#im also thinking of this with chrissy bc i am so UNDONE and i want them to be happy so bad 🥺

[love-toxin]

ok i know that Eddie's whole graduation speech + his picture being in the yearbook is definitely a hot topic, but it didn't occur to me until now.......prom.

like imagine Eddie surviving and healing in time for prom, something he never even thought about attending because why would he want to go to a dance filled with people who would rather avoid him? plus, they're not really his thing anyways (a suit is WAY too stuffy for him besides being too expensive) and he'd rather hang out with Hellfire or practice with Corroded Coffin.

but he has you, and you want to go, and there's no way he's gonna disappoint you by insisting he's not gonna join you. that would be kind of a dick move and he knows now that life can be cut very, very short, so he's not gonna skip out on some potentially good memories with his angel.

so he gets the tickets, crafts some little matching corsages for you two out of some wildflowers growing around the trailer, and uncle Wayne surprises him with his own suit to borrow for the event and shows him how to wear it. it's a little ill-fitting in places but it's much better than nothing, and Wayne even gifts him some really nice cologne he had stored away so he can "impress that pretty date of yours", and then helps him get ready when the night comes. pulls his hair back for him into a ponytail, and fixes his tie for him before turning him to the mirror, and patting his shoulder with pride in his eyes at his nephew growing up right in front of him.

and when you show up at the trailer to meet him, all dressed up and eager with a huge smile on your face, Eddie's breath is just taken away the first moment he locks eyes with you. it's like he's seeing you for the first time all over again, and for once he struggles to find the words, or any words, to express how he's feeling in that moment. he can't. you just render them all inadequate, because the love he feels when he looks at you is beyond words--and he finds himself squeezing you so tightly to his chest, arms so strong around you like he doesn't ever want to let you go. it's such a sobering experience after that close scrape with death, and any hesitancy he had about going out and enjoying prom with you is erased completely.

Eddie's glad it did when you get there, too. there's very few people either of you associate with there, and even fewer who want to associate with you. there are whispers about the freak crashing the party, and snickering about Eddie's secondhand suit and the lopsided, cheap corsages you're both wearing, but they all fall deaf to Eddie's ears when he's next to you, because you're all he has his attention on.

when it comes time to lead him to the dance floor, you're so gentle and cautious with him--he's still recovering, after all, and you don't want to stress him out too much more than you already have. but he lets your hands lie where they may and holds your waist in either of his, his steps an echo of the ones that Dustin and Steve spent a whole week teaching him. it isn't what he pictured, swaying to some soft music surrounded by a crowd of conformists, and sharing kisses with someone he would never even dream he'd be with. but when your foreheads finally touch as you lean into each other, and you let that sweet voice of yours pierce through the music to tell him "I love you" in his ear, Eddie finally finds those words he was searching for.

"I love you more, my angel."