Would you love a creature? - Eddie Munson x Y/N

Chapter 7

You wake up the next morning and it takes a moment before you remember falling asleep in Eddies arms but the familiar presence brings calm to your mind as you remember what happened last night. You hear his heartbeat in your ear, it's slow and steady, unlike yours which is gradually starting to pound in your chest as you try and work out where you go from here. Eddie had seen your powers and what they could do, there was no hiding that from him now. You had no choice but to tell him everything you went through before you found each other, everything you're running from and why he could be in danger. It felt selfish keeping it from him but if anyone had turned up looking for you the less he knew the better, they can detect deception and they'd have smelt it on him.

You hold Eddies wrist, the deadweight slowly lifting off your shoulders as you wriggle out from under his arm.
You slide down the bed and tiptoe out of the room and into the living room. The carnage from last night is still there, the desk still on its side on the floor with all manner of ornaments, papers and Knick knacks strewn across the carpet. The tv unit was at a weird angle but thankfully the tv itself still intact and couch cushions lay in front of the seemingly fine couch.
You sigh and begin tidying, running through everything in your head that you feel Eddie needs to know and the best way to tell him.

***********

You hear his alarm ring a little later, signalling that it's time for him to get up and get ready for school. A loud bang follows as he shuts off the blaring sound and then footsteps as he runs from his room when he realises you're gone.
He breathes a sigh of relief when he sees you on the couch. "Hey, you ok?" He asks when he realises you're staring at the wall in silence.
You gulp. This is it, no turning back.
"Eddie can you skip school again today? I need to talk to you"
He walks over to you, his handsome face tarnished with a concerned expression, his eyebrows knitted together as he searches your face for a sign of what's wrong.
"I promise I'm fine. But I want to talk to you... about last night" you finish the sentence in a whisper, almost ashamed it had ever happened.
"Oh... for a moment I thought I'd dreamt that" he says as he looks around the now tidy living room, trying to find any dishevelment but coming up short. "Yeah, sure, I'll skip"

He takes a seat next to you on the couch and you sink back into the cushions, trying so desperately to ignore the giant knot that's formed in your stomach.
He takes your hand, entangling his fingers in yours as he grips it. "Hey you don't have to talk about this if you don't want to?" He says gently, his voice so soft and calm it makes you want to cry.
"No. I have to, I can't keep this from you anymore Eddie, I could have hurt you last night." Your voice betrays you, cracking at the thought of ever hurting him.

You take a deep breath and begin.

"I grew up in Hawkins Lab. I'm one of many that have special abilities, mostly what you saw last night but there are others that can do more like read minds and move into other dimensions. I've only shown signs of object manipulation but it's easy for me to lose control of my powers, if I become scared or overwhelmed it takes over and things like last night happen. I'm so sorry Eddie"
His fingers grasp yours tightly in response. "You don't need to apologise" he smiles, his mind whirring at the idea of people having the kind of abilities you do but he'd seen it and you have no reason to lie to him now, he believed you implicitly, even if the information was seemingly impossible.

"I've been there my whole life, ever since I was really, really young. I have no idea where I come from or why I have these abilities, I don't even know who my parents are, I was raised by people in white coats. We were subject to tests and experiments designed to test what we can do, presumably to be weaponised, they didn't care how much of a toll these tests took on us or how much they hurt, there were times we were pitted against each other to see who was the strongest, if we ended up being the weakest we were punished, Papa, he was the one who was meant to look after us, said it was to toughen us up but it never worked, it just made us more scared. One day a fight broke out and it distracted everyone long enough and I escaped. I ran through the woods for hours and then I found you"

As you finish you glance up at Eddie, expecting his face to be contorted in horror at you, this freak he had taken in and kept safe. Instead tears prick his eyes and flow down his cheeks. You raise your hand and wipe them away, resting your palm on his cheek.
"Please don't cry. I'm safe now remember? You keep me safe"
He nods slowly as his hand wraps around your wrist, his thumb stroking over your tattoo.
"So this isn't really your name, you were just a number" he says quietly, the sadness in his voice was palpable.
You look down at your wrist, the kindness in his touch against the symbol of your imprisonment felt like duality.
"I was one of the first ones there, there were others when I left who were around 10 or 11. I left them Eddie, I just ran and I left them there" you say, a sob catching in your throat.
He wraps his arms around you and holds you close to him, his hand stroking your head as he tries to soothe you and ignore his own tears. He tried to suppress the anger he felt, the gnawing rage at what you've been through and at the people who inflicted it on you.

He wanted to burn them all to the fucking ground.

"I'm sorry Eddie, I didn't want you to know what a monster I am. I didn't want you to hate me" you sob against his shoulder.
He pulls back enough to gently hold your head in his hands, forcing you to look into his eyes as he speaks.
"You are not a monster. They are. You should never have gone through what you did and you are not to blame. I'm glad you trusted me with this, now I know why I need to make sure you're safe and I know who I need to keep you safe from. I promise I will never let anything bad happen to you ever again" he says, kissing your forehead gently as he pulls you back into his arms.

He holds you for hours, stroking your head, your back, wiping away your tears and telling you it's ok. For once in your life you believe it, everything will be ok as long as you had Eddie.
You look down at your wrist, the numbers all the more sinister to you now.
He catches you looking at gets an idea.
"What if we gave you a name?" He says.
You look up at him, considering his offer.
"Like what?" You ask, never allowing yourself to imagine what it would be like to have a proper name.
He looks at you for a moment, thinking of options.
"What about Y/N? You look like a Y/N and I've always loved that name"
You smile, liking the sound of it on his lips, and nod.
"Ok" he grins "Y/N it is"