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harringtonswriting · 2 years ago

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hehehe you & eddie adopting the lil black kitten that nobody wants and he's in loooovvveee 🥺

BESTIEEEEE this was so cute 🥺 and so fun to write!! im so sorry it took so long but i hope you love it!! this is absolutely dedicated to you 💕 she's a long one though, oops... but i have had SO much fun planning this with you and creating this chaotic duo!! (also if anyone wants to come yell with me about eddie and ozzy pls do i love them so much)

...

Every autumn, you like to do what you can to help out at the Hawkins Animal Shelter. You know they’re terribly underfunded and understaffed even at the best of times, but during the colder months of the year when you know they’ve got more animals than usual to try and feed and keep warm is when you try to do everything you can. In this case, that means donating a few bags of dog and cat food that you picked up on your last trip grocery shopping on a blustery Friday afternoon in November after you’ve finished work for the day.

This time, though, you’re accompanied by your boyfriend Eddie–he’d offered to drive you to the shelter in his van and help you bring all the food in with you. It’s been a long week and both of you hadn’t been able to spend as much time together as you wanted, so you were very much looking forward to this weekend together. Eddie’s hand hadn’t left your thigh since you hopped up into the passenger seat when he’d picked you up after work; the comforting weight is seeping warmth through the fabric of your pants, and one of your hands comes to rest on top of his and fiddle with some of his rings. They’ve picked up some of his body heat as well, the metal smooth and warm under your fingers.

He drives you back to your place, filling you in on his day while you listen and try to warm up. Or, well, you do your best to listen, but you’ve had a long week and being warm and in the presence of one of your favourite people in the world is relaxing you a bit too much. Just hearing Eddie’s voice in person and not over the phone for a few stolen minutes is enough to have you closing your eyes, a smile on your face as you temporarily zone out. Until, of course, he hits the annoying pothole down the street from your place and you’re jolted back to reality.

“Oh, shit! Sorry babe,” Eddie apologizes, his hand squeezing your thigh a little tighter before he continues, “Anyway, so my hand’s totally stuck in there, right? So I’m freaking out, Henderson is losing his mind, and I still have half a session left to DM. Can you believe that?”

No, you can’t, because you have no idea how that story started or what he’d actually been doing. But you nod anyway as Eddie’s van pulls up in front of your building. “That sounds completely wild, Eddie. What did you do next?”

“I saved the day, sweetheart, what else?” He grins at you, putting his van in park. You lean over and press a kiss to his lips, your hand squeezing his.

“My hero. Come up and help me get my stuff?” you ask, and he nods, messy black curls bouncing as he kisses you back. His hand reluctantly leaves your thigh so you can both unbuckle your belts and he hops down out of the driver’s seat to run around and open your door with a flourish and a bow.

The two of you make quick work getting up to your place, and Eddie gathers up the dog and cat food to put it by the door while you get changed and pack a bag to take to his place for the night. You make quick work of it, and then the two of you are making your way back downstairs while you tell Eddie all about the latest work gossip and drama.

The drive to the shelter goes quickly, too quickly, and before you know it Eddie’s pulled into the nearly empty parking lot and the two of you are grabbing the bags of food out of the back of his van. You push the door to the building open and the bells above it jingle as Eddie follows you in.

One of the workers emerges from the back as the two of you make your way up to the counter, and you recognize her from your time at Hawkins High School. Her name is Rory, you’re pretty sure, and you know her mom owns both the Hawkins Animal Shelter and the Vet Clinic located next door. She was in your year at school, and she was always pretty friendly with you in any classes you shared. You’ve been donating to the shelter for a few years now, and you’ve volunteered there before, so you know her pretty well, you think. You smile at her as you place your bags of food on the counter. Eddie follows suit before stepping back, slightly behind you. Rory smiles at you as well, taking a wary peek at your boyfriend behind you.

“Hi! Long time no see! What brings you in?” she asks, walking up to the counter towards you. You can see her spare a longer glance at Eddie now that she’s closer, and you turn your head a bit to see that he’s stuffed his hands in his pockets and is scuffing the toe of his shoe against the floor. You step a little further over, putting yourself between Eddie and Rory as subtly as you can to take the attention off of him. Anything to give him a little more room to breathe comfortably; given that most of the attention he gets around town is negative, especially lately, you do what you can to make things as easy as possible when you’re together.

“We’re here to donate some food,” you tell her, reaching one hand out to rub Eddie’s arm through his leather jacket. It’s a little cool under your fingers, but he leans into your touch. You turn back to face Rory, keeping your hand on Eddie’s arm.

“Oh, that’s really great! Thanks so much, we can absolutely use that,” she tells you as she grabs the bags and picks the bags up one at a time to deposit them on the floor on her side of the counter. She makes small talk with you as she does, asking about life now that you’ve both graduated; you can hear Eddie’s sneaker starting to tap against the tiled floor. You know he’s not trying to rush you; Eddie can get bored pretty easily, and you know he’s been looking forward to spending some time with you, just the two of you, this weekend. You have too, so you’re ready to leave when Rory clears her throat to get your attention.

“Do you guys want to come back and see some of the animals we have right now?” she asks. “I’m sure they’d also love to say thank you for the food, if you want.” Or maybe alone time with Eddie could wait just a bit longer because the idea of being able to see the adorable cats and dogs you’re sure are waiting in the back to be seen and loved is something you’re absolutely on board with right now. You find yourself nodding enthusiastically before turning to your boyfriend behind you.

“C’mon, Eddie, do you wanna see the cats and dogs?” you ask him, your hand moving down his arm to intertwine with his. He raises his eyebrows, and you decide to give him your best smile and bat your eyes. It takes him a minute before he sighs, his shoulders slumping.

“You know it’s not fair when you smile at me like that.” The small grin curling up the corners of his lips tells you that he’s not any kind of mad or upset. You squeeze his hand, moving forward to press a kiss to his cheek and he responds with a quick, chaste kiss to the corner of your mouth.

So Rory lets you both back behind the counter, your hand securely enveloped in Eddie’s as you follow her back to where the cats and dogs are kept. There are more than you’re expecting, and once you’re back there you let go of Eddie’s hand to pet a very lovely golden retriever named Daisy who comes to greet you at the door of her kennel. She snuffles softly against your hand, and you coo to her through the bars as you kneel down to be closer to her height. You hear Eddie’s footsteps move farther away from you as you scratch behind Daisy’s ears, letting her know what a good girl she is.

From Daisy you move onto Gunner the bulldog, and then Maverick the german shepherd, before you wander over to where Eddie’s hanging out with the cats. He’s currently standing in front of a kennel that has one lone black kitten in it; the kitten has long, silky looking fur, and big golden yellow eyes. It’s staring at Eddie, meowing and showing off teeth that look much too big for its tiny mouth, but it makes it look absolutely adorable.

“What’s this little guy doing?” Eddie asks, sticking his fingers between the bars of the kennel. The kitten meows loudly, sniffing them before starting to rub himself against Eddie. He starts to gently scratch the kitten along his back, and the loudest purring you’ve ever heard erupts from this teeny tiny black fuzzball.

“He’s the last one of a litter we got last week,” Rory says, walking over to the kennel to peer in from beside Eddie. The kitten meows at her too, and leaves Eddie’s fingers to come get her attention. She smiles at him, digging some treats out of her pocket to poke through the bars. The kitten takes them happily, scarfing them down with a tiny growl that has your heart melting. “He’s been in there on his own for the last few days since the last of his siblings got adopted.”

“How come no one’s adopted him? Is he sick or something?” Eddie asks, and Rory sighs.

“No, he’s healthy as can be. But he’s a black cat, so, y’know.” At Eddie’s blank look, she elaborates, “Superstition is that black cats are unlucky, so not a lot of people want to adopt them. Especially around this time of year.”

Eddie snorts. “That’s a load of shit. He’s a cat.” You see Rory’s posture relax just a bit, and Eddie’s shoulders, which are up near his ears, lower just a bit as the kitten goes back to rubbing himself on Eddie’s fingers again.

“Tell me something I don’t know.” Rory is interrupted, however, by the sound of the bells above the front door jingling. She sighs. “Oh, that’s the door. I’ll be back in a couple minutes, okay?” You nod, and she turns to leave through the door you entered from.

Eddie takes the opportunity to grab one of your hands with his free one, bringing you closer to the kennel holding the tiny black kitten. “Babe… did you hear that? That little guy is all alone because people think he’s bad luck. Are they stupid? They gotta be stupid. Look at him. He’s purring at us.” He leans his head against the bars, his beautifully wide brown eyes staring at you with all the earnestness he can muster. His black curls fall through the bars, and the kitten starts swatting at them, curious as to this new potential toy he’s been given. “We gotta take him home. I’m not leaving him here.”

You’re more than a little surprised. Eddie had never struck you as a cat person, let alone any kind of animal lover. Not that you’re complaining, and you can see just how much this kitten seems to love Eddie already. It has your heart melting in your chest, seeing them interact, so you can understand how Eddie is feeling. However, you also know that Eddie currently doesn’t live alone, and while his uncle has been nothing but kind to you since you and Eddie started dating, you have no idea whether that man is pro-cat or not. He’s very hard to get a read on sometimes. “Eddie, you want a kitten? What’s Wayne gonna say?” you ask, and Eddie purses his lips for a moment before he shakes his head.

“Wayne won’t even notice. C’mon, babe, we gotta bring him with us,” he says, and there’s a determination in there that you don’t often get from Eddie. It’s the same tone of voice he uses when he asks you if Lucas Sinclair can crash your date night because his girlfriend just broke up with him again, or if you can pick up some very specific snacks for Hellfire night because one of the members has seemed a bit down this week; it reminds you of when you’ve seen him stay up into the early hours of the morning the night before a meeting to change some mechanics around or to switch up his map because he’s noticed that Jeff seems to be flubbing a lot of stealth checks lately and wants to give him a bit of a break without seeming too obvious.

Eddie looks so determined to have this kitten, this tiny little thing that’s chirping out little meows at you that’s been left all alone in this kennel, that you can’t bring yourself to tell him no. Not that you’d think he’d take no for an answer at this point, with the way he’s looking at you now, tiny kitten yanking on his curls and his almost glimmering brown eyes looking into your own eyes, almost looking through them and through you, under the fluorescent lights that blink every so often and make a low buzzing noise that acts as a backing track to your conversation.

The hand holding yours squeezes it gently, tugging you closer until you’re shoulder to shoulder.

That’s when the door swings open and Rory makes a reappearance. “Sorry, that was just my mom. She said thank you for the food, by the way,” she tells you, and Eddie jumps nearly a foot in the air. The kitten has his claws stuck in Eddie’s hair, and he tugs on a particularly big knot when Eddie does so, and your boyfriend yelps in partial pain and partial surprise. You can’t help the laughter that bubbles up from your chest, though you rub your thumb across the back of his hand to ease his pain and embarrassment. You can see the amused grin that Rory has on her face now. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I think so,” you assure her, and she nods. Eddie clears his throat, brushing his hair out with his fingers and letting go of your hand to point at the kitten in front of you.

“The kitten, that little guy. He up for adoption?” he asks, and Rory nods once again. “I wanna take him home.”

Rory unlocks the kennel, and the kitten is quick to try and jump out of it. She scoops him up in one hand with practiced ease, scratching him under his chin as she shuts the kennel door. She then hands the kitten to you, where he immediately attaches himself to your chest with his tiny claws. His big, round golden eyes stare up at you, and you smile as you start to scratch him under the chin, too. One of Eddie’s hands rests on your lower back, a comforting weight and warmth as Rory leads you back up to the front of the shelter through the door. The two of you come around to the other side of the counter, and she grabs a clipboard and the paperwork Eddie needs to go through. You decide to distract the tiny kitten, giving him your fingers to play with as you half-listen to what the others are saying. Thankfully Eddie fills it out relatively quickly.

“And you’ll just need to print his new name here,” Rory says, as Eddie flips to the final page, pointing to one of the lines near the bottom of said page.

“What do you think, buddy? What should we call you?” Eddie asks, studying the little kitten in your arms. You scratch behind the kitten’s ears, and hear the motorboat purr start up again. Eddie leans in close, reaching out his finger towards the kitten’s tiny pink nose. “What about… Ozzy? You like that?”

The kitten meows loudly, reaching a paw out to smack Eddie’s outstretched finger. He laughs loudly before he scribbles the name down on the form. You crane your neck a bit, and you can see he’s written Ozzy Munson as the kitten’s new name, and then you see that Eddie’s listed both himself and you as Ozzy’s adopters. Warmth blooms in your chest, and you bring Ozzy up so you can kiss the soft, long fur on the top of his head. Eddie pushes the clipboard back towards Rory and digs the cash for the adoption fee out of the wallet in his back pocket. She gives him the tags and paperwork he needs, which he stuffs in his other pocket, and then the two of you are leaving with the loudly meowing Ozzy. Eddie once again gets the passenger side door for you, closing it once you’ve gotten into your seat, and you manage to get yourself buckled in before you’re letting Ozzy crawl all over your lap and make himself comfortable. Eddie scratches behind his new kitten’s ears for a minute after he makes sure to turn the heating on, and then he’s turning the engine over and driving away from the shelter.

Eddie insists that Ozzy accompany the two of you into the pet store when he pulls into the parking lot and places his van in park. The little guy has been curled up in your arms the entire car ride from the shelter, and Eddie is quick to unbuckle his seatbelt and reach over to scoop up the newest Munson.

“C’mon, sweetheart, how am I gonna know what he likes unless I let him pick?” he asks, and he holds up the kitten next to his own face for emphasis. Ozzy’s giant golden eyes blink at you, right next to Eddie’s own very pretty, heart-melting brown ones. You know you’re in trouble, and this absolutely won’t be the last time because you can’t say no to both of them, not when they both look so sweet.

“It’s cold out, Eddie, and we don’t have a blanket for him,” you say, which gives Eddie pause for a moment. But then he’s smiling at you and opening his leather jacket under his denim vest and then he’s placing Ozzy inside. Surprisingly, Ozzy immediately starts snuggling up to Eddie, starting to purr loudly once again and you can’t help but start to coo at the adorable scene in front of you.

“Ta da! He’s a perfect fit.” Eddie looks so proud of himself. God, you absolutely wish you had your camera with you to capture this on film forever. You really need to invest in a Polaroid to take with you everywhere you go just for times like these. You don’t care what Jonathan Byers says, those cameras are the way of the future and not at all a waste of money. Not if it meant you can keep photos of precious memories like this, the autumn chill creating condensation on the windows, Eddie’s fuzzy black bats hanging from the rearview mirror and swinging in the slight breeze created by the loud heating system in the van. One of Eddie’s arms is supporting Ozzy inside his jacket, and the other is scratching Ozzy’s tummy–or it was, until Ozzy apparently decided that enough was enough and you saw his little claws dig right into the flesh of Eddie’s hand.

“Ouch! What the hell, man?” Eddie yells, jumping a little. You can’t help the laugh that bubbles up, and Eddie shoots you an accusatory glance as he brings his scratched hand up to his face to examine it. You look down at Ozzy, and you can almost swear you see a grin on the little black kitten’s face. You reach your own hand out towards him, and Ozzy leans out of the jacket to lick your finger. Eddie huffs, saying quietly, “Hey, I am your father, fuzzball.”

The two of you get out of the van, and you’re quick to get the door of the pet store open for Eddie, since he’s got his arms full with Ozzy, and you wave politely to the clerk behind the counter. The only ones in the shop aside from the two of you are an older woman and a little girl trailing after her, holding onto the hem of her coat. The woman takes one look at you, and then at Eddie, before she’s shuffling the little girl off to the other end of the store. You roll your eyes once she’s out of sight, grabbing Eddie’s free arm and leading him over to the cat section. Eddie’s eyes are immediately drawn to the many toys they have, and he opens his jacket a little wider to give Ozzy a good look at them too.

When he starts picking up different toys and letting Ozzy sniff and bat at them with his little paws, you start getting the essentials together. You pick out a litter box and a scoop, some litter, a bag of kitten food, some food and water bowls, and even some treats as well. When you make your way back to Eddie, he’s got an arm full of fuzzy mice, a few stick and string toys, and even a cardboard scratcher. You take some of it from him to add to the pile in your arms, and he grins at you as he holds up a bag of catnip as well.

“Babe, look, Ozzy and I can get stoned together,” he tells you, seeming so excited at the prospect of both him and his cat getting high. You shake your head, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“C’mon, troublemakers, let’s get this stuff and get home.” Eddie’s quick to follow you up to the front counter, where the older woman and the little girl are making their own purchase. The little girl turns to look at the two of you as you approach, keeping a respectful distance. You see Eddie grin, and he opens his jacket a little wider to show off the now meowing Ozzy. The little girl gasps before she starts giggling and tugging on the woman’s coat.

“Mom! Mom, he’s got a kitty in his coat!” she nearly shrieks, pointing at Eddie. Her mother shushes her, quickly grabbing her bag and sparing you a withering glance before they leave the store. You ignore them, placing your armful of cat supplies on the counter before Eddie deposits the toys and catnip he still has. The clerk coos at Ozzy, who purrs at the attention, and loads everything into a few shopping bags as the two of you pay (including Eddie attempting to unsuccessfully bat your hand away, which Ozzy thinks is a game and starts swatting at everything he can reach). You carry it all out to the van when you’re finished, loading it up into the back and then hopping up into the passenger seat. Eddie hands you Ozzy once again, and then the two of you make the drive back to the Munson home.

It passes by rather quickly, and before you know it you’re there. You pass Ozzy back to Eddie and grab everything you need from the back. Eddie’s already out of the van and unlocking the front door, holding it open for you as you make your way up the steps. Once inside, you toe off your shoes while Eddie kicks off his own sneakers. You make quick work of setting everything down in the living room, and grabbing Ozzy’s new litter box and the bag of cat litter.

“Where are we putting this?” you ask, and Eddie looks up from where he’s gently bouncing Ozzy in his arms. He pulls a face, thinking for a moment, before pointing towards the bathroom.

“Between the toilet and the shower? Will it fit there?” he asks in return, and you shrug. You take the items with you to find out with Eddie following close behind. You quickly tidy and rearrange the bathmat and the towel you know Eddie left on the floor earlier–Wayne knows what the function of the bathroom hamper is, unlike his nephew. You do manage to fit the litter box where Eddie suggested, though it’s a tight squeeze, and tear open the bag of litter to place some in. When you’ve finished, Eddie places Ozzy inside, and you watch as the tiny little fuzzball sniff around and kick at the litter with his tiny paws.

You lean against Eddie’s side, resting your head on his shoulder, and Eddie’s arm comes to wrap around your waist. His hand squeezes your hip gently, and he presses a kiss to your forehead.

“Hope you know that you’re on permanent litter duty,” you tell him. “He’s your son, you scoop his poop.”

“No, no, I put your name on his birth certificate too,” he tells you. Ozzy looks up at the two of you, and screams as he starts to do his business in the box in front of you. “Ozzy is our son, and we share poop duty, babe. With you getting the first shift, obviously.” You nudge his shoulder with your own, which starts a bickering and shoving war as the two of you leave the bathroom to give Ozzy some privacy.

You decide to give the living room and Eddie’s room a quick tidy while Eddie trails around after the newest member of the family; really, it’s mostly just Eddie’s shoes and clothes and his various D&D notes and maps that you have to pick up and put in their proper places, but you know how grumpy he’ll be if Ozzy decides to use them as toys, or worse, as a temporary bathroom so you get it done as quickly as you can. You then get Ozzy’s food and water bowls set up in Eddie’s room near his desk, and get to putting Ozzy’s new toys in various areas.

Once Ozzy has thoroughly explored as much as he wants, and Eddie’s run up and down the length of the living room what must have been a hundred times to get Ozzy to chase a feathered toy on a stick, the three of you move to Eddie’s bedroom. You pick Ozzy up, cradling him like a baby in your arms, before you put him down on the bed and you lay down under the blankets. Ozzy meows loudly, and you scratch under his chin as he walks around near you.

Eddie tsks, changing into a Motley Crue t-shirt before crawling into bed with you on the other side.

“Be careful, babe,” Eddie says, gently picking Ozzy up and placing him between the two of you so that the kitten is laying down too. Ozzy rolls onto his back, stretching out and letting out the tiniest, cutest squeak you’ve ever heard from a cat as he yawns. “He’s just a baby, y’know.”

You roll your eyes playfully, petting Ozzy’s chest. “Eddie, I was just playing with him.” Eddie rolls his eyes in return, but scoots closer to you on the bed until he can get an arm around your waist while Ozzy starts to snooze between your heads.

As you lay there with Eddie, watching him gently stroke Ozzy’s fur with one hand and drum absent patterns against your hip with his other, warm and content and absolutely in love with both the man next to you and the kitten between you, you decide that you never want to leave this bed as long as they’re here with you. It’s your own little bubble of contentment, growing with this tiny family you’re starting together, and you kiss both Eddie and Ozzy and relish the feeling of Eddie’s lips on yours as you pour all the joy and endearment in your heart into the kiss.

(That feeling only lasts until the next morning, when you hear Eddie shouting at you from the bathroom saying Ozzy wants to join him in the shower, and you swear you’ve never gotten out of his bed faster to save a trip to the ER)

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson x y/n #stranger things reader insert #stranger things imagine #stranger things x reader #stranger things fanfiction #eddie munson #stranger things #sunshineperriee #emma 💕#i love this so much #and ozzy will be making appearances in the future #in both eddie-centric and non-eddie-centric works

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