Chapter Text
It was a casual Wednesday and Robin, Steve and Eddie were manning the family video store for the afternoon. As much as he despised the uniform, he needed the cash. The pill-pushing business only gets you so far.
Robin leaned against the desk, her head resting against her arms as her ears buzzed with white noise from the dreaded silence. She wallowed whilst Steve priced in the back and Eddie took an overly long smoke break. It was pushing 4 o’clock and there wasn’t a single customer in sight. Robin began to feel herself drift off when a loud chime rudely awoke her. A customer. Finally.
Immediately she lifted her head and wiped down her dusty uniform before turning her eyes to look back at the customer, her jaw dropped as she took in your appearance in one glance. Bright and beautiful, giving her the warmest smile she’d ever seen. Reality soon hit her when your voice snapped her out of her daze.
“Hey sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you or anything. I’m just new in town and sort of…taking myself on a tour of Hawkins”. You admitted shyly as Robin just nodded and Steve started wandering out the back.
“Hey, Rob have you seen-“. She shoved him back through the door, smiling back as she gestured one second to you. Steve became agitated and confused, scowling at his friend.
“No nope, how am I supposed to have my shot with any of the people in this godforsaken town, if the king of Hawkins is constantly rearing his giant head and stealing them away with as little as a ‘hey, Steve Harrington’?”. She mocked his voice and made little gestures as he rolled his eyes and chuckled at her.
“You’re being ridiculous. And what is Munson not a threat to you?”. Her eyes widened as she almost forgot about her metalhead coworker taking his smoke break outside, she immediately closed the door in Steve’s face and smiled back at you before running to find Eddie.
Sadly for her, she was just a little late, as Robin searched around back to hide Eddie from your eyes he was just walking in from the side door. He pulled his jacket over his long-sleeved shirt and noticed you waiting by the counter. You tapped your fingers against the desk, waiting for Robin or anyone to speak to you.
“Hey, you need help with something?”. Eddie began walking towards you, as you slowly turned around and Robin rushed through the door and let out a deep breath. She was too late. His eyes widened looking at her disgruntled state, as she just wandered in the back without saying a word.
“She seems nice”. You blurted as he chuckled and nodded, looking back to where Robin had run off to. He began wandering behind the desk and he rested his elbows to lean toward you.
“She gets a little manic sometimes”. He whispered as you both chuckled and nodded, his teeth gleaming back at you.
“Don’t we all”. He laughed at your response, patting the table and standing up straight.
“So you here for movie recommendations? Renting? Buying? Donating maybe?”. His hands reached through the return bin, looking at the labels to find something good. You just smiled back warmly, shaking your head and playing with your fingers.
“I’m uh-new in town and I just…I’m looking for someone actually”. You said in all seriousness as Eddie nodded, you rummaged around in your bag to find something. He wandered around the counter next to you, as you finally pulled out an old polaroid and handed it to him. His eyes widened to the size of planets, inspecting the photo of a young boy. “I don’t know if he still lives around these parts or if this is just a shot in the dark, you…you don’t know him do you?”.
His eyes were still, slowly moving from the photo up to you as he tried to process the situation. “As a matter of fact, I do…”. He said, smirking to himself, shaking his head. “May I ask why you’re looking?“. You sighed and rested your head against the counter with a huff.
“Well we were kinda close when we were kids and since I’m back in Hawkins I thought maybe we could reconnect? God I don’t know, is this just super creepy?”.
“I think it’s kinda endearing.” He chuckled and shot you a smile that made you feel at ease, handing you back the photo.
“So if you know him do you know where I could maybe find him?”. Your eyes gleamed with hope and he chuckled, watching your ears perk up.
He grinned widely and held out his hand. “Long time no see, sweetheart”. Your eyes widened as you were rendered speechless, staring down at his hand in shock.
“Eddie?!”. You exclaimed in shock, as he moved his hair to reveal his name sewn onto his work vest. A wide grin passed your lips as you leapt into his arms and brought him into a huge hug, Robin finally walked out for the back and rolled her eyes at the display, storming back. “Oh my god you…you have hair! And like…so much of it”. Your hands grabbed strands of his hair as you couldn’t stop staring and grinning, his smile never fading as he watched you.
“Yeah, I look a little different huh?”. You just nodded with a smirk and dropped your hands from his hair. “Hey, you’re not exactly the same person I remember when we were kids”. You smiled and bowed your head and nodded slightly, thinking about when you were younger.
“Guess you weren’t the only one growing out your hair. At least people won’t mistake me for your brother anymore, huh?”. He chuckled thinking back to how you used to dress, it never bothered either of you at the time, he just wished kids were a little nicer about it.
“Not everything is different I mean, I’m still with my band, we play a lot of gigs around Hawkins”. Your eyes lit up at the mention of the band as it brought you back to all the times they would play. Private performances for your parents and public ones at school talent shows.
“Corroded coffin? Are you kidding me? Oh my god is it still Jeff and-”.
“And Grant yeah.” Robin and Steve watched you both through the blinds, shocked to see Eddie smiling for once. Steve was usually the one with the game, but today it seemed his coworker was doing pretty good on his own. Eddie glanced over and noticed them immediately and sighed, shaking his head, staring up at the ceiling and praying for the Lord to give him strength.
“Here”. He grabbed a pen and some paper and started writing down his home number and handing it over to you.
“Home phone, no pressure to call. Power is in your hands.” You stared back into his eyes and beamed at him with a wide grin. Without hesitation, you pulled him into another hug and held him tightly.
“It was so good seeing you again, Eddie.” As you pulled away he stood in shock at your words and nodded nervously, watching as you waved goodbye and headed out of the store. He let go of the breath he was holding as Robin and Steve rushed out.
“Who the hell was that?”. Steve questioned, Eddie’s face erupting into a wide grin. Before he could open his mouth, a beeping came from his watch.
“Ah sorry Stevie, saved by the bell”. He said, his hands landing in his back pockets as he looked towards the door. “Clock out for me!”. He yelled back as Robin barked back a no, just before the door closed. Life just got a little more interesting.
~
“Hey Uncle Wayne, any messages for me?”. His uncle shook his head sadly and tried to force a small reassuring smirk.
“Sorry son, told you before I’ll let you know if anyone asks for you.” He patted his hand against his shoulder and rubbed it lightly. Eddie was silent as they shared a longing look before he pulled his leather jacket over his arms.
“I gotta go. I’ll be back after my shift, don’t wait up.” Wayne just nodded and took a deep breath, watching his nephew pile into his van and drive out of the trailer park.
It had been a couple of days and Eddie hadn’t heard anything from his former best friend, it wasn’t like he had any high exceptions but it wasn’t like he wasn’t hoping to hear back. He’d been lucky enough to not share a shift with either of his meddling friends and Robin was too occupied with band practice to bug him about it. That was until this afternoon when he knew the storm that was coming.
Today was an unfortunate double whammy, Steve and Robin. Steve alone might have been bearable, he wasn’t one to pry, but Robin on the other hand possessed no filter and that’s when Steve becomes an enabler. And he doesn’t even realise he’s doing it, but the more questions Robin asks the more he starts considering his own and his mouth is already moving faster than his brain.
He took a deep breath and pushed the door open with a chime of the bell, bracing for impact. And there it was, the strangest and most unsettling sight to behold. His two best friends resting their elbows against the front desk, wide smiles and eyes as he strongly considered they’d be kidnapped and replaced with creepy carbon copies who didn’t blink. With a large sigh, he stomped over to them and folded his arms across his chest.
He walked over to the counter and began pulling things out of his pockets and placing them on the counter. They shared a glance in confusion as he pulled out a small flat-edged die and held it up to the light with a smile. He rolled it against the table and gestured to it with his hands. “5”. He called out, his colleague's faces scrunched in utter disarray.
“What the hell are you doing?”. Robin finally asked, pushing her hands back and folding her arms.
“Waiting for you to do your damage”. They both rolled their eyes and stood up, groaning in anger as they waved him off and their grins were replaced with disappointed frowns. A laugh escaped him, shaking his head and refilling his pockets. Steve shook his head and sighed, looking back at him.
“You’re not even gonna ask why we were grinning at you like psychos?”. Eddie shrugged, it wasn’t something that was super out of their realm of weirdness.
“It’s because you saw me give my number to someone and you want to know if they called”. Robin scoffed with a smirk and looked back at Steve, leaving Eddie in a state of confusion.
“We don’t need to know if they called or not”. Steve interjected, looking between him and Robin. She wandered over to the work phone and picked up a folded-up piece of paper that was left on the table, his eyebrows raised trying to figure out what was happening when she grinned.
“Because we already know they did”. Eddie’s eyes grew wide, a swirling mixture of shock and fear and confusion flooding his mind as his first instinct was to grab at the note.
Robin moved it away as he growled under his breath and sighed to himself. “I’ll give you it under one condition, you tell us all about this mystery person”. He wanted to say no. To tell himself she was bluffing, but either way, they knew what they said on that phone and he would never find out unless he was complacent. So he rolled his eyes and nodded back at her lightly before he went to grab the note again, her hand still pulling away.
She handed the note to Steve who grinned and opened it up, Eddie’s patience wearing thin. “They said you missed a digit off your phone number so they couldn’t get a hold of you, they also…” Steve leaned against the counter and opened the note up to show Eddie. “Left their number”. He was silent and slightly embarrassed as he scrunched his face and snatched the paper from Steve, rereading the words and shoving it into the pockets of his jeans.
“For the record, you guys suck”. Eddie hung up his jacket and pulled his work vest off the hook, pulling his arms through.
“For the record, you owe us the low down on your new babe.” He smiled at her with a smile that she knew all too well, a cocky and proud one that was paired with his signature head tilt.
“Sorry Rob, I’m a sly fox”. He admitted pulling his hand from behind his back and revealing that his fingers were crossed during their agreement. Steve sighed and shook his head in disappointment, as Robin rolled her eyes. “And they're not my new babe, I mean god…it’s been years since we saw each other, a lot can change”.
“Come on man, they looked stoked to see you, even with all these...” His hands gestured to his outfit and hair. “New additions”. He wasn’t sure how he was feeling towards them yet, it was all new. They were still strangers to him now. He had no idea if they’d still be considered friends or not, let alone anything more.
“Hey, don’t know if you noticed but I’m not exactly boyfriend material ‘kay?”. He was the outcast, the nerd, the freak . He’d never fit in even before the leather and chains, stuff like relationships were never really something he needed to concern himself with. “Give it another week and she’ll know all about Eddie ‘The Freak’ Munson and then you’ll have to find something else to entertain yourselves with.” His friends seemed a little worried about his self-doubt, sharing a knowing look.
“Listen, Eddie, when they called they seemed super nervous and that’s a telltale sign of liking someone! They could have given up after the phone number fumble but they called your work , and they asked us about you. Come on, I know you flunked high school twice but you’re smart enough to know what this means!”. Eddie was silent as he processed her advice but struggled to accept it.
“Robin’s right, Eddie. It was written all over their face, all these years and they are running around Hawkins trying to find you? Seriously, super into you”. It was difficult to hear and he still found it hard to get completely on board with them, but he considered the facts. They did say they were looking around town for him, they did call up to try to contact him. They did hold him a little tighter when they hugged him goodbye. But that could mean anything, right?