Chapter Text
“Can you take me to the Hideout on Friday?” Dustin asked as soon as he opened Steve’s passenger side door. He tumbled onto the seat, letting the door slam behind him.
“Watch it, Henderson,” Steve said, pulling away from the curb.
“The Hideout? Friday?” Dustin pressed. “Nancy will be there.” The little shit practically sang the last part.
“Hold on, why?”
“Well, she wouldn’t let Mike go without a chaperone.” Dustin unplugged Steve’s phone from where it was charging and plugged his own in.
“Hey, what the hell, man?” Steve asked, reaching over to try to unplug Dustin’s phone.
“I’m on like 6%!” Dustin squeaked, twisting it out of his reach.
“Not my problem, Henderson. Plug mine back in!”
“You’re at 43%! Just give me a few minutes!”
Steve gave up the struggle and returned both hands to the wheel. “You’re a real shit, you know that?”
“Yep.” Steve could hear Dustin’s shit-eating grin without having to see it.
“What’s happening at the Hideout, anyway?” Steve asked, turning onto Main Street.
“Eddie’s band is playing.”
“Who, Eddie Munson ?”
“Yeah.” Dustin flicked the frog plushie that was hanging from Steve’s rearview mirror. It was this creepy little thing Robin had hung up a few weeks ago that Steve kept forgetting to take down.
“I forgot he was even in a band,” Steve said, batting Dustin’s hand away. Eddie Munson had been in the grade above Steve, until he had repeated senior year and was in Steve’s same graduating class, and then repeated it again to finally graduate the year after.
“Yeah he is, and he’s incredible,” Dustin said.
“Isn’t he, like, five years older than you?”
“Yeah, aren’t you? ”
“Alright, touché, man.”
Steve pulled into the parking lot of the movie theater. Robin had rolled her eyes at him when he suggested they go see the newest Marvel movie, so he’d asked Dustin along instead.
“So why can’t Nancy drive you to the Hideout?” Steve asked as he slid out of the car and locked it behind him.
“Because she’s already driving Mike and Will and El,” Dustin said, falling into step with Steve on their way into the movie theater. “And, you know, Jonathan.”
Steve frowned. “Cool, yeah, Jonathan. Love that guy.”
“Just cause he’ll be there doesn’t mean you can’t still hang out with Nancy.”
“Yeah, I know that.” Steve pulled open the door to the theater and held it for Dustin. As the kid stepped in, he turned to walk backwards and face Steve.
“So are you taking me or what?”
Steve sighed. “Yeah, fine, whatever.”
Dustin broke out into a huge grin. “Good, because I already told Lucas and Max you’d drive us!” He called over his shoulder as he turned back around and rushed for the concession counter.
Steve shook his head as he followed. “Little shit.”
Steve had never been to the Hideout. It wasn’t exactly his scene; from what he could tell it was mostly grungy local bands that he wasn’t that interested in. He knew some of the kids he had gone to high school with would go just because it was one of the only music venues around that let you get in while underage.
Steve and his group showed up late because he got lost on the way there (he blamed Dustin’s faulty directions), but Eddie’s band was second on the lineup. As Steve and the kids filed into the hazy venue that already smelled overwhelmingly of weed and body odor, he didn’t feel all that sad about missing any part of this.
“There they are,” Max said, breaking away from the others and weaving through the sparse crowd to where Nancy, Jonathan, Will, Mike, and El were standing in a clump. Steve trailed after her.
“Hey, Nance,” he said once he got close enough to be heard over the—he guessed it was music?—coming from the stage. “Jonathan.”
“Hi,” Nancy said, smiling up at Steve. Jonathan just nodded.
“So how—?” Steve started, but was cut off when a flurry of leather and denim rocketed past him, knocking him off balance.
“Henderson!” It was Eddie Munson, swallowing Dustin in a bear hug. “Fucking knew you’d be here.”
Dustin beamed at him. “Well yeah, I told you I would!”
Eddie cocked his head, his mess of curly hair sliding over his shoulders. “What? When?”
“Like literally yesterday?”
“I think you’ve got it wrong, dude, you didn’t tell me shit.” Eddie glanced around for the first time. Steve’s eyes locked on his for a second before flicking away,
“Listen, I gotta head. Sound check’s in a few minutes as soon as this set is up,” Eddie said, gesturing to the stage. He punched Dustin’s shoulder lightly and ruffled Will’s hair before rushing off again. “I’ll catch you after!” He called over his shoulder.
“He’s… chaotic,” Nancy mused from next to Steve, who chuckled.
“You could say that,” he said. Nancy gave him another smile and his heart flipped. It had been almost two years since they broke up, but a fairly significant part of Steve had never really gotten over her. A few months ago he had told her as much. She had let him down so, so gently, but it still fucking hurt to look at her sometimes.
So he looked at the kids instead. El and Max were engrossed in their conversation, with Lucas hovering right beside them. Dustin was sort of bouncing in time with the music, with Mike and Will next to him both bobbing their heads.
“So they kinda suck, right?” Steve said, gesturing to the stage, not sure who he was even addressing.
“I don’t know,” Jonathan said, “It’s like… esoteric.”
“Yeah,” Steve said, “Esto… yeah.”
The song finished to scattered applause. The venue wasn’t super full; there were maybe fifty people in a room that could easily hold a couple hundred.
The guy in the middle of the stage shouted something with his mouth directly on the mic that sounded like, “Thabk yo war holotoof nexup is corda coffin.” There was more applause as the band exited the stage.
Some guys in black rushed onstage after them, pulling the instruments off and moving wires around. A few more people trickled into the venue as the next band’s instruments got set up.
Steve watched as Mike and Will put their heads together in front of him. He didn’t trust their conspiratorial tilt. Especially once Mike kept glancing back at the bar.
“Hey,” Steve said, “Eyes off the alcohol, Wheeler.”
Mike stared at him, expression too innocent. “What?” He asked, “I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
“Uh-huh, sure. Watch it, or I’m telling Nancy.”
“What?” Nancy asked, turning from her conversation with Jonathan.
“Nothing,” Steve and Mike said in unison.
The kids, led by Dustin, cheered as Eddie’s band walked out onstage. Eddie gave them a lazy wave. He had shed his jacket and vest, leaving a black Iron Maiden t-shirt. It fit snug, and Steve couldn’t help but notice his surprisingly toned arms.
The band made some sounds that didn’t really seem much like anything, but Steve guessed that this was the sound check Eddie had mentioned. After a few minutes they fell silent and the guy in the middle moved to the mic.
“Hello!” he shouted, to some applause. The room had filled out some, but was still less than half-full. “We’re Corroded Coffin! Hope you’re ready to fucking rock!”
The room cheered as they started playing. The sound hit Steve like a wall, pulsing against his eardrums and thrumming through his bones. It was a few moments before he could register anything but noise noise noise , but eventually he started to be able to pick out the individual instruments.
To be honest, he didn’t really know enough about music, especially this kind of music, to tell if it was even good. But it was loud as hell, and rocked through him, and he even he could tell that Eddie on the guitar was fucking electric .
Steve could barely hear the applause once the first song was over through the ringing in his ears. Dustin whirled around and beamed at him. Steve gave him a thumbs up in return.
Was the next song somehow even louder? It was nice though; it ripped every thought of the girl next to him out of Steve’s head, every uncertainty about the future, everything but this objectively sick ass guitar solo that Eddie was launching into. By the end of Corroded Coffin’s set, Steve was pretty sure he had sustained permanent hearing damage but he was completely elated. When Dustin turned around and yelled something that Steve couldn’t possibly make out, he didn’t hesitate to yell back.
The band left the stage and a relative quiet fell over the room. There were just the conversations in the audience, the much quieter music that the venue was playing over the speakers, and the ringing in Steve’s ears.
He watched Eddie shoulder his way through the crowd that had continued to grow. His hair was damp from sweat now, a few curls plastered to his neck.
“That. Was. Incredible!” Dustin shouted at him once Eddie reached their group. The other kids piled on their congratulations.
“Well, I humbly thank you,” Eddie said, half bowing, cocky grin splitting his face.
“That was really good,” Nancy said.
“Yeah, that was super cool, man,” Steve echoed.
Eddie eyed him. “Steve Harrington,” he said slowly, “Never would have taken you for a metal fan.”
Steve shrugged. “Yeah, well, I have layers.”
“Clearly.” Eddie fished through his pockets, pulling out a string of red tickets. “Drink tickets.”
Mike snapped his head up immediately from where he had been whispering something to Will.
“Nuh-uh, not for you,” Steve said. To Eddie, he added, “Won’t they card you?” Everyone in their circle was still under 21.
“Not if you’re in the band, they don’t,” Eddie said, winking. “C’mon, Harrington.”
Steve followed Eddie to the small bar in the corner of the room. Eddie said something over his shoulder that Steve couldn’t catch.
“What?” he asked. The ringing had gone down, but it still felt like his ears were stuffed with gauze. Eddie leaned closer and spoke directly into his ear.
“I said, this place will be packed for the last set.” Eddie’s breath tickled the hairs on Steve’s neck. He shivered.
Sure enough though, as he looked around while Eddie ordered their drinks, the room had filled up to near capacity.
“Why is that?” he asked.
“They’re like a local legend,” Eddie said, pointing to where the final band was taking their places for their sound check. “They’ve been touring and shit, but they’re back for this show.”
A local legend. Steve tried to remember what the name on the marquis out front had been and came up with nothing.
“So is that cool?” he asked, “Opening for a popular band?”
Eddie just shrugged as the bartender handed him two beers.
Steve took one of the beers and led the way back to the group. Eddie said something else that he couldn’t hear.
“What?” Steve asked, “My ears are busted, man.”
“Rookie mistake,” Eddie said, shaking his head. He fished around in his pockets again and came up with two earplugs, offering them to Steve. “Put them in during the set,” he instructed.
Steve took the earplugs. They were warm and a little damp from being in Eddie’s pockets, plus there was definitely a bit of earwax crusted onto them, but Steve would take anything to save his ears at this point.
There was a delay while they fixed something with the sound system. The venue had definitely reached capacity and then some at this point; their whole group had been crushed together. Dustin was standing on Steve’s toes and Eddie’s elbow was digging into his ribs.
“So what’s the deal with this last band?” Steve asked Eddie. “Are they the same kind of music as you, or?”
“Not exactly,” Eddie said, “They’re blackgaze.”
“Black gays?” Steve scanned the band onstage, but only one of them was actually black, and he couldn’t even tell their sexuality.
“Gaze, G-A-Z-E,” Eddie said, “Like shoegaze, but more black metal.”
“I have no idea what you’re saying to me right now.”
Eddie rolled his eyes, “God, don’t you work at a record shop?”
Steve was saved by the final band introducing themselves. The cheer from the crowd was wild this time. He popped in his earplugs as the music started.
He still had no idea what blackgaze was, but he found he liked it. It was so… buzzy. The earplugs helped a lot; he could still hear the music and the bass still thumped through him, but it didn’t feel like anyone was drilling on his eardrums. He decided he liked concerts; even if Henderson was crushing his toes and Eddie’s mostly bare arm pressed against his made his skin flare.
No, it really wasn’t so bad at all.