Reconnecting

It wasn’t hard to spot Eddie in the bar as he was deep in a conversation with the bartender. Well, maybe it wasn’t really a conversation based on the tired and almost annoyed look the other man gave your friend while he was listening to him.

Without thinking you walked over to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder as you leaned down to make it look like you were about to bite his neck with a playful growl. “Here you are!” you said before eventually placing a quick kiss on his temple.

“Y/N, what are you doing in San Francisco?” he asked with a surprised look on his face.

Shrugging, you placed your helmet on the bar and took a seat next to him. “I’m moving back.”

“Good for you,“ Eddie said after he quickly finished his beer and signaled the bartender to give him another round. "No wonder after what happened in Washington, though. Sorry about that.”

“Yeah, it sucks,” you admitted with a sigh while you pulled down the zipper of your jacket. “But the same thing happened to you lately so we should just as well start some support group.”

Eddie put his elbow on the bar and looked over at you with his head resting in his hand. “How did you find me?” he asked tiredly.

“You mentioned this place a few times and I saw your bike outside.”

He nodded then pointed at your helmet. “I see you came with yours. What do you have now?”

“A KTM Duke,” you replied without thinking.

“That’s not bad.”

You knew perfectly well what Eddie was doing: he tried to distract you because he knew why you were there and he clearly didn’t want to talk about that. "You taught me well,” you told him eventually.

Suddenly the bartender placed a glass of beer in front of your friend then turned to you and cleared his throat as he flashed a friendly smile at you. “What can I give you?”

“Can you, by any chance, make me a Virgin Mojito?” you asked with the sweetest smile you managed to force on your face in this situation.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks.” Once he was gone, you let out a long sigh. “You look like shit, Eddie,” you informed him while you took a good look at him. It was clear he wasn’t entirely himself these days and now that you saw him with your own eyes you just knew he was in a much worse state than you’d previously assumed.

Eddie furrowed his eyebrows as he reached for his beer. “Wow, thank you, it’s a real pleasure to have you around.”

“I’m just worried. I know you went through a lot and your life fell apart–”

“It’s–It’s so great that just when I managed to forget what a disaster my life is currently for one night, you show up to remind me,” he said after interrupting you. He wasn’t mad. If anything, he was disappointed.

Letting out a sigh, you ran a hand through your hair and watched as the bartender brought you the drink you’d ordered. Once he was gone, you turned back to Eddie. “Listen, do you have friends who look out for you? Someone you can talk to?” you asked with a worried look.

“I don’t need friends,” was all he said in response.

“Eddie.”

“I’m fine, okay? Just drop it.“ He anxiously began to tap his fingertips on the side of his glass while his eyes focused on the mirror on the wall across from him. "And it’s not like I haven’t talked to you in the past months,” he then added as he flashed a mocking smile at you.

After you shrugged, you eventually nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that’s true, but now that we finally met in person again I can tell you’d been lying to me about being fine the whole time.”

“I wasn’t lying.” When you gave him a doubtful look he rolled his eyes. “I just wasn’t entirely truthful with you.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it. Your mom’s also worried sick about you.”

Eddie put up his hand as he gave you a shocked look. "Wait, you talked to my mom?” he asked in disbelief.

“She called me a few weeks ago,” you replied with a shrug. When you saw he was still staring at you with a questioning look, you let out a long sigh. “I mean, she clearly couldn’t call Annie for information.”

“Okay, that’s it, I’m leaving.” Eddie reached into the pocket of his jacket to pull out some money he then angrily threw on the bar. “Jack, thanks for the drink and hers was on me,” he told the bartender before standing up and walking towards the exit.

Without thinking you went after him. “Come on, you’re acting like some stupid kid,” you informed your friend.

He didn’t say anything until you finally reached the street and stopped by your motorcycles. “Guess what? I don’t care,” he told you as he took his helmet off the rearview mirror. After keeping a very short pause he turned to look at you. “It’s my life and I’m so fucking done with everyone knowing what I should do better than me!”

“Hey, I’m not trying to patronize you or anything, I just want to help because you’re not entirely yourself apparently,” you explained worriedly, instinctively reaching out to put your hand on his arm. “Where’s the cocky Eddie Brock I used to work with?”

“He disappeared along with my career,” was all he said in response.

“Eddie, come on.” The moment he began to put the helmet on you tightened your grip on his arm. “Hey, listen, I screwed up, okay? I shouldn’t have turned the conversation to your… problems right away,” you told him with an apologetic look.

Eddie groaned loudly but eventually put the helmet on the seat. “Especially after being away for so long,” he pointed out bitterly.

“So can you forgive me?”

“Sure,” Eddie said after a while as he pulled you into a hug. “But only because I have such a good heart,” he added with a dry laugh.

“Good.“ You let go and took a step back, talking a good look at your friend. At least he had a smile on his face now. It wasn’t a happy one but still; it was good enough for now. "Hey, I’m starving. Maybe we should go and eat something.”

“Nah, I’ll just go home to get some sleep.”

His answer caught you off guard and you furrowed your brows since you thought you’d misunderstood him. “What are you talking about? It’s only eight.”

“I know, but I’m tired,” he replied casually.

“Alright, old man, we’ll talk later then.”

“Old man? Well, thank you.”

Laughing, you hugged him again and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Take care, Eddie,” you whispered almost worriedly.

He wrapped his arms around you in response, keeping you close for a few more seconds. “I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?” When you mumbled something in return, Eddie let you go and reached for his helmet once again. "You know, I’m glad you’re back,” he noted with a smile.

You watched as he left, thinking about what to do with him now. Something was wrong, you could tell, but Eddie wasn’t the type of guy who easily asked for help. Letting out a sigh, you went back into the bar to get your helmet that you’d left in there then went home to avert your thoughts with some dumb movie.