(Dis)Obedient Princess - (y/n) Hopper & Eddie Munson Story *Rewrite*

EIGHT ~ "Just Act Natural"

The morning sun slowly breaks through the delicate fabric of roughly hung curtains over Eddie's windows, softy illuminating the room around you, neither of you taking any notice as you continue to sleep, entwined in each others grasps. The bustling sounds of the morning rush outside begin to creep ever louder through the poorly insulated windows of the trailer, slowly stirring you from the blissful sleep you wished wouldn't end. As you stir, you notice that Eddie's duvet has been pulled over you at some point in the night. That's the weird thing about Eddie, not matter how hot he runs at night, he still needs the duvet to get a good nights sleep. You stir a little more and eventually find yourself sitting up in the bed as Eddie remains dead to the world beside you. You begin to recall the events that unfolded in the trailer last night. The words spoken between you and Eddie, those words that you'd both longed to tell each other for so long, finally secret no longer. Eddie loves you, this is now a fact. You've loved him since you met and being able to tell him finally relives you of that burden silence once laden upon you. It isn't long until the reality of what brought you to the trailer last night starts to wash over you. You run your fingers over your cheeks, feeling the tender, swollen flesh from Billy's angry outburst last night. Tears prick at your eyes as you feel every blow over and over with each graze of a bruise or cut to your skin. Pushing yourself off the bed and grabbing your underwear and t-shirt, you head towards the bathroom in tearful silence.

You pause against the closed door as you click the lock, bracing yourself for your own reflection in the mirror. Eddie's reaction to your face last night made it clear that there was damage but you'd not seen it for yourself yet. You felt the split in your lip as Eddie kissed you but you brushed it off in that moment. His grazes of your cheeks were delicate but still, the sting of the ever growing bruising was there throughout. Taking painfully slow steps towards the sink, you keep your gaze low to the floor, still not ready for a glance at your own face. Your hands grip the sink edge as you take deep breath in, it burns your lungs to inhale as the nerves and fear rattle through your body. Finally, it's time. You cautiously lift your head, your eyes closed as you become face on with the mirror. Your tear pricked eyes open as you take in the sight before you. Four deep bruises overtake the right side of your face with a fifth on the left side of your chin, spanning as wide as Billy's grasp on your face. A streak of swelling and bruising runs across the left cheek with a small graze caused by Billy's ring as he swung that meaty paw across your face light night, your lip split from landing in the gravely dirt of the forest. It's worse than you thought. It's more than your heart can bare as you slide down to your knees in a heap, sobbing at the sight of your own reflection. The lock clicks and clacks a few times before the door opens wide, Eddie collapses beside you as his arms engulf your body. His soothing whispers push past the sobs filling your ears as he holds you through the realisation of what Billy has done to you. What should have been a celebrated morning of you and Eddie finally sharing those words with one another, has been tarnished by the memory of last night. Even when he's not around, Billy has a special talent for tarnishing your happiness.

You'd finally recovered from the shock of your reflection, made significantly easier with Eddie dragging you from the bathroom and making you, what he calls "Eddie's special pop-tarts" which is basically two different pop tarts with ice cream sauce drizzled on the top. A very childlike breakfast, but still better than the dry Honey Loops Eddie was eating directly from the box after he'd finished the other two pop tarts from the packs he used to make yours. He'd even gone the extra yard to make a pot of Wayne's slightly pricier coffee, reserved for his days off from the plant - which was today. He'd shuffled in dishevelled from work, barely looking at either of you as he grunted his greetings and dragged himself off to bed. "How would you feel about not going to school today?" Eddie never needed an excuse to cut school, but you couldn't help but wonder if it was more to hide your battered face from the whispering masses at Hawkins High.
"N-no! They'd call my dad and it would be a whole thing, plus you promised the guys you'd finish that campaign tonight." you knew that if you took today off, when you then returned to school battered and wounded, it would only make the whispers and rumours worse. Not that anybody would ever guess what actually happened.
"Fine. We'll go. But what if people ask questions? Fuck, what if they think I did it? That's all the ammo Billy's goons would need to finally kick my fucking skull in." he's not wrong. Billy's friends hated Eddie, most of the population of Hawkins High did, but those jocks more so than anyone.
"Stairs? Just tell people I'm an idiot who fell down the stairs. My dads the freaking chiefs, they wouldn't dare ask follow-up questions." it was a loose plan, lost of room for it to go wrong but you were right - nobodies gonna assume the chiefs daughter had her ass beat by someone without that person being mysteriously murdered. Eddie tried to poke holes in your plan, but you kept reassuring him, eventually he caved. Thankfully so, as the trailer door started pounding off its hinges.