We're Shit Out of Luck, Munson
Eddie Munson x gn!reader
Masterlist Part Two
Summary: You're excited to take a trip north to Steve's cabin with all your friends. That is, until you're snowed in alone with Eddie.
Word Count: ~10.5k (I'm sorry)
Warnings: Swearing. Fluff. Improper knowledge of how a fire stove works. Sort of strangers to lovers? One Bed Trope!!!
A/n: This took way longer than I'd like to admit. I just couldn't get it work, but I hope it's good enough now :) Please let me know your thoughts! Love hearing from you all, and thank you for reading <3
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The wheels of Nancy’s car churned up snowy roads under drifting clouds and floating snowflakes from above. In the rumbling backseat of her car sat you in the back, your head leaning toward the window. She drove, her bracelets jingling whenever she turned the wheel, while Jonathan sat in the passenger seat.
Some Fleetwood Mac song played through the old speakers, your head bobbing along as your eyes danced along the white landscape leading your way north – away from Hawkins and away from regular day-to-day life for just a few days. The three of you were planning to meet Steve, Robin, and Eddie there for an extended weekend away at a rarely used cabin Steve’s family owned.
A knit hat hugged against your head, a heavy coat weighing along your body as you thought toward spending time with some you knew well – missing the days of standing doubled over again in laughter together every other day – and others you were excited to get to know better.
Like Robin, who Steve had talked endlessly about how great the two of you would get along – though he seemed to especially say it after you teased or annoyed him. Or maybe like Eddie, your face quirking just a little at the thought.
You didn’t have anything against him, though you had only met him once. But it was just that you weren’t someone who would climb on cafeteria tables like he did back in high school or speak the way he did. You weren’t sure just yet whether his unashamed self put you off or impressed you.
Once your body had begun to ache from sitting for so long, you leaned forward, pushing yourself past the supplies containing clothes, food, movie, board games to rest a hand along Nancy’s shoulder. “Hey, we’re almost there, right?” you asked, peering at the map stretched across Jonathan’s lap.
He cleared his throat, stretching his legs before muttering, “Yeah, we should be there soon. It’s at the end of the road after we turn onto Lake Street.”
“Oh, is there a lake? Maybe we’ll do some ice fishing,” you suggested, humor in your voice as you leaned back into your seat.
Nancy let out a soft laugh, raising her eyebrows in a “maybe” sort of gesture and glancing to Jonathan.
He merely put his hands up. “You two feel free, but I think I’ll stick inside with all of my fingers warm and still connected to my body.”
With a smile, you returned to the view outside, watching it slowly change from straight county roads to winding dirt ones with trees growing thicker on each side. Swaying branches dusted off snow with each passing breeze.
Old brakes squeaked as Nancy pulled the car next to the cabin. Just as you thought about where the others were, Nancy muttered, “They’re probably not getting here until dark, if it’s those three trying to leave on time.”
You put down “chronically late” into your mental descriptions of Eddie and Robin, imagining Steve standing next to the car and waiting for them like the mom he often acted as. Spending time with the kids sometimes required a small escape like this, or at least it certainly seemed from Nancy’s urging to get away from Mike.
She huffed while getting out, but you just took it as a chance to get first pick at the cabin rooms. Grabbing your bag and hauling along food, you walked to the door as Jonathan asked, “Are we sure this is the right place?”
Glancing down, you saw a snowy welcome mat that said, “Live, Laugh, Love” – you turned around and shouted a giggly “Oh yeah.” Though all laughing died down as you tried turning the knob to open it… but nothing. Of course.
“Hey Nancy,” you called back to her at the car’s trunk, “Did Steve happen to give you a key to getting into this thing?”
You pressed your coat closer against your chest, trying to shield yourself from the wind, though the noisy breeze did nothing to hide Nancy’s sigh. “No, he didn’t. He said they’d be here in time, so it’d be okay.”
Pursing your lips, you nodded at the solemn information. Your breaths out made swirling white in the air in front of you as your boots creaked down the wooden steps. You searched around for a window that could be propped open and crawled through, but most seemed too high off the ground. The others refused to budge, even with all three of you trying to pull. Either they were locked or frozen shut out here.
A thud sounded out when your head rested against the cabin, slowly coming to terms with the rocky start to the getaway. Instead, you all were left inside the car, intermittently turning the car on to get enough heat going without wasting all of the gas.
“Go fish,” Jonathan told you for what seemed like the hundredth time, making you mutter under your breath.
Your cursing only increased when Nancy asked you, “Got any eights?” You shoved your eight into her hands, ignoring her smug smile and ready to give up on this game. It’d been a couple rounds of her winning every single one.
All of your heads popped up at the same time as rumbling came from behind, eyes catching a large van pulling up on the other side of the front of the cabin. You breathed a sigh of relief at the unmistakable flowing hair of Steve through the passenger seat window after what felt like an hour. “Thank the lord,” you whispered before the three of you clambered out.
Nancy was the first to speak, her nose red like yours. “Steve, if you don’t open this cabin right now, we’re stealing it from you and locking you out.”
You guessed he would’ve had wide eyes and a surprised response, but he looked tired, nodding with a straight mouth. “Yeah, sorry about that,” he said, tossing the keys to her.
The wave and smile Steve your way had you returning them as you went to hug him quick. “You’re so lucky that’s all you’re getting from Nancy. Another half an hour, and you’d be getting much worse threats from me,” you laughed.
As you turned to grab your things and finally find a warm blanket or bed or shower – something – he sighed out, “Hey, don’t blame me. Eddie here woke up late and was supposed to be the one picking us up. But I appreciate your kindness.” He rolled his eyes. “It’s good to see you though.”
“Good to see you too,” you said, patting his shoulder. And you meant it. That contagious smile and corny jokes were well-missed by you.
Making your way inside with your things, you wrapped your arms around yourself and grumbled under your breath things about Eddie that certainly didn’t help in his favor toward impressing you.
Stomping off the snow from your boots and slipping them off, you rushed through toward the rooms. You found three, which it didn’t take much mental math to figure out it’d have to be two people per room. Jonathan and Nancy would take one of them, leaving you with Steve, Robin, or Eddie. In the moment, though, you didn’t care too much as you picked a room at random and muttered your way into the bathroom with fresh clothes for a hot shower.
The steaming water dripped along your body, slowly warming your frigid fingers and toes. A long breath emptied from your lungs toward the smooth shower tiles, sending a warm shiver through your body. You weren’t sure how long had passed before you eventually turned the shower off, the leaky shower head dripping water droplets over and over again as you stepped out and dressed.
You exited the bathroom expecting your bags to be right on the bed where you had set them. You had no reason to expect otherwise, until you were met with the chaotic sight in front of you.
Technically, your things were still where you had set them, but they – along with the rest of the bed, most of the floor, the wooden dresser – were covered in clothes, candy wrappers, toiletries, and… were those mini figurines? You only took one step into the room, making the floor creak below you, before a wild wave of hair popped up from the other side of the bed.
Wide eyes stared into yours, big brown ones that nearly made you forget about the mess. That is until Eddie spoke up. “I uh, lost my Walkman. Tryin’ to find it before I go insane listening to their music.” He motioned his head toward the door with an unamused look on his face.
Listening for a beat, you heard music coming from the living room – which seemed to be “Material Girl” playing. Nodding, you looked around while asking, “Are you sleeping here?”
Eddie still rummaged through his bag as he muttered, “By the time I got in this woodsy cabin, everywhere else had been picked, and Robin was already nearly started the place on fire trying to start the wood stove before Nancy stepped in. So I guess?” He turned to you then. “Are we roomies?”
Between his lateness that caused you to sit in the car and freeze your ass off and having to now dig your things out from his mess, you pressed your mouth tight while thinking of your options. “I’ll be right back,” you told him, flashing a flat smile.
You didn’t give him time to answer before you left, seeking out Steve. You found him in the kitchen unpacking some of the refrigerated food. Walking right next to him, giving him a sweet look, you helped him put away some things.
His sigh filled the quiet space between you two. “What is it?”
“Have I ever told you how good your hair looks, Steve?” you asked.
“Of course. Now, what do you want?”
Groaning, you whispered, “I did not sign up for having Eddie Munson as my ‘snowy getaway’ roommate. Please switch with him. Or with me, I’m sure Robin is better.” You looked at her laughing in the living room while watching Nancy try to teach Jonathan to dance, unsuccessfully.
Steve let out a breathy laugh. “If you find uncontrollable snoring and sleep talking better, then maybe. But I already promised Robin I’d room with her. And you have those freezing fingers that I don’t want to wake up with on my back.”
“I promise I won’t do that, even if you are the greatest furnace I’ve ever known,” you begged.
He looked at you, stopping his unpacking and tilted his head. “What’s wrong with Eddie as your roommate? He’s not all that bad.”
You glanced back to your room to make sure he wasn’t listening. “I’m sure he’s not, but he’s been in there for two minutes and already trashed it. And I’m not exactly the type to share a bed with a stranger.”
“Well you could just talk to him. Or get to know him so you’re not strangers,” he offered, glancing toward the room. Your eyes followed, seeing that Eddie was walking out. You had meant what you said, that he wasn’t terrible – maybe you’d even like his sense of humor or laidback personality. But you already liked the rings wrapped around his fingers and the crinkles around his eyes – and all of that mixed with having to lay mere inches from him all night had you hesitating.
You quickly gritted out, “He could just sleep on the couch though” while bringing a smile to your face as Eddie approached.
Steve looked the same, leaning over to whisper, “Or you could.”
You’d seen the couch, a fancy one that looked as if it hadn’t ever been sat on. Your back hurt from just thinking about using it as a bed. There were no other quiet protests you could give before Eddie made it to you two, the chain on his jeans jingling with each step.
“Harrington, you seen a Walkman around here or in the van?”
Steve shook his head, sending his hair swishing along his face. “I’m sure you just missed it when shoving nearly everything you own into a single bag, Munson.”
“Except for extra underwear. I did forget those,” Eddie said with a sad sort of grin, though it turned happy at seeing your twisted face. “Just messing with you, roomie. Though I did forget toothpaste.” He pretended to bat his eyelashes, silently begging for you to share yours and only stopping once you gave in.
His hand patted Steve’s shoulder before walking away to ask the others whether they’d seen his Walkman. With a tight mouth, you just looked at Steve with pleading eyes.
“He can borrow some of mine,” he offered.
You leaned your head against his shoulder in a silent “thank you” before making your way back to the room, planning to unearth your bag to settle in. To your surprise, most of Eddie’s things were cleaned up – or at least shoved to one side of the bed, which you appreciated as you opened up your bag, putting away your things into the drawers.
This was okay. You’d only spend the nights in here, and that was only part of the day. You’d be having fun elsewhere the rest of this time out in the snow or sitting among friends in a nice cabin. This was still going to be a great getaway, no matter what came.
“Oh shit.”
Your head jerked up at the sound, your heart sinking for a moment at hearing Steve say those words. The music quieted down a little, sure someone had turned it down at the outburst. Making your way back, you found everyone else staring at Steve as he ran a hand through his hair.
“Anyone seen the packs of beer?” he asked, his voice low like he already knew the answer.
At everyone shaking their heads, Robin spoke up. “I thought you were bringing them.”
He nodded, putting his other hand on his hip – his classic mom pose. “Yeah, yeah I was. Except they’re back at my house, just sitting on the counter,” he sighed out. “I forgot them when running out of the house when Eddie pulled up.”
Groans echoed out in the space, a quiet “Way to go, Steve” from Robin joining them.
“Well, how about a trip into town? That could be nice,” Nancy offered, clasping her hands together. “Grab some beer, check out the stores too.”
Jonathan peered out the window, pulling open the blinds. “It’s stopped snowing for a bit. Is it supposed to pick back up?”
You shrugged your shoulders like the others, none of you having bothered to check the forecast. “I’m sure it’s fine. Let’s get this road trip going,” Robin said with a toothy grin.
“We already had a road trip,” you said with a laugh.
“Well, a mini road trip then. Maybe there’s a Family Video there, Steve. We could use our double employee discount to get The Apartment for basically free.”
“Robin, you’ve already seen that literally a hundred times,” he responded.
“But not a hundred and one times.”
You smiled at the sigh he gave as opened up his hand to Nancy. “I can drive.”
Nancy nodded, digging out her car keys before throwing them to him. Most of the others started making their way to the door. Though it wasn’t snowing, you weren’t yet ready to weather the cold so soon again.
“I might stick back here, if that’s okay. Stay warm for a little longer,” you told them, giving a small smile.
“Want us to pick you up anything?” Robin asked as she shoved a winter hat on her head.
You waved them off, happy enough to just have the place to yourself for a bit of quiet before everything got going. But your body stilled when Robin turned to look past you, asking, “What about you, Eddie?”
“Besides beer? Nah, I’m good,” his voice sounded. You began to chew on the inside of your cheek, suddenly debating on joining the group after all. Your chances of relaxing went down to zero, instead launching in the other direction of keeping you on edge.
But Steve gave you a pointed look, as if telling you to stay and get along with Eddie. Between his flared nostrils and a breeze pushing through as the front door opened, a fresh wave of frigid air coming through, you just swallowed hard and nodded. You gave them a wave and locked the door after they left, soon watching it pull away.
You could hear your heartbeat in your ears as you slowly turned around, preparing yourself to say something to the near-stranger you shared this cabin (and bed) with. But all you saw was the tail-end of the towel sticking out of Eddie’s back pocket as he walked into the shared room, calling back, “Taking a shower” right before the door shut.
Standing in the middle of the cabin, staring at the space where Eddie had just been, your stomach twisted. This wasn’t going to be as easy as you thought. Leaving you with the empty rooms of the rest of the place, you grabbed a snack from the kitchen and the book you’d left on the counter. Taking a blanket thrown over the back of the uncomfortable-looking couch, you sat in a La-Z-Boy next to it, tucking your feet under yourself. You weren’t sure how many pages you made it through before leaning your head back and slowly drifting off into sleep, the crackling of the fire and winds gusting outside weighing on your eyelids.
–
The second Eddie shut that door to shower, his mouth opened in a silent scream as his palms came up to his face. Only once he started the shower did he release a groan, fingers coming up to wind through his hair. He trashed the room of one of the most beautiful people he’d ever seen? God, he must’ve looked so dumb and selfish looking for his Walkman.
Where did he put that damn thing anyway?
And he saw the way you talked with Steve right after, probably begging him to switch rooms. A sharp pang ran through his chest thinking of you running to mother hen Steve to tattle on Eddie – all spiraling because he’d forgotten to set his alarm last night. He deserved a little slack, right?
He would’ve tried to make a better introduction if he knew he’d be meeting you. He was sure someone had mentioned it earlier, but after hours of listening to whatever Steve and Robin deemed “music” in his van before being unable to escape it even here, his mind wasn’t altogether there.
He’d stayed back from the beer run to shelter from more musical soundtracks, but he hadn’t expected you to stay too. So here he was, standing in the bathroom, head resting against the tiled wall as he thought of the least annoying way to share this room – or at least not make you hate him during this weekend.
Eddie’s shower burned against his skin, scalding water dripping down him and washing away the bad start. The curls of his hair grew heavier as he washed it. At least this place had hot water.
As he dried off and dressed, his lungs filled deep with breaths and emptied them fully, preparing himself to face you again. Silently opening the door, squeezing his dripping hair with a towel, he padded across the floor back and forth for a while. He wasn’t sure how long he’d spent arguing with himself on how maybe hash this out, occasionally taking breaks to tidy his things further – maybe that’d help? As the sun began to dip toward the horizon, he threw down his towel he’d somehow picked up again to find you and fix this. And find you he did.
His breaths grew much shallower, quieter, at seeing you curled up in that plush chair, blanket and book resting against your body. Though he knew if you woke up to see him staring at you, there was no way you’d stop hating him. But your chest rose and fell in even waves, your eyelids twitching once in a while, your fingers intertwined with one another. And as he was about to turn around and go back into the room to leave you asleep and content – without him – his eyes returned to yours one last time to find them already staring at him.
–
The scream you let out rang through the air, echoed by expletives from Eddie. Hand clutched to your chest, you gritted out, “Why were you staring at me? You scared the shit out of me!”
His teeth clenched together, eyes wide, as he nearly yelled, “You? You scared the shit out of me. Jesus… just came out to check on you, got a fucking heart attack instead.”
Eyebrows screwed downward, you replied, “Is that how you check on people? By staring at them until they wake up?”
“Whatever.” He rolled his eyes, though not quite as menacing as it could have been. “I’ll leave you out here to die next time, sweetheart.”
“Die? From what? The only thing that’s made me fear for my life was finding a mysterious man standing over me,” you scoffed, a hint of an incredulous smile across your face.
That made his face change, a growing smirk replacing his grimace. “Ah, so you think I’m mysterious,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. He’d changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants, and your eyes flicked down to his forearms more than once. And maybe at the way his damp hair curled against his shoulders.
“Mysterious like a man wearing a trenchcoat at the end of an alleyway, maybe,” you told him with a hint of laughter in your voice, your gaze rising up to see his face screwed tight.
“Yeah, well at least–”
Whatever retort Eddie had fell flat as the phone rang right next to you. Your gaze went between it and Eddie’s for a brief moment before you threw off the blanket and your book just as he scrambled to it as well. But your hand reached it first, your other pushing him away from getting it.
Your fingers grasped the handle, rasping into it, “Hello?”
“He- hello? Can you hear us?” The voice crackled through the receiver, though it sounded familiar. But Eddie by your side whispered, “Who is it?”
“Robin?” you asked, ignoring him.
“Hey!”
“Where are you all? You’ve been gone awhile,” you said, though only guessing from how much darker it seemed outside.
“Oh yeah, about that. We’re in the middle of butt-fuc– Hey!” The sound of rustling and distant voices talking over one another on the other end erupted into your ear before Nancy’s voice came into focus.
“Still there?” she asked, a bit out of breath.
“Still here, Nance,” a smile evident in your voice.
She huffed out a breath before speaking up again. “We’re stuck here in town. Snow blocked my car in while we were shopping – we can’t get it unstuck no matter what we try–” More noise comes from behind before Nancy’s voice comes from farther away as she says, “We are not using Steve for traction.”
You assumed she said that to Robin, and you’d laugh if you weren’t waiting for the other shoe to drop. Nancy let out a long sigh. “No one can come get out to us today… or even a few days if the storm stays this bad.”
Your eyebrows lowered into a deep valley. “Storm?” you asked. You craned your neck toward the nearest window, unable to see much outside with the sun far down now. As you did, you caught Eddie’s face in the reflection looking stern, making you turn to him.
He waved a hand at you, mouthing something that you only caught every other word of. You mouthed back “What?” but held up a finger as Nancy began speaking again – leaving Eddie with his arms crossed and jaw tightening.
“Yeah. Ugh, I was stupid not to check beforehand. But we’re not making it back tonight.”
“Not at all?” You knew the question didn’t quite make sense, but your eyes flicked to Eddie for a moment, your heart crawling up your throat. All it did was make him whisper-yell at you to tell him what was happening. “What about all of your things here?” you asked, your voice much quieter. There was no way they’d be able to walk all the way back, especially if this snowstorm was as bad as she was saying.
You could practically hear the frustration laced through Nancy’s words. “After we walk to the one motel this town has, we’re going to buy toiletries and things. We’ll try again tomorrow and call you, but in the meantime, are you two okay by yourselves? I know you and Eddie don’t know each other too well.”
Glancing at Eddie again brought his patience to an end, his legs bringing him to your side and holding the receiver between both of your heads to listen. The proximity of his body so close to you all of a sudden had you stepping back, eyes merely blinking at him as you tried to answer, but the way he looked at you didn’t make words come any easier. Eventually, you let out, “Uh, yeah, we should be okay. We brought enough food to last us.”
His gaze held yours, his eyebrows raising high at your words. He mouthed, “Why?” but Nancy responded first.
“Good, good. Okay,” she breathed out, “Sorry about all this, but we’ll hopefully see you tomorrow then.”
You didn’t think Eddie’s face could’ve twisted further in confusion, but you were mistaken. “Yeah, see you, Nance,” you said, your own voice feeling distant from where your mind was at. The line clicked to an end after saying goodbye, the receiver falling limply with your hand.
Before you could even collect your thoughts, Eddie spat out, “Can you finally tell me what the hell is going on?”
Your head jerked back just an inch before your eyes rolled. This was going to be a longer weekend than you ever thought. Instead of answering him, you walked to the cabin’s front door, pulling it open carefully so the wind didn’t fling it off its hinges. Standing there, gazing out into the world, you felt Eddie’s feet walk across the floor until they stopped next to you.
With the front porch lights illuminating the way, you could see heavy flakes pelting down onto growing piles of snow. It wasn’t nearly as much of a surprise as to how their car had gotten buried so fast after seeing how much snow blanketed the world.
“They’re stuck – staying in town tonight,” you finally muttered. “They’re shit out of luck.”
He rubbed a hand down his face, fingers tangling in his hair as a groan rumbled up his throat. “No, we’re shit out of luck. Jesus.”
Despite the view of endless stars littering the sky, goosebumps started littering your skin. Your hands grasped the door handle and pushed it shut and locked before resting your head against the thick wood.
“Well,” Eddie said from behind, making you turn and watch him shift from one foot to the other, his hands stuffed in his pockets. “At least we don’t have to share a bed anymore.”
You let out a mostly unamused snort, lifting your head to shake it back and forth. “That’s the least of your problems. They had all the beer.”
“Shit…”
–
The two of you had nearly started a fire and a fistfight in the kitchen while trying to make a late-night dinner. This cabin felt ancient, none of the appliances working how either of you thought they would. Eddie tried to come in to help, hoping it’d mend some sort of relationship between the two of you, but he ended up pulling off one of the dials. Instead, while he piled up logs high into the wood stove for the night, not knowing if any of what he was doing was right, you rummaged through food to make a couple sandwiches.
In silence, you two sat at a creaky dining table and ate a meal that wouldn’t fill you up and that would have you searching for snacks in the middle of the night. But he was having dinner with you, trying to not stare at you too much – though, part of him thought “How could he not?” There was a way you spoke, lived, breathed that had him strangely captivated and wanting to know more.
“So…” he started saying in between bites of his surprisingly delicious sandwich, “do you forgive me yet for scaring you?” He tried to sound sincere, but a wry smile rose along his cheeks.
Tilting your head, you told him, “Might be my memory, but I don’t quite remember you apologizing for it, Eddie.”
As his name rolled off your tongue, he couldn’t stop his face from flushing for a second. But his grin came back almost immediately. “Think it’s your memory then.”
“While how about you refresh it for me,” you said, looking at him expectantly. The crackling of the fire filled the air between you, its heat wrapping around his body while you waited.
A few emotions crossed his face, determining the right way to do this, before he finally said, “Sorry about it.” He shrugged. “Not sure you could blame me for staring me for staring at you, though I didn’t realize you were so jumpy.”
Eddie’s throat felt tighter as he swallowed down the risk he took to say that, but he’d say it a million more times if it meant to see the way you paused, your face turning shy as you looked away.
“See…” you said, your voice returning to you as you pointed at him with your sandwich, “I don’t think that’s a very good apology. Not sure why it’d make me forgive you.”
“It came from my heart.” His hand came to rest on his chest, right above his heart with a solid thump. His fingertips felt the way it beat just a bit too fast for his liking. His apology wasn’t good, but it got you to talk to him some more, and that felt like enough.
Flat-toned, you told him, “Sounds like you should go to a cardiologist, cause your heart gives shit apologies.”
Dramatically, he pretended to stab a stake through his chest. “Great, now you’ve wounded me.”
“Clean up dinner and I’ll forgive you, okay?” You stood up with a smile you tried to hold back, only moving to the living room once he wordlessly nodded. “Thanks.”
He felt glad you weren’t watching at how fast he put the few ingredients away and tidied up the table. He glanced at you while you gathered up your things, your face a bit shyer as you approached him.
“Gonna get ready and head to bed. See you in the morning, yeah?” you said, making a pang hit his chest in a way that left him confused and nearly breathless.
“Yeah, sleep well,” he muttered, hands back in his pockets and playing with the coins left in there.
Standing in the cabin alone as your door shut, only accompanied by the hot fire and chilling winds outside, had Eddie walking to bed with too-loud thoughts. Had he won you over? The way his body seemed to care so much about the answer to that question didn’t help his tiredness as he climbed into bed.
–
Despite the constantly creaking house under the harsh force of the storm’s wind, the night passed quietly at first, only accompanied by your occasional tossing and turning. You went to Steve and Robin’s bed that night, leaving Eddie in the one you were supposed to share with him. You thought of your friends and hopefully what plans they had in store for all of you once they made it back tomorrow.
Robin had a million movie recommendations for the group to watch. Nancy brought games for you all to play. Mostly, you just wanted to catch up with everyone that you hadn’t seen in awhile, happy to finally find a time to be together, but look where you were…
Sleep came and went, and came and went again until you woke up a few hours later with a chill climbing up your spine. Your weary blinks barely did anything, the room soaked in dark. Though if you had been able to see, you would’ve expected to see your breath billow out into the air.
How did it get so cold? Squeezing your eyes shut, you willed yourself to curl tighter against yourself and fall back asleep. But it evaded you, slipping away through chilled fingers and goosebump flesh.
No part of your body agreed, but you slid out of the bed with a blanket wrapped around you. Your feet curled against the cold floor as you made your way to the fire stove, doing your best to not run into anything.
In the dark, you could spot the last embers in the fire stove still dying out. Shit, you hadn’t been paying attention to where Steve’s family kept the logs. While searching in the dark for a light switch or the logs, pain erupted through your toe as you stubbed it against something.
A subdued groan stuck in your throat, one hand over your mouth while the other went to your toe as you bent down. Breaths came from your nose in rough bursts, the cold air only making the pain worse.
Feeling around, you vaguely recognized what you ran into as Eddie’s bag he’d brought out at some point last night. You silently cursed him before making your way to his room, exhaustion fueled by the cold weighing on your eyelids and shoulders, slowing you down.
Fingers wrapped tight around the blanket still, you knocked on his door once, twice, three times… you lost count when he didn’t answer. Fed up, you creaked the door open and whispered, “Eddie?”
Only once you repeated his name louder did he stir, his mouth releasing a groan from beneath the sheets.
“Hey, Munson. Where’s the firewood?” you asked, walking closer to him.
His hand came up to rub at his eyes. “Jesus,” he mumbled, “it’s freezing in here.”
He couldn’t see you roll your eyes, but that didn’t stop you. “Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. The wood stove burned out, where’s more firewood?”
“I used the last of it when I filled it. Thought it’d last us awhile.”
You didn’t want to absolutely lose it on Eddie, but the heat of your frustration felt welcome in your cold body. “You used the last of the firewood in a winter storm? Are you trying to get us killed?”
He sighed out, “I’m sure there’s more somewhere.”
“Where?”
“How should I know?” he asked, sleep still laced through all of his words. You envied him and wanted to strangle him. “We can look in the morning or call Harrington, okay?”
“And what, do we freeze until then?” you asked, pulling your arms in closer to your body. You weren’t sure you had enough layers to last you that long.
Shifting himself over, Eddie offered, “You could join me to share body heat or whatever, or you could leave. Either way, I’m falling asleep in the next 60 seconds.”
Your face twisted, nails digging into the softness of your blanket. Part of you wondered whether freezing during the night would’ve been better than sharing a bed with Eddie, the first thing you tried to avoid after getting here.
But his hand flopped over near you, and you could feel the warmth of him washing onto your thigh. With a final shiver through your spine that you blamed on the cold and nothing else, you grumbled, “Let me in. And watch your hands.”
He held up his hands as if to show you he wouldn’t dare, not that you really expected him to. Climbing into the bed, your body relished in being near him. Your tired muscles loosened with the heat as you curled against him while he laid on his back.
“Shit!” Eddie nearly yelped as your cold feet accidentally brushed against the skin of his legs.
“Oh suck it up and warm me, Munson.” You pressed closer to him still despite his protests, and despite the nerves firing inside you. Your blanket stayed wrapped around you like a burrito, acting as a barrier between your bodies at least a little bit. Maybe it’d be enough to let you fall asleep without overthinking all of this.
But the blanket constricted your upper half, so as you wiggled against Eddie to get comfortable, you brought your arm across his chest. Hoping that didn’t go too far, you began to ask him, “Is this oka– are you not wearing a shirt?”
Pulling back a bit, you tried to look him in the eye… and maybe lower. But the darkness obscured any glimpse.
“Got warm when going to bed. Shirt’s somewhere on the floor. S’that okay?” For once, his voice sounded void of teasing. Instead, you could tell he angled his head to try and get a look at you as well.
Settling back against him, laying your head against his shoulder and pressing your body to his, you nodded. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, of course.” Was it okay? Your fingers rested along his ribs and unable to get the feeling of his bare chest out of your body’s memory.
The weight of his hand resting against your back and the slight tickle of his wild hair brushing along your face warmed more than just your skin. All of this breathed intimate, made you close in more than a physical way.
“Good night, Eddie,” you whispered. Your body began to relax as the chill left in favor of the blooming warmth he provided you.
Against your head, he whispered back, “Good night, sweetheart.”
You thought sleep would be impossible while wrapped together with him, and while calling you those pet names, but the comfort of your breath falling in line with his had you tipping toward exhaustion. And though you seemed to be bursting with thoughts and questions, Eddie had vowed to go back to bed soon, so you shut your eyes to let him sleep, falling into unconsciousness within moments.
–
Eddie did not fall asleep soon, not even close to the 60 seconds that he had told you. Not with you snuggled this close to him, your soft breath sliding against his skin with each exhale. He was sure you’d fallen asleep then, little noises sounding from the back of your throat kept his mind racing and his body all too aware of yours.
When your thumb had rubbed back and forth along his skin, his brain went blank then burst back online when his stomach tingled. Did he really have god damn butterflies from that? At least it seemed he’d won you back over from pure annoyance to mild tolerance.
He hadn’t told you, but he’d been cold too. Eddie absolutely wouldn’t have told you about the way his heart lept into his mouth when asking you to stay in the bed together. Or how wide his smile had gotten when you actually said yes. Each time you twitched, he feared you had gotten cold again or had some bad dream. But there you stayed, in his arms.
No part of him could tell what time it was by the time his tingling nerves finally settled and warmed. Dipping toward unconsciousness, he knew he’d sleep better than he had in a long time. And he did, with you pulled tight against him and refusing to let go.
–
The sun peeked its body up above the horizon. Light streaming in painted the frosting swirls adorning the window in a rainbow of shades. The absolute silence out here in the winter felt welcome against your ears. Through everything this trip had brought, at least you had time to sleep in.
And Eddie took full advantage of that. As your eyes blinked open, you found him out cold – but he certainly didn’t feel cold. The first thing touching your awareness was the feeling of Eddie pressed against your back, the rising of his chest and pounding of his heartbeat. His arm wrapped across your ribs and came to rest his hand on top of yours.
Silently, a soft smile rose on your face as his nose nuzzled against the back of your neck. Who knew he loved to cuddle so much? As each quiet minute passed, you seemed to care less and less about the minor ways he had annoyed you through this trip so far. Well, not completely – but at least this was nicer than bickering with him or being stuck outside.
Despite the chill still in the air, your body ached to stand and stretch. As you slipped from Eddie’s grasp, you glanced back at him. In the morning light drifting past the curtains, you could get a better look at him. But only a short one, not wanting a repeat of what he’d done to you yesterday. Facing you, your gaze took longer than you’d like to escape from staring at his arms and chest or how his hair cascaded across his face and onto the skin of his shoulders.
He had nice shoulders.
Shaking your head, you opened the door to let him continue resting, which apparently he really needed. While he slept in through most of the morning, you’d managed to make breakfast, get washed up and ready for the day (and covered in many, many layers) and actually read this time – with the record player on its lowest volume. Through the busyness of work and college, you found it hard to capture (let alone appreciate) moments like these anymore.
You’d checked outside again and again to see whether the snow had miraculously melted since you last looked. But each time you pulled back the curtains, the blanket across the land still sat there – though snow continued to fall, it drifted slower now. Its quiet and undisturbed body looked peaceful, comforting in a way despite everything.
Though not unwelcome, the soft air broke once the phone rang. With quick footsteps, you went to it and picked up, rushing out, “Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Nancy again,” the voice on the other side breathed through the receiver.
Maybe you should’ve asked how she was or how she slept, you skipped past any pleasantries. “Any good news?” you asked.
The sigh Nance let out told you the answer before her words did. “Wish I had some. Everywhere within a hundred miles is facing exactly what we are. No one’s getting anywhere for a bit, barely even plows.”
You swallowed down a deep groan, your fingers tightening around the phone. “There’s no way you’re getting here today?”
“Maybe, if we’re lucky. I’m sorry.” And she did sound sorry, but she was the one stuck in a motel room in a tiny town buried in snow.
“Don’t worry… I’m sorry you’re roomin’ it in that motel for the time being. And with those two children,” you laughed out, breathing easier when hearing Nancy’s laugh too. You vaguely heard her say something else, but you turned to look at Eddie’s room to see the door open.
Your eyes roamed across his sleepy state as he walked toward you, the back of his hand coming up to rub against his eye as he yawned. His hair laid at odd angles, the curls raining down on a faded Judas Priest shirt he now wore, which hung down onto a pair of black sweatpants. You couldn’t quite look away, a warmth in your chest at seeing him in such a state. Only hearing your name through the phone brings you back.
“Sorry Nance, what was that?” you ask, shaking your head and keeping your gaze elsewhere.
“Just wishing you luck on your extended vacation with Eddie,” she said, a slight humor in her voice, almost as if she knew what just went through your head.
You nodded even though she couldn’t see – maybe she could apparently, or you were just that obvious – but you followed up with, “Yeah, good luck too. Keep us updated?”
“Of course,” she said, and your mouth pressed tight. Perhaps from missing out on this time with her or perhaps from the impending conversation with Eddie in a second.
“Oh wait!” you said louder, “Please ask Steve where the extra firewood is. We’ve burnt through it.”
Nancy mused out loud, “We should’ve had one of you there when he explained all this. One second, I’ll ask.” You imagined her whispering to Steve while Robin was still asleep.
While sounds of shifting and moving went through the background, you watched as Eddie grabbed the blanket you’d been using on the couch and wrapped himself in a burrito. You turned away to hide your smile, thankful Nancy came back.
“Hey, he says it’s out back in a log rack. And that you only need to put some in the stove at a time, not too many or it’ll burn out faster,” she explained to you.
You thanked her, and the click of putting the receiver back echoed through the room. A silence settled before Eddie finally asked, “They on their way back yet?”
Leaning back against the kitchen counter, you angled toward him as you answered, “Uh, no. Quite the opposite, actually. There’s a small chance they get back today.” Gesturing to the window with the head, you followed with, “Snow’s probably not stopping soon.”
You allowed yourself to glance back at him while he looked past the curtains, knocking his head against the glass with a groan. “This storm has a vengeance against my quest for beer.”
Letting a laugh out through your nose caused him to stare at you, eyebrows furrowing in a way to ask you what was so funny. Shrugging, you told him, “You certainly have a flair for dramatics.”
He crossed his arms as he stood tall. “Maybe you’re not being dramatic enough. We’re stuck here for a whole weekend.”
With wide eyes, you asked, “Oh, having to stay here with me calls for melodrama and agony?” Eddie’s face looked hesitant, even speechless for a second, until you were unable to hold back your smile anymore.
His eyes roll back, his usual demeanor coming back quickly. “You’re the one that didn’t want to share a bed with me, sweetheart.”
Your fingers came to pick at the hem of your shirt, eyes drifting downward. Your grin fell, throat tight as you struggled to explain yourself. “I, uh…”
His shrug followed with, “S’alright. We made up for it last night.” He let out a small laugh, one that didn’t quite ease your embarrassment. “Where’s this firewood though? Freezing my tits off here.”
That did get a giggle from you and let your shoulders ease a little. If Steve were here, he’d give you an “I told you so” about communication or whatever, but you were just glad Eddie wasn’t too upset.
Still, you couldn’t stop your sigh as you told him, “Firewood’s out back in some log rack apparently.”
Raising his eyebrows and pulling his blanket tighter, all he offered was, “Well, good luck. Have fun with that. I’ll be here to warm you up again when you get back.”
“Ahh… no. You’re the reason it burned out in the middle of the night. So if anyone is going out by themselves, it’s you, Munson.” You crossed your arms, letting the silence grow louder as you two stared each other down.
“Fine! We’ll both go,” Eddie gritted out, shuffling back to his room. You slipped on boots, a hat (or two), gloves, and your coat. You were plenty tired of the all too familiar chill aching through your body.
But as Eddie came back out, you barely contained an explosive laugh at seeing him covered up. A ratty sweatshirt bulged against him, clear that he wore many layers beneath it. And he at least had on two pairs of pants.
“Not one word,” he muttered, about to grab his shoes when you convinced him to wear Steve’s boots he’d left here. You also spent too long forcing him to put on a hat – it would “ruin this perfect hairdo” he told you, but you won out.
You were sure the two of you resembled young children bundled up and unable to move well by the time you opened up the front door. The porch allowed you to open it at all, unlike the back door that had a growing wall of snow barricading it.
Both of your boots crunched as you walked around the cabin. Despite trying to shield your face from the wind that seemed to come from every direction, the view you had certainly didn’t get old. Thick trees weighed down with fresh snow all spanning for miles, looking like a scene out of an old Christmas movie.
Nearing the other side, you spotted a rack with a tarp over it, sure to be piled high with logs. Your freezing fingers clenched at the promise of warmth soon. Just as you were about to look for the logs, you felt a thud against your back along with muffled laughter. Eyes narrowed and jaw tight, you turned around to see Eddie very obviously looking away from you, pretending nothing happened – like he didn’t just pelt you with a snowball.
But in his act, he didn’t see you bend down to form your own snowball between your gloved hands. Packing it tight, you pulled back your arm and let it fly, hitting him square in the chest as he turned toward you at the last second.
There was no stopping the shit-eating grin on your face at his mouth dropping open or the way his gaze steeled. The look pierced past all the ridiculous layers, making you feel a little less cold out there. The way his head tilted to the side, awaiting him to make some cocky comment that’d have you internally stuttering – it kept you still, even as he bent down.
“Oh, you are so fucked,” he told you, packing another snowball.
He had no idea how right he was.
The second he stood back up with his ammo, your legs took off in the other direction, feet slipping through the snow as you ran from him. Though the icy air sharpened against your face, your grin stayed, now accompanied by uncontrollable laughter as Eddie chased you.
Rounding the next side of the house, you slipped around the corner to press against the wall, hiding from his view. His own laughter grew louder as he followed, making your teeth sink into your lip to stop from letting out any noise.
As he ran full speed around the corner, which wasn’t that fast in knee deep snow that wormed its way into your boots, you jumped out at him. Your hands landed on his shoulders with a slap, forcing a scream from his throat and his hand to release the snowball.
But he flew back in surprise, his legs tangling with yours and bringing you both down into the sea of snow. White powder billowed up and around your bodies, some of it wiggling into your exposed neck and wrists.
And yet, you weren’t complaining as you landed with your body pressed against Eddie’s, half of your chest on top of his – your faces only a breath apart.
Perhaps you should’ve scrambled back, apologized, or even laughed at him for screaming, but you admired the snowflakes littering his dark hair like constellations against a night sky. Then you glanced to the soft red covering his cheeks and nose, sure that it came from the cold but hoped it grew from something more.
Eddie’s breathing rose and fell beneath you, pressing close and then all too far a second later. You thought you might’ve caught his doe eyes glancing toward your mouth, yours doing just the same, but as he shifted closer, more snow dipped on the back of his neck and down his coat.
“Shit!” he yelled, flying up to try and shake it out, breaking whatever had held you two together for that all too brief moment.
You sat there with a smile, watching him scramble to rid himself of the quickly melting snow. Letting out a long sigh, you stood up and waited until he calmed before nodding your head back toward the logs.
Moment broken indeed as you began to sweat trying to grab as many logs in your arms as possible – no part of you wanting to trudge back out here. Between the two of you, there stood (balanced precariously, really) a sizable amount of logs to fuel the wood stove for a while.
Your body felt a little lighter as the layers of clothes dropped to the floor, your cold cheeks beginning to warm up back inside and out of the wind. This time, you loaded the logs and set the stove ablaze, declaring the spot directly in front as yours for the next half hour.
Eddie, of course, had none of that. He plopped himself next to you, pressed against your side – claiming “it had the most heat, stop hogging it.”
You didn’t stop, not when the still-warming skin of your arm goosebumped as it touched his. The veins running along his forearm occupied most of your thoughts while you two sat there in silence, only interrupted by occasional complaining of a different body part being cold and cursing of this storm.
“You warmed up?” Eddie asked, turning his head to look at you.
If you turned to him, you’d get caught up in the deep brown of his eyes or how soft his lips looked, so continued staring at the flames in front of you. You’d been plenty warm for some time now, but if you told him that, then you’d have to leave his side.
But before you could speak, he brought a hand up to scratch at his neck as he continued, “Cause I was thinking we could watch one of those movies Robin brought.”
Oh, that you could do. “Yeah. You can pick, I’ll go search for that popcorn Nancy put somewhere,” you said, getting up and finding it before he noticed how scattered your brain was becoming.
The TV came to life as kernels popped in the pan you shook on the stove. As you watched each one burst, the nerves of being with Eddie settled back in your body, sleeping against your spine. This weekend hadn’t gone as any of you expected, especially not with seeing this near stranger as cute, charming even – not that you’d tell him that.
And rather than watch The Apartment as planned, you realized you didn’t want Eddie to be a stranger anymore. So you pestered him with questions, not that he seemed bothered. You loved hearing about Uncle Wayne and the auto shop Eddie worked at, or his D&D campaign he was planning at the moment. Not with that smile when you told him about your family, friends, and how work was going. He even vowed to fight your annoying coworker if he ever saw him in public – like you had promised to check out Corroded Coffin when you made it back.
“Like, I know we fight literal demons in our game, but are you sure Tanner isn’t one of them? I mean, who falls asleep in the only bathroom? And locks it!” Eddie said, shaking his head as he filled his mouth with more popcorn.
“Right?” you said in between salty bites, “But as long he doesn’t show up at The Hideout, I’m coming for your show next month.”
And you’d give him a million more promises if it meant making that look spread across his face again – excited grin, cheeks squishing up to make his shining eyes shut. Wow. Maybe you’d put too many logs in, the air feeling much warmer now.
But it was easy, so surprisingly simple to spend the day with Eddie. He played you some of his favorite songs while you both laid on the ground, heads next to each other but feet pointing opposite directions. Every time he bopped his head to the beats, his hair brushed against you. The way his hands shot up to play an imaginary guitar and softly mouth the lyrics had you holding back giggles.
This time, he tried making you dinner. And he did make a surprisingly good plate of pasta – without burning the whole place down. While eating, he nodded along to what you said as if every word quenched some sort of thirst he had for listening to you, for learning everything there was about you. He had this air about him of confidence, but past that, in those soft moments, you saw him settle into a quieter form of himself – one that calmed you too.
And reaching the end of the night, you awaited his question. Whether you’d be staying in his bed again. The fire was fixed; it’d stay lit throughout the night. But the two of you threw on another movie, maybe just so you didn’t have to confront that just yet in case you would separate ways. Your eyelids drooped and you yawned so hard it shook through your body. And that tiredness made your decision just a little easier.
“Hey,” Eddie whispered, resting his hand on your arm and shaking it gently. “Let’s get to bed, alright?”
Your head had drifted down until it rested against his shoulder, so it ruffled his shirt as you gave him a few sleepy nods. Shutting the TV off, he grabbed your hand and led you toward the bedrooms. As he slowed at the split between the two doorways, you kept shuffling your feet, pulling him into his room. Not bothering with getting ready, afraid it would break the unspoken moment between you two, you climbed into the bed and took the leap, holding out your arm as he had the night before.
–
God, he took the space next to you so quick. But he kept his movements gentle, not wanting to rock you out of your sleepy state in case it woke you from this dream you’d created. Eddie settled in, wrapping himself around you and under the covers. Jesus, he spent all night working up a way to ask you for this.
A deep sigh loosened from his lungs that you had done it instead. Maybe it’d been the way your eyes lit up whenever he made you laugh before they shut as you turned breathless, clutching your stomach. Or how excited you got talking about your favorite show at the time, your hands flying through the air.
It’s not that you were intimidating, but you sure made him feel intimidated – nervous that he’d say the wrong thing and make that beautiful smile drop. But it didn’t. He could still see it in the faint light coming from the hallway, and it only grew as he pressed his body against yours.
Eddie really wanted to stay awake, on purpose this time. To enjoy this time as he stroked a thumb along the soft skin of your hip peeking out from under your shirt. But your heartbeat pumped against him, your breath made his fall in line to yours like a steady conductor – leading him right into sleep along with you. And he followed you without question.
–
It was in the late morning that you it happened, it finally came together. Half-awake, you laid your arm on the one wrapped along your stomach. It pulled against you, bringing you closer to the chest behind you. You weren’t yet aware enough to recognize that you weren’t dreaming, that it was Eddie also on the cusp of sleep holding you.
Not until did his lips connect to the point where your neck slopes into your shoulder did your eyes shoot open, any bit of tiredness inside you disappearing in a moment. Your head turned back to look at him, seeing his own eyes shut before also blinking open at your sudden movement.
He glanced between where he’d just kissed and your face, a blush rising to his cheeks as his mouth opened and closed wordlessly. “I, uh… I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry, um…” he stammered out before pulling his arm and scooting back until no part of him touched you anymore.
You’d done it – you’d broken the tension in the ugliest way, and you felt cold without him there. Turning to fully face him, you rambled to try to fix this in some way. “No, no, it’s okay. Don’t be sorry, really I should be the one sorry for taking your bed and forcing you to sleep next to me–”
“You didn’t force me–”
“But it’s really okay because it was cold that first night and so it made sense. And we both weren’t really awake just now, and–” You’d gotten up now to pace, unable to look him in the eyes anymore. You didn’t want that extra space between you, but he’d done it first and maybe that’s what he actually wanted.
–
Shit. Shit. Shit. How could he kiss you in his sleep? What a god damn idiot. Though he understood why he did it, watching you pace and float through the room like some angel he felt undeserved to kiss.
–
As you glanced at him for just a second, you saw the way his fists squeezed the blanket between his fingers. Oh, how could you have been so stupid to misinterpret things, and now you’ve made him uncomfortable.
Taking a long breath, you finished with, “I’m sorry, Eddie.” Your hand clasped onto your other one as you shifted from foot to foot.
With a hand rubbing down his face, he shook his head. “I’m the one that kissed you, and you’re apologizing,” he laughed out. “I didn’t mean to do that, especially without asking or something first, Jesus.”
You barely heard his next words that he spoke to himself, but your ears held on to every word. “Maybe my subconscious had gotten into my thoughts…”
Your teeth dug into the inside of your cheek as you contemplated your next sentence, the rabid butterflies ravaging your stomach. Pursing your lips, you quietly asked, “So… you would have wanted to do that if we were both awake?”
And his face shot up, those eyes the color of melting chocolate meeting yours. He climbed from his side of the bed, shuffling toward you – one of his steps for every three of your racing heartbeats. “Yeah, of course. But I didn’t even ask if you wanted that…” he said, leaving his unspoken question hang in the air.
Fighting the smile trying to rise up, you said, “So, you should probably ask then, Munson.” And the kind light shining from his eyes turned brighter into a tall flame threatening to burn you both. There it was, that cocky way he had.
His hand reached to grab yours, giving it a squeeze before he finally said it. “Can I kiss you?” he whispered, gaze unsure of where to stay, definitely your mouth it seemed.
You tried to come up with a million different ways to say yes, to tell him that you couldn’t stand another second without him being pressed against you again. As your mouth opened, a creaking noise came from the front of the cabin, followed by voices.
“We’re alive!” Steve shouted as the group walked through the door and stomped off snow from their shoes. Other words shot through the air, destroying the haven the two of you had made. Dropping your forehead against Eddie’s, you sighed out a breathless “Yes” that fell flat against his cheek.
–
Fuckin’ Harrington.
--
A/n: Thank you so much for reading. Reblogging and commenting make my day (and make me love you), so I’d love to hear what you thought! <3
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The Other Port
(Chapter 5)
.:: Scraping It Off ::.
Ten cents slowly began to wake up, he began to contemplate the events that unfolded last night. It felt like such a weird dream and yet it felt so real, The Other Captain, Other O.J. and Top Hat, even Sunshine was there too. Was it even a dream?
Then Ten Cents began to realize something; It was morning, the barracks looked… normal. Gone was the lively, rich, bright, and colorful bedroom, now he was back to plain boring barracks he knew.
“Are we back in our world?...” Ten Cents whispers to himself not feeling sure if they’re really back.
Ten Cents gets off from his bunk bed and looks on the bunk above him to see if Sunshine was okay. He was relieved when he saw Sunshine still here and sleeping peacefully.
“Maybe this was a crazy dream after all,” Ten Cents thought to himself as he began to wake Sunshine up in a calm and gentle manner. “SUNSHINE! GET UP IT’S MORNING!!”
Sunshine jolted awake from the sudden loud voice from Ten Cents, “What?! What?! What’s going on?!” Sunshine shouted, looked around and noticed how everything was back to normal.
“Ten Cents, What was that for?!” Sunshine shouted,
“Hey, you know i’m just messing with ya” teased Ten Cents
“But not when I'm sleeping, man.” Sunshine remarked, sighing in frustration.
“Not while we’re sleeping too,” a voice suddenly spoke up accompanied by a head poking up from another bunk; It was Top Hat,
“We’re working in a difficult time, you two. We employees of Star Tug & Marine have a position to keep up, we need to get as much rest as we can so we have more energy to do work early in the morning.”
Before Ten Cents could reply, a pair of groans cut him off, “Come off it, Top Hat, at least they’re up early and bright, unlike you,” Big Mac scoffed, Warrior laughed at this.
Before Top Hat could retort, the PA speaker turned on, accompanied by small feedback from it.
“Good Morning Star Fleet, I see everyone is already up so we can skip the wake up call and get to the announcements. As of now we’re going to have to work even harder than before for this week following the accident that occurred yesterday. Big Mac and Warrior you’re going to be assisting Hercules with the docking and unloading of another tramper, Top Hat you're on garbage detail today after that you’re to transport the rail fairies across the port, and since O.J isn’t available, I’ll have to ask Captain Zero to lend one of his employees to do his duties in the meantime-”
“But Captain,” protested Top Hat, “can’t one of us do O.J’s jobs, we’re more than capable of handling his work as well as our own.”
“I would but I’m afraid O.J’s duties would be too much to handle on top of your already scheduled duties. And I can’t spare my youngest employees to do them because of what happened recently.”
“Can’t we just do O.J’s work as a punishment?” asked Sunshine.
I let out a sigh, “I would Sunshine, but I’m afraid that because of the companies you three kept waiting as well as making a fool out of the company in front of the tramper’s crew, no one at the moment is going to trust you with your duties.”
I couldn’t see the expressions of my young employees, but I could sense they felt worse after what I said.
“You three are just going to have to start from the bottom and work yourselves back to the top starting with scraping the barnacles off of pier 3, Scuttlebutt Pete will meet you there and supervise your work. That is all, best of luck to all of you.”
The P.A speaker let out a crack and a squeal as I turned it off. All of my employees set off to do their assigned jobs of the day, as they walked out the entrance Ten Cents and Sunshine couldn’t help but feel as though Top Hat was staring coldly at them.
Ten Cents and Sunshine were quiet to each other as they made their way to Pier 3. Some ways into their journey, Ten Cents decided to speak up, “I’m sorry for waking you up the way I did, Sunshine, but... do you remember what happened last night?”
Sunshine paused for a moment then asked “You mean with the Other Captain, the Other Top Hat, and the Other O.J, even the food he gave us?"
“Yeah all of that.” Ten Cents replied.
“How do you know all of that? I thought it was just a dream I had,” Sunshine asked perplexed.
“I was there with you and you were there with me. It was weird, the whole thing had to have been some dream of sorts right?” Ten Cents ventured.
“I suppose, but how do you know we’re not having a dream right now?” Sunshine asked.
“Only one way to find out,” Started Ten Cents before grabbing Sunshine’s left arm.
“Oi! not too hard, you’ll pull my whole arm off!” Sunshine yelped.
“It’s not there anymore…” Ten Cents remarked as he stared at Sunshine’s healed hand.
Sunshine retracted his arm back and slapped Ten Cents across his face with his other.
“Ow geez!” Ten Cents recoiled, “What was that for?”
“I just had to be sure you felt pain as well, just to be sure that we both aren’t dreaming.” Sunshine explained before looking back at his hand.
Ten Cents thought for a moment, “Maybe some rope burns can go away quickly,” he suggested.
“But how would that explain how we had the same dream last night?” Sunshine raised an eyebrow.
Their pondering was cut short when they heard someone running up to them, it was Tillie.
“Hello Ten Cents, Hey Sunshine! I see you two out pretty early this morning. Did Captain Starr already give out the announcement for the day?” Tillie asked.
“Yeah he did, but don’t worry you didn’t miss anything. We’re still scraping barnacles today.” Ten Cents reassures Tillie
“Oh right… Well I guess it’s lucky I have my own scrapper and gloves just in case, my sister got them for me after I told her about yesterday’s accident.” Tillie recounted
“How did she take the news?” Sunshine asked
“Well… she took it in stride, a bit better than I imagined but she understood the situation. Anyways we better get going to the Pier.” Tillie said, trying to liven up the mood.
“Yeah you’re right, we can’t keep Scuttlebutt Pete waiting for us any longer.” Ten Cents sighed.
Ten Cents led the way to Pier 3, Tillie walked in the middle humming a tune, and Sunshine followed behind looking at his now healed hand again thinking that maybe The Other Port was real, all while a black cat was following them from afar. The three found Scuttlebutt Pete waiting for them at the entrance of Pier 3.
“You three made it here in good time.” Greeted Scuttlebutt Pete.
“Thanks Scuttlebutt, we’re all here and eager to work.” Tillie exclaimed.
“Good, well here you go,” Scuttlebutt Pete started handing the scrapers, gloves, and buckets to the three, but Tillie declined her pair.
“I brought my own scraper and gloves, Scuttlebutt.” Tillie explained.
Scuttlebutt Pete was a little taken aback but smiled, “Didn’t think any of you would be eager to get to work on your punishment. At least that makes one of you.”
“Why’s that?” Tillie puzzled.
“You’ll find out why, but before we start, what end of the pier do you three want to start from?” Scuttlebutt queried
“The ne-” Ten Cents began
“The far end of the Pier!” Tillie cutted in
“The far end it shall be then,” Scuttlebutt Pete smiled.
Ten Cents and Sunshine winged at this. As they followed Scuttlebutt Pete to the far end of the Pier the boardwalk creaked and groaned as they walked along it. Tillie also noticed that the pilings were rotting and covered in colonies of barnacles. When they arrived at the far end of Pier 3, they found a strange contraption waiting for them.
“This is what you three will be standing in as you scrape the barnacles off the pilings. It’s a ‘floating platform’, once you finish scraping off the pilings I’ll come back and lift you three back up onto the boardwalk and move it to another spot.”
“Say uh Scuttlebutt, wouldn’t this be a lot easier if we were standing in a boat?” Sunshine queried.
Scuttlebutt Pete interjected, “A boat isn’t stable as the platform, if you stepped too close to the side, it would tip over and you three would end up in the ocean. Trust me, this is a safer alternative”
Sunshine still felt unsure about this. Ten Cents went in first before he helped Tillie and Sunshine get onto the platform and slowly, with the help of the pulleys holding platform, lowered the three down to one of the pilings and they got to work at once.
—
Meanwhile, Top Hat was refueling his railway tug at the coal yard when he heard a familiar whistle, it was one of the harbor tugs from Zero Marine hauling behind it a couple Star Line fuel barges, on board was Zorran. Top Hat ran over to his tug’s wheelhouse and radioed over to the passing tug,
“The refinery is in the other direction Zorran, why are you coming this way? If you’re here to gloat, I don’t want to hear it.” Top Hat huffed.
What Top Hat received as a reply however he couldn’t believe came from Zorran,
“I just wanted to come by and say that I’m sorry for what happened to OJ,” Zorran lamented, “the recklessness of your younger crewmates is unforgivable.”
Top Hat didn’t know what to say,
“What are you trying to accomplish here, Zorran? I don’t understand” Top Hat puzzled.
“I’m not trying to accomplish anything but the work your captain assigned to me. I’ve always had a deep respect for OJ. This may not mean a lot coming from me, with us working for rival companies, but I hope he recovers” Zorran consoled.
Zorran tipped his fedora to Top Hat who watched as the Zero Marine harbor tug turned around and headed across the bay to the refinery. Top Hat then walked to the stern of his tug and stared at the docked paddle steamer at the Star Pier, his eyes welling up with tears.
—
By mid-afternoon, Ten Cents, Tillie and Sunshine felt tired. Scraping off the barnacles was hard work especially to Ten Cents and Sunshine, their leather gloves were worn and the scrapers were rusty. True to his word, Scuttlebutt Pete finally decided it was time to give the three a break.
“Well lads, you’ve earned your hour long break, make use of your free time wisely because you all got a lot of scraping to get back to,” advised Scuttlebutt Pete.
“Finally, I was getting tired of scraping for this long,” exclaimed Sunshine wearily.
“Yeah, at least for now we can catch our breaths, my arms are killing me” Ten Cents sighed as he put his scrapper in his pocket.
“Well what can we do during our free time?” Tillie asked.
All three thought about it for a moment as Scuttlebutt Pete pulled the suspended platform up carefully to the pier’s surface. Once they got off the platform, Ten Cents had decided, “well we can just hang out here for the whole break and maybe have something to drink.”
“Say, Scuttlebutt Pete, are there any refreshments nearby?” Tillie queried.
“Fraid not. Sorry lads, I can go and bring some, especially to cool off from the heat of the day,” Scuttlebutt Pete apologized.
“Oh thank you Scuttlebutt Pete.” Sunshine sighed in relief
“But you three have to stay put here and try not to get into any trouble while I'm out, do you all understand?” Scuttlebutt Pete remarked.
“Yes Scuttlebutt Pete.” all three affirmed in unison.
“Good, I’ll be back as soon as possible,” and with that, Scuttlebutt left the three young harbor employees at the pier with each other’s company.
“I guess while we wait… what’s been going on with you two?” Tillie inquired.
“Well…” Ten Cents began,
“Last night something weird happened to both of us.”
Tillie perked up at the sound of this.
“Oh? What is it? Was it something interesting?” Tillie quizzed.
“Do you remember that small door we found in the employee lounge?” Ten Cents hesitated,
“Uh… yes? There was just a wall of bricks behind it, what about it?” puzzled Tillie.
“Well last night, me and Sunshine chased a mouse to the employee lounge where the small door is and-” Ten Cents was suddenly interrupted by a sudden yet faint sound coming towards them.
“Meow,” it was a cat; its fur was colored black and it looked tatty and frail, rather strangely it was missing an eye. Tillie and Sunshine turned their attention towards it.
“Oh look, a little cat!” Tillie said adoringly at the black cat.
Sunshine took one look at the cat and instantly recognized it from yesterday. “Hey I remember you,”
The cat walked slowly up to Sunshine. Sunshine was nervous until the cat started to rub itself against Sunshine’s leg affectionately, purring all the while.
“Aww it likes you, Sunshine!” Tillie exclaimed, getting closer to pet the cat.
Sunshine was hesitant about being near the black cat since it was the main catalyst of yesterday’s incident, but despite the look of the tattered one eyed cat he couldn’t resist its seemingly friendly nature as he got down to being eye to eye with the cat.
“Huh, you don’t seem bad, are you lost?” Sunshine asked the cat as he pet it.
“He must be a stray considering how thin it looks.” Tillie sighed at the feline.
“Yeah… Poor thing.” Sunshine added.
Ten Cents however wasn’t thrilled to see the black cat. He marched over to the cat
“Oi! Get lost!” Ten Cents hollored.
The black cat, frightened by Ten Cents’ sudden approach, scampered away to the entrance of the boardwalk. Sunshine and Tillie were surprised and a little offended.
“Why’d you go and scare it off, Ten Cents?” Sunshine puzzled,
“Have you forgotten it is the exact reason why we’ve gotten into this mess?” Ten Cents chastised,
“No, I haven't forgotten Ten Cents, but I don't think it warranted you scaring it off.” faltered Sunshine,
“It’s only a harmless animal, Ten Cents,” Tillie soothed, “It probably didn’t mean to cause what it did,”
Ten Cents took a deep breath, he knew Tillie was right. His thoughts were then suddenly interrupted by the sound of two pairs of boots making their way over to them.
“Well well well, looks like you three are in a spot of bother,”
It was Zip and Zug.
“Don’t you two have anything else better to do? We’re trying to enjoy our break” Sunshine hissed,
“Hey calm down Sunshine we’re only here cuz we heard what happened, and we thought we’d check up on our fellow deckhands,” Zip insisted.
“Yes,” added Zug, “after all if we had put OJ in a hospital room, we’d feel very upset ourselves”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ten Cents scowled.
“Oh nothing, it's just if we had hindered the old man we’d feel very remorseful.”
“Are you saying I don’t feel remorseful?”
“Well by the look on your face I’d say not,”
This infuriated Ten Cents, clutching his scraper in his pocket, his thoughts swirling through his head. How dare Zug accuse him of being remorseless about O.J.’s injuries.
Tillie soon saw this in Ten Cents' face, she could see how this was getting under his skin, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“Ten Cents… please calm down. He’s just trying to get to you…” Tillie soothed.
“Tillie’s right Ten Cents, he’s just trying to mess with ya.” Sunshine added.
Zip and Zug turned to leave
“How pathetic,” Zug smirked, “Ten Cents can’t even stand up for himself, those smaller than him always get in his way,”
“What a disgrace to The Star Fleet” snickered Zip.
It was then Ten Cents snapped, he broke free from Tillie and Sunshine, drew his scraper from his pocket and charged at the two zeroes.
“Ten Cents, no!” “Stop!” cried Sunshine and Tillie as they chased him.
Ten Cents tackled Zug suddenly and began slashing Zug’s face with his scraper.
“DISGRACE TO MY COMPANY?! PATHETIC?!” Ten Cents shouted.
Zug squealed in agony as Zip tried pulling Ten Cents off Zug but Ten Cents shoved him off into one of the wooden railings of the pier. Tillie and Sunshine then ran up and yanked Ten Cents off of Zug, his face red with fury and tears welling in his eyes.
“I’M NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT HAPPENED TO OJ!” Ten Cents seethed.
“That’s enough!” boomed another voice, it was Scuttlebutt Pete who was holding a crate of bottles of soda.
Zip pulled Zug back onto his feet, Zug limped to the entrance of the pier,
“You’re in for it now,” he scowled at Ten Cents.
Zip turned to the three stars, “I’m sorry about this,” he apologized before following his colleague.
“Scuttlebutt I can explain, I-”
Scuttlebutt Pete held up his hand in front of Ten Cents,
“Save your explanation, you’re going to have to give it to Captain Starr. However, either way you’re going to be in a heap of trouble with him.” Scuttlebutt Pete said solemnly.
Ten Cents let out a sigh, somehow he knew deep down, Scuttlebutt Pete was right.
(To be Continued)
{End of chapter 5}
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