#dustin works out the thing with the gate in season 4 (skull rock scene) - as an example of him being smart!

[captainlunaxmen]

The Lady and the Lord

Chapter 6

Eddie munson x fem!reader

This is a repost since the old blog doesn't work anymore. 🥰

Chapter summary: the gang, finally, has to go to Eddie and with him they go find the gate.

Chapter warnings: spoiler season 4, mention of harassment, some flirting... if you want.

We're finally heading to Eddie, to bring some food to him and... yeah, the news.

"Not to be a wimp, but can I sit in the car for this? 'Couse this is gonna total and royally suck" Robin complains from the back seat.

I'm sitting in the front with Nancy as she drives.

"It'll be fine" Nancy assures her.

"I just can't stand to see those dull eyes of Eddie's break again. I really, really can't " Robin admits.

"Yeah.. I know" I sigh.

"At least he can drink himself into feeling better" Steve states, making me roll my eyes.

"That's what my mom does" Max mutters.

"Why don't we just give it a trial?" Robin rambles. I still don't understand if Robin's rambling is cute or... concerning. I share a look with Nancy, that makes me guess we're thinking the same thing.

" 'Eddie. Uh, good news first this time. We got you some Dustin-approved junk food and that six-pack you requested. Oh yeah and we found Vecna. Only the bad news is that he's in that other darker, much scariest dimension that we told you about, and the gate's closed, so we have no way of getting to him. Like he's entirely shut off to us, so basically you're screwed. And no, no, I know you were already screwed, but now you're doubly, triply screwed"

"Wait, wait. Maybe we put it like that" Lucas stops her.

"Maybe if Y/n said it, it wouldn't hurt so much" Dustin suggests.

" 'we're one step closer to finding Vecna' that's what we say. That's what's important" Nancy proposes.

"Exactly" I agree. "There's no need for him to worry about this now."

"See, Robin? Positive spin can make all the difference." Steve teases earning an annoyed "uh-huh" from Robin.

"Oh shit"

Arriving at Reefer Rick's house we see people gathering around some reporters...and the police.

"Oh my god, they didn't find Eddie, did they?" I mutter.

We get out of the car quickly, thankfully all the people is more interested in finding out what happened than in our arrival, so we manage to sneak around the house and listen to the police chief talking to the reporters.

"... a little after midnight reporting a homicide here on the lake. Officer Callahan here and myself arrived first on the scene. We made our way to the shore of Lover's Lake about ten yards from that house you see behind me. It was there that we found the victim, an 18-year-old senior from Hawkins High, Patrick McKinney. His limbs, his body, it was disfigured. There was an eyewitness on the scene, we've also identified a person of interest. Eddie Munson. We encourage anyone with information to please..."

I turn everything off, I stop pay attention... how could they think that... on what proves?

I feel myself getting rigid and, instantly, Robin notices and grabs my hand to support.

"Dustin, can you hear me? Wheeler? Y/n..?"

Eddie.

Oh thank god.

"Eddie. Holy shit" Dustin grabs the radio and we all turn around to listen closely "are you okay?"

"Nah, man. Pretty.. pretty goddamn far from okay" Eddie says.

"Where is he?" I ask, biting my nails out of nervousness.

"Where are you?" Dustin asks him.

"Skull Rock, uh.. do you know it?"

"Yeah, that's near Cornwallis and..."

"Garrett, yeah. I know where it is" Steve cuts him off, instantly rushing to the car. I quickly follow him.

"Hold tight. We're coming. We're coming." I hear Dustin assuring Eddie.

We've been walking for hours now, following Dustin's compass through the woods. All, while constantly hearing Steve and Dustin bickering. Is it the right way? It's not. I'm telling you it is.

Ugh.. I only care about finding Eddie, I don't care who's right.

"Dude, I'm telling you, you're taking us the wrong way." Steve complains for the millionth time.

"It's north. I'm positive I checked the map." Dustin, again, defends.

"You do realise Skull Rock, it's a super popular make-out spot?" Steve asks.

"Yeah, so?"

"Yeah, well, it wasn't popular until I made it popular. All right? I practically invented it." Steve explains proudly. "We're heading in the wrong direction"

With that Steve starts to walk in a different direction, followed by a complaining Dustin and me rolling my eyes.

"Yeah.. well, that's not exactly the most romantic spot to choose and make 'popular' " I joke as we walk, so I can think of anything else for a moment.

"Correction: it's not the most romantic spot to have your first time at" he says holding up his fingers.

"Yeah, tell me about it. It was your idea, if I recall correctly" I tease back.

"What... wait... what?" Dustin asks, clearly taken aback.

"You didn't know? I thought Stevie here told you anything about him" I say with a chuckle.

"No way" he laughs.

"What's so funny, Henderson?" Steve seems offended by his laughing.

"Nothing... just... can't imagine you two.. oh god this is crazy" he says between laugher, I wrap an arm around his shoulder as we keep on walking.

"We kind of had a deal" I whisper to him and he lets out a giggle that makes Steve turn his head and glare at us, and we just laugh.

"I want to know everything" Dustin laughs.

"Oh no no no, you're not gonna know shit, Henderson" Steve warns him.

"Aaww poor Stevie." I mock him "I'll tell you about it some other time" I tell to Dustin.

"Ah ah ah, no you won't, honey" Steve says.

"You can't always be present, you're gonna turn your back one day" I jokingly tease him.

"Can't wait" Dustin says between laugher.

"I hate you both" Steve mutters.

"You love us" we say at the same time.

Finally, we arrive at Skull Rock and Steve can be all cocky and proud about being right.

"Bada bing, bada boom. There she is, Henderson. Skull Rock. In your face, man. In your stupid, cocky little face."

"Doesn't make sense" Dustin says looking down at his compass.

"What's wrong?" I ask him.

"Yeah yeah. Even with it staring you right in the face, you can't admit it. You just can't admit that you're wrong, you little butthead" Steve replies, still proud he found the place himself, I roll my eyes, ready to tell him to shut up when a big thud behind us stops me.

"I concur." Eddie stands up, in front of us. "You, Dustin Henderson, are a total butthead"

Thank god he's okay.

"Jesus, we thought you were a goner" Dustin immediately walks to hug him.

"Yeah, me too man" Eddie replies.

When his eyes meet mine, I instinctively go to hug him too.

As I wrap my arms around his neck, his are around my waist in no time.

"I'm sorry" I whisper to him.

"Don't worry about it, m'lady" he whispers back.

He just holds me to him, afraid I might disappear any moment.

" 'm just glad you're here" he adds.

We let go of each other when we hear Steve clearing his throat, loudly.

"Should we leave you two alone?" Robin winks at me and I feel my cheeks burning instantly.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Dustin asks.

As he eats the food we brought to him, he told us about Jason and the others finding him, his attempt escape on the boat and about Patrick too.

"When I got to the shore, I tried calling you guys, but, uh.. my walkie was busted, man. Drenched. So, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently. I ran" he lets out a chuckle, to hide something deeper, I'm afraid.

"Do you know what time this was? The attack?" Nancy asks.

"Yeah, no, I... I know exactly what time it was." He answers as he quickly takes off his watch "my walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked."

He throw the watch at Nancy who reads "9:27"

"Same time our flashlights went kablooey" Robin adds.

"Which means what, exactly?" Steve asks.

"That surge of energy was, apparently, Vecna attacking Patrick" I tell him.

"Well, we're one step closer. We know how Vecna attacks." Robin states.

"And where he attacks from" Lucas adds.

"So we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart" Max suggests.

"If he even has a heart" Robin comments and I nod.

"A stake? Is he like a vamp- is he a vampire?" Steve asks confused, once again.

"It was a metaphor" Max replies with a sigh.

"Bullets should work on him, right?" Eddie chimes in.

"I say we chop his head off" Lucas suggests

"I just might second you on that one" I say.

"Yeah, I'd say all of the above, but we can't do any of that-" Nancy starts.

"Unless we find a way to get in the Upside Down... yeah" I finish for her.

"We need El to get her powers back." Max says hopeful.

"Everything was, like, way easier. We had this girl. She had superpowers-" Steve starts to explain to Eddie, but he stops him.

"Superpowers. Yeah, you mentioned her." He then his eyes starts to follow Dustin, who's been walking up and down for the past minutes, mumbling to himself. "Hey, uh, Henderson's not, uh, cursed, is he?"

"Cursed? No, no, no. He's fine" Steve answers" mental? Absolutely"

"Boom!" Dustin exclaims all of a sudden, startling us all.

"Bada.. Bada.. boom" he says more quiet, pointing his finger at Steve" I was right. Skull Rock was North."

"Seriously? You're serious?" Steve asks, quiete annoyed.

"Mh-hmm" Dustin humms, sure.

"This is Skull Rock. Okay?"

Dustin just humms in response again.

"You're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong. Right now."

"Yes" Dustin says" and no"

"For fuck's sake, Dustin. What is it?" I snap.

"This worked correctly when we left the Wheeler's. It was correct when we got in the car on Curly, but it started to slip the further east we went" he explains "Now it's way off. When I was leading us here, I wasn't wrong. The compass was"

"So you're using faulty equipment. You're still wrong" Steve says exasperated.

"Except it isn't faulty. Lucas, you remember what can affect a compass?" He turns to look at Lucas.

"An electromagnetic field" Lucas answers promptly.

"Yep"

"I'm sorry, I must've skipped that class" Robin says, visibly confused.

"In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the compass' needle will deflect towards that stronger power." I recite, and an idea pops in mind "so.. there's either a huge magnet somewhere in the woods or.."

"There's a gate" Lucas finishes for me.

"Exactly" I say.

"Wait.. why?" Robin asks, once again.

"These gates to the Upside Down, they like.. creates this electromagnetic power around them, so if the needle points in another direction, that isn't North, there's a big chance that it's a gate" I explain.

"But we're nowhere near the lab" Nancy points out.

"Maybe there's gate somewhere else... there must be" I suggest.

"Yeah, a gate that we don't know about" Dustin has clearly the same idea. "It'd have to be smaller. Way less powerful"

"Snack-size gate" Robin says and I nod with a smile.

"How? Why?" Steve, for a change, is confused.

"No idea. All I know is that something is causing this disturbance, and the last time we've seen anything like it, it was a gate. And I hope it is because then we'd have a way to Vecna. And a shot at feeing Max from this curse" Dustin explains, before starting to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Steve calls for him "Hey hey hey hey. Eddie's still a wanted man. We can't just go hike in the woods"

"This little steel capsule might be the key to saving both Max and Eddie" Dustin replies, then he refers to Eddie "what say you, Eddie the Banished?"

We all turn around to look at Eddie waiting for his answer.

"I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if I'm totally straight with you, I think it's a really bad idea. But, uh, the Shire... the Shire is burning."

Dustin excitedly jumps on spot and Eddie stands up.

"So Mordor it is"

With that we start to follow Dustin through the woods.

"What is Mordor?" Steve asks me.

"Oh my god.. Stevie you need to read more" I laugh at his lack of fantasy knowledge. "I'll let you borrow my Lord of The Rings copy."

I pat him on the shoulder as we follow the others, Eddie turns around and slow down to catch with us.

"You read it?" He asks me, pleasantly surprised.

"Of course I did" I smile at him. "Who do you think educated those kids, uh?"

"Oh yeah? And here I thought you couldn't be more perfect" he says with a teasing tone.

"I'm... full of surprises" I say, surprised of myself.

"Oh.. oh I'm sure" he says back.

"I'll.. uh.. I'll see if Dustin needs anything" Steve jogs towards Dustin, leaving me and Eddie behind.

"So... can I ask you something?" He leans a bit closer.

"Uh.. sure."

"Do you remember the other day, when I bumped into you, at school? After you walked out of the gym" he asks.

"Uh... yeah" unfortunately I do.

"What.. happened?"

"N-nothing" I reply with a shrug, avoiding to look at his face.

"It didn't look like nothing to me" he tells me with a reassuring chuckle.

"No, uh... really nothing to worry about" I try to smile at him to convince him, but he doesn't give up on the subject.

"Those assholes bothered you, didn't they?" He guess.

"Uh... no..it's just-"

"Didn't they?" He repeats, cutting my excuse off.

"Yeah... but nothing.. too bad"

"Mmhm. You don't fool me, m'lady." He gently nudges me. "Was it Jason?"

"No.. "I sigh "Andy, I think his name is. He, uh... flirted with me... quite insistently."

"What..?" He asks, his tone irritated.

"He, uh.. he whispered some shit into my ear.. held me to him by my waist.. yeah. That's it" I tell him.

"What a prick... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring that up. Never thought that would be it" he apologises.

"Oh no. It's okay, really." I genuinely smile at him and he smiles back.

"That's not how one should treat someone like you" he says casually.

"Someone like me?" I ask confused.

"Someone who's... how can I say it?... someone as cool as you" I saw him winking at me when I look at him. I turn my face facing forward again, cheeks warming up quickly.

"Someone" he continues "smart... sweet... badass... beautiful"

"I... I'm not.. really" I nervously laugh at that.

I'm just a distraction, I remind myself... or convince myself.

"Oh, but you are, M'lady." he stops and I do too.

He turns to me.

He gently put a hand under my chin, making me look up to him again. His gaze falls to my lips and I feel my cheeks getting warm, instantly.

Then, he starts to lean down.

"Guys!" Steve screams snapping us out of the moment. "C'mon!"

"What a timing, Harrington" Eddie complains.

"C'mon, my lord, let's go, before mommy gets mad" I tell him as I start to walk again.

"Yeah.. let's go, m'lady" he walks beside me, cursing Steve under his breath.

We walk and walk and walk following Dustin and his compass until it gets dark.

At some point he starts to run in the direction the compass points towards and we obviously follow right behind him.

"Something's happening" he mutters.

"Yeah, could you maybe share it with us?" I say, trying to keep up with him.

"Dustin? Can you slow down? Dustin?" Eddie tries too.

"I think we're getting close" he say turning his head to us

"Careful!" I almost yell as Eddie promptly grab him by the backpack.

"Yeah, watch your step, big guy."

"Oh man" says a breathless Steve "you gotta be shitting me."

"Yeah. I thought these woods were familiar"

"Lover's Lake" me and Robin look at each other.

"This is confounding" Dustin comments.

"There's a gate in Lover's Lake?" Max asks.

"Whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening. Maybe Vecna's the same way" Nancy suggests.

"Yeah, only one way to find out" Steve declares.

"Going in" I mutter.

Eddie goes to uncover the boat he, apparently, used to escape.

"Guess it'll do" Steve sighs.

They grab it and carefully drag it to the water.

Robin's the first one to walk in, followed by Eddie.

Nancy climbs in too.

"Wheeler" Eddie offers his help.

Then I follow.

"M'lady" Eddie gently grabs my hand to help me climb in.

"Thanks" I softly say as I sit with Robin, who gently nudges me and offers me a warm smile, to which I playfully roll my eyes.

Just as Dustin gets closer to come in too Eddie stops him.

"Hey, hey, hey, you trying to sink us? This thing holds four people tops, okay?" He tells him, Dustin just stands there with a stunned expression glaring at him.

"It's better this way, okay? You guys stay here with Max. Keep an eye out for trouble" Nancy tries to ease the situation.

"You keep an eye out" He says back, earning a glare from Nancy, I'm sure. "It's my goddamn theory"

"You heard Nance" Robin chimes in.

"Who put her in charge?" Dustin asks irritated.

"I did" she answers, calmly.

"Me too" I add. "C'mon, Dusty, give Nancy the compass. C'mon"

With a pout he reluctantly gives Nancy the compass and stands back so we can finally go.

Steve throws the backpack to Dustin and starts to push the boat in the water, taking advantage of thale moment and jumps in with us.

"You said four!" Dustin exclaims.

"Sorry" Steve fake-apologies.

"Bed time at nine, kiddos" Robin yells. "Miss you already"

"You're so mean" I tell her, giggling.

I'm about to take one oar, but Eddie beats me.

"I got this, beautiful" he winks and takes the oar.

"Think I can't do that?" I challenge.

"No" He quickly replies "no.. I.. I didn't mean it like that"

"Relax man, she's messing with you." Steve pats him on the shoulder "You'll realise she can be a real tease when she opens up" Steve tells him and I glare at him.

"That's not true" I defend.

"It's true. And don't make me start with the sexual jokes" Robin blurts out.

"Robin!" I exclaim.

"Sorry" she whispers.

I hide my face into my hands.

"No need to be embarrassed, m'lady, I don't mind" Eddie sweetly whispers.

"Yeah yeah let's focus on the task at hand, uh?" I say, seeking support from Nancy and Robin.

"She's right." Nancy says eyes fixed on the compass.

After a few minutes of rowing on the lake, Nancy stops them.

"Slow down, slow down, guys"

The compass is flickering, all crazy.

"Guys, what's going on?" Dustin asks from the radio. "C'mon guys, talk to me, what's going on?"

"Uh, Dustin" Robin grabs the radio "your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital 'Aah!' "

In the meantime Steve's taking off his socks... what..

"Steve, what are you doing?" Nancy asks him.

"Somebody's gotta go down and check this out. Unless one of you four can top being a Hawkins High swim co-captain and a certified lifeguard for three years, then.. it's gotta be me. No complaints, all right?" Steve simply states, standing up straight.

"Hey, I'm not complaining." Eddie shrugs. "I do not wanna go down there"

He take out of his pocket a plastic bag, empty the content on the boat and wrap the plastic around the torch.

As Steve takes off his shirt I notice Nancy, not so subtlety, staring at him. I look at Robin who already has a grin on her face and looks at me raising both eyebrows as to say "see that too?" And I nod.

Eddie hands the torch to Steve wishing him good luck.

"You better come back up in one piece, or I'm gonna kill you" I tell him.

"Thanks, honey, always so sweet" he says sarcastically and I glare at him.

"Steve?" Nancy says "be careful"

And finally Steve jumps into the lake.

Nancy immediately looks at her watch to time him.

I take a deep breath leaning a bit backwards, my leg starts to bounce and I fidget with my rings a lot.

He better come back up soon.

I remember visiting him while he still worked at Scoops Ahoy. He convinced me to come over as much as possible so he wouldn't feel so, as he said, miserable.

"Hi, honey" he greeted me as I come into the shop.

"Hey, Stevie" I smiled. "All good?"

"Yeah, yeah, slow day." He shrugged.

"I see" I commented looking around at the empty table "Well, how about I buy something then? So you'll earn your money honestly."

"What would I do without you?" He theatrically told me.

"Become a dickhead all over again?" I replied.

"Wait wait wait... I was never a dickhead to you" he defended.

"Oh never? Yeah.. sure, Harrington" I winked.

"Fine" he sighed " what flavours?"

"Just chocolate please, Stevie"

He prepared my cone as Robin came out from the back.

"Hey there" She smiled.

"Hi" I quietly said with a small smile.

She went to clean something on the counter as Steve handed me my cone.

"You need to stop being this nervous around people" he sweetly whispered.

"It's not that easy" I told him.

"I think you two could get along well" he told me "you both enjoy tormenting me."

"It's not that easy" I repeated.

"Okay" he came around the counter to get closer to me, wrapping an arm around me "Listen, I won't force you to talk to anyone, you know that. But I'm sorry, I just don't understand why you feel so nervous to talk to... well.. anyone. You're amazing. You're smart, you're funny, you're kind. No reason to feel insecure. Believe me"

"I do believe you, but everytime I'm in front of someone I...freeze" I explained.

"No need with Robin, at least try with her. She's actually very chill, no judgment from her" he suggested.

"Fine.. fine you win. I'll... put some effort.. tomorrow" I agreed starting to walk away.

"Oh no no, today, honey" he said moving me, with his arm still around me, towards Robin.

"Where we at, Wheeler?" Robin's voice snaps me out of my thoughts.

"Closing in on a minute" she answers, I can tell she's tense, we all are.

"C'mon, Steve" I whisper.

We all wait and wait and wait, tension getting harder to stand, the more we wait the more I want to jump in myself.

Suddenly, though, Steve emerges from the water startling us.

"Oh christ" Eddie yells.

"I found it" Steve declares.

"You found it?"

"I found it. Yeah. I found it." Steve confirmes, panting and grabbing the boat.

"Dustin, you are a goddamn Einstein. Steve found the gate"

"It's pretty wild. It's more a snack-size gate than the mama gate, but still, it's pretty damn big" he explains, but as soon as he finishes the sentence he's briefly dragged back into the water.

He emerges again, confused only to be dragged all the way back in again.

"Steve!"

We all yell.

"What the hell was that, man?" Eddie yells.

"Really, what happened?" Robin asks.

"Fuck fuck fuck" I mutter looking at Nancy staring at the water, I know exactly what she's thinking, the same thing I've been thinking all this time.

She stands up ready to jump in, but Eddie stops her.

"You're not going in there, are you?"

"Just wait here." She says "you too" she looks at me and then dives in.

"Nancy!"

"No Nancy!"

I stand up too.

"Hey hey hey, no what are you doing?"

"Don't even think about it"

Both Robin and Eddie tell me as I'm taking off my jacket and shirt, remaining in my top.

"Oh c'mon, you don't actually expect me to stay here while they're down there." I reply.

"She told you to stay here too" Eddie tries.

"Yeah? Well... I don't care" I take a deep breath and jump.

I swim following Nancy down to this red-ish light, and through the gate.