➶-͙˚ ༘✶ 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙁*𝘾𝙆 𝙇𝙄𝙎𝙏
✧.* CHAPTER 56 || The Official End
[ { SYPNOSIS } ] ➤ A tale in which Gojo Satoru blackmails you into seducing a list of people to clear his debt. Sounds easy enough, right?
[ { CHAPTER CONTENT } ] ➤ language, fluff, & semi-angst.
[ { A/N } ] ➤ This is the last chapter.
[ { WORD COUNT } ] ➤ 6.4k
[ { PAIRINGS } ] ➤ jjk men x f!reader. gojo x f!reader. geto x f!reader. toji x f!reader. choso x f!reader. sukuna x f!reader. nanami x f!reader.
[ [ chapters mlist } ]
——AS FOR THE MAN WHO lost in the game of winning your heart, Gojo Satoru patiently waited day by day for that fateful phone call of yours. He wasn’t sure when it would be but he knew you’d call sooner or later.
The journal had to be burned. He needed to make sure it was, promising to himself that burning it would be burning the horrid things he put you through. It’d be the death of something so very toxic and would leave the two of you truly free from the list. That, and Gojo saw burning the list with you as his way of finally letting you go.
So, patiently, he waited. Every day he’d check his phone to see if your contact name would appear across his screen, his heart aching for the inevitable. Gojo was lost in a space of wanting that day to come as soon as possible and also wanting you to take your time to get to that point.
At the end of the day, burning the journal was your way of letting him go too. You needed to burn it with him just as much as he needed to burn it with you. Whatever it was that still floated in the air between the two of you needed to die along with the cursed words written upon those pages in your journal.
If not, other things, such as your relationship with your boyfriend Choso would soon crumble if truths he never wanted to know were revealed to him.
So yes, the end was near— closer than anticipated, and only you and Gojo knew that.
. . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆ . . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆
Which is exactly why you took your sweet time in calling him.
Not days and not weeks did you wait but two months. From the day you started dating Choso, you tried to put all thoughts of Gojo in the back of your head, only ever thinking about him whenever you remembered you had a book to burn.
Sometimes you’d look at your phone and debate on calling him to plan the whole burning process out but ultimately, the sound of your boyfriend saying something would pull you away from those thoughts.
A perfect example would be currently as you stood in Choso’s apartment on a Sunday morning in his kitchen, attempting to prepare some kind of breakfast as he slept in his bedroom. The two-month mark of your relationship with him was nearing and things couldn’t be better.
If you weren’t able to see him throughout the week because of school, either of you always found a way to be with each other by the weekend. Most times it was at his place since you had a roommate and by now, you’d practically moved in with the man.
Not that he minded of course. What better to wake up to than you in his arms? Or what could top noticing your feminine products begin to take permanent place in his bathroom? Then there was the occasional time he’d find your clothes with his as he went to do laundry.
He loved every moment he realized you were starting to take over his apartment day by day.
So today, when he gets a strong waft of pancakes swirling into his nose, he wakes up smiling because he knows it’s you in his kitchen. Choso’s eyes cracked open and he let out a heavy yawn, his arms and legs stretching out as he woke himself up some more. Despite knowing you were in the kitchen, he did prefer waking up to your body heat against his and you pressed into him.
He doesn’t know if you’re aware but you’re more clingy than he is when you’re asleep. Throughout the night, Choso would sometimes wake up to drink a bottle of water but the very second he shifts away from you, you’re tugging him back and grumbling something in your sleep with this cute little pout on your face.
God, Choso was so in love with you. Everything you did made his heart race. Every laugh shared, every lingering touch, every joyful glint in your eyes— you were the embodiment of perfection in his eyes. Never would he view a woman in the same light he views you. And to think you’re his girlfriend? What did he do to deserve you?
These are the kinda’ thoughts he has nearly every morning, today more so than others. Because just why are you out in the kitchen humming to You Rock My World by Micheal Jackson and cooking up a storm of breakfast with not a care in the world?
Choso’s getting out of bed without a second thought, rushing into the bathroom to brush his teeth and cleanse his face before heading out to you. As he walked down his hallway, the sound of music grew louder and louder until he was near his kitchen.
Then there was you. Oh the sigh of joy he lets out at the sight of you is so lovestruck. Your back was to him and you had a spatula in your hand, clearly making eggs as your hips swayed from side to side along with the music playing and sweet little hums left your lips along with the tune.
Choso couldn’t help but smile, wondering if you knew that you really did rock his world just as the song was saying. His head is nodding along to the music before he realizes and he begins to smoothly make his way over to you.
You’re so wrapped up in your cooking and vibing to the music that you don’t even realize Choso is approaching until his hands slide onto your waist. You inhale sharply in reaction, jumping only a little in shock before you turn your head back to look at him.
“Mornin’ baby,” Choso hums with a happy little smile on his face. His morning voice gives you butterflies and you flash him a smile before he leans in and presses his lips to yours.
“Mh, Good morning, Cho,” You reply, “You weren’t supposed to wake up yet y’know…” You say suddenly as you turn back to the eggs you had cooking on the stove, “I wanted to surprise you.”
Choso chuckles and he’s behind you dancing slightly to the sound of Micheal Jackson’s voice, “Should’ve closed the room door then,” He responds, “I’m a simple man y’know— I smell pancakes, I come running.”
You giggle at his words and feel his hands slide down to your hips as the two of you sway slightly against one another. He starts humming to the song and seems to be enjoying himself as he dances against you and watches you finish your breakfast preparation.
An intrusive thought comes to him and he’s speaking before he thinks it through, “Y’know, you’d make a good housewife baby,” Choso says suddenly.
You begin to plate all the food you’ve cooked and raise a brow at his words, “Would I really?”
“Yeah-, sorry, is that weird to say?” He asks curiously, tilting his head a bit before sneaking up a piece of bacon into his mouth.
You send him a look because of him eating despite you not being finished and then roll your eyes at him teasingly, “No, it’s not a weird thing to say. But y’know, in order for me to be a housewife I’d want two things,” You claim before stepping back a little to reach into one of the drawers for utensils.
Choso hums, “Yeah? And what’s that?”
“One,” You turn to him with a telling look, “A ring on my finger,” You explain.
He nods with a smile on his face, “Obviously. And two?”
“A man who’ll do everything I don’t,” You say vaguely, “Y’know, like pay for whatever I may need since I wouldn’t have a job, and basically-“
“Take care of you?” He interrupts unintentionally, “So for you to be a housewife, you needa’ man to take care of ya’?”
You shake your head, “Not need, Choso, want.” You correct, “I could easily provide for myself and just get a job but,” You find the utensils you were looking for and place them with the plates of food before turning back to look at your boyfriend, “If a certain someone wants to make me a housewife, he better come with those two things.”
The man laughs at your words and then throws his hands up defensively, “Hey, I didn’t say I wanted to make you a housewife. I want you to do whatever makes you happy.” He explains, shrugging a little, “And I was jus’ pointing it out that you’d be a good housewife,” Choso leans a little closer to you, “If that’s what you choose to be.”
“Uhuh,” You hum casually before slipping away from Choso’s grasp with two plates in your hands, “Well, isn’t it too early to talk about that kinda’ thing anyway?” You ask as you place both plates down on the coffee table in the closeby living room.
Choso’s over in his fridge now, swiping up something to drink for the both of you, “Mmmmh, too early to talk about marriage?”
“Yeah,” You chuckle, “It’s only been a month, so-“
“Two months baby, this Friday it’ll be two months,” Choso corrects as he exits the fridge with your favorite drink in hand, “And it’s never too early to talk about marriage— that’s what people date for, no?”
“I mean, yes but…” You shrug, “I dunno…”
Choso quirks a curious brow and starts to walk over to you while you’re moving used dishes into the sink. He stops you from moving by wrapping his arms around your waist and popping his head over your shoulder.
“Baby, are you dating me for some other reason?” He asks.
You blink, “Hm? What do you mean?”
“I mean like… Y’know I’m dating you to hopefully marry you one day, right?” Choso questions.
“Oh, well… I just don’t really think about marriage, Cho.” You explain with a sheepish shrug, “I’m dating you because I fell in love with you,” Turning your head to look up at him, “Is that okay Mr. Kamo?”
Choso smiles, “Yeah that’s jus’ fine, Mrs. Kamo,” He murmurs playfully.
Your entire face flushes in heat and your eyes widen, “Ohh, do nottt call me that.”
Your boyfriend smiles, “Why? Should I be calling some other woman ‘Mrs. Kamo’?”
“Well, no,” You answer, brows tensing and lips poking out to a pout.
“Alright then, if you’re gonna call me mister anything then I’m gonna call you the accompanying missus,” Choso tells you cheerfully.
You stare for a moment and his smile deepens before you roll your eyes and look away, “Whatever, Choso.”
“Ohhh, now it’s back to Choso?” He taunts, moving to your ear, “I kinda’ liked Mr. Kamo, y’know.”
“Did you?” You ask in return, smiling a little.
“Mhm,” Choso hums, “But you can only call me that if you let me call you Mrs. Kamo,” He tells you.
You giggle, “I dunno if I’ll let you call me that but it does have a nice ring to it…”
Oh his heart swells at those words, his smile getting impossibly wider as he gushes, “Yeah? Y’like the sound of that title?”
You nod a little, “Mhm, it’s cute, I guess…”
“Ohhh baby don’t tease me like thatttt,” Choso whines, dropping his head to the crook of your neck and starting to kiss you, “Either you like the sound of my last name being yours or you don’t…”
You chuckle at both his words and the way he starts kissing your neck so sweetly, lips locking with the area that always makes you squirm in his grasp, “I do like the sound of it, Cho-, love it, but,” You suddenly turn around to him and he pulls his head away from his neck, “It’s too soon to be talkin’ about this kinda thing.”
“It’s not,” He shrugs, “I didn’t say hey let’s get married tomorrow or in a few weeks,” Choso explains through a chuckle, “I just said that I’m dating you to eventually do so. That could be years from now but I do want you to know I’m thinkin’ about it from time to time.”
You stare up into those pretty brown eyes of his, your hands rising to his face and moving to squish his cheeks, “Right, so is this your form of reassurance?”
“Mhm, I love you so much, princess and I hope to get down on one knee and propose to you one day in the future when we’re both ready,” Choso proclaims.
The smile that spreads across your face only deepens that loving emotion Choso has for you. “Aww, how romantic.”
He pouts, “S’that all I get in response?” Choso mumbles tauntingly.
You scoff, “Oh yeah you’re pretty great too.”
“Baby,” He frowns.
With a roll of your eyes and a giggle, your arms wrap around his neck and you lean closer to him, “I love you even more, Choso.” You say before kissing the tip of his nose, “You’re my happiness, my reason to smile, my peace,” Your lips move to his cheek and then they ghost his lips, “My everything. I hope we stay happy and get married one day too.”
His face is red as if he didn’t just request that you say all that to him. Swallowing hard, “Much better,” Choso teases.
“Shut up,” You snicker before kissing him.
It’s a passionate one with Choso leaning into you and his arms holding you tightly as your lips slide over one another, your tongue soon pushing into his mouth and earning a hum from him. Choso’s lips twitch into a half-smile mid-kiss and he steps forward with you, causing your lower back to hit the counter.
His tongue slips over yours and he maneuvers his way into your mouth, one of his hands sliding down to smack and then grab your ass, the contact making you jump.
“Choso-,” You gasp in between his lips, “Food’s gonna get cold,” You mumble against him.
Choso’s hand squeezes your ass and he tilts his head, slightly ignoring what you just said and kissing you more aggressively. You unintentionally moan when both his hands grab your ass and he smacks it yet again, clearly having a thing for playing with your ass.
“Cho,” You whine against him.
He pulls away from your mouth with a bit of saliva sticking to his lips, “Hm? Yes baby?”
“Our food is gonna get cold,” You whisper.
Choso nods, “I know but, we can warm it back up,” He says before suddenly dipping down and then lifting you up onto the counter.
You shake your head, “Nope, we’re not doing this again.”
“Not doing whattttt?” Choso drags out innocently as he parts your legs so that he can stand in between them.
“You can’t keep eating me out and calling it breakfast Choso,” You say sternly, referring to the past few occurrences this has happened with him, “I made you real food for a reason.”
Your boyfriend laughs and tips his head to the side, “Is your pussy not real food?”
“No, dummy, it’s not,” You tell him, tone playful.
Choso rolls his eyes, “Fills me up perfectly fine tho’,” His hands slide down to your outer thighs and he drops to kiss your neck again, “I won’t take long, I promise.”
“But I made you breakfast and if you don’t eat it I’ll be sad,” You murmur to the man, your words making him freeze all movement.
Slowly, Choso lifts his head from your neck and his eyes meet yours, “Seriously?” He asks curiously, a hint of worry in his voice.
You nod, “I told you I wanted to surprise you…”
Choso nods his head understandingly, “Alright, alright, my bad baby, I’ll eat you out some other time then. Let’s go have breakfast together like you wanted to, yeah?”
A cute smile grows on your face and the worry he had instantly fades. He carefully pulls you off the counter and gives your forehead one last kiss before you take his hand and drag him over to his living room.
There was some show the two of you had recently been watching together so you wanted to do that as you ate. Quickly seating yourselves and putting it on to enjoy a cute little breakfast together.
It was wonderful. Such a nice couple's moment shared with one another that would forever live inside your head. With a bunch of laughter and silly little comments shared between each other, you and Choso spent a great day together.
. . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆ . . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆
Sometime later throughout the week, there was this feeling you got in your heart— a feeling as though there were doors still open that needed to be shut.
The doors in question were ones that led to halls of feelings and memories with Gojo Satoru.
This all spurred on Tuesday when you were cleaning your bedroom and came across that locked drawer of yours, the journal lying idly inside. Choso was lying on your bed, taking goofy pictures of himself on your phone and not paying attention to what you were doing at all.
If you were going to see Gojo again, you should tell your boyfriend, right?
Turning to him, you see him messing with the point five option on your camera and you laugh at him, earning his flustered gaze of being caught as he tossed your phone down.
“You didn’t see that, right?” Choso mumbles to you.
You’re snickering, “I did. You’re so unserious and I love it.”
He flops his head down into your pillows and groans, “Well my girlfriend’s not showing me any attention so I had to distract myself with something.”
“Oh? Is my boyfriend feeling needy for me now?” You say suggestively.
“Yes,” Choso hums, voice muffled by the pillows.
You sigh and stand up, walking over to him before plopping down on your bed beside him, “Well, that’s perfect timing because there’s something I wanna talk to you about.”
His head pops up like an excited little puppy and Choso’s eyes are wide on yours, eager to hear anything you have to say to him, “Yeah? What’s up?”
“Well, it’s somewhat of a serious conversation…” You hum nervously.
He tilts his head for a moment and then moves to sit normally, “What is it, baby?”
Taking a deep breath, you try to remember that Choso’s rather open to anything you have to say so there’s no reason to be nervous, “Okay uh, remember that other guy I told you about…”
“My competition? The one who got you that necklace on Christmas?” Choso asks for clarification.
You nod, “Mhm. Well, it’s about him.”
“Okay…” Choso says, awaiting your explanation.
“I have to see him,” You explain bluntly.
He blinks, “For…?”
“There’s… There’s this-, this thing we had together…”
“You’re not secretly the mother of his child are you?” Choso blurts out teasingly.
You snort, “No!”
Choso chuckles, “Okay, okay, so what’s the thing?”
“Uhm, it’s a journal…” You murmur timidly.
Your boyfriend tilts his head and raises a brow, “Of?”
“Memories.” You answer.
He nods, “Uhuh…”
“Memories that he and I promised to burn together.”
“Ohhh,” Choso’s brows raise and then he nods again, “That’s uh, that actually sounds rather peaceful.”
“Does it?”
“Mhm, sounds like a good way to let someone go,” Choso comments, “Why’d you feel the need to tell me?”
Your brows pinch together. Why wouldn’t you tell him? “Because you’re my boyfriend?” You say in an obvious tone.
Choso blinks, “So?”
“I-I dunno I just thought you should know!”
“I appreciate that but, I trust you.” He laughs a bit, not seeing why you got so serious over this topic, “You don’t have to tell me every little thing you’re gonna do with some guy.”
“Even though he could be considered an ex-lover?” You question.
“You’re going to completely end things with him, I think I’d be fine if you told me after the fact or not at all,” Choso claims with a shrug, “But since you did tell me, when are you gonna go do this?”
“I’m thinking tomorrow…” You explain your thought process on the matter and he nods along with you.
Then, another brow rose, “Why tomorrow? Is it some important day?”
“Well…” Your gaze drops to your lap for a moment as you think back, “Tomorrow’s Wednesday.”
“Okay…”
“It… His complicated relationship with me started on a Wednesday.” You explain.
Choso coos, “And you wanna end it on a Wednesday?”
“Mhm…” You hum.
“Alright,” He shrugs yet again, feeling so very casual about this, “Do I need to do anything or…?”
“No, I just wanted to let you know.”
He nods, “Okay, thanks for telling me.” He says with a pleased grin on his face.
And that conversation pretty much ends there— just like that. You had to blink a few times to make sure this was real because you’re still trying to get used to problems or confusion getting solved and cleared up so quickly.
That was so much easier than you thought it was going to be.
Which is exactly why after that, Choso asks if you were gonna call the other guy and you told him you would sooner or later— to which your boyfriend insisted that you call him ASAP.
Then, before you could argue him down, Choso got up and said he’d give you space to make that phone call. He studies your body language and facial expressions all the time so he could tell that this was the kinda thing he needed to push you to do or else it would never get done.
And with that, Choso left you in your room.
. . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆ . . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆
It was hard to make that phone call.
Like, really hard. Even once the call was made, hearing Gojo’s voice after so long made your heart ache. You don’t know if he realized it but he sounded so much more at peace over the phone.
The last time you spoke to him, he seemed anxious and ready for something bad to happen but this time, Gojo sounded so relaxed and at ease. It seemed as though his heart had gotten the proper time it needed to heal.
But then again, that’s just how he seemed over the phone.
“Tomorrow?” Gojo asked softly, “You wanna do this tomorrow?”
“Yeah, is that okay?” You question in return.
“Course’ it is,” He hummed, “I was wondering how long it was gonna take you to call me.”
You chuckle, “Sorry it took me a while…”
“It’s alright,” Gojo says, “I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”
“Mhm…” You hum almost longingly.
“Cya, sweets,” He dismisses.
You sigh heavily and your voice is barely even there as you utter the word bye— to which he ends the call.
You’re unsure of why but you didn’t want things to end yet. This was really the last page of such a headache of a story, the rolling credits of a heart-wrenching movie…
Just as quickly as that call went by, so did the rest of your day. Choso pointed out how gloomy you seemed and he knew it was because of what you had to do the next day. Even so, he just comforted you and told you everything’s gonna be okay-, that this is for the best.
You agreed with him, knowing that this wasn’t a weight you could carry on your shoulders forever. Despite not ever learning the truth, things would just have to end here.
If anything, Gojo did promise that he’d give you the truth in some years if you still cared. So, there would always be that to look forward to…
. . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆ . . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆
The next day was cloudy. Large fluffy gray clouds decorated the sky, small peeks of sunlight escaping through the cracks every now and then. Honesty, the weather matches your mood.
Gojo sent you this location of where he wanted everything to take place and you drove out to him by yourself. Choso told you to call him if you needed him for anything and again assured you that everything would be okay.
Somewhere deep down inside he was worried that this final meeting with an ex-lover of yours would or could change something between you and him but ultimately— Choso’s trust in you overpowered that worry. You’d shown him how much you loved him too much for him to doubt you now.
As for you… You don’t think you were ready to even lay eyes on Gojo yet, having sat in your car parked not too far from the spot he’s in for roughly thirty minutes. It took some real strength for you to get out of the car and head over to him.
He was in this park-like area but it seemed rather abandoned. It wasn’t ominous or anything, just dull and void of recent activity. There was this small river that you spotted Gojo nearby and in front of him was a large metal trash can— an item that seemed to be used numerous times to burn things.
Part of you wondered if Gojo had done this kinda thing before. Yet, all thoughts went out the window when you heard him humming to something.
Raising a brow at the lanky white-haired man, you notice he’s got headphones in his ear, casually humming along with whatever he was listening to. You were smiling at his cluelessness about you being there before you even realized it.
The closer you get, you notice his music is rather loud and he’s not paying attention to anything at all. Gojo had Sober by Childish Gambino blaring in his ears and you watch as he just stops nodding his head and then his shoulders raise and fall whilst he sighs heavily.
Gojo’s head tips back and his eyes shut— lost to his thoughts and oblivious to you approaching him. He was such an angelic-looking man and you hated to admit it but even now as you approach his side, you couldn’t help but admire him.
He seemed slimmer than the last time you saw him and as you studied his face, there were eyebags beneath his sockets, the sight making your brows furrow. His hair was a mess, seeming as though he didn’t even bother to brush it into a presentable state, and yet he still managed to look as beautiful as ever.
You do nothing more than nudge his arm and Gojo’s eyes flutter open, his head slow to turn and look down at you. The eye contact lasts for a long moment and it’s like you watched his eyes light up for a moment only to dim again. Not that they dimmed negatively but, they certainly weren’t as bright on you as normal.
Gojo heaves out yet another sigh and then moves to pull his phone out and pause what he had been playing. Then, he takes out his headphones and pockets them, “Hey,” He greets simply.
You swallow, “Hi Satoru.”
Gojo pauses, smiling for a moment before chuckling, “We’re really doing this, huh?”
You tilt your head, “Yeah, why? Are you not ready?”
The man shrugs, “I dunno.”
You simply stare up at him with pretty wide eyes, the sight making his heart skip a beat as he looks off to the side.
Something comes over you and you step closer to him, lifting a hand to his face and forcing him to turn his head to you again. His eyes are slow to drag down to your expression and he’s breathing oh so softly.
You frown at him, “Have you been getting any sleep?”
Gojo chuckles nervously, “Of course-“
“Don’t lie to me,” You cut off sternly.
He eats his words and then shakes his head, “Sorry. I’ve had a few restless nights here and there but I’m fi-“
“Please Satoru, don’t tell me you’re fine when it’s so painfully obvious you’re not,” You plead, shoulders sinking, “How am I expected to ever be happy if I know you’re hurting?”
His heart jumps at your words. Why is it that you care so much? Gojo smiles a little, “I’m not hurting, I promise. I just… I can’t sleep sometimes but I’ve had that problem long before you.”
“I’ve never seen the bags under your eyes this heavy before,” You point out before removing your hands from him and sliding the bag you brought with you off your shoulder.
“Why do you pay so much attention to me?” He asks.
As you drop the bag, you bend down to pull out the highlighted item of this meet-up. “Because I care about you, dumbass,” You voice out passive-aggressively.
Gojo gives you a dopey grin, “Yeah?”
You roll your eyes at the man and then move to smack his arm while you stand to your feet, “Yes. As much as I don’t mean to, I do. I care about you a lot.”
He frowns and rubs a hand over where you hit him, dramatically acting like you actually hurt him, “Don’t you have a boyfriend?”
“I do. But I’m allowed to care about you.” Your words left you as you approached the metal trash can and placed the book on top of the pile of previously burned items.
Gojo nods and reaches into his pocket for a lighter, “Fair enough.” He hums, stepping toward you and the item and staring at it for a moment, “How discreet; writing on the cover ‘list of people to seduce’.” He teases.
“Oh shut up,” You whine playfully, “I was stressed when I wrote that, okay? Hop off.”
Gojo snickers, “My bad, sweets.”
Then, he flicks the flame to his lighter and reaches in his other pocket to pull out some small bottle— the liquid inside presumably lighter fluid as he then pours it over the book and proceeds to light the item on fire.
Both of your eyes have a glint in there as the flames ignite— the warmth caressing the surfaces of your faces.
Silence overcomes the two of you and you guys just watch the journal burn. It feels like there is so much and so little to say at the same time.
Eventually, Gojo just blurts something out at random, “Both.” He hums.
You chuckle and turn your head to him, “W-What? Both what?”
“You once asked me if I love you because I blackmailed you or if I blackmailed you because I love you and my answer is both,” Gojo confesses as he turns to meet your gaze, “Through my blackmailing, I fell for you but I also did it because I loved you from the start.”
You simply blink, “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“It does, you just won’t understand it.” Gojo hums, smiling a little.
With a sigh, your eyes grow pleasing, “Then help me understand, please.”
“There isn’t much more for you to understand.” He states, “I’ve given you every answer I have, love.”
“But you haven’t.” You emphasize. If it’s all over, why can’t he tell you now? “You’ve given me everything but the answer.” You say.
“Answer to what?” Gojo taunts.
“Why. Why you did everything you did?” You ask.
He snickers and is casual with his answer like always, “Because I love you.”
“That-“
“You asked for an answer and I’ve given it to you nearly every time.” Gojo cuts off, “It’s always been that and it’ll never change. I did what I did because I love you, why is that so hard to accept?”
“Because that doesn’t make sense.” You argue with a scoff, “You fell for me amid your blackmail and yet you blackmailed me to begin with because you're in love with me?
“The answers are in your question.” He tells you.
Another sigh escapes, “What?”
“I’ve sacrificed everything for you, y’know.”
“How? What’s everything that you’ve sacrificed, hm?”
“You. I sacrificed the woman I love to make her happy.” Gojo admits, and of all he’s said thus far, that feels like the truest statement.
“I could’ve been happy with you.” You remind him.
He laughs, “Yeah well, I’m an idiot.”
You scoff, “That’s all you have to say?”
“Yup.”
“Satoru, I-“
“There’s things I should’ve done differently but I can’t take it back. My mistake was loving you and my happiness is also loving you but, only in letting you go will either of us find peace.” Gojo explains finally, “You know this.”
“I do.” Shaking your head, you shrug, “But, there’s so much unanswered.”
“There isn’t.” The man chuckles so sweetly, almost in a way that says he knows it all— which he does seeing as he simply keeps you in the dark.
Groaning a bit, “Satoru-“
He just cuts you off again, “I’ve given you my truth. There’s nothing else to it.”
“Okay, fine.” You result in saying.
The soft crackle of flames engulfing the journal fills the air accompanied by the two of you breathing softly. The reflection of the flames could be seen in either of your eyes and both of you simply relaxed yourselves.
He wasn’t going to give you any non-confusing answers and, y’know what, you were okay with that. Gojo promised one day he would and you believed in said promise.
So, now it’s quiet-, peaceful even. The journal was burning and burning, all known evidence of the list and memories that came with it being ridden from the world only to lay within the minds of you and Gojo Satoru.
How it started, how it ended— only the two of you would remember-
“Y’know…” Gojo suddenly speaks, breaking the silence and lightening the mood all of a sudden, “Before we part, we should name it.”
You scoff and glance at him, “Name what?”
“The list.” He clarifies.
Blinking, you raise a brow, “Why? It has a name already; the list.”
Gojo rolls his eyes and he moves to nudge your arm, “Oh come onnnnn, that's so plain. It needs a title.”
“Why? It’s burning.” You point out bluntly.
He’s smiling, “Okay, and the title of it can burn into our heads.”
“I don’t understand the importance of a-“
“The Hit List,” He suddenly spews out.
You freeze for a moment before letting out a cackle, “The Hit List? I was seducing people, not assassinating them.”
Gojo chuckles, “Alright thennn, The Lust List.”
“Mmmh, no.” You hum.
“No? Why not?” He asks, shrugging his shoulders as he does so.
Tilting your head, your eyes ogle the burning book a bit more, “It just doesn’t feel right.”
“Uhuh…” He nods, “Okay how about The Lewd List?” He suggests as he wiggles his eyebrows in a silly manner.
You laugh at him, “Hell no!”
“Alright then picky lady, you come up with somethin’,” Gojo says with a pout.
You fold your arms and hum in thought, “The Kiss List.”
“Did a lot more than kissing though, didn’t you?” He comments under his breath.
You smack his arm and he laughs. “The Sex List, then. Since I did more than kissing.” You mock him, purposefully making your voice deeper.
Gojo’s got this big smile on his face and the sun has emerged from the clouds to shine over the two of you. “That one’s not too bad but, no.”
“No?! Well then this naming bullshit is stupid.” You result in saying as you frown playfully.
His cheeks are all flushed from both laughing with you and the heat from the flames before him, “You’re stupid.” He responds with the same energy.
“Nuh-uh.” You hum.
Gojo snorts, “Yuh-huh.”
Giggling at the banter you still have with this man, you sigh, “Okay, whatever Satoru. Come up with a name or else-“
“Oh! I got it!” He suddenly claims with a snap of his fingers.
You look at him and tilt your head, “Yeah? What?”
Gojo laughs, “Oh this is perfect.”
“What is it, dumbass?” You urge.
He freezes dramatically and gives you a slow head turn as if he were offended, “Well if you’re gonna be mean to me I’m not gonna tell you…”
“Satoru.” You blink.
He blinks twice to mock you, “Sweetheart.”
“Just tell me the damn name already.” You sigh.
Gojo, being the dramatic king he is, steps closer to you and tosses an arm over your shoulder. He leans down so his voice is near your ear and he smiles, “You’re gonna like it.”
“What is it?” You huff out impatiently.
With one last snicker, Gojo tips his head over to rest it against yours as you both watch the book burn into its final ashes— both of you smile at its destruction and then he sighs.
“When you first asked me what you’d be doing with the list of those names, what did I say?” He asks as you both keep your eyes on the idle ashes.
You relax under his touch, “You said I’d be fucking them.”
“Right so, naturally,” Gojo pauses just to build up your anticipation, “The name should be rather simple.”
Nodding, you await him to say it, “Exactly…”
His smile grows into something softer, more at peace, “So we’ll remember it as…”
This gentle exhale leaves your lips as you wait for him to just say it already.
Gojo’s careful as finally tells you, “…The F*ck List.”
“That’s…” You blink, “That’s perfect but why’d you say it like that?”
His brows furrow, “Like what?”
“Like you censored the u in fuck, it sounded like you said The Fck List instead of The Fuck List-“
“Shhh,” Gojo shushes playfully, “It’s more aesthetically pleasing the way I said it, okay?”
You giggle again, “That doesn’t-“
“Sweetheart, please.” He interrupts.
“Fine fine…” Rolling your eyes, you shrug, “I guess that’s the name then.”
“Yup, and also the end.”
“Hm?”
“List is complete, you’re happy, I’m happy, so…” Gojo’s voice softens, “That’s the end.”
Feeling happy for some reason, you’re smiling as you speak, “Is it really?”
“Mhm…” Gojo hums and the two of you watch the dying flames as he truly speaks his final words on the matter, “…The end of The F*ck List."
mlist || previous chapt || alt ending || extras
tags;
@blognicole @suguruologist @luqueam @ivoryviness @sinaxalui @rxnnie18 @carlacujo @gods-landing @bitchysouljellyfish @miles4hour @sinaxalui @annananamin @heart-snow @kiyomizzx @hanuh @acehyacinth @mccookiemonster @tojis-ball-sack @cartwheel6869 @mariluvsusstuff @addie1010 @slammynics @actualz0mbie @hisbitchhh @kay-xle @cunttee3 @voids-universe @raininglovelyfire @itsbokutosjuicyass @peaceoutbritta @barbielani @gennaray @r3inae @kfmcykdy @camiihutt @tokina @curtin81937 @hopefullydecent @nameless-shade @ureuphoriasworld @forgetfulmachine @legbouk @lilliaannn @clementineee0-0 @divinelseraph @didibxx
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twenty four hours (modern!eddie munson x fem!reader)
→ tropes: enemies to lovers, forced proximity, slow burn
→ warnings: strong language, smut (oral, f receiving), overload of cheesiness, upside down does not exist, minors dni
→ wc: 11.8k+
→ a/n: this might be the cheesiest, fluffiest thing i've ever written, and i can't even be bothered to care. it might be unrealistic. it might be too much. i do not care. this has been a long time coming and i think we all deserve all the cheese after this story.
i don't even know what to say besides thank you. thank you to everyone who followed along from the beginning, to those of you joined the journey along the way, to those of you who are reading as we finish it up. thank you for all the support and love you guys have shown this fic. i will always, always, appreciate it more than i know how to say. i love these idiots, and i love you all.
if you would like to see this story continued through small blurbs, my ask box is officially open to requests from this universe. i will also probably be posting some "beyond the hours" content over the next few weeks.
thank you. i love you.
without further ado...
masterlist.
spotify playlist.
EPILOGUE: A BET
TWO MONTHS LATER
“Why are there so many fuckin’ options?”
Eddie stares at the line up of smartphones before him, all different models and different physical sizes, different colors and different memory amounts.
“There’s not that many,” you murmur, wrapping your arms around him from behind as you rest your chin on his shoulder. It’s a bit of a stretch, making you lean up onto your tippy toes, “Besides, isn’t having options a good thing?”
He scoffs as he brings a hand up subconsciously to where your arms overlap on his torso, grip gentle as he runs a thumb over your skin and gives a squeeze, “Sure, options are great. But there’s at least twenty different iPhones on display here, sweetheart.”
The last few months had been interesting, to say the least. A new and exciting journey initially, but also a fairly stressful ordeal given all the hoops you two had been jumping through. You’re both busy people, having to suddenly figure out how to carve out a specific space for each other amongst bustling lives. It wasn’t the same as making time for friends or a weekly night out; it was figuring out times for dates, times for lazy afternoons, times for just you and just Eddie.
And, occasionally, time to take Eddie shopping for a new phone. Finally.
“Well, better pick one fast,” your fingers dig into his side playful, and he blows out an annoyed breath as he side-eyes you. You only retaliate in a fast peck to his cheek before whispering in his ear, “We’re gonna be late if you keep taking all day.”
It was Argyle’s birthday party tonight. His actual birthday wasn’t for another week, but he’d be venturing back home to California for that. And so the group elected to throw him a preemptive party at one of the group’s favorite bars.
Which — fine. Awesome. You were excited, you really were: you loved Argyle, you loved your friends, you even found yourself warming back up to parties.
But your friends didn’t know.
Two whole months, and neither you nor Eddie had told a single soul of what had become between you two. Not even Steve. Not even Nancy.
At first the excuse was to give this time to grow, to find your footing before you brought your lovable yet rambunctious group of friends into the equation. But then you two had found your footing, and you’d worried what they would say. Eddie had nearly made himself sick with anxiety over Nancy finding out he’d kept this relationship from her. They’d support you two — that wasn’t a worry. They’d proven that since the first time the entire group had hung out after the bet.
“So,” Robin started, narrowing her eyes at you and Eddie sitting on opposite ends of her and Steve’s couch. Neither of you had said a word to each other yet (Plenty had already been said that morning as you’d snuck him out of your dorm), “You two really aren’t together?”
“Why is everyone so adamant that the bet has to end with us getting together?” you jeered.
Eddie didn’t help the cause when he was quick to take your side, “Exactly! The bet’s over. We lasted twenty four hours. We’re friends now — isn’t that what you guys wanted?”
“I actually wanted to help you dudes plan a winter wedding,” Argyle chimed from the kitchen where he was retrieving a coke, “So I’m gonna side with Birdie on this one.”
“Of course you are,” you muttered beneath your breath.
Everything in you ached to be sitting next to Eddie rather than so far. You ached for his arm around you, his lips pressed to your temple. Just to share body heat, even — innocent thighs brushing with layers of denim between would have been enough.
“It’ll happen eventually,” Nancy mused from her seat on the kitchen counter, Jonathan beside her and matching her confident energy with a sly grin, “Just give them time.”
What they hadn’t realized is that it already did happen. The moment Eddie showed up to your dorm and the two of you said to Hell with space, it was inevitable.
Now, it was just the challenge of letting your friends in on the secret.
“What about the red one?” Eddie asks you as you finally unravel from him.
“Of course you’re choosing the red one.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he scowls, no malice behind it as you step up to occupy the space next to him, brushing shoulders for only a moment before his hand is grabbing yours, intertwining fingers like second nature.
You recall that moment on his balcony, where he had once been so nervous and hesitant to hold your hand.
“Nothing,” you shake your head, smiling to yourself as you look at the specific model he was talking about, “You’re just getting a little bit predictable, Munson.”
He opens his mouth to argue, to nip back at what you always offer him, when one of the salesmen approach you two.
“Hi folks! Can I help you with anything today?”
Eddie squeezes your hand, no doubt in an effort to withhold his laughter at the man’s overly chirpy tone. You squeeze back, if for nothing more than to let him know you felt him.
Despite Eddie’s previous claim to a decision, he still chooses to entertain the man. Asking questions about different models, inquiring for recommendations as if they’d change his mind. They go back and forth, both polite enough, but the conversation easily bores you. In five seconds flat, your mind has officially wandered off.
You two hadn’t really discussed the specific details of the night to come. Whether you’d ride with Eddie there, how you’d navigate Eddie’s natural born clinginess once he got a few drinks in him, if tonight might be the night to finally tell your friends.
The last one felt a bit obvious. It was Argyle’s night — you didn’t want to snatch the attention from him for even a second.
But there were layers to your anxiety. Because it was more than just how to navigate how you two would display yourselves to your friends on nights out.
It had been two months, and you still hadn’t said those three little words back to Eddie.
He didn’t pressure you. He never once brought it back up, never once pressured you. But just because he wasn’t constantly reminding you vocally that he loved you didn’t mean you didn’t feel it. You’d felt it, impossible to miss, when all those lazy morning fantasies became reality. You felt it during movie marathons and you felt it every time he’d worship your body. It was there — in the late nights, in the early mornings, in the dull afternoons. A wild thing unleashed in your gardens, all those vines you’d worked so hard to see flourish threatened to be torn up by impatient claws at the feeling growing rapidly in your chest every time you looked at him.
And slowly, surely, you knew that there was only so much longer that like could suffice in describing your feelings for Eddie.
You were falling, whether he was aware or not. You just needed to figure out the right moment for those three little words to unstick, to go from hot honey on your tongue to easy breaths between you two. He’s given you time, he’d filled the months you’d awarded him with making up for every previously bitter exchange, and yet you still couldn’t give him this. And you’re starting to believe maybe that’s why you couldn’t imagine telling your friends yet.
You sort of hated yourself for it.
You’re pulled back to reality once the salesman departs, no doubt into the back to grab Eddie’s choice of phone. You don’t even have to ask; you know he got the red one.
“Hey,” Eddie fully turns to you, bringing your knuckles to his lips in chaste kisses. Your stomach still kicks with flutters, your heart still warms at the gesture. Eddie’s affection has yet to lose novelty, “Where’d you go?”
“What do you mean?” you twist your face, “I was here the entire tim-“
“Not where’d you physically go,” he clarifies, letting your conjoined hands drop back to the sliver of space between your bodies, “Mentally. Where’d your mind just go?”
You hadn’t thought he’d notice your drifting.
“Nowhere,” you shrug off.
“Nowhere? So you’re really just that interested in the newest iPhone model?”
He pointedly looks up at the widescreen display you don’t doubt you’d been blankly staring at the entirety of his conversation with the man who had yet to return.
“Oh, absolutely. You know me so well.”
All bark, no bite. These days, all the previous venom that had infected exchanges with Eddie prior to the bet had finally been sucked clean from the wound, long gone to make room for all the genuine affection to seep into its place. You still argued — or perhaps bantered was a better word for it — but you didn’t fight. You both still grated on one another’s nerves and managed to slither beneath the other’s skin, but not in an unwelcome way.
It was a nice change.
It made you hate yourself even more for not saying those three little words.
Eddie seemingly reads your mind, “Are you nervous for tonight?”
“I-“ you consider lying to him and saying it hadn’t even crossed your mind, but the look he gives you warns against it, “We just haven’t… discussed it.”
“What’s there to discuss?”
You hold up your interlocked hands for emphasis, raising your eyebrows at Eddie.
His mouth falls open softly, eyes widening, “Oh. Are you- Are you wanting to tell them tonight?”
No, your gut screams, absolutely not tonight.
“Is Argyle’s birthday party really the best time to explode their minds?”
You try to keep your tone teasing as you sense Eddie’s own nerves creeping up. Sometimes it was fun, standing in a room with everyone and pretending to be more akin to strangers than lovers. But sometimes, it was just plain painful. Sometimes, the entire group would be laughing at something, and you craved nothing more than to be pressed into Eddie’s side and feel the vibrations of his shared joy rather than just having to listen to it from across the room.
It’s not that you wanted to tell your friends and cause a scene — you just didn’t want to have to hide anymore. And maybe you wouldn’t have to, if you’d just tell him how you felt.
“Probably not,” Eddie murmurs, “I mean, it’s his night. We can always tell them the next time we all get together.”
The issue is that’s what the two of you always say. You always brush it off for the next time.
You can only sigh in defeat as you see the salesman finally bounding back out from the back room, a small box holding Eddie’s purchase in his grip, “Yeah. Next time.”
You can’t even be mad at next time. It’s the same thing you tell yourself every time you felt those words on the tip of your tongue, so close yet so far from revealing the most terrifying truth you’d discovered yet to Eddie.
You let go of his hand long enough for him to check out, hardly overhearing when he questions how they can transfer all the data from his current flip phone. When he seems particularly worried about pictures transferring, you don’t think anything of it.
—
STEVE-O: do i need to pick you up tonight?
You don’t see the text. You’re a bit busy with something when it comes through.
Something is currently still between your legs, curls threaded between your fingers as your back arches off his mattress and his name starts to come out as a desperate whimper rather than a chant.
STEVE-O: ???
The initial buzz of your phone on his nightstand doesn’t phase either of you. Eddie’s tongue still works you eagerly, circling your clit as you tug particularly harshly at his roots. Each flick sends white hot pleasure through your bones, nearly making you see stars.
“Fuck,” you gasp out when he brings his fingers into the mix. You can feel his smile against you as he curls his fingers inside of you, mimicking a come hither motion and relishing in your little pants as your thighs tighten around his shoulders, “Oh, fuck. Right there, Eddie. I- Eddie.”
The way you’re moaning his name only encourages him as he slips in a second finger, stretching you further. You feel cool metal bumping your entrance, sending shocks up your spine as his lips suction against you and he sucks hard.
He hadn’t even taken the time to remove his rings when the two of you had gotten home. He had been too eager, dragging you to his bedroom with his lips attached to your neck from the moment he’d shut the front door behind the two of you until he’d thrown you down on his bed.
“That’s right, baby,” his voice vibrates against your clit, “Say my name. Tell everyone who’s making you feel this goo-“
STEVE-O: helllooooo????
“Okay, who the fuck keeps texting you?” Eddie finally pulls back when he realizes you’re slipping out of that bubble he’d created, your head having turned towards the nightstand in curiosity, “Let me guess, it’s your other boyfriend?”
Your head is still spinning and your chest continues to heave from that lingering pleasure he’d been offering so generously to you. He sounds annoyed, but you can guarantee you’re even more irked.
“I don’t have another boyfriend,” you blandly reply, not taking his bait.
It only makes him wrap his hands around your thighs on his shoulder, giving a playful squeeze as you reach out for your phone.
“You sure?”
You squint at the notifications, but don’t properly read them, only rolling your eyes at both the fact that Steve’s the one interrupting this precious moment and at Eddie’s valiant teasing.
You slam the phone back down, eyes trailing down to his, “I am, but I can certainly find another boyfriend if you don’t get your mouth back on me in the next three seconds-“
He doesn’t need a second warning. In an instant, the warmth of his tongue is back on you, lapping at all the spots he’s come to memorize as of recently. That pleasure comes back into reach, edging your vision with feathery black as your eyes flutter shut and the coil in your stomach tightens.
You throw your head back into one of his pillows, one that has started to smell like your shampoo now rather than his, and let a drawn out whine escape your lips.
“You were saying?” he teases, grinning wickedly. He takes that brief moment to come up for air, turning and sinking his teeth into the soft flesh of your thigh beside his cheek. Not hard enough to draw blood, and probably not hard enough to leave indents. But it is enough to have you preening once more as your heels dig into his bare back and you try to lift your hips, desperate for his mouth again.
He was edging you. Without even meaning to, he was repeatedly bringing you to the edge only to leave you teetering.
With your focus back on him, you can admire how pretty he looks. Mouth slick with you, pupils blown out, hair an absolute mess. You like him best this way, you think, when he looks so absolutely devoted to you. When he’s looking at you with a hunger you almost can’t place. It makes you want to scream from the rooftops about how you’ve fallen for him. How you feel so much more than like for your boy.
STEVE-O: seriously. if you don’t respond, you can just walk. you have five minutes.
At the buzz of the phone, your hands leave Eddie’s hair to form fists, pounding them into the mattress at your side in a brief tantrum. He ceases all actions, pulling his lips away from you again, and it only makes you pout more.
“Baby,” he coos, fingers trailing up the sides of your thighs before he reaches out to hold your fists down, “Maybe you should answer him. Tell him to fuck off-“
Eddie’s interrupted as your phone fully bursts to life with your ringtone.
You were going to kill Steve Harrington.
“On second thought, let me answer it,” Eddie groans as you reach out and grab it once more, “Give the fucker a piece of my mind.”
“Shut up,” you hiss as you realize it’s Robin calling. You turn the screen so he can see, and his eyebrows lift in surprise.
He makes no move to remove himself from between your legs, though. He stays face to face with your aching core.
“Hello?” you snap after swiping to answer.
“Finally! My God, Steve’s been texting you-“
“I didn’t see the texts.”
“Do you need a ride?”
“Nope.”
You’ve never been so short with your friends.
But that pleasure is slipping from you, the flames of your impending orgasm dying down to nothing more than embers. It’s enough to piss anyone off.
“Are you sure?” Robin asks, sounding genuinely concerned, “It’s kind of a far walk-“
“I’m running late,” you sigh, realizing that you were going to have to come up with a lie to get off the hook. Another thing you hated about the hiding — it led to your friendships being littered with dishonesty. Always a new excuse as to why you weren’t available, always feigning reasons as to why you didn’t reply to texts as timely as you used to. “With getting ready. I could- I don’t know, do you think Eddie might pick me up? Isn’t my dorm along the way to the bar from his place?”
At the mention of his name, he perks up. His cheek settles against the exact spot he had bit just moments before, nearly nuzzling into you as your free hand comes down to gently push back his bangs. On instinct, you find yourself soothingly pressing your fingertips in slow circles against his scalp. You’re nearly melting beneath his soft gaze, those big and wide eyes locked on you with bated breath.
“You want Eddie to pick you up?” you suddenly hear Steve exclaim in the background.
Your face scrunches up, a wrinkle forming across the bridge of your nose and between your brows. It’s so damn cute to Eddie that he can’t help but press a quick kiss to the skin he continues to lay into, beginning to smile as your absent-minded head massage continues.
So much more than like.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know I was on speaker.”
“Why do you want Munson to pick you up?” Steve ignores your sarcasm, voice sounding closer to the phone now, “He drives a motorcycle, you know. That’s dangerous.”
Eddie must be able to catch some of Steve’s shrill exclamation, his eyebrows raising ever so slightly. You feel his curious hum against your skin and you don’t hesitate putting your own pesky friends on speaker.
“Motorcycles are not that dangerous,” you retort, and it makes Eddie have to hide a slight scoff into your thigh in an effort to stay silent. It was ironic that they cared about how safe it would be for you to ride with Eddie on his bike now, after that allegedly dangerous vehicle had been your main source of transportation for nearly two months now, “He has a helmet, right?”
“Isn’t your dorm the opposite direction of the bar from his place?” Robin questions, “I mean, I’m all for you asking lover boy if he’ll give you a ride but-”
Steve interrupts her flatly, “It’s making him go out of his way. Besides, he might have already left for the bar by now.”
You don’t know what to silently laugh at first. The assumption they were making that couldn’t be further from the truth, or Robin’s new nickname for Eddie.
Lover boy is fitting for him in this current position. He’s still latching onto your leg, cuddling you in every way he could from where he laid, staring at you and hanging onto your every last word. The poster boy for pathetically in love, he gives your leg another kiss, starting a fiery trail with his lips until he reaches your knee. It pangs in your chest, wondering if he can see your feelings also painted so obviously across your face.
“Steve,” you murmur, breath catching in your throat as Eddie’s lips linger in the ditch of your knee. It takes a second to remember you’re on the phone, “No offense, but Eddie hasn’t been on time to a single get together the entire time I’ve known him.”
Eddie reacts in real time to your insult, forcing an over-exaggerated offended look before he bites you again. This time, his teeth do leave an imprint from his nip, and it makes you slap a hand over your mouth to avoid yelping.
Don’t bite me, you mouth at him.
Don’t be mean, he answers right back, silent as ever.
“Technically we’re all already late,” Steve points out. It makes you sit up quickly, startling Eddie in the process. You squint at the clock across the room and- fuck. Steve was right, “Nancy just texted me that she and Jon are there, Argyle’s on his way. She said she tried texting Eddie but didn’t get any response,” there’s a long pause as you motion wildly for Eddie to get up with you, the boy watching as you fling yourself off his mattress and carry the phone with you to his dresser, “Have… you heard from him recently?”
“Why are you saying it like that?” you jab, throwing open one of the drawers Eddie had cleared out for you to keep some clothes here in his apartment. At this point, a good chunk of the tuition you paid was going to waste considering the fact you rarely spent the night at your dorm. You were already half moved into Eddie’s space.
You try not to think too hard about it, because just last week, you’d had a panic attack at the revelation.
You were afraid of smothering him, even if he was the one always insisting you could leave more of your things here. He was always the one conning you into spending another night, promising soft murmurs of giving you a ride to class the next morning if you did. You rarely ever had much of the choice in the matter; once he’d wrap his arms around your waist, curl his body flush against yours, it was always game over.
Practically living together, and you still hadn’t said those words back to him.
“I’m not saying it like anything!” Steve defends himself, “I’m just asking an innocent question!” Eddie’s snort this time is audible, and you freeze as Steve clearly mistakes it for your laughter, “Shut up. It’s a reasonable question. You guys are friends now, remember?”
Friends. Of course, because all your friends jumped at the chance to bury their mouths against your cunt and make you cum repeatedly until you had tears streaming down your cheeks. Because you let all your friends sleep in the same bed as you, and wake you up by burying deep within you as they bite your shoulder with a moan. You and Eddie were friends.
“Trust me,” you glance over your shoulder in your haste, looking at Eddie as he stretches out on his side and props himself up on his elbow, “I remember.”
He gives you a knowing smile, squinting his eyes at you in entertainment.
“Babe, it really would just be easier for you to ride with us,” Robin’s voice sounds again as you tug a shirt out of the drawer, something casual and comfortable that you could style for the night, “Unless you’re just hellbent on having alone time with Eddie for some reason-”
“I’m not hellbent on being alone with him, Robs.”
Another lie. I definitely am. But not in the context you think.
“You just sound like you are.”
“Well, I’m not,” you yank a pair of black jeans free from the drawer and slam it shut, standing and turning to Eddie.
He hardly has time to react before you’re tossing your phone down on the mattress in front of him, the small device bouncing and hitting his chest. He winces and throws himself back dramatically, letting out a small oof that you pray neither Robin or Steve pick up on.
As you dress, throwing on the random t-shirt and shimmying on your jeans, Robins laughs, “Denial isn’t a good look on you.”
Eddie watches you, never moving to get ready himself. All he does is stare as you button up the pants.
When you give him an expectant look, he merely mouths, bra?
You shake your head. You don’t know where Eddie had flung your undergarment, and you’re not in the mood to frantically search for it. You’ve gone without a bra before – you can survive one night out without one.
Eddie’s entire face and chest immediately flushes pink. Cute.
“Now you guys are just being assholes,” you scowl despite the fact that only Eddie can see it, waving your hands to motion for him to get up and also get dressed, “I’m texting Eddie. If he has already left, I’ll just walk. Fuck you guys.”
“Tell lover boy I said hi,” Robin teases.
“Even if he’s already parked at the fucking bar at this point, we both know he’d jump right back on his bike and come pick you up,” Steve’s voice grumbles over the line.
It almost makes you smile. “Someone sounds jealous.”
“Not jealous, just annoyed,” Steve corrects as Eddie finally stands from the bed, “When are you two going to get your shit together?”
“What do you mean?” you play dumb.
You’ve had this conversation with your friends multiple times. They were truly going to have your head once they realized what you’d been keeping from them for months now.
“Don’t you have a 4.0 GPA?” Robin inserts herself back into the conversation, “You can’t possibly be this stupid.”
Eddie pauses in his fumbling with pulling his jeans from the pile he’d left his clothes in at the end of the beg, face scrunching in silent laughter. You almost walk over and smack his bare back angled towards you.
“First of all, no. I don’t have a 4.0 GPA. Thanks for the reminder,” you grab your phone back off of the bed and decide to leave Eddie behind in the room, heading into the bathroom to finish getting ready. You hate to admit it, but if you have to keep watching him giggle so cutely to himself, you’ll also probably break. And you aren’t in the mood for any further interrogation from Robin and Steve, “Second of all, I’m hanging up now. I’m going to call Eddie. At least he won’t be such a dick to me.”
“Oh, you must see the irony there-”
You cut Steve off, “Bye! See you in… like, ten minutes.”
Once you’ve hung up, you put your phone down on the bathroom counter and look up into the mirror. Your hair is a mess, wild and tangled from all the writhing you had been doing before being so rudely interrupted. You give it your best effort, trying to tame it a little bit to look more presentable, but it’s a lost cause at this point. Fuck it.
Eddie appears in the doorway behind you, fully dressed and his hair pulled back into a bun, leaning into the door frame with his arms crossed and an impish grin on display, “Oh, you’re going to call me now, sweetheart?”
You glare at him in a jocosely manner through the reflection, “Don’t look so proud of yourself.”
He pushes off the frame and comes up behind you, still locking his eyes only through the reflection as he leans his chin over your shoulder, “And what if I don’t want to give you a ride? You have been awfully mean – insulting my punctuality, throwing your phone at me, teasing me by going without a bra. The list goes on and on.”
Something deep within you stirs, those embers that still ache to burst into a forest fire. You hate that you could easily spend the entire night here with him, letting him take you every which way between his sheets. And even without sinful actions involved, you would be plenty content with just his presence tonight. As a matter of fact, you might be more content with that outcome rather than heading out to see your friends.
Sorry Argyle, you think guiltily.
“I’m teasing you?” you question just as his hands land on your hips, moving so that he was pressed firmly against the curve of your ass. Making sure you could feel how hard he was against the seam of his jeans’ zipper, “You didn’t even make me cum.”
“Seems like we’ll both be spending the night frustrated, then,” he smiles, almost gleefully, almost devilishly, “Besides, that was technically Harrington’s fault, not mine. We both know I usually have no problems making you cum on my tongue – without interruptions, of course.”
He rolls his hips ever so slightly into you, and your mouth falls open, eyes going glossy as you continue to stare him down through the mirror. The stirring in your abdomen is persistent now as your heart hammers against your ribs, mind melting and completely forgetting the obligation at hand.
And Eddie knows this. He’s well aware of the effect he’s having on you, and it’s deliberate.
Suddenly, his body completely pulls away from yours, “I’ll meet you downstairs. Don’t want to keep them waiting any longer, do we, sweetheart?”
Damn him. Damn him, and damn his dimples, and damn how good his legs look in those jeans as he’s walking away from me right now.
You linger in the apartment, alone, for a few extra minutes to compose yourself. Trying to quelch the heat between your hips that had slowly spread across your entire body, threatening to consume you. You even go as far as to splash cool water across your cheeks, giving yourself a few smacks for good measure as you try to prepare yourself to go into public and put on the usual act. And beneath it all, you also hush the animal in your chest, the one that claws at you to tell him. The one that wails everytime you simply tell him you like him, the one that roars when you let another moment slip you by. It has to quiet, just as your flames need to settle, all for the sake of the act.
You deserve a goddamn Oscar at this point.
After deciding that touching up your makeup would take up far too many precious seconds, you’re darting out of Eddie’s apartment, locking up behind yourself before you head down to where he’s waiting. He’s already straddling his parked bike, the engine roaring to life like the animal inside you as you exit the main doors of the building and his hands extend his only helmet. You don’t fight him on who’s going to wear it – that’s a battle, you’ve learned, you will always lose.
We really need to just buy a second helmet.
The thought makes you smile as you hold the clunky thing. Buying a second helmet. Something Eddie had never done before, because he had never had a regular passenger before. He had never had someone glued to his side as you had become, not even Nancy. It sounds terribly domestic; perusing aisles with him, debating which helmet fits your style best. He’d probably make a joke about your head being big. He’d probably tease you for looking at the ridiculously expensive ones and tell you to opt for a cheaper one. You’d probably end up with a pricier one in the cart regardless, and Eddie would probably refuse to let you pay for it.
Domesticity. The image of it doesn’t ache like it had that night all those months ago. This isn’t something you yearn for hopelessly, smoke and mirrors that dissipate when you dare to reach out for it. It’s something finally in your grasp. Something tangible and something bound to happen, all you’d have to do is say the word and Eddie would comply eagerly.
Anything to keep my girl safe, as he would tell you any time you pointed out how dangerous it was for him to go without a helmet. He’d gotten creative in saying his own version of those three little words.
“M’lady,” he hums, nodding for you to put the helmet on before sweeping a hand over the empty space in the seat behind him, “Your chariot awaits.”
You don’t have a snarky quip to throw back at him, only grinning at the ground as you flip the helmet around a few times to prepare to put it on. All those embers aren’t just desire for him – there’s a warmth there that always exists. A candle on the windowsill of the home you had finally found.
You raise the clunky thing and tilt your head when Eddie suddenly says, “Oh, and babe?”
Immediately, you lower it, eyes wide in curiosity, “What?”
“That’s my shirt.”
“What?”
He motions to the t-shirt tucked carefully into your jeans, “That fine shirt you are currently wearing is mine.”
You look down, and he’s right. It’s too late to go back inside to change, and you know he’s aware of this when you catch his amused smirk. He probably noticed the moment you had put it on, and had deliberately waited until it was too late for you to do anything about it to inform you.
Bastard.
“I-” you pinch the fabric between your fingers, looking between it and Eddie wildly for a second before your shoulders slumped in defeat, “It’s fine. I doubt they’ll even notice.”
—
You were wrong. They do notice.
Everyone is already waiting inside for the two of you, nestled around a table in the bar in a similar arrangement to the very first night you’d been introduced to the group. There’s only two empty seats left conveniently, right next to each other. You don’t miss that mischievous look of success on Robin’s face as she looks overly proud of herself.
They’d set it up so we’d sit next to each other.
You’re grateful for your friends’ antics until you go to take the empty seat next to Steve.
“Is that Eddie’s shirt?”
Robin is leaning around Steve eagerly as she says it, ridiculing the shirt intensely.
“What?” you laugh nervously, looking down and tugging at the fabric.
Lie. Make up a lie. Make it good.
“That is Eddie’s shirt,” Nancy looks surprised across the table, looking up at the two of you questioningly.
“What?” you repeat yourself. Eddie has already taken his seat, and is avoiding the stares of everyone, “No, it’s not.”
“He has one just like it,” Jonathan adds fuel to the fire, “He literally wore it - what? Two days ago?”
In a pathetic attempt of an excuse, you plop down in your seat and force an offended look, “People can own the same shirt. He’s not the gatekeeper of-” you look down, and nearly erupt in embarrassment when you see what the shirt is. “Deftones.”
Ah, fuck.
It’s not just the embarrassment of being on the verge of getting caught in your lie – it’s the memories that flood back. You, on Eddie’s lap. Your mouth and his becoming one. Steve calling, and you sucking so innocently on Eddie’s neck.
Fuck.
You really wish Steve and Robin hadn’t interrupted earlier.
“It’s not like I got it at a show,” Eddie shrugs, and you wonder for a moment if he’s lying, “They’ve gotten more popular lately. I’ve seen their shit in Target.”
“Exactly!” you exclaim a little too loudly, a little too quick to defend yourself, “Exactly. I just thought it looked cool at Target. Besides, tonight is about Argyle.”
You smile at the birthday boy, and he returns the joy as he waves a little at you. The reminder is all it takes for everyone’s attention to return to the focus of the night – everyone’s attention but Nancy’s.
You can feel her eyes on you as conversation sparks up and debates of ordering shots begin. Everyone is busy asking Argyle what his plans for next weekend are – which are mostly composed of normal family gatherings, probably a homemade cake, etc. – but Nancy is watching you and Eddie like a hawk. In the peripheral of your eye, you watch the way she leans back so casually into Jonathan's around her shoulder, looking like she knows. You’re probably just being paranoid. You’re definitely just being paranoid.
You try to ignore it, and instead let yourself just enjoy the moment. All your friends gathered, a group in which you finally feel like you belong to, jokes being made and laughter being exchanged that has you feeling a bit giddy. It’s nice. Even between the smoke of the room and the flickering lights overhead, murmuring chatter of nearby patrons mingling right in with your group’s noise, it’s homely. The smell of drunken cigars and fruity cocktails should be overwhelming, but you just let it wrap you up instead.
And when you turn your head, inhaling deeply the smell of cinnamon and musk rather than all those other foreign anomalies, you find Eddie already looking at you. Soft eyes, bitten grin, a few loose curls framing his cheeks as his bangs curl up into his forehead. Even in the shoddy lighting, he takes your breath away.
He’s looking at you. Just like that first night. Dozens of other people in this room at this moment, and he only has eyes for one – he only has eyes for you.
“So!” Argyle announces, “I think, my dudes, instead of doing what Birdie had so… excitedly suggested,” and oh, he was being generous and calling Robin suggesting he took twenty three shots for his twenty third birthday just her being excited rather than foolish, “We should just take the twenty three shots and split them up amongst the group.”
Steve and Jonathan immediately groan, protesting how they’re driving, and Eddie only shakes his head with a chuckle. So far, he’d only ordered and been nursing on a plain coke, no whiskey.
Somehow, sitting beside him with the group is worse than keeping distance.
When he’d taken off his jacket, you’d silently begged for him to rest an arm across the back of your chair just as Jonathan was doing to Nancy. And he had, almost too naturally before he’d caught himself. It would have been easier to play off cooly, probably would have gone unnoticed, but your boy had practically jumped out of his bones as he’d flinched and tucked his arm back into himself suddenly. He’d even bumped his elbow against his own seat in his haste.
And Nancy had noticed.
“That’s only three shots per person!” Argyle defends, “Four for me, since you know – birthday boy.”
While Eddie may be avoiding alcohol tonight, you aren’t. Not unusual, but it had been odd when Eddie had told the waitress your order of an amaretto sour rather than you telling her yourself.
Another strike. Another thing Nancy had noticed with her watchful eye.
“I’m down,” you shrug, “Hell, I’ll even take an extra shot if those two dumbasses won’t.”
“Is that a good idea?”
You wish Eddie had been drinking to excuse his idiocracy. Because all it takes is him saying that, not with malice but with concern, and the look on Nancy’s face told you she was officially catching on.
He hadn’t said it with the concern of a friend prepared to warn against drinking yourself sick. He’d said it with the concern of someone who would be taking care of you by the end of the night, of someone who would be dealing with the aftermath of that many shots.
You two were bombing this whole secrecy, to put it lightly.
You try to save the moment but laughing it off, turning to him slightly and teasing, “What, are you my keeper now?”
Despite your best efforts, the statement doesn’t come across as friendly banter. It’s not quite fighting either. It’s a dare, you dangling something in Eddie’s face that no one else at this table quite sees. A stupid, idiotic continuation of your flirtatious game of cat and mouse from earlier in the apartment, when he’d deliberately gotten you hot and bothered. When he’d deliberately let you leave in his shirt. His palm is warm when he shifts ever so slightly, placing it on your thigh beneath the table. Out of sight from everyone else. Fueling and fanning all your growing flames.
You two were toeing a very dangerous line tonight.
His eyes darken a bit, and you pray no one else notices in the dim bar lighting, “I don’t know, am I?”
Everyone is distracted enough with your idea. Steve and Jonathan were agreeing, saying they could take one shot and then others in the group could shoulder the extras. Robin was quick to also say she’ll take an extra one. But Nancy is silent, watching your quiet exchange with Eddie.
“I don’t think you are, Munson.”
Except he is. Without a single doubt in your bones, you know that he is.
Your playful smile betrays you. It tugs up the corners of your mouth and it’s clear to any outsider this wasn’t a brewing argument. The game was obvious if anyone was watching close enough. And Nancy, ever the smart one, was watching close enough.
She’s playing her cards right, you realize, when she waits until the group has ordered the round of shots to say anything.
“So, Eddie,” she begins, drawing the entire group’s attention to her best friend, “Do anything fun today?”
He nearly chokes on his coke subtly. “I- Um-”
“You just didn’t answer any of my texts today,” she continues on, “Must have been busy, yeah?”
Eddie retracts his hand from your thigh, far more elusive in this action than he had been about removing his arm from your chair, before he fiddles with his hands in his lap. “Yeah – no, yeah. Sorry about that, Nance.”
He pulls his phone from his pocket for no apparent reason. The shiny new smartphone, having not even bought a case or screen protector yet. You’d already yelled at him for that, claiming out of everyone, you trust him the least to not break the phone on the first day. He’d only laughed and shut you up with a kiss.
His new phone is placed face down on the table, cherry red glinting, “I just had to go to the mall and-”
“Is that a new phone?” Argyle interrupts him, catching sight of the movement and the glinting, “Oh, holy shit, my dude! That’s a new phone! That is an iPhone if I’ve ever seen one!”
Everyone – Robin, Steve, Jonathan – are rapidly leaning to catch sight of it as if they can’t believe it. Eddie continues to shrink at being the center of attention suddenly.
“It is,” Steve laughs in disbelief, “Never thought I’d see the day, Munson.”
Robin scrunches her face, “Does this mean we have to add him to the group chat?”
You let out a giggle at that, lips pressed to try and contain some of that smile breaking through as you look at him and wiggle your brows. He immediately rolls his eyes, but picks up the phone regardless to give everyone a better look.
“Yes, yes. I’ve finally joined the dark side,” he teases everyone just as the waitress returns with the tray of shots. Jonathan is the only one with enough sense to look away from Eddie’s spectacle, thanking her kindly, “Feast your eyes, my friends, for this is where my five hundred dollars went-”
“Holy shit.”
Nancy’s sudden whisper of an exclamation has everyone freezing. Eddie stops spinning and flipping the phone to show it off, staring at her with nothing but concerned, “What? What happen-”
Nancy shares a look with Robin as they both grin.
Oh no.
“Eddie,” Nancy says slowly, turning her head back his way slowly.
“What?” Eddie frowns, eyes flitting back and forth between Nancy and Robin.
Robin is the one to ask the question rather than Nancy, “What exactly is your lockscreen?”
Eddie goes pale. You’re confused, looking at the phone he’s currently cradling with the screen against his palm.
Did he even change it? Wouldn’t it just be one of the default ones?
“Guys,” you decide to come to his rescue, still impossibly confused, “It’s probably just some default screen, don’t tease him.”
“That was not a default screen,” Nancy laughs out.
Argyle looks around at everyone. Nancy and Robin, both with mischievous glints in their eyes. Eddie, still ghostly white as if he’s been caught red-handed. Steve and Jonathan, both just shrugging at each other. “Uh…. Why do I feel like I’m missing something here?”
“Show the class your lock screen, Eds.”
“Fuck off, Nancy.”
“Oh my God,” Robin coos, leaning across Steve and pressing you back gently to catch sight of Eddie, who’s dipping his face down, “He’s blushing!”
“Guys, leave him alone,” Steve insists, sharing a look with you now. But you have no clue what’s going on.
You have no clue what his lockscreen is.
“Edward Munson, show us that lockscreen right now, or I’m Venmo-requesting five hundred dollars from you,” Robin continues to threaten.
You look away from Steve and at Eddie immediately, leaning in closer to his space. He looks at you, clearly focusing on your presence more than everyone else’s, and smiles like a child trying to get out of trouble.
“Eddie,” you say quietly, almost impossible for your friends to hear, “What the fuck is your lockscreen?”
He slowly and carefully turns the screen towards you, making sure only your eyes can see it, and- oh.
It’s a low quality photo. Clearly taken on his flip phone. Details just a little fuzzy, and the darkness of the photo wasn’t helping. But you can see it clearly. You can make out exactly what it was that had Nancy and Robin losing their minds.
It’s a picture of you and Eddie, with your head on Eddie’s chest.
For a moment, everyone else at the table doesn’t exist. You hadn’t been insane that night – he had taken a photo. A snapshot of the moment where everything had changed. The moment in which you had given up the fight and completely succumbed to just how much Eddie meant to you, how badly you pined for him and how deeply you liked him.
“I was going to make it the one of you at Betty’s,” he whispers, “But, I just- I really liked this photo.”
He’s still tense, as if he expects you to be upset with him.
You’re the farthest thing from upset at him.
“You made me your lockscreen?” you breathe out, a slow-growing smile beginning to stretch your lips.
You’re not upset at him. As a matter of fact, you’re in love with him. You want to scream it from every rooftop, shout it to every stranger on the street – you are in love with Eddie Munson.
And you have been for a while. You just hadn’t found a way to tell him yet.
“Yeah,” he loosens up a little when he realizes you’re happy, enamored with the fact, “Yeah, of course I did. Who else am I going to make it besides my favorite…. Enemy?”
He says it loud enough for everyone to hear clearly. All of Nancy’s teasing has come to a halt, Robin has settled back into her chair, and Steve is finally looking too curious for his own good.
“As birthday boy,” Argyle breaks the moment, shatters away the bubble you and Eddie always seemed to end up in, “I am demanding I get to see this lockscreen.”
Eddie doesn’t make any move to show the screen to any other person, only watching you for approval.
Well, so much for next time.
You give him a little nod.
Eddie makes a dramatic show of it, sighing heavily before he very slowly turns his lockscreen to face everyone else. But even in his dramatics, you can see that weight lifting off his chest.
This, as a matter of fact, changes everything.
No more hiding, no more lying. One simple flash of his phone screen, of a photo he had taken on a night that no one has even been gifted the details of yet, and all your friends suddenly know.
The reactions all vary.
Argyle leans forward and squints before his face breaks out into pure joy for the two of you, “Oh, fuck yes! Best birthday gift ever. Pay up, my dudes!”
Jonathan leans backward, digging out his wallet as he murmurs, “Son of a bitch.”
Steve only smiles and shakes his head, also digging for his wallet as he seemingly chastizes himself, “I should have fucking known.”
“Hold on,” you look between everyone as Jonathan digs out a couple twenties, “Wait, did you guys fucking bet on this?”
“We did,” Robin answers you, holding up a hand to make Jonathan and Steve pause their retrieval of cash, “What do you take us for? Idiots? Now, gentlemen, before either of you payout, we’ve gotta ask the most important question,” she shoves a palm against Steve’s chest so that he’s out of line of sight, gaze set on you and Eddie, “When did this happen?”
You don’t have any time to be mad at your friends. Because when Robin asks you this, suddenly you’re back to two months ago. You’re outside your dorm with Eddie, kissing him as if tomorrow would never be promised, and you’re home.
You pulled back from Eddie finally, both of you gasping for breath as he held you steady. Your exchange from moments before still hung heavy in the air.
You liked him, you liked him, you liked him.
And the feeling was mutual.
You’d already known, but it was nice to hear. It was nice to be reminded that this, what had happened between you two, was so very real.
“I don’t wanna start over,” the words tumbled from your tongue before you could consider them, upheaving from your chest, desperate for Eddie to heard them, “I- I don’t need to start over. I like our story, okay? You had been right – it wasn’t all bad, and… and I don’t want to start over. I never want you to be a stranger again, and I know that sounds stupid-”
“It’s not stupid,” he interrupted you, forehead meeting yours, “So very not stupid.”
“I don’t care if you were a dick,” you continued on, carefully, “I was, too. We were both… shitty. I forgive you. I’ll forgive you a thousand times over, as long as you keep trying to make it up to me.”
“Make it up to you?” he grinned playfully, “And just how do you suggest I start making it up to you?”
“Ask me out,” his eyebrows raised in surprise, and you knew you must have looked like a wild idiot to everyone else, but you didn’t care, “To dinner, to a movie, to just hang around your apartment with you for another twenty four hours – I don’t care. Just… Just please, Munson, ask me out.”
And so he had. A first date, a second date, a third. You two had gone through the entire ordeal of every cliche relationship despite the unconventional beginning. You’d gone to dinner, you’d gone to a movie, and you had done plenty of hanging out around his apartment and more.
“The night of the bet,” Eddie answers as he finally brings an arm up around your shoulders, just as he had wanted to earlier.
Immediately, both Robin and Argyle let out their own curses, pulling out their wallets just as Steve and Jonathan had.
You look between them, all the annoyance you should feel just being run over with adoration for these idiots. Your eyes land on Nancy, and when you realize she’s the only one at the table not coughing up any cash, you ask her, “I’m assuming you guessed correctly?”
“I did,” she nods, looking proud of herself.
“How’d you know?”
Nancy raises a threatening finger, before suddenly pointing it right in Eddie’s direction, “That idiot has always been down bad for you-”
“Okay, okay,” Eddie stops her, “I’ve already told her the nitty gritty details. No need to embarrass me.”
“No need to embarrass you?” Nancy asks in disbelief, “Good God, just how many times did I have to sit and listen to you pine for her? No, no – I have earned this, Munson.”
You look at Eddie, a glint in your eye, “You only told me about the first time.”
“I only remembered the first time,” he counters, blushing under yellow and faded lights, “I was usually dru-”
“Don’t lie,” Nancy stops him, “There were plenty of rants where you were dead sober.”
Everyone only smiles at Eddie, a few teasing comments made his way, but none of them matter as you lean into his side, your shoulder bumping his to the best of your ability with his arm still around you.
“Aw, babe,” you coo, warm all over for the man beside you, “You had a crush on me? That’s cute.”
His chin lowers, eyes boring into yours with unlimited affection. For a moment, it’s just you and Eddie. The guise of you two having your own bubble of a moment.
His head tilts further, his ears brushing your ear as he whispers for just you to hear, “So did you, if I’m not mistaken.”
“Not mistaken,” you whisper back. Money is now being exchanged, tossed across the table with grumbles that hold no heat.
Yeah, you did have a crush on Eddie. You still do. You don’t think you’ll ever stop having a crush on him, even as he’s surrendered himself as yours. Especially not when his thumb is stroking your shoulder as it is now.
Just like that very first night. The smoky bar fades to nothingness, your tunnel vision focused on Eddie. You know jokes are being made about the two of you by your friends, but it’s all white noise when he’s looking at you like this. Like you’re everything to him, like he’s just returned home after a long week.
You’d really like to be his home to return to after every long week, for the rest of your lives, but there’ll be time to ponder on that later. For now, you two have time.
The voice inside your head suddenly comes to life as it recognizes that this is your moment. You can tell him. Now that you’ve told everyone else, you can tell him those three words. Finally get them off your chest. Make it real.
“Hey, Munson,” you say, still quiet enough for the words to only reach his ears. He perks up, eager to drink your next words. You have all his attention. You always have all his attention, “I-” and then you choke. He stares curiously for a few seconds, and the words just won’t come out. You want to scream – you wonder if it would work if you screeched the three words at the top of your lungs. Probably not, “I’m just really glad you didn’t really hate me,” a pathetic excuse at a coverup, “And… I’m really glad they made that first bet.”
He smiles so softly, it strikes you right in the center of your chest. Right amongst your garden that not only had you tended for him, but that he had also had a hand in watering these last few months.
You should have told him. You love him, and you should have told him.
“I’m really glad I didn’t hate you, too,” he remarks, squeezing your shoulder a little tighter, “Actually, I’m glad you don’t hate me. Not anymore, at least.”
“I never really did.”
“You definitely sort of did. You tried to take me out with a glass, remember?”
You burst into secluded laughter, hearing your friends beginning to pass around the shots but paying them no mind.
Eddie can’t help it. He pulls you in close, placing an impulsive kiss to your temple and letting his lips linger there. Just pressed against you, breathing in the scent of you.
That kiss sends shivers down your spine, warmth through the center of your bones. You love him.
You love him, you love him, you love him.
So why can’t you just tell him that?
“Aw!” Robin pulls the two out of your bubble, “Aren’t they just adorable?”
“Yes, yes,” Steve passes two shot glasses down to your end of the table, “Absolutely adorable. It’s nauseating. Also, I’d like to go on record – I totally knew the entire time. I was just giving them the benefit of the doubt.”
“Playing the Devil’s advocate?” Argyle asks, lining up his multiple shots, “I dig it. Even though you’re totally lying right now.”
“You’re so lucky it’s your birthday, dude,” Steve rolls his eyes, clearly holding back an insult.
Eddie’s arm stays heavy on you, a welcome weight as you sit up straighter to take your own several shots.
These were your friends. Somewhere you belonged, filled with people you loved and a boy you could come home to after all your long weeks. A certain happiness that is rare, and impossible to place, and can nearly bring you to tears overwhelms you as you grab that first shot.
“Also-” Steve turns to you and Eddie, “I knew that was Munson’s shirt. The day he got it, all he did was brag about what a rare find it was. Fuck off with your Target bullshit.”
Eddie’s hand leaves your shoulder long enough to reach out and thump Steve, laughter booming and vibrating against you, “Sure you did, Stevie.”
“Target has some nice things,” Nancy offers with a shrug, now holding her own shot glass.
The seven of you all hold up the first of what will probably be too many shots tonight, the beginning of a night that will probably be remembered through killer hangovers tomorrow and possibly even captured on camera by the likes of Jonathan, Steve, and Eddie.
“To Argyle,” you take the lead on the cheers, jittery and anxious as all the love you continue to withhold buzzes in your chest, lifting your small glass in his direction, “The most lovable twenty three year old I know.”
Everyone moves to drink, but Argyle immediately shakes his head, “Nah, fuck that. It’s not even my birthday yet – I demand a new toast.”
He lifts his brows, staring you down and silently adding, you know what to do.
And yeah, you did know what to do.
“Fine,” you sigh dramatically, leaning further forward, Eddie’s arm following. You relish in the tense silence as everyone waits for what you’re about to say instead. Even Eddie is waiting with bated breath, watching your every move, a contrasting yet easy smile on his face, “To bets.”
A booming applause from your group. Glasses tapping against the wooden table before shots are downed. Groans of disgust as the tequila hits everyones’ tongues.
Eddie hardly waits before you’ve both swallowed to remove his arm and grab your face, turning your cheek so that his lips can capture yours. Everyone only cheers louder, Steve letting out an obnoxious whistle as Argyle claps. You’re surely going to get kicked out of the bar at this rate. But you really don’t care as you kiss your boy back.
Next time. You have to tell him next time.
—
The night ends in more of a whisper than a bang, surprisingly.
Everyone has suddenly become a happy drunk, probably from all the love and good news passed around throughout the night. It’s all warm feelings and warm hugs, tequila on the breath and love on the mind.
You don’t even get kicked out of the bar. Your waitress only smiles at your rowdy table from time to time, and you figure that all the good vibes must be rubbing off on her.
Steve is the first to call it quits. Robin has drank enough to give herself the hiccups, and he says that after that, she almost always gets viciously nauseous. He wants to get in the car and home before she gets to the point, for the sake of his car’s interior not getting covered in puke.
It’s a domino effect from there.
Argyle quickly agrees, Jonathan offers a guiding arm to Nancy, and Eddie’s arm only tightens around you. The group closes out the tab, putting off worries of everyone paying Jonathan back until tomorrow. Quick, simple, painless.
Until you all get outside. And goodbyes are exchanged – that’s not the part that gets to you – with promises of seeing each other throughout the week. Everyone congratulates you and Eddie one more time for good measure, Nancy and Steve looking the most proud of you two as Argyle and Robin giggle like children about it. And it’s fine – you laugh along and it’s all good. You let them get in all their I told you so’s and know it’s all in good fun.
It’s all fine. Until you two branch off from the group, Eddie’s bike across the lot from everyone else’s cars.
The moment you two are alone, you can’t tell if it’s the alcohol or if it’s the levity of suddenly having a moment that only belongs to you. Your mind wastes no time of reminding you of your pathetic cop out: I’m just really glad you didn’t really hate me. None of those words even sound akin to the real ones you should have said.
I love you.
It’s not because your friends have found out. You know it’s not that, because just last week, right after your breakdown about whether you were smothering Eddie by half-living in his apartment, you’d had a breakdown because you realized you wanted to fully live in his apartment. You’d had a breakdown because you hadn’t grown tired of him yet, hadn’t satisfied the need to see his face every morning when you first wake up yet. You hadn’t gotten bored with all his lingering affectionate touches. You hadn’t gotten used to the way he’d kiss you in the middle of sentences. He was still taking your breath away, two months later, and you had a breakdown because you realized it wasn’t novelty or a pathetic crush making you feel this way.
You had a breakdown because you love Eddie.
You love him, ardently so, and you still can’t find the right moment to say those words to him. He deserves to know – the entire foundation of this relationship was honesty.
It’s all you can think about as his hand finds yours and he’s walking up to his bike, practically dragging you up to his bike as your legs forget how to work amongst nerves.
“So, I was thinking,” he carries on conversation so casually, “You want to spend the night at my place? I know you said you don’t have any class-“
Now. Not later, not next time. Now.
“Hey, Eddie?” you interrupt him, stopping the two of you a few paces away from his bike.
His face is impossibly concerned as he looks down at you, clearly reading the worry on your face, “What’s up, babe?”
Here goes nothing – be brave.
“I-”
Why is this so hard?
It shouldn’t be this hard, because loving Eddie is easy.
It’s easy when he’s looking at you like this, like he always does. It’s easy when he wakes up after you, and he comes into the kitchen to just wrap himself around you as you make him coffee, no matter what time of day it might be. It’s easy when he catches your eye from across the room during outings, sometimes winking once he knows you’ve found his gaze, just to see you laugh. It’s easy when he tries to distract you from homework when you’ve been spending far too many hours hunched over your laptop on his couch, coming and bugging you, laying his head on your lap and insisting his girl needs a break. It’s easy when he kisses you and everything just feels right.
It’s easy. He loves you – you love him. It isn’t hard. You’re making this hard, when it never was.
“I love you,” you admit quietly, voice shaking as the words leave you easily.
Loving Eddie is easy.
“I love you,” you say more surely, voice raising in volume as you find the willpower to look into his eyes, “I love you so fucking much, Eddie.”
Each time you say it, you gain confidence in it. It’s true – you love him. You love him so much, it encompasses every inch of your being. It entirely consumes you. You love him.
His face falls slowly, mouth agape and eyes boring into yours.
You don’t wait for his response. You already have it – in the way he’s still holding your hand, in the way he holds you at the end of each night, in the way he knows both your orders at bars and coffee shops. In the way he will always put himself between you and the street when walking down the sidewalk, in the way when he roughly stops his bike at stop lights that his hand always flies back to hold onto you. In every soft touch and every expression of devotion he has offered you for not just two months, but for over a year.
“You love me?” he softly asks, finally beginning to come back to life.
You nod without hesitation, “I love you, Eddie.”
Now that you’ve started saying it, you can’t stop it. And each time, it’s still heavy and sweet like honey, even as the confession comes as easy as breathing. It’s pouring from every crevice, filling up the night air around you.
He takes you off guard with a harsh kiss. His teeth colliding with yours, his breath stealing yours, his entire being molded with yours.
“Say it again,” he begs in a murmur as he pulls you in even closer, desperate as you break into a smile, “God, please say it again, sweetheart.”
“I love you,” your cheeks begin to ache, the kiss no longer even to be a considered a kiss as you two are just mindlessly pressing your smiles together, “I love you, I love you, I love you,” with each repeat of the sentiment, Eddie drinks it in, “I’m so fucking in love with you, Eddie Munson. You and your stupid lockscreen and-”
“You do not think my lockscreen is stupid,” he pulls away, raising his eyebrows as his palms squish your cheeks, “I saw the way you looked at me. You were eating that shit up.”
You bite your lip, trying to pull further away from him, but he won’t let you, “I was not-”
“You were,” he cheekily teases, eyes bright as he looks at you, “You were, and it was the best thing ever. Totally worth stealing Argyle’s spotlight.”
“We didn’t steal Argyle’s spotlight,” you try to defend yourself.
“We so did.”
You shake your head to the best of your abilities, face still between his hands, “We… Okay, we sort of did.”
He grins like a young boy, all his youth and all his love on show for you as he leans down, pausing right before pressing another kiss to your lips, “We definitely did. And it’s fair, because they fucking bet on us.”
“They did,” you agree, not even feeling guilty anymore, too consumed by the love for the man right in front of you, “They tend to do that a lot, don’t they?”
“They do.”
He finally surges forward, lips sealing against yours one last time. It’s less messy this time, more meaningful. A bit more patient as he takes the time to fit his lips into yours, just as they should be.
You have an audience. You’re completely oblivious until you hear the cheering from across the parking lot, snapping apart to both glance at where Argyle and Robin are jumping up and down, screaming their heads off.
“Hell yeah, my dudes!” Argyle’s voice booms as Robin only produces incoherent coos to echo.
Nancy, Steve, and Jonathan are all just watching silently, shaking their heads, but you can also see their grins. Almost as radiant as you felt.
Steve finally cups his hands around his mouth, sending his voice to you over Argyle’s continuing whooping, “Get a room!”
Perfectly in sync, you and Eddie both throw up a hand with your middle fingers raised in their direction, still half tangled in each other.
Your eyes find Nancy. She’s looking at you two with overwhelming pride, a certain satisfaction that breathes out the relief of finally. This may be a weight off not only your chest but Eddie’s as well, yet you can’t help but imagine just how she feels. How many nights she had stomached Eddie’s rambles about you leading up to this very moment. The pay off must be unimaginable.
Finally.
“Congrats on finally getting the girl, Munson!” she calls out, but her eyes are on you, winking.
You see it now. Why they’re best friends. How all her best parts and Eddie’s best parts overlap and compliment one another perfectly.
Jonathan is the final one to yell across the parking lot at you two, one arm slung around Nancy as the other moves to unlock his car, even his usually grumpy face showing signs of elation in that timid smile, “Now take your girl, home, dude. Spare the rest of us the gory details.”
Eddie’s laugh reverberates against you physically from how he holds you, also making its way to burrow deep within your chest where all that liquid bliss belongs, as he throws his entire head back and makes you finally focus on just him again. Home. Not just his apartment, but him. You realize now that it’s simply wherever he goes. Where he leads, you’ll follow. It could be a shitty dorm room with a mattress that leaves your back aching, it could be a comforting apartment that holds you ‘hostage’ for twenty four hours straight – it doesn’t really matter. Wherever he is, home is. He’s your home; you love him, he knows you love him, and he’s your home.
When his laughter finally fades, and he’s looking at you again, his dimples are prominent as ever through his whisper, “Just in case you’ve forgotten – I’m very much in love with you, too, sweetheart.”
His lips meet yours for good measure.
It’s been the longest week of your life, the longest year, but you’re finally home.
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