MATILDA, eddie munson.

015.

FEBRUARY 14TH, 1986
📍 hawkins high school
12:36 PM

waiting under the bleachers with abba blasting from her walkman, tillie sat drawing a brief outline for the first page of hers and eddie's sketchbook.

they were meeting at a secret spot under the bleachers, close to where they'd had the argument a couple of weeks prior, per matilda's request.

it wasn't like she was embarrassed of eddie in anyway, but with his reputation of being a 'freak' and all the girls thinking he's a weirdo, and the fact that chrissy was catching on to them, she felt awkward discussing things with him so out in the open.

eddie didn't mind though, as his friends would kill him if they found out he kept ditching them to hang out with a cunningham sister.

"hey, pretty girl," he shouted, walking towards her with a skip in his step.

she looked up, removing her headphones from her head with a smile. "hey."

suddenly, eddie came to an abrupt stop. "close your eyes."

"why?" matilda queried.

"just close them," eddie ordered. "trust me."

reluctantly, tillie slowly shut her eyes. "if you tickle me, i will never forgive you."

"i'm not going to tickle you," the boy said softly. "i promise."

there were a few moments of silence, before eddie kneeled down in front of her and tapped her nose. "open up."

cautiously opening her eyes, matilda's eyebrows furrowed in confusion upon seeing eddie with a small bunch of flowers in his hand, which he'd obviously picked from the near surroundings.

"happy valentine's day to the only girl in this world who talks to me," he smiled, handing her the flowers.

tillie accepted the flowers happily. no one had ever gotten her any sort of valentine's day gift, and although this wasn't as much as jason got chrissy, it was absolutely perfect in it's own way.

"happy valentine's day to the only person in this god awful world i can actually tolerate," matilda joked lightly. "seriously, thank you."

"of course," he said, shaking it off as he crossed his legs, leaning his face pn his palm as his elbow sat on one of his knees. "what have you been doing?"

matilda placed the flowers down on the ground beside her gently. she grabbed the scrapbook and turned it around so he could see the light designs on the cover and front page.

"it's just a draft," she told him. "i drew it lightly in pencil, so it can be erased," she explained. "just in case you don't like it."

"no, i love it," he replied. "it looks great," he grinned. he took his backpack off his shoulder and opened it up, pulling out some books. "i found these on my uncle's bookshelf. he doesn't read them anymore, so don't worry. they're about medicine and history and stuff. and they have pictures in them, so i thought we could cut them out and stick them in," he said, before realizing how enthusiastic he was beginning to sound. "i don't know, it's just an idea."

"it's a great idea," matilda assured him, grabbing one of the books to flip through. she found pictures of different microscopes and cells and medical technology. "this is perfect."

"glad i'm helpful in some way," eddie commented.

"oh, shut up. you help me in ways you don't even realize," the blonde said. before he could ask what she meant, she began talking again. "so, my father hoards newspapers, dating back literally thirty plus years. i'll take a look at them over the weekend, see if there is anything worth taking."

"will he mind?"

"believe me," she answered him. "he won't even realize they're gone. i don't even know why he keeps them. i think he just likes taking up space in the basement."

"i think this is going to be amazing," eddie confessed. "who knows, this might get me the grades i need to finally graduate."

"you will graduate this year, eddie," matilda told him. "i can help you study for finals."

eddie shook his head. "you don't have to do that."

"it's the least i can do," she replied softly. she looked up at him and their eyes met in a deep gaze, and she felt immediately comforted. they sat like that for a moment, soft eye contact and a warm smile on both of their faces, until tillie broke the connection and looked down. "so, erm, we better figure out when and where we're going to do this."

"right," eddie nodded.

"i know you have your band and your hellfire club. i mean, i don't really do anything except sit at home and cry so i'm always free," she joked.

"i can cancel band and club meetings for you," he told her. "and we can also do it like we are now, during lunch and free periods."

"yeah," tillie agreed. "we might need somewhere more quiet though."

"i know just the place," eddie smiled, standing up. he offered his hand to matilda who collected her stuff before grabbing his hand, allowing him to help her up.

"oh, we're going now?" she asked, receiving no answer. eddie began to walk around the bleachers and into the woods. "guess we're going now."

she began to follow him, put off by the loud silence of the surroundings. "have you brought me here to kill me?"

"damn, am i that transparent?" eddie said, cocking his head to the side, a smirk on his face.

tillie rolled her eyes. "you're so annoying."

"what was that?" he questioned, brown lightly furrowed. "'you're so amazing?' why thank you, mattie. i appreciate the compliment."

"dork," she told him simply.

now it was his turn to roll his eyes, as he stepped in front of her. "we're here," he announced.

matilda looked forwards, seeing a small picnic bench, surrounded by the forestry, the distant sound of birds chirping. it was strangely peaceful. "how do you know about this place?"

eddie shrugged, walking to take a seat on the bench. "i discovered it a couple of years ago. i've done a few drug deals here. but now i mostly come here to study during free periods."

"it's actually nice," tillie commented, taking a seat opposite him.

"it can be our spot," he said to her. "we can come here to study, talk, whatever. beats the dirty toilet floor, wouldn't you say?"

tillie nodded with a smile, repeating, "our spot."

— 📻🪐🏹 —

their spot 💕💞💝💘💖💗💓

i adore them bshsbshsjshd

so i planned it out and there's probably going to be around 15 — 20 more chapters before we even get into s4 😭
i tried to edit it down so there were less but i cant omg all the chapters are so cute i can't wait

i probably won't be able to get everything done before st4 part 2 but that's kinda good because there's a scene i want to add at some point in s4 but i need to figure out when to add it but believe me when i say it's gonna be hella cute

WORD COUNT — 1174.