often reminded me chivalry wasn’t dead when the chivalrous man wasn’t busy being an asshole. 

i gave him a shy smile and climbed back in, cranking up the car while he got in and threw his lunch box and backpack in the backseat. i decided to throw the top down to air out the tension lingering in the car and to help dry eddie’s mess of curly black hair. he scrunched and ran his fingers through it, getting comfortable in the passenger seat. 

i began to pull out of the front yard, watching mr. munson’s truck carefully as to not hit it. “how was the weekend?” i asked, making small talk which normally would plunge us into a much deeper and more meaningful conversation. 

“well, you see,” he started, turning towards me in the car, crossing his ankle over his knee. “i went to band practice at gareth’s after i left saturday, and guess what our next performance is.” 

“oh, do tell,” i asked him, excited. i loved the rush of the corroded coffin concerts. although the crowd was never huge, they still played with the energy of a stadium show. although i never knew more about instruments than a bit of piano from lessons i took when i was a kid, i knew that eddie was a real talent. 

“a battle of the bands,” eddie gestured with his hands in a grand statement. 

“a… what?” i asked him, confused. 

“well, it’s this new thing from new england or somewhere, they have a bunch of different bands all competing to be the best. there’s judges and you have like a one-song set to prove you’re the best of everyone there.”

my eyes widened, although i kept them on the road. “you’re joking, that sounds-”

“perfect! it’s so perfect for us. we’ve got that drive y’know? that passion!” he said hyperbolically. “to the death!” he cried. 

i couldn’t help but laugh in a similar pitch to his outburst. “to the death!” i yelled back.

“only problem is,” he sighed then slumped a bit back in his seat, “we need a song. a good one.” he rested his head against the headrest, his long black hair draping over it. “and i’m out of ideas.”

“aw, come on, there’s no way you’re just out of ideas,” i said. he was brilliant. always thinking. “you’re just trying too hard to think of something good so you’re ignoring all of your good ideas.”

“my head feels like a rotted lemon,” he grasped the two sides of his head. “there’s nothing in here! i’ve written every good song i’ll ever write!”

“oh, stop being dramatic. just spitball things and pick what sticks,” i replied, shoving his shoulder. 

“you’re my idea girl, alex! all of our best songs came from your ideas, just vomit some stuff out.”

“it doesn’t work like that,” i said. “besides, you transform the ideas. no one wants to be the idea guy.”

his gaze peered out of the window, “yeah, right,” he said. he lifted up in his seat a bit, pulling out a cigarette case from his back pocket. “do you mind?”

the wind whistled in our hair. “go ahead.” eddie grinned at me and stuck a cigarette in between his lips and carefully lit it with a lighter, blocking the wind from the flame with his ring-clad hand. i watched him breathe it in, then pop it out and breathe out the smoke above us, the white cloud getting whisked away by the wind in moments. i wasn’t a smoker; my mother had a nose like a hounddog and could smell it on me so i figured it wasn’t worth the hassle to cover it in perfume. i watched as eddie breathed the cigarette with an underlying coolness and routine. i wondered for a moment, then asked; “could i try?”

he sat up straight, “are you sure?” he held the cigarette between his index and middle finger, holding it out to me.

“why not?” i was nineteen years old, i should damn well be able to try a cigarette. i took it from him, holding it with a slight poise. “how do i…”

eddie suppressed an obvious laugh. “well, you just put it to your mouth, and breathe in. not rocket science.”

i glared at him as i met my pointer finger and thumb to my mouth, breathing in the cigarette. suddenly, a sharp and smoky pain hit the back of my throat. i felt like i had been standing in front of a bonfire for too long, but with an intensity stronger than i had ever felt. it was hot, scratchy, and i immediately coughed, wheezing out anything i just breathed in. i couldn’t stop hacking as i shoved it back at eddie, the smoke taste not leaving my mouth.“christ, eddie-”

he only laughed at me, taking the cigarette back and cackling when he went to take another puff. “i asked if you were sure,” he laughed. 

“that’s fucking awful,” i said, holding the back of my wrist to my mouth. i took some deep breaths to try and wash the smokey feeling away, but everytime i took a breath in i felt like coughing again.

he shrugged, “at some point you get used to it, then the relief kicks in.” 

i huffed, “how long does it take you to smoke one of those anyways?” 

he thought for a moment, the cigarette perched in his mouth. “about five or six minutes, depending on how long you want it to last.”

a whiff of an idea swam in my brain. “five or six minutes?”

“yeah,” he said, peering over at me, “what are you thinking?” he could always read my mind.

“i think i just figured out your song.”

⛧☾༺♰༻☽⛧

“yeah, mom, i’ll just be late tonight,” my finger twirled around the cord of the phone in the family video office. steve and i were closing tonight and gareth would be driving eddie to pick me up from work. eddie wanted me to come to band practice. apparently, he was so enraptured with my idea that he wanted me to pitch it to the band myself and help cook up some song together. i didn’t get it, but i like everyone in corroded coffin, so what was one night out? 

“alright, sweetie. with who?” 

my breath hitched for a moment. i hated lying, but she would be pissed if she knew i was hanging out with eddie. 

“just… steve,” i let my mouth overwhelm the debate in my mind. well, it wasn’t a total lie. 

“steve? as in robert harrington’s boy?” i heard warmth in her voice.

“yes, my coworker,” i finished, “we’re just going to go to the movies after work. nothing crazy.”

i sat perched on the desk and i heard steve’s footsteps sound from outside the open office door. i looked at him and gave him a half-enthusiastic wave. 

“that is a fine young man,” she said. i heard a swirl of alcohol on her voice. “i much prefer him over that trailer trash you hang out with,” she said. it felt as though the wind was knocked out of me. humiliation and pure anger rose up in my chest and i opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out. i felt like a gasping fish.

“mom-,” i sputtered out.

“oh, alexandra, don’t start with me. i’m just glad to hear you’re picking better company,” she said. 

“mom, eddie is not-” i felt the heat rise in my chest again. my face grew hot. 

“alexandra. i do not want to hear it.” i did not challenge her. 

“yes, mom.”

i heard ice cubes clinking in a glass, then she said, “good. be home at a reasonable hour.”

i felt two feet tall. i hung up without another word. how could she be so cruel? before my thoughts could spiral further, i heard footsteps down the hall.

“using the company landline for personal calls? that’s a swift way to get in trouble with the big man,” harrington said, walking and leaning on the doorframe. 

“he’ll never know,” i put the phone back on the receiver and stood up from the desk, walking to him. my breathing had steadied, and i put on a charming smile for my company. “you finish sweeping?” i asked. 

“you got it. you ready to head out?” he stood up straight then took off his vest. i took off mine as well, resting it on my arm. 

“i’m ready to get the hell out of here, yeah,” i said, clocking out in the employee locker room located around the corner from the office. “you have any fun monday night plans?” 

he stalked over to one of the lockers, opened it, threw his vest inside, and took out a jean jacket. “i thought we were going to the movies?” he gave me a smirk, coupled with his signature steve harrington bedroom eyes. i found my words stuck in my throat. i felt trapped under his gaze and slightly… fluttery? 

“oh, you know i was just-”

“yeah, yeah,” he shut his locker, his bedroom eyes fading but his smirk still lingering on his lips. “don’t worry. i know our first date will come eventually.”

i laughed as he did, the running joke lingering in the air like a freshly sprayed perfume. “you keep dreaming, romeo.” i closed my locker with my jacket and purse in hand, making my way to the front of the store. steve had the keys in hand and he followed close behind. i could see two parked cars outside, one with its lights on and the other without. the car that was turned on was parked on the far side of the parking lot near the street, while the other was in front of the door; steve’s bmw. as i opened the door, the sound of blaring metal music drifted through the air from the parked car. 

“that’s my ride,” i told him, waiting for him to lock the door. he clicked the lock and removed the keys, handing them to me. i was opening the next morning, so i was on key duty. he eyed the car carefully.

“alright, you get home safe, okay? can’t close this place up without you,” he said, his distracted gaze peering over my head for a few moments. 

“you do the same,” i said. i gave him a smile and he returned one. as i began walking to the car, eddie opened the passenger car door and stood up. the music quieted down from the inside. i watched eddie and steve now watching each other like feral barn cats in each other’s territory. oh, geez. “hey, eddie,” i said, playfully punching him in the stomach. 

“hey, alex,” he returned. 

“could you two please cut it with the dick swinging contest?” i asked, opening the back seat. 

eddie choked on nothing and blubbered out, “what? we are so not-”

“yeah, you are, get in the damn car,” i reach through the backseat and yanked eddie back by his denim vest. “i know you hate him but as i’ve said, i work with him, can’t really avoid him.”

i heard eddie murmur something under his breath like “asshole” and turned the music back up. 

“hey, gareth,” i smiled at him as he began to drive out of the parking lot, “how’s it going?”

“good, eddie’s been driving me up the damn wall about this song. it better be good,” gareth teased. i swallowed my denial only for eddie to erupt from the passenger seat.

“it’s amazing. she already even has an idea for the hook, i cannot wait for you to hear it!” he grabbed gareth’s arm, shaking it a little bit and grinning back at me. the drive back to gareth’s house was short, filled with ear-drum rattling levels of music. tonight the album of choice was led zeppelin iii, bringing it back to the originals. i didn’t mind the loud music tonight, seeing as it was drowning out the anxious thoughts in my head. unfortunately, when we finally reached the house, i felt as if my ears were actually bleeding. okay, so maybe it wasn’t a win-win for all of us. the night had completely consumed the sky leaving it an inky black with speckles of stars littered throughout. i stepped out of the car and just stared at the all consuming night, searching about for constellations.

i didn’t hear or see eddie walk up next to me, but i felt his presence beside me. “hey,” i said. 

“whatcha staring at?” he asked, craning his neck upwards to meet my gaze. 

“just the stars,” i told him. i looked down at eddie, tracing his facial features with my eyes. the slope of his nose and soft cheeks. he returned my stare.

“yeah? anything else?”

“nothing much,” i nudged him with my shoulder. i looked back up at the sky. “i’m not sure about all this. what if they don’t like it? or they’re just playing along because we’re friends?” i held my arms in the cooling night air.

“they wouldn’t,” he said, holding the tops of my hands in comfort. “besides, the song idea is great. you know how much of a hardass i am on music. i wouldn’t say it was a good idea if it wasn’t.”

i nodded. i began to feel better, and before i could say anything else, i heard gareth call from the garage, “hey dipshits, are you guys going to stare at the sky all night or are we going to write some music?” 

“coming!” we both said in unison. he gave me a reassuring smile, and i smiled back. 

in the garage, we all sat in a circle around the instruments that had been tuned and ready for a session. gareth had passed out drinks and they all looked at eddie and i, expectantly. 

“so,” eddie began, “alex has got this idea and i think it’s so perfect for the battle of the bands. tell it,” he said, all four pairs of eyes landing on me.

“you know how long it takes to smoke a cigarette?” they all mumbled an affirmative answer. “what if you guys did a song where, when the song starts, you light a cigarette on stage, and you keep playing the song until it’s totally done?”

i expected them to all roll their eyes or groan, but they looked quizzical, eyes on the floor or up in the air, imagining. “i like it, it’s very metal,” gareth said, “but we don’t smoke.”

“but eddie does,” i said, “and you won’t have to smoke it you just have to act like it.”

gareth looked to jeff, who was the next to speak. “what would it sound like?”

before i could look to eddie for help he replied, “it would have a killer and catchy refrain that we’d keep playing until it was over. in fact,” he looked back at me, “she had an idea for it.”

“oh, it’s stupid,” i said. their eyes were trained on me, waiting for something. anything. i felt like a fish again, stammering out an answer. “well, i’d feel stupid singing it solo.” eddie grabbed his guitar and a pick from his pocket and strummed the guitar once. he began playing some thumpy melody, and i slapped my leg along with it. it had a two clap-one clap repeating beat, and i started to sing. “cause she’s like brimstone, fire; she’s my one desire,” my voice was shaky but i tried to add some spice to it like it was an actual metal song. it repeated and i saw the guy’s faces light up. it made sense to them suddenly. gareth stood and took his place on the drums, mimicking the beat i had laid down on my leg. it was rather simple but he embellished with cymbal clashes and kept the beat going with the bass drum. he sped it up from my initial refrain, making it sound more, well, metal. i kept repeating the line as one by one, eddie stood up and assumed his position as the front man, jeff played the rhythm guitar and played some power chords while brian matched the bass drum’s thumping repetition. 

i stood up as eddie pushed the mic towards me slightly, inviting me to join him. “cause she’s like brimstone, fire; she’s my one desire,” i repeated. “we need more words,” i said to him. 

“burned so bright but killed me slowly,” eddie started. his singing voice was so much different than his speaking voice: croaky like he hadn’t slept in years but deep and brash. he sounded like metal; i supposed that was the point. i could see him thinking of the next line, “got me hooked until i couldn’t breathe.” 

he kept thinking, then an idea popped into my head, “she was my cigarette and i knew it.” he grinned at me with a hint of shock laced in his eyes. he nodded. keep going, he seemed to tell me. eddie started a lick of some kind, playing some notes and stepping back from the mic a bit. 

“burned her touch into my skin,” i sang, the words flowing from some unknown well deep inside me, “should’ve listen when they told me…” i thought, and unable to come up with a good or clever line, i sang out, “that smoking will kill you dead.” i shrugged my shoulders in a laugh. the lyrics were as ridiculous as i felt, but when i saw eddie’s impressed grin i couldn’t help but feel like i belonged here, in this moment. 

he took over for the pre-chorus. “no i can’t breathe without her.” i repeated after him in the same way, he took it back over and our voices began to overlap each other until he burst out, “cause she’s like brimstone, fire, she’s my one desire!”

“no, i can’t breathe without her,” i sang after him in the background. he repeated the same words back to me about brimstone and fire. he kept going until gareth began halving the beats in a crescendo and the whole band stopped, eddie and i both yelling, “she’s my one desire!”

he slid down on his guitar and the band continued like normal, the song building towards some resolution once again. “nicotine and smoke rings, get me high then leave me to dry, wanting her more and more,” i sang, looking at eddie to finish it. 

“she’s like a firebird up from the ashes,” he looked at me like he meant that for me, “i watch her while she takes out her box of matches,” he trailed off, thinking, and i picked up the lyric.

“and lights me on fire!” we swung back into the chorus, repeating the brimstone and fire line over and over, until the drums swelled and eddie took over on a guitar solo. he was incredibly talented, plucking the strings like they were words he was stringing into a poem.

“she’s my one desire!” i shouted when he was finished. the rest of the band picked up on how the lyrics had run out, and eddie and i grinned at each other.

“holy shit,” he said, swinging his guitar onto his back and pulling me into a celebratory embrace, “you fucking genius!”

“where the hell have you been hiding her?” gareth yelled, riled up. i grinned at everyone while eddie kept his arm around my shoulders. i couldn’t believe it. they liked it; better yet we made it a whole fucking song.

“somewhere in a deep dark cave. made sure you creeps couldn’t get to her,” he ruffled my hair and i bit my lip. 

“c’mon, he’s the real genius,” i said sheepishly. “so, i think you guys would just repeat the brimstone and fire line until the cigarette was out,” i said, “then you’d like throw the cigarette down and put it out with your shoe and that would be the end of the song.”

“what do you mean ‘you’?” jeff asked, stepping away from his position. “you’ve got to sing it with us.” my stomach dropped. the implications of being in corroded coffin were intense and maybe too much. god, if my mother knew i was in a metal band, especially with eddie…

“oh, i don’t-” i started.

“the song is yours,” eddie said, “you need to perform it with us. it won’t have that fire without you.” 

i felt my face go warm and my heart clench. i hesitated. “well,” i said, contemplating. “i mean, one performance can’t hurt, right?”

eddie grinned and grasped me tighter. “fuck yeah!” he pulled out his cigarette case, slipping one out from the inside. “you gotta start learning how to smoke one of these, though.” he placed it in my mouth. 

“alright,” i returned, taking it out and twirling it in my palm, “but you’ve got to share it.”

he smiled. “fine by me.”

“alright, from the top,” jeff said, handing me a sheet of paper with words scribbled on it. i gave him a quizzical look and he returned, “i knew you wouldn’t remember the lyrics so i wrote them down. we gotta practice if this is our battle of the bands song.”

i nodded. reading the lyrics again, gareth counted us in.

“one, two, three, four!”

a/n: yes i did in fact write a whole song for this. so. copyright a-is-away bitches. also erm actually 🤓☝️ the class of rogue was known as thief in the 1st edition of dnd sooo

part 1: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778657655075094528/chapter-1-i-think-were-alone-now?source=share

part 2: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778730940998500352/chapter-2-road-to-nowhere?source=share

part 3: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778843558479380480/chapter-3-hold-the-line?source=share

[a-is-away]

chapter 4: for whom the bell tolls

summary: in which eddie receives news about band practice.

warnings: strong language/swearing, anxious! eddie, alcohol briefly mentioned

part 3: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778843558479380480/chapter-3-hold-the-line?source=share

[eddie]

“LEXI, LEXI, LEXI,” the name and events at the family video chased around my head like a spinning record. “why in the hell would he call her lexi?” i heard what he said and how he talked to her. he blatantly flirted with her and she… joked back? flirted back? i couldn’t tell. she didn’t seem uncomfortable, maybe a bit flustered. steve’s godforsaken charms were rubbing off on her. this was the worst case scenario. i trudged down the road, kicking a rock on my way with my hands stuffed into my pockets. i could barely think about anything else but the interaction i had heard from underneath the counter. did she hide me because she didn’t want to get in trouble or was it deeper than that? did she hide me because they’re…

“no,” i said aloud. “there’s no way.” 

i huffed again. the rock got away from me after a particularly hard kick. i stopped in my tracks from where i was walking around the road and looked around. i suddenly regretted lying to alex earlier. the family video was *really* fucking far from my house, but i guess she just didn’t put that together. i traced this street in my mind, snaking around curves. it clicked then; i wasn’t too far from gareth’s house. his mom loves me, i could stop by and see if i could get a ride from him. yeah. i could and would be invading his saturday afternoon. 

i continued walking down the path. damn that van. it was my pride and joy when we needed it for shows or hangouts in the back, but it had well past 200,000 miles on it. no wonder it broke down all the damn time. it was still august so working on it was miserably hot. to be honest, i was putting off fixing it up, but i felt so agitated after this morning i wanted to just crawl under the stupid beast and smoulder under the late summer heat. i gathered my hair and tugged it upwards into a low ponytail with a spare hair elastic i had around my wrist. i had bummed it from alex at some point and never bothered to give it back. this walk was miserable. now i get why all those basketball jocks always crop their t-shirts. i considered cropping mine with the pocket knife uncle wayne gave me a while ago, but it wasn’t mine to crop. my stomach uneasily slid around at the thought. i was still wearing her shirt, and mine was still at her house. i kicked another rock with a bounce, kicking away the lingering thoughts of alex with it. 

i got to gareth’s house after about thirty minutes, my hair slightly sweaty and sticking to my forehead from the humid indiana air. out of everywhere i could’ve been dropped on the earth i got stuck in indiana. there’s no life here, no spirit. if corroded coffin played in new york or chicago or boston we would be on a world tour by now. 

i approached his house and knocked on his door, stepping back a little bit so i wasn’t crowding. his parents knew me and liked me enough to not mind if i came by out of the blue. they were apparently hippies back in the 60s so they encouraged the rebellious teenage spirit gareth and i shared. his mom opened the door, smiling at me, “hi, eddie,” she said.

“hi mrs. emerson, is gareth home?” i smiled charmingly. i was good with all parents, except for alex’s. for christ’s sake, i was bad with the only ones that mattered. 

“absolutely, he’s upstairs,” she opened the door wider to let me in, and i thanked her. “can i get you anything?” 

“i’m alright, thank you,” i said, walking into the familiar house and immediately up the stairs, waving at gareth’s dad who occupied a spot on the couch in front of the television. he gave me a half wave back and continued to sit with his eyes glued to the screen.

gareth’s room was a lot like mine: cluttered and messy with posters everywhere. he kept his drums in the garage but his sticks were hung on his wall alongside pictures of the most kickass drummers in the business: nicko mcbrain, jeff porcaro, tommy lee, you name it. i always told him jeff porcaro was too mainstream but he would always say the same thing: “you can’t deny talent, man.” 

i knocked before going in, waiting for the “yeah?” and opening the door when he gave the go ahead.

“eddie, hey,” he said, almost surprised. he was reading stomach-down on the bed but sat up onto his elbows when i came in, “what’s up?”

i kicked off my shoes and wandered onto the bed, laying (more like flopping) backwards beside him with my head in my hands. gareth’s house felt like a second home sometimes, especially when i had no one else to talk to. “i stayed over at alex’s last night,” i muttered out.

“what?” he fully the book down then, dog-earing the page and discarding it on the floor. he completely sat up and put his back to the headboard.

“i stayed over at alex’s last night,” i repeated, peeling my hands off my face dramatically. it now dawned on me the reality of… everything. 

he gaped at me and said, “no way, are you serious?” i nodded. “same bed?” i groaned and nodded again. “did you get some?”

i gave him a half-exasperated look and said, “no, dickhead, i didn’t get anything. you know we’re just friends.”

he shrugged. “still, though, if you’re in the same bed that’s typically indicative of a want,” he gestured outwards with hands. i scoffed at him and sat up a little onto my elbows. 

“we had a no-mans-land pillow, gareth, it wasn’t particularly steamy,” i said. the past twelve hours swam through my head like a dense fog. 

“damn, eddie, i’m sorry,” he said. 

i looked at his empathetic expression and huffed. i was doing a lot of that today, but some days it feels like you can’t deflate enough. i shook my head and buried my face in my hands again, “i woke up to her in my arms, dude.” i peeked through my fingers and his jaw went slack.

“*over* the no-mans-land pillow?”

“over the fucking no-mans-land pillow!” i sat up swiftly and began walking around the room. i couldn’t get all the nervous energy out. it was too much. “she was practically strangling me and then she threw her leg over me and i had to wake her up and she woke up really suddenly and almost gave me a concussion because her and i knocked our heads together and-” i paused, huffing again for the millionth time, “you get it. i’m losing my damn mind.”

he scooted towards the edge of the bed to look at me. he paused, looking me over, “don’t tell me that’s her metallica shirt.”

i looked down and said, “yep. she gave me a fucking shirt to sleep in and i kept it,” i shook my hands and paced again. “what do i do with that, dude?”

he looked almost as shocked and troubled as i felt. “i have no idea. i mean you guys are just friends, so hypothetically nothing. but, wait, what happened after the whole headbutt thing?”

i half leaned and half sat on the desk that occupied the space by his bed. “well, i went to check out where she worked, you know the family video up the road?” he nodded in reply. “so i helped her open and all that and guess who fucking works there.”

“oh god, who?” he leaned in closer.

“steve. harrington,” i said, exasperated.

his eyes widened a bit and he gaped. “you’re joking. he works there? i thought he was working for his dad.”

“nope. he works with alex along with that robin chick from band,” i explained. “and, that’s not even the worst part. he called her a nickname. ‘lexi.’ and said that he was waiting to go on a date with her or something.” 

“you’ve got to be shitting me,” gareth said, exasperated, “’lexi?’ dude, do you think he’s serious?” 

“i don’t know!”

“how’d you hear it?”

i rubbed my neck with my hand, “i was hiding behind the front counter while he was schmoozing it up.” he gave me a confused look and i elaborated, “i wasn’t supposed to be in there before opening so i hid. then after he was done flirting, i ran out and left.”

gareth nodded, his processing of the conversation evident on his face, “when do you see her next?”

“monday,” i told him, walking back over to the bed and taking a seat, crossing my legs, “my van is still in the shop so she’s giving me a ride.”

“a ride, huh?” he gave me a smug look. i gagged and punched his shoulder. 

“asshole,” i half-grinned. “speaking of rides, i might need a ride home,” i explained in a slight grimace. i felt bad asking for things but i couldn’t walk home unless i sprout wings and flew to the other side of hawkins or suddenly became a marathon runner. “i’m still working on my van.”

he looked mildly annoyed but shrugged and said, “alright, fine, man, i get it.” he thought for a moment and then looked up with a slightly mischievous smile. “one one condition.”

“yeah?” i asked, hesitantly. there was no clue what he was going to request.

“we call everyone else up and get some band practice in,” he went over to the wall and pulled his drumsticks off of their holder, striking a pose like a fierce warrior with drumsticks as his weapon of choice.

i grinned, jumping towards him, playing some epic air guitar in a similar pose to him. he knew exactly what would cheer me up. “hell yeah!” i cried. he grinned. i had left my guitar here the night before for rehearsal and felt slightly anxious knowing it wasn’t safe and sound back at my place. “you calling jeff and brian?”

“duh,” he stood up, twiddling one of his drumsticks in his hand. “go tune up, i’ll make some calls.” i nodded then tore out of his room and down the stairs. the sweet then sour morning slipped from my memory.

i bounded out into the garage. still in its case was my pride and joy, my warlock nj series electric guitar with crackled red and black paint. i opened the case and smiled down at the beauty, whispering, “hey, sweetheart,” before picking her up out of the case. i hooked up the cord to the amp and to the guitar, turning on the amp and then strumming once with a guitar pick i picked up. i winced slightly, the strings mildly out of tune. i plucked the strings one by one, turning the keys on the head until it sounded like heaven. heavy metal heaven. i played a bit of the guitar just as a warm-up, plucking some riffs that i knew by heart and adding a little bit of extra flourish to it.

gareth came out to the garage after i had been fiddling with my guitar for a while. he brought out two mountain dews in a can (he was much more stingy with the alcohol than i was, given that he was freshly sixteen) and set them down beside me. he crossed his legs under him. “so? how long?” i asked, resting my arm on the guitar and muting the strings with my left hand.

“give them 15 minutes,” he said, confidently. he went to go warm up with his drum set and i played a bit with him, plucking out a riff that matches his melody. at some point we settled on the same song of ours, “blowing smoke,” and i wailed on the lead guitar while he kept the beat. nothing major, just practice. at the end of the song i set my guitar back in its case and started setting up the microphones, one for me and one for jeff. he sang backup, on occasion. we had a couple songs, “sticks and stones” and “diagnostic”, that he sang directly on. we decided to have a variety of songs from the get-go so one day when we pitch our record to labels we’d have a little bit of everything.

by the time i had set up all of the equipment and gareth was all warmed up, brian had made his way into the garage with his bass case in hand, his mom dropping him off then driving off. by the time he was ready and i had my guitar ready too, jeff came bounding in with his guitar case in hand and an excited look in his eye.

“whatcha got, jeff?” i asked, leaning on the mic stand with my forearm. jeff was our manager of sorts, as well as a phenomenal rhythm guitar and (occasionally) keyboardist. he worked at the record store in town and got the inside scoop on all of the good shows and opportunities, as well as the first deal on killer concert tickets (we once got seventh row seats to a black sabbath show. it was fucking awesome).  

“well,” he crooned, kneeling down to pop open his case, taking out his guitar and slipping it over his neck. he stood up, flipping his guitar so it sat comfortably on his back, then reached into his pocket. we all stared at him now, a collective breath being held within corroded coffin.

“well, what?” gareth demanded, his leg bouncing up and down from his drum stool. 

jeff slowly pulled out a slightly crumpled folded piece of paper, opening it and clearing his throat for dramatic effect (of course). “what i have here is a little flyer for…” he looked up, eyeing all of us carefully. 

“oh, spit it out, man!” i cried. i held my breath.

he grinned, “okay! okay.” he flipped it around to show an image of a concert with scrawling brightly-colored letters on the front. “a central-indiana battle of the bands.” he said the words with gusto, clearly expecting an enthusiastic reaction from us. 

we just stared at him.

“a… what?” gareth asked, standing up from his stool to pick the flyer out of jeff’s hands. jeff’s shoulders slumped when gareth read over the poster. 

“you know, a battle of the bands?” brian and i exchanged a look when we went to join gareth. the poster described an event in october. it was like a competition, but with bands competing for some grand prize. they, apparently, needed bands. “it’s basically this competition thing. they started it in new hampshire and my buddy heard about it, then my other buddy heard about it, and it eventually got around enough to where they decided to start one here. bands compete with one another and they’re judged and ranked and whoever wins gets… uh…”

“gets what?” i looked up from the flyer.

“i, actually don’t know. but you win! and it’s a battle! and i was thinking,” he had all of our attention now, taking the flyer back, “we should enter.”

the three of us standing opposed to jeff exchanged looks. 

“like the sound of a battle,” i said, shrugging, my eyes tracing over the flyer once more. “and i like winning anything. you know if there was someone important there…”

“we could get our big break,” gareth finished my thought. i began rocking back and forth on my heels. 

“i say we do it,” i nodded after a moment of thought. jeff looked ecstatic, gareth hesitant but willing, and brian apprehensive. “we have to start rehearsing more, then. if we’re doing this we’re doing this good.” i handed him the flyer back. “when can we sign up?”

jeff folded the paper up and returned it to his pocket, “two weeks. we have an audition after we sign up. the actual show is at some bar-slash-venue, which means lots of drunk people.” he looked at me, pointedly. 

“our best crowd!” i proclaimed, putting my arm on brian and gareth’s shoulders and grasping their arms with a hearty shake. “this will be good. we need a new song, though. and it needs to be good. fresh. original,” i said, immediately brainstorming ideas in my head. giving them a good pat on their backs, i began wandering back to my mic stand. “i’ll get on with working on it.” as the corroded coffin writer, i normally came up with the lyrics and then pitched it to the band, us all working it together until it became, officially, a kickass song. “until then,” i strummed my guitar strings and spoke into the mic. they all slowly began to follow me back to our positions. “let’s make some music.” 

a/n: the first battle of the bands was in 1985 in new hampshire!! also this is another kind of short chapter but c'est la dual pov stories

part 1: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778657655075094528/chapter-1-i-think-were-alone-now?source=share

part 2: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778730940998500352/chapter-2-road-to-nowhere?source=share

[a-is-away]

chapter 3: hold the line

summary: in which alex opens and eddie hides.

warnings: swearing/strong language, time-accurate body shaming (brief)

part 2: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778730940998500352/chapter-2-road-to-nowhere?source=share

[alex.]

I SLID THE keys into the lock, opening the door and shrugging off eddie’s arm. he was so damn heavy when he did that. i stepped inside to the cool interior of the store and turned on the lights, letting the door swing shut behind us while eddie took it all in. 

“this place is cool,” he said, slightly amazed. i couldn’t image what he was seeing, as i only saw dim walls with vhs tapes scattered everywhere that screamed at me: “you have work to do.” the front counter needed to be dusted, the returns rearranged and rewound (without fail people would forget the request on the case), and the floor swept. it was a modestly sized store with shelves lining almost every bare beige, green, and yellow wall, and advertisement for various popular movies that just came out on vhs. behind the counter was a large neon sign with the family video logo that hadn’t been turned on yet. jimmy carter’s power saving musings ran around in my head amusingly. there was a sixteen candles cardboard cutout in the front corner of the store, which was not to be the last john hughes cardboard cutout we would have on display. with weird science and breakfast club coming to theaters this year, it was only a matter of time before i’d be staring at molly ringwald’s perfect red hair and romantically smug face again. other popular movie posters littered the wall, bags of unpopped and pre-popped popcorn stacked by the register coupled with the best candy for movies possible: reese’s pieces. 

as we strolled our way deeper into the store, i remember that eddie had never been in a video store before, seeing as i tend to lend him every movie he wants to watch as a part of the employee benefits. i gave him an amused look while he went to get lost in the displays, and began to do typical opening things: turning on the lights, walking towards the employees-only room to clock in, setting my bag down in my locker, and getting my vest and name tag. when i came back out to the front with a broom in hand, i saw eddie examining the selection of biopics up at the front as our special display for the week; it was my idea to add amadeus to the mix, harrington’s to add raging bull, and robin’s to add silkwood. we had quite the eclectic collection going by the end of it.

by the time i had wiped down the counter with the heady chemicals we had on hand, eddie was crouched down in the horror section and had about three vhs’s strewn about on the floor. he was flipping over the backs and reading descriptions, then setting them aside and picking out new ones. his eyebrows were furrowed and his lips were moving slightly as he read. he had always done that whenever he read “silently.” i don’t think he actually has the ability to *be* silent. 

after a moment of just observing him from behind the counter, i replaced the chemical spray and rag from under the counter and i began sweeping. after this, i would move onto tape rearrangement, then managing returns and rentals. i peered up at the clock on the wall. 7:14. not bad. i still had plenty of time before anyone would be there.

“alex, how come you have never showed me this place? i literally want to watch all of these,” eddie called to me. he stood up after putting back all the vhs’s he had flipped through and began to look around to a different section of the store, his eyes darting around to varying titles. 

while eddie being there did make me anxious about being caught, i really did enjoy his company. it made working less… lonely. “how about you pick out the movie we’ll play on that tv up there?” i pointed to the tv that was placed in the corner of the store. arguably the most fun part of being an employee at family video was getting to watch multiple movies a day, even if we could only watch them on silent. i figured i’d let him pick, given that he was actually doing me a bit of a favor by being here.

he lifted his head up and gave me a wide-eyed stare and gasped, “really?”

i chuckled. he was cute when he got excited. like a puppy or something. “yeah, just pick it out and i’ll put it on.” i kept sweeping while he rummaged about the store, and the thought dawned on me: was it normal or not to think your best friend was cute? it was, right? right. it’s platonic. i have eyes.

i had had this argument with my mother hundreds of times; a guy and a girl could be best friends without developing feelings for each other. how else would robin and harrington do it? what eddie and i had was platonic. nothing more, nothing less. i found him cute when he got excited… in a platonic way. maybe the thought chased around my mind because we had slept in the same bed last night, and i did wake up to him encroaching on the no-mans-land pillow. and he was so close when he woke me up…

i shook my head at the end of the train of thought. this was stupid. my mother was getting to me again.

“this one,” eddie decided, walking over to me and thrusting a vhs into my hand that he seemed rather proud of. i looked down at the label and snorted in an incredulous half-laugh. 

“*horror of dracula*? really?” i looked up at him.

“yes! you know i love christopher lee monster movies. and, hey, you said any movie i wanted, you better be lucky i didn’t pick one with a full frontal,” he said, a mischievous look on his face.

my face heated up mildly and my mouth fell agape, smacking his arm with a sharp *whack!* and handing him the broom. i took the film out of his hands. “you are a sicko.” 

he took the broom and began sweeping. “only for you!” he crooned, and i rolled my eyes in reply. 

i turned on the tv and vcr and rewound the vhs (it was some french new wave film i had never heard of that robin no doubt vouched for). after the slightly laborious process, i replaced the film with the christopher lee movie and found myself smiling. eddie’s obsessions with bats, i swear. after pressing play and letting the trailers begin, i walked to the counter in the center of the store to find the case that robin’s movie came in. 

eddie was on the other side of the store at that point, finishing up the sweeping. “thanks, eds,” i called to him while he had the dustpan in hand. he looked around for something, which i assumed to be a trash can. “it’s in the back,” i told him. he could read my mind like a book, but i could also read his. he nodded and found his way back. 

i took out a legal pad from under the counter and began checking due dates on the computer, making notes of late fees and other miscellaneous duties for the store. i wasn’t long into my working when i felt eddie’s figure come up behind me, resting his arms over my shoulders. he always smelled like pine, cigarettes, and comfort, as well as that guy smell. good guy smell. he also smelled a bit like my green apple body wash, which i assumed he used this morning. the thought made me smile, taking a slight deep breath in.

“you like the place?” i asked, typing away on the computer and clicking on a couple things. i glanced down at his arms around me. he was wearing the same black metallica t-shirt that i gave him last night, which exposed one of his many tattoos. he got them the second he turned eighteen, but he had them designed and picked out years before. i was currently transfixed on his bat tattoo near his elbow, which creeped around the front of his arm a bit. i glanced at his rings as well, a couple of which i had given him for his birthday, and his silver chain bracelet, one that i had a matching version of. my gaze inevitably returned to the computer. 

“oh yeah,�� he started, “love it. i’ll have to come by more so i can pick out the movies that i would like to watch, you tyrant.”

“hey, i have a good taste in movies, thank you, so you should not even be complaining.”

“well i’m picking out the next friday night movie.”

i scribbled something down on the pad beside me and continued, “fine. your place or mine?”

he inhaled and breathed out the air out, thinking. he shifted his weight from side to side, moving both of us in his arms. he rested his chin on his elbow, right near my ear. “hmm.” i felt the hum in my chest. “my place. it’s only fair, i stayed at your’s last night.”

i tensed slightly, then softened and returned to work. i glanced up at the clocked and sucked in a breath. “shit, it’s 7:28- they’ll be here any minute,” i told him, standing up and knocking him slightly off of me. i was not about to start my weekend off with a lecture from my boss about customers in the store before opening or robin and harrington giving me shit for bringing eddie around. he took a couple of springy steps back with me and he looked at the clock on the wall as well and grimaced. 

“oh, yeah, shit, okay,” he said, head swiveling on his neck like a top. i turned around to face him. he looked down at me with a worried expression.

“i’ll see you monday? your van’s still being fixed right? i can drive you to class,” i offered. he didn’t seem to want to leave yet.

he scratched the back of his neck, “yeah, yeah, thank you for that,” he began to back up and smiled at me. “i will see you then.”

“perfect, so-” i began, but i heard two consecutive *thumps* from outside: the shutting of two car doors. i mumbled out an “oh shit” with eddie in unison, mine more distressed and his more nervous. i turned to him, frantic, “they’re here. okay, uh, fuck, um. i’ll sneak you out once they are out of sight.”

“and for now?” he spat out. he *really* didn’t want to see steve. and honestly, i didn’t blame him. i graduated with him and i saw how they used to treat him. he was a pain in the ass, but i had seen him change since graduating.  

i looked around, and simply out of ideas, i shoved him down by his shoulders and said, “hide!” he crouched down and slid back so his body was against the counter facing the door. he glanced up at me with a half-desperate and half-amused look on his face. his long legs crossed under him and he crossed his arms over his chest, attempting to make everything about him smaller. i was transfixed on him until i heard the door open and the bell rattle. i leaned over the counter, my legs right by eddie’s body. his arm snaked around my ankle and i tried to subtly shake it off. i so should’ve gotten him out of here sooner. damn it.

“morning, lexi,” harrington said in an almost sing-song tone as he strolled in, announcing his and robin’s arrival. he insisted on using that nickname he conjured up. i guess you could get “lexi” out of “alexandra” but it always felt like a stretch for me. eddie’s hand gripped my ankle for a split second, then let go, his hand resting around my ankle.

“morning guys,” i replied, my heart slightly racing as they both got closer to the counter. “how was your friday?”

“lame,” robin replied, jutting her hands out in emphasis. “i had that football game and we lost miserably.” her hair was down today and she wore a slightly fitted black striped shirt and jeans, whereas steve wore jeans and a blue polo. “you know you could’ve come if you wanted.”

“and take a trip back to that shithole? don’t think so, rob,” i winked at her. “sorry to hear you lost, though. seems hawkins high can’t catch a break, can it?”

they both shook their heads, saying sentiments along the line of “nope” or “nuh-uh.” i looked up at steve and said, “and how was your friday, harrington?” i said his last name with a mild sneer i knew eddie would pick up on. i tried to show my support to him somehow. i knew that i didn’t mind him, but i simultaneously knew that he hated him, so given the choice between support in the moment, i picked eddie. i leaned forward on my hand, my elbow resting on the counter top, hoping to further shield him from sight. 

he walked towards me, close enough where he could easily peer over the edge and see eddie. i held my breath that he wouldn’t, and he said, “oh, so bad.”

“another bad date?” i asked, somewhat curious. “what was her issue? braces? lacking the right equipment upstairs?”

harrington waved his hands and said, “woah! i cannot believe you’d take me for some shallow guy. i care much more than just looks.” 

“like, what?” robin and i asked, almost in sync. 

“like… about, uh,” harrington thought, drawing up a blank. robin and i both stared him down before he choked out, “sense of humor?”

“grade-a ladies man over here!” i guffawed. eddie gave my leg a squeeze again, and i felt the adrenaline rush all over again. robin laughed with me while he tried to find his footing again.

“hey, hey, well whenever you want to finally go out with a real ladies man, i’ll be here,” he said, exasperated, then strutted to the back, robin in tow. 

“in your fucking dreams!” i said with exasperation. 

“he’s counting on it!” robin yelled back, i heard the door swing shut. 

i felt a moment’s reprieve before squatting down at eyeline with eddie. “they’re gone, but you have about thirty seconds before they’re back.” i took his arms and stood up straight with him. “now, get the hell out of here before they see you.”

his brow was furrowed and his eyes couldn’t, or wouldn’t, quite find mine. he nodded, and said, “alright, i’ll see you around.” he playfully hit my arm, then proceeded to sneakily run out of the door, not looking back. i wondered if he would get home okay and whether or not steve’s flirting messed with him, too. i felt my chest go tight. it probably did. god, i should have shut him down sooner. i would feel guilty if i did, though. i chewed my lip. 

i heard the door swing open and harrington soon walked up beside me and asked, staring at the tv: “a christopher lee dracula movie? really?”

i managed a smile and looked over to him. “nothing wrong with *horror of dracula*, harrington. would you rather watch one of robin’s arthouse black market movies?” 

“hey!” she came around the corner in an almost flurry, pulling on her vest. “they’re artistic!”

“whatever you say, rob,” i nodded, sharing a knowing look with steve. they both went off in their separate directions, going to handle their own respective opening duties. i slumped back near the computer, already missing eddie’s flurry.

i hope he wasn’t still milling the morning over in his mind.

a/n: kind of a shorter chapter but an important one nonetheless hehehe

part 1: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778657655075094528/chapter-1-i-think-were-alone-now?source=share

[a-is-away]

chapter 2: road to nowhere

summary: in which eddie and alex go to work.

warnings: swearing/strong language

part 1: https://www.tumblr.com/a-is-away/778657655075094528/chapter-1-i-think-were-alone-now?source=share

[eddie.]

WHEN I PICTURED myself waking up next to alexandra wilson, it was in a much more intimate setting. we would be spooning, maybe, or at the very least, i'd be holding her close and combing my fingers through her soft hair. instead, i got a flying backhand to the face as she rolled over viciously in her sleep. i tried not to cry out when she hit me, doing my best not to wake her.

thinking about it now, i probably had that one coming.

i gently push her hand off of me and back to her side of the bed that we so strategically divided up with a pillow, and rolled back over onto my side.

just as i found myself drifting off again, i felt her leg kick up over my hip, completely bypassing the pillow barrier. which, by all means, would be cute, if not for the fact that her leg was fucking heavy. as soon as i tried to push her leg off of my hip, i felt her arms twist around mine, pulling me closer to her. was she a professional wrestler or something? her iron clad grip kept me locked in, completely destroying the point of a no-mans-land-pillow.

it's not that i didn't like her being this close; it was more so i didn't think she liked being this close. i was not about to ruin several years of a solid friendship all because she decided that i would make an excellent teddy bear.

after struggling to pull her arm off, i opted for a more traditional way of waking her up. i leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "alex?"

no response.

i rolled my body completely over within her grip, whispering in her ear again, "alex?"

she stirred, but did not completely wake up or become responsive. while waiting for her to become more alert, i found myself trying not to stare at the tender exposed flesh of her neck and shoulders. it looked so... soft? like it would be heaven to touch.

alright, eddie, let's not go crazy here.

i shook her a little this time, training my eyes on the wall behind her and said, with a little vibrato this time, "alex."

she shot straight up from her sleep, clocking me in the chin with her temple, sending us both scrambling to opposite edges of the bed, groaning in pain.

"shit, shit shit-!" i started. "i'm sorry, ow-!"

"what the hell, eddie?" she returned, clutching the side of her face.

"you're the one who hit me!"

"you woke me up!"

"you tried to strangle me!"

by that point we both decided to forgo the bickering in favor of recovery.

"what time is it?" she finally asked, her eyes wandering over to the alarm clock on her bedside table. her shoulders sunk at the sight of it. "shit. it's five-forty five," she tossed the covers off of herself, exposing her long legs. i averted my eyes so i wouldn't stare. she continued, "i've got to get ready for work."

"already?" i questioned, inching back into bed. i normally slept in until, well, much later than five-forty five.

"yeah, dingbat, i've got to be there at seven. i’m opening today." she wandered into her closet, pulling out a fresh pair of work clothes and a bathrobe. to my amazement, she also pulled out a single towel (was that a baby blue monogram i saw?) that matched the colors of her room.

sometimes it amazed me how different her life was from mine. she had monogrammed towels and a mansion with a big ass chandelier in the entryway and a queen sized bed and a bathroom that attached to her room with a shower and...

the more i thought about it, the less it made sense why she would spend time with me. but, i guess it was for that reason we never really talked about our differences. she always seemed humble about it, so who was i to make a big fuss about her wealthy upbringing compared to my lackthereof? besides, my castle was quite nice. it was home, after all. 

"well, don't let me keep you waiting," i replied, pushing the thought from my mind and slipping my legs back under the covers to get some solo shut-eye before leaving. "i'll be right here when you're ready."

i fully expected her to leave the room, but instead, i hear her ask, "aren't you going to shower?" my eyes open back up to look at her, my eyes narrowing and brows furrowing.

"i wasn't... planning on it," i admitted. she gave me a disapproving look, waltzed back into her closet and tossed another one of her monogrammed towels at me.

"you can use my bathroom, i'll go to the one down the hall," she crosses over to her bedroom door and unlocks it, pausing with her hand on the doorknob.

i give her a very annoyed glare while dramatically tossing her frilly pink comforter off of me. crossing the room, i place my back to her bathroom door. i'll be honest, it was a bit odd being able to walk across a clean floor and not have to worry about stepping on something. alex was somewhat of a neat freak. i looked at her, expecting her to be satisfied and leave the room, but instead, she just stood there.

"what?" i asked, a bit of defiance in my voice.

"i know you. i'm not leaving until you're in the bathroom," she replied, extending her towel towards me. she stared me down, then looked pointedly at the doorknob. 

i glared at her, then dramatically threw my head back. i snatched the stupid monogrammed towel from her hand. with a dramatic flourish, i went into the bathroom. 

“attaboy,” she winked. i felt my stomach heat and twist. oh, god, she can’t say that. i made a face at her to hide the feeling she gave me, then shut the door. i then heard her open her bedroom door and trudge down the hall.

how alex managed to hypnotize me into doing whatever she wanted, i'll never know. but today, she managed to have me shower at six o'clock in the morning, get ready in thirty minutes, and be preparing to climb out of a window, less than an hour after waking up.

"you ready?" she asked as she checked out her outfit in her mirror one last time. she wore a loose pair of blue jeans, a collared family video shirt, and flat shoes. she also had a blue scrunchie that secured her hair, and some blue bracelets on her arm that matched in color.

"yep," i nodded, unlatching the window and sliding it open. "i'll see you outside?" i said, kicking my leg outside, finding the branch from last night with my foot. i glanced inside to watch as alex grabbed her purse then begin to walk towards the window.

"i'll see you then. wait by the car," she said with a small smile, ushering me outside.

the branch was just as precarious as it was last night, so i did all i could to quickly shimmy to the center of the tree to more easily climb down. why did this tree feel so much safer at night? downward i climbed, one foot below the other, until i finally landed on solid ground. i ducked down into the bushes, crawling around the side of her house, eyeing the front door until i saw alex leaving, waving goodbye to her mother who stood in the doorway, watching her daughter walk away.

her mother stood there for, well, a bit too long, then she wandered back inside, shutting the (rather large) front door behind her. at this point, alex was in her car, looking around for me. i came out of the bushes and sprinted over to her car, attempting to be careful and stealthy.

now, when i say car, i use the term very modestly. what alex had was an '84 mercedes benz convertible in a cool brown with pristine black leather seats. her parents had bought it for her eighteenth birthday, and while i never really considered myself a car guy, i had to admit, it was a fucking cool car.

i swung open the door and closed it, and she was already playing our favorite radio station, which played the likes of w.a.s.p. and twisted sister. once i was in, she immediately started driving, pulling out of her massive driveway and onto the main road. i moved to turn up the volume, but she smacked my hand out of the way. "ow, hey! what the hell, wilson?"

“no loud music in the mornings, i’m not fully awake yet,” she said. “also don’t mess with my dial!”

"i only play loud music in the mornings," i replied, crossing my arms, "i've never understood that about you."

"time and place, eddie," she replied, give me a side glance.

the car went quiet for the next song, then once a kiss song faded in, i said to her, "mind if i come check out your work?"

her eyebrows furrowed, her bottom lip pursing as if in a deep state of thought. "i mean... i guess? it’s really not all that interesting. it’s just a family video."

“but it’s *your* family video. i’ve never seen it, and i’d like to see it,” i reaffirmed, smiling at her.

she took a deep breath, mildly shaking her head side to side, thinking it out. "yeah, fine by me,” she replied, "i couldn’t drop you off at your place, though. and you can only look around for a second. i don’t want my boss to get mad at me for letting some guy in before working hours." she shifted gears and glanced sidelong at me.

“some guy?” i clutched my chest, “you wound me!”

she giggled, then playfully swatted at my arm, “fine, my best friend, in before working hours.”

"i'll just walk home after, no problem," i insisted and then continued, “and you know how much i love getting you in trouble.”

she gasped, punched my leg, and cried out, “asshole.” she rolled her eyes in that adorably rebellious way. “i swear i will throw you out myself.” i grinned at her, focusing back on the road and on the slight pain in my thigh. she had a hell of a swing, even when she was joking around.

“god! careful, you could do some serious damage with that thing,” i yelped, rubbing my leg.

after a while of the rumbling radio filling in the gaps of the conversation, she continued, “i’m opening so no one else should be there at least until 7:30. harrington’s always late and robin hitches a ride from him.”

oh. yes, of course, harrington. steve harrington. the former king of hawkins high and the leader of the clique that made my life a living hell. that was until i got taller and got tattoos and half convinced them that i was possessed. also got held back a couple times, long enough to outlast them. i started biting on my thumbnail.

she looked at me and sighed briefly. “i know how you feel about him.” i put my hand back down in my lap and fidgeted with the chain on my belt. “but i promise he’s not as much of an asshole as he was in high school. he’s a lot less scary without his cronies,” she told me, giving me a small smile. 

“and i’ll be gone before he’ll get there, anyways,” i said, relaxing my nerves and maybe even hers too.

"exactly," she replied, and i grinned, shaking off the anxiety. 

she turned up the dial on the radio just a tiny bit, continuing to drive down the winding road. the leaves on the trees were still green, radiating a last flash of life before they would inevitably begin changing colors, having the life sucked out of them by the vampire of winter. 

i couldn’t be more excited.

before i knew it, she was turning into a strip mall parking lot and parking her car. she looked at me directly and said, “you could always just go home, you don’t have to do this.”

"oh, darling, alexandra," i said, dramatically, caressing her cheek with the back of my hand as a flourish, "this is what i've been waiting for all of my life." i clutched my chest for emphasis and feigned fainting. 

“oh, darling, eddie! then let me fulfill all of your lifelong dreams!” she laughed and tugged her keys out of the ignition. she glanced in the rearview mirror and checked her appearance one last time, then opened the car door in one swoop and stoop up. i mirrored her, practically jumping out of the car and rushing to her side while she locked the door. she switched keys on her keychain, presumably to the store key. 

"i'm so going to regret this,” she looked up at me with her pretty doe eyes, her slightly pursed lips, and her furrowed brows. she was so cute, i couldn’t help but grin. she began walking towards the store.

i threw my arm around her shoulder in an excited half-embrace and said, “god, i hope so.”

a/n: yippee part 2 for ya. i have up to about chapter 6 written so i'll be trying to get those edited and uploaded soon <3