#eddie loving onehsot

[beybaldes]

they long to be (close to you)

Eddie Roundtree x Fem!Reader

djats masterlist

Word Count : 3.6k

Summary : Eddie doesn't understand why you seem to like him less then your other bandmates since moving to LA. little does he know that really isn't the case.

Thank you for all the love on the last fic, especially @thefemininemystiquee !! your comment absolutely made my day!! so this one is for you <;33

Warning!! I have not read the book or the show!!! All info I have gathered has been from other x readers I have read. sorry in advance if I have butchered your fav show/book because i have plainly made shit up in favour of satiating my own need for more Eddie fics xoxo

Ever since the move to LA, the shitty rental Billy had paid for was getting on Eddie's last nerve. Not because it was constantly too hot inside and too cold outside, not because of the lack of air conditioning, not because of the thin ass walls and not because of the way the sun never seemed to set enough that it wouldn't peak under his curtains when he was trying to sleep. The thing about the house in LA that got on his nerves the most was the fact that he couldn't escape you.

It wasn't that Eddie didn't like you - it was quite the opposite in that matter. Eddie really liked you, but it just seemed like you didn't like him, at least not anymore. Back in Pittsburgh, you and Eddie had been the best of friends, and you still were, but since you'd all moved into the same house, he'd noticed something; you never touched him.

Plenty of times had he seen you wrapped in a tight hug with Karen, her head atop your own as you hid your face in her shoulder, with one hand on the small of Camilla's back and the other holding her own as you danced around the kitchen together, Graham's legs intertwined with yours as you shared a blanket when the widows were wide open late at night - fuck, he'd even seen you tucked under Billy's arm with one arm wrapped around his waist as you made small talk.

But the worst was every time he saw you with Warren.

You were always together, seemingly inseparable in the way he thought the two of you had been back in Pittsburgh and it hurt. Everywhere he looked, if you weren't touching someone else, you were touching Warren. Holding his hand as you walked through the house or with his head in your lap (or yours in his) on the couch as you watched some shitty rerun, his arms wrapped around your waist as he held you from behind as the two of you stood together, his hands pulling you close to him as you cuddled up in his lap late at night in the living room, your hands in his hair as the two of you shared a blunt, or three, on the porch late at night. He couldn't escape it or the thought that that should be him.

Eddie longed to be close to you in a way you didn't seem to want with him. Boy, if only he knew how wrong he was.

In all the years you'd known Eddie, he hadn't been one for touchiness. If your hand brushed his he'd always been quick to pull it away, or if you reached for a hug he turned it into a quick side hug then carried in with whatever he was doing. As far as you were concerned, you were just respecting Eddie's wishes to be left alone.

Warren was happy to fill the needed affection you often sought out. He, himself, was quite the lover - always one to take a cuddle and hold onto a hug for way longer then most would deem appropriate - which was exactly what you needed. The two of you had spent many nights in bed together in LA just for the company of it, and not that you didn't like it, you just wished it was with someone else, instead.

"You coming to bed, sweet girl?" Warren asked with a tired drawl to his words, extending a hand out to you while the other held the remainder of his joint to his lips.

"In a little." You hummed back, taking a hit out the joint he offered out to you, the joint being held to your lips by Warren instead of taking it into your own hands. "I'm not tired enough to sleep."

Warren pulled the joint back to his lips, his other hand coming to brush your hair out of your eyes and behind your ear, his hand resting against your hair and keeping you tucked in the crook of his neck. "You want me to wait up with you? Or you can come keep my company? I'll put on some Fleetwood Mac, it'll help you sleep, baby girl."

That was another thing that had Eddie seething. The constant nicknames you let the others call you. Back in Pittsburgh, Eddie was the only one who'd ever called you anything but your name, and now he was the only one who didn't. Karen called you sweet-pea, Camilla called you sunshine as did Graham and even Billy, but Warren? Warren called you whatever he liked; sweet girl, baby girl, baby, doll, his.

"No, it's okay Warren, you go to bed." Warren scooped you up in his arms, placing you down in the spot next to Graham who had already opened up his blanket for you, then pressed a kiss to your cheek. "I'll leave the door open for you."

You let your head fall to Graham's shoulder, who pulled his arm out from between the two of you and wrapped it over the back of the sofa. He allowed you to tangle your legs up in his pyjama covered ones, making sure you were comfortable before he turned his attention back to the tv screen.

"You and Warren are sleeping together?" Karen had been the one brave enough to ask, the conversation between the two of you not unnoticed by the rest of the group - it being the only thing to break the silence in the past 40 minutes. 

All heads turned to you, attention suddenly on something that had the potential to be more interesting then the rerun of Scooby-doo that had just started. "Not like that." You answered softly, eyes still focused on the cartoon dog and his gang on friends, not noticing how everyone else was now looking at you. "We both just like the company of it. I don't think either of us realised how lonely it would be coming out to LA."

"Cute." Camilla mused, a warm smile curling on her lips as she took in that even in your sleep you were reaching out for the touch and warmth of someone else.

"You're always welcome in my bed, sweet-pea." Karen added, a smile curling on her own lips as she managed to take your attention away from the tv. "I swear you run cold. Would be nice in the LA heat."

"You can't steal my blanket buddy." Graham gasped, pulling you tighter against him and furiously tucking the blanket around the two of you. "She's the perfect amount of cold. The windows open, with the blanket, with y/n is the perfect temperature for me."

"I'm going to have to pass on that one Karen, unless you want to come down to my room." You countered her offer with a soft smile, attention moving back to the tv once more. "Warren says your room is haunted."

Laughter spread through out the room as you sided with Warren even in his absence; he was so sweet to you, and that's what friends do, so how could you not?

"What?" You asked, laughing yourself. "We left it empty until your arrival for a reason." That caused another round of laughter to break out in the room, save for Eddie who's brow tightened at the way everyone laughed at you, looked at you. If he hadn't been so caught up in his own angst, then maybe he would've noticed the way you spared a concerned glance his way.

A particularly loud shout of "scoob!" from the TV had everyone's attention turned back to the cartoon, everyone except yours, your eyes, laced with concern, lingering on Eddie. Something was going on and you were going to get to the bottom of it without doubt.

By the end of the episode, only you, Graham and Eddie remained in the room. Graham was fast asleep, his head leaning against yours making you trapped in his hold, and Eddie was sat in the armchair against the wall, legs curled into the seat and a bottle of warm beer in his hands that he'd been nursing for the last half an hour.

As the intro to the next rerun of Scooby-doo blasted from the TV, Graham startled awake, literally jumping out of his seat and pulling the blanket with him. He grumbled some attempt at what you thought was a goodnight, and stumbled sleepily out of the room, the warmth of him and the blanket leaving you alone on the couch.

Eddie stood, though with more awareness then Graham and turned to you with a tight lipped smile. Before you could ask him to stay a while, not wanting to be alone when you were still not ready to go bed with Warren, he turned for the kitchen, coming with back two new, cold beers in hand. He held one out for you, then almost jumped away in shock when you grabbed his wrist instead of the bottle. You quickly pulled your hand away from his, chiding yourself for forgetting Eddie didn't like to be touched, and curling into yourself. "Sit with me? Please?"

Eddie could never say no to you. So, he sat down on the couch, though made sure to keep a good bit of distance between the two of you, then handed your your beer, watching as you took a quick swig of the cold liquid.

"So, you and Warren?" Eddie couldn't help himself from asking, even though Karen had only an hour ago, too caught up in the fact it wasn't him to take notice of the sweet, friendly, moment you and Warren had shared earlier.

"Not like that, I already told you guys."

"You sure?" Eddie asked again, and though he had a teasing lilt to his words, you could feel a sense of something more behind them - some kind of worry, or something, you weren't entirely sure.

"Positive. He's just a friend." Taking another swig of your ice cold beer, you remained focused on the tv, really enjoying the antics of Scooby-doo and mystery inc in your effort to fall asleep.

"Really?" Eddie asked, his teasing tone coming off more in a way of disbelief now. "Cause he asked you to 'come to bed'."

"I sleep in Warren's bed most nights." You explained, coming clean for the first time about how often you actually found yourself in the curly-haired, brunettes bed. "We both like the company."

"And how did that start?" Eddie's asked, one arm stretching out over the back of the sofa in your direction. Though he wouldn't admit it to himself, he was slowly testing the waters of how close he could get to you, see if he, himself, was the reason you never touched him or if it was something else entirely.

"We were both out smoking late, then it got cold. Warren suggested we move it inside, and I reminded him of how Cami said she hates it when the living room stinks of shit." You paused, taking another sip from your beer, your fingers running across the droplets of water that were forming across the outside of the glass bottle. "Warren offered we go to his room so my room wouldn't get cold when we opened the window. We both fell asleep and ended up all tangled together the next morning. Neither of us wanted to get up cause we were too comfy, so I promised him I'd come back the next night if we got out of bed and got to practice. Now it's just become routine."

Though you'd given a pretty concise and accurate explanation of your relationship with Warren, Eddie was certain there was something more, something that made you act like that with Warren and not him, some kind of feelings or something that made it different.

"Yeah, but I think we all thought you guys were together before tonight." Eddie continued, your gaze breaking away from the tv just for a moment to meet his eyes. You'd never thought anyone thought you and Warren were together because of the way you acted - otherwise people would've thought you were dating everyone in the band. "Y'know, with all the times he's holding your hand, or your sat in his lap, giving him a hug. It just looks like you're together - are you sure you aren't?"

"I'm like that with everyone." You dismissed, eyes unmoving from the TV, worried that if you looked at Eddie you'd see something you didn't want to - disgust, repulsion, or some other kind of thing that told you he thought you were weird. Though, when push came to shove, you knew you wouldn't care what Eddie thought - whatever you and Warren had made it that much easier to be in LA, and you couldn't be more grateful for it.

"Not with me." He whispered, sipping from the cool beer that he had held against his lips, eyes moving away from your figure and back to the tv with a huff.

"What did you say?" You asked, warmth and all together y/n-ness dropping from your face as your turned your entire body to face him, your knees now bent up on the couch.

Eddie was done acting like he didn't care. If things went bad tonight it gave him just another reason to add to the list of why he hated the band and this stupid house. He had a bone to pick and he wasn't going to back down now he had the ample opportunity to speak out about it. "I said, not with me."

Eddie didn't give you the chance to cut in edge way with an explanation or an apology - though he didn't know exactly what would leave your mouth. He'd never really considered what was going on in your head about not touching him - only really focused on the fact that, once again, he seemed to be the one left out.

"You get all cuddly and shit with everyone else except me. Your always hugging Karen or Camilla, snuggled up with Graham, don't even get me started on how you're all over Warren and Billy - even Billy - you've hugged him more times here in LA then I think we've talked!"

"No I haven't." Your words came out in a whisper, suddenly unsure of everything that had happened in the past few months since you'd moved to LA. "You're my best friend Ed's, i don't ignore you, don't say that."

"That's not my point." Eddie let out a sigh, calming down immediately as he took notice of the way you moved further into the arm of the couch when he raised his voice a little. Taking a second to compose himself, he ran a hand over his face, placing down his beer on the coffee table in front of you two. "It seems like you want to, y'know, do all that with everyone but me. And I guess, what I'm trying to say is - why not me? Did I do something?"

Your heart broke at the crestfallen look of Eddie's face. "I thought you didn't like to be touched." You murmured, beginning to think you'd read into his actions a little too much - maybe he just needed the time to warm up to you touching him first - you'd never considered he'd feel left out by what you thought was what he wanted. "Whenever I've tried to touch you, you've brushed me off. I just figured that was you way of being nice about it, y'know, letting me down gently or whatever. I didn't think-"

You paused, reflecting on when the last time you'd even tried to touch Eddie had been, when the last time you'd called him Ed's had been, when the last time you'd held a conversation with him that wasn't in a group setting had been. "I don't know what I thought."

Your arms were wrapped around your knees, holding them close to your chest as you rested your chin on them, looking up at Eddie woefully. "I'm sorry, Eddie. I never meant to make you feel that way."

"Birdie..." He almost, whimpered, wanting to reach out for a hug but not knowing where to begin. How could he? He couldn't remember the last time someone had given him one. What if he did it wrong?

Standing from your seat, remote in hand, you flicked the TV off, quickly placing it down beside Eddies abandoned bottle. You offered your open hand out to him.

Eddie cautiously took it, your hands cupping each others and Eddie letting your thumb run over the flesh of his knuckles. You pulled Eddie behind you, careful not to move too quickly as to let his hand slip from yours, or to wake anyone else up. In a way, it felt wrong to be doing this with someone who wasn't Warren, in another, you'd never been more excited for anything.

Leading Eddie into your room, you urged him to get into your bed, closing the door gently behind you. Turning around, you were surprised to see him stood staring at you in confusion.

"I mean, I would've settled for hug or something - I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong." He rushed out his words as he spoke, trying to convey all his feelings on the matter before he could hurt your feelings in any capacity. "I'm just- I didn't say what I said to try and replace whatever you and Warren have, I'm not, I'm not that kind of guy. At least, I don't want to be."

"I already told you." You whispered, reaching out for his hand again as you crossed the room to meet him. "Just friends. Besides." You pulled him with you into the bed, pulling the duvet up from where it'd been kicked off the bed and onto the floor the last time you and Warren had stayed in here, and over the two of you. "No one I'd rather share it with."

Eddie froze for a moment, not quite believing the words that had just graced his ears. Turning on his side to face you, he found you already looking at him, one of your hands reaching out for his under the covers and intertwining your fingers. "Really? No one else?"

"No one else." You confirmed, shuffling closer to Eddie as you whispered your answer into the darkness of the room. "I love Warren, but sometimes it's an absolute fight sleeping in a bed with him."

"Yeah?" Eddie giggled, giggled, completely flustered by the new and close proximity the two of you were sharing.

"Yeah." You answered, slipping one of your legs between Eddie's and putting the other atop him own, pulling the two of you even closer together. Now pressed chest to chest, there was nowhere to look except the others eyes. "He kicks, he scratches and by God does he snore. Keeps me nice and warm though. Brings good company."

"I can be good company." Eddie proposed, an unsaid question lingering the words shared just between the two of you.

"I bet you can, Ed's." You answered, eyes flickering between his and his lips, catching him doing the same when you tried to meet his eyes again.

Eddie pressed his lips to yours in a featherlight kiss, holding the kiss for a long while as he tried to express everything that had built up inside of him since the arrival to LA, and everything he'd already thought since high school. You snaked your arms up between the two of you, wrapping them around his neck and pulling him even closer to you, deepening the kiss as you did so. Eddie hummed into you, pulling away from the kiss only to lean back in, pressing a series of quick as chaste kisses to your lips.

No other words were said that night, you nuzzling into the crook Eddie's neck and Eddie resting his head atop yours - not without pressing a kiss to the crown of your head, however. The two of you fell asleep rather quickly, the late night catching up with you in the warmth of tangled limbs, a messily thrown on duvet and the LA heat. You slept right through the night till late the next morning, neither of you shifting away from the position you'd fallen asleep in, except to burrow further into the other every time one of you felt them pull away.

You would've slept for longer, in fact, curled into each other and dreaming about what would happen on nights going forward, if it weren't for the fact Warren came barging into the room with a loud cry of your name the following morning.

"Y/n!" He shouted, causing both you and Eddie to stir from your sleep, neither of you moving from the arms of the other despite his loud arrival. "I was worried sick! I woke up and you weren't here I thought you'd been kidnapped or something!"

Warren collapsed on top of you, wrapping his arms around you as tightly as he could given the barrier of the duvet. His sudden weight on top of you had your groaning in protest, however, it was Eddies voice that had Warren springing from his position and out of your bed.

Eddie never got the opportunity to ask Warren to get off of you, Warren running from the room with a cry of 'y/n slept with Eddie instead of me,' that gained the attention of everyone else in the house.

Neither you nor Eddie cared though, closing your eyes once more after you shared a quick, soft kiss, falling back asleep in the comfort of each others hold, something - you thought - that you should've been doing a long time ago.

[beybaldes]

the woman that loves you (boy you're such a fool)

Eddie Roundtree x Fem!Reader

djats masterlist

Word Count : 3.1k

Summary : the end of the band is just the beginning for y/n and her favourite bassist.

normal = flashbacks ,, italics = interviews

Warning!! I have not read the book or the show!!! All info I have gathered has been from other x readers I have read. sorry in advance if I have butchered your fav show/book because i have plainly made shit up in favour of satiating my own need for more Eddie fics xoxo

Y/n: I think about that last day all the time. I think about everything I should've said or done. But I don't think it would've changed anything honestly - everyone seemed pretty set on what they wanted for the band. Who was I to change that?

your legs pulled from warrens lap, quickly jumping from you seat and running out of the bus, desperate to reach the cab before it could pull out and take Eddie away. whatever was out there had been on your side, your hard pull open of the door stopping the driver from leaving as he put it into gear and got ready to leave.

"I'm so sorry" you said to the grey haired man in the front seat, turned to Eddie with a creased brow. "I'll only be a minute."

"birdie..." he hummed, pushing his sunglasses away from his eyes, letting them meet your own. "let me go, I need to leave, I can't stay here - not with Billy, not after everything."

"I'm not asking you to stay, Ed's." You murmured, tears brimming your eyes as you placed one knee into the cab, tucking yourself into the crook of his neck, one arm holding the door open. "I know that's not fair. I just don't want you to leave without saying goodbye."

Though you couldn't see it, tears began to pool in eddies eyes at the way your voice trembled and your words came out in a whisper - like a little kid too upset to really get the words out. When he'd packed up his things and called the cab he had only thought about leaving, getting away from all of it and getting to be his own person - he'd yet to consider that he'd be leaving some of his nearest and dearest friends behind in doing so. That he'd be leaving you behind.

Eddie: I'd never done anything as hard as leaving the band. At least not until y/n stopped the cab to speak to me.

"I got to go birdie, I got a plane to catch." soon half a continent would separate you, something so scary when for the last decade you'd only been a street, a room or a curtain away at all times.

"Just gimme one more moment." You tried to savour the feel of his arms around you, holding your body tight and close as if it was the last time he was going to do so. 'it probably was the last time he was going to do so,' the thought made your stomachs churn and your whimpers boarder on full on sobs. If it weren't for the fact you wanted your last moments together to be happy, you would've just let it all out, cry into his arms like the little kid your rise to fame never let you be. "Just one more moment."

Camilla: Y/n. She, she was always the closest with Eddie. They were like two peas in a pod - I don't think I'd ever seen one without the other somewhere nearby.

With a particularly tight squeeze, you pulled away, knowing that no hug would last long enough to satiate the longing ache already settled deep in the pit of your stomach.

Eddie was quick to wipe at the tears that silently rolled down your cheeks, his large hand cupping your face as his thumb stroked across the apple of your red cheek. "I'm gonna miss you, birdie."

"Not as much as I'm gonna miss you, Ed's." You pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth, trying to tell him everything you didn't have the time to say in what could easily be passed off as a misjudgement of closeness. "Please don't be a stranger."

Eddie didn't say anything else. He let you close the cab door and stand on the side of the pavement, watching as he drove off and away from the six, away from you. Only when the cab was out of sight did either of you let the tears fall, not wanting the other to be saddened by your own heartbreak. Though, when had goodbyes ever been easy?

Billy: Y/n had always been a sensitive girl. But the band had been her whole world - each of us, we, had been her whole world. I think it truly broke her when the band broke up that day.

Furiously you wiped at your tears, trying to clear your face before you returned to your seat on the tour bus, knowing now that it was unlikely the six would continue past this moment, and that more goodbyes would probably be in order. You could cry it all out on the flight you were sure you'd have to book later today.

Making your way back to the tour bus, you silently got back on, not even making it to your seat before you broke down in tears again. Your knees couldn't hold your weight any longer, and as you began to sink to the floor, Warren was quick to spring from his seat, wrapping you in his arms and lowering you to the floor at a gentle pace. He gently stroked his fingers through your hair, shushing you as the pair of you rocked back and forth on the floor of the tour bus. Karen was quick to join the two of you, pressing a kiss to your temple and letting her own tears fall in the group hug containing the final members of the 6.

Y/n: Karen and Warren - I'd always been good fiends with them. But that day, on the bus, it became something different then. They're my best friends in the world now. Karen was the maid of honour at my wedding. I did ask Warren but he refused, claiming it only made sense for it to be Karen.

"It's okay sweet girls." Warren whispered to the two girls that were now cradled in his arms, all three of the in a mess of limbs and tears on the floor of the tour bus. "Everything's going to be okay."

"Warren had been right of course." You paused with a smile, waiting for Julia to adjust the camera so that both you and Eddie fit into the frame; his arm wrapped around your waist pulling you into his side, a kiss pressed to your temple after which he gazed down at you lovingly. "Everything was okay, in the end. Eddie called me the second he landed back in Pittsburgh, correctly guessing I'd still be on the tour bus with Warren and Karen."

"Thank god I'd been right (about the tour bus)." Eddie smiled, pressing another kiss to your temple, relishing in the feel of his arm that was around your waist, knowing he'd never have to lose that feeling as long as he played his cards right. "I don't know what I'd have done if she hadn't picked up. If I'd lost her for good."

"Hello." You murmured into the phone, the loud ringing having woke you from your sleep. Thankfully, Warren and Karen were still asleep to your right, the ringing noise not waking them after the exhaustion of getting through such an eventful and emotional day. "Who is it?"

"Birdie..."

You sat upright at the voice on the other end of the line, sleep vanishing from your eyes. "Eddie." You whined, fingers scratching at the phone as if you could claw you way through it and into his arms. "I miss you."

"I know birdie, I miss you too."

"How'd you know to call here?" You and Karen were crashing in Warrens room, the three of you too upset to be left alone and not wanting to pay for three separate rooms when money was now going to be an issue.

"I figured you'd end up in bed with Warren, or Karen, or both. I called each room until you picked up." A soft smile graced your features at the thought of Eddie calling every room until he found you. He knew you so well. "I'm back in Pittsburgh, I want you to come with me."

It had taken Eddie seconds to realise the mistake he'd made in leaving the band. Not in the way of leaving the band, but rather in the way it meant leaving you, too. But his cab was going and his flight had been paid for.

"I... I love you, birdie." Eddie whispered, unsure if he was allowed to say such words after how hard he'd made you cry just hours before. "I don't want to not have you in my life. And I'm not calling just because I need someone right now, or because I regret leaving the band. I'm calling because I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you in it, and when you realise that you do something about it."

Eddies words had you shocked to silence, his voice calling out for you several times in the moments that you took to process what he'd just said. "Birdie, please say something."

"I'll tell you I love you too when you pick me up from the airport tomorrow at 11."

You could feel the smile that filled Eddies face through the phone.

"Am or Pm?"

Your hand interlinked with Eddies as you let your head fall to his shoulder, wrapped up in the memory of your first day out of the band. "It was difficult to say goodbye to Karen, her flight going back to England when both mine and Warren's were going back to Pittsburgh. It hurt a lot to see her go."

"I was in tears the whole flight." Karen laughed, wiping away a stray tear as she recalled when you and Warren left her at the gate to get your own flight. "But I called y/n as soon as I landed, and she told me she'd already booked flights to come and visit in a month. She's always been so good to me, to all of us, like that."

You'd slept on Warren's shoulder for most of the flight, his head atop yours as your dreamt about what life would bring going forward. Neither of you wanted to stay in Pittsburgh, but knew it was right for the moment, to take a deep breath and remind yourself of who you were before the band - without the band. Warren's long-time girlfriend, Lisa, had been the first person you saw once you escaped baggage claim, her running into his arms the moment she spotted him, but not forgetting to give you a hug of your own and a kiss to your cheek.

"My girl now, Rojas." You teased, pulling Lisa into side hug, hear head falling to your shoulder with a bright smile.

"Already forgetting about me?" You were quick to turn around at the sound of Eddie's voice, dropping your luggage and crashing into his arms, pressing kisses to his cheeks again and again, only stopping when he placed two fingers under your jaw and turned you to face him, finally giving you a real kiss after years of dancing around each other.

"Finally!" Warren shouted, head thrown back in laughter as he watched the two of you address all those lingering looks and hugs and touches that had happened over the past few years. "I better be invited to the wedding!"

"She told you that?" Warren scoffed, pulling the lit cigarette from his mouth, tapping the burnt butt into his ash tray before replacing it between his lips. "I only refused to be her maid of honour because Eddie asked me to be his best man first. How could I say no to being her maid of honour otherwise?"

"I love you too." You gasped out, pulling away from the kiss with Eddie. "I love you too. I love you so damn much it keeps me up at night, you're all I think about, all the time."

"I love you even more then that, birdie." Eddie nuzzled his nose against yours, quick to pull you in for another kiss that had Warren shouting at the pair of you to 'get a room.'

"Y/n did fulfil her promise." Karen nodded, thinking about her life long friendship with the brunette she'd met by chance. "She came to visit three weeks later. I was so excited. We spent a lot of time taking about the solo career I'd been planning for myself and how she could come along, be my opener for the American leg of the tour I would hopefully do - I didn't even notice the ring on her finger until her third day there!"

"I proposed the same night she got back to Pittsburgh. The girl had just flown halfway across the country cause she didn't know how to be without me, and I'd practically begged her to do it because I didn't know how to live without her. How could not?" Eddie retold with a soft smile gracing his features. It was one of the things you'd come to love the most in his old age; how soft and loving his features were when we wasn't stressing about the six, or Billy.

"I can't believe you came all this way, for me." Eddie mused later that night, the two of you face to face in his childhood bed, not wanting to fall asleep in fear this would all be some dream.

"How could I not?" You asked, pulling one of your hands out from beneath the duvet, pushing a strand of Eddies overgrown hair out of his eyes and safely behind his ear, careful to avoid brushing against the black eye nursing on his cheek. "Like you said, Ed's, I want to spend the rest of my life with you in it. Why would I wait to start the rest of my life when I could start it right now?"

Eddie pressed a hot and firm kiss to your lips, pulling away and resting his forehead against you own, a lovesick smile gracing his face. "You're exactly right birdie. Exactly right." Another series of kisses were pressed all over your face, starting at your lips, moving to your cheeks, then your forehead and back to your lips again. "Why wait when forever can start right now?"

Eddie pulled off one of his rings, holding it out in the small gap between the two of you. "Marry me."

It hadn't been a question.

"I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I have no doubt in that. And I know more then anything, I want the rest of my life to start right now; I've spent years not doing that, and I don't want to wait another day. Marry me."

"It was quite the bold ask." You giggled, curling into Eddies side with a bright smile. "But who could say no to such a face?"

"Yes." You whispered into the darkness of the room you'd spent so many of your formative years in. "Yes." Eddie slipped the ring on your finger, pressing another series of hot and firm kisses all over your face.

"He promised to go out and buy a real ring the following morning." You explained to Julia, sticking your hand out towards the camera to show her that your engagement ring was just as simple of a band as your wedding one. "But I told him a didn't want one. This one meant more."

"She gave me that ring as a gift for my 15 birthday." Eddie mused, reaching for you hand and toying with the ring that'd sat on your finger for the last 20 years. It should've sat there for a lot longer, he thought. "It seems kind of full circle that it's ended up back in her possession. But she wouldn't have it any other way."

"I was happy for them, y'know." Daisy smiled, thinking back onto the pictures you'd sent her of your wedding day, her choosing not to come to keep any peace you may have had that day. "Glad to see more then just Warren came out of the band happy. Really happy."

"We only had a small wedding." You explained, the day feeling minutes ago rather then almost 20 years ago now. Where had the time gone? "Warren and Karen came, but everyone else didn't. I asked Cami to come, but she felt it'd be better if she didn't. I understood of course, things were different then, but it hurt me a lot - that the people I'd spent everyday of the few years of my life with didn't want to come to my wedding."

Eddie squeezed your hand tighter, pressing a kiss to your hair. "It was a hard day for y/n. But despite everything, we had the best time; it was the perfect day, honestly."

"Everyone came to visit sooner or later, one at a time, to congratulate us, apologise for not coming. Graham was the first to come and visit." You let out a low laugh as you dwelled on the memory. "I wish I had a photo to show you of the face he made when he realised I was pregnant."

"I'm sorry... what?" Graham choked out, unmoving in the doorway to your house as he stared at the baby bump that had formed under your summer dress. "Since when were you pregnant?"

"It wasn't the way I meant to say it." Graham denied. "It had been about 4 months since the band broke up, and only 1 month since they got married. I was just surprised!"

"Since just over 3 months ago." You laughed, pulling him into your house with a kind smile, taking hold of his bag for him and leading him towards your guest room. "Don't tell Eddie, but I think it's a girl."

"Oh! Of course she did!" Eddie laughed, his head thrown back over the cushions of the loveseat the two of you were cuddled on. "Though, not that I said anything at the time, I knew it was a girl."

"I'm sure you did." You nudged Eddie in his side, intertwining your fingers with his and letting your head fall to his shoulder. "Our Janie was born 6 months later. She was beautiful. 6 pounds and 8 ounces."

"She just started college last year, it's weird for the house to be so empty." Eddie added, a slight frown settling into his features. He missed Janie every day she was gone, that little girl - his little girl - being the absolute light of his life.

"You didn't have any other kids?" Julia asked, head peaking up just over the top of the camera she was recording the two of you with.

"No. Just our Janie. She was perfect. We didn't need another. Spitting image of her mother, with my rocking personality." It was moments like this, where Eddie spoke so fondly of you, your daughter, your family, that you knew - despite the hurt the band caused you across the years - every second had been worth it.

"Yeah, it was perfect. All perfect."

[beybaldes]

don't let it burn (don't let it fade)

Eddie Roundtree x Fem!Reader

djats masterlist

Word Count : 2k

Summary : the post show party goes on too long, to the point that you and Eddie give up on not caring about eachother.

Thank you for all the love on the last fic, especially @thefemininemystiquee @optimisticdreamlandkitten @carrow @starstruckgothspybagel-blog and @how2besalty <333

Warning!! I have not read the book or the show!!! All info I have gathered has been from other x readers I have read. sorry in advance if I have butchered your fav show/book because i have plainly made shit up in favour of satiating my own need for more Eddie fics xoxo

one show down.

That had been the first thought you'd had after every show so far, and you were sure to have it after every show to come. While you loved what you did and got an instant adrenaline rush after each performance, there was something about the pre-show nerves that always made you rethink everything.

Tonight you'd felt so sick that you'd genuinely, honestly, considered quitting the band and going to veterinarian school.

Eddie, however, had been quick to notice your unease - your hands shaking, and your breathes short and airy - and came over to calm you down, whispering promises to you that you were going to be amazing, just like you had at every other show.

As you went for another drag of your after show joint, a ritual as old as time itself, Eddie burst through the back entrance of the building, eyes scanning around until they settled on you. He ran over to you, scooping you up into his arms and squeezing you into a tight hug. He span the two of you around before he placed you back down, his arms still hung around you waist, however.

"You!" Eddie cheered, one hand leaving your waist to cup your face, smooshing your cheek. "You were great out there! What did I tell you? Amazing!"

"All thanks to you." You replied, your lips curling up into a bashful smile around your joint. It was hard not to have feelings for your band mate whenever Eddie smiled at you like that. "I couldn't have done it without you, pretty boy. You get my confidence going."

"You shouldn't need it when you can play bass like that." He immediately replied, tucking the hair that had gotten trapped under his hand that was holding your cheek, behind your ear and out of your eyes. "You're a goddess up on that stage, birdie."

"Oh stop." You chided teasingly, pushing at his chest though not hard enough that any of my hands would be removed from you. "As if you don't look hand carved from the Gods themselves on, or off, stage."

The dim streetlights helped to hide the red flush that came to Eddie's cheeks, the longer the two of you stood here, like this, making him question if it was worth trying to hide his feelings for you.

Most times, he thought it wasn't. That if he just told you, and you reciprocated, then the pair of you could live happily ever after - sneak kisses before and after and during shows, hold hands across a diner booth with two straws in one milkshake, sit in his lap around the tv in the house and stuff like that. Sometimes, however, he realised Billy would probably beat his ass for risking the sanctity of the band.

Though, he knew he'd take an ass-beating from Billy for you any day.

"Hit me?" Eddie asked, nodding to the joint held loosing between your lips. You took one last drag from it, slow and long, before you took the joint between your fingers and away from your lips, holding it up to Eddie's lips for him and allowing him to take a drag. When he'd taken as much as he wanted, he pulled himself away from the joint, blowing out into the smoke into the cold night. "Thank you, birdie."

"Anything for you, you know that."

Eddie stayed with you while the rest of your joint burnt up, you holding against your own lips, and then his, until it burned at your fingers and begged to be put out. You dropped it to the floor, squishing it under your shoe to make sure it stayed out, then took Eddie's hand, pulling him back into the venue you'd been playing in search of a drink, or three, to end off the night.

When you found the rest of the band back inside, Warren already had a drink ready for you, claiming he'd only taken a sip or two (despite the fact the glass was half empty), but you didn't care, it was the thought that counted.

Eddie left for the bar, grabbed both him and yourself a beer and make his way back to the table the band had gathered around, sliding you the cold bottle which you took gratefully. The rest of the evening was spent sharing smiles with Eddie over sips of beer, promising you'd buy the next round though he never let you, a fresh, cold one appearing before you even realised your drink was nearly empty and then stumbling back home together, long after everyone else had left.

If you tried to think back on what you and Eddie had discussed during your time alone after everyone else had made their way back to the rental, you wouldn't have been able to recall a single thing. Not because you didn't care to listen, not that at all. Eddie made the hours seem fast and talking with him was always easy - easy enough that it was somehow 5am the following morning that the two of you came stumbling through the front door.

"You're lucky we don't have anything to do until tonight, Roundtree." You scolded, your words light and holding no actual threat to him. Eddie crashed into you from behind, wrapping his arms around your waist and balling up your shirt into his fists as he steadied himself. "Woah, take me to dinner first."

"I just might, if you play your cards right." Eddie immediately retorted, flirtatious grin curling on his lips as you turned to face him. The two of you began walking backwards and backwards until the bend of your knee hit the arm of the couch, sending you falling over it and crashing into the other arm with Eddie on top of you.

A hand came to the back of your head, rubbing what you'd just slammed into hard arm of the sofa in an effort to ease the pain of the sudden contact. "We should probably go to bed." You murmured, the fact you were already laying down pulling you into the realm of sleep before you could get up and into your own bed, in your own room.

"Probably." Eddie murmured, sleep seeing into his voice that was muffled by the way his face was pressed into your neck from when you'd both fallen into a mess of limbs and couch cushions.

"You need to get up then." You groaned, shuffling in your seat to make the position you'd fallen into more comfortable. Now that your eyes were half lidded and sleep was overtaking you, you doubted you were going to make it out of the living room.

"Can't." Eddie whined, his head burrowing further into the crook of your neck as your hand came to rest in his hair, scratching gently at his scalp. "Too tired to move."

"Yeah." You whispered, words airy and light and basically non existent in the quiet of the house: the only noise being your silent whispered and Eddie's snoring. "Me too."

No sooner had you uttered the words had you been knocked into a deep sleep, one hand cradling Eddie's head to your chest while the other was slung over his shoulders keeping him close. One of Eddie's hands were cupping the back of your head, separating it from the hard arm of the sofa and still in its final position where it'd been rubbing the pain away, the other he had wiggled underneath and around you in an effort to get more comfortable, pulling himself flat against you. One of your legs was trapped between Eddie's chest and the couch while the other was balanced on the coffee table beside you, Eddie's own legs bent at the knee against the arm, so that his feet dangled the edge of the arm. You were sure to wake up sore and aching in the morning, but right now it felt like the comfiest position ever.

It had only been 3 hours since the two of you had stumbled in through the front door when you were awoke by the flash of a camera too close to your eyes. Eddie had been protect from the initial flash - his head burrowed away in the crook of your neck - but your startled reaction had him waking up nonetheless.

Camilla's warm smile was on the other side of the camera, capturing what she though to be a sweet moment you'd appreciate the picture of years down the line, however, in that moment, you were more upset then grateful, just wanting to sleep.

"You didn't fuck on the couch, did you?" Graham asked, breaking the silence the others had tried to keep as they made their way into the living room throughout the morning. "It's our only couch. I'd appreciate if you didn't fuck on it."

"We didn't." You mumbled, rubbing the sleep away from your eyes while keeping one hand in Eddie's hair. "What time is it?"

"8:30." Camilla answered sweetly, looking at the picture she'd just taken with a smile curled on her lips. "What time did you guys get in?"

"5."

"It was closer to 6." Eddie grumbled, not moving from his position but blinking himself awake, adjusting to the light in the room that hadn't been there when you'd got back just hours ago.

"You guys want to get to bed?" Camilla asked sweetly, offering her hand out to you in the nicest effort to get you to move so the couch could be used again.

"Move or I'll sit on you."

"Karen Karen." You whined, Eddie taking himself off of you and standing sleepily beside the couch, eyes still half closed as he waited for you to get up too. "I thought you loved me, don't sit on me."

"I told you we shouldn't have left them alone." Warren chided, shaking his head at the scene before him. He knew he should've dragged you home when everyone else decided to head out, at least that way you would've had a good - peaceful - nights sleep.

"We're fine." Eddie grunted, leaning back down to the couch, scooping you into his arms. Your head lolled against his chest, eyes blinking open to look at him now that your previous rolls were reversed. "Have your stupid couch."

As Eddie carried you out of the living room you heard a cry of happiness from Graham, some jumble of word about how he was glad you hadn't ruined the 'sanctity' of the couch, but you weren't entirely focused on that, too caught up in the way Eddie had so easily scooped you into his arms.

"What'd I tell you?" You slurred, staring up at Eddie with a lovesick smile. "Take me to diner first."

"I'll take you to dinner some other time." Eddie whispered, only loud enough that you would hear in the thin walled house. He pressed a kiss to your forehead in a silent promise shuffling you about in his arms, unlocking the door to his room and pushing the door open and closed in one fell swoop. "I'll take you to bed right now though, you - we - need the sleep."

You couldn't complain about that. Eddie lowered you into his bed, only leaving your side to dim the lights and close the curtains leaving the two of you in a pitch black room. Then Eddie all but crawled back into the bed, right into your arms and into an even more comfortable version of the position you'd taken up on the couch.

"You comfy?" Eddie grumbled, nuzzling his head into your shoulder, trying to hide from what little light seeped into the room and crawls back into the warmth he'd felt in the living room.

"With you?" You asked though you weren't seeking an answer, placing your hand on the back of his head and pulling him closer to you, giving him that feeling of warmth and comfort he'd been trying to find. Running your fingers through his hair, you answered your own question. "Yeah. Always."

[beybaldes]

all I know of love is how to live without it

Eddie Roundtree × Fem!Reader

djats masterlist

word count: 1.9k

summary: Eddie's used to being second place, everywhere from the science projects he did in middle school to the one Camilla wouldn't choose. you show him that he's always your no.1.

Warning!! I have not read the book or the show!!! All info I have gathered has been from other x readers I have read. sorry in advance if I have butchered vour fav show/book because I have plainly made shit up in favour of satiating my own need for more eddie fics xoxo

"But the dude still wouldn't leave me alone, so I called Eddie over and was like 'I told you I have a boyfriend, see?' But he still didn't believe me, said he would've seen it in the tabloids if I was taken. Eddie got right in his face about it and then he finally left me alone." Graham laughed through every word you said, the two of you huddled in a corner of the room, it pack with so many people that if you'd wanted to move it would've been hard anyway. When he'd first found you about an hour ago, you'd told him to carry on in his travels, quite content to stand alone and people watch, but Graham insisted, not wanting to leave you alone in the crowd.

"Where is Eddie?" He asked, eyes scanning around the room in search of your partner in crime. Now that you'd thought about it, you'd not seen him in a while - he'd said he was going to grab himself another drink and then seemingly disappeared. "I don't think I've seen him since we got here."

"Yeah, me either." You scanned your eyes across the room once more, not seeing his tufts of blonde hair anywhere. "I'm gonna go look for him, if that's okay."

"You know it is." Graham assured you, wrapping an arm around your shoulders and pulling you into his side, leaning down so you could hear his next words better over the commotion. "I'm gonna get another drink, come find me if you can't find him."

With a nod, you left the brunettes side, beginning your search for the blonde who you were 80% was crashed on a couch somewhere.

3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and 6 laps of the main room later you still hadn't found him. You'd bumped into Graham twice who told you to give up on your search and enjoy your evening, and the rest of the members of the six at least once - spare Eddie himself.

In your attempt to scan through the room once more, you walked straight into Camilla, grabbing her by her elbow to make sure she didn't fall over at your sudden connection. "Cami, I'm so sorry I didn't see you."

"It's okay, y/n, don't worry about it."

"You okay?" You asked, noticing a slight sniffle to Camilla's words. Billy could be a dick, so you wouldn't be surprised if he'd said something to her that he really shouldn't have. The words didn't need to be said out loud, a silent conversation shared between the two of you in a matter of seconds between your eyes alone.

You pulled her in for a brief hug, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "Don't let it ruin your night. You look hot as shit." Camilla broke into a smile at your words, whatever she had been worked up over melting from her features in an instant. "Go. Have fun. Get drunk. Who cares."

Camilla pulled you in for the hug this time, though only briefly, allowing you to pull away when you whispered a promise to find, and do shots with her, when you'd found what you were looking for.

As Camilla walked past you, you noticed a door behind where she'd stood that you hadn't seen before, leading out onto the balcony - promising to yourself that if Eddie wasn't here, you'd just get on with your night and question him about it the next morning.

Thankfully, the man of the hour was on the other side of the door, his forearms resting on the balcony's fence as he looked out over the city "You!" You cheered, steeping down onto the balcony and approaching Eddie where he stood at its far end, his eyes downcast and a half-assed smile on his face. "I have been looking everywhere for you! You said you were going to get a drink and you disappeared on me! What happened?"

You planted your arms firmly on the railing next to him, leaning down and forward to get a good look at his face which haven't moved since you'd come out to the balcony. Eddie's dejected expression had you freezing, realising the joyful disposition you'd entered the scene with may have not been entirely appropriate.

"Ed's." You reached out a hand for his arm, finally gaining his attention, though his eyes still head a far off look to them. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm fine." He immediately deflected, though the fact that his eyes still couldn't meet yours told you otherwise. "Really."

"I don't believe you." You bent at the knee, tilting your head and trying to get a better look at his face once more. "What happened, Ed's."

It wasn't a question this time; a gentle command for him to talk about, share what was on his mind. A problem shared is a problem halved was a saying you'd been raised on, and you weren't going to falter on that sentiment now.

"I'm fine." That wasn't what you'd asked. "Just go back inside I'll be back in in a minute."

"Eddie." Turning to face him entirely, you leant your side against the railing, one arm on top of it and one reaching out for his hand. "What's going on in that head of yours?"

Eddie still didn't answer you, his jaw locking and his hands gripping the railing tighter as he stared out at the city believe you.

"We don't have to talk about it." You whispered, moving closer to him as you spoke, the music from inside seeping out onto the balcony at its deafening volume. "But I'm here if you decide you want to, if you need someone to listen."

"You'll be there for me?" You couldn't tell what cogs were turning in Eddie's head, what motivated him to finally speak up and ask such a question, but you were glad he was talking. That was a step in the right direction, into finding out what upset him so much.

"Yeah." You answered honestly, no strings attached or conditions to your words. "Always, Ed's."

That seemed to be enough for Eddie for the moment, and you didn't plan on pushing him to talk about it, so you took the opportunity to slip back inside. Running from the balcony door and into the kitchen, you picked up two bottles of beer and ran straight back, not wanting to leave Eddie alone for too long now that he'd began to open up about whatever was bothering him.

"You're back?" Eddie asked when he heard the door creaking open. "What about the party?"

"Everyone else can wait." You answered, offering him one of the beers you'd grabbed cautiously, like he was a wounded animal you were afraid to startle. "You need me. That's all that matters now."

Though Eddie wasn't in the mood for smiling, he could feel one trying to curl onto his lips. He revelled in the quiet shared between the two of you, thankful that you were willing to be patient with him, let him deal in his own time.

"You remember that science fair project we did in the 8th grade?" Eddie asked out of nowhere, breaking the peaceful silence that had settled between the two of you. You took another sip of your beer, turning to him with a confused look on your face. "What did you think of it?"

"Think it was stupid." You muttered, looking at the late night city lights as you thought back on something that felt like a whole other life ago. This where different then, you were different then, and you couldn't quite place when everything had changed. "It still keeps me up at night that Graham won and not us."

While it was definitely an over exaggeration, it elicited a laugh from Eddie - something you'd been hoping to achieve since the moment you'd noticed the crestfallen look on his face.

"It was only because he stole Billy's winning project from the year before too!" You whined, remembering the events more clearly now that Eddie had brought it up. "That cheeky little- I'm so gonna convince him he owe me $50 in the morning."

"What? Why?" Eddie asked, mind now focused on your confusing words more then Camilla breaking his heart.

"I don't know, reparations for the win we deserved or something. I'll split it with you, 30:20."

"Why am I getting $20? Why not $25 each?" Eddie whined, his full body now turned to face you, one arm supporting his weight against the railing while the other held his beer.

"No, no. You'd get the $30. I did jack shit in that project. You did all the hard work."

"Couldn't have done it without you though, y'know." Eddie said in complete earnest, some kind of realisation settling over him as the pair of you dwelled on the memory from a life time ago. It was weirdly poetic in a sense, how even back then, before the band and everything, you stood by his side when a Dunne was breaking his heart in some capacity, put the pieces back together even when he didn't ask you too - or tell you it's what he needed.

"Still can't do shit without out now." The words came out in a teasing way, but you could tell Eddie was trying to mask the sentimental value to them. The two of you had been two peas in a pod as long as you could remember, you could read him like a book even when he didn't want you too.

"You know you could." You teased right back, feeling comfortable enough to knock your shoulder against his now that the mood had shifted to a happier one. "You just don't want to."

"Yeah I don't think I do." Eddie let you rest your head on his shoulder, one of your arms wrapping around his bicep while the other wrapped around his forearm in a makeshift hug. "Don't think I ever do, birdie."

"There's my Eddie." You cooed, so casually that it sent Eddie brain whirring. He knew he was nowhere near ready to open up his heart again, but you'd already wriggled your way in so long ago that it felt natural. Something about being your Eddie was something he thought he could get used to, but that wasn't something he wanted to unpack today. "Come back inside."

"Since you asked so nicely." Your arms stayed wrapped around Eddie's as you re-entered the party, weaving your way through the crowd in search of Graham who you'd all but abandoned earlier. He was easy to find, towering over the crowds of people, and he kept himself in good company, introducing you to the group he'd surrounded himself with and you and Eddie finding conversation with them easy.

Though Eddie had a smile on his face that didn't quite reach his eye, his entire demeanour had changed since you first found him on the balcony, and that was enough for you.

The rest of the night went quickly, people coming and going from your group, but you, Eddie and Graham sticking together for the rest of the evening. Eddie added his own opinion to the conversation every now and then, but spent most of the night taking in the feeling of your arms around his; thinking about how he must have been someone good in his last life to deserve such an angel as you in this one.

[beybaldes]

all I know of love is how to live without it (i jus can't seem to find it)

Eddie Roundtree × Fem!Reader

djats masterlist

word count: 1.5k

summary: a part 2 to 'all I know of love is how to live without it' in which you realise he's your Eddie just as much as your his birdie.

Warning!! I have not read the book or the show!!! All info I have gathered has been from other x readers I have read. sorry in advance if I have butchered vour fav show/book because I have plainly made shit up in favour of satiating my own need for more eddie fics xoxo

It had been a beyond shit week. First, Billy spent a solid 40 minutes yelling at you after practice, then Graham blamed you for eating the last of his leftovers even though you'd seen Karen take it, Warren had blamed you for something he'd broken inside the rental making Camilla have a go at you for 'being careless'. The only person who hadn't got on your case for something was Eddie; but that hadn't stopped you from hiding away in your room for the past 36 hours, hoping that if you just avoided everyone, no one could yell at you again.

"Get up." Eddie commanded as he opened the door to your room. He wasted no time in heading for you drawers, routing through it to find you a change of clothes and promptly throwing whatever he'd decided was a nice outfit at you. "Get up, come on."

You responded with a groan, head burrowed into your pillows as if that would stop Eddie from seeing you.

"I'm being serious." Eddie walked over to you, brushing your mess of a head of hair away from your face, taking your chin in his hand gently. "Get up, birdie."

"Please don't make me." You whimpered, one eye peaking open in your best attempt to bed Eddie to leave you alone. While he was the one person you'd want to talk to given the past few days, you just wanted to be left alone right now.

"Tough luck." Eddie grumbled, sitting himself at the edge of your bed, one hand holding your ankle and running his thumb across the skin there. "Get up, get dressed, I'll be waiting outside."

When you finally opened your bedroom door almost 20 minutes later, Eddie was leaning against the wall beside the door, a lit cigarette between his lips and the car keys swinging around his finger. He took your hand in his, pulling you through the length of the house in the direction of the front door.

"We'll be back with food shortly." Graham was the only one to acknowledge you, telling you to be safe in your journey to pick up his beloved take out.

"You're making me come pick up take out with you?" You grumbled, slipping into the passenger seat as Eddie got behind the wheel, letting him turn on the car then quickly reaching to pop out the current cassette, putting in your own instead. "You know they're all just gonna be mad at me when something missing from the order - even if they plainly forgot to order it."

"No they're not, birdie."

"Really? Then tell that to everything that's happened this week." You pulled your knees up to your chest inside the vehicle, looking out of the window longingly. "Everyone's been treating me like shit, don't need to give them another reason too."

Eddie allowed you to mellow in the silence of the car ride, not pushing you to talk about what was on your mind or what exactly had been said to you throughout the week. When he'd come to your room to force you out of it, he'd assumed you were just in a bit of a rut, but it was becoming more apparent that something else was going on.

You didn't speak up again until Eddie drove right past the Chinese place without the thought of stopping, turning the corner and pulling into the diners parking lot instead.

"What are you doing?" You asked, following Eddie's action of getting out of the car, however, he grabbed your hand, pulling you in the direction of the diner without a word.

I'm true gentlemanly fashion, Eddie held open the door for you, his hand on the small of your back guiding you into the threshold of the building and into of the booths that was tucked away in the far corner of the room. He encouraged you to sit down, ordering on your behalf when the waitress came over in hushed whispers.

"This is sweet, Eddie, really sweet. But I just want to go back." Eddie's brow quirked up at your meek words, your head hung low as you denied his gesture in hopes of getting back into your bed. "If we don't get back with the take out soon, everyone's going to be upset. I don't want them to be upset with me anymore."

"Everyone else can wait." Eddie assured you, taking the basket of fries and two milkshakes he'd ordered from the waitress with kind smile. "You need this, birdie, need me. That's more important then them lot getting their takeout."

You nodded silently, taking a sip of the milkshake he had ordered for you - your favourite even though he'd ordered for you. Sometimes you forgot how well Eddie knew you, that you'd known each other since you were kids. So many aspects of your friendship still felt new sometimes, but maybe that was what life out in LA was doing to you - Making you forget.

"You remember in 10th grade, when we had that Sadie Hawkins dance?" Eddie asked, reaching for one of your hands across the table and knocking the basket of fries closer to you with the other, prompting you to take a few.

"How could I forget?" You hummed, a smile curling on your lips as you through about high school and Pittsburgh, all the nights you spent hanging out with your friends way too late on some backroad or in someone's basement. Things were so much simpler then, happier even. "Your mom made you wear that awful green suit because she thought it'd compliment my dress nicely."

"You said I looked cute in that suit!" Eddie gasped, almost offended that you'd lied to him all those years ago.

"You did! You always look cute. That suit was just awful though."

Eddie shook his head, running his thumb across you knuckles with a smile, glad that a smile had cracked on your one face for the first time all week.

"Not my point, anyway." Eddie took a sip of his own milkshake, wiping at the start after he did, swallowing down the cool liquid. "I didn't think anyone was going to ask me."

That grabbed your attention. How could Eddie think that? The second they'd announced the Sadie Hawkins dance, you knew you wanted to ask him - but even then, Eddie was a catch, who wouldn't want to ask him?

"And then you showed up on my doorstep, with that cheesy sign and a mixtape of all my favourite songs. Made me feel real wanted." Eddie looked at your connected hands, his thumb still running over your knuckles in a soothing motion, the stress seeing out of your body with every moment  longer you sat in the diner. "There was no one else I'd rather have gone with."

"Gave you the prom-posal you deserved." You reasoned, thinking back to how you'd even considered bringing him flowers but deciding you'd just stick to the over the top, arts and crafts sign. "Why'd you think no one was going to ask you?"

"I thought you'd ask Warren or Graham, honestly. Just not me."

You were almost offended that Eddie thought you'd choose one of your other friends over him, but you didn't dwell on it. You'd been in those shoes, unsure if anyone even liked you let alone wanted to spend time with you, or ask you to a dance - you couldn't blame him.

"I'd always pick you, Ed's."

Eddie knew he'd cracked it; a smile was back on your face and your milkshake was gone so you'd moved into his without asking.

"There she is." He cooed, head ducking down slightly so that he could meet your eyes. The horn he had on your hand tightened, a warm smile curling into his cheeks, dimpling them cutely. "There's my birdie."

In all the years that Eddie had called your birdie, he'd never called you his birdie; though now that you thought about it, it should've been a given. No one else called you that, and if they tried too, you'd ask them to stop, knowing it would feel right. The feeling of knowing made your head spin, so much so that you didn't notice Eddie paying for your food until he walked around to your side of the booth, offering you the crook of his elbow to walk you back to the car.

"You take such good care of me, do you know that?" You whispered into his shoulder, your head falling against it as you spoke, enjoying the lazy walk back to the house before you were surely crucified for taking so long to bring the takeout back.

"That's what we do." Eddie mused, opening the passenger side door for you and allowing you to get in before he closed it, walking around to the drivers side and getting in himself. "Me and you."

Me and you. Eddie and Birdie. Yeah. You liked the sound of that.