Chapter Text
The first time that Eddie Munson saw you he was quite certain that his soul left his body.
It was during his senior year—his first one that is—and the interaction had been so painstakingly mundane that he couldn’t quite help but wonder why the memory still remained so clear within his mind. The day had been sunny, the wide expanse of sky unobstructed by clouds so that the heat had been quite relentless as it beat down across Indiana. You had been walking down the hallway, a stack of books held tightly to your chest with a bag slung across one shoulder. A smile—like it almost always was—was placed gently across your lips, framed delicately by stray pieces of your hair that had fallen from where you had tied it up. You had been wearing a dress, something with flowers on it if Eddie remembered correctly that seemed to compliment your smiling disposition so perfectly.
He had felt you before he saw you. Partly because your presence was practically electrifying but mostly because you had accidentally bumped into him, your shoulder crashing against his arm as you had been passing in the hallway. It hadn’t hurt, not really, and yet Eddie had scowled anyway. But then as he had turned towards you, your eyes flickering up to his for just a moment as you were pulled from your conversation, he found whatever words he had been about to utter die upon his lips.
“Oh, sorry,” you quickly said before continuing on your way.
Eddie, for once in his life, had been left speechless.
He had stared at you as you had traversed the rest of the hallway, knowing quite well that he was being weird and yet finding himself incapable of stopping. His arm had continued to tingle for the remainder of the day and it oddly brought a smile to his features at the feeling of it.
The second time Eddie saw you—this time sitting within the cafeteria as you chatted idly with a girl beside you—elicited a similar reaction. And it had continued to do so with every subsequent sighting of you. But once Eddie had seen you it was like he couldn’t stop seeing you; a blur as you rushed down the hall, a fleeting image of you leaving the cafeteria. And even after you had graduated and left Eddie behind without ever having uttered another word to him after that day in hallway, Eddie could swear he could still smell the intoxicating scent of your perfume when he was browsing in his favourite record store or dropping off some tapes at Family Video.
The most recent of Eddie’s out of body experiences occurred on a Friday night. And just like every other Friday night in Hawkins, Eddie was bored. It was raining—because of course it just had to be raining—so that thick sheets of water pelted against the roof of the trailer, drowning out the music that Eddie kept having to turn up. A trail of smoke drifted lazily from his mouth, dissipating in the air above him.
“This blows man,” Gareth said from beside him.
“You blow,” Eddie replied.
“We should go and do something,” Gareth continued, unperturbed. “I hear there’s a new band playing at the Hideout tonight.”
“A new band and they’ve managed to score a spot on the Friday night set list?” Eddie furrowed his brows. “Who are they? Metallica?”
“Who cares who they are?” Jeff said. “At least it’ll give us something to do.”
“Who cares who they are?” Eddie responded, his voice now serious as he leaned forwards on the couch. “Might I remind you, Jeffy-Boy, that we are a mere two weeks away from the Battle of the Bands and now there is suddenly a new band in town.”
“W-we could,” Mike began from the corner. “We could go and check them out to scope out the competition.”
“Like a reconnaissance mission!” Dustin added enthusiastically.
Eddie squinted at the two boys before taking a long draw of his cigarette.
“I like your thinking, Wheeler. I knew your bass skills weren’t all that I kept you around for!”
Eddie jumped up from the couch and slapped Mike across the back, causing the boy to lurch forward from the force. Mike winced, bringing his hand up at rub at his shoulder.
Eddie, now with a wide smile upon his face, turned to stand before the rest of the group, cigarette hanging lazily from his lips. As he looked upon them his smile turned into a devilish grin.
“To the van!” Eddie announced before leaping towards the door without a backwards glance, stubbing out his cigarette in an ashtray before collecting his keys as he went. The rest of the boys turned to each other briefly, a shared look of regret passing between them before they eventually followed.
The Hideout was busier than Eddie had ever seen it, the parking lot so full that they had to circle it twice before finding a spot.
“This is ridiculous,” Gareth said. “Who are these guys?”
“Whoever they are, it looks like we have some real competition on our hands,” Jeff responded as the line for the door came into view; a line that extended well into the parking lot. On any other night, Eddie would not have had the patience to wait in such a line. But now, with his interest most certainly piqued, he was determined to get inside. So they each piled from the car, the chill of the night greeting them instantly as they begrudgingly joined the queue.
Eddie was well aware that his face had at some point morphed into a scowl. But in that moment he seemed incapable of ridding his features of it, nor did he particularly feel like doing so. It was cold, it was wet, and a slight sprinkle of rain had begun descending around them which was most likely only going to weigh Eddie’s hair down. With a sigh, he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket as he watched Mike and Dustin bounce around to keep warm.
But even once they had managed to get inside, Eddie’s scowl still remained. For the throng of people was so dense and so compact that at first none of them could see much into the venue anyway. The shouts and the cheers coming from the crowd were so overwhelming and so annoyingly deafening that at first Eddie could barely hear what was being played. He considered for just a moment the possibility of simply turning right back around and leaving. But then the crowd slowly started to dissipate and he found his feet moving forwards of their own volition.
“Is that...” Jeff began.
“ABBA?!” Gareth finished. “And sung by...”
“Girls,” Mike and Dustin said in unison.
And then all at once it was like the crowd seemed to part so that Eddie had an unobstructed view of you on the stage. You had your eyes closed as you sung, the blinding lights somehow glowing against your skin. Your head nodded slightly along with the beat, your fingers working effortlessly over the strings of the electric guitar in your hands. And even though it had been years since he had seen you, even though he was starting to forget the smell of your perfume or the way you looked at him that day in the hallway, Eddie still felt his soul leave him for just a moment, maybe ascending upwards so that it had a better view of you upon the stage.
“Is that…?” Mike asked Dustin.
“I think so,” Dustin responded. And although Eddie could hear them he couldn’t quite bring himself to care what they were talking about.
Because then your eyes opened and they fixed immediately onto Eddie’s.
“Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight. Won’t somebody help me chase the shadows away,” you sung, offering Eddie a small smile that had his breath hitching in his throat.
“They’re kinda good!” he heard Mike yell over the crowd.
“Like, really good,” Dustin added, but Eddie barely heard him, his concentration unable to move from you. You flicked your head back slightly in an attempt to get the hair out of your face, and Eddie so wished he could reach out and brush it away for you. Your skin seemed to glow under the blaring lights, a light sheen of red covering your cheeks that was undoubtedly a product of the heat in the room.
After what felt like a lifetime, you tore your gaze away from Eddie’s to glance down at your guitar, an action Eddie was wholeheartedly grateful for, because in that moment he found himself suddenly able to breathe again.
He watched on enraptured as your fingers ghosted over each string fluidly. And although the sight of your masterful playing stirred something within him, it was your smile that he seemed incapable of looking away from. You smiled out towards the crowd; you smiled back towards your bandmates; you smiled at seemingly nothing at all. And with each one Eddie became transfixed by the curve of your lips and the shine in your eyes so that only moments after he had gotten his breath back it was leaving him once more.
There were three other girls on stage, Eddie finally registered only after you had turned back to look at them a multitude of times, each of them consumed in their own instruments. The girl closest to you looked exceptionally familiar, her short hair hanging slightly messy around her face as she swayed to the beat, another electric guitar in her grasp. The girl on drums had red hair, her whole body moving along with each movement of her sticks. The girl on bass had dark skin and quite the unemotional face as she played, her body practically rigid as her fingers strummed each string.
But then you were turning back around and Eddie found himself quite unable to register anything else in the room. Not the crowd of people around him, not the children that were technically under his care. For him, in that moment, there was simply you.
“Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight. Take me through the darkness to the break of day,” you sung, finishing the last few notes of the song.
Eddie had never enjoyed ABBA. Although he had, in truth, never actually listened to them. They were no Ozzy Osburne, no Dio, after all. But for just a second in that moment as the song came to an end, Eddie wished that he could hear more, if only you would sing it.
The crowd erupted into cheers as you smiled back widely, joining in on the applause as you turned around to face your bandmates.
“Thank you, thank you,” you said into the microphone as the crowd began to die down. “Unfortunately, the night is nearing its end.” An eruption of ‘boos’ filled the room. “I know, I know, but everything good must come to an end. But we have a little surprise for you guys tonight before we finish!”
The crowd cheered again and you waited patiently for it to die down before continuing.
“You guys liked our original song so much last week that we’ve written a new one for you!”
This time the crowd’s cheers were so deafening that Eddie had the urge to cover his ears.
“This one’s called Let Me Down Easy.”
The girl on the drums lifted her sticks above her head and tapped them together four times. In unison, each instrument came alive, as you looked back at each girl and they looked towards each other, your lips mirroring each other's smiles. You turned back around, brushing your lips up to the microphone.
“You want someone who wants you for who you are.
I want someone to try and let me down easy, easy tonight.”
Eddie’s eyes went wide at the sound of your voice this time; for although he had heard it only moments before, something felt different about this rendition. It was almost as if now, singing your own lyrics and playing your own chords, something had been renewed within you. It was practically electrifying, so much so that Eddie couldn’t quite seem to help himself as he began to bop his head along with the beat. Your eyes closed again as you became absorbed in the song, your body moving to the music so that your hair swayed slightly around you. A smile was seemingly plastered to your face as you sang, a smile so soft and so genuine that Eddie found he couldn’t tear his eyes away from it.
When your eyes reopened, Eddie found himself momentarily unable to breath at the pure electricity that seemed to fill the room.
“Honey it’s no secret that with matters of the heart
I’m reserved, I’m irrational and rarely ever start.”
Eddie felt something stir within him; something that told him that he should listen carefully, something that told him that your heart was buried within those words and he would have to dig if he wanted even a piece of it. He hung on to every word, to every strum of your guitar, with rapt attention.
And then you were dancing, your hands moving effortlessly over the strings in your hands as you turned to look at your band mates once more, singing to them instead as you forgot the crowd. You were consumed in the music, consumed in the story, your hair moving around you as you danced. You turned back around, your eyes finding his once more.
“You want someone to want you for who are you.”
Eddie held his breath, quite certain in that moment that you could see right through him.
“I want someone to let me down easy, easy tonight.”
As your fingers washed over the last few strings and as the song came to an end, Eddie found himself wholeheartedly disappointed that he hadn’t arrived at the Hideout sooner. For just like when he was coming down from a high, he craved another hit of you.
“Thank you everyone and have a lovely night!”
The crowd was deafening as the lights began to fade, your attention immediately turning to your band mates as you talked enthusiastically with them.
“Shit,” Eddie said to himself.
Whether his sentiments were voiced because of his severely decreased chances of winning the Battle of the Bands or because he couldn’t quite get the image of you out of his mind, he wasn’t altogether too sure.
---
The first time you saw Eddie Munson was sometime around junior year.
But the first time you really saw him, the first time your eyes locked onto his and you found yourself unable to look away, was during one of your gigs at the Hideout. The gig was just like any other although the crowd was particularly large that night, a sea of eyes staring back at you so that sweat dripped from the back of your neck. For most of the set you spent the majority of your time either turning back to look at your bandmates or closing your eyes if only to briefly get the image of all those people staring at you out of your mind.
But then you had opened your eyes and scanned the room just like you had done so many times before, and it was like your gaze was drawn to his. His eyes, so wide and dark, seemed to swallow your own. A mound of hair encompassed his head, messy and untamed, framing a face that was angular and yet soft. His tall frame was dressed almost entirely in black save for the denim jacket worn atop his leather one, patches from several bands sewn into the fabric.
Your eyes drifted down to where his hands sat by his sides, large silver rings covering each finger. At the sight of his index finger tapping along against his jeans to the beat you couldn’t help but gaze back at him and smile, not altogether sure whether he even knew he was doing it.
In the end, you had to force yourself to tear your gaze away from his. You turned briefly to look back at Robin who smiled back at you, Vicki all consumed by the drums and Meg as stoic as ever.
You allowed yourself to look at Eddie only a few more times during your set, and each time you did so you instantly regretted it for averting your gaze from him always took a monumental effort. But then you were finishing your last song and you were panting and you were sweating and you were so looking forward to leaving the stuffy venue that in the end you completely lost sight of him. A few people came up to the stage as you were packing up to congratulate you, but none with captivating brown eyes and a mane of messy hair.
“I swear I was going to shit myself on that stage,” Robin said when you were packing the equipment into your car. The night air was cool as it touched your skin, the silence of the carpark calming.
“The crowd keeps getting bigger every week and I don’t know how to deal with it,” Vicki added.
“We could take a couple of weeks off from performing if you guys want. I know it’s overwhelming, especially with the competition coming up,” you said, gently placing your guitar into the boot of your car.
“Well that’s the thing,” Robin said with a smile. “If we’re going to blow those judges away, we have to practice.”
“It won’t matter what we do. We’re girls so the judges won’t score us high,” Meg, ever the pessimist, said.
“Oh Meggy,” Robin said, slinging an arm around the stoic girl. “Your faith in us instils so much confidence in me. Now stop with all the moping, and let’s get some milkshakes!”
Robin practically flung herself into the backseat of your car, followed quickly by Vicki who smiled up sweetly at the other girl as Meg opened the passenger door. You couldn’t help but smile at the two girls from where you could see them through rear window, chatting idly between each other.
With a sigh, you turned to glance around one last time at the empty carpark before rounding the car to open the driver’s door.
---
“We’re totally screwed,” Jeff said as they left the venue.
“They weren’t that good,” Gareth responded.
“Were we watching the same band?” Mike said. “Cause they absolutely ruled!”
“Well, maybe they’re not competing in the Battle of the Bands,” Gareth conceded.
“I’m pretty sure they are,” Dustin said.
“And how would you know?” Gareth questioned.
“Well Steve is friends with Robin and Y/N and I’m friends with Steve. Plus I heard them talking about it last week at the video store.”
Jeff let out a groan of disappointment.
“What do you think of all this, Eddie? You’re being hell quiet,” Gareth said, pulling Eddie out of his reverie. His gaze had been lingering on the doors of the Hideout, hoping that maybe he could catch one last glimpse of you before he left. He had wanted to talk to you after the set, but even before he had managed to work up the courage to carry himself over towards you, someone else had beat him to it; a guy with cool hair and cool clothes and a cool smile that he had directed up towards you to where you were packing up on the stage. And of course you had smiled back, responding politely to whatever the guy had said to you, perhaps partly distracted as you continued to pack away as you did so, your back half turned to him. But maybe in the end it had been for the best, Eddie thought, for in truth he had had nothing to say anyway.
“I think they were good. I think they’re good enough to win the competition,” Eddie said as if it were an obvious statement. He opened the driver’s door to his van and hopped in, the boys doing the same as they piled into the back.
Gareth rolled his eyes. “Oh God, not you too.”
Eddie forced his gaze away from the Hideout and turned back to smile at his friend. He twisted the keys in the ignition as the engine roared to life.
“But we’re also good enough to win. We just have some worthy competition now, so it’ll be all the more satisfying when we beat them.”
Gareth let out a howl of laughter as Eddie sped out of the parking lot.
“But we have much to discuss, boys. We need a plan of attack,” Eddie said seriously.
When they eventually returned back to Eddie’s trailer, the boys were forced to sit upon Eddie’s couch as he paced before them, seemingly renewed with his usual excess of energy. His hands were clasped together under his chin as he paced, his mind deep in thought as the room remained quiet, no one wanting to interrupt whatever it was that was happening inside of Eddie’s mind.
“Right!” Eddie finally declared, causing each boy to jump slightly. “I think it’s quite obvious that those girls we saw tonight were good. There’s no point in denying that. But if we’re going to beat them in this competition, we must have a battle plan. Dustin!”
Dustin sat upright.
“How well do you know those lovely ladies?”
“W-well,” Dustin began, clearing his throat before continuing. “Steve is like best friends with Robin who was the lead guitarist-”
“Robin Buckley!” Eddie loudly interjected, clapping his hands together dramatically. “I knew she looked familiar.”
Dustin waited a few seconds to make sure that Eddie’s outburst was finished before he continued.
“Yeah, that’s her. And then Y/N is the lead singer. She’s friends with Steve and Robin. She’s always hanging out with them at Family Video. S-she,” Dustin hesitated, “she used to be my babysitter as well.”
Eddie’s eyebrows quirked upwards, a wicked grin splitting onto his features.
“So you know her well then?”
“Y-yeah, I’d say so,” Dustin said.
“We’ve also been on a few…adventures with her,” Mike added, earning him a scowl from Dustin.
“She plays D and D?” Eddie asked, surprised.
“…no,” the boys said in unison.
“Well what about the other two? The bassist and the drummer?” Eddie asked.
“Um, the drummer is Vicki, I think. Robin talks about her sometimes. And then I don’t really know much about the other one.”
“She looked scary,” Mike added.
“That she did,” Eddie responded. “But we know enough about the other’s so that we shouldn’t have to worry about her. Now, boys, what is the one thing that these girls have that we don’t?”
Mike, Dustin, Gareth and Jeff looked towards each other.
“Boob-” Gareth began.
“Music related!” Eddie quickly interjected before sighing. “What do these girls have in their music that we don’t?”
Again, the boys looked towards each other, but this time they were unable to answer. Eddie sighed again, bringing his thumb and forefinger to rest upon the bridge of his nose in frustration.
“Original songs!” Eddie finally revealed. “They have original songs.”
“We have original songs!” Gareth exclaimed.
“We have original chord progressions. We don’t have lyrics and we don’t have anything that’s actually finished.”
“Well how are we supposed to write lyrics when none of us know how to?” Mike questioned.
“Well, Wheeler, that’s what leads me to our game plan. We need someone to teach us,” Eddie responded. “Henderson, do you know who in that girl group writes the lyrics to their songs?”
Dustin furrowed his brows for a moment as he thought through the question.
“I don’t know specifically, but Y/N is always writing in a notebook that she always has on her.”
“Well then there we have it, boys. We need to find the secret to writing original songs which means we need to infiltrate that girl group.” Eddie turned to look at Dustin with a quirked eyebrow.
“No no no, Munson, I’m not going behind Y/N’s back to help you win this competition. She’d literally kill me if she found out!” Dustin hastily objected.
“Oh come on, Dustin,” Eddie pleaded.
“Well considering I’m not in the band I really have no incentive to help you,” Dustin said, his lips upturning slightly into a devilish grin.
Eddie groaned.
“Oh God, Dustin, not this again. Fine! You can be the band’s manager!”
A wide smile erupted onto Dustin’s face. He leapt up from where he was sitting before patting the cushion, gesturing for Eddie to take a seat. With a large eyeroll and a slight scoff, Eddie begrudgingly sat down.
“As band manager, I have to let you know that this so-called plan that you have concocted is flawed,” Dustin said.
“It’s-” Eddie began.
“It’s flawed,” Dustin continued, “because you don’t know Y/N like I do. Sure, I can try and squeeze her song writing secrets from her, but I promise you I wouldn’t get very far. What we need is for someone to get close to Y/N. Intimately close.” Dustin turned to Eddie and wiggled his eyebrows.
“What are you-” Eddie tried to say before he was once again cut off.
“I’m saying that Y/N is...reserved.”
“She’s literally the lead singer in a band. How reserved can she be?” Jeff said.
“I’m sorry, Jeff, do you know her?” Dustin questioned. Jeff remained silent. “No, I didn’t think so. What I’m trying to say is that she doesn’t open up to a lot of people so she’s not going to spill her secrets to just anyone, not even me. So someone,” Dustin wiggled his eyebrows at Eddie once more, “has to get close to her.”
“And how exactly am I supposed to get close to her?” Eddie questioned, the image of that day when you had bumped into him in the hallway flooding his mind.
“I don’t know, maybe talk to her,” Dustin responded sarcastically. “Take her out on a few dates. Get her to open up to you.”
Eddie furrowed his brows. “I don’t think-”
“That’s a great idea!” Gareth interjected.
“No, I-” Eddie tried to say once more.
“Come on man, it’s just a few dates. It doesn’t have to be anything serious,” Jeff added.
“If you date her does that mean we get to go to more of her gigs?” Mike questioned excitedly.
“I-”
“So you’re perfectly happy for me to do all of the dirty work,” Dustin began. “But as soon as you have to put in some effort you don’t want to do it.”
“Hell, I’ll do it,” Gareth added. “You never know, I might even get luck-”
“Fine!” Eddie exclaimed, silencing everyone else in the room. “Fine, I’ll do it. Just a few dates. Nothing serious.”
Eddie brought his hands up to rub at his temples, the beginnings of a headache throbbing in his mind.
“That’s only if she doesn’t reject you,” Jeff snickered.