HAWKINS, INDIANA

"Fucking asshole" Eddie Kaspbrak cursed, as he clenched the glass in his hand even tighter.

He shot yet another dirty look at Peter Gordon, who was too busy locking lips with his damn boyfriend to fucking notice.

Eddie hated his life and wanted to cry at the cruel reality which he had been brutally slapped in the face with. He was in love with a complete and utter douchebag, one who loved to mess around with people's feelings like they were no more than playthings.

"If you squeeze that glass any harder it might just fucking explode" Beverly Marsh smirked slyly, glancing over at Eddie who was sitting beside her. He was now watching Peter from across the room and was gripping the glass in his hand so firmly that his knuckles were starting to turn a ghastly shade of white.

Bev looked good, dressed in a navy frock with her fiery red hair pinned to one side, but Eddie was too damn furious to even think to compliment his friend, who he knew was being crushed on by at least several of the other employees.

They were currently at the annual work Christmas party for the small medical office that Eddie worked for.

Hawkins Medical Centre had been the only constant thing in Eddie's life for years, since growing up in the complete shithole which was Derry, Maine with an overbearing mother. He had then moved at age eighteen to Indiana, so he could live out his lifelong dream of one day becoming a doctor.

It was the perfect profession considering how much of a hypochondriac he was normally without even being paid.

There were only ten people who worked within Eddie's place of employment, including another five doctors apart from Eddie himself and the admin staff which involved Bev, who he had become quite good friends with over the span of the few years working there.

She had been well aware of the whole Peter situation which was at that moment about to reach its fucking boiling point.

It had started as harmless, with Eddie occasionally flirting alongside Peter or should he call him Dr Gordon from across the hall with those sea foam eyes and one of the most charming smiles Eddie had ever encountered.

Peter had reciprocated his flirting in his own kind of way, knowing how to best keep Eddie hooked like a piece of bait at the end of a fishing rod.

From then their relationship grew and focused on them testing the waters within their evolving rapport.

By the time the Christmas party had arrived, it was already assumed by Eddie at least, that they were now official or close enough to it anyway.

So official in fact that he was going to ask Peter after the party to be exclusive and to legitimately become his boyfriend.

But instead, Peter had decided to waltz into the party with his boyfriend, sorry scratch that his fucking fiancé clinging to his arm, while he proudly showed him and his ring off to everyone.

Eddie was in love with a liar and a sleaze, and he hated himself for ever falling for a word from that asshole's mouth.

Bev smiled sympathetically over at him, soothingly rubbing his arm as tears begin to prick at the corner of Eddie's eyes. He hurriedly excused himself, passing some of his confused co-workers who stared after him while he ran to the bathroom.

He was determined to not look at Peter on his way out, the guy didn't deserve the satisfaction of hurting Eddie for one fucking second.

Only when Eddie managed to lock himself in a cubicle was, he able to let out the hurt inside that painfully wrenched at his heart.

It was at times like these when he wished he still carried his Ventolin with him, despite never actually needing it or anything.

He buried his face in his hands, trying to stop the inevitable tears from pouring down his cheeks like a damn waterfall.

This was fucking ridiculous he chided himself, he was stronger than this goddammit. But was he really?

He proceeded to silently worry, how was he going to show his face tomorrow at work? He had no idea and was going to need a miracle that was for sure.

After another moment of unspoken contemplation about his future, Eddie slowly pushed himself off from his position on the toilet seat and stepped out to the wash basin, splashing some cool water onto his face.

In that next few seconds, he came up with a blueprint for the rest of the evening.

Return to the party briefly, fake being unwell and then get the fuck out of there, more than ready for that bottle of chardonnay at home alongside another three seasons of Queer Eye for you to binge.

It sounded like the perfect plan and he was already eager to get home and cry into a tub of Ben and Jerry's and to drown his sorrows in alcohol because fuck you Peter.

Once he exited the male bathroom, Eddie was met with Bev who sadly nodded when he gave her his excuse of not feeling well, though it was obvious that she could see through his lie. She had always been good at seeing beyond Eddie's bullshit.

He bid goodbye to several of his other co-workers, ignoring Peter's heavy gaze which remained fixated on him as Eddie eventually headed out the front door of their building, refusing to look back at that dickhead, it still hurt too damn much.

Eddie wrapped his coat around himself tightly while he made the small walk to his white sedan. He then got into his car and drove home as fast as he could while still being safe, it was snowing after all. He turned his car radio on, blasting some Whitney because he was a grieving mess, that much was obvious.

He did not stop his pursuit until he eventually arrived at his small cottage, desperately needing to get rid of the ever-present aching in his chest.

He stepped inside through the garage, instantly smiling at how warm and homey his place felt especially in the middle of the freezing winter.

Eddie dropped his car keys on the dining room table before taking off his coat and hanging it on a nook on the wall.

He then purposefully strode to his liquor cabinet which he specifically kept for moments like these, choosing his most recently purchased bottle of white wine and cracking open the lid, before he started to guzzle it down, too mad to care about getting a damn glass or anything.

It helped but it still wasn't enough.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand while he also went over to his fridge, taking out a carton of ice-cream and a spoon from a nearby drawer. He then made his way to the couch in the living room with his wine and ice cream in hand.

Despite initially wanting to overindulge on Netflix, Eddie now felt like doing something completely different. He was going to stalk Peter's new lover on Facebook and going to figure out what was so fucking great about him anyways.

Resting his MacBook Air on his lap (which was already on the sofa) and setting his treats down on the coffee table, Eddie brought safari up on his computer and then Facebook's website.

But before he could search the name of Peter's new fiancé, Eddie came face to face with an ad on his for you page.

The advert instantly intrigued him as he clicked to read more about it:

Have you ever wanted to live a totally different life in a new US state? Why not try a home exchange! Through a home swap you will swap lives and houses with a total stranger for a period of two weeks.

If interested, you can learn more at .com

Eddie was very curious at that and hovered his mouse over the hyperlink, contemplating if he should truly pursue this as a viable path.

Maybe this was exactly the type of break he needed away from Peter and his distress.

And it could actually be a really good thing for him, a mental break and everything.

That was enough for him right then and with that he clicked on the link more than ready for an escape from his shitty reality.

LA, CALIFORNIA

"Will" Max urged, her stormy blue eyes clouding over as she stared at him, a pained expression across her features.

"Yeah, yeah I know" Will Byers insisted as he tried to reassure the woman sitting opposite him. He was beyond frustrated and ran a hand through his hair exasperatedly.

"It's just that the big man Steve, wants a new idea from you pronto, as in the next month at the most and you really haven't had any good ideas or any at all have you?"

She rose a brow at him knowingly and he flushed beet red in response.

Being a well-known comic book artist especially in LA was definitely a rewarding job but was also proven to be an extremely stressful one at that.

Since the recent final addition of Will's bestselling comic series "Beyond the Upside Down", his managers, publisher and higher executives had informed him that in order for him to remain current and relatable to younger audiences (his typical demographic) he was going to need to need a serious makeover.

Times were changing and so was society meaning he was now responsible for drawing and creating an entirely new comic which they said would show how much of a versatile writer/illustrator Will was and would broaden future opportunities for him tremendously if people saw how committed he was to his craft.

This idea sounded great, but the only issue was they wanted Will's first full draft of his new story with illustrations and the plot set in place by the end of the damn month.

It was starting to play on his nerves and the fact that he had no freaking idea about what his new comic (which was most likely going to be turned into yet another godforsaken series) was going to entail.

Will's entire career had bloomed from "Beyond the Upside Down" which was a twelve-part comic book series that he had written and drawn and followed a group of young misfits who spent their time battling paranormal entities while also facing the trials and tribulations of growing up in their town called Normal which was located in Indiana.

He had always felt drawn to the state of Indiana choosing to set the series there.

The Upside Down was Normal's nickname as dubbed by the protagonist in Will's story Billy Hargrove (the leader of the misfits). From Billy's eyes the town was so far from normal that it was ironic considering all the paranormal forces that lurked within, hence why he and his crew called it the 'upside down' or the total opposite of how it appeared from outside eyes.

Will had been really proud of his series and the fact that so many other people seemed to love it just as much. New updates in the series were in constant demand, not to mention how several of his comics had become New York Times bestsellers and were just overall incredibly successful.

His series was so popular in fact that after his twelfth and final addition, he had planned to come out with a special feature film to commemorate its ending which he had written/drawn and centred around Billy and his crew travelling beyond Normal and battling other entities across the US.

Though, he was beginning to run out of time while completing the film, considering how his publishers wanted him to work on his new comic instead of only concentrating on "Beyond the Upside Down".

Regardless, Will continued to remain very grateful for how far he had come but was really starting to feel the pressure of producing another comic that was as good (and according to Steve who was his boss varied to his usual paranormal heavy stories).

Pondering over these thoughts, Will listened to Max as she eventually ended their meeting (which had been one of many) for the day.

As his manager, Max was in charge of keeping him on focus and making sure he met targets for future drafts and other things, so she was well aware of his current struggle with writer's block.

"Why don't you go home and have a think about what kind of genre you want your comic to be" Max was trying to be sensitive with him though it just felt strange coming from her.

She had always been tough on him and herself, though he knew it meant that she cared and wanted to them to both do as well as possible.

With that Will stood up, grabbing his messenger bag and stuffing his notes and laptop inside.

He then waved goodbye to Max before he turned on his heel, walking out the door towards the elevator while he brought out his phone from his pant pocket ready for his lengthy commute home.

Will's journey on the subway had been long.

Despite being well-known, he still took public transport home, often enjoying the way it grounded him and let him remember that in spite of everything, he was still only human.

Entering his key into his front door, he let out a relieved deep breath, thankful to finally be home.

Will knew he should be coming up with concepts and themes for his new comic, but he was exhausted and felt like he deserved a break.

After a moment, he instead opted to settle at his dining room table, taking out his laptop again from his messenger bag and resting it on the oak wood surface.

He began mindlessly scrolling on google, until after a few random google searches he discovered an article.

This article shared the personal experiences of two individuals who had engaged in a house swap for several weeks.

Both parties said positive things about the experience and that got Will thinking.

Maybe he could participate in something similar? It seemed to work well for these people, and it could be a great break for him to get his creative juices flowing and to improve his stubborn case of writer's block for his new comic.

Sure, it was a totally random idea, but maybe this was exactly what Will needed to flourish.

Newly inspired by this article, Will opened up a fresh google tab as he proceeded to hunt for house exchange websites. He was giddy as he clicked on the first link that appeared which was .com and was excited for where this opportunity could possibly lead him.

Author's Note:

I'm back!

After a mini break I'm here and more than ready to write another cheesy Rom Com AU starring Reddie and now Byler as well.

I don't know how long this fic is going to be but I guess we'll see ;)

Thanks for reading :)

See you next update