Eddie (self-insert x character)

Chapter 10

The next day

The sun crept in through the blinds on our bedroom window and beamed over the bed, effectively waking me up with the sudden heat. Feeling a lack of warmth on my back I turned and saw that Eddie had woken up already and presumably went to throw together a pitiful breakfast before I woke up and cooked him a better one.
Anticipating that we'd be getting dirty today I began searching around the room for old clothes left by whatever junkies used to come by this place before their dealer skipped town. He had an old trunk of clothes tucked back in the hall closet from what Eddie told me once and I made my way into the hall to go find it.

Immediately the sound of muffled yelling reached my ears and I redirected my path to the living room. When I got there Eddie was talking wildly with his hands while Steve yelled back at him, their voices continuing to rise in an attempt to talk over one another.
"No you know what, fuck you Harrington! Should've never let Henderson talk me into trusting your ass with anything!"
"Oh sure cuz I'm the untrustworthy one in this equation."
Max and Lucas sat on the couch shaking their heads.
Nancy, Robin, and Dustin were nowhere to be seen. I figured with all this yelling, especially when it was both the guys he looked up to, the girls had taken Dustin outside away from the chaos.

Seeing that the argument was likely never going to fizzle out on its own I walked through the hallway and took the passage that led around the living room straight into the kitchen and grabbed a spoon off the counter. Quickly rummaging through the drawers I found a pot and walked into the living room until I was practically on top of the two men. They hadn't made any indication that they even knew I was there so I did what I had to do: banged on the pot with the metal spoon as loudly as I could.
They both yelled in shock and backed away from one another holding their ears.
Max and Lucas held their ears too but Max was grinning like a maniac and I felt proud knowing she approved.

"What the hell was that for?," Steve yelled.
I banged the pot again in his direction.
"No more yelling is happening today. I know you petty fucks," I glared, flicking my eyes between Steve and Eddie, "love to hear yourselves talk but I do not. At a reasonable volume you two are ridiculous enough."
The two men looked at each other guiltily.
"Also," I lowered my voice and gestured around the room, "not sure if you idiots noticed but Dustin is gone. Probably with Nancy and Robin comforting him somewhere while his idols are throwing tantrums and having a dick-measuring contest."
Steve and Eddie both opened their mouths as if to defend themselves but glanced around and saw that I was right.
Eddie rubbed the back of his neck and looked at me with puppy eyes.
"Shit. Sorry. Did we uh...wake you up?"
Steve rolled his eyes and huffed, crossing his arms.
"Shockingly no. But can I just get some clarity here?"
Looking at Max and Lucas as the voices of reason, I pointed my thumbs at the men on either side of me.
"What in the ever-loving fuck are these bozos even arguing about?"

Lucas spoke first looking apologetically at Eddie and Steve.
"They were trying to figure out what to do now. Kind of. They had different plans and I guess neither of them liked the sound of the other's."
"Shockingly," Max muttered.
Lucas gave a half smile in agreement with Max and Steve threw his arms up in defeat.
"Yeah alright whatever we don't get along, everyone knows that, blah blah blah. But this was not about that," Steve hissed,
"This was about the fact that your boyfriend here," he gestured aggressively at Eddie, "basically told us to piss off once we had our morning coffee so you can imagine I wasn't thrilled to hear that."
I cringed inside and looked at Eddie. Despite being so tired last night I remembered our conversation about ditching the Hawkins crew but, per usual, Eddie lacked tact and tried impulsively to do things himself.
"Eddie for fucks sake, why would you not wait for me to handle this?"
He shrugged.
"I figured my natural charm would be enough to throw the idea out there safely. I was...incorrect."
Irritated that I had to handle an even more delicate situation now, I sat down on the ottoman near a decrepit living room chair and prepared to state our case.

Before I could begin Robin pushed open the front door with her arms folded.
"Oh goody you clowns are done. Hey Nance," she called over her shoulder, "Things 1 & 2 are done bitching at each other."
Robin left the door open and marched over to Steve with an angry look on her face.
"You and I are gonna have conversation later, Harrington."
Steve's eyes widened and he gestured at Eddie.
"Why me? Talk to him! He's the one that told us to fuck off-"
"Steve stop it now," Robin hissed through clenched teeth.
She looked over at Eddie and frowned.
"You're gonna apologize to Dustin for this shit."
Eddie nodded, leaning on the arm of the chair behind me.
"You too," she said, flicking Steve on the head. He attempted to protest but Robin cut him off and nudged him with her shoe.
"Now move over, don't be a chair hog."
Steve sighed and took his arm off the chair so Robin could perch herself on it.

Nancy walked in next pulling an anxious-looking Dustin behind her. Steve popped up with his arms open.
"Henderson!"
Dustin's eyes darted between Steve and Eddie.
"Are you guys cool now? No yelling?"
Steve and Eddie looked at each other and nodded.
"Yep," Eddie piped up, "No more yelling, Henderson. Swear."
Steve nodded enthusiastically. Dustin shrugged and walked to the living room and sat on the floor between the two men.
Nancy raised a judgmental eyebrow at Steve and shook her head at Eddie, sitting down next to Dustin.
Max clapped her hands together sarcastically.
"Well isn't this fun?"
We all rolled our eyes. This was something all right.
"So are we gonna talk about it or...?" Lucas questioned.
"About what?," Dustin asked, furrowing his brow and looking around at everyone.
"Why am I always the last to know these things?"

Steve sat up and looked ready to launch into another yelling match with Eddie.
"Great question Henderson. Me and your bestie Eddie were just having a chat about what to do now. I suggested we all give Robin's idea a shot even though I'll hate it the entire time," Steve grimaced, "because even though he irritates me to no end, I wanted to help our boy Munson."
Eddie scoffed and I firmly gripped his knee, warning him not to feed into Steve again.
"But Eddie here," Steve gestured, "so kindly reminded me why I don't make a point to go out of my way for strangers by telling us all to fuck off this morning."
Dustin's eyes got wide and he looked at Eddie sadly.
"Did you say that, Eddie?"
Eddie sighed heavily.
"Not exactly."
Max and Lucas looked down at their laps in fear of watching Dustin's reaction. Robin dug the heel of her boot into Steve's leg in irritation, making him yelp.
"Fuck are you mad at me for? He's the one kicking us out!"
"He did not say that Steve. You're so dramatic. We were there too you know," she snapped, gesturing at Nancy.
Nancy nodded and looked at Dustin.
"She's right."

Eddie put his hand over mine, rubbing his thumb against it to soothe himself. After a moment he rested both hands back on his lap and I could see him anxiously twisting his rings out of the corner of my eye. He didn't want to let Dustin down and unfortunately part of our plan to ditch them meant just that.
"Maybe I came off wrong. I can admit that," Eddie spoke in a low voice.
"I should've waited for this one to wake up," he held up my hand and set it back down in his lap.
"They're better with words than I am."
"You're damn right about that," Steve muttered.
Eddie glared briefly at him, turning to me and squeezing my hand.
"Wanna take over so I don't fuck this up again?"
I nodded.
"Yesh. So here's the thing...it's not that we don't want you guys here. Seriously, you've all been great friends and we know you've been trying to work with us to find a solution for Eddie on top of this Vecna thing."
Max and Lucas looked up and nodded. Steve folded his arms but eventually nodded in understanding. Dustin's eyes were still wide, though they looked less sad.
"But we both feel like we've put you guys in more danger than you're already in if you plan on taking this Vecna thing out somehow. And I've gotten to know you all somewhat being here the last 48 hours so I can tell you all probably will go after Vecna. But I don't want that for Eddie," I reasoned.
The crew nodded collectively taking my words in.
"Plus I'd be lying if I said I wanted to go fight any kind of monsters any time soon."
Robin smirked.
"Fair enough."
I smiled at her, grateful she broke some of the tension.
"Yeah. We'd appreciate your help still but I came up with a plan last night and it involves very little danger for you all. Plus a little elbow grease," I added with a grin.
The crew looked at each other and Eddie looked at me.
Leaning over he whispered in my ear, "I still have no idea of what's going on right now. What is your plan?"
I patted his knee and nodded at the group.
"Let me get them on board and we'll talk later."
He shrugged and sat back, trusting me.

"Now does anyone have a pen and some paper?"