Chapter Text
You’ve been in Hawkins for a week and this was the first time you ever dared to go out of your aunt’s house. It was crazy how you went back to where you started, to this random town in Indiana. You were born there, after all the chaos related to lost kids and rumors about it being cursed, you never saw anything out of normal, the only curse you were sure the town had was the one of boredom .
You and your parents moved out of town in your last year of high school. New York was cool, you met people from all over the country once you went into college. You shared room with two other girls that were really nice, yet no one was like Robin.
The first time you met her was the summer before your freshman year, she was in the same section of the mall you were, where clothes weren’t dresses nor had bows and sequins, you bonded over a shirt of Bowie you and she were planning on buying. Since then you both stayed friends, two beautiful years of true friendship, it was heartbreaking when you gave her the news of you moving out. Either way you called each other every couple of weeks and she was the source of gossip you had in town, not that there was much going on, not until the summer of ’85, she disappeared for a couple of weeks, she didn’t contact you and when you tried to talk to her she was always busy or with her new best friend Steve Harrington .
Steve was a nice guy, you shared English and Chemistry with him for a whole year, he was not the best student but he tried and he was always willing to lend you a pencil when you needed it, since you helped him pass his exams either by helping him study or giving him the answers of the test, he found a way to pay you by inviting you to all the parties he threw at his place and the basketball games, you always took his offer lightly because it was Steve Harrington, besides he had Carol and that nasty guy Tommy as friends, who were absolute jerks, of course you had Robin and you needed no one else. Now he had stolen your only friend left in Hawkins and that was not cool, not cool at all. It hurt like a stab in the back and he was twisting it without noticing.
Somehow Robin found out you were back for the summer to stay at your aunt’s, she had called you nonstop since day one, and finally after a lot of insistence from her part you agreed to finally see her, your ego was bruised by her treason but you loved Robin more than anyone so you basically threw yourself at her when she appeared at the foot of your door, she had that big smile and a pack of skittles with her.
A peace offer.
You were eating the candy on the porch of your aunt’s house when she jumped from her spot and started pacing, telling you about this place called The Hideout and how you should go with her.
“My friend is playing, he has a band and it’d be super fun if you come with me. Other of my friends are coming so you are totally invited… you need to come, promise it’s gonna be fun!”
Her enthusiasm and constant movement already made you feel dizzy, her hand found its way into your forearm, you looked at her ruby-painted-nails and up to her bright blue eyes, you smiled. “Sure. I don’t know where that is but yeah, It's not like I have much to do.”
“Excellent! If you want we can meet somewhere and go from there together.”
You nodded, and soon enough you found yourself walking beside Robin later that day, she had added black eyeliner in her waterline and she looked badass, you only put on some mascara to look a little more presentable. And that night for some reason she made you think that maybe Hawkins had salvation after all.
It was weird to be back, because things changed, life went on without you in the small town.. Your hands felt clammy when you arrived at the place, Robin was suddenly saying hi to almost everyone around her and you only nodded once or twice, no one paying attention to you, no one recognized you.
A group of young teens started to wave their hands once they saw Robin coming in, you weren’t usually an extremely shy person but you were feeling like you were going to have a panic attack when Steve Harrington turned your way and furrowed his eyebrows when his eyes connected with yours.
It was easy to distinguish Dustin, he was very talkative and out there. He once gave you a band-aid when you fell outside his house when you were rollerblading. You saw him hang out with Steve a couple of times after that, you weren’t sure about the rest but they all were smiling at you, welcoming, yet the tension was palpable.
Steve dragged Robin to the side as you obviously noticed they were talking about you, but Lucas and Max invited you to sit with them while they questioned you about what New York was like.
“It’s pretty big and dirty and it’s also very interesting. You should come one day. I'll give you the whole tour and if you are lucky you can see some weird stuff on the subway.” You said, Dustin had just joined you after he went to interrupt Steve and Robin.
“Assholes,” he mumbled, “Steve is upset because Robin dragged you here and now he thinks he has to look after us because Robin is going to be with you the whole time… as if we needed him to take care of us, we’re practically adults.”
“Well, he is our ride home so I guess he is kinda right.” Lucas intervened.
“Yeah but Steve has no other friends his age that’s why he feels left out. That’s not our fault.” Max added and you really felt like you were intruding.
Steve suddenly plopped his body on a chair right in front of you. “Hi y/n, long time no see.”
“Hi,” you answered, he didn’t seem upset but he was definitely not giving you the time of day, he was only being polite for Robin’s request most likely.
Robin arrived a few minutes later with a can of coke for each one of you.
“Thanks,” you said to her over the suddenly very loud music, Ramones playing.
Robin smiled your way and shot Steve a quick glance. “Don’t mind Steve, he is upset because he had a date planned with this girl he just met and I happen to have already invited the teens and you. He thinks I’m trying to ruin his life, basically he’s just being a diva.” She whispered into your ear.
“I still feel bad, you should’ve told me.”
Robin waved her hand diminishing the whole situation, “He'll survive.”
People started to gather around the stage, and you noticed then that there were lots of people, young ones specially, the teens at your table were the youngest but somehow they allowed them to be there as adults drank beer and sang at the top of their lungs.
When Helter Skelter started playing, it was like a cue for everyone to start shouting and get even closer to the stage. You’ve been to a couple of gigs in New York, those were a bit more crappy but the whole vibe of The Hideout felt bigger than what you have experienced before, it was the aspect of community and familiarity, you guessed.
Robin took your hand and dragged you out of the table, you heard Steve grunt at your back but you didn’t care, you followed your friend to a spot on the left side of the stage.
“This is going to be awesome.” Robin squealed when the reflectors turned off.
More shouts and whistles ringed in your ears, at the pit of your stomach blossomed that feeling only live music was able to manifest.
Shadows went up to the stage, instruments got plugged in, a few tried to tune their guitars one last time as the cymbals chimed. The spotlights went back to life to show you the band everyone was waiting for.
“What’s the name of the band?” You screamed as Robin leaned closer to you.
“We are Corroded Coffin!” the guy with long hair said into the mic, answering you.
“Wow.” Your eyes widened, that sounded… aggressive.
“You’re gonna like them.” Robin said, and you trusted her.
The few songs they played put you in the mood of screaming and jumping, Robin and you had gone mad on the side of the mini stage, dancing and making faces to each other to the point that other people joined you in your little bubble of madness, you were all sweaty and thirsty by the end of their set.
Dustin was laughing at you two when you approached them at the table, Steve was now happily talking to a girl. He kind of smirked when he saw you two all red faced.
“Water please!” you whined sitting down.
Lucas slid a cup across the surface of the table, you almost chugged half of it when Robin nudged you to share the drink.
“Never seen Robin have this much fun at one of Eddie’s shows.” Lucas pointed.
“This is the first show you attend with us, Lucas.” Max pointed, snorting, “Robin and I always have the best time.”
“You should’ve joined us, it was so… liberating!” your friend with red cheeks and a splash of freckles smiled at you. “We need to do it again.”
“I’m always willing to have a good time, you should come to New York though, there are tons of places where they play shows like this, you’d love it.”
“Maybe one day,” Robin said, but you saw her face waver.
“Just pay for your bus and you can stay at my place, all of you!” you even dared to look at Steve who was low-key listening to you all talk.
Dustin shrugged, “we can start saving and go, I want to see so many places, we can even go to Forbidden Planet, they say you can find whatever comic you’re looking for there.” his eyes sparkled longing for the opportunity.
You smirked, “whatever you like guys, just come! Yes, Robin?”
“Come on!” Max insisted, her smile contagious. You already liked her.
“I guess we can try, yeah we can do it.” Robin squealed and side hugged you.
Going for another round of water filled cups and sodas, you left them planning the whole trip, you heard them talk about the statue of liberty, Empire State, the Brooklyn bridge, Queens and Central Park. On your way back to the table you clocked Dustin talking to the guys in the band with the super scary name, right on the far end of the venue, near the back exit. It was funny to you to see how the teens were friends with older guys, it felt so natural to be around them, it was impossible not to notice how strong the connection was between them. You’ve never had that with anyone before, only with Robin.
“That is Eddie, you remember him?” Robin pulled you out of your train of thought. “He went to our school. He’s so cool, and he is going places with his band, they have like a tour coming or something big like that.”
You didn’t remember him really but the name rang a bell in the deep corners of your mind, it was the way some wrinkles formed in the corners of his mouth when he smiled, that was enough to throw you into a loop of memories, he was the one kid that played the guitar better than anyone in middle school, you were jealous because you always wanted to play guitar but unfortunately your fingers were not that long and your coordination was nonexistent.
“I remember him,” you saw how Dustin moved aside to talk to the other band members, Eddie—“what was his last name? Mason? Monroe?”
“Munson,”
“Yeah… Eddie Munson,” you and Robin were watching him, Eddie had straightened a little, he fixed his hair as a girl with big eyes and sweet smile went to him. “That must be the girl he likes.” You nodded towards them.
Robin chuckled, “Good eye. He has a crush on her but he is terrible at hiding it.”
“Yep, he is pretty obvious.”
“You wanna meet him? He seems scary but he is harmless, like a puppy on the inside.”
Letting yourself be guided by Robin you waited for him to stop talking to the smiley girl. You saw first hand how he transformed, he relaxed and his ringed fingers wiggled as he waved at Robin.
“Hey Buckley! Thanks for showing up!” he bowed at her.
“Stop it, we always come! Sometimes we are late but we’re always here for you!” she punched him on the shoulder playfully.
“I know, I know, still it means a lot.” Eddie gave you a once over “hey, who’s your friend.” A smile appeared on his lips, he was definitely not as intimidating as he appeared to be.
“Y/n, she’s staying with the Johnsons.”
“Hi! Oh, you were amazing up there,” you quickly added to avoid the staring.
Eddie chuckled, “Thanks, wow I like your friend Buckley.” Robin only rolled her eyes, a smile still plastered on her lips. “Y/n, right? You seem familiar.”
“I lived here until a couple of years ago. Was in the same year as Steve Harrington.”
“Hmm… no, I don’t remember you from school, must be something else.” His eyes were intense though, trying to scan your face for any trace of information that could trigger his stored memories. “I’ll remember, don’t worry.”
“Shit!” Robin tugged at the sleeve of your shirt, “There’s Vickie! Oh my god, what do I do? Was she here since the beginning? Why nobody told me!” she tried to fix her hair, brushing it down and doing her best to fix the smeared eyeliner, she looked wild.
“I don’t even know who Vickie was ”
Robin was having a moment where she didn’t know if she should hide or run or fix her clothes or cry.
“The one with the short hair, freckles, bandana around her neck.” Eddie whispered near you.
“Oh… wait, that's Vickie as in your crush Vickie?” Now you were looking at Robin, eyes like saucers. “Dude!! Go talk to her!”
“What? No, no I can’t, I look horrible! Oh god no, she looked at me oh no, do I look okay?” Robin showed you her teeth, “Something there?” you shook your head, a thumbs up.
Eddie was smirking, seeing you trying to fix her bangs that were still plastered with sweat over her forehead. There was not much to do but she looked good, as good as one can look after a concert, she could do it.
“Go, Buckley, you look fine.” Eddie intervened.
“But I can’t leave you here, y/n.”
“I’ll take care of her, don’t worry.” Eddie put his arm around your shoulders, a subtle smell of weed reached your nose.
“You sure?” she looked at you.
Shrugging, you nodded, “Just go, you can tell me all about it tomorrow.”
“Oh you are the best! If you want a ride home, look for Steve, he is… somewhere.”
“Sure,”
With that you and Eddie saw Robin walk to Vickie, the red haired girl almost tackled your friend with a hug, you felt happy for Robin, she deserved all the happiness in the world.
“So… wanna meet the rest of the band?” Eddie looked you in the eye, his arm still on you.
“Yeah,”
“Cool, please follow me.”
Jeff and Gareth were the ones around, the fourth member of the band had fled before his ex could find him. As soon as you approached them, they involved you in a conversation that got you discreetly laughing, it was absurd really, starting with what was the best dessert they’ve had; croissant with whipped cream, black coffee with submerged Oreo cookies, fries with McDonalds ice cream, after that it jumped all the way to what beer they liked most, Eddie was the only one debating if he liked the lagers or the ales best, but for desert it was definitely a good double scoop of chocolate peanut butter cone.
“There’s gonna be this afterparty at Jordan’s. You’re coming?” Jeff asked Eddie specifically.
“Nah I don’t think it’s a good idea, I should head home. I’m drained, man.”
“We heard Chrissy and her friends are coming.” Gareth added, with wiggly eyebrows.
Eddie’s demeanor changed in a millisecond, “uh, I guess we can stop by to see if things are good, I could get one last drink.”
You wanted to laugh, his cheeks were rosy.
“Want to come?” Gareth asked you.
“No, thanks. I’m going to find Robin or Steve and go home, but thanks. You guys did amazing today, I had a really great time. Have fun at your party, though.”
“No, thank you for coming, always nice to have cute… I mean pretty… I—it’s good to have new people around…” Jeff went all red.
A chuckle escaped your lips. “Well… bye guys.”
You turned on your heel, the small venue was still packed and pretty loud too. You heard your name being called, the moment you turned there was Eddie and his friends waving at you goodbye but they were being… guys, pushing each other and laughing.
“See you around!” he shouted, saluting you. Eddie had a lopsided grin that somehow didn’t leave your mind. You noticed how beautifully his doe eyes were.
Looking for someone was hard. You pushed past so many people that you ended up all sweaty again. After what felt like twenty minutes of searching, you came to the conclusion: Robin left, she had disappeared from The Hideout without telling anyone. And the teens, they were gone, Steve and the girl gone too.
Great.
Lucky you, you were not far from your aunt’s place and you actually paid attention to the turns you made to get there. Grabbing your keys a little tighter between your fingers, you walked down a few streets, some places were still open with neon signs washing the streets with colorful lights..
At least this gave you time to think, think about life, and how maybe you could come back to Hawkins after college, become a teacher or something and keep being friends with Robin forever, maybe you could win over Steve again and be friends with him with both of them, become the three musketeers. Now that you could actually mull the thought, you weren’t sure why Steve was so annoyed at you, you could only guess it was because of the same reason you were a little annoyed at him, for becoming your replacement in Robin’s life, now it was your turn to regain your spot as the best friend.
A few cars passed by every now and then, mostly drunk people, causing your hand to grip the keys against your palm with too much force.
Being alone was something you enjoyed, you needed to recharge after long social interactions but being lonely was the one feeling you didn’t like, it was when intruding thoughts happened to find a way out, and it provoked crying sessions out of nowhere, and the overthinking was unbearable; was it so hard to keep a friend around? Were you the problem? Was that the reason you had to try harder for someone to like you?
A honk startled you to the point of making you jump.
“Woah sorry.” Eddie popped his head out of the window of his van, “Want a ride?” he smiled, that big smile showing you his almost perfect teeth.
“Yes, yes, thank you.”
Unexpectedly Eddie got out of his seat and helped you open the door, offering you his hand to get inside the back of the van.
“Please buckle yourself up, don’t want Buckley to murder me if something happens to you.” He glanced at you from the rearview mirror. He only started moving when you put the safety belt on.
“Weren't you going to the party?”
“I am, but forgot my guitar at The Hideout. Can’t leave her there all alone.” To your right there it laid a guitar case. “Weren’t you going to get a ride from Harrington?”
“Yes, but he was gone and Robin too… so I walked.”
“It’s not safe to walk on your own at night,” He gave you a stern look from the mirror again.
“I know, but I had no other option.”
He nodded, “do you want to come to the party? Just for a while, promise not to take long, I need to pick up Jeff’s bass. He can’t drink and have his bass around. Last time he threw up on it, he had to buy a new set of strings. It was gross and funny but mostly gross.”
You scrunched your nose, “yeah, thanks for the details,”
Eddie laughed, “so you want to come with this poor bastard to keep his friend’s bass safe from disaster?”
There was something to Eddie’s whole existence that didn’t let you say no to him, it felt wrong to say no, so you sighed.
“I guess so, I mean you are giving me a ride after all, I owe you.”
“That’s enough for me.”
The party was literally around the corner, the house was huge, and there were people already passed out on the grass.
You jumped out of the van with Eddie’s help.
“This is quite the party.” He said.
You followed Eddie inside, the music was too loud to even try and talk over it. Teens dancing over tables, broken glass on the wooden floor, couples kissing here and there and the intense smell of weed mixed with alcohol and something else made you gag.
“Not a party person I assume.” Eddie was handing you a glass of what you expected was water.
“Yeah, not really my scene.”
“Same, I prefer to be at mine playing the guitar.” You found a quieter spot in the garden. Gareth was on the grass smoking a joint and Jeff… well he was either dead or asleep. “Look at these fuckers.”
You waited as Eddie approached them, kicking Gareth softly. Eddie started making tons of hand gestures while Gareth waved a hand at him, you didn’t hear a thing about what they were saying so you drank from the cup you had in hand, it was water, you chugged it down and left the cup on a window sill. A moment later Eddie turned around, heading back inside the house again, with a nod he made you follow him. If you thought it was crowded before, now it was twice as bad.
“No, definitely not a party person.” You stated to yourself, still you heard Eddie laugh behind you. His hand found your shoulder, your eyes couldn’t help to give a quick look at his fingers, rings adorned them nicely.
“Here,” he guided you to the living room. The bass was resting against the wall. You almost sighed in relief. “Can you hold it, I’m going upstairs to find the case. Meet me up front. Yeah?”
Dark eyes again found yours, you nodded. Feeling shy all of a sudden.
The fuck’s your problem with his dark shiny eyes. Keep it together.
Legs moved fast against glass, wooden floor and grass. You had to sit down on the sidewalk when Eddie took more time than necessary. Even asked a very drunk dude what time it was; past midnight. Good, you were going to be grounded if your aunt was still awake.
You hugged the bass close to your chest, people went in and out of the house, the waiting grew longer to the point of seeing someone throw up near a three, you barely held it in, it was disgusting. The limit to your patience was wearing thin, Eddie was a lucky guy, because you were a minute away from leaving the bass and head home, you knew where you were so why wait for him?
But of course he showed up at the last second. The girl from the venue at his side, both were talking lively, his cheeks were red and her whole expression was of amazement, almost adoration. It felt wrong to be looking at them like that. The thing was that neither noticed you were there.
It was better if you left Eddie alone, you were actually intruding in his plans for the night. If it wasn’t because he saw you walking alone he probably would’ve been with that girl all night. You put the bass on the side of his van, hopping no one would notice the item leaning there.
Your head turned to look at them. Eddie had his back to you, but you perfectly saw his rings shine under the ugly yellow light from the lamp posts, he was playing with the ends of his hair, you laughed lightly at that.
That night you walked back home alone just as it was supposed to happen since the beginning. Keys between your fingers. What was different was how lonely you knew you were.