I had woken at some ungodly hour desperately thirsty, so I was downstairs in the darkness of my kitchen trying to get myself a glass of water without dropping anything, it was quite the challenging task at night.

I heard some sort of rattling, immediately alerting me to movement outside the front door to my house.

On instinct, I grabbed the nearest knife and began to hide behind a wall where I still had view of the front door.

It's okay, it's probably just... a neighbour's dog or something.

And then, the door opened. Fuck.

I stayed hidden and peeked past the wall to see... something truly horrifying.

My mom in a ridiculously tight red dress that she hadn't worn in years, the last time I'd seen her in it was when she went on a date with Dad. Her lipstick was all smudged, she looked like a wreck.

"Mom?" I ask, putting the knife back, "Why do you look like that? Where were you?"

"Oh, I was just out with some friends, sweetie. Don't worry about it." she told me, heading upstairs before I could ask anything else.

I didn't think much of it at the time, I think I was too tired to question it, but it was extremely odd. Why was Mom out with friends at this time? Strange.

...

I woke up that next morning to the familiar creak of my door being opened, I expected it to be Mike or my mom but it was Nancy.

"That guy with the long hair stopped by, Mike's friend, what's his name?" Nancy asks, holding something.

"Eddie." I tell her groggily, barely awake.

"Right, Eddie. He left this for you." Nancy shrugs, not really knowing what it was, "I didn't know you two were friends."

"Uh, yeah, I joined Hellfire. It's probably a D&D handbook or something." I sit up and take the package from her.

It was a rectangular shape, wrapped in brown parcel paper with some brown string on the outside forming a bow. There was messy handwriting on the front, there was the letter P crossed out, Valerie written next to it.

"Breakfast is gonna be ready soon, so try be downstairs quick, 'kay?" Nancy smiles, leaving my room.

I was now alone with the mysterious package, the wrapping was done awfully but Eddie's never exactly been a perfectionist, I laughed to myself at his attempt to tie a bow, he'd made it too big so it was just kinda floppy.

I pulled each end of the bow to undo it before pulling the wrapping paper off, my heart melted when I realised what it was.

It was a brand new version of the colouring book I always carried around with me in middle school.

Not only did he remember the exact colouring book I had, he had also somehow managed to track down a new version of it. I didn't even know it was still being sold. Holy crap.

I flicked through the pages, all the colouring pages were blank except from one, the page with the dog. The dog was coloured in terribly with a dark blue colour, light green spots on its back. That was definitely Eddie.

I flicked to the back page and a small piece of paper fell out onto my bed, it was a note.

Going swimming in Gareth's pool 3pm today, wanna come?

- The coolest guy you know

"Breakfast, Valerie!" My mom calls upstairs cheerily.

That feeling of warmth quickly left as soon as I heard my mom calling for me. I tucked the note back into the book and slid it under my blanket, I just had to hope no one would find it.

I made my way downstairs and was greeted by the sweet smell of pancakes and syrup, my favourite breakfast. What a perfect way to start the day.

I sat down at the table next to Mike, he rolled his eyes when he saw me next to him.

"I'm gonna go see my friends later, if that's okay." I tell Mom, I didn't know if she had made plans with us or something, better to tell her just in case.

"You have friends?" Mike gasps, I kick him under the table.

"That's fine, sweetie." Mom nods before sitting down at the table with us.

Dad seemed withdrawn as usual, just sitting there reading his newspaper. Sometimes I wished he'd talk with me more, but some people just prefer silence, that's okay.

"Oh! You mean Eddie, don't you?" Mike comments, referring to me talking about seeing my friends.

He knows exactly what he's doing, he's so irritating.

I stayed silent as my mom glanced up at me, pausing with her fork in a pancake.

"You're friends with Eddie now?" she asks, surprised yet confused expression on her face.

"Yeah, kinda. I joined Hellfire." I nod awkwardly.

"Not you too." Dad sighs, he's never really liked Hellfire.

"They're a little more than friends. They're romantically involved." Mike raises his eyebrows, I kick him under the table again.

"Oh." Mom forces a smile, I can tell she's not thrilled about the idea, and then I notice Dad shaking his head.

"That's not true, he's joking." I tell her, internally sighing at everyone's reactions.

If they're so disappointed by the idea of me being with Eddie then why do they let Mike hang out with him? It's bullshit, I just wish I could say something but every time I open my mouth in opposition of something my family says I get called argumentative.

"If Mike can be friends with Eddie then why would it be bad if maybe Valerie and Eddie were actually together?" Nancy asks.

This is exactly why Nancy is my favourite sibling.

I decide to stay quiet and let Mom answer.

"Being friends with someone is very different from being in a relationship with them. I don't care if you two are friends with Eddie but I just think that there's better guys out there for Valerie. What about Jason?" Mom suggests.

"I'd rather die than ever date Jason Carver." I laugh.

"That's what I said about your father, and now look at us, happily married. Isn't that right, honey?" Mom turns to Dad.

"Mhm." Dad didn't take his eyes of the newspaper, simply mumbling out an answer.

Nancy starts to talk through an article she wanted to write, and I paid attention for the first half but eventually zoned out.

Mike began to lean over to me subtly, like he wanted to say something. I knew whatever was about to come out of his mouth would ever be some sarcastic comment or...

"You have a crush on Eddie, don't you?" he whispers.

"No." I answer firmly, "I don't."

☆ ☆ ☆

i'm aware that in the show jason is just very passionate about getting justice for chrissy bc he loves her BUT i decided to make him a complete ass in this book because i felt like it 😇🙌

also i haven't proofread this at all so there's probably spelling mistakes i apologise 😔

also im curious, what are ur guys favourite stranger things ships? i kinda love steddie 🤭 hoping they have more interactions in volume 2