Always and Forever (YN x Eddie Munson - Stranger Things S4)

Chapter Seventeen

"What's going on?" Eddie asks as soon as you've started to double over. 

"My ribs." You wheeze out, afraid of what you'll be greeted with once you inspect where the pain is coming from. 

The adrenaline must have worn off because your entire body is overcome with a mix of dull and sharp throbbing pains, the worst of which permeates from your whole left side. Eddie seems overcome with worry as he looks between where you're clutching and your face. 

You take deep inhales to try and get on top of the pain, Eddie rubbing your back the whole time. Finally, something in you clicks and you walk into the kitchen area and sit on top of the low counter. 

Slowly, you say "I think I bruised my ribs. Bad. I'm going to need your help." 

He nods in response standing in front of you, still visibly worried. 

"Do you know any first aid at all?"  You ask. 

He shrugs, the frog in his throat dislodging as he clears his throat to speak "A little. Dressing and other simple stuff." 

You exhale slowly threw your mouth as you remove your hand from its spot. In an insane thought, you worry that it'll be covered in blood when you remove it and let out a breath of relief when it comes away clean, all be it a little sweaty. 

You look up to see Eddie gone and rooting through drawers and cabinets for a first aid kit, looking at you expectantly when he does. 

You go to take off your shirt in order to see the damage, your heart pounding in your heart with worry and embarrassment. Against your silent prayers, your body screams in defiance when you try and lift your arm any higher than elbow level. You have to swallow your pride and embarrassment. 

"Ed?" You call for him, already feeling the heat rising in your face as it grows red.

He's there in seconds, waiting for orders or something to do at all "What do you need?" 

You close your eyes and breathe out, trying to get at least some of your nerves under control "I need you to," You hated to ask "To help me take off my shirt." 

He doesn't even blush as he says "Why didn't I think of that." 

You let out a breathy laugh. "I don't know Munson, I guess you're just an idiot." 

He smiles and nods to himself "Sense of humor, that's good." 

He gets unbearably close to you and begins to lift your shirt up from the bottom. Before he takes it off, he looks at you for confirmation, not wanting to overstep his boundaries. You nod, signaling for him to continue. You inhale sharply when you have to lift your left arm in order to get in through the hole. 

Once your shirt is gone, you feel overly exposed and like you're doing something wrong. But some part of you is excited, excited from having your first fight and the possibility of injury. 

All of those feelings leak away from you and are replaced with pain and anxiety when Eddie looks sorrily up at you. From the look on his face, you know it isn't a pretty picture. That, at best, there's an ugly bruise and at worse you've broken a rib or two. 

"I'm noting going to lie to you Y/N," Eddie says "It's not great." 

You will yourself to open your eyes, you weren't even aware that you'd barred them shut. Looking over to your ribs as much as you can manage you see a huge, ugly yellow and purple bruise along with some shallow cuts. Your guess is that they were from loose bits of gravel and broken glass that got under your shirt. You made a mental note to check your legs for similar cuts later. 

You rest your head back on your shoulders and assess what your next move should be. After some time you ask "Can you hand me the kit?" referring to the first aid kit, praying that it was;t a stash Eddie just forgot about. 

You open it to happily find rather new supplies. You grabbed the bandaids, gauze, disinfectant, and cotton rounds and start on the outside working in. 

After your struggle to clean the cuts properly becomes apparent, Eddie beckons "Let me do it." 

Begrudgingly, you allow him to that the cotton and disinfectant from you. You try not to stare as he works, but you can't help yourself. It felt like something right out of Romancing the Stone to you, the brute taking care of the academic. The thought eased your mind and brought a light smile to your face. 

The feeling of his hands running over your side wasn't exactly unwelcome, either. After five minutes of work, he asks for the bandaids and gingerly covers each of the cuts. 

Then, he says "I think I have to check if there's anything broken." He looked really sorry for what he was about to have to do. "It's going to hurt no matter what, but you have to tell me if it's like, well, broken feeling." He continued. 

You nodded, pulling in and chewing on your lower lip, bracing yourself for the onslaught. Gently, he begins pressing different spots around your ribs with the tips of his fingers. You hiss in pain whenever he applies pressure, but nothing feels broken. 

He stands from his crouched position, stretching out his back and arms "That's good." 

He walks over to a different cabinet without words and grabs two glasses. From a different cabinet, he grabs a plastic bottle of what looks like whiskey. 

he pours two shots and brings them back to you, handing you one "For the pain." 

You scoff but take it anyways "What is this, 1915? Don't you have like Advil or anything?" 

He shrugs "Yeah somewhere around here. But this way your side'll feel better and I get to take a shot." 

You laugh, clutching your ribs once more "When in Rome," you say and lift your glass in a cheer. you down the hard brown liquid in one go, but caught up a storm. You'd hate to admit it, but you've never really drank before let alone taken a shot of hard liquor. 

Eddie takes his shot as well and walks over to get a shirt for you. He comes back with the hoodie you were wearing this morning, the looser fabric would 100% feel better on your tender skin than the scratch of new clothes. He brings some water as well, to chase out the nasty after-taste the alcohol left in your mouth. 

You gratefully take the sweater and put it on. Then, relieving heavily on Eddie, you get off the counter and shuffle into the bedroom, and lay softly on the bed, careful of the pressure you put on your left. 

Eddie comes in after you and takes off your shoes before getting in next to you and throwing a blanket over the two of you. When you ask why he says "Sleep it off." 

"What if we sleep past dinner?" You ask, already groggy from the warmth and the events of the day. 

"Here," He says as he gets up "I'll set a timer." He disappears into the kitchen and returns with a cooking timer, setting it to thirty minutes before getting back in bed. 

"Thirty minutes," He says "Plenty of time to take a nap and worry about dinner." 

You nudge him slightly "If dad calls the cops on you for kidnapping, I'm not going down." 

He laughs and carefully pulls you closer and into his arms "Oh, I know." 

He kisses the top of your head and the two of you drift off into yet another blissful rest.