Papa, Part 4

3rd Person's POV

The van came to a halt.

The inside of War Zone was bustling with life, a questionable amount of people wanted to buy weapons for some reason.

Valerie thought this would've been some shady shop in some shady alley. This was far from it.

While Eddie's mask did turn some heads, he mostly went unnoticed. Everyone split up to different sections to buy weapons for themselves.

Valerie found herself drawn to the Guns section. She was weighing two revolvers in her hands, trying to decide which one to buy, before tossing them both into her basket.

That's when she heard a familiar voice nearby.

"Nancy Wheeler."

She turned around to see Nancy, and beside her, the one and only, the last person she wanted to see right now, Jason Carver.

"Fuck." She muttered under her breath.

Nancy turned to see Valerie frozen in place, staring at them. One look from Nance, and alarm bells started to go off inside her head.

If Jason was here, his friends must be too.

Jason was just about spot Valerie, when Nancy distracted him, mouthing a quick 'go' towards her direction.

She dropped her basket from her hands and sprinted towards where she thought she last saw Eddie. Thankfully, he was still there, casually twirling an explosive around his fingers.

She snatches the bomb away from his hand and carefully places it back on the shelf, she wouldn't wanna blow the place up, now that would do nothing but bring attention to them.

She wraps an arm around his wrist and guides him through the store, making sure to steer clear of Jason or his buddies.

"Val? Where are we goi-"

"Shut up." She didn't bother looking at him, she was too busy analysing her options, "We can't leave through the front door, someone might see us. Is there another way?"

"There's a back door. But why-"

"Shh. Let's go."

She let him take lead, every once in a while ushering him to go faster, while he just looked dumbfounded.

Once they were out she leaned against the wall, the cold steel of it raising light goosebumps all over her skin. She let out a sigh.

He pulled the mask over his head, running his fingers through the disheveled mess that it left behind.

The last time Valerie ran her fingers through them...well, he seemed to like it. Enough to make him moan her name.

Her cheeks turned pink at the intruding thought.

Eddie noticed it, of course.

He couldn't help the smirk that his lips curled into at the sight, "What's going on in that pretty head of yours?" He instinctively leaned down.

"You horny fucking idiot," Valerie let out a scoff, punching him in the chest, "the goddamn blonde prick is here."

The smile is quicky wiped off of his mouth, "Jason? Why didn't you lead with that?"

"Well what did you think I brought you here for?" She shot him an incredulous look.

"I don't know, I thought- nevermind." He takes a step away, "But since we're on the topic, we should probably talk- Valerie? Val?"

He starts sprinting after her and quickly catches up in no time.

"You're running from this conversation."

"No I'm not." She muttered, still speed walking.

"You literally just ran away from me."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Eddie chuckles, "Come on Val, talk to me."

"Don't call me Val."

If he didn't call her Val, all would be okay. If he didn't call her Val, she could attempt to ignore the heart thumping against her ribcage.

"You didn't seem to mind when I was kissing you."

Valerie stopped in her tracks, a silent gasp escaping her.

She took a sharp turn, eyes narrowing into slits.

"Oh shit." Eddie mumbled.

Was is the wrong time to admit to her how hot she looked just then?

"Eddie Munson," she walked towards him, jabbing a finger into his chest, "if you talk about that kiss, one more time-"

Eddie didn't care she was mad at her, she almost always was. There was something about the way she looked like she wanted to murder him right then and there, but then there were two short little braids perched atop her shoulder.

She was just the right amount of beautiful, with a shot of scary. He couldn't get enough of it. So he silently stared and let her scream out all her pent up frustration.

Although he did have a couple other ways in mind, that he preferred way more.

After a good five minutes she huffs and crosses her arms over her chest, "Are you even listening to me?"

A sheepish smile took over his features, "That depends. On a scale of one to ten, how angry would you say you- Val? Hey!"

He jogs up to her once more, "You kissed me back, Val."

"You kissed me first."

"Okay, but you'd been flirty with me the past couple days, Henderson." Eddie drawled out, teasingly.

Valerie felt a warm feeling creep up her neck, had she been? Maybe a little.

"I was joking around and shit. I thought it would be fun, messing around with you." She looked at him from the corner of her eye, "I didn't think you'd react like... this."

"Like what?"

Valerie turned to glare at him, he was clearly enjoying this.

"Feeling shy now, are we?"

She stops, yet again, and fully turns to face him.

"We made out in the upside down, is that what you wanted to hear? Can I go now?"

He smirked slightly at the admission, but it went away quickly, a much more conflicted smile taking its place.

Valerie frowned when she noticed the change in demeanour, "What is it?"

He ran a hand through his hair, a nervous laugh escaping his lips before he could help it, "I just, I have this feeling- this fear that... " He paused abruptly and shook his head, "Nevermind."

Valerie rushed to grab his hand, he raised his eyebrows.

"You wanted to talk, don't leave me hanging."

He smiled softly, "I've seen more death in the last couple days than..." he lets out a chuckle, "ever, basically."

He saw Valerie tense at the topic, so he moved closer and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"I know you've faced this shit multiple times before, I don't know how you do it really- on a side note, you're my hero Valerie."

The smile lit up her features before she could stop it, no one had ever said that to her before.

Eddie beamed at the sight, rubbing small circles into her back, "Anyways, I guess it's something that Harrington said that stuck with me, it's been buzzing around my head like this annoying bee-"

"Steve?" Valerie scrunched her eyebrows.

"So you know how I've been crushing on you since middle school, right?" Eddie scratched the back of his head.

To think, he'd been so confident, grabbing her and kissing her like that. And he was now cowering away at a childhood crush confession.

"No Eddie, you didn't make it obvious at all." Valerie deadpanned.

He blushed, "Yeah, so I told Harrington that, and he looked at me like I was nuts and was screaming at me all like 'are you going to wait another five years before doing something' and-"

"Wait, so that's why you kissed me?" Valerie widened her eyes.

"No, I would've done it either way. Come on Val, I had you this close to me at Lover's Lake. Was I just supposed to move on after that just because Harrington decided to interrupt us?" He rolled his eyes.

Valerie cleared her throat, "Um, so, you were saying?"

"I might die tonight. You're putting your life at risk, baiting Vecna. If something- what if something happens to you?"

Valerie's eyes softened when see saw the sudden fear overtake his nerves, "I'll be okay."

He let out a laugh, an empty one, shaking his head, "I'm not brave like that, Val. I don't like the idea of losing you,"

"Eddie-"

"I don't want to wake up one day, five fucking years later, and realise all of a sudden, that all of this, is in the past. That I've left you in the past."

"Okay, Munson-"

"All because I was too busy running away, because I was too scared to admit my feelings to the only girl I've ever-"

His speech was cut rather short, when a hand reached out and took a hold of the collar of his t-shirt, and yanked him down to her level, to her lips.

[A/N: And on this occasion, I bring to you all, yet another well deserved Edlerie kiss👏👏👏 10k reads😭 insane.

But seriously, this story's almost at an end as you all can probably guess. I've never really written fanfiction before, so this was quite the experience. Publishing chapters at a consistent pace hasn't always been easy, life's a huge pressure at the moment. But all the reads and comments have been so so worth it🧎‍♀️ Lomls all of u🌷]