Together, until the end | Eddie Munson

Such father but not such daughter

"Do you remember when you stuck a Lego in your nose?" Vivien smiles looking in front of her.
Will after a couple of hours has moved away from the rest of the group, he seems sad, absent or lost in his thoughts as it happened long ago. Vivien comes closer her brother and sits next to him on the floor to cheer him up. The warm light of the sunset enters through the shutters, illuminating the kid's light brown eyes.

"What?" he replies by biting his lower lip
"Yeah...you called him Larry. Remember? The one with the hat."
"Yes, vaguely."
"You scared the hell out of us. Mom was so worried and Jonathan used tweezers to get it out." she giggles to the memory of that afternoon

"Come on"
"Yep, I swear." she grins  "You know...I miss those times, not for the poor Larry but for the times when we talked and we shared almost everything. I know that now we have grown and we have completely different interests...but I miss all of that and we should continue to do so. Maybe even more than before."

Vivien's smile is replaced by a concerned expression, "Hey, hey, is everything okay? You look sad."
"Yeah, I think I'm just tired." he fakes a smile
"Will I can recognize one of your lies. What's going on? I have to hit someone?" she asks trying to get a smile out of him and in fact she succeeds
"It's useless anyway." he turns to avoid eye contact
"Will, we just talked about talking to each other. You can tell me everything, I will never judge you. I just want to help you."
"This maybe will make me seem selfish, but I expected Mike to spend a little more time with me, all he seems interested in is El, which I understand because he's his girlfriend but..."
"But nothing, Will, you're his best friend. Of course he missed El, but you've been his friend his whole life." Vivien explains turning to look at him well and he nods sadly
"Is something else bothering you?"

Will sighs sigh before deciding to finally open up to his sister "I.. I just don't know how to say it so... I'll just explain it in a way... I'm different."
The confusion is written all over Vivien's face. Will is literally a child gone and back from hell, nothing is normal or simple for him.
"Of course you're different, Will"
"No, I feel like I'm wrong..." His voice cracks. The tears in his eyes are now visible. He's struggling not to cry
"Hey hey hey"
"I feel things that...a guy- someone like me shouldn't feel."
"I think I understand what you mean."
"You- you understand? I'm sorry...I don't know what's happening to me."

"Mike...you like Mike, don't you?" she asks him gently with her voice full of empathy, she could imagine how hard it was for him to open up like that.
But Will doesn't answer for a few seconds, he lowers his head and his eyes start to tear before whispering a 'yes'
"It's all right, Will, it's okay."
"Vivien no! It's not normal..."
"Who decided that? There's nothing wrong with you." she sends him a reassuring smile.
Will is surprised by his sister's reaction, not that he expected her to react badly but at least look at him differently.
"I'm glad you confided in me, Will."

"I am here and I will always be here because I am your sister. I love you and there is nothing that can change this, you understand?"
"Yes...yes I will always be there for you too."
"I know. I know." She holds him tight and lets him cry over her (Eddie's) shirt to comfort him and he slowly starts to calm down while his sister caresses his back.
"Will, I want you to trust me and you should know that I will never, ever judge you or look at you differently...but you couldn't have liked another guy and not Mike, right?" they both chuckle

But suddenly it can be heard a sound of a car entering the driveway next to the house.

"Well good thing I said this place has to be hidden," Vivien sighs, standing quickly.
A black car parked in the trees just after Argyle's pizza truck
"Government" Jonathan sighs, a concerned look on his face
"What?" the girl asks as Eleven approaches them
Slowly the door opens. The breaths become heavy and the palms of the hands begin to sweat.

"Hey Kid." Hopper comes out of the back seat of the car. Hopper? He's standing right in front of them. He's lost a lot of weight, he's wearing a blue flannel. Eleven and Vivien are completely motionless. Hopper is okay?  He's alive- how is that possible? They had a funeral for him, they cried for him, and yet here he is standing.

Jim was the father figure she's never had. Vivien doesn't physically look like Joyce, but she's a copy of her father when he was young, except for the fact that he is a real asshole. He abandoned them, he never really cared about them. Hopper was the only one to fill that role for all of them.

"Hello..." Eleven hiccups rushing towards her father immediately drawing him to herself and squeezing him as if he could disappear in any moment "I kept the door open three inches. I never stopped believing it." She holds him as tight as she can with her head on his chest, tears of joy on her cheeks.

"I know, it's all right. It's okay, I'm here." He whispers softly caressing her daughter's head
"You look like..."
"Not fat?" he interrupts her and they both chuckle and hold each other
"And your hair-"
"My hair? Look at yours!" he prints a fatherly kiss on her forehead "Yes. I copied your look, baby. Well what do you think?"
"Bitchin'." she chuckles in happy tears
"Jim? You- no...no...mom?" Vivien is completely in shock but relieved as soon as she sees her mother making her way towards her
"So you're- I'm glad you were at the conference in 'Alaska'" Joyce takes her face in her hands and kisses both cheeks of Vivien and her brothers
"It was an incredible experience. How much I missed you," she exclaims as she lovingly un-does Jonathan's hair and hugs Will tight to herself
"Yes- mom. I can't- breathe"

"Fuck..." Pick up the girl's nose
"Vivien!"
"Mom- I don't...I still struggle to realize this" the girl looks at her mother from head to toe, as if she is looking for any injuries

"Even she never stopped believing it," Hopper says, looking at Joyce with a look of pure love. When Eleven goes to hug the woman, Hopper takes in his arms Vivien "We heard what happened"
"Do you- do you know?"
"Yes, and now we can go home," Joyce whispers lovingly
"...no we can't" how can you explain to him that a guy (his boyfriend) is wanted for two murders and his name absolutely needs to be cleared? " Enter"

"Ed, it's not the government. Come here."

"Mom, Hop, this is Eddie." Vivien makes the introductions
"Nice to meet you boy" Joyce offers him a reassuring smile
"The pleasure is min- I thought you were-" the visibly agitated guy reaches out his hand to the sheriff and to greets him politely
"And I thought you were in prison, Munson."
"Ookay wow" Vivien stops Jim.
After seeing the young man's eyes widening in surprise, Hopper chuckles and shakes his hand, while Eddie become red for the embarrassment. He wants to impress the chief of police for a number of reasons, but mostly because he's like a father to Vivien.
"Do you know also about this story?" Vivien asks to Hopper
"Yeah, I'll do my best to fix it. Don't worry, I was kidding" he pats Eddie's shoulder

"Oh wait" Vivien steps away a moment "El I'll borrow your boyfriend for just a minute"

"Where are we going?" Mike asks her as Vivien grabs his wrist and takes him aside
"Come here kid."

"Sometimes you remind me of Hopper. That's why you two get along so well"

"Mike, I understand that you and Eleven are" she makes the gesture of the heart with her hands "madly. But Will...he misses you so much. So I'm not saying put your girlfriend aside, but don't make Will feel not included, he's your best friend, right?"

After some time chatting, the adults have left the house in the woods and have gone to Joyce's house, because Vivien and Dustin have literally begged them to let them sleep with them at least one night.

"Let's hope one is dead and buried." Mike says stroking his best friend's shoulder
"He's not." He sighs as he puts a hand behind his sweaty neck and "Now that I'm here in Hawkins, I can feel it." his voice fills with panic, he begins to tremble slightly "And he is hurt, he is suffering. But he is still alive. It's weird now, knowing who he's been all this time, but...I still remember how he thinks and I know he'll never stop. We have to kill him."