❝𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙘𝙮.❞

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June McKennan sat on one of the couches in the back of the camper, she was leaning against Eddie's torso, half asleep. It had been awhile since she's slept, but Eddie made her feel safe enough to close her eyes and drift away.

"Hey, Perry?" Eddie called out softly, stroking her curly hair. She hummed in response, not opening her eyes, "Thank you."

"What for?" she sleepily asked.

"For sticking with me." he replied, making June sit up straight, losing her sleepy state, "I probably dragged you into all this and you probably don't even want to be here and I'm sorry-"

June quickly stopped him from speaking further after hearing that, "When are you going to realize that I am here for you. Not because I don't want my father's secret out and certainly not for my parents. You."

"Really?"

"Yeah, idiot, how come you haven't noticed yet?" the black girl chuckled at his stupidity. Then, she blurted out something she had wished to stay inside, "I'd do anything for you, don't you realize?"

Eddie's heart rate went up while Robin looked up from wherever she was looking. She felt the urge to go to Steve and demand her cash, but he was too busy chatting with Nancy.

Eddie had no clue how to respond to that, so he awkwardly looked to all sides except her eyes, he cleared his throat to change the subject, "Are they the reason for your fear? Your parents?"

June's head turned too quickly, indicating that his assumption was right, "No." she lied, but to Eddie it was clear that was a lie, "Okay, he might've been a part of it. But I hated them before!" she tried to defend herself.

"Sure you did." Eddie smirked, his smirk dropped and his eyes softened, "Can I ask what happened?"

"Way to kill the mood, Edward." June grabbed the brunet's hand and took one of the rings on his fingers, she put it on her thumb to play with it, "Simple, he shot at me." she muttered the last part, "Almost killed me, if it wasn't for mom."

"I'm sorry." he rubbed his free hand over her arm in comfort. He couldn't believe Matthew McKennan would get himself so lost that he'd shoot his own daughter. yeah, he figured from June's stories that he was stoned off his mind, but than again so was he sometimes. But this far? Crossed the line.

June closed her eyes and tilted her head back, wincing slightly at the feeling of her open neck to the couch, "Nope," she responded, popping the p, "you're good."

➼➼➼

Steve pulled up at the War Zone. He, Robin, Nancy and Erica got out of the camper to go inside while Dustin, Lucas, June and Eddie stayed inside. After a while Dustin and Lucas wanted to go for a walk. They knew the status of the two older teens and man, were they rooting for them.

They closed the door to the camper leaving June and Eddie alone in the light of the lamps. They had closed all the curtains so no one would see Eddie and the lamp was the only source of light.

"So," Eddie started with an awkward expression, "just you and me." not that he minded, he loved having alone time with the girl he liked, but he had no clue on what to say. She felt the same, which made things only harder.

"Just you and me." June repeated, she was sitting on one of the couches with her legs pulled up. Eddie sat - more, like, lounged - on the other side, fully slumped on the couch. His legs were spread and his hands displayed in the middle.

Eddie opened his mouth a few times to talk, but only gasps came out, "Did you mean it when you said you'd do anything for me?" he finally managed to get out.

June raised her eyebrows and smirked to herself, "I mean, I wouldn't eat eyeballs for you, but yeah, pretty much." she chuckled.

The brunet got up from the couch to get closer to the girl across from him and crouched down to get on eye level. The two stared in each other's brown eyes, "Would you.. do the same for me?" June asked lowly, her eyes flickering to his lips.

"I could tell you, but, uh," he teased, "I could also show you."

He inched closer to her face until they were inches apart. Eddie put a strand of curly hair behind June's ear before looking back in her eyes, "Tell me to stop and I will." he uttered lowly.

She shook her head, "No." truth was, she needed his touch as much as he needed hers, if not more.

Eddie saw that as his consent to move on. He gently grabbed her cheeks with both hands and placed his lips on hers. They were so soft, even after she occasionally bit them when she was nervous.

The girl instantly responded by putting her hands on his cheeks as well, deepening the kiss. She subtly pushed him down on the couch to sit on his lap.

June slowly started to rock her hips forward while still cradling the boy under her. Eddie went crazy by the small movements.

Eddie's lips traveled down to her neck, leaving small marks along the way. June let out a soft moan at the feeling of his lips on her skin, and when Eddie replaced his hands to her her hips, the feeling of his cold rings against her back.

They'd both been waiting for this moment, Eddie even longer than Juniper. He'd openly told his friends about her while June had to hide all connections. Now that she looked back at it, she probably liked Eddie way before she realized, maybe even already after they'd spent that day together.

"Eddie.." June moaned before slightly pushing him away with her hands, "We should stop."

"Did I do something wrong? Did I hurt you?" he asked, full of worry that he did something.

"I just wouldn't like Dustin and Lucas to find us like this when they come back.." she negotiated, Eddie closed his eyes and laid his head back on the couch before licking his lips in slight frustration, "Well, don't be pissed at me. I know you'd be embarrassed too."

Eddie sighed, he opened his eyes again and Juniper could see in his gaze that he knew she was right. He smirked and grabbed her face to kiss her forehead once, "We are not done here." he insisted.

June ran a hand through his wavy, long hair while keeping that eye contact they knew all too well, "Yes, sir." she let herself fall down on the couch to Eddie's right, Eddie went to sit back against the driver's seat.

That's when Dustin opened the door and came back in, he switched glances between the two, "Did something happen?" he asked, his eyebrows raised.

As Lucas walked in as well, the two older teens gave each other looks while trying their best at an excuse, "No, nothing." June answered and while she's usually a great liar, Dustin, Lucas and even Eddie didn't believe it.

"Right." Dustin replied in a knowing tone. He winked once at Eddie before taking his wrist to look at his watch while pacing through the camper, "What the hell is taking them so long."

It was as if Dustin called on the five inside the store, because right after he scolded them, Steve opened the door and rushed inside.

The rush in his movements made all of them wonder why he was in such a hurry, "What happened?" Lucas asked Steve, who was speeding to sit behind the wheel.

"Gotta go." he replied shortly before sitting down.

Erica came in after him with a full paper-bag, "Your other friends are here." she explained, looking at June and indicating they were her other friends.

June swiftly looked back through the window, seeing Jason, Andy and Ace putting stuff in the trunk of Jason's car, "Shit!" she turned back and made quick eye contact with Eddie sunk in his seat, "Also, please don't call them my friends. They're not."

"Fine! Let's go!" Erica exclaimed, now also at Nancy, Max and Robin coming up the low stairs, "Let's go!"

"I'm going! I'm going! Sit down!" Steve commanded, his foot connected to the pedal and he brought the camped the hell out of that parking lot.

➼➼➼

Steve stopped the camper in a field of grass further away from Hawkins to take some time to prepare. Juniper had put an empty Coca Cola can on a crate in the grass after Max told stories about how Eleven used that as an exercise.

June knew she needed the practice, she tried to indent the can, but so far, she had no luck. Eddie and Dustin sat next to her in the grass, hammering nails in dustbin lids. They were planning on using them as shields against the bats.

"How's she feeling?" Dustin asked Eddie, June thought she might as well stop trying and join in on their conversation.

"Light. But durable." Eddie replied, holding his shield up high as if he was stabbing the air. He stabbed the air again to the side, "Deadly. But reliable."

Dustin and June chuckled as Eddie put his left foot on the crate and held out his hand for dramatic effect, his voice deepened, "Hear me now. There will be no more retreating.." his voice turned back to normal, "from Eddie the Banished."

Dustin stood up as well, holding his shield in his left hand, "Hey, you're really ready for bat-tle." he chortled at his own joke, but Eddie only raised a brow, June next to him in the grass snickering, "You get it? "Bat-tle." B-A-T. No?" Dustin groaned in defeat, "I thought I had a good one."

June's shrieks of surprise were heard when Eddie charged at Dustin, "What are you doing?" Dustin laughed. Eddie grunted as he let go of the younger boy, "You son of a bitch!" Dustin charged at Eddie, but the older male had other plans, making Dustin scream out, "No wedgies! No wedgies!"

Eddie let go of Dustin to look at June, who was standing up and giving up on the can in the middle of the grass, he winked at her. June playfully rolled her eyes, "Dorks."

Eddie's smirk grew, "Oh, yeah? Am I a dork?" he charged at June, picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder, "How about now, huh? Am I still a dork?"

While the brunet was running around the field with her on his shoulder, June managed to speak out in between giggles and squeaks, "Yes! You are a dork!"

Eddie put down the girl on his shoulder, but held her near by keeping his hands on the sides of her face, he was debating kissing her right there and then with everyone there, until he thought of something better.

"Go out with me, Perry." he practically begged June, "After this is over and I'm no longer wanted, go out with me. A- and I understand if you don't want to go in public, so you won't have to-"

He got silenced by Juniper's hand on his mouth, a wide smile on her face, "I would love to go out with you." she lowered her hand to reveal Eddie's mouth wide open, "In public."

Juniper understood why Eddie 'the freak' Munson thought she might not wanted to be seen with him, but Juniper 'the it-girl' McKennan was not ashamed of liking this freak. She would openly hang out with him and one day, maybe, openly love him.

Eddie's opened mouth formed a grand smile, his brown puppy eyes twinkling with happiness. He roughly brought June's face closer to give her a quick peck on her lips, "You just made me the happiest freak on the planet. Both dimensions."

June didn't verbally respond, but her eyes spoke a million loving words, they grew wider when she got picked up and thrown over Eddie's shoulder once again. Even after it being the second time, she hadn't seen it coming.

After a while of playfully running around the field, Dustin joined in and the three of them pretended to fight each other and swarming, invisible bats.

Little did they know this was going to be the happiest all of them were going to be in a long time.