A/N - This chapter was, of course, inspired by Father Figure by Taylor Swift. I know the album has been a bit divisive, but honestly, I'm always going to be a Happy Pop Taylor Girlie over a Sad Indie Taylor Girlie, so TLOAS is definitely a bit of me. The chapter isn't super Eddie X Reader heavy, but it's more of them being mum and dad to the boys when they start high school for the first time.
The first day of a new school year was always a little bit intense. The younger kids, with backpacks too big for them, looked lost as they rushed through the hallway, praying they wouldn't end up getting to their first class late. The older kids were watching, preying on the new blood, figuring out where each of them would fit in. Who would end up on the basketball team? Who would end up in cheer? Who would end up smoking out behind the bleachers instead of showing up to class? Honestly, if you had it your way, you wouldn't ever show up on the first day of school. Hell, you'd happily skip the entire first week if it meant avoiding the chaos.
Eddie had ditched you a couple of minutes after arriving in the car park, already dashing off to make a quick sale before the first bell rang, leaving you to make your way to your locker to ditch your bag all on your own.
You'd only been there a couple of seconds, still unloading your books from your bag, when you heard a cutting laugh from a little further down the hallway. You'd know that laugh anywhere, having heard it aimed at your friends too many times to count, and your attention immediately strayed to where Jason Carver and his little band of merry men were standing, towering over a couple of Freshmen.
"You're Wheeler's little brother," Jason uttered, grinning from ear to ear as one of the boys nodded hesitantly. "That means you were friends with that little freak, right? That Byers kid that went missing a couple of years back-"
"Will isn't a freak," one of the boys bit back, freezing the second Jason's smile dropped from his lips.
You watched as the younger boy swallowed down a lump that had formed in his throat. "If I say he's a freak, he's a freak. Got it, you little runt?" The boy hesitated for a moment before nodding. "I can't hear you," Jason pressed, moving a little closer, forcing the kid to lift his head to look up at him.
"Pick on someone your own size, Carver," you bit out before you'd even had time to catch yourself.
Jason's tongue ran over his bottom lip as he glanced over at you, a slow smile pulling at the corner of his lips. "You want to offer up your services, Sweetheart?"
"I want you to stop tormenting children," you uttered.
Jason snorted, shaking his head slightly. "And what? You're going to stop me?"
A soft chuckle slipped out of you at his comment. "You want to fight me?" you started, head tilted to the side as you finally put yourself between him and the kids. "Come on, that's hardly a fair fight," you pressed on. "We both know you haven't got the balls to back up all that talk you love so much," you added softly.
"You know, if you didn't have that fucking Freak playing guard dog, I'd have put you back in your place by now-"
"I don't see Eddie around here anywhere, do you?" you interrupted. "Go on, Carver. You wanted a fight, you've found it."
"Fucking trailer trash," Jason finally bit, shaking his head as he stalked down the hall, leaving you snorting with laughter.
You were grinning when you turned to face the three boys, all wide-eyed and staring. "He's not going to bother you guys anymore, alright. Just leave it with me."
"I'm Dustin," the first boy started, following you back to your locker. "These guys are Mike and Lucas-"
The bell chimed, silencing him.
"Meet me back here at Lunch. We'll make our proper introductions then," you told them. "Now, go. Get to class."
*Time Skip*
Eddie had snorted with laughter when he'd spotted you walking into the cafeteria, trailed by 3 freshmen. You grinned as you pressed a kiss to his lips, slipping into the seat beside him.
"You picking up strays again, Baby?" he hummed, his hand shifting to rest on your hip as you started unpacking your lunch onto the table.
"Carver was giving them a hard time. Thought they seemed like your type of people," you murmured, glancing back at the boys, all standing awkwardly at the end of the table, still too unsure of the situation to just choose a seat for themselves. "We don't do assigned seating here," you hummed, nodding at the seats opposite you. "So long as Eddie gets to be next to me, he won't kick up a fuss," you added softly, feeling his hand squeeze the flesh of your hip lightly, as if to confirm your comment.
"I like your patches," Dustin started, taking the seat directly opposite Eddie, and leaning right forward to get a better look at his battle vest, only for his gaze to drift down to the book sitting on the table between them, a soft gasp slipping out of him as he glanced back up at your boyfriend. "The Keep on the Borderlands-" he started.
Eddie's brow lifted slightly. "You're into D&D?"
"You're kidding, right?" Dustin pressed, his mouth hanging open like he'd just met a God. "We love it. We play all the time."
A soft chuckle slipped out of Eddie, his hand squeezing again. "You sure know how to pick 'em, Baby," he teased. "I swear you could spot a nerd at a thousand paces."
You hummed out your agreement, picking through the bag of chips you were eating. "Yeah, I learned from the best," you reminded him, earning yourself a kiss to your temple.
"We play on Fridays after school," Eddie finally hummed, returning to his conversation with the kids. "In the theatre hall by Mr Palmer's classroom. We'll be starting a new campaign this week if you want to come along."
"Really?" Mike jumped in, with a bright smile, the first you'd seen from him, pulling at his lips.
"Yeah, Y/N tends to be a pretty good judge of character," Eddie told them. "And I'm pretty sure she's already decided that you're all under her protection now, so I oughta get used to having you guys around."
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