Chapter Text
Eddie Munson and her have been going out for almost two years now. Yes, the Eddie ‘Cult Leader’ Munson. No one ever understands what she sees in him. They are two completely different people. Let’s emphasize that one more time, two completely different kinds of people. The idea of the ‘cult leader’ falling for the little miss sunshine of Hawkins High School had never come up in anyone’s mind before. If you’re new to the town and you met her, you would think that she must be dating a goody-two-shoes or another perfect golden boy that matches her. But nope, out of everyone, she falls for the one they call freak instead.
But Eddie was no freak. Not in her eyes at least. He was unique and never once did she ever think that made him a freak, not even when they first met in the hallway. It was no movie or fairytale type of love story, far from it actually. She first saw him running down the hall back when he first received his Hellfire Club Shirt, if she remembered it correctly. It was 1981, she was a freshman whose eyes by fate fell onto the sophomore with crazy hair in the hallway. It was hard to miss him at that moment, for he was quite literally laughing maniacally with the other club members.
“Who is that?” She asked during that moment to her friend who was scrunching her nose at the sight of them. “The members of Hellfire Club. Better not meddle with any of them. They said they are,” Her friend leaned close to her ear. “An undercover satanic cult.” She whispered in a low voice.
Eyes wide open, she looked back at the bunch of people who now are standing at the end of the hallway. “Really? They look quite…………” Eddie turned around, eyes now accidentally connected with hers. Putting his hand behind his head, making horns with them as he sticks his tongue out before turning back to his friends—she doesn’t know what he was trying to mimic at that moment. Demon? They looked nothing alike at all. “Unique.” She continued her words.
“Freaks might be the right word to describe them.” Her friend commented once more.
She turned around to look at her. “I think I have to disagree on that.” Turning back around, her eyes followed him until he was out of her sight. Something about him felt so familiar to her but she couldn’t tell why so instead she brushed off the feelings before continuing her way to the class with her friend. Still, during the time in her class, she kept feeling as if she had forgotten something that once was something constant to her.
***
“What are you doing here?”
She turned around almost immediately—an alarmed look on her face, her hands in front of her in a what-seems-to-be-a fighting stance. But the tension on her shoulders went away when she saw who it was behind her. Just the person she was looking for. Eddie Munson has his arms on the side of his waist as he looks at her with a suspicious gaze. It was 1982 this time and here they are in front of Hellfire Club hideout-lair-whatever you called it. School time was over so Eddie was confused about what little miss perfect was doing wandering around the area.
His gaze went around them warily. “Is this a prank? Are your prissy boys around to disrupt our peaceful ‘satanic cult’ meeting? Cause that would be pointless, I’m the only one left here.” Eddie began to walk away from her, head craned up at the possible hiding spots around them. “Come out. Come out. I’m going to hex you with my spells. Boo. Haa.” He stomps over to look behind a classroom door.
She slowly followed him from behind as he began to walk down the hallway once more, hands stretched out, making some weird-ish movements. A slight smile formed on her face as she watched him. “It’s just me here. No prissy boys around.” She puts her hands together in front of her, slightly rocking back and forth on her feet.
The boy turned around, raising his eyebrows. “Quick rewind. Let’s go back to our first question. What are you doing here?” He asked, leaning a bit closer to the girl.
“I was expecting to meet…….you?” She said letting out an awkward chuckle, brushing her hands over her hair, a habit of hers.
“You. You? Okay, listen, Princess,” He leaned even close to her as if trying to scare her away. “This isn’t exactly the place where you belong and I think you are smart enough to figure that out. If I were you I would turn my back and get out of here before the people your friends call freaks put some curse on you. Cause that is what we do all the time.” He said, sarcastically, waving his arms around once more.
She crossed her arms with an unamused look on her face, looking up at him. “And here I thought you would be the one who won’t judge people by how they look like. Guess you and my friends have something in common after all.” She turned around and took some steps away from him.
Realizing what she just said, Eddie immediately took some long steps catching up with her in no time, walking backward beside her—his hands up in a stop motion, although she kept walking past him, ignoring it. “Woah, Woah, Woah, princess. Let's not compare me with them and say that we are the same. We are like water and milk, we can’t be mixed.” He said.
Stopping her steps, she let out a chuckle at his choice of words. “You’re a funny guy, Eddie Munson.”
“That’s………new.” He replied. The corner of his mouth went up for a split second, betraying the ‘intimidating’ look he tried to muster moments earlier. “And now, you’re fully laughing at me.” He continued as the girl continued laughing as if he just said the funniest joke on earth.
“The saying is water and oil, not milk. By saying milk, you’re just proving my point that you are not very much different from them.” She put a firm smile at her sentence, eyebrows raised in a joking manner as Eddie took in her words and realized what his mistake was. “Are you?” She asked.
Putting his hands together in front of him, he took a step back from her. “Nope.” He said, popping the ‘P’ as he did. “We’re different. Different like water and oil, not water and milk.” He paused for a moment before looking back at her, continuing his words. “Should I write that down? In case, I said the wrong comparison again but in front of your friends. That would not look good at all.”
“You probably should, yeah. And no, they’re not my friends. Not really.”
“Are you not close?” He asked a low chuckle bellowed from his throat.
“Not in a friend friend sense in my opinion.” She crossed her arms. “More like we-got-the-same-lifestyle-and-have-to-stick-together friends.”
Eddie copied her move and also went to cross his arms, still standing in front of her. “And does that have anything to do with your presence here right now, Princess? Expecting to meet me? You don’t think I forgot about your statement, right?” He put on a smile, no longer having any tension on his shoulders.
“I-Well I was……you know,” She stammered a little bit, flaying her hands around. “Well, I wasn’t expecting to actually see you……here. So I don’t know…maybe I just want to. I’m still searching for the right reason.” Trailing off at the end of her words, she looks down to the ground, feeling the embarrassment getting into her.
“You want to meet me without any………specific reasons?” He asked, sounding confused.
Biting the inner of her cheek, she looks up at him. “Would you actually believe me if I said that?”
Eddie went quiet, eyes watching her silently while tapping his feet to the floor rhythmically. He went to open up his mouth a few times but then went silent again as if he was doing it on purpose to keep making her wait for his answer. Clicking his tongue to the roof of his mouth, he finally answered her. “Would you believe me if I said yes?” Then he spoke again before she could reply to him. “I mean it’s shocking, obviously. Little Miss Sunshine alone with the school’s freak, I would sell this story to the school newspaper and make it the hot news of the week. I could make a lot of money from that.” His hands wander and grab the air as if it were raining money at that moment, then he went around her, hands still chasing the invisible money around them.
She chuckled at his attics, ducking her head as his hands went to grab an invisible dollar above her. “Would you actually do that?” She asked, the side of her mouth lifting upwards, curving a smile.
Eddie stopped counting the stack of money in his hands, head turned towards her, then he put the money in his back pockets before going back in front of her. “They won’t believe me even if I do. Besides, I’m interested to see how this one goes.” He said.
A thought—more like a memory comes into her mind that leads her to ask the next question. “Do you still play?” She asked suddenly, her head snapped around to look at him, her arms hugging the side of her body. “You were in a band if I remember correctly.” She looks at him with wandering eyes.
“Yes, and I am still in the band. I’m surprised you remember. Are you stalking me, princess? Cause this is getting creepy. I’m getting creepy vibes over here.” He makes a sudden move by reaching for her hand before digging into his back pocket, grabbing the money, and putting it on the top of her palm. “Do whatever you want with this money, but please don’t hurt me and leave me alone.” He raised his eyebrows jokingly at her, before letting go of her hand.
She scoffed with a light chuckle. “How am I asking you that equivalent with being creepy, Munson?” She asked, looking at the ground before her gaze going back to him. “I saw one of your performances two years back. I mean, Corroded Coffin? Not exactly the name you’ll forget.” She commented.
“Was that your reason?” He pursed his lips, arm crossed again, looking at her.
She shakes her head. “More like a random thought that comes to my mind."
Eddie stepped back away from her, rocking back and forth on his feet. “I take it as you didn’t stay after the performance, cause I don’t recall seeing your face anywhere there.” He asked. She cringed right after hearing him, looking embarrassed as she put her hand on the back of her neck. “Yeah, no. I…….I kinda sneaked out of my house that day.”
“To watch me?” He puts his hand on his chest, bowing down slightly. “I’m honored.”
She rolled her eyes at his attics. “To watch your band. Don’t fantasize too much.” She said.
Eddie went around her again, putting his hands together in front of his chest. “Oh, I don’t. Some people do sneak around—breaking the rules to meet me from time to time. Guess the freak charm does work on some people” He glanced at her.
“Oh, is that so?” She crossed her arms in front of her when all of a sudden, he took a long step to lean close to her, making her lean her head back slightly. “Well if not then you won’t be here right now, won’t you, Princess?” He smirked proudly, looking right into her eyes. The air around them changed instantly just from one sentence that he said. Curse Eddie Munson for speaking the truth that she tries to not show in the daylight.
A hue of red came up to her cheeks, finding herself unable to answer his question so instead she averted her gaze and bit the inner of her lips. “Don’t get too excited. Your thoughts could make you fly to the sky, but the reality could easily bring you back to the ground.” She simply stated, ending her words with a firm smile, giving him a look that said ‘say something back I dare you’
Eddie snorted at her words, shaking his head slightly. “That was smart.” He pointed his finger to her face before repeating his words again. “And….it was a lie. People don’t sneak around to meet me,” He said, leaning his head away, although he did not try to put some distance between the two. “Well there are a few that I can’t say the name of and they come for the same specific reasons but other than that, nope. You’re the first one.”
She looked back at him, pursing her lips together. “I’m honored.” Putting her hand on her chest, she copied his movement from some minutes ago. Eddie couldn't help but put on a smile as he noticed that. “You know, you’re not so bad to be around with. I thought Miss Sunshine would be too scared to come down here but turns out, she had sneaked around to watch the freak performance once. Guess we do learn new things every day.” He said while maintaining his gaze on her.
Raising one of her eyebrows, she didn’t look away from him as she felt a surge of confidence come into her, so she spoke out her mind before it went away. “I can stay around if you want to know more about me so bad, Munson.” The corner of her lips went slightly upwards as she said that. She’ll be embarrassed the next day but during that moment, there was nothing but satisfaction as she took in the look on his face. How have the tables turned cause now Eddie is the one to be at a loss of words instead of her.
His agape mouth turned into a wide smile as he let out an awkward chuckle, biting his lips while snapping his fingers together at her. “Was that a request of friendship that I hear?” He leaned closer to her, however this time she didn’t move to lean her head back. “Are you proposing that you, little miss sunshine of Hawkins, and me, Eddie the freak as they said so, should become friends?”
She nodded, pursing her lips together. “Friendship sounds like a nice place to start as.”
“To start as, huh. How do you reckon this one will end as?” He asked her.
Tilting her head, she went around him, making him turn his body around to follow her. “I have an idea in my mind but I guess it’ll have to wait a little longer before I voice it out loud.” She said, raising her right hand to the air between them. Eddie found himself nodding at the suggestion, clasping his hand around hers, shaking it lightly. “Yeah? I think so too.” He commented.
“Oh, you know what’s on my mind, friend?” She asked, raising one of her eyebrows, not letting go of his hand, emphasizing the last word.
Eddie tugged her hand a bit so she stumbled forward and stopped exactly a step away from him. He put his hands on her shoulder for her to regain her balance back. “Wait a little longer then we’ll find out if my guess is right or not, friend.” He said, looking down at her to find her eyes already looking up at him. Those pairs of eyes that would slowly become something that he adores eventually.
“Glad we agree, Eddie.” She bites the inner of her cheek to suppress the wide smile that is threatening to let out of its cage. The cage that holds the real reason why she went there in the first place. It’s not like she could say it out loud as if it were something casual. Hi, Eddie Munson. I like you. I’ve had a crush on you ever since that night when I saw you performing and somehow my mind forgot about that even though it lasted for quite a long time then the memory of that suddenly snapped into my mind when I saw you again in the hallway that day. Surely she couldn’t say that out loud. Not right now at least. For now, they are friends.