Chapter Text
The setting sun painted the sky with hues of pink and orange. The faintest stars glowed in the purple tinge of twilight.
The carnival had come to Hawkins, the air was warm, and a light breeze carried the smell of popcorn and funnel cakes and the sounds of cheers and organ music. The whole fairground was abuzz with flashing lights.
Steve and Laurie walked aimlessly, his arm thrown tightly around Laurie’s shoulder. Laurie was blissful, having the time of her life with her boyfriend Steve. He took a bite of cotton candy from a little paper cone.
“So, where are we going first babe?” he asked, his mouth still full of spun sugar.
“Well, first I want some cotton candy,” she said, playfully. He held it out and she felt as if she was eating one of the pink-tinted sunset clouds right out of the sky.
“Hey, how about the Tunnel of Love?” Gone was Steve's silky voice, replaced by Eddie’s rough, energetic timbre. Laurie tore off a bit of cotton candy. She looked up and found that the boy holding the cotton candy out with his arm wrapped around her was suddenly Eddie.
“C’mon Parker, it's my favorite ride.” He waggled his eyebrows at her and grabbed her hand, pulling her along, moving so fast that the carnival was a harlequin blur and she found herself having to look at the ground in order to catch her footing.
“Wait, no! I don’t--” She protested, finally catching her footing. She grabbed her hand back and looked up at Steve, staring at her confusedly. They stood in front of the dark ride, the queue was decorated completely in wood hearts and cupids. A steady stream of water lead into a darkened tunnel. Swan boats with just enough room for two bobbed in the later waiting for them to board.
“You don’t want to go on the ride?” Steve asked, sounding a touch hurt.
She shook her head. She was here with Steve. Of course she wanted to go on the Tunnel of Love with her boyfriend. She gave him a smile “You promise it won’t splash on me?”
“There’s no splashes, I promise, ” Steve got into one of the swan gondolas and held out his hand. She carefully stepped inside, gripping his hand to balance, but before she could sit down the boat jerked forward, sending her careening into his shoulder.
Instead of feeling the softness of Steve’s sweater she felt smooth leather.
“Hey, easy there! Not that I mind the enthusiasm.” Eddie placed his arm around her and lowered them onto the gondola bench, keeping her securely locked in place with her cheek on his chest.
The boat glided into darkness. Laurie’s heart was rushing, unsure of who would be holding her when the lights came back. They rounded the corner, the whole time whoever it was rested his chin on top of her head and occasionally pressed kisses into her hair. They finally came upon a small, softly-lighted scene of wooden trees and an animatronic deer family, each with one simple movement to make them appear to be eating grass.
Steve’s eyes gazed into hers. She let out a breath of relief. Yes, this was what she wanted, just to be with Steve. He placed a hand under her chin and brought her lips up to his. She fluttered her eyes shut as their lips finally connected.
The two kissed, lightly at first, then more intensely. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her as close as they could manage on the boat.
“Wait, wait won’t people see?” Laurie opened her eyes and discovered she wasn’t looking into Steve’s hazel eyes but Eddie’s big, warm, brown ones.
“Nah that’s the point of this ride, no one can see you make out.”
She didn’t care anymore, she couldn’t keep track of who she was with. Let them change. She pressed her lips against Eddie and he kissed her, agonizingly soft. The fire that had been building up inside of her was making her ache.
They were alone, the only ones in the attraction. The ride moved forward and the tunnel stretched inward, seemingly forever.
Desperate for some relief, Laurie twisted and moved so she was straddling his lap. Eddie’s hands gripped her hips and he smiled up at her. Laurie kissed him again, this time with the passion and fire she felt inside. She began to grind into his lap, finally some satisfaction. He guided her hips with his hands, making her roll her body into his deeper, harder.
She tangled her hands in his hair—shorter now. She opened her eyes. Steve.
“Fuck, oh Laurie, please don’t stop.” his voice was strange, garbled, like it was coming from two separate stereos. Not exactly his, blended with a low one.
The ache between her legs spiked seeing Steve’s kiss-swollen lips and feeling his hardness. She closed her eyes and began to rub harder against him. Hot hands were all over her, touching her chest, her ass, her thighs.Two hands-- four hands? She moaned, she wanted more of that. The lights above them spun and grew brighter, harsher. They swirled around in a kaleidoscope of color; red, blue, green, Steve, Eddie, Steve, Eddie, Steve, Eddie—
Laurie woke up gasping. She was drenched in sweat, suddenly feeling freezing as the cold air of her room hit, grounding her back in reality. She looked over to her clock. 2 AM. She flopped back down to her pillows, breathing evenly now, her core still aching.
I must be getting my period soon.
XXX
Laurie wasn’t naturally a morning person but she always tried to get to school as early as she could. Sometimes she even got a ride from her dad in lieu of taking the bus so she’d have more time to do school work or review notes in case of pop quizzes. Today, however, she was reading just for fun. She’d been focusing on fun a lot more lately. She was trying to read the next chapter in Emma, the Jane Austen book Marcy had been trying to get her to read since middle school, when her morning relaxation was interrupted by Dustin and Mike.
“Hey Laurie. Long time no see pal!” Dustin greeted with enthusiasm. Mike was smiling just as big as Dustin was.
“You two ceratinly keep…turning up. What’s up?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. She placed her finger on her page and closed her book.
“You look great today by the way. Is that a new top?” Mike asked. The shirt in question was a green ringer tee that read NORTHERN INDIANA QUIZ BOWL CONFERENCE CHAMPS 1983. She looked down then looked back up at the boys unimpressed.
“What do you want?” she asked deadpan.
“Well, see, Lucas decided he wants to try out for basketball. Except the tryouts are on Thursday and Hellfire’s on Thursday--” Dustin began.
“We need you to sub for Lucas! Please please please-” Mike pleaded.
“You’d be absolutely perfect for it! You just need to make a character sheet, you already know about D&D from the whole room thing and Eddie will kick us out if we don’t find a sub--”
The two boys were talking over each other in desperation.
“Well, well, well.” Laurie said with an arc smile. She brought her fingers togethers, tapping them menacingly. The boys swallowed. This was not the reaction they had been expecting at all. “Seems like you two are asking me to join your club. Isn’t this some deja vu!”
“Oh shit.” Dustin muttered realizing they’d been had.
“I think some sort of deal can be arranged. Let’s say, you have to come to a Quiz Bowl practice and the meet next week?” She offered, devious smile still on her lips.
“Aw, we are only asking for one night!” Mike complained. But he didn’t say no.
“Quiz Bowl is fun!” Laurie insisted. “But if you really don’t want to, I guess you can find someone else to play...”
The boys looked at each other, neither of them seeing a way out of it. They sighed heavily, but Laurie could see that she had made her point.
“Deal.” Dustin stuck his hand out and Laurie happily shook it.
The truth was Laurie was interested in playing Dungeons and Dragons. Eddie made it sound like a lot of fun whenever he talked about it, plus it was always fun to spend time with Eddie. But she wasn’t about to pass up such a perfect opportunity to get some more people on the team. Especially the two nerdy freshmen who could easily be the future of the club.
Mike pulled out a players handbook from his backpack and piece of grid paper and placed them in front of Laurie. Then, almost reverently, he withdrew a Crown Royal bag that, from the sound of it, had been repurposed to hold a pathological amount of polyhedral dice. He turned to a dog-eared page in the handbook and began to walk her through the process.
“So character sheets aren’t that hard, you just need to roll…”
XXX
Laurie was buzzing with excitement for the session. She liked the character she had made, it was like writing part of an Ursula LeGuin novel. Laurie felt like she hardly ever got to do creative work like this. She hoped Eddie would like it, too.
It was a bit weird that Eddie sent the freshmen to talk to her. Why hadn’t he just asked in person? Mike had loaned her his Player’s Handbook for the day and she was poring over it all through lunch. There was a lot she couldn't quite grasp from the book’s descriptions but she was fairly confident she could figure it out. After all, it was a game with rules. She could do rules.
“I see Munson has finally succeeded in recruiting you for his cult. Your parents will be thrilled.” Marcy joked as she sat beside her friend.
“Yes, my eyes have been opened to the power of Lucifer.” Laurie shut the book and turned her attention to Marcy. “I’m just subbing in for one of the freshmen. Now we have something far more important to discuss.”
Marcy quirked an eyebrow, “Oh?”
“If I don’t have sex I think I’m going to lose my mind!” Laurie said sternly. She kept her voice down so no one else around could possibly overhear.
“Laurie, I swear…” Marcy rolled her eyes.
“I’m serious, Marcy! I’m having these weird sex dreams every night! I feel like it's all I think about. I’m going insane.” Laurie grabbed her temples to emphasize her mental unwellness.
“Well…I mean I guess you’re going to have to be a little frustrated until Steve gets his act together.” Marcy shifted uncomfortably in her seat, suddenly very interested in the dingy salad on her tray.
“I don’t know Marcy. I feel this ache that I just can't get rid off.” Laurie trailed off and got quiet. “I know you think I’m boy crazy, and I get it, but, like, you think about sex too, right? I’m not just, like, a perv?”
Laurie looked with concern at her friend. At a very young age Marcy had sworn off dating until college. At first Laurie had admired her dedication to her schoolwork but now Laurie found she could barely stop thinking about dating or sex even when she was trying incredibly hard.
“You’re right. I’m not exactly boy crazy…but I still think about dating and…that stuff. I was actually meaning to talk to you about that.” Marcy set down her fork.
“What for real! Do you finally have a crush? What’s his name!” Laurie sat up, brightening. Marcy, conversely, paled and went back to her salad.
“You know what, nevermind.”
Laurie let out a comedic whine and reached for Marcy’s hand. “Aw come on Marce, don't be like that! I’m not going to tease you. Is it someone from Quiz Bowl? They must be special. You haven't had a crush since like elementary school!” Laurie crowed. Marcy blanched and took her hand back.
“My period cramps have been getting to me. I’m going to the nurse.” she stood abruptly. Laurie frowned. That was sudden.
“Did you want me to walk you?” She asked. Marcy shook her head.
“No, just, talk to you later.” Mary grabbed her books and took off. Laurie watched as her friend practically ran out of the lunch room.
Weird. She didn’t like that one bit.
XXX
She distracted herself learning the ins and outs of Dungeons and Dragons. It seemed like it was designed to learn as you play, something Laurie wasn’t used to at all (she had made her dad take their board game rules into his office to be laminated). But she could study the hell out of anything.
Armed with her new character sheet, the Player’s Handbook and lots of enthusiasm, she made her way to the drama room as soon as the bell rang.
Am I going to get a shirt? She wondered as stepped out onto the stage.
The set up was just as cool as when Eddie had first shown it to her, but now it seemed like it was alive. When she walked in Eddie dropped the book in his hands and stared at her, dumbstruck. The rest of the club all looked up at the loud noise and their gaze settled on her.
Laurie gave a little wave. They were all looking at her like she had a second head.
“Wu-what are you doing here?” He asked, trying to keep his tone even but clearly shaken. Dustin and Mike appeared on either side of her, huge grins on their faces.
“Oh um hi! Dustin and Mike told me you needed me --”
“I, uhh, I never said that?” Eddie said quickly, his arms crossed. He let out a peal of nervous laughter. Gareth, Jeff and Frankie had been sitting. Now they stared her down and flanked Eddie, all of them looking very unimpressed with Laurie. She swallowed. She was never really intimidated by them before but that was when they had been in her space. Now she felt like an intruder in theirs.
“But we do need you! Right Eddie? You need her?” Dustin asked with a huge grin on his face. “To play!” He finished. Eddie grabbed him by the collar of the button up he wore over his Hellfire tee.
“ You lookin’ for an ass kicking or something Henderson?” he growled under his breath.
“So am I playing or not…?” Laurie piped up. Eddie released Dustin from his grasp. The kid dusted himself off, his smile not at all diminished by Eddie’s threats.
“I just… didn’t know you wanted to play.” Eddie said, his voice soft. He had come up close to Laurie, speaking like he didn’t want the rest of the club to overhear “If you told me I could’ve— prepped a different game. Or something.”
“You’re still short a player, right? What’s wrong with me playing this game?” Laurie asked, offended at the resistance he seemed to have. She had thought this was something they could have fun doing together.
“Nothing, nothing I want you to play. At some point. This is just kind of a serious campaign.” He scratched his neck turning towards the rest of the club. Jeff slithered over to the two of them.
“We’ll need to see your character sheet. Do you know what that is?” he sneered.
“Yup! Mike loaned me his player handbook.” Laurie was undeterred. She held up her homemade character sheet on clean, lined notebook paper. Jeff snatched it, crinkling it carelessly. He looked it once over and scoffed. He handed it to Eddie.
“Yeah, no way. She’s level one, this is a level seven adventure.”
“Can’t she just modify her stats to be at a higher level?” Dustin protested.
“No you can’t modify her stats, she has to earn XP to level up, like we’ve been doing for years.”
The group looked to Eddie to render judgment, he’d be the final word on the matter. But Eddie seemed to be in a state of panic. He furiously studied the sheet.
“Uhh, well-” He looked up. Jeff was seething. Laurie was playing with the end of her ponytail. “We needed a sub and the freshman did indeed provide us with one. Welcome to Hellfire, Parker.” He said with a tight smile. Dustin and Mike cheered and Laurie clapped her hands together, cautiously excited.
“I’m not saving her. Level one is just going to slow us down.” Jeff mumbled back sitting down. Dustin made a big show of pulling out the chair that was right next to Eddie and motioning for Laurie to have a seat. She beamed at Eddie and he returned a small smile. Dustin sat next to Laurie and also gave Eddie a grin, only to receive a death glare.
“So, introduce yourself to the group.” Eddie prompted.
“Right! Hello, my name is Princess Alanthea--” She attempted to use a bit of a character voice, doing a faux Shakespearean accent.
“You can’t just be a princess! That messes with the hierarchy of the world.” Jeff cut off. Laurie looked up from her sheet, confused.
“Mike, I thought you said that would be fine? It’s a part of my backstory…”
“It’s fine Jeff. Please, go on, Princess.” Eddie said, gesturing back to Laurie. She sat up a little straighter.
“I’m a High Elf Druid, my father was the king of a forest kingdom but he was overthrown by The Undying King and plunged the kingdom into eternal darkness, so I escaped and am now on a quest to rid the world of evil to avenge his death. And my hair black and really long and is styled up and back with silver pins and florets like Sarah’s is in the ballroom scene in Labyrinth. And I’m 5’9”. In the game.” She lowered her character sheet and looked at Eddie for approval. He smiled, clearly pleased. Dustin and Mike also seemed to be enthusiastic about her character creation.
The rest of the club however looked indifferent.
“So you’re a level one lawful good princess. What an exciting addition this will make.” Jeff sneered. Laurie’s smile dipped. She started to feel embarrassed for putting in so much effort. She was only a sub, after all.
“Glad to have you here, Princess!” Eddie bellowed over the peanut gallery. Laurie’s hands tightened around the dice bag Mike leant her. It made her feel better when Eddie stood up for her but this wasn’t exactly going the way she thought it would…
“So, um, where are we in the campaign?” Laurie asked, studying the set up, a huge temple on a hexagon patterned mat with various warriors and bat-like creature figurines positioned all around a carefully constructed cardboard sacrificial altar.
“We are in the land of Barovia, where the sun never fully shines. The beautiful Princess Lorna has been kidnapped by Count Von Zarovich. Known to the townsfolk only as ‘The devil Strahd’. Princess Lorna is the very image of his long lost love Naira and he intends to make her his. She is being held in an enchanted slumber, dreaming of her true love, Sergei, who has been banished by the lovesick Count. Soon, when the moon is full, his horde of minions shall complete their curse to make her…a vampire!” Eddie orated to the group. His arms in the air and his hands like claws, full embodying the story he was telling.
“That's why you’re mad I’m a princess? There can’t be two princesses?”
“There can be two-- please don’t interrupt the DM, Princess Alanthea.” Eddie asked in a strained tone. Laurie zipped her lips and smiled, now quietly focused on Eddie. He did a double take at her and laughed to himself again before turning back to the full table. He began again…
“You approach the gates of Castle Ravenloft, the lair of the Count. You can see a storm brewing beyond the tower walls, the wind carries a chill that runs down your spines...”
Laurie sat back and let the club do most of the guiding as they made their way through the Castle. It was almost like reading a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book except she didn’t have to keep her thumb on the page in case she made a bad choice. They fought off Vargouille, bat-like creatures with huge heads that could infect you with a bite. Then they scaled the walls to climb through a window in a tower.
She only rolled dice a few times, mostly to use her druidic healing spells when the party would ask her. It was fun when she could be in the moment, listening to Eddie paint the scene and riff with the older boys when they were ‘in character’ or try as hard as he could to destroy them as the foes.
“I jump to the next balcony!” She decided after much coaxing from Eddie to actively do something beyond just agreeing with another player.
“Excellent! Alright, what do you do there?” He clapped his hands together, eager to go back and forth with her. Laurie looked over her character's abilities.
“No way! She has to roll for that!” Gareth pointed out. Laurie looked at Eddie with questioning eyes. Eddie broke eye contact with her to snap to Gareth before snapping back.
“Right, sorry. Make a dexterity roll, Princess.” he requested, keeping his tone even.
She grabbed a d20 and rolled.
“10?” She asked worried, that seemed relatively low.
“Did you… add your modifiers?” Eddie asked like he was really hoping he could help her out. She double checked and nodded. “Well, you make it!” he said with a touch of forced enthusiasm.
“A 10 makes it?” Jeff deadpanned.
“Did you want to get up here and DM, Jeff?” Eddie challenged, the other boy immediately relented. Laurie wanted to shrivel up and die. She didn't want Eddie’s pity, she wanted to actually play! Even if she wasn’t very good at the game. Now she was getting the girl treatment. She clenched her jaw. She paged through the player's handbook. Oh, she was going to play.
XXX
The party was fighting their way through the castle, aiming for the main hall where the Princess was being kept on an Amber slab, surrounded by dhampir minions.
“Princess, it's your turn.” Eddie prodded as they got to her in the combat rotation. Laurie closed the book, pleased with the plan she had devised.
“I need goodberries.” Jeff suggested, clearly bored. Laurie narrowed her eyes. For someone who had boldly claimed he wasn't going to save her, he sure did ask her for her healing spells an awful lot.
“Well, before I use my actual turn he ran away from me, that provokes an ‘attack of opportunity’, right?”
“Uh, right--” Eddie raised an eyebrow, caught off guard. He had missed that a few times, Laurie suspected the other players didn’t catch that often.
“So I’m taking that right now. I cast Shillelagh on my sword, imbuing it with druidic powers so I can use my spell casting modifier instead of my weapon modifier and I use that to swing at his head Uh…17!” She cried, joyously. She had been keeping track of the hits and misses with the dice, she knew that would hit.
“Hit!” Eddie tried to look neutral but was clearly overjoyed at the turn of events.
“Cool. Now that I’ve used my attack of opportunity, I use my actual move to hit him again, but this time I’m going to use my ice knife spell! Now I can use a multi attack--”
“Bullshit you can, you’re level one!” Jeff yelled, slamming both his hands on the table making the dice around him bounce.
“I took a feat instead of my starting money. It’s in the handbook.” Laurie grabbed the handbook and flipped to the correct paget. “See?” Jeff looked at the paragraph she was tapping to and sat down with a huff.
“It’s in the book. Laurie knows what she’s talking about.” Eddie was still using his commanding DM voice. His word was law. Jeff looked like he was about to protest but Eddie glared over the top of his DM screen. Laurie’s heart fluttered.
“Rules lawyer.” Jeff grumbled.
“I don’t know what that means, Jeff! Do you want to beat these stupid vampires or what?” She said with pure venom. She had just about enough of him and his determination to prevent her from playing.
“Lay off, man!” Gareth chimed in, “Princess Alanthea, finish off the multi attacks!”
Laurie’s entire mood flipped around. Were they standing up for her? It seemed like everyone else was also getting pretty sick of Jeff. Frankie gave Jeff’s shoulder a shove.
“I finish off my attacks with a total of 23 damage!” She said as she added together all of the roles from her multi-attacks.
Eddie smiled at her. She could tell without him saying a word what he was thinking.
Game on, Parker.
xxx
Jeff, Dustin and Frankie fought off the other vampires as Mike’s paladin magic and Gareth’s wizard spells managed to break the curse of enchanted sleep. Laurie suggested they try kissing her— which Jeff shut down right away— but the rest of the party had been fairly supportive.
When the Princess awoke, Laurie, as a fellow princess, made fast friends with her. But it was really more like she made fast friends with Eddie, who was playing her. Alanthea promised her they would reunite her with her true love. When all the vampires in the courtyard were defeated, the Amber slab that held Lorna split in half.
“You find a golden chest beneath the now broken stone slab, what do you do?!” Eddie asked as Laurie and the rest of the club (sans Jeff) celebrated.
“I investigate first! Can’t be sure it's not a mimic.” She said, Eddie beamed proudly. She made her investigation roll “16!”
“The golden chest looks fairly safe, there are none of the typical deformities that would indicate a mimic.”
“I open it!” Laurie cried causing a ripple effect among the rest of the club.
“Oh man it's going to be a trap.” Mike said, grabbing his temples.
“She got a 16!” Gareth placated.
“It's going to be the Heart of Strahd. I know it.” Frankie claimed. Laurie was giddy, the whole table was now entirely involved with her actions. She felt like she was an actual part of the story.
"You pull out a gold torch with a large emerald skull atop it, it's got druidic runes carved up and down the hilt.”
“The Rod of Resurrection! That's a wondrous item!” Dustin cried out, him and Mike both jumping up and down with excitement.
“I think we can call it here.” Eddie said as the party all celebrated their new found loot and Laurie scribbled down the powerful new item in her inventory.
XXX
“Laurie, thank you so much for subbing, like seriously!” Dustin said as they helped return the stage to its non-Hellfire state.
“It was fun! See you at Quiz Bowl next week huh?” Laurie said with a smirk. She handed back the player handbook and dice she had loaned from Mike
“Yeah yeah.” He said, rolling his eyes.
“Excellent as usual, our magnificent DM.” Gareth bowed to Eddie who returned it in kind. “Later freshmen, later Laurie!”
Laurie perked up, thrilled that they liked her enough to bother saying goodbye! She gave them all an enthusiastic wave.
“Bye Gareth! Bye Frankie! Bye Jeff! Thanks for letting me play!” She cried as the trio headed to the door. Frankie waved back with a big grin on his face.
“Good to have you, Parker!” He called back. Jeff just rolled his eyes as he continued along with his friends.
“Don’t worry about Jeff. He’s just mad your multi attack showed up his sneak attack.” Eddie walked behind her. She smiled and folded up her character sheet, delicately stowing it in her backpack. She zipped it up and threw it on. The room was mostly back to normal but Eddie still had his figurines and DM screens to clean up.
“That was really fun! I’m glad I got to play.” Laurie said as she watched him pack up the rest of his stuff.
“Yeah? For real?”
“Of course! You always made it sound like so much fun! And it is, you did a really great job for my first session at least.” She gushed.
“You’re making me blush.” he said coyly, batting his hand like it was no big deal. His huge grin belied his actions, clearly he was very pleased with her praise. It made her want to roll her eyes but she was in such a good mood she decided not too.
“Even though I’m only a sub…am I going to get one of those cool shirts? Pretty please?” She asked only half joking. Eddie looked down at his shirt then back up to Laurie.
“Uh of course you get a shirt, Princess. You don’t need to beg for it, everyone gets a shirt.” He said with a wink.
Laurie felt blood rush to her cheeks. Her body was getting hot and she felt the ache that never quite left come back when he called her princess. How silly.
Eddie promised to print one out for her the next time he could make it to the press place he got the original batch from. She accepted his offer to drive her home.
All thoughts of enchanted slumber and magical dreams gone from her head.