Chapter Six

With a grin painted on his face and joy in his heart following the closing of the DnD campaign, Eddie Munson made his way through Hawkins High School's dark hallways and headed towards the back of the school.

The campaign had finished surprisingly strong in Lucas's absence, and Eddie found he quite enjoyed the little Sinclair. He thought she was spunky, lively, and a good rogue. He thought she complimented Dustin's wild energy in the party, a good balance to his show-boating drawf, and brought more strategy to his rambunctious actions. Erica Sinclair was looking like a promising new member; the future of Hellfire looked bright, and Eddie skipped his way down the rest of the hallway.

He was excited. He had a wonderful finish to his campaign with his friends and now he was on his way to be taking Chrissy Cunningham– beautiful, bright cheerleader who was so pretty and perfect– back to his house where he would corrupt her and, he hoped, soothe her for whatever she was seeking from him. He wasn't really sure what that entailed, but he was looking forward to it, nonetheless. It wasn't every day a teenage dirtbag like himself got to bring home the gold, after all.

There was a small nagging of doubt at the edge of his mind– what if she wasn't there? He slowed down for a brief moment, his boots skidding against the high school linoleum floor. What if she had chickened out, afraid of him and the entire ordeal? Or worse, what if it had been a joke the whole time, where she and her boyfriend Jason were having a laugh at his expense and he was left abandoned behind the school on a Friday night, a sentence fit for a freak.

He decided it didn't matter either way.

If Chrissy wasn't there, no big deal. He would shrug it off and head home, where he'd drink a couple beers and jerk away his disappointment.

Easily bouncing back into his giddy stride, Eddie threw open the back doors and made his way to the edge of the building, which was shrouded in dark shadows. He couldn't see anyone within the darkness and he tried to stifle the anxious feeling of disappointment growing inside him.

With a deep inhale of breath, he made his way closer to the edge of the school and jumped around the corner, "Boo!" He shouted.

A loud and shrill scream erupted from Chrissy's small frame and Eddie promptly clasped his hand over her mouth and brought her close to his body, his eyes wide and pleading, but his grasp soft and stable. "Woah! Woah! Woah! It's me! It's Eddie!" He yelled in a hushed tone. He wasn't sure how to calm her down, but then again, he hadn't really expected her to be there, let alone to scare her. Whispering loudly seemed like his best option. "Shhhh!"

Chrissy was shuddering in his grasp and her green eyes were welled with big, watery tears. Geez, she scared easily. He wondered with vague amusement how she'd enjoy the metal posters of skulls and images of Hell plastered on his bedroom walls.

Slowly, her vibrating began to soften until she was still in his arms, breathing deeply and rhythmically. "Okay," He started again quietly and gave his fingertips a slight, gentle drum against her cheekbone. "I'm gonna let go now so don't scream bloody murder, alright? Unless you were trying to let all of Hawkins know we're up to no good?" Eddie gave her a small smirk.

Eddie felt as Chrissy's thin, pink lips cracked into a smile beneath his hand, her front teeth gently grazing the calluses on his palm. She laughed softly underneath his hand and the tears resting in her eyes spilled over the edges, glittering her eyelashes. Eddie moved his hand from her mouth and gently wiped the tears with the edge of his finger. Then, he brought the hand to his waist, drying the tear on a black bandana wrapped tightly through his jeans belt loop.

He saw her blush in the darkness, a deep shade of red in the dark against her porcelain skin, and he placed his hands behind his head, stretching his stomach, untucking his shirt from his belted jeans in the process. He shifted from foot to foot, anxiously taking up space and hoping he had not overstepped. "You ready to go? The chariot awaits." He lowered a hand and outstretched it toward her.

To his surprise and relief, she took it and allowed him to lead her to his van.

Eddie's van's locks were never one to cooperate, but an entire day's worth of sitting in wet Hawkin's air had done them no favors. It took several tries– each making Eddie worry about the integrity of the keys and stressing they would break off in the locks, ruining the night before Eddie even got her to his trailer- and then finally, he managed to turn the lock over and open the heavy metal passenger door for Chrissy.

He cleared his throat and gave the collar of his jean vest a confident puff. "Here you go, your Highness." All manners and chivalry, he offered his hand to her.

Again, to his surprise, Chrissy accepted it, and allowed him to help her up into the van. She landed softly on the seat and Eddie looked down over her legs, long and exposed and bare beneath her short cheer skirt. He leaned over, rubbing his hand softly along her calf, stopping at her thin ankle– the one he had seen her twist earlier that day– and gently lifted her white tennis-shoe clad foot the rest of the way over the van's threshold.

His hands were still cradling her ankle and foot when she made a sound– a quiet, hesitant and polite squeak that could easily be mistaken for a sneeze– and Eddie pulled away, embarrassed. "Sorry… Sorry about that. I-I don't really know what that was. Heh." He gave a nervous chuckle.

He wasn't sure what had come over him to react so impulsively, so forward. Chrissy had a boyfriend.

Not that he cared much for Jason Carver. He was an asshole like the lot of them; a pastor's son who ran around thinking he could get away with anything he wanted because he was particularly good at sports and conventionally attractive. Eddie didn't care. He could be good at sports too. He just didn't want to be. But as much as he didn't like Jason, Eddie respected Chrissy, and she was spoken for. He wasn't sure why he had touched her so intimately. Her skin was so soft, and he was drawn to touch it. She made his mind flustered.

"A-All in." Chrissy choked out, drawing her knees close together, buckling her seatbelt, and placing her hands gingerly in her lap. "You can close the door now."

Eddie promptly did so and ran to the back of the van.

What was he doing? He felt crazy- catching her tears and holding her foot like some god-damned Prince Charming and his wayward Cinderella.

With a couple of not-too-light raps against his temples with the thick metal rings on his fingers, Eddie made his way to the driver's side and hopped in, turning the key in the ignition, and bringing the metal beast to life.

Eddie loved his van.

The van had been a 'Welcome Home' gift from his Uncle Wayne when he had gained legal guardianship over Eddie his first year as a senior. He had promised Eddie he could pay it back when he graduated, but seeing as Eddie hadn't graduated yet… Well, Wayne was kind and never heckled him about it, but Eddie had plans to get a job as soon as he graduated at the local garage Wayne worked at and start paying the old man back. Wayne told him to just keep his head down low and focus on school till then. He'd help Eddie with his classes the best he could, but if Eddie was being honest, it wasn't very helpful. Still, Eddie was grateful for Wayne and the blue 1973 Chevy van he had gifted him.

The large van roared to life with a heavy sputtering and Eddie pet the wheel with a soft, "Attagirl." He pulled it into reverse and began to speed his way towards Forest Hills Trailer Park.

Chrissy was anxiously picking at her nail bed beside him so quietly Eddie had nearly forgotten she was there.

But he could see the white flash of skin of her thighs and the lush pink color of her knees whenever the light from the streetlights washed in through the windows and could hear her humming softly to herself.

"What's that?" He probed.

"What?" She startled, and quickly grabbed her ponytail, shielding herself.

"What're you humming?" He tried again.

"O-oh…uh…" She hesitated and looked around his van. "I don't really think you listen to them…"

Eddie gave a snort as he turned a corner and drove them over the railroad tracks. The streetlights of Hawkins began to grow scarcer, more of the cornfields quickly being replaced with thickets of trees and darkness, farther away from town. "Yeah? Try me, Cunningham." He grinned over at her. He was pretty sure he had recognized the catchy pop tune.

"A-ABBA…" Chrissy said quietly and looked down at her lap.

Eddie gave a playful gasp and fanned his face dramatically, speaking in as feminine a voice as he could muster, "Oh, my god! You don't mean THE Swedish pop sensation ABBA? Of course, I know ABBA! Who doesn't know ABBA?" He grinned at her teasingly, leaning over the space between the two blue suede-lined bucket seats, slightly closer to her.

He could see her cheeks flush in the darkness and her hands unraveled in her lap. A soft sound of musical laughter escaped her.

Good, Eddie thought to himself. He wanted her to relax. He really didn't recall her ever being so upset and scared all the time. He began to wonder what had happened to make this happen. "So," He fished, "how was the game?"

Chrissy gave a disbelieving laugh and said, "Not that you actually care, but it was really, really good." She was smiling– a real smile, the one that showed her teeth and cracked the corners of her lips.

Eddie patted his heart, where he had plunged an imaginary sword into earlier. "The stab is still fresh, princess. Surely, you'll let a poor wounded soldier heal." He smiled at her. "What was good about it?"

She thought about it for a moment and then said, "It was tense and a close game. The band really killed it, and Lucas won the winning shot, which was exciting. You're friends with him, right? He's in your little... club?"

"Sinclair?" Eddie asked. "Sure, he's a good kid. The winning shot? No kidding." A wry smile found itself on Eddie's face. So, both Sinclairs had won the championship on their first nights in. It was a shame Lucas was wasting his time with the basketball playing mouth-breathers. He sighed softly to himself. "Why wouldn't I care?"

"What?" Chrissy asked, startled again.

"Why wouldn't I care about the game?"

"Well, you're never at the games, like, ever, and anytime I've seen you at a pep rally has been… why do you act like that?"

He thought back to the few times he had shown up to the pep rallies. He had stood in the back of the bleachers with the other Hellfire Club members, dancing vulgarly to the band's songs and mocking the speakers with crude hand motions and exuberant expressions. He flushed deeply and his body grew uncomfortably warm under his layers with shame. He shifted in his seat as he pulled into the rusted gates of Forest Hill, slowing his van down to a crawl as he drove through the mobile park.

"You noticed, didn't you?" He answered, in a voice barely above a whisper.

The silence fell over them densely as he drove his van to his uncle's trailer. With a sudden cough and a clear of his throat, Eddie confidently announced, "Well, here we are" and with a swift motion, he scooped up his belongings beneath Chrissy's seat and was out of the front seat, hopping his way behind the van, and opening Chrissy's door with a gentlemanly flourish.

He held his hand to her once more that night, and offered, "My lady."

"Thanks, Eddie." Chrissy accepted and allowed Eddie to lead her into his trailer.

Notes:

At this point in the story, details and character relationships will begin to stray away from the original plot of the Stranger Things TV show. Some things will remain constant however, and will not include as heavy detailing or personalized chapters (i.e. and particularly, Eleven's time in Project Nina, Jopper's adventure in Russia, and Operation Flambe). There will be brief inclusions and a few alterations to these parts of the story for the AU's sake, but much of the lore and story regarding those plotlines will otherwise remain untouched and as close to canon season 4 as possible.

Thank you for reading and reacting. More to come soon.

- Mack Ultra