Eddie was a busy person, in his own way. He always seemed to have something going on. There were days when he spent hours in his dilapidated trailer, his electric guitar resting on his lap, calloused fingers dancing across the strings as he deciphered complex riffs from bands no one in town had ever heard of; other days occupied by notebooks scribbled with increasingly outlandish ideas for his campaigns at the hellfire club. And in moments when neither music nor fantasy games were enough to calm his restless mind, Eddie found solace in certain "medicinal herbs"—as he gestured with a mischievous grin and a knowing wink when someone questioned the peculiar smell emanating from his room.

You, on the other hand, lived a slightly different routine.

As soon as the school bell rang, you headed straight to work at the video store, where your day was filled with shifts that stretched late into the night in your modest position as a clerk at Family Video. The job was simple, repetitive, and mostly boring: organizing tapes, dealing with indecisive customers, rewinding forgotten films. But Steve and Robin's presence made it all more bearable. Between sarcastic comments, inside jokes, and random conversations about bad movies, the shifts passed a little faster.

On that particular afternoon, as you faced yet another slow shift, reorganizing the romantic comedy section for the third time—no one seemed interested in renting "When Harry Met Sally" again, no matter how many times you pushed it forward—Eddie found himself in his trailer, feeling a familiar wave of boredom wash over him. His D&D campaigns were temporarily on hold, his fingers ached from practicing a particularly challenging Slayer solo, and his stock of "medicinal herbs" was critically low. It was then that an idea began to germinate in his mind, a brilliant solution to his existential malaise: a surprise visit to his favorite person at Family Video.

Upon arriving at the store, Eddie pushed open the glass door with his characteristic touch, making the bells above jingle loudly. He immediately adopted the facade of a casual customer, pacing the aisles with an intensity completely unnecessary for someone supposedly just "browsing." When he finally spotted you at the back of the store, organizing the stock, a slow smile appeared on his face—that typical smile that already foreshadowed trouble.

When he finally saw you at the back of the store, standing on a small step, stretching to reach a tape on the highest shelf, a genuine, predatory grin lit up his face. He moved silently like a hunter, light steps despite his boots, his fingers lightly touching the film covers as he approached.

When he was just a few steps away, he acted with the swiftness of a predator ambushing its prey. In one fluid movement, he wrapped his arms around your waist, abruptly pulling you against his body in a surprise hug so tight it made your heart stop for a second. The icy shock of the multiple metal rings adorning his fingers against your skin sent an instant shiver down your spine, followed by an involuntary gasp of surprise that he evidently expected and wanted to hear.

Eddie chuckled softly, the sound vibrating near your ear.

"I hope I didn't scare you," he said, in a clearly ironic tone, because it was obvious that this had been exactly the plan. He tightened his embrace for another moment before releasing you, allowing you to turn to face him, and then, with a look of evident appreciation in his eyes at seeing your red and blue uniform, he added: "If I'd known you looked so good in uniform, I would have come to visit sooner."