Birds Of A Feather // Eddie Munson

003

"I fucking love you Chrissy Cunningham." I gave her a huge hug and run back to the Hellfire club, praying they haven't already left or started. Dustin, you better be grateful you little shit.

I burst through the door of the club and saw them all sitting down, head's in hands stressing about the campaign. Well, they were. Then I bursted in. Dustin rolled his eyes and was the first to speak "What, come to make fun of us? Laugh at us or something? Don't you have some basket ball guys to cheer for."

"So many questions at once, let's see. Yes I have come to make fun of you and laugh at you and yes, I do have basketball guys to cheer for, one of those guys being YOUR friends. Instead, here I am subbing for him instead because you guys are terrible at planning!" I slam the door behind me and sit at the other end of the table, facing directly across from Eddie with one foot on the seat below me and my other leg stretched out underneath the table. "Oh no. Absolutely not." Eddie shakes his head, hair frantically waving "you expect me to sit here and believe you know how to play DND, Princess? You should just leave. This is worse than making fun of us."

I roll my eyes, and push my chair back causing it to make a loud scrape against the floor. I slam my hands down on the table and lean forward to Eddie. "I know how to play. I taught Dustin how to play. So are you going to keep wasting my time or are actually going to play some DND?" Eddie looks at Dustin for confirmation who nods rapidly, watching the entire exchange. Mike was watching too but seemed a lot less interested than the rest of the club, who were sat with their mouths agape. Eddie look back to me and copies my movements "let's see if you can keep up then, Princess." He held his hand out for me to shake, but his use of the nickname he forced upon me pissed me off.

I sat back down into the chair, hair bouncing behind me. Eddie looks between me and his hand, nods slightly and sits back down. "Let us commence, Welcome to Hellfire, Henderson." Dustin looked at him annoyed, brows furrowed "Isn't that my nickname?" Almost offended by Eddie's comment. Eddies only reply is a light tap to the back of his head but he doesn't take his eyes off of me the entire time.

It felt like hours before we got to the final play and when it came about it was no easy feat. Both me and my brother had 12hp left but before playing had made an agreement 'to the death' which everyone unanimously said yes to, but the people who weren't playing wanted to go back on this. Dustin and I have done this a billion times before, I knew there was a possibility we could win, it was just a very low one.

"Let's do it." I looked at Dustin and he nodded in agreement, he rolled first but failed. Between headbangs Eddie looked at Dustin and then me. "THATS. A. MISSSSSS!" The whole team groaned and complained that we were all "so dead". But now it was my roll, everyone was cheering, Eddie was just watching me with an intense stare that made me feel like my whole body was on fire. My palms started to sweat. I never realised before how much this game made me nervous. The dice left my hand but Eddie's eyes didn't leave me, I looked up and made eye contact with the boy but he quickly looked in the dice's direction.

20.

Unbelievable, the whole group jumped up and down, screaming and cheering. Eddie raised his hands to his chest and acted shocked. I looked over to him again and he bowed over the board and widened his arms out toward me with the biggest grin I had ever seen him wear, and I swear it was possibly the most attractive thing I'd ever seen in my life. I raised a smile back and he stood back up straight, "Right you little shitbags, out! I need to clean this mess." Everyone cheered and thanked Eddie for the game before they left but I stayed back. "Are you coming?" Dustin had asked from the door. "Nah I'm good, Mom's gonna pick me up so you just go on ahead with Steve, I'll help your friend clear up."
"Kay, see you when you get home. Oh and by the way, thanks for subbing. We couldn't have done it without you."
"Yeah yeah whatever. Tell Steve to drive safe." And with that, he was gone.

I didn't actually help clear up, like at all. I just sat there in the other throne-style seat with my feet up on the desk. "So." I began which caused Eddie to look up at me quickly as though I had caught him off guard. "Jeez sorry. You knew I was still here so?" Eddie laughed dryly.
"Yeah, surprised you even came."
"Well. Your shirts are cool, thought I could get one if I came but, to my dismay... no shirt." I wiped a fake tear from under my eye.
"Oh, well then what's this?" He pulled a shirt from behind his back and threw it at my face. "I don't get you Henderson. You're hot and cold."

I peel the shirt from off of my face and look at the sizing, XL. Is this- "sorry about the uh size, it's one of mine. I always carry a spare in case one of the guys show up and forgot to wear theirs, but if you want it then have it." He spoke very softly, very different to how he is when doing his Hellfire campaigns or ranting on top of tables. "Yeah well, I'm full of surprises." Eddie smiled a genuine smile, which I don't think I'd ever seen him do before and said "Yeah well, I can see that now Princess." I roll my eyes so hard that I thought they were going to get stuck.

"Why do you keep calling me that?" He breathes a laugh out of his nose and snorts a little bit. " 'Cause I thought you were a priss." I raise my eyebrows and put my hands up "Sorry, you thought I was a priss? Why?" Eddie scrunches his nose up at my comment as though it was painfully obvious. "Well you're dating Steve Harrington, the guy known for his damn hair and all the girls he's had sex with, you're a cheerleader and you're friends with Jason." My mouth was wide open with shock, for a guy who hates being judged he sure is doing a lot of it.

I reply when I finally pick my jaw up off the floor "I am not dating Steve 'the hair' Harrington, don't talk crazy Munson. I'm not friends with Jason, I'm friends with Chrissy and just 'cause i cheer, doesn't mean shit." As I'm talking i stand up and walk around the table to where he is.

"For someone who harps on about stereotypes and conforming, you're ticking all of the damn stereotype boxes right now and honestly it's annoying me. I skipped the game to be here and you've done nothing but insult me!" By now I'm inches away from his face, breathing heavily because of the shouting I'd just done. I went to walk away but he grabs my wrist, he was careful to not grab hard enough to hurt me but hard enough to make me stop and listen, the cold chunky metal of his rings cooling down my warm skin.

He doesn't move an inch. "You wanna try being treated like shit your whole life by people like you and Jason, huh?" He starts to walk toward me, making me take a step back for every step he took forward. "You don't get it 'cause you're in with that crowd, even if you don't do any of the bullying or name calling, you don't stop it." I'm backed up against a wall, eyes searching his entire face for some kind of emotion other than anger, and there is. I just cant quite tell what it is. "And to be honest, Princess I don't know what's worse." The usually playful nickname was now not so playful. The word felt like a bite from a viper, venom seeping into my bloodstream.

"You don't scare me, Eddie Munson."

There's some kind of weird tension between me and the long haired boy, and I can tell he feels it too. His huge brown eyes drop to my lips then back up to my eyes, almost not wanting to break eye contact in fear of me disappearing in front of him. We've been stood here for what feels like an eternity when we hear a knock at the door, he takes one huge step away from me and i fix my clothes and hair. Jason walks in, hands balled into fists, veins popping out of his head and neck.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing Munson?"

                              ____________

screaming rn ... I feel like this chapter was a little bit long so.. lmk if u want me to like make them longer or shorter or just like, keep them
around this length :)
1540 words <3