TW: mentions of physical abuse (see end notes)

Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper

But Monday came around and she wasn't at school at all. He walked by her locker, looked for her at lunch, and again in gym which should have been easy since they had moved inside for the winter. Nothing.

He knew of one person who might know where she was so he knocked on Sarah's open locker door after school.

Sarah shut her locker and half smiled at him. They were fine with each other but it was really obvious why he was talking to her now and she had been dreading this all day.

"You know where Beck is?" he asked.

Sarah had never really found him to be anything special, but when she saw how much he was trying to conceal his worry over her friend she started to get why Beck was so into him.

"She had to go to the doctor. I think she should be back tomorrow?"

What Sarah didn't add was that Beck's mom had apparently been irrationally angry when she saw Beck driving a stranger's van with a guy on her way home from working late.

"She okay?" Eddie asked, worry creasing his forehead.

She hated not being able to tell him the truth but it was not hers to disclose. "Yeah, she's fine," she said, trying to sound upbeat and deciding to mix in some truth. "I know she has to go in more often than most people because of her condition."

He nodded and seemed pleased enough with that answer.

"Thanks," he said, "You're a peach."

She inwardly sighed and walked out to the pay phone to give Beck a heads up.

Beck wasn't avoiding Eddie when she was back on Tuesday but to be honest the weekend had thrown off the glow from Friday night and she didn't really know what to expect from him.

Beck had been allowed to be a student worker when her study hall teacher saw her getting needled constantly by the other students so she was surprised when someone behind her slipped their arms around her waist as she was reshelving books. She looked over her shoulder to see Eddie's Puckish smirk, and her heartbeat sped up just seeing him. But then he squeezed her affectionately and she pulled away, hissing in pain.

Eddie was flooded with guilt and panic; he had been far more gentle than he had on Friday and she was now holding her ribs protectively.

"What happened?!" he hissed, trying to force himself to keep his voice down. If it was bad he didn't want to draw too much attention.

"It's nothing," she said, but even just his look called bullshit on that answer so she gave him part of the truth. "Some bitch hit me with her purse. Please don't freak out. I don't have the energy to talk you down right now."

Eddie clenched his fists reflexively and tried to uncoil for her sake. He wasn't stupid enough for the "just tell a teacher" line and he wanted to knock the hell out of anyone who would do that to her. But she was the one hurt, not him, and he understood what she meant; he had spent far too much time in the past trying to talk his dad down and it was exhausting.

Beck watched him try so hard to control his expressions before she caught one of his hands and gently pried it out of a fist to twine her fingers in his.

"Thank you," she said kissing his knuckles.

"I'd rather beat the shit out of someone," he grumbled.

"Me too," she scoffed darkly. "But on a different note: you should be in pre-calc so why aren't you?"

Eddie pushed down his simmering anger and stepped in close to her, taking her other hand as well.

"Math is boring," he half purred at her. "I wanted to see my girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?"

Eddie saw her lips quirk as she met his eyes. That was definitely not the reaction he had expected. Maybe he had read way too much into things and she was in fact just interested in messing around. Which he wouldn't object to but that wasn't really what he wanted.

"I... would like that," he said, not sure how to respond and feeling his cheeks flush.

He felt her place his hands on her hips before she hooked her fingers around his belt loops and pulled him to her.

"I wasn't sure what you wanted," she murmured, slipping her hands slowly into his back pockets, "but that's what I want too."

He dropped his lips to hers, fingertips digging into her hips and pressing her back into the bookshelf. That fire that had been there after Hellfire Club whooshed back to a blaze and within minutes he found himself biting back a moan as she playfully caught his lip in her teeth. Encouraged by this, she playfully bit at his neck and felt the moan rumble through his throat before she heard it escape his lips.

His hand found the bottom of her chunky blue sweater and she let out a little gasp as his hot hand with his freezing cold rings brush her stomach. He felt her nails dig into his back and kept going, slowly working his way up toward her chest.

The bell rang and they reluctantly parted, both giddy with their shared secret.

Beck looked at his tousled hair and lips flushed red and felt cascades of relief: relief that they were together and relief that the bell had rung. She took no issue with where his hands had been but she did not want him feeling the knotted bruise on her ribs.

Eddie could hardly think straight the rest of the day, which pissed off his bandmates endlessly at practice that night. He had a girlfriend. Not just someone to mess around with sometimes who would get annoyed and drop his ass. An honest to god girlfriend.

Eddie had swung by the library every day that week and disappointingly she was reshelving only twice that week, though the time they were able to spend making out among the books was well worth it.

Beck dramatically rolled her eyes at him as she saw him looking obviously crestfallen that she was only checking books in at the front desk.

"Sorry to disappoint," she said, earning a gentle pinch on the arm.

"Never!"

"You'll have to go to class for once," she teased.

"Then I will have to see you this weekend," he said, attempting (and succeeding) at roguish charm as he leaned over the desk to kiss her. "Monday is too far away."

Her heart fluttered; she knew she wanted to be with him as much as possible and hearing that he felt that way too was a relief.

"Well, find me when you don't have class and we'll see what happens."

He leaned over the desk to kiss her again, earning looks from students showing up to actually check out books, before jogging off as the bell rang.

She knew she was blushing and bent over to rummage in her bag until it went down. His full attention was a mixed blessing. He doted on her tremendously and his unbridled affection was the best thing in her life. But everything he did, including this, drew a lot of attention.

True to his word, Eddie found her at her locker as soon as school was done.

"What would the lady like to do?" he asked.

"See Cat's Eye, actually."

"But it's really cold."

"The fuck are you talking about?" she asked, truly lost by his mental leap.

"The drive in."

"Eddie," she groaned, "I'm talking about going to the mall." She started down the hall, inwardly marveling at the lengths his brain could go to to ignore things he didn't like.

He let out a loud groan and pretended to be zombie-stomping his way down the hall. "Really? Drive in would be better."

"It's 40 degrees outside. We had snow this week."

"I would keep you warm," he said and the look he gave her made her melt. Forget warm, he made her hot.

"You know I actually want to see this movie right?"

They pushed outside, the winter air taking her breath for a second.

"It's too new for Family Video to have it but we could rent–"

"You know what?" she interrupted. "It's fine. I'll see you Monday."

Eddie knew he had blown this particular interaction as she threw her hands up and walked away from him. He caught up to her and moved in front of her, walking backwards to keep pace.

"I'm sorry," he said and she rolled her eyes at him. "Really. I'll go. I want to see it too, I just… don't like crowds of normals."

He watched her expression soften and was relieved since he hoped that if anyone could understand it would be her. She moved closer to him, taking both his hands and knitting her fingers through his.

"Don't worry. I'll hold you when you get scared at the mall if you promise to hold me if I get scared during the movie," she said.

"Deal!" He kissed the tip of her nose to seal the promise. "Pick you up at library?"

"There's a bus stop right? I'll meet you there. I'm coming from Guys and Dolls rehearsal."

"It's a date," he said.

Eddie parked his very conspicuous van midway down the parking lot and eyed the other teens that passed him. This would be exactly why he didn't do malls or football games or any other of the things that were sold as the "normal high school experience." He was big enough now that getting jumped for the hell of it was less common than it was even a few years ago, but out here in this unending parking lot he was keenly aware that it would only take a few guys to overpower him and pull him off to anywhere they wanted.

He had been tempted to smoke before he drove to meet her (pot being his best bet for calming down when he was like this) but he knew she absolutely hated the smell of it. Downside was he felt like everyone was staring at him as he walked over to the bus stop at the front corner of the parking lot. The jocks smoking there vacated but not before flicking a burning cigarette stub into his hair. He batted the glowing ember when a spark landed on his neck, jumping to his feet and ready to fight but thank GOD the bus finally pulled up.

When Beck exited the bus he had to admit he almost didn't recognize her and when he did…

"That bad?" she asked, pulling him down to her for a kiss.

Eddie was working on finding words but knew he was just staring. He was a huge fan of her general no makeup look, but she had outlined her eyes in thick black liner, dotted wine lipstick in the center of her lips, and piled her long hair up in a Madonna inspired wrap. Combined with a maroon off the shoulder sweater and ripped black jeans…

"You look fucking unreal," he said.

"I like to dress to the occasion," she said, taking his hand and pulling him toward the mall. "So spooky Beck is out for tonight."

"I will definitely need to see more of her then," he purred at her and that familiar feeling low in her stomach returned.

They were waiting in line for movie tickets when Beck heard someone call her name. She turned to see some of the students who were always cast in the leads in the school plays heading toward her and Eddie.

"Hey?" she said, kicking herself as it sounded more like a question.

"You look awesome!" one of the girls chirped at her. "Almost didn't recognize you."

"Yeah you should do this all the time!" another joined, smiling. "It's a lot less obvious when you're wearing makeup."

Beck felt her face freeze in place.

"It?" she asked, making her voice as threateningly cheery as possible.

"We didn't mean any offense!" the first tried to explain. "You just look like everyone else like this!"

Eddie felt her fingernails dig into the back of his hand and decided getting involved was better than letting her murder them.

"And with that delightfully backhanded compliment," he interrupted, "you can fuck right off!"

"Fuck you Eddie! We weren't even talking to you!" the second girl shouted at him as he led Beck away.

"Thank you," she said once they were waiting for popcorn. "Sometimes I just… lock up."

"Not your fault," he reassured her but she was still acting off as they waited for the previews to start.

He dropped his hand to her knee, tracing the skin exposed by the rips. She looked over at him and a smile crept across her lips. He then tentatively moved his hand to her opposite thigh, slipping his fingers beneath the denim and watching as she bit her lip. Emboldened he traced the bottom hem of her sweater before inching toward her bare skin underneath. His fingers brushed her skin and she gasped, pushing his hand away.

"Why are your hands so damn cold?" she chided, eyes sparkling.

"It's okay," he murmured in her ear at the previews began. "You can admit you were overcome with desire for me."

"I wouldn't start things you can't finish," she said, her breath hot in his ear.

"Try me."

Before he could react, she pushed his Black Sabbath t-shirt up and slipped her fingertips beneath the waistband of his boxers, skimming the trail of hair that ran toward his pubic bone and moving deeper to trace where his hip joined his leg. His sharp intake of breath had him coughing hard and she burst out laughing before trying to shut up as they drew glares.

"Do you concede defeat?" she whispered.

"For now," he whispered back before gently sticking his tongue in her ear. That elicited a reaction as he felt her nails bite into his thigh where her hand was resting.

He grinned, and turned to the movie, draping his arm around her and pulling her close.

"Thank god the cat survived," Beck exclaimed as they made their way out of the mall.

"People lost fingers, but we must protect the cat!"

"The cat was an innocent bystander," she insisted as they left, the sharp cold washing over them. "Look!"

Her exclamation made him assume they were going to get jumped but he saw she was pointing at the night sky. It was the clearest it had been in several weeks, the threatening snow clouds having finally dispersed.

"I haven't seen this many stars in ages," Beck mused.

"Well if it's stars you like," he held his hand out, "we can do better than this."

While Beck hated that this meant he had to drive her somewhere, she appreciated he at least tried to tone it down for her. After they pulled up to a nature trail, she followed him through the woods. He was precious as he lead her up the trail, pointing out every root that might try to trip her and carrying her over muddy patches.

"Just a little further," he said as he helped lift her onto a stone outcropping before climbing up behind her. "Here!"

He had led her to a massive slab of stone resting at the top of one of the wooded hills that surrounded Hawkins. Before Beck was an unobstructed view of the town and a sky with more stars than she had ever seen. The view left her without anything to say as she moved further out onto the overlook.

Eddie took in her amazement and surprising her like this was one of the best rewards he could imagine. She was always gorgeous, but bathed in starlight and staring in delighted awe she looked like a goddess.

She lay down on the overlook and he lay beside her, shifting her so her head rested on his shoulder.

"I have to admit," she said, "I didn't want to move to some small town in Indiana but this is a definite win over Detroit."

"What brought you here?" he asked tentatively. "You've never said."

She sighed heavily. "My mom's job. She didn't really want kids but she got custody of me - to her great dismay - so I go where she goes for now."

He nodded, before realizing she couldn't see him. "If Uncle Wayne hadn't stepped in I probably wouldn't be here either."

"Mind if I ask?"

"Nah. Dad's in prison for acting as getaway driver in a robbery. Killed a guy to take the car."

"Jesus! Eddie, I'm so sorry!"

"Don't be. I wanted away from him. He was a miserable person."

Beck went silent, knowing she should say something but distracted by her fervent wish that someday she would be able to say the same thing about her mother.

"Whatever is going on with you and your mom," he said, "I'm glad you did end up here."

She rolled onto her side.

"Me too."

He saw her expression soften and his skin prickled as she moved to whisper in his ear, "Now would be the right time to offer to keep me warm"

His heart soaring, he pressed his lips to hers and pulled her on top of him.

Note: I wanted to clarify that Beck's mom is not abusive because she has albinisim. They came to me as totally separate elements of this character and like Beck says, her mom didn't really want to have a kid let alone be a single mother. That's the root of her behavior toward Beck. I'm also not delving a ton into her albinism because I don't want to exoticize the condition but it is an important part of how she relates to Eddie as another obvious outsider.

Also reviews would be loved. Follows and favorites are appreciated but it means a lot to hear what people think!