"I'm in love with you, Willow Jenkins."

She hadn't been aware that she could be this happy. That such simple words would light a fire in her like no other, that feelings like this existed and she would ever be one of the lucky few to experience them. She wanted to be more upset about his joke regarding forgetting her confession from the night before, but she knew that not only did she sort of deserve it, but that she also didn't have it in her to feel anything but pure bliss when he was holding her and kissing her this way. It was as if he was trying to make up for it.

It was as if they were trying to make up for lost time. Time not quite wasted, but used recklessly when they could have been doing this the entire time. They could have been real this entire time.

She couldn't believe that she'd been worried about him showing up, about him forgiving her. She had meant it when she told him that he shouldn't forgive her so easily; if he had told her he needed time, that he had to think about it all, she would have given it without second thoughts. Heaven knows he deserved whatever he asked of her after all she'd put them through.

"Hey," she suddenly pulls back from one of his fervent kisses. They'd taken to laying back on the picnic table side by side, pressed against each other as they'd lazily kissed without any cares in the world, "So, I may or may not have accidentally let Dustin know that our relationship had been fake."

Eddie hums, clearly not fully listening to her as he leans in for another kiss. When her hand reaches out and presses to his chest to stop him, he sighs, rolling his eyes and smiling softly, "Do I even want to know why or how it happened?"

"We were trying to find you," she keeps her voice as gentle as the cool breeze rolling over them, "We were at your trailer and he insisted on tagging along."

"You were at the trailer? Yesterday?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

She laughs, rolling so that she's properly tucked into his side, and he immediately guides her head to lay on his chest, "Like I said, we were trying to find you. I was very determined to make things right before I got the call from Jeff and Gareth, and you were... well, drunk."

His fingers play with the ends of her hair, "Are you telling me I could have gotten a confession out of you earlier if I hadn't been an dumb ass yesterday?"

"Only by a few hours, but yes."

"We're idiots," he scoffs, and she feels the vibrations against her cheek as she smiles widely.

"Yeah," she agrees, "We're idiots."

They lay like that for a few moments, letting a comfortable silence blanket them as they simply enjoy each other's presence. Willow knows that eventually, they'll have to leave. They'll have to return to their lives and to all of their friends. She can imagine the conversations that they'll have to have with people like Robin, like Steve, like Dustin .

But then she remembers this is real. Even once they return to reality, they still have each other.

"You know, you never explicitly agreed to being my boyfriend," she thinks out loud, tilting her head back to look at his face. It's smoothed over peacefully, eyes shut and a small smile playing on his lips. She knows if she stays in this position too long, it'll cause a kink in her neck, but she also knows it's worth it to see him this way.

Happy. Relaxed. At peace. All of their pieces have finally fallen into place, and nothing has ever felt so right.

"I thought that was part of the deal," he doesn't open his eyes as he teases her, a hand coming up to squeeze her into his body tighter, "I'm your boyfriend, you're my girlfriend, the sky is blue, so on and so forth."

"The sky is actually kind of grey today," she sighs jokingly. She's still tilting her head, still staring and memorizing his face.

"Okay, smart ass. Then I'm your boyfriend, you're my girlfriend, the sky is grey -" she cuts him off with a small smack to his chest, no real weight behind her hand. They both laugh softly as the leaves rustle around them, "I'm being serious, though. If you need to hear the words, let me say them," he opens his eyes, and looks down to catch her stare. Her frozen cheeks immediately warm with a blush as he stares at her with intense certainty, "I, Edward Theodore Munson, agree to be your very real boyfriend, Willow Victoria Jenkins."

"Good," she breathes out, the last of her breath being stolen from him before she echoes back the sentiment, "And I, Willow Victoria Jenkins, agree to be your very real girlfriend, Eddie-Teddy Munson."

"Hey!" he pinches her side suddenly, making her jump against him as she giggles, "Play nice. No need to bring up embarrassing childhood nicknames."

"You're just mad I don't have an embarrassing nickname," she brings a hand up to play with his pick necklace, gently twirling the swirling red plastic and letting the chain wrap around her finger once.

"It's truly unfair," he sighs dramatically. When she scoots herself up against him, high enough to tuck her more so into the crook of his neck rather than just his chest, he tilts his head down to press his nose into the crown of her head, breathing in the scent of her floral shampoo, "You're really bringing a gun to a knife fight."

"Knife to a gunfight."

"What?"

"The saying is 'bringing a knife to a gunfight', not the other way around."

"Always correcting me," he tuts, hiding his grin further in her hair, "I give it a week before you're such a lovesick fool, you follow my word blindly like I'm really some cult leader."

"Already a lovesick fool," she reminds him, "I have been for a few months, and it's never stopped me from correcting you before."

She waits for his snarky comeback, but is met with silence. When she twists in his arms to catch sight of him, she's met with his doe eyes wide and soft, practically hypnotized by her.

She doesn't even get the chance to tease him and ask him why he's looking at her like that. He beats her to the punch.

"I'll never get sick of that."

"Of what?" she scrunches her nose, and feels his heart begin to race beneath her palm.

"Of you saying you love me."

She's the one struck speechless now, the one who's eyes soften as she nearly melts for the boy.

"Well..." she trails off, still struggling to find her words when he looks at her like this, "Get used to it. I plan on reminding you all the time now."

"Let me take you out tonight," he blurts out, "Let me take you on a real date. Let me bring you flowers and take you to an expensive restaurant I definitely shouldn't be able to afford, where we have to wear stupidly fancy clothes. Let me drop you off at the end of the night on your doorstep, and walk you to the door, and ask to kiss you goodnight instead of just doing it."

Her chest and stomach flutter in sync, "You want to take me on a real date? Tonight ?"

"I do," he nods harshly, sitting up and bringing her with him. They sit in mirrored fashion, each of them keeping one leg folded beneath them while the opposite hangs over the edge of the table. His palm is cold when it comes up to her face, his icy thumb rubbing soft lines across the height of her cheek bones, "If you'll let me. I just... I want to show you off to the whole fuckin' town, sweetheart. Please ."

She laughs, turning her cheek further into his palm through her giggles, "You do realize that's what you've been doing this entire time, right? You've been showing me off to the whole town for months now, no one is going to react any differently. They'll think it's the same as it always has been."

"But it'll be different for me ," he clarifies, " I'll know something has changed."

Her heart swells even more, if that's possible. He wears a look of determination and she knows that she's already had her answer from the moment he'd blurted out the question; she'd be a fool to not say yes to him.

"Alright, Munson," she caves, bringing her hand to wrap around his wrist, pressing into the soft skin. She only meant the motion as a way of grounding herself as she's dizzy with giddiness, not for him to stop cradling her face, but his touch still drops. She clings to his hand, though, sliding her palm up against his and intertwining their fingers before they settle in her lap, "You can take me out on a date tonight."

"Yeah?" there's a child-like gleam in his reaction, lighting up like sparklers in his eyes, his cheek bright from his smile. Even in the autumn chill, he sends a warmth through her bones.

"Yeah," she confirms, "But that means I'll need time to do my makeup."

"You don't need it," he starts, and she sends him a look that has him immediately backtracking, "What? You're pretty without it! Okay, okay. You need time to do your makeup. Fine."

"And time to pick out an outfit."

"You could always go naked," he drawls, and she begins to untangle their hands and hit him on his shoulder for the crude joke, but he only tightens his grip on her while laughing, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding . So you need time for an outfit, and makeup. Anything else?"

"I need to call Robin," at this admittance, she grows genuinely shy with him, looking down before she can flush with embarrassment.

"Awe, babe ," he wastes no time with teasing her, "Are you going to gush about me to your best friend? That's embarrassing."

"First of all, you're my best friend. Even though you're on thin ice with losing that title," she puts a warning finger up between them, "Second of all, you're the one who's been crushing on me since last year ."

It's Eddie's turn to blush, "What? I have not."

"You so have!" she recognizes the tide turning, the way she's getting the upper hand now, "Dustin told me all about how Gareth teased you for 'making eyes' at me in math class!"

"Fuck off. He did not."

"He did! Oh my God, Eddie, you definitely had a crush on me. Jesus, you're redder than my hair," she reaches out to jokingly pinch at his cheeks as he decidingly becomes the one to disconnect their hands, swatting her away as he only grows more pink in the cheeks, "Now that's embarrassing. Maybe I should be the one calling you 'Red'."

"I didn't have a crush ," he whines, leaning his head back in frustration, "I just thought you were cool. I'm going to fucking kill Gareth and Henderson."

"What?" she scoffs, grinning so wildly her entire face aches, "No way, you're not allowed to lay a hand on my spies. I still need them to tell me all of your insider secrets."

His head snaps forward, "You want to know all my secrets? Fine . I noticed you in our math class last year, I thought you were cool for letting some kid cheat off of you. I talked about you so much to Hellfire they nearly forced me to skip my class with you for an entire week . Once, you wore a skirt to class and walked past me to sharpen your pencil, and I still had a fucking boner by the end of the period. I nearly got detention by refusing to stand up and answer a question on the board because you had me so fucking flustered."

Willow's eyes light up, "Oh my God. I remember that day. I thought you were just being a dick to Mr. Jones!"

"Nope," he flatly replies, "Was just hiding my dick from the entire class. Because of you , and that stupid skirt."

"I still have that skirt, you know. I could always wear it tonight," she muses, drinking in the way that Eddie's eyes widened at her as he nearly choked on air.

"Don't you dare ," he nearly hisses, leaning forward, closer to her, "I already said I was going to be a gentleman tonight. Ask you for a goodnight kiss and everything. If you wear that skirt, I'll.... I'll..."

"What are you gonna do to me, Munson?" she teases relentlessly. She's leaning into his space as well now, and starts to subtly move her hand until it lands on his thigh. He nearly jumps out of his skin, "Punish me?"

Those words are all it takes for him to leap off of the picnic table, landing harshly on the ground and beginning to pace.

"Nope, nope, nope," he mutters to himself as he continues his pacing. Willow scoots closer to the edge of the table, sitting cross-legged now and looking far too amused for his liking, "You're a... You're a menace ," he stumbles over the words as he stops in front of her, pointing an accusing finger in her direction.

"I am," she agrees, not even bothering to put up a fight as she clasps her hands and tucks them into her lap, cutely watching his panicked fluster with an innocent smile, "I'm a menace, and I'm your girlfriend who you need to take home so she can get ready to be an even worse menace during your first date tonight."

His entire body relaxes suddenly at the innocent reminder of their date, "Yeah, I guess you're right. Besides, if I keep you out here too long, everyone's going to think I sacrificed you or something."

"I think they've accepted if it hasn't happened by now, it isn't going to happen," she snorts, taking the hand he offers her and stepping down off the table far more gracefully than he had. She turns to grab her backpack she had brought, where she was now storing both their old contract and new contract, but Eddie grabs it first and swings it over his shoulder.

"You never know. Maybe I'm just playing the long game, making you trust me and shit first."

"It would be awfully poetic, wouldn't it?" she hums, letting her fingers slot between his, as if the spaces carved out there had just been for her, "Making me confess my undying love for you before brutally murdering me in the name of the dark lord."

"Undying love?" he shoots her a glance as they begin to walk.

She tries to contain her blush, but it's no use. "You know what I mean."

He only gives a small 'hmph' in response, but she catches his bashful look to the ground as he begins to swing their hands between the two of them while they walk down the path. A recognition in his eyes that says, yeah, I do know what you mean.

—

"Oh my God! "

" Robin , you're gonna make my eardrums burst," Willow laughs.

"Oh my God. Holy shit. Fuck your eardrums! You two idiots finally got your shit together. What the Hell!" Robin continues to shout over the line at her friend, excitement dripping from her tone.

Willow leans against the wall with a cheesy grin as she twirls the phone cord in her hand. Honestly, she didn't truly mind Robin's shouting. She was only vocalizing exactly how Willow felt at this moment. All the excitement, all the relief - that sigh of emotion that said we did it .

"It's not like anything is going to drastically change for the rest of you," Willow mumbles, looking down at her kitchen tiles, "I mean, obviously for me and him, everything has changed. But outside of you, Steve, and Dustin... No one else is going to know about this... this... shift ."

Shift . That was the best word she could come up with to describe it. The world had shifted for her and Eddie; hopeless pining had become requited feelings, and what once was all make-believe had finally turned into something very real.

"You really think that boy isn't going to amp up everything by a hundred now that he's got you for real?" Robin scoffs over the receiver.

"I don't know, maybe?" Willow squeaks. God, her cheeks really did ache from all the grinning she had been doing. "This morning, it just felt like it always had except- well, except it was better . We really did both suck at keeping everything 'fake'," now that they had the real thing, it became obvious to Willow just how monumentally blind they had both been. Nothing about their arrangement had ever screamed 'we're faking it!', "It is pretty nice to call him my real boyfriend now, though."

She can almost hear Robin's eye roll over the line.

"Yeah, yeah. God, you guys are going to make me sick in the best way possible. What time is your date tonight?"

Willow glances at the clock, "He said he'd pick me up at five. So... I've got two hours."

"What are you going to wear?"

"I was thinking about that skirt I liked wearing a lot last year. Do you know that one I'm talking about? It's red plaid-"

"Do I know it? Shit, 'Low. Do I need to call an ambulance for him now or later?" Robin's words make her giggle.

This was nice . Neither Robin nor Willow had ever gotten this part of the high school experience - the part where one of them is going on a date, and they get to just gush over the phone as they plan out their nights. The childish giggles as they ponder over what shade of lipstick would match their outfits, as they gravel over whether their dates would kiss them. For Robin, it had always been obvious why she couldn't snag a date. If she asked out the wrong girl, everything could implode for her. The ramifications could be dangerous . Willow had always used that as her excuse - she couldn't go on dates, because she refused to make her friend a third wheel. She couldn't put Robin on the backburner like that.

The thought reminds her of a talk the two girls needed to have. Nancy Wheeler.

"Speaking of ambulances," she says, although she knows that her next words have nothing to do with the joke, "What's up with you and Nancy Wheeler?"

Robin immediately sputters on her end of the line. "W-What? What do you mean?"

"I mean , I saw you making eyes at her when she visited at work. And she's visiting for you and not Steve these days. I'm not blind, Robs. You're looking at her the same way you looked at Vicky."

Robin is silent for a few seconds before she answers, "It's nothing."

"It's not nothing ," Willow argues, "C'mon. Do you like her?"

"'Low, I can't like her. Besides the, like, obvious way I am so not her type, she's also Steve's ex. I can't break bro-code like that."

" Bro-code ?" Willow snorts, "Okay, first of all, I'm pretty sure bro-code is mute when it comes to our group. You kissed me at that party when you knew Steve liked me."

"We were playing spin the bottle! Everyone was kissing everyone!"

"Still. And as for you not being Nancy's type?" Willow pauses and thinks over her words very carefully. She didn't want to get her friend's hopes up, because technically, she was right. Nancy Wheeler had only dated guys. Hell, she was currently dating a guy, if Willow remembered correctly - Jonathan Byers, the older brother of Will, the young boy who had gone missing two years before. "There's no harm in an innocent crush. Who knows? Maybe you guys could be really good friends."

"We both know there's no such thing as an innocent crush. Not with people like me," Robin whispers over gentle static, and Willow's heart clenches.

Robin was right. Willow had seen first hand how unkindly their town takes to relationships they think aren't natural . The backlash that Willow and Eddie had received just from their entire fake-dating scheme was nothing compared to what Robin might face if she ever did publicly date someone.