#it'll probably be fine and worst is that I'll have little to tell her bc like

[izzy-b-hands]

oh god i forgot i scheduled a call with mum later tonight. jump scared myself with it when the calendar reminder came up now on my phone, fuck's sake

[rogue-durin-16]

EIGHTEEN, CRAZY (Part IV/?)

"Corroded Coffin"

Summary: With her highschool experience coming to an end, Y/n finally grows tired of her parents' long lasting effort to make her the perfect girl; if they refuse to let her live her best life, she'll make them live their worst— and what can possibly be worse than having your lovely daughter mingling with Eddie Munson?

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader

Genre: mostly fluff/fake dating

Tags:

Eighteen, crazy: @greetings-and-salutations @ozdramaqueen

Permanent taglist: @elia-the-bibliophile @randomparanoid @karlthecat15722 @thebutchersdaughtersblog @amourtentiaa @just-here-to-escape-from-reality @comfort-reads

Warnings: probably just language? Damn

A/N: this one's a little bit longer but it's fine bc we get a glimpse of corroded coffin and we love that. I saw someone name Unnamed Freak #1 Grant bc of the actor, so we're sticking with that. Enjoy<3

Prologue Part I Part II Part III

Rogue-durin-16 masterlist

"—and when I tell you she was ruthless... Ugh." Lizzy's eyes rolled back in annoyance, fingers carding throw her hair to move it out of the way as we walked the halls in her locker's direction. "Anyway, my point is, you made the right choice by not coming to Tina's yesterday."

"Not much of a choice there, was it?" I corrected her, keeping my eyes front. "I had to tutor Eddie."

A single amused laugh left my friend's mouth. "He's a bit of a nightmare, isn't he?" Before I could agree with her, Lizzy pointed at four punk boys idling near Ms. O'Donnell's classroom. "Speaking of the devil."

To the blonde's surprise —and mine—, I jogtrotted to the group until I was at arm's reach and tapped Eddie's back, until then turned to us.

"Hey!" He seemed taken aback by my cheerful demeanor and took him a painfully long instant to snap out of the confusion and jump into character, a toothy grin tugging on the corners of his mouth as he turned his body to face me.

"Well good morning, m'lady." Stealing a quick look at his friends, I wondered how much they knew about our arrangement. Taking in consideration their distrustful visages, probably not a lot. "Hey, Lizzy."

My head spun to see my friend, who had caught up with my quick pace, and was now subtly waving her hand at the metalhead.

"How was the test?" I inquired, returning my attention to Eddie.

"Oh?" He shifted awkwardly in place, clearly not expecting my question. "It was good, I... think? Dunno, I don't wanna jinx it." He grimaced, scratching the back of his neck. "I'll get the grade next week."

"I'm sure it'll be a good grade." I reassured him with a genuine smile. "Next time we should start studying earlier, though. Not just, you know," I vaguely gestured with my hand. "The day before."

"Yes, ma'am." He teased, leaning forward for a second, only to retreat back fast as lightning, undecipherable brown irises staring straight into my own. "Is that it or...?"

"Uh, yeah." I gave him a short nod with pursed lips. "Yes, that's it."

After a second of awkward silence, I cleared my throat and excused both me and Lizzy before waving the boys goodbye.

"There was absolutely no need to make it that awkward." Lizzy commented in a whisper.

"Shut up, okay?" I mumbled mortified, fighting the urge to run into the nearest bathroom and die because what the fuck was that.

We didn't get far before my name was called from the history classroom's door, loud enough to be heard above the usual hubbub caused by the seniors and underclassmen.

"Y/n! Hey!" In a couple of strides, Eddie was once again in front of me, looking as fidgety as I had ever seen him. "Hi. Again." With a nervous titter, his bravado demeanor was completely gone, so much that he averted his gaze from mine. "Uhm... You know, I'm— I'm in a band?" He questioned more than stated, folding his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, Liz told me." I credited my friend, pointing my thumb at her.

"Nice, so" He shot a silent cry for help to what I figured were his friends. "We gig at The Hideout on Tuesdays, at 10pm."

"Really? That's really cool."

"Yeah, pretty cool," he finally gathered the courage to make eye contact. "we actually got a crowd of five... Drunks." After tearing a laugh out of me, his shoulders began to relax. "You should come see us. If you want."

"Oh." Oh. My face tightened, sympathy getting in the way of rejection. "Actually," Already knowing the answer, Eddie's shoulders slumped. "We got a Calc test tomorrow and I kinda suck at it so—"

"That's okay." He gave me an understanding nod, shoving his hands on his back pockets. "I was—"

"You said you play every Tuesday?" I cut him off, brewing what I knew to be a crazy idea in my mind.

"Yeah, every Tuesday. Unless it gets cancelled."

"Well, don't cancel the next one." The ghost of a coy smile appeared on my face at his wide eyed expression.

"Alright, we gotta go." Lizzy announced, situating herself behind me to push me forward. "Bye Ed."

"See you, ladies."

One Week Later

"Y/nnnn!" I barely had time to close my locker and turn at the singsong sound of my name before two ring clad hands spun me around, making me squeal in the process. "Y/n, my beloved, my sweet darling, my saving grace." He listed the titles with unnecessary dramatism and a lot of gesticulation with both of our hands, as he held my palms on his own.

A confused giggle escaped my lips, unknowingly returning Eddie's touch by rubbing the back of his hand with my thumbs. "Okay, what's going on?"

He halted his movements, letting go of me to dig in his backpack. After shuffling through it, he pulled out a piece of paper with a cocky grin. "I got a C+ in Ms. O'Donnell's." He announced, chin tilted up while he handed out proof of his words.

Effectively, a big 'C+' had been written and circled in red ink on the top corner of the sheet. "WHAT? OH MY GOD!" My chest unreasonably swelled at the grade, wide eyes ping-ponging between the test and Eddie's toothy smile. "That's great, that's actually great. Well done Eddie!" Without thinking twice, I threw my arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a quick, euphoric hug.

Even though he was quick to hide it, I didn't fail to notice the initial sheepishness taking over Eddie once I pulled away. "Gotta give you some credit for putting up with me, huh?" He pointed out in a joking manner.

"We should go celebrate." I suggested, spinning to shut the locker, which had been left open behind me.

"No can do." Eddie let his shoulder fall on the row of lockers in order to re-enter my visual field. "Got band practice and then—"

"The gig at The Hideout, yeah."

"You remembered." The boy seemed somewhat surprised. "You coming?"

"I'm thinking about it." I tried my best to play contemplative and hold back the suggestive smile. It's supposed to be a surprise, I reminded myself, mirroring Eddie's posture.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Jesus Christ!" I could see my best friend's grimace reflected on her vanity mirror, in front of which she sat retouching her eyeshadow. "Gag me with a spoon."

"Don't be mean, Linda." I chastised her from the heavily cushioned bed, helping Lizzy pick up her Calc notes that, with any luck, would get me from a D- to a B.

"Is this, like, important to you?" George questioned from the rug without looking at us, eyebrows furrowed at his notebook.

"It's part of the deal." I lied. Why did I lie?

"Oh, spare me." Liz snorted, inquisitive eyes digging holes into my elusive frame. "You're dragging that excuse now."

"Okay, it's not a part of the deal! So what?!" I glared at my friends in vexation, slamming the notes on the mattress. "He's putting up with so much shit lately, so forgive me if I wanna do something nice for him."

A tense silence flooded Linda's bedroom, which was broken as soon as a swift exchange of glances took place among my friends.

"I'll phone Steve." Linda began. "See if he can help."

"I can call Tina." Lizzy followed.

"Someone's gotta make sure none of Tommy H's friends show up so," George sighed, finally rising from the floor. "I guess that's me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Why?"

"Oh, I just wanna know if I have to practice extra hard later." I tilted my head at his playful tone, unable to tell if he was joking or not.

"Well I—"

"Eddie, c'mon! We gotta get going, dude!" A passerby's hand yanked the long-haired boy's sleve, making him roll his eyes.

"Alright, sweetheart, duty calls." He took a step forward and planted a soft kiss on my temple before taking off while I stayed helplessly frozen in place. "see you around!"

It took a good minute for my body to start functioning again, and when it did, my face felt burning hot. God, I hated it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

EDDIE'S P. O. V.

"EDDIE!!"

I seethed at Gareth's voice, pausing my motions when I heard his quick steps coming my way from the inside of the bar.

I had used the establishment's back door —as per usual before every gig— to go out, tune my guitar and have a smoke. It was my little ritual, a brief but effective alone time moment before the show. Apparently, not even that was allowed.

"What." I spat at the youngest bandmate, throwing the cigarette to the concrete and stepping on it.

"It's— they're— there's—" I frowned at his stuttering and the way he frantically motioned into the bar with his drumsticks. "Jeez, just— you gotta see it. C'mon!" He urged, gesturing me to follow him back in, which I reluctantly did.

I was about to tell him off for interrupting my routine for something stupid, but then we turned the corner to get to the poor excuse of a stage we played on and I froze.

There was, objectively, a lot of people —and I mean a lot—, most of them around our age; considering we usually played for five to seven middle aged men... Well, the current situation was a bit overwhelming at the very least.

"I think your girlfriend brought them." Gareth whispered, trailing after me while I climbed up to where Jeff and Grant stood confused.

I couldn't find it in myself to face the crowd just yet, so instead of skimming our incoming audience, I asked, "Y/n's here?"

"Uh... Yeah." Grant bobbed his head at where the bar counter was, prompting me to look. I peeked over my shoulder and instantly met Y/n's gaze. She gave me a timid wave, which I returned with a snort because why on earth did she look nervous? It was us performing in front of classmates that called us freaks in the high school halls.

"Okay. Listen up." I leaned into my bandmates, hanging the strap of the guitar across my chest so I could clench and unclench my fists in an attempt to rid myself off the anxiety. "This may be new, but a crowd is a crowd; doesn't matter if it's five people or fifty, alright? We're performers. We perform. Got it?" They all gave me a swift, resolved nod. "Don't get nervous and don't fuck it up. We got this."

There was a wave of murmured agreement preceding our retreat to our respective spots on the stage, which left me at the very front, exposed to all those eyes.

"Alright, guys." I spoke into the mic. I refused to sound somewhat shy or unsure, and therefore overcompensated by raising my voice as much as I could without screaming. "This is Corroded Coffin. I hope you're ready to rock, 'cause we sure as hell are." I shot a look over my shoulder at my three friends, who gave me their unanimous approval.

Breathe in, breathe out.

"Y/n!" The girl shot me a panic-stricken look, eyes going comically wide when I turned all the attention to her. "This one's for you."

I couldn't help the amused grin tugging up the corner of my lips when I heard the nosey, unintelligible whispers that followed my shameless wink at the blushing mess of a girl Y/n had turned into.

Oddly enough, that granted me the confidence I needed to shred my guitar.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

READER'S P. O. V.

Only good things had come out of the gig, I thought to myself as everyone began to exit the place in order to return to their respective cars.

Eddie got his big crowd —who enjoyed the music more than they'll ever admit—, I had the privilege to see him play guitar, and people had approached me at least five times to ask me to congratulate my 'boyfriend' for his guitar solo, which I was gladly going to do.

The bar was still reasonably crowded when I approached the stage. While two of the band members helped the drummer dismantle his instrument, Eddie picked up the amplifiers and sends at the edge, which situated him just in the right spot to see me walk towards them.

"Hey there, sweetheart." He greeted me, crouching for us to be eye to eye.

"That was amazing."

Eddie motioned at the wide open front door, through which the multitude of classmates could still be seen by the cars. "You brought them all?"

I shook my head no, a smile escaping my lips are Eddie's raised brows. "I just... spread the word. Live music at The Hideout every Tuesday."

The boy before me observed my form with a mildly squinted, undecipherable gaze that made me both want to hide and get lost in his dark eyes.

"Are you gonna go home now?"

"I mean," I tittered nervously, toying with the hem of my short skirt. "I wasn't supposed to be out at all."

Eddie visibly pondered something, his lost irises landing on his black combat boots. "Okay hold on." Placing the wires and amps on the side, he climbed off the stage, adjusting his belt before letting his hand dig into every single one of his jeans' pockets until he found the keys to his van. He whistled at his bandmates until he drew the attention of one of them. After throwing him the keys, Eddie's focus returned to me. "Can't leave them stranded."

"Stranded?"

"I'm walking you home." He clarified, intertwining his fingers with mine in order to pull me close to his side and drape an arm over my shoulders. "C'mon, m'lady. Got a long walk ahead of us."

And just like that, we walked out of The Hideout, waving my friends goodbye and trying not to snicker at the looks everyone gave us while we crossed the parking lot.

Only when he considered we were completely out of sight, Eddie put some distance between us, making me miss the warmth of his body.

We walked in silence for a good while until sneaking glances at each other and flashing smiles wouldn't cut it anymore.

"So," Eddie began, eyes glued on the pavement and hands on his pockets while his foot kicked a rolling stone. "What'd you think? Did you like it?"

It took me a second to understand he meant the music. "Oh! Yeah, I think it was awesome! Weird, but awesome." He echoed my sentence in low, amused voice, the ghost of a smile making his dimples show. "You know? You looked a bit like uh..." I'm snapped my fingers repeatedly with a focused frown. "What's his name? Ugh!"

"I'm kinda scared of the comparison you're about to make." Eddie quipped.

"Why? I'm sure you know him." I groaned, pulling on the strings of my memory in hopes of remembering his name. "Lizzy has a crush on him. This one guitarist—" I clapped my hands, doing a little jump on the spot. "Eddie Van Halen!"

"Oh." Eddie's eyes went wide. "Wait, really?"

"Yeah. Oh my God, are you blushing?"

"Pfft no I'm not." He unconvincingly stated, his voice going up an octave. "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything." I breathed out an amused laugh, raising my hands in surrender.

"You don't have to, I hear your thoughts." He whispered, pulling a caricaturseque scary face whilst bending in my direction.

"Creep." I playfully shoved his arm, earning a cackle from him.

"Lizzy has a crush on Eddie Van Halen?" I hummed affirmatively and he clicked his tongue, tilting his head to the side. "The lady's got taste."

"I think she might have a crush on you too."

"You think so?"

"I mean... You look a bit like him. And you play guitar." I pointed out, motioning at his fit and guitar, strapped to his back. "Liz loooves guitarists." I shrugged, putting my hands behind my back. "If you want, when this is over, I can set you guys up."

"Nah." Eddie shook his head no, eyes falling back down from me to his boots. "Lizzy's cool and all, but I don't mingle with the popular crowds. Oil and water."

"You mingle with me."

"Yeah, 'cause we got a deal."

"Uhm Y/n?" Eddie spoke again refusing to walk in silence for another couple of minutes. "tell me something about you."

Ouch.

I didn't know how to respond to that, so I just stayed quiet, forcing myself to ignore Eddie's inquisitive irises on me and choosing to observe the poorly lit suburban street instead. Luckily, we were close to my house.

"Something like what?"

"Dunno, favorite book?" I quirked a brow at the metalhead and he sighed, overtaking me to walk backwards before me. "We're supposed to be 'dating', and if someone asked me what you like, I wouldn't know how to reply."

"Fair point." I agreed, deciding to indulge him. "Alright, favorite book... Probably Jane Eyre."

"Jane Eyre?"

"Yeah."

He snorted. "You're weird."

"What's yours— if you even read."

"Ouch!" He mockingly stabbed himself on the heart, throwing his head back.

"I'm kidding, I swear!" I assured him with a surprised laugh, my hands reaching out to stop him from tripping.

"Okay, mine's Lord Of The Rings."

"Oh! Which part?"

"You've read it?" My eyes followed his movements while he retreated to his original position to walk by my side. "Obviously not, 'cause your favorite book is Jane Eyre." The side of my fist bumped his arm in feigned outrage.

"I tried, but I never got past the Ents."

"What?!" Eddie nearly jumped at my statement.

"The Ents" I groaned dramatically. "They're sooo annoying!"

"How dare you!"

"They're insufferable."

"You're insufferable." I slapped away Eddie's accusing index finger with a smile.

"Oh," I halted my steps, eyes fixed on my house. 'this is perfect."

"What's perfect?"

"My mom's by the window."

"D'you want me to put on a bit of a show?" Eddie's tone was dangerous; he had 'trouble' written all over his face.

"Yes."

With a wink, he took my hand in his and led me to the front sidewalk of the house, only stopping when he was sure my mother had an acceptable view of us.

"Is making out still off the table?"

"Eddie." I warned him, seeing the grin dancing on his lips as he turned to face me, readjusting the strap of his guitar so the instrument wouldn't come in the way.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. C'mere."

My eyes went wide when Eddie's ringed fingers found the right side my waist, slowly drawing me in. "What are you doing?" I muttered, trying not to panic when he more hesitantly placed his free hand on my left hip.

"Put your arms around my neck." I did as I was told, feeling his breathed whisper fan on my skin due to the lack of distance between us. "Is your dear mother looking?"

I peeked over Eddie's shoulder to see my mother standing by the window with a folded arms. "Yeah." I barely had time to return my attention to Eddie before he dove in, body arching into mine while our noses bumped.

But that's all he did.

"woah."

"Don't laugh now." He chastised me, anticipating I would most likely burst into nervous giggles due to the situation.

"I'm trying my best." I assured him, gnawing on my lower lip to try and comply, which almost led Eddie himself into a fit of laughter.

His lashes fluttered close as he forced himself to stay in character instead of pulling away to chuckle. Taking a deep breath, his lids opened once more and he leaned a but further, planting a kiss on the corner of my lips.

My racing heart was nearly put under cardiac arrest when my front door bursted open. "Y/n! What in God's name are you doing?!"

Eddie hissed, pulling away just enough to meet my eyes. "She's religious?"

"Mhm." I confirmed, finally allowing my shoulders to shake due to my chuckling. "Devoted."

"Get inside!"

"Coming, mother!" I shouted, letting my hands slide down from Eddie's neck until they rested atop his chest.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He announced, squeezing my side before letting me go.

"Eddie? You got my phone number right?" He gave me a quick nod while I took a step back and circled him. "Call me when you get home, okay?"

"As you wish. Hey, Y/n," his digits brushed mine, stopping me from taking another step further in my mother's direction. "Thanks for tonight."

As a response, I briefly took his hand in mine, rubbing the back of it with my thumb before resuming my walk.

Due to my back being turned to Eddie, I missed his puzzled half smile, and the way he almost tripped when he began to undo our path.