[✓] 𝕴 𝖜𝖆𝖓𝖓𝖆 𝖐𝖓𝖔𝖜 𝖜𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖑𝖔𝖛𝖊 𝖎𝖘 {Eddie Munson x OC}

Forty Two

It was a few minutes before we both spoke. I was scrubbing the floors when I felt eyes on me.

Steve looked at me, eyebrows raised. "You are not as sly as you think you are, you know that?"

I rolled my eyes. "Please, Harrington. They're both oblivious. And since when do you pick up on cues?"

"Since I realized that no one will ever love me the way I think Nancy did. The difference between longing and needing and waiting has become so evident to me that I believe it will be years before I find something like you have, Charlie," Steve said.

I was so taken aback about how strongly worded that last sentence was that I didn't even notice Robin and Nancy walking towards us, hand in hand.

Steve stood up with his mouth hanging open and practically yanked me up to stand next to him.

"I owe you a shit ton of money, Charlie," Steve whispered.

"Pay for my wedding and we're even," I patted his shoulder like a grill dad on the fourth of July.

"You were right," Robin and Nancy said to me at the same time.

I laughed, "Of course I'm right. I'm practically a mind reader." I winked.

"It would be super helpful if I get thanked in your wedding speech," I gave a thumbs up. "But if you'll excuse me, I'm off to go find my boyfriend."

I skipped out of the house happily looking for Eddie. He was with Argyle, the long haired guy, and they were crouching on the ground identifying types of mushrooms with each other.

"Hey honey," I smiled, walking up to Eddie. He stood up and smiled at me. Argyle still seemed zone out and in another dimension.

"I missed you so much Charlie," He said, kissing my forehead.

"Dude," I raised my eyebrows at him. "I've been in the cabin for an hour."

"I know. Doesn't mean I wasn't lonely without you," He gave me puppy eyes.

I rolled my eyes, trying to ignore him hovering over me and looking like the cutest human ever. We started walking hand in hand back to the cabin.

"Eddie, we need to talk to Mike together. He doesn't know about us."

"What if we don't? He's a teenager. He's had a girlfriend before. I think he knows how relationships work and where babies come from."

I playfully hit him at that last part.

"Fine, but you do realize that you're going to have to meet my family, right? Mom, dad, little sister, the whole shebang."

Eddie faltered beside me. We stopped next to a really large oak tree.

"What's wrong?"

"Charlie, I would love to meet your family. I just wish you could meet mine. My Uncle Wayne is all I really have for my family. My dad's been in prison since before I was in high school. And my mom, well, she died when I was ten."

Eddie had tears in his eyes and his voice started to break up.

"It's okay," I wrapped my arms around him. "I'll take any bit of family you have as long as it means being with you."

He broke down in my arms.

"She was only twenty nine when she died." He whispered. "My mom had me right out of high school. My dad was twenty seven when he met my mom and even though she loved him, he always gave her hell. But she always managed to make me feel special. She'd take me to Benny's on weekends for milkshakes or she would make me hats with cool designs in the winter. She loved baking, especially berry cobbler. And when she was sick, she would sit on the couch with me and taught me to play chess. I think I get my love of games from her."

"She sounded amazing," I hugged him a bit tighter. "What about your dad? I know about the rumors, but I don't believe most of them."

"When I was old enough to speak, my dad was never around anymore. He went to jail for boosting a car when I was five. Then when he got out he got a job working on cars. He taught me how to boost cars and repair cars. I was eight when he went back to jail. Five charges; grand theft auto, driving while intoxicated, possession of drugs, assault of an officer, and tax fraud. I don't talk to him anymore. He calls on my birthday. I don't answer." He sighed. "My mom worked three jobs and my uncle would take care of me on weekends. When my mom got sick, she couldn't afford to work anymore and we moved to the trailer park. She died a week before my birthday."

"When was that?" I asked.

"She died on April 7th, 1975 at three in the morning," Eddie replied.

I rubbed up and down his back as he held onto me like I might evaporate.

"That's next week," I mumbled.

"I know," He whispered. His hand "That ring I gave you, the one you're wearing right now, that was my maternal grandfathers. He gave that to my mom right before he left to go to Vietnam. He died before I was born. I'm named after him with my first name, Edward. My middle name is Wayne, because my uncle was the only one who gave a damn to care for my mom when she was pregnant with me. And Munson is my dads last name because as much as he treated my mom like shit, she loved him to the very end."

I looked up at Eddie and into his brown eyes. They told me everything I needed to know.

They showed that even though he's experienced living hell and he's overcome so many issues in his life, he still managed to go to school, and then repeat school, and put a smile on his face while playing D & D.

They showed that he was loyal and kind and determined to change his family's past and want to better himself for the future.

They showed that he was willing to die for me and save the world while still brutally traumatized, that against the odds of his past he was going to stand in front of a greater evil to save people that never gave a second thought to him.

But most importantly, his eyes showed me love.

Eddie didn't care much about his past because there was nothing he could do to change that. So he tried his hardest to make every day better than the last.

And I was his new beginning.

"I love you. I love you so much," I kissed him. "Thank you for telling me. You didn't have to but you trusted me. And that's why I love you."

"You're too good for me Charlie," Eddie gave me a sad smile.

"No, you're too good for me. I will spend every single day of the rest of my life with you wondering how I ever managed to earn your love. But no amount of time would ever be enough with you, Eds."

Eddie looked down at me with his doe eyes.

"I love you Charlie Wheeler. I think you've saved my life."