Chapter Text
“Welcome to Hawkins, Steve Harrington”
Eddie stared at the board for a long time. The white scribbled of chalk stained it from where it had been erased, then written again. Steve Harrington.
He felt his stomach coil uncomfortably, watching the teacher erase the board again. “Sorry, class. That was meant for last period. No new students today.” She laughed softly, as if she was talking to herself.
Steve Harrington. His lip twitched, frown pulling it’s way onto his pale face. He should’ve known that his days in high school would get worse. Of course they would.
He didn’t listen to his teacher the entire class period. Her voice went in one ear, and out the other. He had quickly determined the day to be an absolute bust.
Gareth was waiting for him outside his class when he got done. The shorter kid was grinning, holding on to a slightly crumpled piece of paper, ready to spur off on some excited rant to his friend, but Eddie’s eyes weren’t falling on the paper. His mind wasn’t focusing on Gareth’s excitement.
He was thinking about that name. Steve Harrington.
“Eddie? Are you listening to me?” Gareth asked, bonking into his side. Eddie looked down, eyebrow furrowed. “We should sign up.”
Gareth had stuffed the paper into his hands. Battle of the Bands. He frowned deeper at that, nose scrunching up a bit. “Of course we should, Gareth, everyone needs to know every single song that we’ve been working on!”
The theatrics were a great deflection from his actual feelings. Even if they were sarcastic, and Gareth knew that much.
“I’m serious, Eddie. This could be good for us.” Gareth urged, smiling weakly now. Eddie sighed, running a hand over his face as he shoved the paper back onto Gareth’s stack of books.
He knew better than to think people would actually like Korroded Koffin in this town.
“We wouldn’t win, Gareth.” He said, rolling his eyes as he stopped in front of his next class. “This town is full of wastoids that wouldn’t know what good music was if it slapped them in the face ten times over with a metal baseball bat. We’d have better luck playing for toddlers.”
Gareth frowned, but he understood. Surely, he had to understand.
He was speaking again, but Eddie wasn’t looking at him.
He was looking over Gareth’s shoulder, directly at the familiar face of Steve Harrington. He didn’t look back, but he was moving with purpose.
He walked down the halls like he owned the place. A freshman, with a flock of girls practically drooling as he went by? It startled Eddie. Actually fucking scared him.
“I have to get to class, Gareth.” Eddie muttered, shutting his eyes of a second. “We can talk about it at lunch, yeah? I just- I have a lot on my mind.”
“Yeah, I know, Eddie. I’m worried about you.” Gareth said, looking up at Eddie. All the words Eddie hated to hear. “You can talk to me, you know.”
“Yes, my royal highness.” Eddie bowed, quickly replacing whatever expression that previously occupied his face with a sly grin. “Anything for the royalty.”
“Oh, shut it, drama queen.” Gareth laughed, shaking his head as he turned and walked away. Eddie watched him leave, and pretended his heart didn’t tug in his chest when Steve turned his heart to watch Gareth move with a strange look on his face.
Steve stopped for a second, meeting Eddie’s eyes, then. It was a second that Eddie wished he never had to live, as something inside him reminded him that Steve had never wrote him back. They weren’t friends, and judging by what Steve wore, how he looked, they never would be.
Steve looked away without a single ounce of recognition, and Eddie never went inside a classroom faster.