Real

real 🫤

Season 3 of obx better bring me more Topper fics. Idc that he's a classist, privileged white boy. I'm tryna smash

There's something about our incompatibility that I wanna explore

HELP 😭

𝖑𝖎𝖐𝖊 𝖆 𝖛𝖎𝖗𝖌𝖎𝖓

“stupid fucking hollywood satanist bitch!”

stranger things x jennifer’s body!au

part 1, part 2, part 3 - “stupid fucking hollywood satanist bitch!”

future warnings: cursing, blood, mentions of murder, unnerving reader - future , manipulation - future , complete change in behavior for reader (not yet), nancy from the craft except here her name is cirice, reader wears glasses for the time being, the girls from the craft, let me know if i forgot any!

a/n: this chapter’s gonna be long, since it switches between the reactions of the rest of her friends seeing her on the news, her pov, and so forth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

hawkins, indiana | 9:49 a.m | saturday, november 23, 1985

your pov:

you walked, and walked, and ran a little, then walked some more before you finally broke into tears. you were covered in blood from head to toe- (your hair especially ruined, which you were a little more peeved about than the blood if we’re being honest)-both over and under your clothes-there were a million rips and holes in your shirt from the fucking knife cirice used to-

“fuck! cirice! oh that goddamn cirice. stupid fucking hollywood satanist bitch! ooh i’m gonna kill her ass!” you seethed, suddenly angry, before going back to despair.

“where the hell am i even going anyways.” you sobbed, dropping yourself down in front of one of the tall trees in the forest. not even wanting to acknowledge the fact that it started pouring.

now see, you weren’t oblivious to what happened last night, in fact you even remembered a few things that you’re pretty sure you weren’t even alive for.

you had killed alice, scarlett, and cora, well eaten them really.

“oh. my. gosh. am i a cannibal!?” you cried even harder at the thought before abruptly stopping. “well is it technically cannibalism if i’m not human anymore? i mean there’s no way that i can be human…oh whatever, at least i’m still alive.” you sniffed.

“why is it, i can remember all the shit that happened, except for where the hell eddie’s jacket went! ‘m practically freezing my tits off out here.” you mumbled to yourself, before falling asleep.

hawkins, indiana | buckley household | 6:58 a.m

robin wasn’t a morning person by any means necessary, but for some reason, on the weekends, she found it much easier to be awake in the earlier hours than she did during the rest of the week. and her and steve didn’t even have to work this weekend! what luck!

so there she sat on her couch, getting ready to indulge herself in a marathon of pink panther before she’d head over to your house to hang out and hear about that scary band’s performance. halfway through her humming the theme song, the program was cut off by the news.

“ohh, come on! you ruined the flow news-man.” she grumbled trying to change it before realizing that every channel was the same thing. she got up to get some more cereal, not really paying it any mind - being that she thought the news was depressing of course - until she heard your name.

the scene in front of her left her jaw unhinged, she didn’t know what to say, at all. she had always seen documentaries of people saying “i had just seen her the day before and she was perfectly fine, everything was normal.” but she had never imagined that she’d even have to imagine herself in the same situation- and she dealt with russians for goodness sake!-

before she could run to her room to get dressed- because the news said that your were missing, and not that you were dead, so of course robin was going to look for you- her doorbell rang incessantly. she ran over to it hoping it was you but instead finding steve, still in his pajamas, with the most freaked out look on his face, she had ever seen.

“oh my god robin she’s missing! she’s missing and those girls are dead, and she was with them and she’s missing!”

“well then come on steve!” she stopped him, dragging her out of her house and to his car, pajamas be damned, they were going to find their best friend.

hawkins, indiana | wheeler household | 7:15 a.m.

mike was sleeping so well. one could even say amazingly. so to have that sleep ruined by a cacaphony of noises he couldn’t put together in his hazy state, pissed him off, a lot.

between hearing nancy sobbing in her room, and a clatter of things falling around, the phone ringing off the hook, his walkie having a bunch of voices yelling over each other, his mother speaking on the phone in a teary-eyed ramble, and his father running about looking for hunting gear, mike really did think he was still sleeping.

“okay, what the hell is going on?” he began, going into nancy’s room, he stopped short when he saw her checking one of her guns before bursting passed him, and running down the stairs, apparently not even seeing him.

“what?!” he hadn’t been this confused since, well he didn’t know when but he was extremely confused.

walking back into his room, he found his walkie still going back and forth between the voices of his friends going back and forth making him grumble and decided to pick it up.

“okay, what the hell is going on!? why is everyone acting so insane?!”

“y/n’s missing!” they all said simultaneously before it just went quiet. like literally everyone stopped talking.

“huh?!” before he could say anything else, the phone started ringing again, this time he picked it up.

“hello?” he sighed.

“mike! the news said y/n’s missing!” will’s voice said through the phone. “have you guys found her yet?!” el’s voice chimed in.

“guys, i just found out and- wait, how did you guys know?” he asked incredulously, truly believing that if he closed his eyes tight enough he would wake up.

“it’s on national news! three of the girls from that band that went to hawkins were murdered last night, and y/n was with them! only her and the lead singer were reported still alive, but missing!”

“oh, god. okay, we’re looking for her, we’ll call you when we find her!” he hung up, getting dressed, before running downstairs.

he was pedaling his bike out of his garage, before he was met with the faces of his friends waiting for him at the end of the driveway.

“do you think it’s another demogorgon?” lucas asked, as they all began to bike to where max saw on the news it had happened.

“judging by the way it looked, it must’ve been a real hungry demogorgon. there was barely anything left of them!!” erica exclaimed.

“wait, you guys saw it!?” mike asked.

“yeah, they showed their bodied on the news. it was so gross. my mom was still throwing up when i left.” max said.

by the time they finally got to the woods, it had started raining- pouring really.

“not to be a downer or anything but this doesn’t remind you of anything?” lucas said cautiously, as they had now been walking through the woods, calling your name, for the past almost- three hours.

“yeah, i thought it too, but i didn’t want to say anything.” mike sighed.

“what are you guys talking about?” max asked.

“when will went missing three years ago, we came out to these exact woods looking for him, except it was night time, and it was raining, but instead of finding will, we found el.” dustin explained.

“oh.” max and erica said simultaneously.

“do you guys think whatever did it is still in these woods?” lucas asked.

“for our sakes, let’s hope not!” erica sighed, before jumping when she stepped on something only to find that it was glass.

“wait…those are glasses?” dustin asked, picking them up.

“oh god, those are y/n’s glasses!” lucas said, beginning to pace.

“okay, that doesn’t exactly mean that.” mike started. “yeah, the adrenaline probably got to her and she’s just running around without them.” dustin added, hopefully.

the kids knew better than anyone that you were clumsy as can be, and your glasses falling off wasn’t new. but they also knew that you would never just leave them around, constantly reminding them how expensive they were when you were crawling around looking and sounding like velma when searching for them.

“uh, where did max go?” lucas cut off the silence, when he looked up seeing that she was no longer with them.

“..shit. max!” dustin yelled out, as they all began to walk around looking for her.

“guys, over here, i found her!“ she yelled back.

as they ran over, to where she was, which was much farther than they thought, they saw her kneeling in front of a tree, staring in horror at something.

“is she alive?” lucas asked, as they all stood in front of you staring at you. your eyes were closed, you were covered in blood and dirt, no jacket on, and your shirt had a million rips in them.

“y/n? y/nnnn.” mike asked poking you with some stick he found.

you awoke with a sudden start, looking around frantically before realizing who was in front of you. before you could say anything however you were trampled by a bunch of kids, in a group hug.

“jesus, we thought you were a goner!” mike sighed.

“speak for yourself. but seriously, what even happened?” erica, asked.

“was it a demogorgon?” lucas asked.

“or the mind flayer?” dustin added.

“are you okay?” max asked.

“no, uhh it’s a long story, no and no, and yes i’m fine.” you answered all of their questions.

“y/n? i swear i just heard her voice?!” you heard a voice in the distance scream.

“steve?” dustin exclaimed incredulously.

“dustin?” robin’s voice was now heard.

“robin?” erica exclaimed too.

“erica?” now nancy’s voice was heard, they finally found you guys.

“nancy?!” mike yelled out.

“what the hell are you guys doing here?!” steve exclaimed, the older kids not having yet seen you, being that the younger kids were still covering you.

“we were looking for y/n! i’m assuming you guys were doing the same?” max asked.

“yeah! what do you mean were?” robin asked.

“i’m right here.” you sighed, beginning to stand up as the kids got off of you, before being knocked back down by nancy, steve, and robin.

“well i guess i’m not getting up at this point.” you tried to joke but was cut off by nancy’s crying in your shoulder.

“i’m so sorry! i should’ve just went instead! first barb, then almost you!” nancy sobbed, nearly cutting off your airways with the way she was squeezing your neck. thankfully you didn’t need them at this point.

“nancy, stop. i’m okay, and it isn’t your fault.” you started sternly, making her look at you. “nobody knew this was going to happen, and even if they did, i would’ve stilled preferred it’d be me over you, over any of you in fact, so you can all stop with the self-blame game, alright?” you said, looking over all of them, spotting their guilty faces.

“holy shit! the whole town’s looking for you two right about now! we need to get you to the front of the woods.” dustin exclaimed.

“what?”

“shit, yeah. you were on national news y/n! will and el called asking if we had found you yet.” mike added.

“oh god, what about my parents!? has anyone heard from them? my mother’s probably having an aneurysm right about now!”

“uhh, i think my mom was talking to her when i left this morning, i heard her crying through the phone.” nancy added.

“wait a second, what about eddie?” lucas asked, gathering your attention.

“what about eddie? have you seen him, today?”

“no, i mean wasn’t he with you last night?” he corrected.

“no, uh not after the performance, i went with the girls and was supposed to call him.”

“so long story short, everyone thinks your dead right now, so can we get a move on, please?” erica chimed in.

as you all trekked towards where the news and police were, at the edge of the forest, you heard someone screaming your name.

“y/n! fuck, i knew you were still alive. what the fuck happened!? why did you disappear from my house this morning!” eddie asked, after he ran and practically tackled you to the ground, in the tightest hug he’d ever given you, and he hugged you pretty tight after he found out you were at starcourt when it burned down, getting there before your parents had when it happened.

from the second eddie had yelled your name, everyone, from wayne and your parents, to the police, to the news crew’s attention was on you. eddie just so happened to get to you first. but even now with the reporters, crowding the both of you, the police trying to stop them and your parents trying to get through both the police and the news teams, to get to you, you were only focused on eddie.

he continued to ramble on and on, about how your parents were freaking out, how he had been freaking out, and how he was 110% sure that he saw some dude walk into the woods with a harpoon gun. but you were still hung up on one of the first things he said.

“you saw me this morning?” you asked, incredulously.

“duh! you were in my room acting all ominous ‘n shit! gave me back my jacket, and then you left, saying that your mom was picking you up!” he exclaimed, confused as to why you were confused.

before either of you could dwell on it any longer, your mother pushed a reporter out of the way, and lunged at you actually tackling you to the ground into a hug, rambling incoherently into your neck as your father attempted to soothe her hugging you as well.

“oh my baby, when i saw your face on the news this morning i practically died!” she sobbed.

“see hon, i told you our little girl was strong.” he soothed, holding you both close to him.

you were overwhelmed with all the attention on you. between your friends hanging around, your parents- specifically your mother crying and rambling in your ear, wayne and eddie, all the reporters and cops trying to ask you questions at once, and at least 10 news cameras pointed at you, you didn’t really know what to do. thankfully you didn’t have to do anything. all the noise around you blurred out and you couldn’t decipher any of the words being thrown at you anymore, even if you tried to.

because through the crowd around you, you spotted an ambulance, sitting there waiting to take someone to the hospital. and sitting in the back of said ambulance, was the one and only cirice taylor, staring right back at you, eyes swollen and doubled in size as she attempted to take you in.

she was the last thing you saw, before everything went black and you promptly passed out.

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a/n: the story hasn’t even heated up yet 😭 i need her to start killing more people and acting weird already 🫤.

tag list : @harrys-tittie @snoopysavv @munsonlvrr @sarcasmismyonlydefense24 @monztrous @spidermxnkey @baconlillies @spicynoddels @tsumamibaddie @miiikkeey @nopetoohighforthat @dreamtogether2000 @maxisreal @bxrn-thxs-wxy-90five @charleetheefictionalfucker @missdforever

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH 🏃🏾‍♀️🏃🏾‍♀️🏃🏾‍♀️🏃🏾‍♀️🏃🏾‍♀️😽😽😽😻😻😻😻🙇🏾‍♀️🙇🏾‍♀️🙇🏾‍♀️🙇🏾‍♀️🫵🏾🫵🏾🫵🏾🫵🏾

A Helping Hand

Eddie Munson x fem!reader [1.7k] based off of this tiktok I happened to come across.

Eddie had been sitting with his hand on the back of the diner bench for at least twenty minutes now.

It was awful, his hand felt clammy, his palm was stuck to the old vinyl and he couldn’t stop his fingers from tapping out random beats, plucking at invisible strings every time you moved.

That was the problem, you see? You were beside him - a bold choice, Eddie had thought to himself with an aching chest, as he slid into the bench beside you rather than across - and he didn’t know what else he was supposed to do about it.

It had taken the boy almost three weeks to build up the courage to ask you out, and now that he’d gotten you here, he wasn’t really sure you were even aware it was a date. Because you’d both been sitting with Steve and Robin, a casual affair in Steve’s backyard with a fire going and a joint to share.

Steve had nudged him too many times and Robin's eyes were wide and insistent as she looked from him to you and back again - all unbeknownst to yourself, of course.

Then the day turned to evening, the fire dwindled out and suddenly none of you were feeling as floaty as you had. Not as brave either, because when Eddie looked at the way you were stretched out on a blanket on Harrington’s yard, skin kissed with the sun from the day and a sweater that wasn’t your own pulled down over your hands, he didn’t feel as confident anymore.

But Steve had yawned, a terribly fake noise that had Eddie rolling his eyes and the boy stretched, slapping Eddie on the back of the head with a well aimed palm.

“Ask her, you idiot,” he’d hissed under his breath and Jesus Christ almighty, Eddie hated his friends.

So he’d turned to you at the last minute, just before you were about to head in the other direction and walk down the street back to your own house. Eddie called out, voice a little too sharp and too high and god, he was panicking. But he asked you if you wanted to grab some food and he didn’t even mention the word ‘date’, he just blinked and then you were in the front seat of his van, looking far too pretty to be there.

It was all a bit of a blur, really.

‘Cause Eddie had liked you for a while, a long time, actually. Almost a year. He’d met you through Robin, held his breath when he realised you didn’t have a crush on Steve like all the other girls and then one day after work, you showed up at the arcade with the kids and the rest of the gang in a Dio t-shirt, and well, the boy was a goner.

And Eddie knew how to flirt, okay? He did. He was charming and charismatic and he always made his friends laugh. He saw the way the cheerleaders looked at him when their boyfriends were too busy playing basketball, he saw the fluttered lashes and the roaming gazes, the way their cheeks flushed and their lips twisted when he gave them a smile and a wink.

But this was different because it was you and oh my god, Eddie really cared about what you thought of him. He liked the way you tilted your head to the side when you listened to him ramble, he loved the way your nose scrunched when you laughed. And when you were tired, he could always tell, ‘cause you’d play with your earring and seek him out, always eager to push your cheek to his shoulder and slip into the background of whatever chaos the kids had pulled you into.

Eddie adored it. He adored you.

You made his stomach jump with nerves, his heart thump and thud against his ribcage until he felt like his bones rattled everytime you walked into the room.

Which is why he was having a really hard time with the way you were nestled into the nook of his body, toying with the last few fries on your plate as you spoke about work and how you hated your boss. Your shoulder was pressed to his chest and his arm was a ghost around the vinyl bench, just shy of wrapping around you.

That’s all he wanted to do. Sure, he’d thought sinfully indecent things of you, especially when he was alone at night and he couldn’t help but wrap his hand around his hard length to tug at himself while he whispered your name. But then he’d see you the next day in a cute little sundress and goddamn, he’d be a blushing mess. Harrington had every right to laugh at him, he was a wreck of a man because of you.

Putting his arm around your shoulders would be enough.

It was obvious to others, to the outsiders looking in, how they easily saw the way you gazed up at the boy, eyes adoring, smile sticky with fondness. They watched how you leaned into him when he spoke, how you traced the curves of his lips, the lines of his jaw and nose with your gaze as told you a story that had you enraptured.

But maybe Eddie was too oblivious to it, too shy to properly look, maybe too caught up in the way he was staring at you to see how you looked at him.

Maybe that’s why he never noticed Max at the table behind you both, the redhead squeezed into an adjoining booth with Lucas, El and Dustin, all four of them whispering and snickering into milkshakes of every flavour.

You were talking softly about how you needed to close up at work tomorrow, how you hated doing it alone because the nights were getting darker and your car was still in the shop. You were so warm, pressed into his side like you couldn’t get close enough, looking up at him through your lashes until you heard, until you felt the way the boy’s breath got stuck in his chest.

Eddie gripped the bench behind you a little tighter and cleared his throat.

“I could, uh, I could pick you up if you wanted,” he told you, his tongue swiping over his bottom lip a little nervously. “Give you a ride home?”

You smiled, nose scrunched, eyes bright and Eddie melted.

“Yeah?” You asked him, shoulder nudging under his own a little more. You were wedged into his side, dying for him to pull you closer. “You’d do that?”

Eddie would do anything for you, didn’t you know?

“Sure I would, sweetheart,” he quipped, pushing at the straw in his empty glass. His hand was still on the seat behind you and his heart was still hammering. Could you hear it? Could you feel it? “Just let me know what time.”

You smiled, like you had a secret, like there was something Eddie didn’t know and he felt like absolute mush when you looked up at him with it, lashes kissing in the corners of your eyes, lips rosy, pretty as a fucking picture.

“Why don’t you come a little earlier?” You tucked your bottom lip between your teeth, tugged at the hem of your dress and god, Eddie wondered, could you be nervous too? “It’s quiet before close, and there’s this book I’ve been meaning to show you. I think you’d like it.”

“Yeah?” Eddie swore the sun outside shone a little brighter. It was almost eight thirty and the sky was black but Eddie could feel the warmth of summer on his face when you smiled at him like that.

Maybe it was magic. Maybe it was just you.

“Yeah,” you grinned, popping the last fry in your mouth and pushing back into his arm, hinting, hoping, wishing. “S’got something to do with elves, a hidden kingdom and a lot of swords.”

“Sounds like my kind of party,” Eddie agreed and his voice was so much softer than it needed to be but you were pushed up against him and you smelled real good, like peaches and brown sugar.

If Steve was here, he’d be on the floor laughing at him. He was sure he was pink in the cheeks, curls messy with the way he kept running his hands through them.

And then.

And then.

He felt a small hand grab the sleeve of his leather jacket, making him jump and look back. Eddie finally spotted his small friends, the little redhead grinning at him with knowing eyes as she lifted his arm and coaxed it over your shoulder.

Fucking Mayfield.

Eddie panicked, let out a quiet swear but then you were leaning against him, eyes as wide as his own but so happy to push yourself into his embrace a little further.

His arm drooped, relaxing over the curve of your shoulder and god, it felt like he could finally breathe again. He smiled down at you, cheeks rosy, lips twisted prettily to hide his grin and Eddie wanted to turn around a buy the younger girl the biggest slice of cake the diner had.

But he didn’t want to move - couldn’t, not even if he tried. You were a lovely, warm weight against him, hair tickling his chin as you kept up your chatter of books you thought he would like. And Eddie listened to every word, smiling fondly at each suggestion, humming happily when you looked up at him for an answer.

And just when the boy thought he couldn't win any more prizes, you pushed your now empty plate away and took his other hand that was laying on the table in your own. You held it like it was what you normally did, like his touch wasn’t setting your heart on fire and you bit back a grin when you saw Eddie’s eyes widened, when he inhaled a little too sharply.

But you kept talking, sweet and soft, just for him, your fingers mapping out the nooks and crannies of each of his rings, warm palm, guitar string scars on each fingertip. Eddie let you, mesmerised by your touch, by how much smaller your hand was compared to his own.

The arm around your shoulder only pulled you closer.

THIS IS SENDING ME 😭😭

every eddie munson x fem!reader fic ever

Holy shit. I dropped my Alexa on the ground and it broke. And a tiny woman crawled out thanking me for her freedom. She said she was going to go return to her forest home.

i love zombie aus so much like-

What if like it’s the start of the whole Z thing and people are packing getting outta dodge. And Eddie comes to get Reader who doesn’t realize what’s going on? 🥺

yes let's get this party started tysm for ur request!!! zombie!au | eddie comes to get you at the start of the apocalypse ♡ fem!reader

You're lying on the floor in your bedroom when you hear wheels screeching against asphalt outside. It's a scorching hot day, too hot to want to move, and the floor feels much cooler than anywhere else. You can't bring yourself to get up and investigate, lazing over the wooden floor practically lackadaisical.

You wonder if it's your roommate coming home from her vacation, though why she'd be driving like a lunatic is anyone's guess.

"Always so dramatic," you murmur to yourself, distracted from the book you've held in hand. You let it fall flat to your chest with a huff.

Another screech, louder than the first. You raise your brows and gaze toward the open window as a door opens and promptly slams.

Then, with enough urgency to have you heart in your throat, Eddie starts to shout your name. None of his usual care, only your name on repeat and a hammering at the door downstairs. You live in a simple three bedroom home that's been converted into two apartments, so if he wants to see you he has to wait, or do as he's doing now — harass your downstairs neighbours. They must let him in, because by the time you've scrambled to the window he's not outside the door.

Your name up the stairs. His thundering footsteps.

You throw open your bedroom door and race down the hall to meet him.

"I'm coming, Eddie!" you call, and then add, "It's okay!" for good measure. He sounds freaked.

He hears your voice and stops shouting.

Your hands tremble as you turn the key the wrong way. His shouting has given you a horrible dose of anxiety, worried maybe someone's been hurt. It's the kind of urgency that comes with emergencies — you're expecting to open the door and have him drag you out to the hospital.

"Hey, baby, what's the matter?" you ask as you pull open the door.

Eddie doesn't even look at you. He pushes past you, the roughest he's ever treated you outside of play wrestling, and your hips bump the sideboard behind. Everything rattles.

"Come and help me," he calls.

He bursts into your room. You follow, chest pounding staccato under your hand. "Help you what? Eddie, what the fuck?"

"There's these-" He throws his gaze over his shoulder at you, brown eyes usually so soft sharpened by panic, by a need to move. "We have to get the fuck out of here."

You stare at him. "What happened, baby?"

Eddie gets wound up by everything. Little things sometimes blow really big, and he can't articulate what's bothering him so he just starts yelling.

"We have to go. We have to- I already got some shit in the van, but you need your clothes, and we need food."

"Food?"

That's what clues you in. That and Eddie's complete lack of respect for your wardrobe. He throws the door open and grabs all of your clothes. Party clothes, knit wear, stuff you haven't worn in years.

"What are you-"

"We'll take it all. You can get rid of what you don't want after."

"Tell me what's happening," you demand, foot tapping.

Eddie turns to you, takes you by the shoulders, and frowns. "You trust me. I know you trust me. Pack your things, things you can't live without. Pack them now." He finally cracks, sees the panic on his face mirrored on your own. "There are fucking monsters out there."

You want to laugh because it's an unconvincing concept. Monsters, like you're in a movie, like you're in one of his make-believe fantasy games..

"Eddie-"

"Pack your things."

Eddie almost dives under your bed to grab your backpack, forcing it into your hands. His aren't shaking like yours, but they're frenetic. He moves like he might grab your wrists and then leaves your bedroom entirely.

You take a step to follow him.

"I'm serious! Pack your shit! We have to go," he yells. The kitchen door creaks open. Your fridge unseals and there's a great scraping sound like all the shelves are being pulled out. This continues onto the cupboards; cereal shook like rain on wood, the metal clunk of heavy tin cans, the metallic clash of the cutlery drawer being pulled against its stopper.

You bite your lip hard in an attempt to force yourself back to reality, but there's no reality to go to. There can't be monsters. It's not something that would happen.

"This isn't a funny joke," you say angrily, too quiet for him to hear. You repeat yourself as you walk down the hall and into the kitchen, which he's all but trashed. "This isn't a funny joke. This is mean. I don't know if you had a bad fucking whitey or you've been reading too many of those weird books, but this isn't funny."

Eddie only turns to look at you where he'd been searching your kitchen cabinets when your voice cracks.

"I'm not joking."

He says it absolutely.

You let him lead you back into your bedroom. He takes the backpack from your hands and opens it wide, offering you the two sides so he can tip your underwear into the bag. Socks and panties fall all over the floor and he grabs them without a joke, or an oggling, or even a salacious, smarmy smirk.

"Reefer Rick calls me this morning. He says, Eds, you know that fucking rabies thing they had in Detroit? I told him I didn't know what the fuck he was talking about."

Eddie moves to your nightstand, grabs all your meds and keepsakes and stuffs them into the bag.

"He says okay, but you heard about martial law in Russia, right? I said don't be a fucking asshole, everyone has. Martial law because of the virus, the virus that was making people hostile? That shit is real. They had it in Russia, they had it in China, they have it here. Michigan, Illinois, the people are going fucking crazy and eating each other, baby."

He's moved now to your t-shirts. He doesn't bother putting them in the bag, just has them in a pile on the ground. He adds your trousers. He doesn't bother with your skirts.

"What else do you need?"

You stare at him.

"We have to leave, sweetheart," he says desperately. "If it happens in Ohio or Kentucky, we're fucked. We'll be trapped."

"If what happens?" you ask miserably.

"It's a sickness. Rick says it's a sickness, and he said they fucking killed some guy in Indianapolis who had it. I turn on the radio and-"

Somebody starts screaming in the apartment downstairs.

Eddie pales. You grow incredibly still.

"Carry as much as you can," he says. "If we can, we'll come back."

Eddie grabs the box of pilfered foods from the kitchen and you follow him down the stairs.

Whoever's screaming won't stop. It's a chilling sound. Loud, repetitive screams. Eddie holds his finger over his lips and he looks so domineering you can't help it, you start crying then and there. He inclines his head to the door, listening for movement, and when there isn't any he walks straight past the apartment door and to the main building door.

He opens it and gestures quickly for you to leave. You walk fast out of the door and down the single step. Eddie's van is still running on the curb.

You open the door and climb in, slamming your head against the roof in your hurry. Eddie shoves the box of food at your feet and runs around the hood. He gets in, he closes the door, and he waits.

You lock your door. You lean over Eddie to lock his and can't make yourself sit back down.

He takes your face into his hand. He isn't gentle, but he's far from cruel.

Eddie scrubs away your tears with his thumb.

"Do you think we should go see what's..." you begin to ask.

He looks like he wants to say no. It's shocking. It hurts, thinking that Eddie wouldn't go make sure someone's okay. But you find yourself too scared to do it yourself, and you realise he's afraid. You're both petrified.

"We have to," you whisper.

"I have to keep you safe." He speaks an inch from your face.

"She's not... I mean. She's not dangerous. She's scared. What if it was me?"

"But it's not you."

"If," you say slowly, brain numb with overstimulation, "it were me. And somebody could help me. Wouldn't you want them to?"

You've no clue what's wrong or why she's screaming. These monsters he's talking about, she probably just saw them on TV.

Eddie nods. "You stay here."

"Idiot," he chastises, taking your hand.

You let him get out of the car and wait a few seconds before you follow. He glares at you and stops. You both stand there for a moment, willing one another to do what the other wants.

"I'm not gonna let you go alone."

You look down at your joined hands and squeeze his fingers. You take a very deep breath.

-

requests are open if you want more of this au! ♡