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cheerscoops · 7 months ago

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ship: Chrissy Cunningham/Eddie Munson wc: 7.9k A/N: First hellcheer fic and feeling the pressure for it to be a good one. This one is dedicated to all of the lovely ladies in the hellcheer server but especially @slumped-in-the-arms-of-fiction and @justhere4thevibez for giving me the inspiration <3

If there was one thing that the members of the Hellfire Club could count on, it was that Eddie Munson was one of the most overdramatic people on the planet, and he was going to put all of those theatrics to work in his carefully crafted campaigns. Some of them had been playing with him as their dungeon master since middle school, and by now, they were all used to his personal brand of immersive storytelling. Typically, this meant that they were going to encounter a sidequest or two that revolved around whatever it was that Eddie was struggling to deal with at the time.

When he was struggling to pass chemistry, they met a potion maker who’d lost his touch, and they set off to find the witch that cursed him, the master potion book that she’d stolen, and the ingredients they needed to brew the cure that would give him his skills back. When he struggled to find a legitimate part time job so he could afford to buy the miniatures and cassette tapes he wanted without worrying his uncle about his potential arrest because none of the businesses in town trusted a kid from the trailer park that looked like him, they were tasked with clearing the good name of a young farmhand who had been wrongfully accused and banished based on nothing more than his unsettling outward appearance. And anytime that he was particularly worried about his uncle overworking himself or going without to make sure Eddie was taken care of, they encountered the same young squire whose only goal in life was to give back to the knight that had taken him in when no one else would and sacrificed so much to raise him. The boy wore his heart on his sleeve, and the ever-changing NPCs that inhabited Eddie’s fantasy world told them everything they needed to know about what their friend was going through.

However, the most common recurring theme to Eddie’s sidequests were acts of true love. There was the humble minstrel who fell in love with a beautiful mermaid and longed for a way for them to truly be together despite the fact that they came from different worlds. They met a thief whose truest love had been kidnapped by a man who he’d stolen from in the past, and they had to find a way to rescue her. And nobody could forget the time that Gareth’s character almost died when they had to fight off an army of goblins in order to save a lost princess for her betrothed. Each and every time one of these quests came up, the girl was exactly the same. She may have had a different name and upbringing each time, but she always looked the same, and she always had the same temperament. Eddie thought he was being subtle enough about it, but it was obvious to his friends: she was always Chrissy Cunningham.

Ever since he’d first laid eyes on her at that middle school talent show, he’d been smitten. He could pretend that he wasn’t interested in her all he wanted, but his friends saw the way he looked at her. They noticed that he never lumped her in with all of the other cheerleaders and jocks. But the most damning piece of evidence was the fact that every time he bumped into her in the halls or saw her out in public, one of these special quests popped up in the middle of their next gaming session.

It only got worse when Eddie started his third attempt at his senior year only to find that he and Chrissy shared Ms. O’Donnell’s third period English class. And while Jeff, Gareth, and Greg had privately agreed amongst themselves to put up with Eddie’s lovesick antics as long as none of their characters came close to death as a result again, the new group of freshman party members had made no such agreement and were too perceptive for their own good.

“Would you just grow a pair and ask her out already so we can do something other than run errands for some lovesick knight?” Mike asked after the third session in a row where the game play was overtaken by sidequests that had very little relevance to the main plot.

The rest of the players around the table froze. Nobody spoke to Eddie like that, and nobody brought up his crush on Chrissy. Not unless they had a death wish.

Eddie leaned back in his throne and looked in Mike’s direction with an expression that was eerily calm for the situation.

“I have no idea what you're talking about,” he replied. “Are you saying that you have a problem with the way I run my game? Because I'd be happy to step aside and let one of you run a campaign for once if that's the case. But, if you're not willing to put in the work to provide the epic entertainment that this group has grown accustomed to, I’d suggest you let me continue telling the story that I'm trying to tell without the complaints.”

“That's not what he's saying at all,” Dustin interjected, elbowing Mike in the ribs with enough force that the other boy groaned. “It's just that we thought we were still working on overthrowing that corrupt king, and it's been a few sessions since we've encountered anything that had a connection to that. We were all really excited to see where that story was going, and we feel like that's been abandoned in favor of minor quests that aren't really adding to our character development. That's all.”

“I see,” Eddie said as he crossed his arms over his chest. “And here I thought that you all enjoyed my side quests.”

“We do,” Gareth told him. “We would have quit ages ago if we didn't. But, if we're talking about this, we've been thinking that you've been using these side quests to avoid acting on the feelings that you have for a certain someone. And while it still leads to some pretty cool story elements most of the time, it would be nice if we didn’t end up ignoring the main plot for multiple sessions in a row, you know?”

“And you're all feeling this way?”

The group nodded and mumbled their various statements of agreement.

“Fine. While I have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to my feelings, I suppose that I can put an end to the side quests for the good of the group. On one condition.”

Eddie reached into his bag below the table and pulled out a small locked chest that he then placed on the table before them.

“I was planning on putting this into play at the end of today's session anyway. Your quest, if you choose to accept it, is for the party to go on one last side quest. This chest belongs to the knight who knows each and every one of the locations of the seven sacred items you'll need to defeat the corrupt king, but it's been stolen away by a band of thieves who are only slightly weaker than you are. The chest doesn't contain any riches. Instead, it holds a secret that the knight would desperately like to keep hidden. If you can retrieve the chest for him, he'll gladly help along the journey that you actually want to be on. It won't be an easy quest by any means, but I believe the rewards outweigh the risks. Do you accept?”

The group debated whether or not the quest was worth it for a few minutes before making their decision.

“We accept,” Gareth announced on their behalf.

“Excellent,” Eddie replied. “We'll start our next session with the beginning of that quest. If you're lucky and the dice gods are on your side, it might only take you one session to get the chest back. You're dismissed.”

The younger members of the group might not have picked up on it, but Jeff, Gareth, and Greg figured there was more to this chest than meets the eye. It wouldn't surprise any of them if the secret that the knight had was some sort of connection to a secret that Eddie was trying to hide from all of them, and they'd be even less surprised if that secret was somehow related to Chrissy. All they wanted was for their friend to be happy, so they knew that they had to do something. That's when they came up with what they thought was the perfect plan.

They were finally given the opportunity to put that plan into action the day before their next gaming session. The group was talking about the upcoming quest while waiting for Eddie to finish putting his stuff in his locker before they headed to lunch together when they were approached by none other than Chrissy herself. She offered up a smile and a quick hello to the others before turning her full attention towards Eddie.

“I was wondering if you maybe wanted to spend lunch in the library getting a head start on our project?” she asked. “I know we have almost a month to get it finished, but I'd rather get it started now so we're not rushing to finish it later. It's so much less stressful that way, you know?”

“You guys are working on a project together?” Jeff asked.

“Yep. Ms. O’Donnell randomly assigned partners today,” Eddie told the group.

“We have to choose a book from her approved list and give an oral report with visual aides. It counts for something like a third of our grade this semester, and I'm determined to help this one finally pass her class,” she said as she gestured to Eddie before hugging her binder to her chest.

“Third time’s the charm, right?”

“It will be if we get started on this project now. Please say yes?”

“Mrs. G isn't going to get on my case if I'm eating in there, is she?” he asked.

“I don't think she cares as long as you're not getting food all over the books. And we can always sit at one of the back tables that she can't see if you think she'll give you any trouble.”

“Then I'm in,” he told her as he shut his locker. “Give me a couple minutes to finish filling these guys in on tomorrow's campaign, and I'll meet you there.”

“Campaign?” she asked.

“It's a dungeons and dragons thing,” Gareth told her. “That's what the different stories you play through are called. We're actually starting a new one tomorrow if you're interested in checking it out.”

“Oh, I don't know if you'd want me to join you. I'd have no idea what I was doing, and I'd just end up holding you all back.”

“Nonsense,” Greg told her. “We'd all be happy to help you out, and Eddie’s always happy to welcome new players into the party. He's got this whole speech about how the world would be a better place if more people would just give the game a chance. Don't you, Eddie?”

“I have said that before. Yes.”

“So, he'd love it if you joined us,” Jeff insisted. “Wouldn't you, Eddie?”

“Oh yeah. It'll be fun.”

Their usually animated dungeon master was standing there frozen, and the guys were thankful for Chrissy's presence if only because they were pretty sure one of them would be getting strangled if she wasn't there.

“You have study hall last period, right?” Gareth asked her. “Because I just so happen to also have study hall last period, and I'd be happy to help you create a character if you want to join us.”

“You're sure I won't be intruding or messing anything up if I join?”

“I can honestly say that every single member of the party will happily welcome your presence,” Gareth told her with Greg and Jeff nodding in agreement.

“Alright. I'll give it a shot,” she told them. “I guess I'll see you in the library last period, Gareth. And, Eddie, I'll meet you there in five minutes?”

“Can’t wait.”

Chrissy said her goodbyes and headed off in the direction of the library.

“I hope you all have your affairs in order because I might actually have to kill you for that,” Eddie said once he was positive Chrissy was out of earshot.

“Whatever do you mean?” Gareth asked, feigning innocence. “You're always saying you want more players because you'd be able to throw stronger monsters at a larger group. We were just giving you the opportunity to do that.”

“And, if my math is correct, adding Chrissy to the party means that we'd have seven people. One to wield each of the seven sacred items we need to defeat the king,” Jeff added.

“Yeah, but did you have to invite Chrissy of all people?”

“Why would inviting Chrissy specifically be a bad thing?” Gareth asked. “You don't secretly have feelings for her or something, do you?”

“I have no idea what you're up to, but I'm not dignifying that with a response. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a book report to get started on.”

With that, Eddie turned and left for the library.

“If this doesn't get him to finally ask her out, I don't know what will,” Jeff told the others.

***

“She's a halfling rogue armed with a crossbow and the typical thieves’ tools. We came up with a pretty extensive backstory about her family and why she became a con artist if you want to weave it into a plotline at some point in the future, but we have a planned party connection for her already.”

Gareth handed the character sheet and the couple of pages that Chrissy had filled out with her character's history over to Eddie who started to scan through the information provided there.

“Calpurnia Amaranthe? How'd you come up with that?”

“It’s all symbolically linked to the backstory I wrote,” Chrissy told him. “Specifically her lost love and her motivations behind becoming a con artist.”

Chrissy leaned over and pointed to a specific passage in her backstory.

“If you look here,” she started, “you'll see that this wasn't her given name. It was a name she chose for herself after her truest love passed away to separate herself from who she was before she lost him. I didn't write the symbolism into the backstory, but the globe amaranth is a flower that has been used to symbolize immortality and represents a love that will never fade or die. And Calpurnia comes from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. She was Caesar's wife, and she had a dream that predicted her husband's death. Much like how my character had a dream that her love would be murdered. She didn't place any significance in her dream, and the name is a badge of guilt she wears for not trying to save him. It all ties back to the fact that she was forever changed by losing her greatest love, and everything she does now is an attempt to still have the life that he always promised her that she would have.”

“You did research to come up with a name that symbolizes your character’s motivations?” he asked.

“Oh, I didn't have to do any research. This is just stuff that I already knew. Gareth told me how seriously you take your campaigns, and I know that this might just be a one time thing for me, but I wanted to show that I'm taking my participation in this game seriously as well.”

If he wasn't already harboring a secret crush on this girl, that statement would have sealed the deal. It was only her first session, and she was putting this much thought into her character's motivations already? He was a goner.

However, having her join in on this specific campaign filled him with dread. The guys just had to invite her into the session where they were retrieving the chest that held the knight’s biggest secret. If any of them managed to open the chest and take a look at what was inside while she was there, he'd have to leave the country.

He tried to push those thoughts aside and stay focused on the conversation at hand.

“So you're just that well-versed in Shakespeare’s plays and the language of flowers? I wouldn't have pegged you as such a nerd,” he teased.

“There's a lot you don't know about me.”

“Well, color me surprised. I look forward to learning more.”

“So, are there assigned seats?” Chrissy asked. “Or can I sit anywhere?”

“Well, the throne is Eddie’s,” Jeff told her. “But other than that, we pretty much just sit wherever.”

“You should sit here though,” Gareth said as he pulled out the chair next to Eddie’s throne. “That way you're between me and Eddie, and we can help you out since it's your first time playing. You have an extra set of dice she can use, don't you Eddie?”

“Sure. Let me see what I've got in my bag.”

Everyone took their seats around the table, and Eddie dug through his dice bag to find a matching set of bright blue dice for Chrissy to use.

“So, did Gareth cover any of the gameplay basics with you, or did you guys just go over character creation?”

“He told me a little bit, but he also said it would be fairly easy for me to learn as we go. You'll help me if I get stuck, right?”

“Yeah. Sure. Of course. Whatever you need,” he told her before turning his attention back towards his bag and pulling out the small chest from the week before. He set it on the table and then leaned back in his throne to address the group.

“When we ended our session last week, you'd just been informed about the existence of this chest which contains a secret that Sir James would desperately like to keep hidden. Over drinks at the tavern, he told you that the chest had been stolen by a roaming band of thieves when he'd recently been robbed. The gold and weaponry he lost no longer matter to him, but he's willing to do anything to get that chest back. If you can retrieve it for him and keep his secret safe, he'll happily accompany you on your journey to find the seven sacred items and aid you in overthrowing the corrupt king that has brought down chaos and destruction in the land that you've called home for many years now. All he asks is that you keep his secret from falling into the wrong hands.”

“Do we know where the thieves have run off to? Or are we going into this blind?” Greg asked.

“Sir James has heard rumors that this particular band of thieves has a permanent camp set up in the middle of the woods about a day’s walk from the town you found him in. He can send you in the right direction, but you have to make this journey alone. Where would you like to begin?”

“Are we assuming that Calpurnia has already joined the party?” Dustin asked. “Or should we have Chrissy roleplay introducing herself and convincing us to let her join?”

“Gareth and I actually wrote a connection between our characters into my backstory, and we were hoping that his character could introduce me to the group if that's alright with everyone else,” Chrissy told them. “But I'm happy to participate in any way that works the best for what's already been established.”

“Let Ryker introduce her,” Eddie decided. “I'm curious to see what the two of you managed to come up with.”

“Should we say that the rest of the party is at the tavern preparing to leave, and Ryker approaches with Calpurnia at his side?”

With agreement from the rest of the party, Gareth leaned forward in his seat and started to embody his character.

“Good morrow, brethren,” he began. “I come before you today with a story to tell and a new ally to introduce. Due to no real fault of my own, I found myself surrounded by an army of goblins. And while I fought valiantly, I was outnumbered and was certain to be overtaken by the vicious hoard. When all hope was nearly lost, two of the goblins nearest to me were struck with arrows and fell down dead. I had no idea where the arrows were coming from, but with their aid, I was able to defeat the goblin hoard. It was only when the last one was dead that my companion dropped down from a nearby tree and announced her presence with a crossbow sling across her back.

“I owe my life to this woman, but I had nothing of real value to offer her, so I invited her to join us instead. A seventh adventurer will only help us when it comes to welding the seven sacred artifacts designed to break the bond that the evil king has on our beloved homeland, and I feel she’ll make an excellent addition to our party. It is my honor to introduce Miss Calpurnia Amaranthe to all of you.”

“But how can we trust her?” Mike asked. “We know nothing of this woman or where she came from. How do we know she's not on the side of the king and actively working against us?”

“Bite your tongue,” Gareth sneered. “She is a woman of few words, but from the little she has told me, I believe that she has the purest of intentions for joining us on our quest. I owe her my life, and I don't think she would stoop so low as to betray me with everything she's promised. But, if it helps to dissuade any uncertainties you might have about working with her, I will swear on the good name of Ryker Stormsworn and the honor of The Raven Queen that she will not betray your trust.”

The party whispered amongst themselves before Dustin turned to Chrissy.

“I get up from the table, cross over to Calpurnia, offer her my hand, and say ‘Welcome to the party, Cal. Hope you enjoy food that tastes like ass and mediocre lute playing after too much mead.’”

“Hey! My lute playing is phenomenal no matter how much mead I've had,” Jeff yelled.

“Keep telling yourself that, Leafshade.”

After the rest of the party took their turns introducing themselves to Calpurnia, the group set off into the woods. While Eddie was excited to see how Chrissy was going to fit into their group, this was not the campaign he would have wanted to bring her in on, and while he was normally a fair and impartial dungeon master when it came to letting the party make their own choices on how to live in the stories he created, the urge to sabotage their mission grew stronger the longer he sat there. Specifically, he wanted to keep Chrissy from succeeding in anything that would allow her access to the chest. It was hard enough for him to mentally prepare for the possibility of his friends learning what was locked away in that chest. He'd already come to terms with them knowing. Chrissy knowing was a different animal entirely, and he didn't know if that was something he could handle.

But he was going to keep his cool. He was going to continue being a fair and impartial dungeon master and put his own interests aside in favor of making this an enjoyable experience for everyone involved. It did cross his mind that if Chrissy enjoyed this session, she might decide to keep playing with them, and he would've been lying to himself if he said that he didn't want her to stick around. He just had to find a balance between making this session fun for her and keeping her from getting inside that chest.

With Eddie painting a picture of the world around them, the party journeyed through the woods. Occasionally, a low level monster or two would jump out at them, but with seven party members, they were defeated pretty quickly. Soon, their adventure led them to the edge of the thieves’ camp which was smack dab in the middle of an open clearing in the woods.

“How big is the camp?” Lucas asked. “Do we need to roll a perception check to figure that out or learn how many people are in the camp?”

“It's after nightfall, but the camp is well lit at the moment, and it's small enough that that isn't necessary,” Eddie told them as he set up his miniatures on the terrain before them. “It's a fairly small group. There are three tents positioned around a roaring fire. From this distance, you can only see five men, but there could be more in the tents. As of right now, you're far enough away from them and hidden in the shadows, so they don't know you're there. How would you like to proceed?”

“I say we just run forward and ambush them,” Greg said. “We outnumber them, and the camp is small enough that we'll easily be able to find the chest after we win this fight.”

“We don't know how many men are still in the tents though,” Lucas countered. “If we just rush in, it'll alert anyone in there, and then we'll be the ones getting ambushed. We have to come up with a better strategy than just running in.”

That's when Chrissy - who had remained mostly silent this far other than asking about loot - spoke up.

“You said they don't know we're here?” she asked.

“You're completely hidden. As long as you don't start screaming, you won't alert them to your presence until you're ready to do so.”

“And are we close enough that we can make ranged attacks? I mean, if I climbed one of these trees, would I be able to hit one of them with my crossbow?”

“I might make you roll with disadvantage because of how dark it is outside of their camp if I'm feeling like giving you an extra challenge, but you're close enough that any crossbow or ranged weapon could hit them.”

“I think I have an idea then. Who else uses a ranged weapon besides me?”

“I have a crossbow, and Lucas uses a short bow,” Jeff told her.

“Perfect. May I move our miniatures to illustrate my idea?”

“Whatever you need to do.”

“Okay, here's what I'm thinking,” she said as she pulled the seven player miniatures into her hands. “Those of us with ranged attacks can climb separate trees to get a better vantage point on our shots. I assume there'll be some sort of athletics check to do that? And will we need to do a stealth check as well before we take our shots?”

“You'll need to do an athletics check to get into the tree, but there are a lot of low hanging branches, so it would be an easy check to pass. The only way I'd make you do a stealth check, too, is if you fail your athletics roll just because falling out of a tree would be loud enough to let the thieves know you're there.”

“Okay, so assuming we all pass our athletics checks, would we all be able to get a shot in before the thieves would counterattack?”

“Since this is your first session, and you're doing some pretty creative thinking on the fly for a newbie, I'll allow it.”

“Fantastic. Here's my plan then.”

Chrissy lined up her halfling rogue, Lucas's human ranger, and Jeff’s elven bard along the tree line. She then took Dustin’s dwarf artificer, Greg’s half-orc barbarian, and Gareth and Mike’s human paladins, placing them in a line closer to the camp.

“So, what I'm thinking is that Jeff can stay on the ground, and Lucas and I will have our players climb the trees. Then, we can fire off three shots into the camp. I'm hoping we'll all hit, but even if there's a miss, the main goal is to cause a little chaos within the camp.

“What I'm thinking will happen next is that anyone who's currently in the tents will come out of hiding when they hear the commotion happening around the fire.”

“But how do you know they'll come out?” Mike asked. “You might just alert them to the fact that there's someone hiding in the trees, and then they'll have the upper hand by staying hidden until we're right there.”

“I highly doubt that's going to happen,” Chrissy continued. “These thieves are clearly morons.”

“How do you figure?” Eddie asked

“Well, just look at where they set up camp. They have to know that someone is looking for them at this point after robbing a knight, and yet they chose to set up camp in such an open area. Sure, it's an open area in the middle of the woods, but they're still really exposed. If it were Calpurnia, she would have hidden somewhere deeper in the woods. It might have been more dangerous for her, but at least she would've been better hidden from attackers. The thieves didn't consider the risk of staying in the clearing, so I doubt they'd think before rushing out of their tents.”

“An interesting theory,” Eddie said as he leaned back on his throne.

“One that you wouldn't be careless enough to confirm or deny?” she asked.

“You're pretty smart for a newbie, but no, I won't be confirming or denying your theory.”

A blush started to bloom on Chrissy’s cheeks, and it took everything in Eddie’s power to keep from telling her everything she wanted to know. He wasn't going to give her special treatment just because he'd never been more attracted to her than right in this moment where he realized that she would be a formidable player in any campaign that he crafted with the way she was thinking.

He didn't have to hold out for long though because she was soon diving back into her plan.

“Whether Eddie will confirm my theory or not, I think I'm right,” she told the group. “After everyone exits the tents, Gareth, Dustin, Greg, and Mike can all rush forward and attack in the confusion. Even if the newly revealed thieves get to attack first, we'll have potentially incapacitated three out of the five we already know about, and I like our odds of outnumbering them after that.

“Plus, this keeps our healer from taking immediate damage since Jeff is hidden in the trees and out of the fray. Lucas and I can keep it up with the hidden ranged attacks from our trees no matter what, and he can run forward if anyone ever needs healing. You're all at a higher level than the people we're fighting, so this should be a relatively easy brawl. And, this keeps me from taking too much more damage since my hit points aren't nearly as high as yours. I'm fairly confident that if we try my plan, we'll all make it out of this fight without any major injuries, and we'll be able to claim whatever loot they have in the camp in addition to retrieving Sir James's chest. What do you guys think?”

Chrissy bit her lower lip and looked over to the rest of the party in search of their approval. The boys looked between themselves, but Gareth snuck a quick glance over at Eddie and saw that their dungeon master was gazing at Chrissy with hearts in his eyes. If it wasn't already obvious that Eddie had been harboring a crush on this girl, hearing her plotting out the perfect attack strategy had clearly worked some sort of magic on him.

“I think it's brilliant,” he told the group. “I say we give her plan a shot. What have we got to lose?”

The rest of the group agreed, so they put their plan into action. Everything fell into place exactly as Chrissy had hoped it would. She and Lucas passed their athletics checks with ease, so their characters were able to fire their arrows from the trees and injure two of the thieves surrounding the fire. Jeff ended up missing his shot, but his arrow went through the fire instead and ended up setting one of the tents ablaze which injured two of the three thieves that had remained hidden. The chaos that that caused allowed the four remaining players to ambush the camp, and the battle was won easily without any party member taking on too much damage. They raided the camp and divided the gold and gems evenly amongst the players, and a few people walked away with extra weapons. And, if there happened to be the perfect set of halfling armor for Chrissy’s character, that was purely a coincidence and definitely not an incentive for her to keep playing with them.

Jeff’s character ended up being the one to find Sir James's chest, but he immediately offered it to Chrissy.

“I think Calpurnia should carry the chest back to Sir James,” he said. “It was her strategy that helped us win it back, so she should have the honor of presenting it to him.”

“I couldn't agree more, Leafshade,” Gareth replied. “Our new companion has proved herself a worthy addition to this group, and I think it would suit us well to secure her position as a trusted ally in that way.”

Eddie narrowed his eyes in their direction. He didn't know what they were up to, but he knew that he didn't like whatever it was.

“I would be honored to present the chest back to Sir James,” Chrissy told the group. “What’s in it anyway?”

“No clue,” Gareth told her. “All we’ve been told is that it holds his greatest secret, but that’s the only clue we’ve been given.”

“Is the chest locked?” she asked, turning to Eddie.

“Of course. You think he’d leave his greatest secret somewhere easy to get into?”

“I’d like to roll to open the chest. That’s something I’m allowed to do right?”

“Yeah, you could try to do that, but is that something you really want to do? I mean, if you open it, and he finds out that you betrayed his trust, he might not want to help you on your quest any longer. And if he doesn’t want to help you out, how are you going to find the seven sacred artifacts you need to overthrow the king? That seems like a pretty big risk to me. You definitely don’t wanna open the chest.”

Eddie knew he was rambling, but he couldn’t stop himself. He didn’t want anyone to know what was in that chest. Especially Chrissy.

“But what if his secret is that he’s loyal to the king?” she asked. “Then I’d be saving the group from aligning ourselves with someone who only wants to sabotage our mission.”

“That’s true,” Gareth chimed in. “We have no reason to believe that Sir James is even on our side. I think she should open it.”

“And, if I’m staying true to my character, I feel like Calpurnia would want to open the chest. She doesn’t trust people easily, and knowing for sure that Sir James isn’t secretly loyal to the king will go a long way towards helping her trust him as an ally in this quest.”

“Then I think you have to open it,” Jeff told her. “You’ve gotta stay true to your character.”

“What kind of check do I need to make for that?” she asked.

Eddie dug through his dice bag and set a single black die with red numbers on it in front of Chrissy.

“Dexterity,” he told her. “But you should use this one for it. For good luck.”

“Isn’t that the D20 that’s in permanent dice jail for never rolling anything higher than a six?” Dustin asked.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Eddie couldn’t watch as Chrissy picked up the die and rolled it, but he knew from her squeal of joy that he wasn’t going to like the result.

“That’s a nat 20!” Gareth called out. He offered up a high five that she gladly returned.

“So what’s in it?” Chrissy asked, excitedly turning to Eddie. “What’s in the chest?”

He said nothing as he opened his wallet, pulled out a key, and then used said key to unlock the small chest sitting on the table. He slid the chest over to Chrissy and could feel his stomach twisting up in knots as she opened the chest and pulled out the envelope that was hidden inside.

When she opened the envelope, he couldn’t take it anymore. He got up from the table and walked out without another word. Chrissy almost didn’t notice his exit. She was too focused on the contents of that envelope. Inside, she’d found a simple silver charm bracelet with a single cheerleader charm and a handwritten poem.

More beautiful than the lushest red rose

And more comforting than a warm embrace

The one thing every poor sap surely knows

I was a goner once I saw her face

Bright blue eyes and waves of strawberry blonde

No one around is more lovely than she

This sweet girl of whom I’m overly fond

Deserving a love far better than me

Try as I might we were doomed from the start

Someone more worthy shall win her favor

Destined forever to be torn apart

While I still can, these moments I’ll savor

For all the world could not help but adore

The only fair maiden my heart beats for

She didn’t want to be too presumptuous, but she couldn’t help but think that the poem was written about her.

“What was in that chest that made him leave like that?” Lucas asked. “I’ve never seen him be that quiet before.”

“It’s nothing,” Chrissy said as she tucked the items back into the envelope and tucked the envelope into her sweater sleeve. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Should one of us go after him?” Greg asked.

“I’ll do it.”

Chrissy was up and out of the room before anyone could stop her. It didn’t take her long to find Eddie. He was pacing back and forth not far outside of the doors to the building. She could tell that he was mumbling something to himself, but he was being quiet enough that she couldn’t make out what he was saying. She moved to sit perched on the edge of the brick planter near the door and cleared her throat. Eddie whipped around to face her and froze in his tracks.

“You ran out of there pretty quickly,” she told him. “I figured you would have wanted to explain the knight’s secret after I opened that chest.”

“I figured it was pretty self-explanatory.”

“It’s a lovely poem. Really.”

He couldn’t have this conversation with her. There was a ‘but’ coming. He just knew it. It’s a lovely poem, but he shouldn’t have written it. But she didn’t feel the same way. But she thought it was creepy and so was he for writing it in the first place. But, but, but, but. It didn’t matter what the but was. He couldn’t stick around to hear it.

He turned on his heel to start heading towards where he’d parked his van, but she was moving to stop him before he could make it very far. She grabbed the cuff of his jacket and started to pull him back over to where she’d been sitting. Once she’d taken her seat again, she patted the space next to her, and he joined her in sitting on the edge of the planter.

“When did you write it?” she asked him.

“You’re gonna think I’m even more of a freak than you already do.”

“Don’t say that. I’ve never thought you were a freak.”

“Really?”

“Scout’s honor,” she said, holding up three fingers in the typical Girl Scout salute. “I just want to make sense of what was in that chest.”

“You remember that middle school talent show?” he asked her. “You did your cheer thing, and my band played. After the show, you came up to me and told me you thought my guitar playing was neat, and you had the biggest smile on your face when I let you hold it even if the one note you played was completely out of key.”

“I remember.”

“Well, a week later, my English teacher taught us about sonnets. I wrote the first draft then.”

“How many drafts are there?”

“I don’t know. Dozens probably.”

“And the charm bracelet?”

“Probably around the same time, I guess? I saved up my comic book money for weeks and any other spare change I could scrounge up doing random chores for people around the trailer park just so I could afford it. I had this whole plan where I was gonna give you the poem and the bracelet - maybe some flowers if I could find some nice ones growing in the park - and tell you that you were the nicest and prettiest girl I’d ever met.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“I chickened out.” He couldn’t look at her as he spoke, choosing to stare down at his hands instead as he fiddled with the rings that adorned his left hand. “Then the school year was over, and we weren’t at the same school after that, so I thought it would have been weird. And then, when we were at the same school again, we were hanging out with such different people, and it felt like too much time had passed, so I just didn’t say anything.”

“Oh.”

Chrissy was silent for a moment before pulling the envelope out of where she’d hidden it in her sweater sleeve.

“One last question,” she started, turning the envelope over in her hands a couple times. “You said that you’d written more than one draft. When did you last rewrite it?”

“Truthfully? I changed the last couplet after we had lunch together yesterday. Spending the period with you kind of inspired me.”

“That’s sweet.”

“You think so?”

He looked up at her for the first time since he’d admitted his crush, and he noticed her cheeks were tinged with the faintest of blushes as she nodded. But then she offered him the envelope back, and his heart sank. Of course, she didn’t want it. She thought it was sweet, but she didn’t feel the same way about him, so she couldn’t accept them. She was going to turn him down, tonight would be her only session with the party, and she’d probably ask Ms. O’Donnell for a new partner because she couldn’t bear to spend anymore time with him after he’d made things awkward with his confession.

“You don’t want them?” he asked, taking the envelope back from her. He was waiting for her to put him out of his misery - or plunge him into it depending on how you chose to look at things.

“No, I want them.”

That definitely wasn’t the answer he expected from her.

“You do?”

“I do. I just have this feeling that you really, really didn’t want me to know they exist let alone give them to me tonight, and I only want them if you actually want to give them to me.”

“That’s fair, I guess.”

“But, if me saying that I want them isn’t enough, let me just say this: I don’t care that we’re in different social circles. That kind of thing doesn’t matter to me. What matters to me is the kind of person you are.”

“Oh, yeah? And what kind of person am I other than the school freak?”

“Stop saying that about yourself. You're not a freak. Don't you realize that you're the very best kind of person? I saw how you took those freshmen under your wing and how you gave them a safe place in a school that really doesn’t value what you guys bring to the table. You’re nice to me on both my good days and bad when the people that are supposedly my closest friends only want me around on the good ones. You even let me join your club tonight when you probably really didn’t want to given the result of that quest. Plus, I think you have the best smile, you make me laugh without even trying, and I still think your guitar playing is really neat.”

“You haven’t heard me play since middle school,” he said, trying to change the subject from all of the nice things she’d just said about him. “How would you know it’s still neat?”

“Whenever I need to get away from my mom, I spend time with my grandma who just so happens to live two doors down from Gareth’s house, and you guys aren’t exactly quiet.”

“I was not aware of this.”

“Well, now that you are, maybe I could come listen to you play in person instead of through the open window of my grandma’s guest room?”

“I'm sure we could work something out,” he told her.

He moved to hold her hand, and when she gave his hand a little squeeze instead of pulling away, he knew his fears about her rejecting him had fully disappeared.

“So, if I were to give you the things in that envelope willingly, you'd accept them?”

“Gladly.”

“Wait right here.”

Chrissy watched as Eddie got up and raced over to the grassy area next to the parking lot. When he returned to sit next to her, he was holding a small bunch of bright yellow dandelions.

“They aren't exactly the tulips I was picturing, but they'll have to do for now,” he said as he offered them to her.

“They're lovely,” she said with a small giggle as she made a show of smelling them as if he'd given her a large and fragrant bouquet.

He pulled the charm bracelet out of the envelope next.

“May I?” he asked.

She held out her hand, and he clasped the bracelet around her wrist before moving to hold her hand in his again.

“So, I wrote you this poem,” he told her as he handed her the envelope. “When I was in middle school, I just wanted you to know that you were the nicest and prettiest girl I'd ever met. Now, I want you to know that that's still true, but you're also one of the very best kind of people. Better than anyone else in this town even. And I was wondering if maybe you’d want to go out with me sometime?”

“I’d really like that,” she replied. “So, you wanted to give me tulips?”

“Yeah. I have no idea why, but I always pictured bringing you a big bouquet of tulips in a rainbow of different colors.”

“Do you know what tulips are supposed to symbolize?”

He shook his head.

“Over the years, they’ve come to symbolize a lot of different things, and typically, the different colors all have different meanings. But, the longest lasting and most well known meaning tulips carry is a deep and perfect love.”

***

If any of the guys noticed the way Chrissy was clutching a handful of weeds as if they were a precious bouquet or the smear of lipgloss against Eddie’s cheek when the pair reentered the room, they all chose to remain silent on the matter. They didn’t know what had happened while they were outside, but one thing was certain: their gaming sessions wouldn’t be featuring anyone pining over an unattainable love anytime soon.

#hellcheer #hellcheer fic #hellcheer fanfic #eddie munson #chrissy cunningham #my writing

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