AN: This is a tiny bit of a filler chapter but regardless, I hope you all enjoy it. ?
Shout out to Lyannas-Loves for the final proofread. And a HUGE shout out to the wonderful Patsy for the beautiful mood board! Thank you besties!
Chapter 4
April 11th, 1986
The Munson's Trailer
The air is uncomfortably silent before he utters, "Something y'all wanna tell me?"
Shit. Fuck.
Feeling like a bucket of ice cold water had just been dropped on him, Eddie snaps out of his state of shock.
Both teens drop their hands and turn to find Uncle Wayne, standing in front of the hallway, holding his pack of Camels.
"Uh..Um…"
"Hi Mr. Munson! We were just…"
They both say nervously over each other.
Wayne squints his eyes, looking them over.
"So um… I should probably head out. Annie is waiting in her car for me." Chrissy says, looking down at her white sneakers, face red, feeling embarrassed.
No! Don't let her leave, not yet! His conscious screams at him. Now is not the time to have a mental breakdown and go silent.
She moves quickly over to the door, head bent down, shoulders hunched up to her ears.
Eddie's hand shoots out and grabs her arm. "Chrissy wait! We.. we should talk about this. Please?" He begs.
Wayne moves over to the kitchen and pulls out a container of coffee grounds.
"Don't mind me. I'm just going to make some coffee… just in case anyone wants any." He says nonchalantly with a small grin.
"Look… just give me a few minutes, please?" He pleads with her quietly, eyes wild.
Chrissy's eyes wander over to Uncle Wayne and back to Eddie's face.
Nodding slightly, she reaches down for his hand and intertwines her fingers with his.
"Can we go somewhere more.. private?" She asks, seeing Wayne light up a cigarette while waiting for the coffee maker.
"Yeah! Here, let's go back to my room." He says, walking them back down the hallway.
Wayne rolls his eyes with a soft chuckle, shaking his head as he pours his coffee. "Oh son."
Eddie shuts his bedroom door and leans against it, breathing hard. He's shaking, he needs a smoke. Badly .
The walls of his room feel like they are caving in. The air feels warm. It's suffocating.
He's not aware he's gasping for air until he notices Chrissy is watching him with an unreadable look on her face. She's hugging herself again.
"Sorry…just-just one second… just give me a sec… fuck!" He covers his face with his hands before they move to his wild locks and start pulling.
Clearing his throat and closing his eyes briefly before finding Chrissy, who stands awkwardly by his bed. She's now looking down at his sheets, like she's searching for something within his old, stained covers.
"So… are.. are you sure?" He asks, feeling slightly stupid for asking such a mundane question but still trying to process everything that has happened within the past few minutes.
One minute, they're arguing, yelling at each other, then crying and now… this. It's all so much. This is not exactly how he pictured his lazy Saturday going.
His mind is racing. Thoughts swirling around in a frenzy but the loudest of said thoughts is clear. Crystal.
What the actual fuck?!
Moving to sit on the edge of the bed, Chrissy fiddles with her '86 necklace. "I kind of just found out today… but I'm not 100% sure yet. I mean.. I took 3 tests earlier and all of them were positive." Her voice lowers to a whisper at the end.
Nodding frantically, Eddie moves over to the bed, sits next to her and reaches for her dainty hand. His hands are sweaty and shaky.
Lovely.
He swallows the lump that's been forming in his throat since she stepped inside his place.
"What are we- what do you want to do, sunshine?" He plays with her fingers. She lays her hand still in his, lets him run his thumb along her knuckles.
"Well, Annie wants to schedule me an appointment with her doctor. I know it's still pretty early on… but we should have plenty of time for… options. We can decide what we're going to do." She says slowly and carefully.
Options? I guess that makes sense.. He thinks to himself.
"Oh, yeah, no that's.. that's good. That's um.. probably the best move right now." He stammers.
"Yeah, Annie mentioned something about a clinic for… terminating…it." She says, voice so soft he almost misses the last part.
Oh. Didn't even think of that.
He knows it's a touchy subject and a very sensible choice to make in this situation but a tiny part of him, deep down, hopes she's only mentioning it lightly.
Just to toss their options out there.
Of course she wouldn't want to birth the spawn of the freak. Can't say I don't blame her…
He knows he shouldn't but that very thought wrecks him. He feels the sting of rejection just thinking of it.
No! Shut the hell up brain. It's her decision. She wouldn't even bring it up if it wasn't something she was actually considering.
He inhales sharply. "It's your body, Chrissy. It's your future and.. I really don't want to be the reason you feel like… feel like you have to put anything on hold… because of me. I won't hate you… whatever you decide to do, ok? I promise." He finishes, his hand tightening its hold on hers.
"Oh, Eddie…" He sees tears form in the corners of her eyes. "Thank you." Her hand squeezes his, she smiles at him.
"Holy shit…" He says, softly to himself, after a few seconds of silence passes between them.
She chuckles, playing with his large rings. "Yeah… holy shit is right."
Bringing his free hand up to her cheek he thumbs the soft skin there. "I'm sorry for being a dick." His eyes wander down to see her lips lift, a small, sad smile forming.
Leaning into his palm, she looks down at their joined hands. "Not sure if I should forgive you just yet… but I've missed this." She says softly.
"Yeah, me too, sunshine."
"Then why…?"
"Well, after receiving wonderful death threats from some meathead jocks, I thought it would be best to stay on my side of the tracks. Actually, it kind of makes sense now that I think of it. Those guys showed up at our band practice on Sunday…" He trails off, lost in thought.
If she broke up with him on Saturday then that gave him plenty of time to tell his little squad of assholes to come fuck with me and my friends.
At least now I know why.
Golden boy feels threatened. Interesting.
"Wait, you said death threats?! Oh my God, Eddie! That's seriously not ok. What did they say?"
At this, he pauses.
"I'm not sure if I should… tell you. It's not pretty and honestly, it's just them trying to intimidate us. Seriously, you don't-" He stammers.
"Eddie, please. What did they say? I need to know." She insists, eyes hard and serious.
His eyes drift away from hers and nervously look around his room, anywhere else.
It's so quiet.
The sound of barking from the neighbor's dog and a car starting up can be heard over his pounding heart.
He bites his lip and a small sound, like a whine, escapes him before continuing.
"Well, apparently, someone saw us leave together Friday night after the game and I guess word got back to Carver. They… they told me to not 'fuck around with Jason's bitch' unless I wanted our band gear busted to pieces…or worse…and then they, so wonderfully, accused me of trying to use you as a sacrifice." He scoffed with a humorless laugh.
"I'll spare you from the rest but…seriously though…you don't need to worry about me. I've had my fair share of beatings, Princess. It's not worth your time worrying about it right now." He finishes softly. His eyes travel down to her stomach.
"Ok. So, how about this? No more secrets. No more hiding anything from each other, even if you think it's to protect me. Can you promise me?" She's deadly serious, there's a hint of anger in her eyes.
Dumbfounded, he nods, swallowing the lump stuck in his throat. "Of course. I… I swear, sunshine. No more secrets between us." He sticks out his pinky to her. With little to no hesitation, she locks her pinky around his, finalizing their sworn oath.
She looks like she's fuming but holding it in, hands shaking in his. He's worried, for her sake, that she's going to do or say something to Carver.
He doesn't want her getting mixed into this mess. She already has enough on her shoulders and he has no clue how she carries it all while keeping up appearances.
Chrissy opens her mouth, words on the tip of her tongue, until the sound of a car honking stops her.
"Shit. That's probably Annie. I uh… I need to go." She stands up off the bed quickly.
"Yeah, here, I'll walk you out."
Eddie follows her down the hall, through the small trailer and out the front door.
"Leaving already kiddo?" A gruff voice asks from their right.
Wayne, who has now stepped out to smoke, sits on the old couch that resides on the right side of their front porch. Most likely trying to give them some sort of privacy even though he's seen her around their place with no makeup, hair a mess, as if this too was her home.
Anna honks again, now looking frustrated and madly eager, to most likely get the scoop on their conversation.
"Yeah, I gotta go, sir. Sorry for just dropping by like this…" she says, a look of guilt on her pixie-like face.
"No bother at all kid. I was getting worried this one had scared you off." He says around a cloud of smoke and tilts his head towards Eddie.
Chrissy waves at them both before darting over to Anna's car. Before climbing in she pauses and motions a 'call me later' to Eddie.
Eddie stands silently, watching as they pull off down the dirt road. His eyes never leave hers,trained on one another until she is fully out of sight and around the corner.
Sighing, he kicks at the grass beneath his scruffy sneakers.
A soft sprinkle falls from above, then more follow its path.
It's going to rain soon.
Wayne clears his throat behind him from the porch.
"Well…That was a surprise, huh? Haven't seen her around in a while." He mutters around his smoke.
Eddie fishes out a cigarette for himself. Good old, trusty Camels. He lights the end with shaky hands, trying to cover the flame from the soft rain. His back is stiff with tension.
"Oh yeah, a real surprise." He says, voice strained, after taking a deep inhale.
Walking over to sit next to Wayne on the couch, he quietly takes another big drag, lost in thought.
"I um… I know I don't pry much with your personal life but… you know you can talk to me if you need to son." The older man says softly, turning his head his way.
A soft look in his eyes that Eddie hasn't seen since the day he realized he wasn't dead after all.
"Yeah, yeah, I know… thanks by the way. Shouldn't you be leaving for work soon old man?" He teases, giving his shoulder a light bump. Quickly finishing his smoke, he flicks the butt off the porch.
They both share a laugh and dart back in to escape the rain fall.
March 22nd, 1986
The morning sun shines through the tapestry hanging over the window and fills the room with its gentle light.
There's a dazzling haze that caresses over the two lovers who hold each other so tightly, even while dreaming.
Legs tangled together and hands still slightly touching from the night before.
Eddie wakes slowly. He feels the weight of another body pressed up so closely against his. Peeping one eye open he looks down to find a sleeping princess.
It's a marvelous sight. He wishes he could find his Polaroid and capture this.
He wiggles a hand free and softly trails it along her back. Fingers not touching but gliding just over her skin.
He watches goosebumps rise.
She's still here?
With me?
How?
Why?
She's glowing in the morning light. Her strawberry blonde hair, messy but so angelic, with strands falling in her face.
Her mouth is open just slightly and soft snores leave her.
He laughs fondly at the vision before him.
His stomach growls loudly, breaking the peaceful silence.
I guess I can still be hungry dead. Huh, weird.
Moving slowly out from under her arms and legs, which hold him in a tight embrace, he sits up carefully and moves her arms down back onto the sheets.
The sudden loss of warmth wakes her.
Chrissy's eyes blink open and close again, adjusting to the light. She stretches her arms out like a cat and yawns.
Her eyes open and look for his, all squinty and adorable. She wipes the subtle drool from the side of her mouth and still, he wants to kiss her desperately.
"Good morning, sunshine. Sleep well?" He asks, beaming at her sleepy face.
"Mmhm." She hums back, a giddy smile playing on her lips.
Her eyes travel up and down his naked form, pausing on his slight morning wood. She giggles, face flushed. She feels giddy seeing him standing proudly naked in the morning light.
Eddie, seeing what she's laughing at, quickly spins around, his back facing her and covers his privates in a dramatic fashion, pretending to be embarrassed.
"Hey! Don't stare and laugh at it like that! Have some respect, woman!" He says, teasingly.
He moves over to his closet, hands still hovering over his lower regions. She cracks up at the ridiculous sight before her.
Skimming through his wardrobe, he finds a clean Van Halen shirt and shimmies on some semi clean jeans he finds on the floor.
He eyes a Sabbath T-shirt and before he second guesses himself, he yanks it off the hanger and tosses it over her way, onto the bed. "Here ya go princess! One fresh shirt for ya, although I have no clue what you're going to do for pants…" He trails off, still looking through his messy closet.
She pulls the shirt over her head, flipping out the hair strands that get caught up in the neckline. Eddie, like the little perv that he is, silently mourns the sight of her bare chest disappearing.
" I don't mind just wearing this with my skirt from yesterday." She mentions with a grin.
"With your cheer skirt..? Sabbath with a cheer skirt? Yes please!"
They both chuckle before his stomach interrupts them.
"I guess we should go find something to eat… are you hungry? I'm not much of a cook but I could probably find us something to snack on for now." He informs her, moving over to his door.
"Oh, that's ok… I don't really eat breakfast that often." She says nervously, looking down at her hands.
"You sure? We didn't eat anything the night before… surely you're starving, cause I sure am!" He announced before darting over to steal a chaste kiss. Chrissy tries shooing him away, muttering about morning breath. He leaves with a laugh out into the hallway.
—-
A few short minutes later, Eddie has a delightful little spread of snacks, as promised, laid out for them. Yo-hoos, hunnybuns, one banana and a bag of dry cereal.
It's not ideal but it'll do the job. He thinks, observing his findings.
Chrissy walks in to join him, wearing the Black Sabbath T-shirt he lent to her and his train of thought comes to an immediate halt.
Oh, Jesus.
She's bewitching, no, she's radiant in his shirt. He's aware he's quit openly staring at her but he's not ashamed.
She smiles at him, blushing slightly, as she comes to sit by him on the couch.
Reaching for the banana, she starts to unpeel the sides, watching him tear into the hunnybun. She chuckles, shaking her head.
"So um… last night…before I woke you up, I had this really odd dream. I'm not sure how to describe it but… I don't know. It felt so vivid. Was yours like that too?" She blurts out, eyes focused on the peel.
"Dream? I um… I didn't have a weird dream."
"No? But.. you were asleep and shaking. Eddie, you were crying in your sleep." She tells him, worry clear in her voice.
"I was? But I remember… so much. Like days worth of stuff. I mean, the last thing I remember was fighting off the bats. I was trying to buy us more time, to be the decoy." He says, nonchalantly.
At this, she is utterly confused. Not sure how to respond.
"Wait… who's 'us'? What- what are you talking about Eddie?" She stammers out.
"Oh boy. Well… where to start…? So um, after I watched you die, in here, might I add, I ran out to my van, like the coward that I am. The rest is… it's a lot."
Her eyes widen, looking at him as if he's speaking another language.
"Wait! Wait, you saw.. you saw me die? That's what I dreamt of too… I remember seeing you, right in front of me, shaking me." Her voice is strained, shaky.
"I did and I- damnit. Chrissy, please know, I did try. I tried to help! I just didn't know what to do, at the time. I was useless." He finishes, voice cracking at the end, his big chocolate eyes looking intently into hers.
Taking a deep breath, he continues,
"Ok, so… have you heard people joke about how Hawkins is cursed? Well… they're not wrong." He says, quoting Henderson, with a sad smile.
He tells her everything. He tells her all about the upside down, about Vecna, who killed her. He tells her about the unlikely gang, The Party, the gate in Lovers Lake. Jason and his witch hunt for him. He tells her all of it.
—
They're sitting in complete silence when he finishes, that is, until the front door unlocks and in walks his Uncle Wayne, home from his night shift.
Both stare at him silently, mouths wide open.
"Oh, uh.. hi there. Sorry, I didn't realize we'd have company over so early." He says, cutting a glance over to Eddie.
Eddie is frozen in shock.
It's Chrissy who speaks first, all polite with her charming manners.
"Good morning sir. Sorry, we were just um… having some breakfast. Catching up. Yeah." She stutters, her face heating up.
She looks over at Eddie and sees he's still frozen solid, like a deer caught in headlights. His hands are twitching and his eyes hold a look of panic, of disbelief.
"I'm surprised you're up this early on a Saturday son." Wayne comments while shrugging off his jacket and kicking off his work boots by the door.
"Um… Hey Wayne. I uh… excuse me." Eddie squeaks before jumping off the couch and darting down the hall to his room. He slams the door shut, flinching at the sound.
His heart is beating a mile a minute, he feels a cold sweat start to cover his body from head to toe.
"What the FUCK?!" He yells into his room.
Did he say Saturday?
Why is he even here? Did something happen to him too?
What the actual fuck is going on?!
A soft knock comes from behind him and interrupts his internal melt down.
"Hey Eddie?"
It's Chrissy, of course, coming to rescue him. What an angel.
He spins around to face the door and opens it, just barely enough to peek at her through the crack.
Her big beautiful eyes are filled with worry and questions, questions he's not sure he even knows how to answer or process at the moment.
Opening his door wider, he lets her sneak through and closes the door immediately.
He's still breathing fast and hard. His vision is blurring around the edges and fuck he needs a smoke. Something other than his cancer sticks. Maybe a nice tab of acid could do the trick, help him to really escape whatever fucked up dimension he's landed in.
"Are you ok?" Chrissy asks him tenderly, reaching up to caress his cheek.
"Um.. to be honest, I don't know how to answer that right now." He stutters, his voice shaky, tone pitched higher, through his erratic breathing. His hand comes up faintly to touch hers on his face.
His eyes can't seem to focus on anything, moving around frantically.
"I guess… I guess we aren't dead then." She whispers.
He lets out a bark of a laugh at that. "Yeah, guess we aren't, hun! Wow . What the fuck?! "
She wraps her arms around his middle and holds him tightly. Her hands rub soothing circles along the back of his shirt.
His head comes to rest on top of hers and he tries to steady his breathing. His eyes close, focusing on the sound of her breathing.
How is she so calm right now?
"Y'all alright in there?" Wayne asks through the door.
Clearing his throat, Eddie responds in a less panicky voice, "Yeah! We're uh, just getting ready to head out soon."
Chrissy pulls back to give him a questioning look, eyebrows perched high.
"This seems very strange to ask now after everything but… do your parents know where you are? Did you have someone to cover for you last night?" He asks her.
"Cover for me…? Wha- oh shit! Shit! I told my mom I would be staying over at a friend's house after the game." She stammers.
"Um… So I guess I should probably drop you off then..?" He concludes. Frankly, he's still trying to wrap his brain around everything.
This glorious morning has suddenly made a sharp 180 and if he's really being honest with himself, he's not ready to say goodbye yet.
They both go quiet. Neither seem to know what to say.
Chrissy's face pales at the sudden realization that she has to go back home. Back to her mom and back to Jason.
"Can I…get your number before we leave? Sorry, is that too.. weird to ask?" She wonders, feeling bashful for asking such an innocent question.
Surprise covers his face.
He's mostly shocked that she would actually want a way to contact him after all of this ends.
Does she want it just to smoke again?
Should I ask for hers too?
"My number? Really? Uh.. yeah! Let me- here, let me find something real quick!"
He quickly moves over to his desk and hastily grabs the back of an old receipt from a gas station and a nearly dried out pen. He scribbles down their landline number and spins back around to her with the flimsy paper in his grip.
"Here ya go, Princess. Did you.. did you wanna give me yours too? Maybe just in case something happens or if you just need to talk…?" He wonders, a little nervously.
"Oh, yeah! Do you have something I can write it down on?"
Snapping his fingers, he turns back towards the desk, hands moving things around in his search. Finally finding a scrap of slightly stained notebook paper, he moves aside to let her write her number down.
He still can't quite believe any of this is real.
He's getting Chrissy fucking Cunningham's number.
We actually fucked.
…and I came inside her…Oh, fuck-
"I'll just leave this here for you. So hopefully it doesn't get lost." She teases, looking around his small desk and noticing the bits of clutter throughout his place.
"Yeah, good idea! Thanks." He muttered, a faint blush covering his cheeks.
—
I'm a Rebel by Accept plays in his van as they drive through Hawkins. The mood feels… strained. Not unpleasant but vastly different from earlier.
Eddie can only handle so much in such a short span of time.
Breaking the awkward silence, he turns to her. "So um… I kind of feel like a huge ass right now… especially after.. ya know, last night. I mean, if you're cool with what happened then.. I'm cool too..? Doesn't have to mean anything, doesn't have to be a big deal." He trails off, moving his eyes occasionally from the road to gauge her reaction.
She hasn't really spoken much since they left his place. Her eyes have been trained out the passenger window, looking out, watching the pine trees pass them. She seems more on edge and he wonders if everything is finally clicking for her.
He's scared she's regretting the whole thing or worse, feeling guilty. She still has a boyfriend, in this timeline. A boyfriend who he's sure would just love to have a reason to strangle him to death, to really finish him off. Rid Hawkins of the town freak.
"Why would you think that? You haven't been an ass. Eddie, I wanted… I started all of that, you know that right?" She says, her voice so soft but he can see the sincerity in her eyes.
"Yeah, no, I know but… what about Carver, huh? What about us being totally, completely stupid and not using a condom? Fuck! Chrissy, I'm so sorry. If I would have known I would have-"
"Oh God, we did do that didn't we? Shit! I mean, surely I'm not going to get pregnant after just one time… right? Also, how were we supposed to know? After what we both saw? You watched me die! I mean…I'm still trying to figure out how or why we both even dreamed of the same things! Like, how is any of this possible?" Her voice rising, on the verge of her own meltdown. Her hands crunch into fists in her lap, knee bouncing.
Feeling completely useless, unable to give her any solid answers, he shrugs. He really wishes he could offer some sort of comforting words but he too is at a loss.
Maybe we're just fucked.
—-
They pull into her neighborhood, Chrissy giving him the directions along the way.
Eddie's not surprised to see that she lives in one of the nicest neighborhoods in town. Pristine, kept-up lawns with gardens blooming fresh spring flowers. It all screams The American Dream, the perfect suburbia to him.
He's sure his van sticks out like a sore thumb driving past new beamers and Mercedes.
He pulls up a few houses down from hers, turns his raging music down a bit, not wanting to cause any suspicion from her folks or nosy neighbors.
….
"So um…"
"Thanks for-"
They both stop and laugh softly.
Neither of them move, stalling.
Eddie runs a hand through his messy locks, licks his lips while contemplating if he should kiss her. Should he let her call the shots? He desperately hopes he doesn't fuck this up even further.
Chrissy seems to have a similar train of thought, shocking him into further but delightful silence as she leans across the middle console and kisses his lips. Her hand touches his face and she laughs gently at his shocked expression.
Pulling away just ever so slightly to look into his eyes, she smiles up at him with that glorious, striking smile of hers. "Will you call me later?"
"Yeah! Of course, if that's what you want. I um… it may be later tonight, if that's ok?" He has a few things he needs to check on in this timeline. Make a few phone calls and see if they all experienced the dreams too.
This time, feeling brave, he captures her lips in a final goodbye.
As she climbs out of the van, he watches while lighting up a fresh smoke. The van lets out a groan, a depressingly loud croaking sound. His face scrunches up into a grimace, causing her to joyfully giggle. She gives him a small wave with a wink before hurrying along the sidewalk.
He leans out his window, cigarette hanging loose from his grinning lips.
Feeling like a lovesick puppy, watching her leave, he shakes his head slightly before he gets the van to leave at a crawling pace.