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storiesbyrhi · 1 year

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The Cabin in the Woods

Eddie Munson x Reader 11,339 words

Warnings: natural disasters, death/dying (no character death), medical gore, medicinal drug use, use of Y/N but VERY minimal, no beta.

Synopsis: Something is very wrong in Hawkins and Eddie isn’t answering the phone. A story featuring heavy metal concerts, medical attention, mutual pining, and a cabin in the woods.

Author's Note: Follows canon except they do defeat Vecna – whose final act is the ‘earthquake.’ Set primarily in Hopper’s cabin. I used this website as a floorplan reference. We're pretending it's not as trashed as it is in the show.

Part One: Chrissy Cunningham was Dead

Chrissy Cunningham was dead. She was beautiful, with slightly crooked teeth and sparkly eyes. Her face was all over the news on Saturday morning. A small town golden girl was murdered overnight. Eddie wasn’t answering the phone.

The next day the news came straight from Hawkins again. Fred Benson wore glasses and worked on the high school’s newspaper. He was the sole survivor of a tragic car wreck only to die at the hands of, what the reporter called, a serial killer. Eddie wasn’t answering the phone.

On Monday you went to work and listened to people filter through gossip. The girl died at a trailer park. Some drug dealer’s house. Eddie wasn’t answering the phone.

On Tuesday your mother came home and said, “Did you hear? Turns out they found the boy on the road right near that trailer park.” Eddie wasn’t answering the phone.

He wasn’t answering the goddamn phone for four days straight and there were two dead kids from his town, maybe from his trailer park. Eddie was entirely M.I.A. while Fred Benson and Chrissy Cunningham were dead.

Part Two: In a Fairer World

In a fairer world, you would have grown up in the same shitty small town as Eddie Munson. Alas, you were banished to your own equally shitty and small Indianan town. It meant you didn’t have Eddie to keep you company during lunch periods or ask you to the school dance. It meant you remained lonely for most of your teen years. It meant that the only time you got to spend with Eddie was when your paths crossed at metal shows in Indianapolis or Chicago.

It was in the depths of a cold 1984 winter that you and Eddie first officially met. You had seen each other around, noting the presence of another teen that had snuck into the show or club, but you hadn’t ever spoken. Then, on a particularly bitter night, you and Eddie found yourselves in the same hiding spot.

You’d clocked the bouncers of the venue doing periodical laps inside, spot checking IDs. They only bothered when the air was stale and frozen like it was then. Annoyed, you swiped an open jar of maraschino cherries from behind the bar and ducked your way into a small storage room, no bigger than a broom closet.

It was dark but warm. You were pleasantly buzzed and snacking away when the door opened and another body jumped in, bumping into you with a yelp.

“Fuck! Sorry!” Eddie said but made no move to leave the cramped space. You listened to him feel around the door and wall, then the space was illuminated. He turned to look at you.

“Huh,” was all you said at the revelation of there being a light in the room.

“They’re checking IDs,”

“Yeah,” you replied. “That’s… why I’m in ‘ere,”

“Yeah… Um. You want me to go… or…?”

You shook your head no. “How old are you?” you asked.

“Seventeen. Just,” he answered honestly. “You?”

“Sixteen.”

You swapped names and hometowns, then when the coast was clear went your separate ways.

Between ’84 and ’85 you and Eddie danced around each other. Polite nods and manic grins when you slammed into each other in mosh pits. By March of ’85, you became friends. When there was a show, you’d call each other beforehand to plan the night. City meet ups before and 24/7 diner fries after. Something shifted by the end of ’85.

While you had graduated, Eddie was repeating again. He was still his usual self, but he had pulled away from you a little. It hurt, because you were desperate to see him. It was scary, finishing high school and tumbling into the adult world. You wanted the routine of Eddie and gigs. Also, somewhere along the line your feelings about Eddie had become different than platonic.

Between the hours of phone calls, the hand holding as you ran through crowds together, and the conversations had while sitting on the curb about all the things the future could hold, you fell in love.

You figured it was one sided. If Eddie loved you back, he would have kissed you. He would have said something, even by accident. He wouldn’t have pulled away at all.

By the spring of 1986 you hadn’t seen Eddie in a couple of months. In the rare phone call, he said he was trying his hardest to graduate. There was one class he had to get credits for, even a D would secure him the high school diploma that had alluded him. Like you always did, you offered to help with homework and edit essays and do anything for him, but like always he laughed the offer off, saying that the teachers would be able to tell his own scribblings from your intelligent words.

You hated when Eddie talked shit about himself. Luckily, it wasn’t too often; given his history and current status as his town’s resident freak, he did surprisingly well at the whole self-esteem thing. There were cracks in the facade though. Deep seated ideas about his worth. Self-deprecating jokes. It hurt to know things like that lived somewhere in him while he lived in a place determined to make his life shitty.

Despite knowing just how much Hawkins misunderstood Eddie, and despite hearing the rumours of a trailer park, you still couldn’t believe what you were seeing.

Hiding from parents who were asking when you were going to move out, you had been flicking through television channels on the couch in the basement. The couch was musty, with wet patches that never seemed to dry. The T.V. set was old and staticky. Still, it was better than being upstairs.

You stopped on the news to watch a segment on the violence in the Gulf of Sidra between the U.S. and Libya. There were no American casualties. While you were wondering if there were Libyan deaths, the news anchor was shuffling his papers.

“And now to local news. Small town Indiana has been rocked by another in a series of violent murders. Patrick McKinney brings the body count to three, and with rumours of Satanism, Hawkins, population 13,400, is once again in the spotlight.”

The story played out. A reporter in the field stood outside the boundary lines of Forest Hills Trailer Park. “This is a town all too familiar with murder and mystery,” she said. A photograph of a teenage girl named Barbara. Another of the missing child Will Byers. A mall fire. More deaths. More misery.

Frozen in place, your skin broke out in goosebumps and your mouth went dry. Tears pricked at the edges of your eyes and butterflies scraped their razorblade wings across the lining of your stomach.

“And now, three more deaths can be added to the tally, but what has profoundly shaken this quiet town is the thought of a murderer in their midst.”

It cut to a teenager in a green varsity jacket with a microphone held out to him. “We always knew he would do something like this. Guy’s a total freak,” the teen said.

“And the rumour of Satanism?” asked the reporter, aiming the mic back at the teen.

“Oh, yeah. He listens to that devil music and he’s the leader of a cult. They’re called Hellfire.”

Before your brain had a chance to connect the dots for itself, Eddie’s photo was on the screen. The reporter’s voice was steady and sure as she said, “Edward ‘Eddie’ Munson is a twenty-year-old who attends Hawkins High. He is law enforcement’s prime suspect. The first victim was located inside his residence here at Forest Hills Trailer Park, and a witness claims to have seen Munson in the vicinity of the third victim at the time of their death. Munson lives with his uncle, who has declined an interview.”

Wrapping your arms around yourself, you began to rock back and forth in an attempt to self-sooth. You didn’t register it, but you whimpered as you watched the closing of the news report.

“Are the people of Hawkins cursed? Has the occult been attracted to an already traumatised town? Or is this simply the work of a disturbed young man? Law enforcement is asking all residents of Hawkins and surrounding areas to remain vigilant. Do not approach any suspects. Call your local police department or Crime Stoppers with any information you may have. We will keep you updated on any developments.”

The screen cut back to the news anchor, who moved on to banter with the weatherman. It felt like all the air and sound in the basement had been sucked out in a vacuum. You couldn’t breathe. Your vision was blurry. You were going to puke.

Making it to your bedroom, you threw yourself into your small bathroom and curled up on the cool tiles. There were tears but you weren’t properly crying. Every tiny spark of energy in you was dedicated to figuring out what the absolute fuck you had just seen.

It wasn’t possible, you knew that. Eddie had been generous and sweet since you met him. He was respectful and got pissed when people didn’t observe metal gig etiquette. He pulled people out the mosh when they needed help. He’d bought you more bottles of water than you could count. Eddie was so deeply a lover, not a fighter.

So, no, there wasn’t even a split second where you thought he was guilty. It was simply instantaneous terror for where he was and what would happen once the pitchfork wielding townspeople or the trigger happy cops found him.

A knock on your bedroom door snapped you from your spiraling.

“What?” you yelled.

“What’s with all the door slamming?” your dad’s voice yelled back.

“Nothing. Sorry. Didn’t mean to.”

There was a pause. “You okay?”

You sat up and breathed out. “Yeah. Sorry,”

“Alright…”

It wasn’t until you heard his boots walk down the hall that you got up and moved to the telephone next to your bed. Eddie’s number was still connected, but it rang and rang like it had for days. You tried it all night, but there was no answer.

Sleep came in short restless bursts. The following day you got sent home from work early for crying in the bathroom. You apologised and made up a story about a death in the family, earning you a week off.

After another sleepless night, nobody picking up the phone, and all the catastrophising your brain could do, you thought it couldn’t get any worse.

When you emerged late in the morning for breakfast, you found your parents in the living room watching a breaking news story.

“There’s only twenty-two confirmed casualties so far but it’s… it’s bad here, John,” the corresponded said. They were crossing from what appeared to be some sort of natural disaster.

“Are we sure it was an earthquake?” John from the studio asked.

“That’s what the authorities are saying. Seismologists say 7.4. The townsfolk though, they seem to be asking questions.”

“What happened?” you asked your parents.

“Earthquake hit… Did you feel anything?” your mum replied.

“What do you mean?”

“It was here. Indiana.”

Somehow, you knew.

“I didn’t feel anything… Are we even on bloody tectonic plates?” your dad said.

“That poor town,”

“Something going on there, let me tell you. I was talking to Bill at work. He’s got a cousin out that way. Says the whole place has been swarming with feds, even before this,”

“Because of the murders?” she asked.

“That and everything else.”

The back and forth between your parents was making your blood run cold, you shushed them and turned up the television.

“We’re hearing now that a suspect is in custody for the recent string of murders, but it seems like Hawkins has bigger problems,”

“Yeah, John, the people are banding together to help neighbours out. We’ve seen federal support mobilise quickly. But nobody has forgotten about Eddie Munson and the occult murders,”

“He’s in custody?”

“We can’t confirm if it’s him, but we’ve been assured a suspect has been taken in,”

“Right, and the earthquake - what can people at home do to help?”

A phone number appeared on screen with a call to donate funds to help Hawkins rebuild. The sound of your parents discussing an appropriate amount to give, then finding their credit cards, then calling the number, then being annoyed at joining a queue, became white noise.

Whatever was happening in your brain was all happening on a subconscious level. You were standing still, not a single thought in your mind. Just a shell, waiting for something to come from deeper within yourself to move you.

Suddenly, “I… have to go. I have to go.”

Flying down the hall and into your bedroom, you were throwing random articles of clothing and toiletries into a bag while your parents were still on hold. When you ripped back through the house, your mum noticed the frenzy and started to trail you. Kitchen, fridge, apple, a couple of cans of Dr Pepper. Cupboard, chips. Hallway, keys. You only stopped when your mum yelled your name.

“What?!”

“What are you doing?!”

“I… I have a friend. In Hawkins. I have to go,”

“No, no you don’t. They’ve said not to go. It’s too dangerous. There’s a number you can call to find friends and family,”

“You don’t understand. I have to go. I have to.”

The expression on your mother’s face was fear. Your dad appeared and his was all confusion. For a second you considered saying that the friend was Eddie, but logic reasoned a second later.

“I’m going,” you asserted, holding the keys in your hand tighter and taking a step backwards toward the door. “I’m sorry.” And you bolted out the front door and into your car.

In a fairer world, you would have grown up in the same shitty town as Eddie. In a fairer world, whatever was haunting Hawkins would have never existed. In a fairer world, Eddie would have loved you like you loved him. Alas, the world was unfair in far more ways than you could have even begun to imagine.

Part Two: The Drive to Hawkins

The drive to Hawkins was long and lonely. The route bypassed Indianapolis and looped around to continue to the other side of the state. Despite the authority’s warning, it seemed like hundreds of people were lined up to get into the small town. The roads were at a standstill and you spent the night behind the wheel.

You caught a few hours of sleep before being woken by the horns of the cars behind you. That process repeated itself until almost midday the next day. By the time you hit Hawkins’ welcome sign, you were close to peeing yourself and exhausted beyond belief.

Parked at a playground and barbeque area, went to the toilet, and made an attempt to wash your face and armpits. It was when you were reading a tourist information board that it dawned on you that you had no idea where to start. Looking around, you felt like you were at the epicenter of chaos.

Smoke was still billowing in the sky on the horizon. The sound of sirens was constantly audible. There were cars and people everywhere. If you focused on the noise, you could hear crying. The news was right – Hawkins was a cursed place.

“Okay, okay,” you said to yourself. “Okay.”

If Eddie had been arrested, it was unlikely he would be allowed visitors. At the very least though, you may get some information. If he hadn’t been arrested, if justice had prevailed in the so-called-land of the free, then you could try Forest Hills after.

Normally, going anywhere near a cop shop was a hard no, but for Eddie, you’d do it.

When you got to the closest station, you realised how hard the task in front of you was going to be. You had to park blocks away, walking through crowds of people looking for missing loved ones, and past tents of what you feared were body bags.

“Sorry, excuse me?” you said to someone official-looking woman holding a clipboard. They were trying to answer multiple people’s questions. You waited patiently until it became clear that manners couldn’t co-exist with an environment like that. “I’m looking for someone,”

“Everyone is, honey. Check the board for names. Black one has photos of bodies. Red one is for missing people. You see someone you recognise, bring the photo to me. If they’re already on the red board, nothing more you can do.”

There was a third possibility that you legitimately hadn’t thought of, one worse than being wrongfully arrested. What if Eddie had died in the earthquake?

You started to cry, but you were just one person in a sea of misery. Nobody stopped to see if you were okay. Nobody looked at you like you were being weird in public. You were just another grief-stricken person.

After powerwalking back to your car and throwing yourself into the backseat to curl up, you sobbed for what felt like hours. When you calmed down and poke your head up, only minutes had been spent. Fifteen at most.

You climbed over the centre console to sit back in the driver’s seat. You wound your window down and rummaged through your bag for some tissues. Wetting some with the last of your bottled water, you washed your face.

There were still people everywhere, and you could make out a conversation happening close.

“What do we do now?” a small voice asked.

You glanced at your side mirror and watched as a man and woman embraced.

“I don’t know… They said search parties are being organised over at the school…” the man replied.

“I just want to find her,”

“I know… I know. Me too… Let’s just… Just go there. Heard it’s been set up with food and water too. You need to eat something,”

“I’m not hungry… I just want to find her.” The woman began to cry.

It felt wrong to be listening to their conversation, but there was nowhere to go. You saw the couple begin to walk. The woman seemed frail and the man had a scarf tied around his leg. Even through the mirror’s reflection you could tell he was injured.

“Excuse me!” you called after them, sticking half your body out the window. “Do you need a ride?”

Maybe manners couldn’t function, but humanity certainly could.

The man nodded and did not hesitate as he pulled the woman along and got her into the back seat. He slid in next to her.

“Thank you,”

“Yeah. No worries… Um, where do you need to go?” you asked, playing dumb.

The man directed you to the school. You dropped them off at the front door before driving back down the block in search of somewhere to park. The drive had been silent save for the directions. Every part of you was crying out to ask if they knew Eddie. Did they know where he was? Was he okay?

As you approached the school on foot, you read the signs someone had made out of pieces of plywood and a can of spray paint. Search parties and missing people information were inside the main building. First aid and immediate supplies were inside the gymnasium. Not knowing what to do, you flipped a coin in your head, and walked in the gym.

It felt calmer inside. Cots were set up for the injured. It seemed this was triage for the not mortally wounded. Nobody was screaming in agony. Volunteers were handing out cups of water and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Across the space more volunteers were sorting donations of blankets, toys, and other items. The room was lined with pinboards covered in missing people posters. There were people in fluorescent vests giving orders and answering questions. It had only been about 36-ish hours since the earthquake, but already the operation to help was well underway.

You made your way around to where the donations were being collated and organised. A girl looked up as you approached the table. “Hi! What do you need?” she asked. “We’ve got pillows and blankets. Jackets too?”

“Oh, ah, no. I’m okay… I was actually looking for a friend.” You saw her face drop and her mouth open as if she was trying to work out how to redirect you. Before she could, you said, “Not like, a missing friend. I don’t think he’s missing. I just, um, can’t get a hold of him… So, I was maybe looking for someone that knows him? Like a friend?”

“Oh… Well, it is a small town. Everyone knows everyone. What’s their name?”

You hated that you hesitated. “Eddie… Munson.”

The girl was startled at even his name. There were people around who looked over at the mention of Eddie too.

“Don’t you know what he did?”

“He didn’t hurt anyone,”

“That’s not what everyone says,” she replied, the earlier kindness in her voice entirely gone.

“They’re wrong.”

The girl’s expression fell neutral and she stared at you.

“Do you know where he is? Was he arrested?”

It was clear she was deciding if she wanted to give you the information or not. “No,” she eventually offered. “Everyone reckons he did some freak witchcraft shit to get out of it. Cops say they have the real killer and everything.”

You bit your tongue. Starting a fight in an earthquake crisis centre was not a good look. “Okay, so he should be at home?”

The girl shrugged. Despite her intentions, she had been helpful. You left her without a word more and headed for the exit.

You didn’t get far before someone was yelling after you. At first you didn’t respond, thinking they were calling for someone else. “Hey! Ah, hey, miss?!” But then they said, “You know Eddie?”

Spinning, you took a step towards the guy. He was around your age and had a pretty face. He wore a clean blue sweater and seemed relatively put together considering everything happening around him.

“Is he okay? Do you know where he is?”

The guy looked you up and down conspicuously. “Who are you?”

“Who are you?” you parroted immediately.

“Sorry… It’s just… There’s a lot of people looking for him… Not all, you know-” He shook his hands in a gesture that meant nothing to you. “Not all friendly,”

“Are you his friend? What’s your name,”

“Steve. I’m Steve… I guess, yeah… Yeah, I’d say we’re friends… New friends, but friends. Been through some… stuff together. Really bonds two guys. People! Two… People. Two separate people…”

“Steve? He’s never mentioned a Steve,”

“Yeah, ah, like I said – new friends,” Steve said tilting his head to the side. “You’re not from Hawkins, are you?”

You shook your head. “I see him in Indy. We go to shows together-”

“Oh! Yeah! No, he talked about you… Which, all things considered, it’s gotta mean something. Not a lot of casual conversation in the middle of all this,” he said, motioning to the surrounding chaos. Steve saw your sad eyes, the tiredness written all over your face. The pins on your jacket. The boots. He was sharper than people gave him credit for and was appropriately suspicious of things. There was a feeling though, a flutter of empathy. “Y/N, right?”

“Yes. Please. Is he okay? I need to see him.”

Steve folded his arms across his chest and nodded. “My shift here isn’t over, but I’ll call someone. They can take you to him,”

“Thank you. Yes. Thank you.” You jumped at Steve, holding him in a hug.

He was unprepared and slow to react. “Ah, yeah, yeah. You’re welcome. Just go sit over there somewhere.”

Saying nothing else, just nodding eagerly, you followed Steve’s instructions, walking down the sidewalk to sit near the school’s bike racks.

It took less than two minutes before the sounds of everything started to pin prick at your heart and lungs. Despair and desperation. You wished you had your headphones, a mixtape made by Eddie and sent through the mail to keep you company, but the batteries in your Walkman were long dead after the drive to Hawkins.

Part Three: “Are You Eddie’s Girlfriend?”

“Are you Eddie’s girlfriend?”

Dustin Henderson was exactly how Eddie described. You recognised the boy before he finished turning into the car park on his bike. Even under his Thinking Cap, his hair was trademark. He beamed at you as he came to a stop, asking the question like it wasn’t going to throw you into inner turmoil.

“Ah… We’re friends,”

“That’s what he says but…” He paused to wriggle his eyebrows.

You stood up and brushed grass off your pants. “Where is he?”

“You got a car? It’s too far to go with you on the handlebars.” Dustin smiled when you nodded. He got off his bike and took a long time trying to get it to fit in the back of your car.

As the kid directed you out of the heart of Hawkins, you were relieved that you didn’t have to think of things to say. Dustin had that covered. It started with a question, “So, earthquake, huh?” It was as if he was testing you.

“Yeah? I’m… uh, sorry? That how you hurt your leg? Is, is your house okay?” you replied.

“It wasn’t an earthquake…” He paused to gauge your reaction. You kept your eyes on the road and said nothing. “You know how people say Hawkins is cursed? They’re not entirely wrong.”

He told the story of three boys searching for their fourth. A story of monsters and heroes, love and hope.

“He was just with the wrong person at the wrong time,” Dustin told you, introducing Eddie into lore. “The first person that died, the one that started all this, was Chrissy. You probably saw her on the news. She went to Eddie’s to buy drugs and that’s when he got her.”

There was a foreignness in how Dustin said ‘buy drugs,’ and even with all he had been through, that alone was a reminder of the fact he was just a kid.

“He?”

“Vecna. The bad guy. He killed her and Eddie was there,”

“Right. And everyone thought he did it,”

“Yeah,” Dustin nodded. “Turn left up here. All of this, the ‘earthquake’ and everything, is Vecna.”

You took the left and slowed down, the road unpaved and winding into a wooded area. As Dustin continued to give you directions, adding more fantastical details about Hawkins and his friends, you began to worry more and more.

“Wait, wait. So, if Vecna is, like, dead or whatever… and Eddie has been cleared, why are we driving into the middle of a forest? Why’s Eddie hiding?”

For the first time in the conversation, Dustin seemed like he didn’t want to speak.

“Dustin?”

“Ah…”

“What’s wrong? What happened to him?”

“Can I just say that you’re handling all this very well,”

“Dustin!”

“I mean, it’s a lot,”

“Dustin. What happened to Eddie?”

Dustin sighed, looking out the window and spotting the end of the road up ahead. “He tried to be a hero.”

You glanced at the kid, then rolled to a stop.

“Maybe he should tell you this part,” Dustin said.

When you looked at each other, you could see the trauma Dustin hid behind a quick wit and years of living in flight or fight mode. He deserved a break; you nodded.

“Yeah, alright,”

“He’s pretty beat up. He’s gotta be in more pain than he’ll admit. Maybe… maybe you can help with that,”

“Should he be in a hospital?”

“Yeah, definitely. He made up some crap about how someone more in need deserved the bed.” Dustin frowned.

Cutting the engine, you got out of the car. The sound of Dustin pulling his bike out drew your attention.

“What now?”

“The path is pretty clear. Just follow it up,”

“You’re not coming?”

“Nah. If I’m gone long, Mom will freak out,”

“Can’t blame her… You sure you should ride that far? With your leg, I mean,”

“I’m fine. Stronger than I look, you know. We’ll bring supplies tomorrow morning. Everyone will wanna meet you too.”

Did Eddie really talk about you that much?

“Okay,”

“See ya, Y/N.”

Dustin rode off back the way you’d come. You stood watching until he was completely out of sight and sound. It was eerily quiet in the woods then.

The walk was only a few minutes. The path led to a small structure that didn’t look like a place for a hero at all.

As you climbed the steps to the cabin, you noted all the missing nails and rotten wood. At the door you held a hand up to knock, then hesitated.

Fuck.

You breathed in deeply then knocked, calling out, “Eddie?” in a weird sort of yell-whisper. The sound cut through the serenity of nature, making you cringe. With a shaking hand, you opened the door, pushing it inward, grateful it didn’t squeak with rust.

The place was small. Directly to your left was a bathroom and to your right a kitchenette. A small living room was ahead, with a door open wide on the opposite wall; you could see it was a bedroom, the bed made and most of the floor space taken up by boxes. The final door, adjacent to the kitchen, moved; you watched it open slowly.

From the darkness, Eddie emerged to lean his weight on the doorframe. His hair was tied in a messy bun, and he wore track pants and a long-sleeved flannel shirt that was at least three times too big for him. Part of his face was covered with bandages, and he had deep lines under his eyes that you’d never seen him with, not even when he was his most hungover.

“Y/N?” Eddie’s voice was croaky, his throat dry. He looked confused and dazed. You were the last person he expected to see.

You were across the room and reaching out for him before he could warn you. As soon as you grabbed him, he winced and made the same sound a puppy does when you accidentally step on his tail.

“Sorry! I’m sorry! Sorry. Fuck. Are you okay? Sorry.”

Eddie tried to control the pain, but it kept hold, forcing a contorted expression to linger on his face. You stepped away from him.

“Eddie- I’m- Oh my god,” you breathed out. “What’s happening? What happened? Are you- Fuck.” You didn’t know where to start or what to say. Suddenly, your mouth was moving before you had a chance to censor or edit yourself. “I saw the news. I tried to call but when I couldn’t get a hold of you, I… I freaked out,”

“How-” Eddie tried to ask, but the pain was rolling down his spine.

“Dustin,” you replied. “Um, I was…” Totally and utterly terrified for Eddie. Unable to go on with life without knowing he was safe. No, not just knowing. Seeing him for yourself. “I went to the school, ‘cause it’s all set up as a crisis centre or whatever. I asked someone about you, and a guy named Steve heard. He called Dustin for me. He showed me the way here.”

Eddie managed a small nod. “He outside?”

“No. He had his bike when we met up. We had it in my car and he rode it home. Just us… Should you sit? Back to bed?” you asked, trying to look behind him into the room he’d come from.

Carefully, he turned around and retreated. You followed along behind him, turning the light on as you entered the room. Eddie stood over the bed, and before you could work out how to help, he just let himself fall onto the mattress. He hissed and clenched his teeth, screwing his eyes shut so tightly that it made you shudder.

The single bed was old, low to the ground. You knelt and gently took one of Eddie’s hands. Looking around the room, you began to understand the gravity of the situation.

On the bedside table was a mountain of different medications – antibiotics and painkillers and other things you didn’t recognise. There were bottles of water next to the bed, empty ones thrown about the room. Some evidence of food, but mostly unfinished packets of chips and cookies. Sitting on a table against the opposite wall was a box of medical supplies, and next to that a pile of bloody and gore covered bandages and tissues. The final piece of the puzzle was a bucket under the bed that you couldn’t see into but you guessed was for pee.

“Eddie… When did you last take anything for the pain?”

You thought about what Dustin had said. If Eddie was in more pain than he let on, he probably wasn’t taking a reasonable amount of painkillers.

His eyes fluttered open, and he slowly turned his head to face you. When he glanced at the bedside table, he pulled a face. “Dunno.”

You were confident that it was a significant time ago. “Okay, well, we’re taking some now,”

“M’fine,”

“No. No, you’re not. You’re the least fine I have ever seen anybody in my life. Eddie, whatever happened, this is… insanely fucked. Please, just take some of this and-” A shaky breath in. “And you can tell me what the hell is happening.”

You studied his face. The patch bandage on Eddie’s face wasn’t a clean white. You could see whatever wound was beneath it was still actively bleeding. He had dirt and grime around his hairline. His lips were chapped badly and now close to him, you could see knots in his hair were matted. Whatever happened forty-eight hours ago when the ‘earthquake’ happened, Eddie still wasn’t clean of it.

His big brown eyes met yours and he gave in, opening his mouth. You put two oxycodone tablets in his mouth. He swallowed them dry.

You sat with him, holding his hand for a little while longer. Eventually, when his breathing had settled into a healthier rhythm and it looked like he’d stopped clenching every muscle in his body, you said, “I’m going to, um, clean up a bit, then when those kick in I’m moving you to the couch out there, or the other bed. You need to get out of this room.”

Eddie made the smallest of nods, and you watched him close his eyes and zone out again.

Turning the light off and leaving the bedroom, you closed the door behind you and leaned your back against it, holding in a sob that was trying to claw its way out your chest. It hadn’t been the reunion you’d pictured. You had no idea what had happened to Eddie, or how hurt he was, but letting your mind try to fill in the blanks was a bad idea.

“Okay,” you said to yourself with a nod.

The cabin wasn’t as bad as you had initially thought. It was old and in need of updating and repairing, but it wasn’t leaking or covered in mould. Finding cleaning supplies under the kitchen sink, you wiped down surfaces and collected all the trash into a bag. It became clear that if Eddie was bedridden, other people were spending a lot of time there. The garbage, the blankets and pillows on the couches, and the dishes drying in a rack told you enough.

The sun was beginning to set as you cooked a vegetable stew. A lot of veggies were in their final days of edibleness, and that way you could put some in the freezer for easy meals later. Later? You caught yourself in the thought; how long did you think you were staying? Did Eddie even want you to be there at all?

You set a bowl of stew down on the old wooden chest that served as a coffee table in front of the couch.

“Eddie,” you called, going back into the bedroom. “I’m turning the light back on… Has the oxy kicked in?”

Eddie looked at you, more lucid than before. You could see his pupils were blown. He shrugged a little, trying to sit up.

“Okay. That’s better than no. Come on. Food’s ready.”

He looked at you like he wasn’t sure you were real. When you held your hands out to him, he took them and let you gently pull him up. He walked slowly, then sat on the couch at equal speed.

You moved the bowl from the table to his lap, checking it wasn’t hot to touch.

“You good?”

Eddie nodded as he looked at the stew, picking up the spoon.

The first thing you did in the bedroom was strip the bed. There was no washing machine in the cabin, so you balled all the linen up in another big garbage bag. Next went all the trash and the bucket under the bed. You swept the floor and wiped down the bedside table and the desk. All the medical supplies found new homes in the bathroom, and you went through the duffle bag of clothes to determine what needed washing and what could be folded neatly onto the desk.

The springtime air was crisp, but you opened the window anyway. With the room airing out, you closed the door to protect the rest of the cabin from the cold.

Eddie had eaten all the stew. It gave you an albeit small but no less real sense of peace. If he could eat, he’d be okay. As you took the bowl to fill again, you spoke.

“Dustin is exactly how you described him, by the way,”

“How was he?” Eddie asked.

“I mean, I don’t know him… but… he was weirdly… chipper? No boundaries? Inappropriate?”

“That’s him… He shouldn’t be riding his bike,”

“His leg?” you guessed.

Eddie nodded. “Yeah,”

“What happened?”

Eddie went quiet, took the second bowl of stew you handed him. He started to eat.

“He told me about everything. Well, not everything everything. Just everything before… Whatever happened to you… But about, um, Vecna? And the upside down. And Chrissy.”

Eddie’s eyes looked for anywhere that wasn’t where you were sat on the couch next to his.

When Eddie thought of you, he thought of heavy metal crowds and cheap beer and being the person he wanted to be. He thought of how you were escapism from the shitty life he had. How you thought he was cool and funny and good enough to be a friend. How you sounded over the phone late at night, all sleepy and cute. How you looked dressed for a gig. Eddie never wanted you to be in Hawkins. He never wanted you to see him in the context of his everyday life.

Of all the fucked up things that had happened over the past week, having that pure, beautiful, escapism taken away from him might be the worse.

“You don’t have to stay and… look after me or whatever,” Eddie said. Although there were some bitter tones in his voice, he mostly sounded sad.

He’d been in and out of consciousness for forty-eight hours. Things slipped from the dreaming into reality. Demobats in the corner of the bedroom. Lightning as the fridge opened. You, holding his hands and making him stew. But you were real, Eddie was only just fully becoming aware of it. He was confused by your presence, and ashamed of what you were seeing.

You were meant to know Eddie at his best and most beautiful. Not this. Not this broken and hollowed-out version.

“I know that… And, um, I know it’s kind of weird for me to just show up. Since we’re not like…”

Eddie looked up, afraid you were about to say that you weren’t friends at all. “It’s not weird.”

You smiled. “I’m just saying I know I don’t have to be here. I mean, we haven’t really talked heaps lately anyway.”

That was on Eddie. He didn’t know how to talk to someone he was falling in love with. Still didn’t.

“But I just… needed to know you were okay. And to tell you I know you’d never do the things the news said you did,” you continued.

He didn’t know what to say. “This is good,” he decided on, holding up the now-empty bowl.

“There’s more. You should let that settle though,”

“When did you get all…” He was going to say ‘parental’ or even ‘maternal’ but had enough cognitive energy to stop. “Uh, good at playing nurse.”

Last time Eddie had seen you, you were shotgunning a warm beer handed to you by the singer of a local metal band in Indi. She had pulled you on stage, impressed to see a girl handling herself amongst the big guys. You’d shotgunned the beer, sprayed half back over the crowd like a fountain, then jumped with reckless abandon onto the pit. It was a far cry from the stew-brewing, soft voiced girl he was looking at.

“If you wanna see nurse, I can do nurse. When did you last shower?”

At the hospital, they gave him a sponge bath where it was necessary. Before that, well, Lovers Lake probably didn’t count. And after… Eddie had barely set foot in that bathroom. Bare fucking minimum. He picked at his nails, trying not to focus on the black underneath them.

“Not meant to get the bandages wet,”

“Right… Well, speaking of the bandages. When were they last changed?”

Fuck, Eddie thought. He walked right into that one. “Nancy came yesterday,”

“Is Nancy an actual nurse?”

“No. She’s just, like, really smart. Like… really smart.”

You folded your arms across the chest. “Remember when you said you were fine after you accidentally headbutted the barrier at Sabbath? Then your nose started to bleed later? And it turned out you had a full on concussion?”

Eddie laughed at the memory, but as soon as his chest started to shake, the pain flooded his entire body. He hunched over, whining. He hadn’t laughed since the upside down. It was the most he’d demanded of his body, even if indirectly.

He was incoherent with pain. He couldn’t think straight, couldn’t make sense of his surroundings. Eddie didn’t register you rushing over to him and falling to your knees, hands framing him but not touching him.

“Eddie? Fuck, Eddie. What can I-”

His entire perception was clouded by agony. The tears streamed down his face and hit the wooden floor.

There was nothing you could do but wait. Carefully, you rested your hands on his knees and listened to him do his best to breathe through it.

“I’m going to get more oxy,” you said, standing.

“No!” His voice sounded desperate; desperate enough that you knelt back down. “Shit’s too addictive. I don’t wanna-”

“I know,” you interrupted. “I know. But there’s a big fucking difference between your asshole dad, and you needing to be able to function.”

Eddie tried to sit up straighter, but it hurt too much.

“Come on Teddy Bear.”

It worked. Eddie looked up at you through narrow eyes. Even in immense pain, he couldn’t let it slide. You grinned at him.

“Seriously though. Dustin said you should still be in the hospital. So… If that’s a no, then you’re stuck with me.”

You looked at each other for a moment. There was something in both your gazes that scared the other. Quickly, you moved to go get more painkillers. Eddie took what you gave him.

“So, are we gonna talk about why you won’t shower? ‘Cause you’re the cleanest metalhead I know. This isn’t very you.”

That’s the problem with you being there, Eddie thought. You knew him too well. His freshmen buddies only knew him as their over-the-top DM, a contextual friend. Nancy, Steve, and Robin, well they didn’t know him at all. He let all of them make assumptions to hide the truth. Maybe if Gareth, Jeff, or Gene were there, they’d see through it, but he’d been able to trick the rest of them.

“I… I tried… Soon as they left, soon as I was alone. All I fuckin’ wanted was a hot shower. But…” He took a shaky breath in and out. “Couldn’t stand for more than a minute without feeling like I was gonna pass out. And the water burns. I don’t know if it’s some fucking upside down bullshit magic that makes it hurt worse, but it’s not… not normal… And that fucking mirror. Not saying I was, you know, Adonis, but ah… The scars are gonna be… Gnarly.”

Trust Eddie to reference Greek mythology in the midst of a literal nightmare.

There was one other obvious option. “A bath then? Shallow? So the… ah, cuts? Whatever. So they aren’t submerged. Then a strategically placed washcloth?” It was more query than statement.

The image in his mind had Eddie sitting in the rusty old bathtub. The water would be lukewarm. His muscles wouldn’t let him maneuver enough to properly clean. He’d hardly be able to stretch his arms up to wash his hair.

“Eddie…”

He looked over at you. “Uh… I…”

“I’ll help,” you said then.

“I don’t-”

“You do. If you could do it yourself you would have… We can be adults about this.”

Eddie didn’t want to be an adult about this. He didn’t want to have to make decisions beyond what song to learn on guitar and how best to torture Hellfire Club. He was sick of life or death choices. Although letting you bathe him like a baby wasn’t really life or death, it kinda felt like it.

“Fine,” he resigned, leaning back on the couch and closing his eyes.

“Besides…” You stood up. “It’s not like I haven’t seen you naked before.”

God, he missed levity. You beamed when he grinned and snorted.

“That was this is? Miss me that much?” he joked.

A messy summer night in the city. Too many beers. Not enough weed to chill the buzz. The plan was to sleep in the back of the van, but it felt like an oven. Item by item, you ripped your clothes off in the darkness. It was entirely innocent and definitely because of the alcohol. When you woke up, you’d been only in underwear and Eddie was entirely naked. You couldn’t look each other in the eyes for an hour after.

The cabin’s bathroom was clean. You let the water go through the pipes and drain away for a couple of minutes. “Good enough,” you muttered to yourself when the water was mostly clear. There was no bubble bath or luxe body wash. You caught yourself looking before you realised it was a stupid act. There was a stack of washcloths, a bar of soap, and a bottle of 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner. It was all brand new, still sealed, and sitting on the edge of the bath.

You frothed the soap under the running water, trying to create some modesty bubbles or milky-toned water. With only a little luck, you went back into the lounge.

“Do you want to wait for the pills to kick in?”

“Nah. They will. Let’s just get this done before Harrington or anyone shows up.”

Eddie took your held out hands and walked with you to the bathroom. He quickly sat on the toilet, not out of breath but something like that.

“Shirt,” you ordered.

The flannel was easy to unbutton. You were dismayed to find he was wearing a very fucking destroyed Hellfire shirt underneath.

When Eddie made a small yelping sound during his attempt to lift his arms. You stopped him.

“I’m just gonna cut it off,”

“No! Didn’t let Wheeler. Not letting you. Do you know how much these cost to print?!”

You huffed. “Who’s Wheeler?”

“Nancy,”

“New rule. Every time me and Nancy agree on something, it means it’s the right thing to do. Besides, it’s all ripped up and there’s blood and whatever fucking else on that. It’s never gonna be wearable,” you argued.

Eddie wasn’t sure why he was fighting so hard for the Hellfire shirt. Maybe something about surviving in it. Maybe something about trying desperately to claw a little of the past back.

“Fine,” he agreed through gritted teeth.

It took a little work with dull scissors, but you got there. Whatever you were expecting Eddie’s injuries to be, it wasn’t that. You were too slow to stop the gasp that escaped from you; Eddie looked up frowning.

“I’m sorry, I just… What the fuck happened?”

Like the patch on his face, the ones scattered across his torso were bleeding through. You sat on the edge of the bath and turned the water off, the bathroom suddenly quiet. Eddie said nothing. You nodded, accepting the silence.

“How’s the pain?” Your voice was barely above a whisper. “‘Cause I think it’s gonna hurt like a bitch to get these off. They look kinda melted to you,”

“Thanks,”

“Sorry! Fuck. Sorry. I just…”

“It’s fine,” Eddie said. “It’s bad. I know it’s bad. It’s whatever… Can you just… Don’t look at me like that?”

You knew what he meant. Eddie hated pity. He hated when people pitied him for his dead mother and shitty father. For living in a one bedroom trailer with his uncle. For repeating high school. For all the things that made the average folk feel awkward. Eddie fucking despised pity.

You nodded. “Yeah. I mean… I don’t feel bad for you at all. Like, Dustin said you tried to be a hero or something? Do some classic Edward Munson Dumb Shit and end up like this, yeah?”

Eddie smiled. “Something like that,”

“Exactly. See? No pity here. Toughen up, kid.”

God, he loved you.

The first bandage – the one across Eddie’s cheek and jaw – came off surprisingly well. You held your expression steady as you worked, absorbing the excess blood and fluid with cotton balls.

The second bandage was covering a neck wound. Your stomach flipped, sick with the thought that it could have killed him. A little deeper and Eddie would have died.

The third wound was collarbone based and the bandage was a lot harder to move. Eddie’s jaw clenched impossibly tight and he was holding his breath.

You remembered when he took you to get your first tattoo. “It helps if you have something to distract you. Music or talking to someone, you know?” Eddie had said.

“Are these… bites?” You’d been almost too afraid to ask, but your brain couldn’t come up with any alternative conversation topics.

“Yeah,” Eddie replied weakly.

Some of the bites were smaller, but most weren’t. Eddie’s chest was more broken skin than not. His left pec was destroyed, and all down his sides were eaten into. Across his stomach bloomed another wound. Even his arms and hands had not escaped the assault.

“Dustin said the plan was to distract the… bats?”

“Demobats,”

“Demobats,” you repeated, the word feeling alien on your tongue. “What went wrong?”

For a couple of seconds, you thought Eddie was going to stay silent, not answering the question. It would have been more than fair. But, he started to speak in a shaky voice.

“We… did… it… Did what we were meant to do, you know? The demobats were away from Creel House. We were on our way out of there. There were… just so many of them. Too many to distract. I went to climb… climb the rope… but…”

Even with a lot of the story filled in by Dustin, you didn’t quite understand the picture Eddie was painting. You had to assume a lot; the rope must have led out of danger? Out of the upside down? Creel House was where Vecna was? You didn’t stop Eddie to ask clarifying questions.

“I just kept seeing Chrissy. In my head. Nobody deserves what happened to her, but she… She came to me for help and I… I kept seeing her and I kept thinking that this was our one shot at killing Vecna. And what if my part was the part that fucked the plan… What if I could actually do more? So, I didn’t climb the rope.”

Eddie thought for a moment, deep in reflection. Had it been worth it?

“I… I went back out there. Figured I could distract them, the bats, some more. Kill some. And I did. Not enough… There was…” Eddie sharply took a gulp of air in. “There were more than before. They were everywhere. I couldn’t see anything, then I… I don’t know.”

He did know. Even running on adrenaline, he could feel each bite. Eddie had locked onto the memory now. It was so vivid in his mind still.

“All the things from there, from the upside down, they’ve got these teeth. Like, hundreds of them. Their faces aren’t faces, they’re just big mouths and the, the lips, or whatever, they open up in every direction, and there are just rows and rows of fucking teeth. Like… a black hole of teeth,”

“Like a lamprey?”

After one fishing trip, Wayne had come home and told Eddie about the ‘vampire tube’ fish – the lamprey. Eddie was obsessed with them for a while after that, finding a book in the school library with a photo, then telling you about them on the phone. Your own public library had the same book, and you could see why a weird little dude like Eddie was so into them.

Eddie looked at you. “Shit… Yeah… Fuck… That but like, a bat…”

“There were dog ones before, right? Dustin said a few years ago there were dog ones,”

“Apparently… and then the human one.”

You tried to imagine a human figure with no face, just flaps of flesh opening to reveal endless teeth. The imagination is powerful, but even yours couldn’t really conjure a picture. Maybe your brain was just trying to protect you from the pure nightmare fuel that description could produce.

“Then they got you?” you asked.

“They got me. But, ah, as they did, they all just fucking dropped from the sky. And it was so quiet until Henderson showed up. I told the little shit to stay where it was safe. But he was there… Did my whole goodbye speech to him, you know? I could… I could feel the blood pooling in all the wrong places. My lungs were swimming in it. I was coughing it up. No way was I gonna live.”

Eddie’s face was as animated as it always was. You weren’t used to it animating terror and agony though. This wasn’t the kind of story Eddie normally told you. Your eyes had welled up with tears and you’d stopped working on removing his bandages.

Eddie’s gaze was fixed on a spot on the bathroom floor. He stared as he spoke. “The others were still setting fire to Vecna. Dustin tried to get there, but he’d messed his leg up pretty good. They found him halfway there, carried him back. Dragged me back. Got me to a hospital,”

“Jesus, Eddie. Why aren’t you still there? It’s been what, a night? Two if you count that night?”

He nodded. “I woke up the next day. They’d given me blood and stitched up the worst of the bites.”

Everyone had tried to keep Eddie in the hospital, but he was refusing a lot of medical care. He hated the accusatory stares and whispers. He couldn’t stand the noise.

There was no point in asking why he wouldn’t stay there. No point in suggesting he went back. Eddie had looked up and seen both those thoughts cross your face.

“I’m fine,” he lied. “Just needed a little blood,”

“Aren’t there like, long-term effects? What about the blood in your lungs? And, like, did you actually die? What if you have brain damage?”

“Not like I was a genius with a 4.0,”

“Eddie,”

“Y/N.” It was quick. Snappy. Your name in a warning tone.

The remainder of the bandages came off, and you mopped up the carnage as best you could. When you were done, Eddie stood, empowered by the painkillers enough to take his own pants off. He stepped into the bath and lowered himself in. It was all somehow both benignly clinical and breathtakingly intimate.

The water came up to his waist, lapping at the lowest of the wounds. You waited until the waves had settled before speaking again.

“I’m gonna wash your hair first,” you told him. He nodded, seeming smaller in the bath. Childlike helplessness.

You left the bathroom briefly to look for tools. There wasn’t a single brush or comb to be found. Returning with only the largest cup you could find, you settled next to the tub.

Lathering Eddie’s hair with the 2-in-1, you tilted his head backwards and rinsed with the help of the cup. As the water ran down his back, Eddie shivered. You repeated the process two more times, the conversation pausing entirely.

When his wild mane is clean, you raked your fingers through it bit by bit, gently pulling knots out. It’s a somewhat successful method, although you’d have to go for rounds two and three when his hair was dry.

“Close your eyes,” you instructed. Eddie complied. “Keep them closed.”

A washcloth was soaked in slick soap and you covered Eddie’s face in the goo. With great delicateness, you cleaned his hair, face, ears, and neck. The soap didn’t burn the bites like you’d both expected, but the coarse washcloth wasn’t exactly pleasant either.

As you descended Eddie’s body, dirt and muck washing down and turning the bath water a hazy brown, you cleaned the wounds. They started to bleed again, not heavily, but enough that by the time you were at his waist, you needed to pull the plug out and re-fill the bath with clean water.

Eddie was acquiescent. The drugs had well and truly kicked in, building on the mild buzz of the first you’d made him take. Even with the washcloth pain, the experience wasn’t as horrific as it could have been, he decided.

When he was finally clean, you sat on the ground next to the tub. The water had a pink hue from the blood, but he’d stopped bleeding.

“You look like you now,”

“Who’d I look like before?” Eddie replied.

“I don’t know. You from a different dimension. A really, really fucking bad one,”

“Guess I kind of am now.”

You said nothing to that. Maybe he was. Maybe you wouldn’t know this Eddie like you knew yours.

Eddie looked down at his chest, then his legs beneath the water. They ached, despite being unharmed by the demobats. He thought about Dustin and his leg. How he jumped through the gate with such disregard for himself, to try to stop Eddie. Save Eddie. Dustin fucking Henderson, man. Suddenly, a new thought-

“What you said about Dustin. Inappropriate or whatever. Did he say something?”

“He said a lot,” you replied.

“But, ah, what exactly was it that-”

A small laugh escaped you, and Eddie’s sentence stopped dead in its tracks. He looked at you.

“You seem nervous,” you teased. “The kid know one too many secrets or something?” Eddie’s face was expressionless but you could see his mind working overtime to think of something to say. You put him out of his misery with, “He didn’t say anything. He asked something. Like, straight away. Before a ‘hello’ even,”

“Am I gonna have to give him the world’s worst wedgie?”

“I guess it depends on how embarrassed by the question you are.”

Eddie broke eye contact, looked back down at his body. The entire situation was radically out of his control. Might as well add more spice. “What’d he ask?”

“Kid rolls up. Toothy grin. Busted leg. Happy as fucking Larry. First thing out of his mouth – ‘Are you Eddie’s girlfriend?’”

Part Four: The Cabin in the Woods

The cabin in the woods held warmth better than you would have guessed. After letting the bathwater drain yet again, you left Eddie to sit in hot clean water for the third time, then started the fire in the corner of the living room.

“Whose cabin is this?” you called out.

The bathroom had no door, just a curtain to pull across the open frame. Eddie could hear you just fine.

“Hopper’s,”

“That’s… the Chief of Police, right? The one everyone thought was dead? But was in Russia or something?”

“Dustin really gave you the whole story, huh?”

“Kind of. Don’t know how or why he was there… But isn’t he meant to be dead? Nobody’s meant to know about him?”

It was the first time Eddie realised that you might now be in danger. Although not being privy to the truth about Hawkins wasn’t necessarily a guarantee of safety, being included in its secrets definitely bumped up the ‘likely to die a horrible death’ stats. At the very least, you’d be on someone’s watch list now.

“Yeah. He was gonna stay here, but too many people know about it.”

Made sense, you thought. “So, why are you here? The cops aren’t after you anymore. Don’t you want to be with your uncle? Or your friends?”

The small fire was burning bright and the flames licked around the chunk of wood. You stood up, satisfied with your work.

Eddie hadn’t answered, so you walked back to him.

“Think I should get out now,” he said when you appeared. “S’cold,”

“Yeah. Okay. Here.”

Like he had before, Eddie winced as he moved. He stood and helped you wrap a towel around his waist. You draped another over his head. With his fingers threaded through yours, you guided him out of the bath and back onto the couch.

“I’ll do the bandages before you get dressed,” you told him, going to retrieve what you needed.

Before you sat back down, you ruffled his hair in the towel, making sure it was dry enough not to drip everywhere. Taking parts of his hair in the towel and scrunching them, you worked like you’d done it all before.

Next, you coated cotton balls in antiseptic balm and dabbed at each of the wounds, and checked all the stitches. The bites had stopped freely bleeding, with only dots of red and some evidence of gooey serosanguinous drainage. After each was disinfected, you blew gently on the raw skin to cool it down. Goosebumps iced their way across Eddie’s body.

When the fresh bandages were applied, Eddie leaned back into the couch and closed his eyes.

“How do you feel?” you asked.

His immediate reaction was to be sarcastic. It was a defense mechanism, but Eddie reminded himself he didn’t need to defend against anything when he was with you. “Not… good… but, ah, a lot better than before,”

“I’ll take that… I’ll get some clean clothes.”

Eddie pulled on clean boxer shorts and sweatpants while you binned all the old bandages left in the bathroom. Once everything was clean, you returned to the couch. You helped him pull a t-shirt over his head, then sank down next to each other.

The soundscape consisted of the fire and the odd bird call coming from the woods outside. It was late, maybe even close to midnight. Not too far away, the rest of Hawkins was still assessing the damage and counting the dead. But there, in an off-the-grid cabin, the rest of Hawkins didn’t exist.

Eddie reached over and placed his hand palm-up on your leg. You took it and held it tight. All the emotion you’d swallowed since seeing him barely alive bubbled up your throat and out of your mouth in a small sob. Eddie rolled his head to look at you, expression sad.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

You choked out a laugh. “What are you sorry for?”

“I dunno. Making you worry.”

When you tried to let go of Eddie’s hand to clear your face of tears, he wouldn’t budge. You used your free hand, attempting to not let the soft crying turn into anything more.

“I was so worried.”

Eddie nodded. “Yeah… I’m…” As he searched for the words that felt right, his eyes stayed glued to your face. “I’m sorry about… not calling in a while. Not returning your calls,”

“S’okay. You’ve been busy with school and-”

“Nah. Well, yeah. Yeah… But, I…” Fuck it, Eddie thought. He still felt so close to death. He was scared it was something he’d never be able to shake. What did he possibly have to lose? “I got scared. About… you know… You. Like, how I feel about you. Just seemed easier to ignore it than have to… do anything about it… When I say it out loud, it sounds so fucking stupid but… Losing you ‘cause we lost touch would hurt less than if I lost you ‘cause I ruined it by… having a dumb crush or whatever.”

Dumb crush.

A portal between your world and another? Yeah, sure. A girl with superpowers? Yep. Demogorgons and secret armies and lifesaving songs and everything else that had been handed to you that day? Uh-huh, okay. Eddie having a crush on you? Liking you like you liked him? Well, that sounded impossible.

Unless… it didn’t. Unless it made total sense. Unless it explained so much. Unless it was one small thing the world could give you and Eddie to help balance the scales.

With those big brown eyes, Eddie was finally able to look at you with all the love he had. Warmth spread across his body and he took one step towards peace.

“It…” You shook your head. “It wouldn’t have ruined anything,”

“No?”

“No… ‘Cause…” Poetic was the aim, but exhaustion had steeped your brain in stupid juice. “I’ve got a dumb crush on you too.”

Eddie smiled, soft and kind, only a hint of mischief. “Cool,”

“Cool,”

“So, how much time have we wasted? Being dumb?” he asked.

“Um… Years, probably,”

“Well, fuck.”

You laughed together and sat watching the fire for a long time.

Eddie told you about how he was afraid to be in Hawkins. He was afraid that Wayne’s mates would treat him like the uncle of a killer. Afraid his friends would be hurt, like Gareth had been. Afraid that it wasn’t really, truly over.

You listened, letting him speak and not undermining the feelings with logic or counterarguments. When he was done, you said you understood.

“Can you stay? In Hawkins, I mean. When do you have to go back?” Eddie asked.

“Never, if I don’t want to. Mom and dad want me out. And, it’s not like I’m working a dream job. I could stay… If you wanted me to. To help. Or not. It’s, like… Totally fine-”

“Yes. Stay.”

Another step towards peace.

Maybe, in an unfair and cruel world, where Chrissy Cunningham was dead and you and Eddie had lived miles apart and the drive to Hawkins was long and solitary pain was all Eddie thought he deserved, maybe this – this mutual love, was what you got to make up for it. It wasn’t enough. Of course, it wasn’t. Chrissy and Fred and Patrick deserved to be alive. Steve shouldn’t have had to feel phantom vines around his neck for the rest of his life. Dustin was owed a childhood. Eddie should never have been witch hunted. But, if it had to be like that, then yeah… Maybe you could be Eddie’s girlfriend.

After creating a nest of pillows and blankets in front of the fire, you and Eddie laid down and curled your bodies around each other. He kissed you on the temple, and you listened to his steady heartbeat. For a few perfect hours, everything else faded away while you slept soundly in an ex-cop’s secret little cabin in the woods.

End Note: I hope you liked this little fix-it fic. Please, let me know what you think! Reblogs are especially appreciated.

All Eddie Taglist: @solomons-finest-rum @ruinedbythehobbit @munsonlives @sweetpeapod @depressooo-expressooo-blog @thorfemmes @hawkins-high @corrodedhawkins @grungegrrrl @lilzabob @mymoonisalways-in-scorpio @averagemisfit03 @ches-86 @ilovecupcakesandtea @onehotgreasymechanic @hazydespair @lacrymosa-24 @mel-the-fangirl

#Mine #Eddie Munson #Eddie Munson Fanfic #Eddie Munson Fanfiction #Eddie Munson/You #Eddie Munson x You #Eddie Munson/Reader #Eddie Munson x Reader

201 notes · View notes

yandere-toons · 3 years

Text

CURRENT REQUESTS

-- Alphabetised by Character --

★ If your request is unlisted within a few days of sending it or disappears, feel free to contact me via private message.

Platonic & Romantic Headcanons:

Abe (Oddworld).

Adam (Hazbin Hotel).

Alameda Slim (Home on the Range).

Andrew Neiman (Whiplash).

Astrid (HTTYD).

Baloo and Bagheera (The Jungle Book 1967).

Barbie and Ken (2023) share the reader who's a human that never played with Barbies but got wrapped up by the two doll's business and is just stuck with them.

Bart Simpson.

Beagle Boys (DuckTales 1987).

Belloc (Firebreather).

Benson (Regular Show) with a reader who's a SUPER hard worker and works themselves to the bone without any regard for their well-being.

Berkeley Beetle (Thumbelina).

Blue, Charlie, Delta and Echo (Jurassic World).

Bo Peep (Toy Story).

Brooklyn (Gargoyles).

Bunnymund (Rise of the Guardians).

Buzz Lightyear, Sheriff Woody and Jessie share a reader.

Caine (The Amazing Digital Circus).

Candy Caramella, Etno Polino, Bud Budiovitch and Gorgious Klatoo (Space Goofs).

Casey Jones (TMNT 2012).

Charlie (Hazbin Hotel).

Chickenhare (Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness).

Chiro (Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!).

Chris McLean with a darling who is either one of his interns or a contestant on the show (Total Drama).

Claudia Wolf (Silent Hill 3).

Crane (Kung Fu Panda).

Damien LaVey and Vera Oberlin share a reader (Monster Prom).

Danger Mouse.

Danny Phantom.

Darcy (Pride and Prejudice).

David Kawena (Lilo & Stitch).

Dazai Osamu (Bungou Stray Dogs).

Deadpool | Wade Wilson.

Death (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish).

Demencia (Villainous).

Douxie (Trollhunters).

Dr Flug (Villainous).

Duncan (Total Drama Island).

E-123 Omega (Sonic the Hedgehog).

Edge (Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope).

Edward Nygma (Gotham).

Eli Shane (SlugTerra).

Eltingville Club.

Finn (Adventure Time).

Five Hargreeves.

Flintheart Glomgold.

Frank Grimes (The Simpsons).

Fred Jones, Velma Dinkley, Daphne Blake, Shaggy Rogers and Scooby-Doo share a reader (Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated).

Frieza (Dragon Ball Z/Super).

Fritz the Cat.

Gabe Lewis (The Office).

Garbage (Dogs In Space).

Gary Goodspeed (Final Space).

Gengar (Pokémon).

Ghidorah.

Godzilla and Ghidorah share a reader.

Godzilla.

Good Cop | Bad Cop (The LEGO Movie).

Gordon, Waffle and Mr Blik (Catscratch).

Griffith (Berserk).

Gru (Despicable Me).

Gumball Watterson.

Hades (Hercules 1997).

Handsome Jack (Borderlands 2).

Hefty Smurf.

Hiccup Haddock III (How to Train Your Dragon).

Hitchhiking Ghosts (The Haunted Mansion).

Hooty (The Owl House).

Hopper (A Bug's Life).

Horned King (The Black Cauldron).

Ice Bear (We Bare Bears).

Indominus Rex (Jurassic World).

Indoraptor and Indominus Rex share a reader.

Indoraptor.

Invader Zim.

Jack Frost (Rise of the Guardians).

Jack Horner (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish).

Jack Sparrow.

Jason Grace, Frank Zhang, Piper McLean, Leo Valdez, Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase and Hazel Levesque as a group whilst on the Argo II.

Jeff the Killer x crime reporter (Creepypasta).

Jenner (The Secret of NIMH).

Jessica Rabbit.

Jimmy Crystal and Porsha Crystal (Sing 2).

Jinx (Teen Titans 2003).

Julia or Slappy Squirrel (Animaniacs).

Kai (Kung Fu Panda 3).

Kai, Lloyd, Zane, Jay, Cole, Nya (Ninjago).

Karai (TMNT 2012).

Katz (Courage the Cowardly Dog).

Killian or Lance Sterling (Spies in Disguise).

King Sombra.

Kovu and Kiara (The Lion King II: Simba's Pride).

Krusty the Clown.

LEGO Batman.

Legoshi (Beastars).

Leonardo (TMNT 2012).

Lightning McQueen.

Lin Chung (Hero: 108).

Lord Garmadon.

Lucifer Morningstar with a human reader who hunts demons from hell (DC).

Luz Noceda (The Owl House).

MUTOs (Godzilla 2014).

Manny, Sid and Diego share a reader (Ice Age).

Marco Pagot | Porco Rosso.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng (Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir).

Megavolt (Darkwing Duck 1991).

Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

Miles Prower.

Mordecai (Regular Show).

Mosasaurus.

Mr Crocker (The Fairly OddParents).

Mr Wolf (The Bad Guys).

NOS-4-A2 (Buzz Lightyear of Star Command).

Naughty Bear.

Neo Cortex.

OMGKawaiiAngel aka Ame-Chan (Needy Streamer Overload).

Once-ler (The Lorax 2012).

Papa Smurf.

Patrick Hockstetter (Stephen King's It).

Peppermint Larry (The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack).

Perry the Platypus.

Phineas Flynn and Ferb Fletcher.

Po (Kung Fu Panda).

Poly! Kion & Rani. For platonic, the reader is a young cub (The Lion Guard).

Popee the Performer.

Psychic Seven team-up with a reader whose love language is acts of service (Psychonauts).

Ratchet (Ratchet & Clank).

Ratigan (The Great Mouse Detective).

Raven (Teen Titans 2003).

Raymond with a masculine reader (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes).

Reagan Ridley and Brett Hand share a reader (Inside Job).

Regina George (Mean Girls).

Ren and Stimpy share a reader.

Ren Höek.

Rick Sanchez (Rick and Morty).

Robin (Teen Titans 2003).

Robin and Starfire share a reader (Teen Titans 2003).

Robot Jones (Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?).

Rodney Copperbottom.

Rorschach (Watchmen).

Rose DeWitt Bukater (Titanic 1997).

Salad Fingers.

Sans (Undertale).

Scorpios Rex (Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous).

Scrooge McDuck.

Scroop (Treasure Planet).

Sebastian J. Cricket (Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio).

Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog, Silver the Hedgehog and Amy Rose share a reader.

Sharko (Zig & Sharko).

Sherlock Gnomes.

Simon Petrikov and Winter King (Adventure Time).

Sir Pentious (Hazbin Hotel).

Skipper, Rico, Private, Kowalski.

Snotlout (HTTYD).

Spider Queen and Lady Bone Demon (LEGO Monkie Kid).

Spinosaurus.

Squidward Tentacles.

Stan Smith (American Dad!).

Steven Universe.

Stranger (Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath).

Surge and Kitsunami (Sonic the Hedgehog: Imposter Syndrome).

T.W. Barker (Sonic Boom).

The Joker (Merry Little Batman).

Thorin II Oakenshield.

Tirek in his Minotaur form (My Little Pony: Rescue from Midnight Castle).

Todd Tolansky | Toad with a mutant reader (X-Men: Evolution).

Toothless (HTTYD).

Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro).

Turanga Leela.

Tyrannosaurus Rex.

V.IV Rusty (Armored Core VI).

Vance Hopper (The Black Phone).

Velociraptors (Jurassic Park).

Verosika (Helluva Boss).

Vigo (The After Dark).

Vinny Luco, Jimmy Falcone, Louie Luco (Azerrz's The Mob Boss | The Wise Guys).

Vito Scaletta and Joe Barbaro (Mafia II).

Wallace Wells (Scott Pilgrim).

Wally Darling (Welcome Home).

Walter White (Breaking Bad).

Warner Siblings react to a storyboarder reader working for other studios or projects. As in, the reader moves on from Warner Brothers and goes to work for a different company like Disney (Animaniacs).

Zoe (Monster Prom).

Platonic-Only Headcanons:

Angel Dust and Husk (Hazbin Hotel).

Anyone in The Amazing Digital Circus, with a trans reader who realizes they feel more comfortable in their new body than they did in their real one.

Apollo Cabin with a sunshine reader who is a child of Apollo, sometimes naive, and sweet to everyone (Percy Jackson).

Austin Powers.

Beetlejuice with an emo and/or goth reader.

Captain Qwark and his team (Ratchet & Clank 2016).

Cerebella (Skullgirls).

Cesare (Bigtop Burger).

Cul-de-Sac kids (Ed, Edd n Eddy).

Dib and Gaz Membrane with a sibling who is almost the opposite of them and is extremely kind to people.

Dr Drakken and Shego as a team (Kim Possible).

Eddie Brock (The Spectacular Spider-Man).

Entrapta (She-Ra).

Fang (Primal).

Glamrocks with an Animatronic! Reader, and they just found out that their friend has been scrapped (FNaF: Security Breach).

Grim, Billy and Mandy share a reader (The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy).

Hargreeves family with a powered!reader.

Ink Sans (Underverse).

Jessica Rabbit.

Mane Six shares a reader (My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic).

Marvin the Martian is a father figure.

Mei-Mei and her friend group, Priya, Abby and Miriam, share a reader (Turning Red).

Mime Bomb, where the reader is just a civilian.

President Snow (The Hunger Games).

Reagan Ridley takes care of a kid reader.

Senator Armstrong (Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance).

Steve with a reader who is a frequent customer (Bigtop Burger).

Tim and Moby (BrainPOP).

Twitch and Thrash (Transformers: EarthSpark).

Romantic-Only Headcanons:

Applejack (MLP: FIM).

Boyfriend (Friday Night Funkin').

Doctor Ivo Robotnik (Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog).

Doctor Eggman (Sonic X).

Foghorn Leghorn.

Frank (Spooky Month).

Frank Fontaine (Bioshock).

Gideon Graves.

Goofball (Brain Dump).

Gregory Mama with a new guest to Gregory House (Gregory Horror Show).

Henchman 21 with a female reader (The Venture Bros).

Hydros (Hercules 1997).

Jack Spicer (Xiaolin Showdown).

Jailbot (Superjail!).

Jenny Wakeman | XJ-9.

John Constantine (DC).

John Silver (Treasure Planet).

Jonathan Crane | Scarecrow (Batman Begins).

Kyubey (Puella Magi Madoka Magica).

Lalo Salamanca (Better Call Saul).

Lila with a neighbour reader (Spooky Month).

Man Ray (SpongeBob SquarePants).

Metal Sonic.

Mojo Jojo.

N and Thad (Murder Drones).

Nome King (Return to Oz).

Polytheus (Mia and Me).

Princess Luna (MLP: FIM).

Raggedy Andy (The Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy).

Ron Staedtler (Inside Job).

Sheldon Lee (My Life as a Teenage Robot).

Turbo from Wreck-It Ralph, where the reader is either a player or a character living in the arcade.

Victoria Everglot (Corpse Bride).

Scenarios:

Adam x Reader x Jonah (The Mandela Catalogue).

Addams Family adopts the reader. The reader isn't necessarily as peculiar as them, but they do feel different from others so the Addams Family is convinced they're meant to be with them!

Aegon II Targaryen with a Stark reader who is similar to Bran Stark (House of the Dragon).

Angel Dust with MC who is the most gullible and innocent person ever, talking to people like Alastor and Husk (Hazbin Hotel).

Arktos (Tabaluga).

Bad Guys where the reader is trying to avoid both the titular Bad Guys and the cops after being framed as an accomplice.

Barbie and Ken (Barbie 2023).

Benson from Regular Show, where the reader is a worker at the park who tells him they're quitting because of his anger issues.

Bill (Beastars) struggles and blames the herbivore reader because he is obsessed with them.

Chelsea x GN human reader who’s studying marine biology. The reader is not affected by Chelsea’s charm like everyone else is, and they much prefer to be around Ruby Gillman instead (Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken).

“Commoner” Reader eventually gains the attention of Pacifica and her parents because they manage to win all the competitions they enter into. Using less than legal methods, both Pacifica and her parents plan to make sure the reader keeps winning. Under the Northwest last name. Each and every time the reader is invited over, it gets strangely more difficult to leave the mansion (Gravity Falls).

Count D (Pet Shop of Horrors).

Dethklok finds out that the reader already has a partner (Metalocalypse).

Dr Cockroach where the reader was his old lab mate before his experiment, and they left him alone on the night he became a human with a cockroach head. Years later, the monsters save the world and he recognises them in the crowd.

Drift (MTMTE) becomes attached to the reader in short order when they refuse to judge him for his past and generally treat him kindly. As his feelings darken, he tries to respect their choice to spend time with others, but his possessiveness inevitably spirals out of control, and people with whom the reader is close begin to disappear.

Eldritch! Reader with Villainous characters.

Emperor of Mankind (Warhammer 40k).

Emperor Zurg where Reader, who works for Zurg (2000’s cartoon version) as Darkmatter does, is trying to avoid Zurg the whole time they are doing their job.

Flippy is with his crush, but when he takes his eyes off them, they wander away and get mugged by Lifty and Shifty. When Flippy discovers this, Fliqpy comes out and destroys the thieves.

Goofball with a reader who is affectionate and doting towards him (Brain Dump).

HIM (The Powerpuff Girls).

Hoopa with a middle-aged, no-nonsense reader who owns a popular bakery and runs it with their Pokémon.

Hypno-Potamus (Rise! TMNT).

Invader Zim grapples with his feelings for a kind and doting reader.

Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad).

Jimmy's obsession happens upon the information that Jimmy fabricated evidence to get rid of someone who, in his eyes, "was in the way" of his and your love. The reader confronts Jimmy about this (Better Call Saul).

Johnny the Homicidal Maniac.

Kai and Cole (separate) become more obsessive toward the reader and realise their romantic feelings for them after almost losing them during a mission (Ninjago).

Kinito (KinitoPET).

Kratos (God of War).

Lightning McQueen and the reader race for the Piston Cup. In the last lap, the reader rides among the champions for the first time. While McQueen is in 1st place, the reader rides behind. Someone injures them or they lose control, but he finds out about it after the victory.

Lion King hyenas where the reader is sweet and kind to everybody, which causes adoration of them from the hyenas.

Mebh Óg MacTíre with an introverted Wolfwalker reader. The reader lives in a small cottage where they grow their food near town and much prefer living away from others and hunting alone, but they sometimes go into town to buy supplies. Robyn was the one who introduced them to Mebh, but Mebh, not liking the idea of that, keeps trying to get the reader to join her pack due to wolves being strong pack animals.

Megatron is infatuated with the reader, a friend of Isaac Sumdac’s who works as his assistant at Sumdac Systems, and unlike the professor, they are intensely wary of him (Transformers: Animated).

Mortimer Handee with a puppet reader where he confesses his feelings for them over tea, and they have no choice but to accept for fear of dying if they refuse.

Panchito and José lie to the reader as they did to Donald in "The Town Where Everyone Was Nice!" When the reader finds out about the lies, the two drop the kindness and just work together to keep the reader with them (DuckTales 2017).

PaRappa.

Professor Pericles with the mystery gang's peer who is always hanging out with them.

Raz is super protective of an older sibling reader. He and the reader were close before he left the circus, but once his family comes to visit him, he notices that the reader is occupied elsewhere.

Reader can’t get a damn free day out of their schedule to see their friends because all of their time is monopolized (pun absolutely intended) by their overbearing business partner, Pennybags. Strangely enough, a surprise amount of readers’ friends are being sentenced for crimes reader is sure their pals didn’t commit… (Monopoly).

Reader (kinda picture them as The Narrator from Fight Club; the whole vibe/personality) who works at Waystar (Season 3-ish; maybe in the media branch as an editor or in PR as an assistant) who catches the (not asked for) attention of Roman, Greg and Kendall (in that order); Reader is a dead-inside, overworked employee who's surrounded by stinking rich people (and Greg) who they despise with every bone in their body, but they HAVE to work there because their dad got them the job and have to somehow navigate being courted by Roman, Greg AND Kendall (who tries to lure them away) next to all the drama (Succession).

Reagan Ridley (Inside Job).

Ren Höek goes on a never-ending spree of manipulating the reader.

Ripto from Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage. Specifically the re-ignited Ripto. He successfully takes over Avalar and tries to convince the reader that they’ll fall madly in love with him since he’s already madly in love with them and to rule by his side. The reader rejects him at first, but then he kidnaps them and forces them to marry him.

Rivalry between Samaritan and the Machine (Person of Interest).

Robinson Family with a new kid reader in town (Meet the Robinsons).

Rottmnt brothers with 2012 TMNT Reader who gets badly hurt from entering their world, and the turtles find them, take care of them, and want them to be their older sister because the reader is amazing towards them and completes their family.

Sammy Lawrence with an intern reader at the studio before he gets turned into an ink creature.

Scrooge McDuck and Flintheart Glomgold track down an orphan teenage reader who ran away after hearing about how these billionaires wanted to adopt them. The reader managed to escape them initially because those two were too busy fighting each other.

Spear (Primal).

Spinel struggles to remain calm after becoming convinced that the reader is going to leave her (Steven Universe).

Steve Raglan | William Afton with an accomplice of sorts (Five Nights at Freddy's 2023).

Sulley uses the scare doors to stalk a human and later kidnaps them (Monsters, Inc.).

Sun Wukong (Monkie Kid) with a reader around or a bit younger than MK's age. They're Macaque's successor, and Wukong has grown quite attached to them.

Sun Wukong is defensive over the reader against people that he suspects of having malicious intent, who may or may not be demons.

The Big Bad Wolf finds the reader, who struggles with suicidal ideation, walking alone in the forest during the night and takes them in and cares for them. The Three Little Wolves immediately get attached to the reader, seeing them as a second mom/pop/parent. The reader is convinced to stay, that they'll be happier with the wolves and be a family together (Disney's Silly Symphony).

The hundred-acre wood residents (Winnie, Piglet, Rabbit, Eeyore) welcome a new resident to the woods, and they begin to develop feelings.

The reader is a new scarer at Monsters University and catches the attention of both Oozma Kappa and Roar Omega Roar.

Tom Lucitor takes the reader to the Blood Moon Ball.

Watterson family where the reader is Gumball and Darwin's younger best friend.

Younger Toffee, the Toffee you see in "Meteora's Lesson", discovers Earth for the first time and becomes obsessed with a human because they come from a magicless world (SvtFoE).

Zach and Chris force themselves into the reader's home, inviting themselves over and making themselves welcome, wildly overstepping boundaries (Hellbenders).

Love Letters:

Jack Sparrow.

Magnus Hammersmith (Metalocalypse). Context: maybe the two initially meet at a concert with them part of the stage crew setting up equipment and then kept bumping into each other at other venues; set after he got kicked out, with mentions of his obsession having an unspecified illness (chronic pain & fatigue).

Marvin the Martian or Bugs Bunny.

No Specified Format:

6 (Shane Acker's 9).

Abijah Fowler (Blue Eye Samurai).

Alastor with a teenage reader (Hazbin Hotel).

All the Barbies and Kens unite in a town-wide alliance to stop the reader from leaving Barbie Land (Barbie 2023).

Amon (The Legend of Korra).

Amy Dunne and Nick Dunne with a kid (Gone Girl).

Animaniacs randomly adopt the reader, who is okay with it.

Ash Williams, Brock Samson, Sam and Max, GLaDOS and Claptrap as a group obsessing over one person (Poker Night 2).

Aziraphale and Crowley adopt a Nephilim reader.

Aziraphale and Crowley found family dynamic towards a teen reader with very neglectful parents, so the reader spends their time a lot in Aziraphale's bookstore (Good Omens).

Bad Ronald.

Batman (The Batman 2004).

Beep the Meep.

Benny the 1980-Something Space Guy with a space nerd s/o.

Bill Cipher with a reader who likes to collect bones and teeth.

Billy Lenz (Black Christmas 1974).

BoJack Horseman is a father figure.

Bowser (Mario).

Breakfast Princess invites the other princesses from the Princess Kingdoms, and the reader is there with Breakfast Princess. While Breakfast Princess is praising the reader, the other princesses start to fall for the reader and get jealous (Adventure Time).

Bugs Bunny and/or Daffy Duck react to the reader declining their offer to hang out or go on a date.

Captain Rex (Star Wars: The Clone Wars).

Chickenhare with a human s/o.

Commander Peepers falls for a citizen on a planet he invades (Wander Over Yonder).

Count Vronsky (Anna Karenina 2012).

Crawler Splicer (Bioshock 2).

Cyborg (Teen Titans 2003).

Darkwing Duck dates the reader, who is also pursued by Gizmoduck and Negaduck (Darkwing Duck 1990).

Daryl Dixon x gn! priest! reader around season 2/3. The priest might exhibit a very tranquil outlook on life and overall a peaceful and welcoming demeanour. They could not bear even the thought of hurting another living being, not even the living dead. To some, they would come across as soft, pliant, fearful and overall a burden (The Walking Dead).

Daryl Dixon, Rick Grimes and Michonne Hawthorne team-up.

Davros and the Daleks (Doctor Who).

Demon kings (Mephisto, Lucifer, Amaimon, Azazel, Iblis, Egyn, Astaroth and Beelzebub) older sibling dynamic together with a human reader, perhaps an exwire (Blue Exorcist). The demon kings accepted the human reader as a younger sibling and fully believe that they are despite no connection. The reader loathes demons with a passion.

Donatello (TMNT 2012).

Drawn Together.

Dr Strangeglove (Moshi Monsters).

Ed, Edd n Eddy.

Ed with the reader trying to escape, or platonic hcs of the whole crew (Dogs in Space).

Edward Platypus with a Camp Kidney scout who rooms with them (Camp Lazlo).

Emerald with a reader who is Blue Diamond's Emerald (Steven Universe).

Fat Tony x reader who's one of his gang members/employees (The Simpsons).

Fleegle, Drooper and Bingo with a child reader (The Banana Splits Movie).

Flintheart Glomgold, Scrooge McDuck and John D. Rockerduck fight over the reader.

Flippy with a veteran reader who served in a different war. The reader meets Fliqpy, but he sees them as a comrade and thus starts to grow attached to them (Happy Tree Friends).

Fred Jones, Velma Dinkley, Daphne Blake, Shaggy Rogers and Scooby-Doo with an early teen reader who is around 13 years old (Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated).

Garfield the Cat.

Genie (Aladdin).

Greg Heffley.

Hatzgang (Spooky Month).

Herobrine.

Intruder (The Mandela Catalogue).

Jackson Storm (Cars 3).

Jay (Ninjago).

Kevin (Spooky Month).

Killer Sans.

King Spade with a Darkner reader who is Lancer's parental figure (Deltarune).

Kira (Dogs in Space).

Kovu and Kiara with a lion reader who is Kiara's guard ever since the reader and Kiara hit adulthood (The Lion King II: Simba's Pride).

Kurt Kunkle (Spree).

Lapis Lazuli x fem reader, who has a mental breakdown and panic attack in front of Lapis (Steven Universe).

Lightning McQueen is separated from his S/O due to the events of the first movie, so his S/O takes the opportunity to escape.

Lil Bulb (DuckTales 2017).

Lin Chung with a s/o who is extremely shy and mainly sticks to Mystique Sonia (Hero: 108).

Lloyd, Nya, Cole, Jay, Kai, Zane and Morro with a kid reader (Ninjago).

Lou (UglyDolls).

Luffy's Crew (Live-Action One Piece).

Luke Castellan with a reader who is a child of Aphrodite (Percy Jackson).

Lutador (Vivo).

Maka Albarn and Soul Evans with a weapon reader (Soul Eater).

Marvin the Martian believes that the reader is the protector of Earth (because they served in the military or something along those lines) and of course, wanting to take over Earth, would want to defeat them. He doesn't know that this turned out to be an obsession. He never stops thinking about the reader and spies and seems to be in the reader's everyday life because of it. Marvin convinced himself long ago that he is doing that just to defeat the reader. Yet, whenever he sees someone pose a threat to or anger the reader, he becomes protective because he is the one who will rule Earth and the one who will defeat them, not some puny earthling!

Master Jack (The Toy Shop 1996).

Megatron with a S/O with ADHD, Autism and DID.

Member of Steve Smith's friend group during the witches of Langley episode (American Dad).

Michelangelo (TMNT 2007).

Minions with a reader who is so reckless they are the No. 1 villain on accident, but in truth, they are a genuine person that is just way too sweet.

Morro (Ninjago).

Mr and Mrs Fox with a houseguest (Fantastic Mr Fox).

Mr Krabs and Sheldon J. Plankton rivalry.

Ned Flanders (The Simpsons).

Nightmare Sans.

Otto Mann (The Simpsons).

Papi Boulevardez (The Proud Family).

Pitch Black (Rise of the Guardians).

Prismo (Adventure Time).

Professor Venomous with a reader who’s a civilian that acts as a parental figure to Fink (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes).

Puss in Boots.

Ratchet (Ratchet & Clank) who gets possessive over the reader after he gets jealous of other people trying to get near them (he/him pronouns for the reader).

Rattlesnake Jake (Rango).

Rhys Strongfork (Tales From the Borderlands | Borderlands 3).

Rin Okumura (Blue Exorcist).

Rottmnt boys were on patrol, and they decided to check on Y/N. They look through the window to see Y/N hugging a plush version of the brothers and kissing the plush. "I love you... ugh why can't I just say it straight to his face?!" said Y/N.

Seymour Skinner (The Simpsons).

Spear and Fang with a feisty neanderthal who doesn't seem to notice how small they are and tries to fight the two (Primal).

Spider-Man 2099 | Miguel O'Hara with a reader who's an accidental spidey (like they were not supposed to be a Spider-Man, to begin with) and has a living MJ who they love back home.

Splatter Phoenix, where the reader is a rival artist.

Stanford Pines (Gravity Falls).

Sun Wukong, where a shy and kind reader joins the group as a healer (Monkey King Reborn).

Team Avatar (Avatar: The Last Airbender).

Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who).

The Spot (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse).

The kids in New Holland and a new kid, preferably with quite a bit of Nassor and Victor (Frankenweenie).

Tributes of the first or second movie fight to prove they can take care of the tribute reader best, and whoever wins gets the reader (The Hunger Games).

Turbo (Wreck-It Ralph).

Victor Van Dort (Corpse Bride).

Viktor Humphries (Slime Rancher).

Wes with an extremely paranoid reader who loves and gets extremely calmer with his balloons. They just feel at peace seeing all of those colorful little shapes around them (Don't Starve).

Wilson and the reader come into The Constant at the same time, work together to get out, and the reader ends up making it to Maxwell first. After working together so much, Wilson is willing to try anything so they'll be freed (Don't Starve).

Wolf! Reader is best friends with the Penguins of Madagascar and follows them everywhere in the events of the movie, but now they caught Dave’s eye so they have to stop him from kidnapping and following her and destroying all penguins.

Wood Scouts minus Jermy with a reader who's not supposed to be a scout and is the opposite of what the tough, outdoorsy boys should be (Camp Camp).

Zane (Ninjago).

Zohakuten (Kimetsu no Yaiba).

#Navigation #Current Requests #Requests #Yandere #Reader Insert

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