EDDIE MUNSON IMAGINES

HOW YOU SHOULD

author's note: hi, friends! i've been dealing with a lot emotionally lately, so sorry for lack of updates. i hope you all understand. this idea was requested by a reader!
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it had been only a week since it had happened- since not only your world, but the entire town of hawkins turned inside out and upside down. you stayed away from talking about the sore subject, trying not to focus on it too much. while helping fold clothes in the gymnasium of hawkins high, a new refuge for al the townspeople who lost their homes, you were standing next to steve and keeping to yourself. you had drawn close to him after everything that had happened. 

"_________, dustin and i wanted to talk to you later," he mentioned softly as your eyes briefly looked up at him before looking out into the crowd of people to see the familar jacket pass through the crowd. you blinked a couple of times and it was gone, a memory coming back to haunt you.

"about what?" you asked, going back to folding clothes as you tried to ignore the passing thought. you always thought about him, it was never a thought to leave your mind. your heart was aching, and this was your coping mechanism. 

"what happened to eddie," he muttered as you shook your head, picking up another t shirt to fold. 

"steve, i know what happened. he's gone," you muttered. 

steve wasn't looking at you, he was making eye contact with dustin as he hobbled over on his hurt leg to the table that you two were at. you looked up to see what he was doing and saw dustin now in front of you. 

"________, can we all go talk real quick?" he asked as you looked at him hesitantly before agreeing, setting down the pair of pants you were folding as you followed steve and dustin outside to the parking lot in front of the school. 

"it's cold out here, can we hurry up this confrontation about my feelings?" you asked, rubbing your arms as you stared between the two friends. dustin furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as steve laughed sightly. 

"what are you talking about?" steve asked. 

"that's what this is, isn't it? you're here to talk me through my feelings about the situation because you know i won't talk to you guys," you told them both as dustin shook his head. 

"no, no, ________, you don't understand- eddie is alive," he said, making you pause in your thinking. your face contorted to confusion as steve nodded in support of dustin's statement. 

"what are you talking about?" you asked, your hands still sitting on your arms but you had stopped moving them as soon as they had told you that. 

"eddie is alive," he repeated.

"no," you began denying, shaking your head. "no, i saw- i saw him die with my own eyes." 

steve cleared his throat, your eyes shifting to his. 

"we wouldn't lie about this to you, why would we? that's a dick move," he told you. "just tru-"

"no, because i saw him! i saw him die! i refuse to-" you stopped walking, looking up at who you had bumped into after turning around to walk away from the two friends of yours when your eyes met the familiar ones you had known for so long. 

"hey, princess."

you shook your head, backing up slightly as you stared up at him. 

"no, you're, you're not real. you died, eddie. you died. i watched you," you began rambling off as dustin shook his head. 

"________, we've all known for a while now that he was alive. steve helped me get him out of the upside down and while he was in the hospital recovering, we decided to keep it from you because of how your emotions were at the time." 

"but, i saw?" you said, cutting your sentence short before your thought was fully out. 

"i'm more real right now than i've ever been, ________."

"no, look, you're just a figment of my mind," you told him. "if you were really here, you would have already told me before then."

"i was in the hospital for about four days, princess, there was no way for me to contact you. besides, you would have reacted worse than this if we had told you sooner." 

"no, i would have reacted better. is this a prank?" you asked, backing up slightly as you looked towards steve. he shook his head, looking at dustin for more moral support in this situation.

"it's not a prank, _______. that would be cruel," dustin said as steve nodded in reply. 

"if you're really eddie, then, then tell me what happened on the fifth of october my freshman year," you said, giving him a choice as eddie sighed, running his hand through his hair briefly before responding.

"it was the day that your mom moved out of the house and you were living with your dad, it was also the day you got your dog, truffle, and the same day that gareth introduced us because he lived in your neighborhood," he said as steve and dustin glanced between each other.

"okay, um, tell me what happened last christmas," you told him, still standing away from him. 

"you visited your mom in oregon, and i remember because i wanted to stay at your house over break," he replied, his eyes searching yours to hope that you were beginning to believe. he could see the slight falter of the wall you had put up as it began to chip slightly. 

"what's my greatest fear?" 

"loneliness," he replied without hesitation.

"favorite childhood memory?" 

"going to the beach in california with your aunt and her dog, maggie," he replied once more without faltering.

he could see the boundary crumbling before his very eyes as you hesitantly reached out to touch his arm. he stayed still as if any movement would cause you to flinch in response. when your hand felt the familar material of his jacket, you looked back up at him.

"eddie?" you asked, your teary eyes wandering his as he nodded.

"i'm real, ______." 

your stomach twisted in a knot as your heart started pounding. you took a second before you wrapped your arms around him and started to sob. eddie made eye contact with steve and dustin, silently thanking them before the two of them headed back inside. 

"i can't believe it," you said in between cries as he smiled to himself, resting his head in the crook of your neck. 

"oh, but how you should, my love," he said quietly as you only held onto him tighter.