a/n: not edited or beta'd we die like canon eddie (i'm sorry)

Willow would never admit to Eddie, but his room was comfortable. She had figured it had potential when she had first visited the day they had ditched, but that potential had bloomed into a full-blown comfort that Willow never wanted to leave now that he had cleaned up. The sheets had been changed, most of the beer cans had been cleared away, and any dirty laundry had clearly either been washed or shoved under his bed. Either way, it was out of Willow's sight and that worked for her.

"Eddie, we really need to start on the project."

It was Sunday, and since the library was no longer an option, the two of them agreed to study at Eddie's trailer since his uncle was working. Willow should have known better before agreeing, because the last thirty minutes has been her curled up on his bed, fighting off a nap, while he sat in a chair across the room plucking on his guitar mindlessly. The space was simply too comfortable and too filled with distractions.

"Okay," he responds, not looking up from his frets. He doesn't have the electric guitar plugged into an amp, and Willow is only able to hear the notes he's playing very faintly.

"Okay, that means you need to put down the guitar and focus," she says, still not moving to sit up in his bed.

"Says you," he immediately scoffs, finally looking up at her and motioning at her with one hand, "You're the one taking a cat nap in my bed right now."

When they had first walked in, Eddie had been quick to remind Willow of the last time she was here.

"Now, before we go in here, I have to warn you - la casa de Eddie has undergone some changes," he dramatically sighed.

"Changes?"

"Changes. We take complaints very seriously in this household."

Willow had quirked an eyebrow, about to question what he meant, but he left her no time to before he swung open his bedroom door. Immediately, she knew - he'd cleaned.

She had given several hard glance-overs to the bed before she finally flopped herself down, but once she did, she never wanted to get back up. Eddie's mattress was worn, the comforter he had neatly tucked over it smelling mostly of his cologne and laundry detergent. She figures he had changed his sheets very recently considering they didn't smell of the particularly stubborn and prominent Eddie scents: cigarettes and weed.

"I can't help that it's comfortable," she huffs, forcing herself to sit up in defiance of her body and glare at Eddie, "Besides, didn't you say there was a three date minimum to see your room again? You have not taken me on three dates."

They were getting off topic again. Willow should know better, considering they only had a few weeks left to complete their project, but she can't help herself.

"I did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

Eddie stands and returns his precious guitar back to its wall mount as Willow crosses her arms, "Name the three times you took me on a date."

"Okay, fine. Hellfire-"

"That does not count."

"Denny's!"

"Okay..." she trails off, agreeing on that one, "That's one."

"The movie night last night counts."

"Oh, it so does not."

"It does for all reasons and purposes regarding la casa de Eddie," he grins before he throws himself down on the bed beside her, making her bounce slightly and let out a small yelp.

Willow waits a second before she finally flops herself down beside Eddie, their shoulders hardly brushing as they both stare at the ceiling in silence. It's nice, neither making any move to break the moment.

Last night had been successful. At least, Willow figures it had been successful and Eddie had agreed with her. Steve hadn't reacted much, mostly just shushing the two whenever Eddie finally got into the movie and began to make small jokes into Willow's ear, constantly causing her to giggle. He'd also scolded her and Robin when they made a game of tossing popcorn into each other's mouths during the final ten minutes of the movie. Willow was okay - it definitely wasn't eating her alive inside that Steve's reactions lacked jealousy. Not at all. She was completely fine with it.

It was fine.

"How mad would you be if I got high to do the assignment?" Eddie randomly asks her, turning onto his side to look at her.

She only turns her head instead of her full body, squinting at him, "Pissed. Not happening. You need to be sober for study sessions, Munson."

He puckers his lips in disappointment, squinting his eyes right back at her before dramatically groaning, "You're no fun."

Willow simply rolls her eyes. "Call me the fun killer, whatever. You'll thank me when you get to finally walk the stage this year at graduation."

"Fun killer? That's a shitty serial killer name."

"I'm sorry, do you spend your free time coming up with your serial killer name?"

"What? Never. I couldn't hurt a fly," Eddie rolls back onto his back, "Some of us aren't psychos."

Willow hums in response, returning to counting the cracks in Eddie's ceiling. Twenty six, although about ten of them are so small she doesn't know if they should count. She lets herself sink further into Eddie's sheets, eyes fluttering shut involuntarily a few times, but she continues to force them back open. They really need to do their assignments. But she can't help herself, now feeling Eddie's warmth radiating off of him. The entire situation is a perfect combination for what would probably be the best sleep of her life.

Eddie catches her dozing off yet again, "Hey, Red."

"Hm?" she lazily turns her head, not opening her eyes until she feels Eddie reach out and poke her shoulder, "What, idiot?"

"You're sleeping."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

She shuts her eyes again and throws her hand up lazily, holding up her middle finger in his general direction. She feels another sharp poke, this time in her side, and squirms.

" Don't ," she whines, moving herself to put more space between the two of them, "Next time you tickle me, I'm punching you," she turns her hand that was flipping him off into a weak fist.

" Ooo , I'm so scared," he teases her. She finally opens her eyes and is looking at him, hair fanned out beneath him and eyes shining as he watches her. If it were anyone else, the eye contact would be stifling. But it's Eddie, and instead of discomfort strangling her chest, all she can feel is the warmth that blankets her. She could stay like this for an eternity.

Eddie breaks the contact when he suddenly squeezes his eyes shut and screws up his face, poking out his tongue at her.

She tries to fight back the bubble of laughter, but it slips out regardless, "You are such a child. C'mon, let's do the assignment. We've got reading to do."

Eddie whines in protest as she sits up, leaning herself awkwardly off the side of his bed to grab her backpack she had discarded on his bedroom floor. It doesn't take her long to pull out his copy of the Fellowship of the Ring.

"Hey, I was actually thinking," Eddie starts, Willow not noticing him sitting up beside her until he's reaching for the book. She doesn't hesitate to smack his hand away, "Hear me out. What if instead of reading that one you read the Hobbit? Same author, and I already have it annotated-"

"Why do you have two books annotated?"

"This is my third year doing the project, duh."

Willow scrunches her nose, still clutching the book protectively, "Eddie, didn't O'Donnell say you never turned in the project before?"

"Yeah, and?"

"Are you-" Willow feels slight exasperation, shoulders sagging and she just stares at Eddie dumbfounded, "Oh my God, are you telling me you did the reading every year, and you were just too lazy to do the actual project?"

He freezes, like a toddler that's been caught doing something wrong, "Uh... I sense if I say yes, I'm going to be in trouble."

"Edward Theodore Munson!" she scolds him, smacking his own book into his chest as he puts up his hands in defense.

"Hey! Hey, hey, hey! In my defense, no one ever liked being paired with the freak, so most of the time, it was a bust," he's laughing as he says this, but it doesn't lighten the weight of the words as they reach Willow.

What?

Willow's heart sinks ever so slightly as she processes what he's just told her. "What do you mean it was a bust? Like, they just wouldn't do the project?"

Eddie shrugs as if this isn't monumental news, "Eh, sort of. Usually they'd beg O'Donnell to switch partners, or they'd plead with her at the last moment for an alternative assignment after avoiding me. Who cares, though?"

Willow thinks of Steve's reaction to her being paired with Eddie, how his immediate solution was for Willow to do exactly what Eddie just described. And then she remembers the fact that Eddie hadn't even brought his books the first day when the project was assigned - had he assumed it would be a repeat of his previous years in the class?

"Is that why you didn't bring your book that first day?" Willow asks this aloud rather than letting the thought boil within her.

Eddie's playful mood is falling more and more as he recognizes the seriousness in Willow's eyes.

"Is it?" she presses when he doesn't answer her. Suddenly, he looks down, not meeting her gaze. He's clearly uncomfortable. She can't tell if it's because it's an embarrassing thing to admit, no one wanting to be your partner, or if he still struggles to grapple with the fact that Willow cares . "God, the students of Hawkins' High are such little shits."

"Yeah, they are. Me included," Eddie laughs softly, starting to fiddle with his rings.

She doesn't think before she does it, she just acts - Willow reaches a hand out and grabs Eddie from the fidgeting, holding his hand in hers innocently. They don't intertwine their fingers, simply pressing their palms together for comfort. Eddie is shocked when he looks up at her, "You are a little shit, but at least you don't ditch your partners. At least, not yet."

"Hey, if either of us should be ditching this project, it's you," Eddie gives a small squeeze to her hand and smiles, "Besides, I'm locked in now. Rumor has it I've got the best tutor in town."

"Jacob Banister is your tutor?" Willow gasps, "Damn, I've been trying to snag him to help me with algebra for years ."

"Fuck off," Eddie giggles, letting go of her hand and standing up. She's shocked when he crosses the room to his desk and grabs a random book off his desk along with a binder. Once he's back beside her on the bed, she realizes he's grabbed The Hobbit, "Here. You can keep the other one, too. Or not. You don't have to read them, obviously, but-"

"I'll read them," she insists, taking the book from his hands quickly, "Annotations, too. Can't pass up the opportunity to get a glimpse into the Eddie Munson's mind, can I?"

Eddie is shaking his head with low chuckles as he digs her copy of Little Women out of his backpack. She expects him to pass it to her, to insist that she reads to him once more, but is shocked when he situates himself with his back to his backboard, a pillow propped behind him, and flips the book open silently. She can only stare as she watches him begin to trail over the words, possibly including her own awful handwriting.

"Why are you staring at me, Red?" he mumbles, not glancing up from the pages.

She doesn't know how to respond. Why was she disappointed? Wasn't she the one who originally hated the idea of them reading out loud to each other? "Uh... Sorry."

She decides to not press the issue, to not question it as she settles herself into a similar position next to Eddie, and opens up The Hobbit.

—

As it turns out, reading silently in the same room as Eddie Munson isn't a thing.

For the first ten minutes, it works out for the two of them. But then Eddie kept snickering at something, so Willow had to pull herself from the story at hand and ask him what was so funny. That was all it took to break the dam, and for the flood of Eddie's questions to ensue.

The questions ranged. Some were about the actual story, while others were seemingly mocking her annotations. She knew he wasn't actually making fun of her cliffnotes though based off of the playful smile he wore the entire time.

"Why is their dad gone again?"

"Why do you write your t's like that?"

"What's with the aggressive underlining?"

"You should have underlined that line, sweetheart. That was a zinger."

They slowly gravitated towards each other, shoulders eventually bumping and Willow's wandering eyes following along to each page that Eddie was reading. Some of the questions she left unanswered, or would only reward him a breathy scoff. Some did lead to small rants on her part, though. She'd go on whimsical explanations of metaphors and symbolism, explaining all to Eddie in a way that was clearly more enticing to him than simply reading. It almost felt like baring her souls at time, but his attention never faltered. He looked at her as if she was informing him of the cure to cancer, as if she was resolving all of the world's issues by explaining to him the time she was seven and desperately wanted to learn piano much like Beth. She defends Amy with what could have been her dying breath, going into extensive details as to why she wasn't selfish to stay in school.

Neither notice that they've read up to chapter fifteen, too engrossed with each other and their current discussion of what Jo cutting off her hair could possibly symbolize.

"It feels like a loss of her innocence," Willow explains as her head lulls onto Eddie's shoulder. That position had started to feel natural to her, as if the junction between his neck and shoulder had been carved out solely as a place for her weary head to rest. She knows it's a ridiculous notion, but she hopes that he might feel the same way considering he never pushes her away.

Besides, she had started to like the way the scent of his cheap cologne invaded her senses when she did it.

"How do you get all of that from a girl just chopping off her hair?" Eddie questions, "She just did it for a good cause."

"It's not just that, Munson. It's the symbolism of it all; she tells her family that it's for a good cause and that she likes the short length better but... the way she cries when she thinks they're all asleep. The way she mourns her hair," she waves her hands nonchalantly towards the pages and her scribbled handwriting in the margins, "Like I annotated, I once helped Buckley cut her hair and I remember us going on and on about how mature it made her-"

"You can't just project your own experiences onto fictional characters, Red!" Eddie laughs as he cranes his neck to look down at her rather than the book.

She lifts her head briefly, "I'm not! It's a common theme in other novels, too!"

"Oh, yeah? Name another novel."

"It by Stephen King! When Beverly chops all her hair off!"

"Can't say I've ever read it," he muses as she rests her head back onto him, his thumb serving as a bookmark while his other hand shyly wraps around her. She doesn't think anything of it - it's simply a friendly gesture, and probably a more comfortable position.

"Oh, well, we definitely have to rectify that. Put it on your list, pretty boy."

He tenses at her nickname ever so slightly. She doesn't have a chance to question him or push the topic any further when suddenly, a knock sounds from Eddie's door. Willow immediately shoots up, back straightening up against his headboard, but Eddie's arm remains around her.

The door is already creaking open when Eddie calls out, "Come in!"

"Hey, boy, just letting you know I'm..." the older gentleman standing in the doorway immediately trails off as he leans into the doorway, eyes widening at the sight in front of him, "Home. Sorry, didn't know you had company."

Eddie suddenly scrambles to stand up from his bed, suddenly looking guilty. Willow doesn't know what to do, still sitting and staring like an idiot at the stranger. "It's fine! It's cool, we were just- uh, we were just doing homework!"

The man's eyes seem to widen even more, if that were possible. "Right. Homework."

"We were!" Eddie defends himself, walking around his bed to stand in between the two people. Willow takes it as her cue to swing her legs over the side of his bed, still very confused about the situation and getting embarrassed by what the old man was clearly thinking was happening, "I swear. This is my English partner, Willow. Willow, this is my uncle Wayne," as Eddie says this, he waves his hands between the two, a goofy smile overtaking his features. Willow offers a small wave at Wayne, which he doesn't return.

Are we about to get in trouble?

"Ah... so, you're the girl my nephew has been talking abou-"

"Yes!" Eddie interrupts, making Willow shoot a glance in his direction as he rubs the back of his neck, "Yes, this is the girl I've been telling you about who's tutoring me."

"Ouch," Willow tries to joke to lighten the mood, standing and taking both men off guard as she looks over Eddie, "So now I've been demoted from friend to tutor. You wound me, Munson."

His shoulders relax as she uses his own words against him before she's facing his uncle, who still seems fairly tense.

She finally sticks a hand out and takes a few steps forward, "Nice to meet you, sir."

"Please, call me Wayne," Eddie's uncle, Wayne , insists. He takes a moment of staring at her hand, but eventually reaches out to shake it. The moment he does, Willow finally feels herself relax. After the handshake, Wayne seems a bit more friendly, although far more guarded than Eddie. She doesn't blame him, considering she's just some random girl in his trailer, and she knows from Eddie himself that he doesn't really have many 'friends'.

"Nice to meet you, Wayne, " she corrects herself, letting her hand fall back to her side. She glances over to Eddie, unsure of what to do now.

Eddie immediately interjects, sensing her uneasiness. Just as he always did, "Hey, did you get off early or something?"

"Huh?" Wayne questions, face contorting slightly as he looks to his nephew, "No, it's nearly seven."

Eddie and Willow immediately share a look, neither realizing how late it had gotten. She's already beginning to panic, remembering how she promised her mom she'd be home before she'd leave for her overnight shift tonight.

" Shit !" Eddie exclaims, turning and wildly searching for his van keys. Willow wastes no time grabbing her now two books from Eddie, shoving them recklessly into her backpack and turning to scan the room for where she'd slipped off her shoes. Wayne stands still in the doorway, looking more confused by the minute.

"Am I missing something?" he finally gruffly asks the two, Eddie finally finding his keys and holding them up with a small 'aha'.

Eddie looks to his uncle, grinning sheepishly, "No! No, we just... we lost track of time and I was supposed to try and get Willow back home sort of early-"