falling for the freak ~ Eddie Munson x y/n Harrington

the game

once the teacher has finished addressing the class you decide to introduce yourself to Eddie, " hi, I'm y/n-" "i know who you are" Eddie interrupts, "you're Harrington's sibling." "uh, yep thats the one." you reply back, a little disappointed to be known as 'Steve's sibling', almost if on cue with your thoughts Eddie speaks again, "you're obviously more than just Steve's sibling, but I'm yet to know you that well." you look over at him and see him smirking while looking at you, and you cant help but notice how handsome he looked when he smiled like that. "well with time, I'm sure you will." you say smiling then looking back at the notes on the board.

after some time the bell rings, dismissing you to first break where you meet up with Robin in the noisy cafeteria as usual. you see Robin sitting at the table and join her, "hey y/n/n, how's your day going?", "actually pretty good considering i had maths first up. how about yours?" as she goes to answer she's interrupted by a loud voice projecting through the cafeteria and you see a familiar face standing upon a table, "but as long as you're into, band or science or paaarties or a game where you toss balls into laundry baskets" yelling extra loud to the basketball players table to get a rise out of them which seemed to work when the team captain Jason stood up and yelled back but this didnt seem to bother Eddie, he just mocked him further.

you always admired the way Eddie never really seemed bothered by what others thought of him. Eddie, along with Dustin, Mike and Lucas, were all part of a club called 'hellfire club' where they just played dungeon and dragons, the rest of the school call them freaks but you thought it was actually a pretty entertaining game, Dustin used to get you to play with him and his friends when you'd babysit but you haven't played since then.

once Eddie is finished tormenting the jocks, he goes to step down from the table but in the process he turns and stops briefly as he looks into your eyes, still smirking, you smile back and shake your head slowly to tease him with your unimpressed response, he acts hurt, stabbing an imaginary stake into his heart and jumps down to continue his rant quieter between his table, secretly you're entertained by Eddie's absurd antics. Robin turns back to you after the 'show' had concluded. "well that was.. something." you both laugh and finish your lunch.

~~~~~~

school has ended and you start walking out of the premises and as you're setting up your Walkman, you are approached by Dustin who has the widest, cheekiest grin on his face "hey y/n, i have a quick question, well request really." you stand there intrigued, "well you see Lucas can't make it to the D&D meet up tonight because he has his basketball game and i was wondering if you'd fill in for him?" you can tell he's desperate and quite frankly you kind of miss playing the game, "yea sure." "wait really?" "yea why not." you say smiling. "okay, great, meet us in the band room at seven tonight." "will do." Dustin runs off super happy to catch up with Mike, seeing this makes you happy, "just like old times" you say to yourself quietly while smiling.

~~~~~~~

6:30 rolls around and you realise you have to leave now to get to the meeting on time, you prepare your character's name and story on the drive, once you reach the school you walk in and see two boys staring at you as you stand in the door way, past them you see Dustin, Mike and Eddie having a dispute about how they didn't bring a replacement. while the two boys try to argue that they did, you clear your throat to make your presence known and the three look over at you, a large grin spreads across Dustin's face when he sees you and likewise with Eddie. Dustin comes rushing over, "do you have your role set-up?", "of course, 'Sharona, Chaotic Neutral Human Rogue level 10.'", he smiles wide and brings you to go sit down but Eddie steps in the way."my, my, my, y/n Harrington, you are quite possibly the last person i expected to see here tonight. however did these boys convince you to spend your night here?", "lets just say i have a soft spot for Dustin." you say chuckling to yourself. the smile on eddies face become more toothy as he puts his hand out for you to shake it, which you do and you guys sit and start the game.

Eddie is the dungeon master so he narrates the events of the gameplay, the suspense builds "the hooded cultists chant "Hail Lord Vecna" they turn to you, remove their hoods. you recognise most of them from Makbar. there is one you do not recognise, his skin is shriveled, desiccated. and sometimes else, he is not only missing his left arm, but his left eye!" you all rise in outrage at the turn of events, "Vecna is dead!" "he was killed by Kas!" "so it was thought but Vecna lives!". "do you flee Vecna and his cultists? or do you stand your ground and fight? come on" Eddie asks the group, Dustin votes we should fight "to the death" and the group agrees, and you all chant it over and over, this brings joy to both you and Eddie and you look at each other and laugh at the enthusiasm and happiness the others are experiencing, you guys continue playing and cheering, as the stakes are higher than ever, time-out is called and the gang huddles up, "i hate to say it, but i think we've got to flee." some other agree "did we not just agree "to the death"? "That wasn't literal." the team bickers back and forth, although your character would want to flee in this kind of situation but you really want to see if you guys can do it. your thoughts are interrupted by Eddie calling to the group "whilst i respect the passion, you'd be wise to take Gareth the Great's concern to heart. there is no shame in running. dont try to be heroes, not today, 'kay?" Dustin calls back into the huddle "what do you think?" you guys strategise and declare "to the death" "lets kill this son of a bitch" Dustin says confidentially and asks for the d20, he shakes, he throws, he misses. it's all on you. you grasp the die in your palms and shake it and let it roll off your finger tips, the others cheer and plead, begging for higher than a 15.

you rolled a 19. you did it, everyone is over the moon. Eddie bows to you to show his admiration and respect. as the excitement winds down, you get up to get Mike and Dustin to take them home, Eddie comes over to you "congratulations y/n, i didn't know you had it in you.", "there's very little you know about me Eddie." you smile as you turn to walk out and catch up with the guys, leaving Eddie standing there mesmerising by your gameplay, by you. you unlock the car, get in and take the boys home, little did you know you left your bag back at school in the band room. Eddie finds it while cleaning up and now he has the perfect excuse to see you again.

word count: 1269

i hope you enjoyed this chapter, for the next one i have two ideas, one to have Eddie come straight to the Harrington's residents to return the bag making him miss the "appointment" with chrissy so he isnt a suspect of the "murder", this then branching off from the shows set outcome but there's more interactions with Eddie and y/n or for him to take the bag home with him and then the murder happens and the police find the bag and y/n becomes a suspect as well? i have no idea which one because i feel like they could both be pretty solid options so please choose one for me :))