Always and Forever (YN x Eddie Munson - Stranger Things S4)

Chapter Five

Without thinking, you take off down the clubhouse hallway. Laughing like a maniac the whole time. You can't remember the last time you laughed this hard. 

As you weave through the corridor, you can hear Eddie running behind you. What he doesn't know though, is that you used to spend a lot of time here for the art club. You know all the secret paths and hiding spots. 

First, you shake him off which is easy enough because that boy isn't very fast. Next, you hide in the corner of a darker hall. You swear that they're never going to fix the lights in here, it's been 4 years after all. 

Covering your mouth and panting, you stay as quiet as you can a huge smile still plastered firmly across your face. You see him slowly cross you, not seeing you. It was apparently a good day to be wearing dark colors. 

A good minute and a half pass before you emerge, no longer panting but still smiling, clutching the clothing to your body as if it could fly away. You take in your surroundings, not knowing exactly where Eddie went but feeling triumphant in your playful escape. 

Just as you're about to leave, you hear something behind you. 

"Found you~" Eddie whispers into your ear, making shivers go down your back. 

He quickly tackles you from behind and picks you up, throwing you over his shoulder. He starts jostling you and sort of jumping up and down slightly, laughing. 

You're laughing, too. You would think that you'd be terrified but something about knowing it's Eddie, or just his presence in general, make you feel safe beyond belief. 

He starts walking to the DnD room once more "Thought you could run from me, huh Little Miss?" He uses a terrible southern accent when he says 'Little Miss'. "You forget that I've been held back. Twice." 

You laugh "That's not something to be proud of, Ed." 

He stops in his tracks and shifts you so that he's holding you bridal style "Ed?" 

His catching your nickname for him makes you blush but doesn't falter your smile. "Well, I uh. I was thinking that you always call me "Little Miss" or "Missy" or something like that, that I should give you a nickname and it just kinda slipped out I guess." 

You don't make eye contact, staring at the tattoo on his chest and tracing its outline with your fingertips.  With how close the two of you are, you could feel his heartbeat speed up when you touched his chest. There's no doubt in your mind that he can feel yours race as well. 

The entire act of you touching his tattoo feels extremely intimate, but you couldn't help yourself. It isn't awkward when you trace it, it feels natural to be this close to him. It doesn't feel awkward when you rest your head against his chest, either. 

He hasn't started walking again, yet. He just stares at you, admiring you, how gentle you are in tracing his tattoo. Just everything about you makes his body heat up and his heart explode. 

In staring at you, he whispers, only to himself but with intense amounts of admiration in his voice "Ed..." 

You look back up at him. "Yeah. It's kinda stupid I guess, a nickname for a nickname." 

He shakes his head softly "No, I like it." He looks at you, really, looks at you "You can call me Ed if you want." 

You giggle as a blush creeps up on you "Thanks, Ed." 

You look around, the two of you must have been standing like this for at least 2 full minutes "We should probably head back, huh?" 

He snaps out of some kind of trance "Yeah, good idea" he says as he starts walking towards the club room, not putting you down just yet. And you don't mind. 

Once the two of you are back in the room you look at him and clear your throat "Ed?" 

"Yeah" The blush that seems to constantly grace the tips of his ears is back 

"You can uh, put me down now." 

He lowers your feet down to the ground "Oh shit, sorry I didn't even notice that I was still holding you, sorry." 

"It's ok" You hand him the hoodie but keep his old clothes to yourself. "Here" 

He takes it gratefully and then gestures to his leather jacket and denim vest "Do I get those back, too?" 

"Nope" really popping the "P" sound.

"And why not?" He asks 

"Because I said so, I'll wash these, too." 

Even though he's only known you for about two days, he knows there's no point in arguing with you. He holds up his hands in an "I surrender" stance "Fine, whatever you say, Miss." 

He starts to leave "Need a ride." 

You didn't but you really wanted to. You thought of the bike chained in the woods that you rode here this morning. You always hid it because you don't trust half the people in this town, so it probably wouldn't hurt to leave it there overnight. You'd walk back tomorrow to get it. 

You beam at him "That'd be great" 

"Ok, then," He bows deeply and holds out an arm for you in a mimic princely stance "Our chariot awaits, Princess." 

You laugh and gratefully take his arm, only stopping to grab your bag from its place on the floor.

The two of you head out of the building, he keeps up the prince act all the way to the car, opening every door and calling you "Majesty" or "Princess" every time he needs to refer to you. 

When you get to his car, he starts it up and puts his arm behind your headrest to see out the rear window and pull out. Once the two of you are on your way he asks "Wanna listen to something?" 

You don't see why not "Sure, what've you got?" 

He tells you to pull a box out from under your seat. You do so and find a shoebox filled with cassette tapes of rock bands, some you've heard of, some you haven't. 

You shuffle through them, pulling out some to inspect the songs on the back. Finally, you settle on an Ozzy Osborn cassette and the beginning of War Pigs fills the car. 

"Wow," he says "I didn't peg you as an Ozzy fan. You know, he bit-" 

You finish the sentence for him "The head of a bat off on stage? Yeah, it was awesome." 

He looks at you impressed but says nothing and continues the drive back to your house. 

When you arrive at your home, he walks you to the door once again. 

You enter through the doorway and turn to face him "Thanks for the ride, Ed." 

He looks down at you, a soft smile on his face "Any time, princess." 

You smile right back and repeat the motion of kissing to the tips of your fingers and pressing them to his chest. But, this time, he takes your hand and presses it fully to his chest. Then, he takes it and kisses your palm, still looking you in the eyes. 

Somehow, this moment feels more intimate than him, shirtless, carrying you around. Like, you shouldn't be doing this in your parent's house or something. 

He pulls away from your hand "See you around, Y/N" 

you were already blushing, but him calling you by your actual name and not some nickname flusters you utterly and completely. "Yeah, I'll um, yep see you later alligator." 

You slam the door in his face but then open it again slowly "Bye, Ed. I had a lot of fun with you today." 

He seems confused but just nods "I did, too, Y/N." as he walks to his car and drives away.