solace | eddie munson x reader [y/n]

029

       Steve's sweater party had been the kickoff to winter break. There were a few days left until Christmas and Hawkins was getting an unusually excessive amount of snow. The landscape remained a pure white oasis, the monotony of the small town becoming interesting and beautiful again.

You and Eddie had spent Sunday morning at the Harrington house, where everyone shared laughs and recounted the night before over breakfast. The whole crew had been exceptionally hungover. Gareth the most so, since he had woken up in the damn bathtub.

       It was a weird feeling to be home from school this year. For some reason, vacation always made you feel homesick. Although you were literally home all day, it was like you were longing for the joy that most people feel during that time. Christmas was hard because it was such a family-centered holiday, and you had never really had that.

That's partially why you started to lose yourself, sanity slipping with each day that you were in the house with your negligent mother. School at least gave you a routine to stick to and allowed you to see Eddie every day. Without that, you sat with your thoughts a lot of the time.

It wasn't like you weren't seeing Eddie. You were, just not as frequently. He had started to pick up shifts at Thacher Tire and that kept him busy a good handful of hours in the day.

You didn't know that he was working so he could afford to take you out on a real, fancy date at some point.

       On the night of the twenty-second, you and the curly-haired boy talked on the phone for hours. He had gotten home from the garage late, and neither of you was up to driving in the snowstorm that raged on outside.

"I'm sorry...you don't know who Aragorn is?" Eddie said into the receiver. He was laying on his back atop his bed, head hanging off the edge with his curls dangling onto the rug.

"Should I...?" you replied. It was freezing in your house since your mother kept the heat low, a way to save money. You held the base of the phone against your hip as you talked to him, bundled up underneath multiple blankets.

"Lord of the Rings, duh."

You stayed quiet, anticipating his outburst.

"Don't tell me you've never read it," Eddie urged.

"Nope," you admitted, popping the 'p'. "Sorry."

"Holy shit, you haven't lived! There's a whole world you've never got to experience."

Eddie enthusiastically rambled on about the amazingness of Tolkien's fantasy land and the heroes who live in it. You listened intently, giving him small "mhm's" and giggles. He could've kept you on the line for hours talking about it and you would have clung to every word.

There was something special and endearing about listening to the people you love talk about things they love.

"I'll let you borrow my copies," he offered, voice sweet and gentle. "As long as you don't mind all the notes I wrote in it."