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You were 11 years old when you moved into the town of Hawkins.
You and your mother had moved from the big city of Indianapolis into the quiet community of the Forest Hills trailer park.
The change had scared you, seeing as your whole life and everything you had ever known was gone in a heartbeat. A big house in the suburbs, a happy family, financial stability (Except you were too young to understand it at the time.)
Moving away from your childhood home and friends was really nerve wracking for you and you didn’t know what to expect in this small town.
With your dad passing away earlier that year, your mom couldn’t afford to keep the house. Which has led you here to this very moment.
When you entered the trailer park in your moving truck, you were greeted with a lot of staring from the residences. Guess they weren’t used to newcomers.
You slumped against the window and watched the faces go by as you made your way to your new home. You were greeted with a lot of interesting people. Mostly country looking folk.
Until you noticed someone that looked different from all the rest.
This young boy on the porch of his trailer with a buzzed head, wearing blue jeans with holes in the knees and a raggedy old rock shirt. He was playing air guitar passionately along to the radio.
He looked a little ridiculous if you were honest, you were used to city folk and everyone looking prim and proper. This little boy had not a care in the world as he lost himself to the music.
Your mom had parked the moving truck right next to his trailer.
“Alright honey, welcome to our new home,” your mom spoke as she started to get out of the truck, signaling you to do the same.
You hopped out of the large vehicle and almost fell down from the drop. You looked around and took in your surroundings and noticed the boy was watching you now. You gave him a small wave and a shy smile.
He hopped off his porch and almost twisted his ankle in the process. He jogged over to you, greeting you with a warm smile.
“Are you going to be my new neighbour?” He asked as he stood in front of you.
You nodded.
“Sweet, I’m Eddie!” He smiled and ran away back to his trailer just as quickly.
You giggled shyly at his antics; your mom came up behind you.
“Already making friends I see! Come on sweetie, help me with a few boxes and we’ll set up your room first,” she smiled and put her hand on your back, guiding you to the back of the truck.
That was the first time you met Eddie Munson.
*~_~*
You were 12 years old when you auditioned for the school talent show.
You settled into the town of Hawkins fairly easily. You were always an outgoing kid, so making friends came easy to you. When you were that young, kids didn’t care where you came from, what you looked like or what your social status was. Everyone just wanted to be friends.
So, your new friends had convinced you to audition for the talent show.
As your eyes scanned the sheet of paper in front of you, there was one entry that was printed differently than the rest and it stood out to you instantly.
It read Corroded Coffin.
You were intrigued by the name and jotted your name down underneath it, wondering what kind of act it could be.
You were startled when someone came up behind you and shook your shoulders.
“Boo!”
Your turned around with your brows furrowed and mouth hung open. “Jeez, Eddie. Don’t scare me like that!”
“Why not? It’s funny!” He chuckled and crossed his arms.
“It’s bad enough that you get to terrorize me outside of school,”
He shrugged. “Did you sign up for the talent show?”
You nodded. “Yeah, my friends told me to audition. Dunno what I’m gonna do yet, might play piano or dance. What about you? Are you auditioning for something?” you questioned back.
“Sure did. The names right there,” He nodded his head in the direction of the sign up sheet.
You looked puzzled for a moment, seeing as you didn’t see his name on the paper. He then pointed to the name written right above yours.
You turned back to him. “You’re Corroded Coffin? What’s that?”
“It’s my band! My friends and I just started it a few months ago and decided to sign up and give it a go. I’m the lead guitarist,” He smiled his toothy grin.
Your eyebrows practically shot up your forehead. “You’re in a band? You’re my neighbor and I didn’t know this information?”
He shrugged and scratched the back of his head.
“I mean – I hear your loud music all the time. I thought I would have felt my ears bleeding if you were in a band,” You teased him and gave him a soft smile.
“Yeah yeah, you’ll take that back when we win first place!” He shouted as he made his way down the hallway as the foruth period bell rang.
You shook your head and smiled to yourself, holding your books closer to your chest and made your own way to class.
A couple weeks later the Hawkins Middle School Talent Show was set to take place at the end of the school day. You decided to go with a short piano song, something you had learned while still living in the city and your parents could afford lessons.
You were pacing back and forth backstage, jitters and anxiety wracking your body. A couple acts have already played. It ranged from singing, joke telling, magic, the basic talent show stuff.
Corroded Coffin was next on the list, and after that, you.
Over the last couple weeks, you still hadn’t heard or had any clue what Eddie’s band sounded like. You concluded he probably didn’t practice in the small trailer. The Munson’s have already had too many noise complaints from the other residences in the park because of Eddie’s loud music.
“Hey, Y/N!” You stopped your pacing and turned around at the familiar voice. Eddie came jogging up behind you with his guitar around his shoulders.
“Hi Eddie,” You sighed and started moving back and forth, another movement that was soothing your anxiety ridden mind.
He must have noticed your anxious form. “You good?” He asked, concern in his boyish voice.
“Yeah – Yeah, just a little stage fright s’all.” He smiled sweetly and continued to rock, staring at your feet. “I’ve never performed in front of anyone before. Besides my mom,” You added.
“Well lucky for you, I’m in the same situation! You’re about to witness the debut of Corroded Coffin and we’re gonna suck,” He joked and pushed your shoulder, earning a small grin from you.
“But seriously though, I’m nervous sweating everywhere right now. I would give you a good luck hug, but I don’t want you to stink,” He laughed and after that moment, the last act had finished, and the announcer was now calling Eddie and his band to the stage.
He gave you a thumbs up and a cheesy grin and jogged his way onstage with the rest of his bandmates.
You exhaled a breath you didn’t know you were holding and watched Eddie plug into an amp and get into his position on stage. It looked kind of funny, you thought.
Such a small boy with such a huge instrument hanging from his body. You wondered how he even carried it around because it looked so heavy.
The drummer started the song and the rest of the members followed suit. You didn’t recognize the song that they were playing, but you swayed to the beat.
And to your surprise, Eddie and his friends were pretty good. The way they all looked so happy and free on that stage warmed your heart and Eddie truly looked at home.
The song continued, with Eddie thrashing around on stage and attempting to do a guitar solo but missing a few notes here and there and slightly coming off tempo. But still, he didn’t stop or look embarrassed. He just kept going.
As the song neared its end, the crowd clapped, and a few cheers were heard from the front row. You peaked around the corner and recognized Eddie’s uncle giving the boys a standing ovation.
Eddie ran back behind the curtains, covered in even more sweat after jumping around so much. His eyes were big and so was his smile.
“That was the craziest thing I’ve ever done!” He stood in front of you, barely being able to keep still from all the adrenaline in his veins.
“That was amazing Eddie! You guys were really good and definitely didn’t suck,” you teased.
“Ha ha, very funny! Now go break a leg out there!” He encouraged you and pushed at your shoulder.
“I don’t think my slow and painful piano playing is going to beat that, but thanks rockstar,” You smiled and walked onto stage as they called your name.
Eddie watched you and felt a hot feeling come into his cheeks at the nickname.
Once you were seated on your piano bench, you glanced backstage and Eddie gave you a thumbs up.
You smiled at him and started your song.
You knew Eddie was going to be in your life for a while after that.
*~_~*
You were 13 years old when you were riding your bike in the trailer park and broke your wrist.
You don’t really know how it happened, it all went by so fast it was just a blur at this point.
You were riding your bike up and down the gravel paths through out the trailer parker, daring to go a little faster on each lap. You’ve had your training wheels off for some time now, but you still weren’t super confident on the bike since you never really rode it.
You were having a good time, the warm summer air was bursting in your face and through your hair, the residence in the trailer park enjoying the weather on the property gave you friendly smiles and waved at you as you passed them by.
You took a sharp turn with confidence, but all of that flew out the window when you crashed. Literally.
You hit a patch of loose gravel and your front tire dipped into a small hole, flying you off the bike and over the handles.
You tried to break your fall with your hands, but you heard a distinct crack when you landed.
That couldn’t be good, you thought.
It took you a second to get your wits about you and as soon as you did, you looked down at your wrist and started sobbing. The pain was unimaginable, and you didn’t know how to handle it so you screamed, clutching your wrist to your body.
Lucky for you, Eddie saw the whole thing from his living room window. As soon as he saw the crashed, the rushed out of the trailer with no shoes on to come to your aid.
He crouched down beside you and rubbed your back slowly.
“Hey hey, It’s okay. Shhh,” he tried to comfort you and took in your figure. He looked at you holding your injured wrist.
He reached out slowly. “Hey, is it okay if I take a look at it?” He asked softer than you had heard him speak before.
You nodded and blinked tears away from your eyes, clouding your vision. Your body was still shaking softly as you sobbed out in pain.
Eddie carefully held onto your elbow to bring your wrist closer to him. He ducked his head to get a better look, his fingers softly stroking the skin of your wrist.
You winced out in pain. “Ow, Eddie,”
“Sorry, it’s gonna hurt. Looks like you broke it,” He spoke as he studied your wrist a bit more.
“Yeah no shit,” you half chuckled and half winced in pain again.
“You should probably go to a hospital for that,”
You rolled your eyes. “Thanks for stating the obvious, but my moms car isn’t working right now so I have no way to get there,” You started to sob again as the situation just fully hit you.
Eddie thought for a minute. “Are you able to stand?” He asked.
“Uh – yeah, I think so,” You moved your legs out from under you. They felt fine.
“Come with me to my trailer, my uncle hasn’t left for work yet and he can drive you,” He stood up and held out his hand so you could grab onto him with your good hand.
You stood up on shaky knees. You ere scraped up pretty good, your shins taking a lot of damage in the fall but you were just glad you didn’t break more than one bone.
Once you held onto Eddie he wrapped his arm around your shoulder and brought to the trailer, he told you to sit on the steps as he ran inside to get his uncle.
After a couple beats, the trailer door pushed open and Wayne stood there with his keys in hand.
“Hey darling, let’s get you fixed up, alright?” He knelt down beside you, already aware of the situation as a frantic Eddie had burst into the trailer and explained all the details to him as quickly as possible.
You smiled and stood up as he helped you to the van. You hopped into the back seat and expected Eddie to sit up front with his uncle. But he followed suit right behind you and kept you company the entire ride there to the hospital. He did everything he could to try and distract you from the throbbing pain in your wrist, and honestly, it worked.
Eddie had you laughing and giggling with him as you pulled up to the hospital. You hadn’t moved your wrist in a while so the pain had subsided.
As Wayne opened the sliding doors for you two kids to jump out, you moved your wrist and shouted in pain again, tears welling in your eyes.
Eddie’s features softened. “Hey, it’s okay. We just gotta get inside and see a doctor and you’ll be okay,” He rubbed your shoulder comfortingly.
You nodded and blinked tears out of your eyes.
“I’ll even stay with you the entire time they cast you up, sound good?” He said, giving you a soft smile and a squeeze on the shoulder.
You smiled back at him. “Okay, rockstar.”
Eddie blinked for a moment and felt the warmth rise in his cheeks by the familiar nickname.
And with that, you slowly got out of the vehicle and were assisted by Wayne in the process, careful that he didn’t grab your injured arm.
So you waited in the emergency room with Eddie and his uncle for what seemed like hours. The pain kept fading in and out as you got lost in the way Eddie told you stories to distract you.
He rambled on about this game he likes to play called Dungeons and Dragons, telling you about the new campaign his friend Gareth planned out. He explained the rules and premise of the game, told you that you have complete freedom creating your character and the different types of mythical creatures you could chose from.
Wayne had eventually slumped over in a chair across from you two as you waited for the doctor to come, closing his eyes and snoring softly.
A nurse had come around earlier to check on everyone in the waiting room as it was expected to take some time to see a doctor. In the meantime, she had given you ice to hold to your wrist to ease the pain a little bit.
Eddie kept rambling on about loads of different topics. He was telling you about the new Van Halen album that came out that year, explaining how Van Halen 2 was a great album and had some amazing hits, but the first Van Halen album will always be held close to his heart.
Your eyes began to droop for the first time that evening as you finally started to relax. Your body slowly started leaning towards Eddie as he continued to boast about his favorite music.
He stopped suddenly when your head met his shoulder. He froze and turned to look at you.
“Uh – Y/N – You still with me?” He asked.
You gave a soft hum, “Yeah Eddie, just trying to relax,”
“Oh,” he whispered, mostly to himself. But you were close enough that you could hear it.
“Thanks for coming with me, means a lot,” You got comfy on his shoulder as you leaned into him a little bit more. The pain wasn’t even on your mind anymore.
Eddie was careful as he lifted his arm to wrap around your shoulders and pull you closer, “Of course, what are friends for?”
It didn’t take long after that for a doctor to call you and bring you to a room, you insisted that Eddie stayed the entire time.
You cried in pain as the doctor snapped your wrist back in place in order for it to heal properly and fit in the cast. Once the task was done, Wayne loaded the two of you up in the van again and headed back to the trailer park.
“Y’know,” Eddie starts. “The cast looks really metal,”
“What? Its made of plaster, silly. You watched the doctor do it,” You giggled.
“No, silly. It’s like another word for cool, I just started saying it. It’s a great describing word,”
You hummed to yourself. Maybe your cast did look pretty metal. You shook your head and trained your eyes on the window, looking at the pretty fields.
“Metal,” You spoke to yourself with a soft chuckle.
~*_*~
You were 14 when you started high school.
Moving on from the cheerful halls of Hawkins Middle School and into the depths of despair in Hawkins Highschool.
On your first day you were basically wisped away by the popular crowd and Eddie had separated into his own group. But that didn’t stop you two from being friends, no matter the weird looks you guys got when being together.
Its was that classic cliché of that gorgeous popular girl with flowing hair, dressing in pretty clothes, hanging out with the school weirdo and nerd to make matters worse. But you didn’t care about the weird looks, no.
You cared about your friendship with Eddie.
Eddie’s hair had grown out a bit by now, his shaggy mane sat just below his ears. A mess of curls atop his head that bounced with every step down the hallway towards your locker.
“Hey, Y/N! So get this. I met this super cool dude at lunch today. His name is James and he’s a senior! He runs this Dungeons and Dragons club and he asked if I wanted to join, so I obviously said yes!” Eddie exclaimed as he leant against your locker where you were retrieving books.
He continued on. “It got me thinking, maybe highschool isn’t going to be horrible. Oh, and I also was going to ask if you wanted to join with me? Y’know, so you can finally learn since I talk about it so much.”
You smiled sweetly at him as you closed your locker. “Yeah, Eds. That sounds fun, I’d love to join with you.” You clutched your books closer to your chest. “I made some friends today too. I sat with this girl named Nancy in chemistry, she invited me over this weekend for a pool party.” You told him.
“Oh look, there she is now!” you pointed behind his shoulder to the sweet girl with long straight hair waving at you. Eddie turned and gave her a small smile and a head nod. She looked at him with a hard to read expression on her face as she turned away and started talking to her other friends.
“Well, looks like she really likes me,” He half chuckled, trying to ignore the judgemental stares he’s been receiving all day.
“Okay mister, it was just a look. You can’t judge someone based off how they look at you,” you tried to exclaim. “Besides, it looks like you’re fitting in the best you can. You’re already joining a club!” You said happily, giving him a shoulder nudge.
“Yeah, right,” he nodded. “Just wish I didn’t get stared at like a weirdo by all these other squares,” as if right on queue, members of the high school basketball team marched down the hallway, clad in their varsity jackets and school spirit. They narrowed in on you and Eddie.
“Hey guys, looks like we’ve got another freak on our hands,” the older boys chuckled as they passed and gave Eddie a little push to his back, causing him to stumble into you.
You just glared at them as they continued on by, saying under your breath “Jerks,” you scoffed and turned your attention back to Eddie.
“Has this been happening all day?” you asked, concern ridden in your voice at the sudden change in demeanor from the boy in front of you.
He nodded weakly, avoiding your eye contact. “Pretty much, yeah.” He pursed his lips together, taking a glance at your figure in front of him.
“Why didn’t you tell me? I thought you were having a good first day,” you asked.
“I just – I dunno. I don’t want you turn on me too… think of me as a freak.” He spoke lowly. “You’re one of the best friends I’ve had in years.”
“Eddie,” You spoke, grabbing his shoulder with your free hand. “I will never stop being friends with you. Plus, its kind of hard to get rid of you since you’re my neighbour,” You chuckled, trying to lighten the mood a little bit. He smiled warmly at your teasing.
“You’re the first person in this town that became my friend, and I will be your friend until the end of time.” You promised, trying to give him your most genuine smile.
“So you still wanna join the club with me?” he asked.
“Of course, we’ve only been talking about DnD for like, ever. I wanna learn how to play it,” you dropped your hand from his shoulder and clutched your books closer to your chest again to readjust them.
“You’re not scared about being associated with the freak?” he asked lowly, avoiding your gaze again.
“Hell no, Eds. If you’re gonna be a freak, then I am too.”
And so you went to the DnD club with him after school that day, you learned that they called it Hellfire Club. The Dungeon Master, James, was graduating this year, so he was trying to get as many new kids into the club as possible to give up the title to one of them after he graduates.
You already knew Eddie was going to be a top contender for the spot.
~*_*~
You were 15 when you were asked to the school dance.
You and Eddie were hanging out in his bedroom while he practiced guitar.
Wayne had recently upgraded Eddie from his old Stratocaster to his new Warlock. He was over the moon when Wayne had gifted it to him for his birthday. He worked so many over time hours for that thing, and his hard work paid off as soon as he saw Eddie’s face light up with happiness.
This was a normal occurrence for the two of you. You always wanted to be in each others company, whether you were doing something, or just sitting in silence while Eddie kept rewinding his tapes to try and learn a new riff.
Metallica had just released their debut album Kill ‘em All and it was the only thing that the young boy was listening to for weeks.
A couple beats went by as Eddie continued trying to figure out the opening riff to Seek and Destroy. He was playing pretty fluently up until this point, but once he reached the faster descending scale into the pre-chorus, he lost it and rewound the tape again to figure out how to translate it on his guitar.
“It’s sounding really good so far, rockstar. You’ve come a long way,” You noted from your spot on his bed, resting your back on the headboard. You brought some math homework with you to keep yourself occupied.
“Why thank you, M’lady. Kirk Hammett is fucking god. He definitely gets a lot of ladies, and I only hope to be as skilled as him one day,” He turned to look at you, guitar still on his lap as he reached out and grabbed your leg and gave it a tug.
You giggled and kicked his hand away. “Speaking of ladies, have you asked anyone to go to the dance with you yet?” You asked, training your attention back to your homework.
“Is that a serious question?” He asked and pushed his bangs away from his face.
You shrugged. “Just wondering if that dance is too cool for your tough guy persona you got going on,”
“Sweetheart, of course its too cool for me. I’m pretty sure all the chaperons would put a target on my back if I stepped foot in there. So no, I haven’t asked anyone, and I doubt anyone will ask me.” He looked down and turned his focus back to his guitar.
“What about you? Has anyone uh – asked you to the dance?” He doesn’t know why he’s dreading to hear the answer to his question. He tenses for a moment and cocks his head to look at you.
“Uh – yeah. I was asked a couple times actually,” you spoke, avoiding his gaze. Your homework was suddenly way more interesting than the way he was intently looking at you.
“Oh,” he couldn’t look you in the eyes as you were avoiding his strong gaze. You just pursed your lips and nodded your head, focusing on your homework.
“So are you… Are you – Um, who are you going with?” He tried to hide the jealousy in his tone, playing a couple licks to get his mind off the question at hand.
You sighed and closed your homework books and scooted to the edge of the bed with Eddie, overlooking his shoulder as he continued playing mindlessly.
“Is that a serious question?” you mimicked him from earlier and rested your chin on his shoulder.
He stopped playing and just gave you a puzzled expression.
“I turned them all down, wasn’t interested.” You said nonchalantly. Eddie’s eye bugged out of his head. You, his best friend. His pretty, funny, and smart best friend turned down a handful of guys to the dance.
“At first I considered going with one of the guys that asked me, but then he told me I would have to stop talking to you because it would hurt his image or some shit, so I told him to fuck off,” you giggled, bringing your hand down to pluck one of the guitar strings.
“You seriously decided to not go to a school dance because of me?” he asked, setting his guitar to lay flat on his lap.
“Well, sort of, I guess. I wasn’t about to let some douche tell me who I can and can’t be friends with if he wants to be seen in public with me. You’re my best friend Eds. Get it through your thick head that I’m not going anywhere.” You gave him a side hug. “I’ll stick up for you until the end of time.”
Eddie was truly screwed at this point.
~*_*~
You were 16 when you were invited to your first house party.
You knew it was a bad idea to be going to this party, knowing that there were going to be alcohol and most likely drugs – but you’ve never been to a party before. You wanted the full high school experience.
You were in your trailer getting ready. You invited Eddie over to help you pick an outfit and get his approval on your hair and makeup.
Your bedroom was a complete contrast from his. Bedding was all different shades of pink, you had a makeup vanity in the corner that Eddie had helped you paint pink. Posters of your celebrity crushes littered your walls, and your room was pretty tidy, unlike your best friends.
You studied yourself in your tall mirror. “I don’t know Eddie, do you think I’m wearing too much eyeshadow? Hair up or hair down? I don’t wanna look like I’m trying to impress anyone.”
He hummed as he watched you from his spot seated at your vanity. “I think you look great. Gorgeous, even,” he started, taking in your figure. You were wearing a pink plaid skirt and a white frilly top with white boots to match.
“I don’t know why you’re so worried about how you look tonight. You always look beautiful,” he complimented you, grabbing a piece of his hair and shielding his face from you.
You sighed and started to fix your hair a little bit more. “It’s just – I don’t know. I feel like going to your first house party is a monumental moment in your teenage life,” your eyes were trained on your hair, brushing out a few more curls. “I’d feel better if you were coming with me, though.”
Eddie chuckled, low and dark. “Come on, you know parties are not my thing. Bunch of jocks and cheerleaders? No thank you,” He spun a little on your vanity chair. “Besides, Nancy’s got your back. It’ll be a good time,” he said softly.
There was no doubt Eddie was a little jealous you were going to a party looking that good, knowing that guys were going to be all over you. But you weren’t his – so he had to keep his feelings at bay.
“Nancy’s bringing Steve, within an hour I’ll probably be by myself. I would just feel so much better if you came with me. Please Eds?” You turned around to face, walking over to him and standing between his legs, trying to give him your best puppy dog eyes.
He looked up at you and shook his head, flashing his signature grin. “You’re unreal,”
“Please, Eddie! I want you to come with me, it could be good for you, maybe you’ll meet a pretty girl,” You fluttered your eyelashes at him, clutching your hand close to your chest. He doesn’t want any pretty girl, he wants you.
He smacked his hands down onto his thighs and stood up. “Fine, I’ll come. God, I can never say no to you,”
You jumped up and down in joy. “Yay!” you gave him a tight hug. “Thanks rockstar, I owe you one!”
He hugged you back and tucked his face into your neck, breathing in your scent. As you broke away, you heard a car honk outside signalling to you both that Steve and Nancy had just shown up. You grabbed your tiny purse and grabbed Eddie’s hand and dragged him out the door.
As you two walked outside of the trailer, you were met with Nancy’s wide smile waving at you from the passenger seat. You hopped down the steps with Eddie close behind you. You reached the back door and got inside, Nancy immediately greeting you.
“Hey, Y/N! I’m surprised you got Eddie out of the house,” she giggled and glanced over her shoulder at you two getting buckled up in the back seat.
“Yeah Munson, I didn’t think you were a party guy,” Steve spoke as he started to drive out of the trailer park.
“Funny thing about that, I’m not. I’m just going for her,” Eddie said as he looked over at you and gave you a small smile. Something about that made you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside.
Nancy just gave you a knowing look and trained her eyes back on the road.
You and Nancy had now been friends for a couple years now and it took her a while to warm up to Eddie after initially meeting him. He looked a little rough around the edges and the rumors that littered the highschool certainly didn’t help his case, but once she saw how you two interacted, everything she had heard about him was wrong.
She knew you had feelings for Eddie, but every time she asked you about it, you just denied, saying he was only your best friend, and you wouldn’t do anything that would risk your friendship like that. He was the most special person in your life.
But she knew that familiar look. The lovesick look in your eyes whenever you looked at him, whenever you talked about him. And she saw it in his eyes too. Why else would Eddie the freak Munson agree to come to a high school party? Certainly not for the experience, no. He did it for you, because you asked. He would do anything for you.
After some time, the four of you pulled up the party and found an empty spot on the street to park. As you exited the vehicle, you heard the hollering and loud music that emitted out of the house. You looked over at Eddie, suddenly nerves setting in. You grabbed onto his arm to feel a little more secure, he froze for a second.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah yeah, just nervous s’all,” you smiled up at him sweetly and started your walk towards the party, Nancy and Steve close behind you.
As you entered the bustling house, people were everywhere, and all types of people as well. The jocks, the preps, the goth kids, even some nerdy kids were there as well. You suddenly felt less nervous.
Nancy looked over at you and Eddie. “Let’s go to the kitchen and get some drinks!” she spoke over the loud music, tugging Steve into the kitchen. You silently agreed, needing a little something to ease the rest of your nerves.
She poured drinks for the four of you on the kitchen counter, passing them to you in a red solo cup. You looked inside the cup and gave it a sniff. Eddie noticed your action and giggled at you, taking a sip of his drink.
“Go on, it won’t hurt you,” He teased, knowing you had only ever had a small sip of beer once or twice before.
You nodded and took a sip, surprisingly it wasn’t as bitter and gross as beer was. It was quite sweet; you couldn’t really taste the alcohol. This could be dangerous.
As the night went on, you found yourself dancing in the living with Nancy, swaying your hips to the beats of Olivia Newton John. You’re two drinks in at this point, feeling the alcohol settle in and let loose a little bit.
Eddie had found himself on the couch sitting with Steve as he watched the two of you dance. He clutched his drink in his lap as other drunk teenagers stumbled around him.
“You should ask her out,” Steve added form his seat beside Eddie.
“What?” he asked, averting his eyes from you and taking a sip of his drink again.
“Y/N. I know you like her,” Steve nudged his arm with his elbow. “I see the way you look at her,”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Harrington,” he mumbled into the rim of his cup.
Steve adjusted to get a better look at Eddie. “Listen man, I know we’re not really close,” Eddie scoffed under his breath.
“But if you don’t make a move, someone else will,” Steve added. Eddie just ignored him and looked back over at you dancing the night away with Nancy, a huge grin on your face as your hair bounced over your shoulders and flowed down your back perfectly.
Steve’s words rung through his ears the rest of the night, watching as multiple guys approached you and asked if you wanted to dance. You politely declined every time, just wanting to dance with your friend.
And each time you snuck a glance at Eddie to see if he was watching you.
And he was.
After a while, Eddie lost sight of you, getting distracted when some girls walked up to him in the corner he was hiding in and started to strike up a conversation. The usual “I didn’t know the freak attended parties,” or the “What kind of séance are you going to conduct tonight?” followed with giggles.
He paid them no mind and combed through the crowds of the party. There was no sign of you in the kitchen, just littered with jocks doing body shots on popular girls. He checked the backyard, he couldn’t see you anywhere out there, even in the dark.
He started his journey up the stairs in the two story house, teenagers packed the step as he made his way to the second level.
He started knocking on doors and opening them up slowly when no one answered, checking to see if you had passed out in a bed somewhere. The first bedroom was empty, so he went on to the next, doing the same thing.
He opened the door slowly when there was no response, he popped his head in and quickly shut the door when there was a couple getting hot and heavy in there.
He shook the image out of his mind and knocked on the bathroom door, a small voice coming from inside followed by some giggles.
Your giggles.
“Y/N? Are you okay in there?” he spoke from the other side of the door.
“Be right out!” followed by more giggles and some shushing from the other side of the door. Eddie’s heart sunk. Someone else was in there with you.
He paced the hallway, waiting for you to emerge from the bathroom. After a couple beats, you came out, your lipstick was smudged and your hair was slightly disheveled. Following you was some guy Eddie didn’t care to learn the name of.
“Eddie! Oh my god, I have to tell you something,” you exclaimed as you hugged him tightly. He reluctantly hugged you back, the guy from the bathroom was eyeing him intently.
“How drunk are you, sweetheart?” he asked into your hairline, pulling back to take a good look at you.
“Drunk enough to have my first kiss,” you whispered into his ear and giggled some more. If his heart could sink anymore, he would feel it in his asshole. Steve’s words from earlier were now, more than ever, burning into his mind.
You walked back over to the bathroom guy and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, murmuring a small “call me,” and went back to Eddie, tugging him down the stairs as you giggled the whole way down.
“Alright, sweetheart, I think its time we find Steve and Nancy and get going,” he spoke as he continued to drag you through the thick crowd, trying to get the image of you kissing someone else out of his mind.
“Eds, we can’t go back to my – hiccup – to my trailer. My mom will kill me if I come home drunk,” you stopped in your tracks and looked at him with pleading eyes.
You really were a mess. Your eyes were glassed over, makeup all messed up from the make out sesh you had upstairs. He didn’t have it in him to get mad at you in this state, no matter how jealous he felt. He had to take care of you like he always had.
“Right, fine. We can go back to mine and crash there. You can take the bed, I’ll take the couch.” He said as he continued to walk through the crowd, protecting you from all the drunk teenagers spilling their drinks all over the carpet.
You squealed in excitement. “Thank you my rockstar,” you spoke into his shoulder as he guided you through the crowd. The old nickname bringing warmth to his cheeks.
Once you two found Nancy and Steve, you left the party and started your trek to the trailer park. Eddie basically had to manhandle you into the trailer, thankfully his uncle Wayne was already gone for his night shift at the plant.
When you got into his bedroom, you flopped into his bed, snuggling into his pillows and blankets, not caring to get changed or take off your makeup. You’d worry about that in the morning.
Your body was buzzing, warmth erupted all over you. The room was slightly spinning when you opened your eyes and took a look at Eddie standing in front of you.
“Theres four of you in front of me right now,” you giggled.
Eddie rolled his eyes. “God, how much did you drink?”
You shrugged, losing count after your third one. Eddie just tucked you and went to turn around to turn off the light and go out to the couch so you could get your sleep.
“Wait – Eds, can you stay? Please?” you asked him, giving him your best puppy dog eyes that already suckered him in earlier that night.
He thought for a moment. “Fine. But I’m going to sleep on the floor, I don’t want you to puke on me,” He gave you an accusatory point, stepping out of the bedroom for a moment to grab some extra pillows and blankets and making a pile on the ground.
“You’re the best Eds, love you, y’know?” you spoke softly, closing your eyes and already slowly drifting off.
“Yeah sweetheart, love you too,” he sighed as he got comfortable on his makeshift floor bed.
Over the next week, the bathroom guy never called you. You felt a little sad, of course. But you were drunk.
You never spoke about bathroom guy again after that.
~*_*~
You were 17 when Eddie got his drivers license.
Wayne had let Eddie borrow the van for the weekend. It was a gorgeous summer night in Hawkins, the sky was clear, the temperature was just perfect.
You had agreed to join Eddie on a celebratory joy ride, happy that your best friend finally have a little bit of freedom and doesn’t have to ask for rides everywhere anymore.
You two were driving down the road the leads to Lovers Lake, the headlights on the van were the only thing that was illuminating the road aside from the moon.
You didn’t really know what Eddie had in mind, but when you pulled into a clearing by the lake and backed into the spot, you were a bit confused.
“Uh – what are we doing here Eddie?” you asked, turning in the passenger seat to get a look at the boy.
“You’ll see!” he grinned wildly as he got out of the vehicle, going to the back and opening up the big van doors. You glanced at the back of the van and watched as Eddie hopped in, pushing down the back seats and laying down some blankets and pillows.
“Are you expecting to get lucky tonight, rockstar?” you giggled. “Bringing a girl into the middle of nowhere isn’t exactly an ideal spot,” you teased him from the front seat.
He stopped arranging everything and tossed a pillow at you. “I can’t believe you think so lowly of me, sweetheart,” he clutched his hand over his chest, imitating a heart break. “Get back here so you can see why I brought you here,” He spoke as he swung his legs over the back of the van, dangling over.
You crawled over the seat and sat beside him, taking in the scenery.
“Wow,” was all you could say.
It really was a perfect night. The lake was calm, the soft sounds of water splashing against the shoreline. The soft rustle of trees moving together. The sky was clear, giving you a beautiful view of all the stars in the sky. Now you understand why Eddie had brought you out here. There was no light pollution, so all the stars were clearly visible out here.
“What do you think?” He asked, trying to gauge your reaction to the scenery around you.
“It’s beautiful out here, Eds. How did you come across this place?” you looked at the metalhead beside you, realizing how beautiful he looked in the soft lighting of the moon.
“Wayne would bring me here after my mom passed away. Whenever I was missing her, he brought me here and told me to look up to the stars so I could talk to her. He said she was always watching over me, and this was the clearest spot she could see me. So I wanted to share it with you, so you could see your dad,” he spoke softly, his voice slightly quivering at the memory.
“Eddie I – I don’t know what to say,” you stuttered, looking back at the sky.
Through out your entire friendship with Eddie, you never really spoke about your dad’s passing, just like how he never spoke about his mom’s passing. It was a tricky subject for you since you lost him so young. But it was something you two had always understood about each other and what brought you closer together. Tragedy and loss sucks but finding comfort in each other was the greatest gift that you could have gotten when moving to Hawkins when you were 11.
“You don’t have to say anything. Just look at the sky,” he said as he took your hand and gave it a little squeeze.
You looked at him with tears filling your eyes. “This – this is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me,” you squeezed his hand back. I love you, is what you wanted to say, but you settled for –
“Thank you, this is gorgeous,” you smiled and wiped a few stray tears from the corners of your eyes.
“Of course. I always thought this would be a perfect spot for …. This!” he said as he leaned back and grabbed his metal lunch box, putting it in his lap and pulling a little bag from it and tossing it on your lap.
You inspected the bag and inside were two pre-rolled joints. You had mentioned to Eddie a few months ago that you wanted to try smoking weed. A couple girls in your class had boasted about the experience and you were curious about it. Eddie had started smoking a few months ago, so you knew that he was probably the best person to try it with for the first time.
“So, whaddya say sweetheart? Wanna take your weed virginity?” he wiggled his brows at you.
“God, don’t say that. That sounds so nasty.” You giggled as you passed the baggy back to him. He took out the first joint and put it between his lips and lighting it expertly, taking a few puffs before handing it to you.
“It’s gonna burn a little, so don’t suck in too much. Just feel it out,” he explained as you brought the joint to your lips, taking a few careful puffs.
You coughed a bit as you exhaled the smoke from your lungs. “Yeah, there you go, let it out. Coughing is good!” he encouraged you on and reached behind him, grabbing a bottle of water.
“I come prepared,” he said as he unscrewed the lid and passed it to you.
“Th – Thanks,” you choked out and took a big gulp, the cool water easing your burning throat.
As the weed start to set in, you felt your body getting lighter and lighter. You and Eddie rambled on in conversation, talking about which rockstars were better looking, which ones you’d fuck, or kissed, or whatever.
“You would seriously bang Nikki Sixx over James Hetfield?! This friendship is over,” Eddie giggled as he was slowly getting closer to you as the night went on.
“I mean – James is hot. But Nikki is a bad boy,” you smiled over at him, noticing your thighs were touching now.
“Oh, so you have a thing for bad boys, huh?” he teased you, nudging your side.
“Maybe,” you giggled, giving him a side eye as you looked towards the sky at the stars.
“What about a bad boy who looks mean and scary but is actually a gentleman at heart?” he wiggled his brows at you.
“I wonder who you could be referencing right now,” you chuckled at his antics.
“What if I told you… He was devilishly handsome, amazing at guitar, has long curly hair?”
“Oh! Eddie Van Halen! Yeah, he’s pretty cute too,” you teased him back.
“Ouch sweetheart. Two for two on the wounding tonight,” he clutched his chest again, pretending to topple over onto the ground.
“I guess my Eddie is pretty cool, too.” You sighed and rolled your eyes as you watched him stand from the ground, coming to stand between your legs.
My Eddie.
You looked at him for a moment and noticed something different about the way he was looking at you. Was it the weed? Had he always looked at you like this? His eyes almost looked black in this lighting; his hand came down to rest on your thighs.
The way his eyes locked with yours then travelled down to your lips caused your breath to hitch in your chest. He was really thinking about something and you couldn’t tell what. You were usually good at reading him.
“Whats going on? I can almost see the cogs turning in your head,” you joked, putting your hand over his that rested on your thigh.
He must have snapped out of it, blinking a few times. “Uh – nothing. We should probably head back, its getting late,” he grabbed your hand to help you down and closed the van doors. He escorted you to the passenger seat again then made his way over to his side, hopping in and starting the van.
He avoided eye contact the entire ride back to the trailer park, because if he looked at you again, he would kiss you.
He said his goodnights as you parted ways to your own trailer.
You realize that Eddie has looked at you that way countless times before.
~*_*~
You were 18 when Eddie got his weekly gig at the hideouts on Tuesdays.
You were absolutely ecstatic for him and his band, he’s come a long way from middle school talent shows to this. Granted, it’s not the garden yet – In Eddie’s words – but it’s a start.
For this show, you decided to switch up your appearance a little bit from your normal girly wardrobe. You insisted that you would meet Eddie there so you could surprise him with your outfit.
You got help from Nancy and Robin, going to the mall and picking out something out of your comfort zone to hopefully impress Eddie.
You stood in front of your mirror with Nancy and Robin sitting on your bed as you took in your outfit. You looked different, but a hot different.
You were wearing leopard print flare legged pants, a black leather tank top and a denim jacket over top of everything. Your hair was perfectly teased, and you paired everything with dark eyeliner and a wine-coloured lipstick.
“I don’t know guys – do you think this is too much?” you asked, fixing your jacket a bit on your shoulders.
“Hell no! You look smoking,” Robin complimented from the bed.
“Agreed, you look really hot. Eddie is an idiot if he doesn’t make a move on you tonight,” Nancy agreed.
“I just feel so – out of place, y’know? What if he hates it?” you questioned, turning back to the girls on your bed.
“Alright, you’re an idiot. He’s obviously going to love it,” Nancy spoke as she grabbed her car keys off your bedside table.
“Come on, let’s go before you change your mind.”
With that, Nancy and Robin dropped you off at The Hideout, wishing you luck and reminding you that they’re just a phone call away if they needed to pick you up later. You took one more deep breath before you walked into the bar, taking a seat at a booth and immediately searching for Eddie in the crowd.
It was busier than usual tonight, as opposed to other nights that they’ve played. They have a pretty decent crowd tonight.
You were surprised you didn’t see Eddie right away, seeing as he’s always the person to stand out in a crowd. You debated on getting a drink or not for a little bit, anxious to see Eddie’s reaction to your new look.
After hemming and hawing about it, you made your way to the bar and ordered a vodka cran, needing something to calm your nerves. You thanked the bar tender and took a seat at one of the barstools, spinning around to get a view of the stage while sipping your drink.
The band didn’t go on for another 30 minutes and Eddie was usually mingling with the crowd during this time, so it was rather a surprise that you couldn’t find him anywhere amongst the other people in the bar.
After some time, you gulped down the rest of your drink and made your way to the bathroom before they came on. You entered the dingy bathroom, noticing a stall was already being used so you went into the one beside you.
Once seated on the toilet, you looked down and noticed a pair of familiar boots in the stall next to you.
Along with a pair of high heels, one on the ground and one dangling in the air. You felt your heart jump in your chest, your brain slowly piecing the sight in front of you together. You stayed incredibly still and quiet, not even sure if they heard you enter the bathroom at this point.
The heavy breathing and slaps of skin was a tell-tale sign of what was going on. You felt tears prick in your eyes at the thought of Eddie being with someone else when you came here dressed this way for him.
But then you thought – maybe you had it all wrong. Maybe it wasn’t Eddie. Maybe it was just someone who –
“Shit baby, you feel so good,” you heard him moan from the stall beside you.
That was your breaking point. You opened the stall and slammed it shut, making your way out of the small bathroom. The loud sound must have startled him and made him stop what he was doing, because a couple minutes later he emerged from the bathroom, the girl close behind him and holding onto his arm.
You saw him, but he didn’t notice you right away because of your changed appearance. You figured it was best to get out of there before you made a fool out of yourself and started crying in front of everyone, so you pushed your way through the crowd and bumped your shoulder with the girl that was hanging onto Eddie, turning around and giving her a glare as you walked out of the bar.
“Shit,” Eddie said under his breath as he realized it was you in the stall next to him. He spoke his apologies to the girl and followed you out of the bar, finding you next to a payphone.
“Sweetheart, what are you doing out here?” He asked, running a hand through his unruly hair. He took in your appearance, your dark makeup and your new outfit and his jaw dropped. He fucked up.
“Going home,” you spoke softly, scared that saying anything more would crack your voice and you would burst into tears.
“But – you always come to see us play,” he said, a small tinge of sadness in his voice.
“Yeah, not tonight. I’m not feeling too good. I called Nancy, don’t worry about me.” You spoke harshly avoiding his gaze. He had no choice but to let you leave. His set was about to start in 5 minutes and he couldn’t just bolt to make sure you were okay.
“Oh – okay. I’ll call you tonight, okay? After the show,” he said, slowly walking up to you.
You nodded in response, watching as Nancy and Robin pulled into the parking lot and stopping in front of you.
“You look really incredible tonight, by the way. It’s a shame you don’t feel good,” he chuckled, trying to ease the tension.
You ignored him as you got into the car, knowing that he was waiting for his hug goodbye. You always hugged goodbye.
He just stood there and watched as Nancy shook her head at him and took off down the long road. Eddie wondered what he did wrong as he walked back into the bar. Were you jealous? You couldn’t possibly be jealous; you were just his best friend.
But you also dressed up just for him. So, did you feel something more? He felt so confused right now, you had never acted so cold toward him before.
You were on his mind for the rest of the show, completely forgetting about the girl in the bathroom.
~*_*~
You were 19 when you first kissed Eddie.
Well, sort of. You both didn’t remember it.
You were at Steve’s house with the rest of the gang, drinking and hanging out by the pool. You all originally came here so Eddie could host a small campaign with the older kids and the younger kids and it went amazing. Everyone was super into it, even Steve to your surprise. You didn’t peg him for a fantasy game type of guy, but he rolled out the last hit of damage to Eddie’s campaign boss and won the game.
You were pretty drunk at this point, laughing and chatting back and forth with everyone at the small get together. The kids were inside playing board games while the rest of you bonded outside in the cool weather of August.
You much preferred hanging out with your large group of friends rather than going to parties, you soon figured out. You didn’t feel judged and you didn’t force yourself to talk to people you really had no interest in knowing.
Steve’s house was big enough for everyone to sleepover, hence why you and Eddie got the drunkest out of everyone there.
You two didn’t really let loose this much, usually choosing weed over drinking – but tonight you just wanted to get wild.
At some point during the night, you and Eddie snuck off to sit in the middle of the backyard and look at the stars, like he knew you loved to do ever since he took you out to that spot in Lovers Lake.
Steve, Robin, and Nancy didn’t seem to pay too much attention, as you and Eddie pretty much always did your own thing. They were too wrapped up in their conversation about Madonna vs. Cyndi Lauper, arguing who’s the better pop star.
You and Eddie were sat cross legged facing each other on the grass, your eyes were trained up to the sky. “That one up there,” you pointed. “That’s orion the hunter,”
Eddie nodded, trying to follow your finger. “And that one there – that’s Canis Major. It’s the great dog constellation,” Eddie was trying to follow along at this point, the stars were all just a blur and he wasn’t sure how you didn’t get dizzy from looking.
He hummed. “That looks nothing like a dog,” he giggled, plucking some grass and throwing it at you to get your attention again.
“I didn’t come up with the names, I just enforce them,” You picked up some grass right back and plopped it on his head.
“Oh, that’s not fair, you can’t mess with the hair!” He shook his head, the grass falling over you as you giggled. “Oh you think it’s funny? I’ll show you funny!”
He tackled you onto the grass, you were laying under him as he started to tickle your sides, you were wailing out in giggles. “Eddie! Please! I surrender!” You begged him to stop, hoping he would let up on the tickles.
“Not a chance sweetheart, you can’t just mess up my hair and not reap the consequences!” His tickles moved over your stomach, up to under your armpits where you were the most ticklish and couldn’t help but flail your legs underneath you, accidentally kneeing Eddie in the stomach and causing him to topple onto you.
Everything stopped, his nose was inches from yours as he realized the position you two were in. He looked down at you and took in your breathless form, your hair was sprawled out onto the grass and Eddie thought you looked like an angel that was made just for him.
He brought a gentle hand up to cup the side of your cheek, his eyes darting from your eyes to your lips, almost asking if it was okay.
Your hand came up to hold the back of his neck, playing with the hair at the nape. It was like the world slowed down in this moment, there was nothing around you. You couldn’t hear anything except for the sound of your heart beating out of your chest at this intimate moment with your best friend.
You did the unimaginable and pulled Eddie down to finally connect your lips.
Your lips melted together perfectly, moving at a slow pace to get a feel for it. Your tongue swiped against Eddie’s bottom lip and he moaned softly, opening his mouth for you and granting you access. He tasted a lot like liquor; but you didn’t mind one bit. You were so lost in this moment, he could have tasted like anything and you would have loved it. Your hand tightened in his hair and tugged, he moaned a little louder this time and pulled away, a string of saliva connecting your lips.
He looked down at you, panting softly. His eyes were blown out, his hair was a mess. You probably looked the same.
He pushed himself up suddenly onto his knees and held out his hand for you. “Come on, let’s go to bed,” he spoke as you grabbed his hand and pulled you up towards him. You both couldn’t wipe the cheesy grin off your faces.
You both stumbled inside, holding onto Eddie and the side of the house for dear life as you passed your other friends, saying a quick goodnight and going into the house with Eddie. You were a mess of giggles, you couldn’t stop this giddy feeling that was inside of you.
Once the sliding glass doors were closed, Eddie was on you again, pulling you towards him and meeting your lips in another hungry kiss. His hands held your hips firmly and started walking you towards the living room. You two didn’t get very far until you fell onto the couch together in a mess of limbs.
Eddie was on top of you again, kissing you feverishly, tugging your bottom lip between his teeth while his hands explored your body. Your hands pushed at his shoulders to take off his jacket and he threw it on the ground beside the couch quickly so he could connect his lips with yours again.
Eventually when you two couldn’t breathe anymore, you reluctantly pulled away. Eddie tucked his head under yours and laid on your body, listening to your heartbeat and your steady breathing. Your hand came up and started playing with his hair, he truly felt bliss in this moment and never wanted it to end. His eyes slowly started to drift shut and before you know it, you were both passed out on Steve Harringtons couch.
The next morning you woke up with a pounding headache and an even heavier weight on your chest, you looked down and noticed Eddie still snuggled into your side, his arm slinked around your waist. At first your memory was a little groggy, but slowly it started coming back to you.
Before you could start to freak out, you looked to your right and noticed Steve sitting on the recliner chair and gave you a small wave.
“Hey sleepyhead, wild night for you, huh?” he chuckled, taking a sip of his morning coffee.
You weren’t sure if Eddie remembered what happened between you two that night, so you just pretended to be clueless about the whole situation.
“I don’t really remember much past the debate about Madonna,” you rubbed the sides of your head as you started to wake up now. Eddie was now stirring beside you, he stretched his body out and yawned, opening his eyes and realizing where he had fallen asleep.
“Good morning second sleeping beauty,” Steve spoke to Eddie. “Do you remember what you did last night? It’s about time, seriously. I’m getting sick of you guys,” he took another sip of his coffee, setting it down on the table in front of him.
“Please enlighten me, Harrington,” Eddie spoke as he slowly sat up from his spot beside you, giving you a small smile.
“Do you know what he’s talking about?” He asked you.
You shook your head, playing dumb. “Nope,”
And that’s when Nancy and Robin entered the room making kissy faces at the both of you. You and Eddie looked at each other puzzled. Steve just pointed at them and raised his brows, as if to say, do you remember now?
Eddie looked at you, still not catching on to what they were saying. “Did we – uh – did we kiss?” He asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“Sure did. Full on make out session,” Robin added, leaning against the door frame of the living room. You just stared back at them, trying not to make a big deal out of it.
“I must have blacked out because I don’t remember,” you added, trying to hide back into your little couch corner.
“I uh – Yeah, I don’t remember either,” Eddie chuckled awkwardly, getting up from his position on the couch and adjusting his pants. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom,” He quickly excused himself to the bathroom, he couldn’t bare to deal with this conversation right now.
Because Eddie remembered too, he just pretended that he didn’t.
~*_*~
You were 20 when Eddie told you that he was in love with you.
It was Christmas Eve of 1986. There was a light dusting of snow that fell from sky, coating the ground and glistening in the moonlight.
You wanted to get Eddie something really special this Christmas. You’ve given each other gifts before, but now that you’re older, you have a little bit more money to spend. Because Eddie deserves it.
You padded your way across the street to Eddie’s, snow dusting over your boots as you carried your large bag of gifts to the home.
The previous week, Eddie had begged Wayne to help him decorate the trailer. The Munsons were never big on Christmas – since it was just the two of them, but something different was in the air this year and he wanted it to feel really festive. The trailer had a sloppy line of lights around the roofing, some falling down in places, but it was so Eddie.
At this point in your friendship, you didn’t have to knock anymore since this was pretty much your second home. You stepped into the trailer, knocking the snow off your boots. You shrugged off your jacket and called into the trailer.
“Hey rockstar! I think Santa has some presents for you,” you called out, setting the bag of gifts down.
“Have I been a good boy this year?” he replied from his bedroom, you could tell her was smirking from the tone of his voice.
“Who knows! You’ll have to come out here and find out!” You spoke as you started to lay the gifts under the straggly tree they had in their living room.
Eddie exits his room wearing a Santa hat and Christmas sweats on his legs, holding a few of his own gifts in his hand that were horribly wrapped, but you wouldn’t expect anything less. You gave him a sideeye as he put your gifts under the tree.
“Don’t give me that look, sweetheart, not everyone can be a master gift wrapper like you,” he teased and pulled you in for a tight hug.
“Merry Christmas, I’m happy to spend it with you,” he spoke into your hairline, his words making your heart skip a few beats.
“You too, Eddie. You deserve a good Christmas,” you replied, pulling back and taking a good look at his cheesy grin.
The Santa hat was making his hair fall perfectly around his face and over his shoulder, his bangs were stuck to his forehead and if you didn’t have the fattest crush on him, you probably would have thought he looked ridiculous, but he’s got a certain charm about him that you’re sure he would look incredible in anything.
“I would like to give your gifts first, M’lady,” he spoke as he bowed down to you, picking a gift and hanging it to you on his knees. You giggled at his theatrics and took the gift, sitting down in front of the tree with him.
You held the gift up to your ears and shook it a little. “There isn’t anything alive in here, right?” you teased him as you crossed your legs and got a little more comfortable.
“No but don’t shake it around! Just open it,” he told you as he gestured towards the gift.
You gave him a small smile and started to unwrap the gift, unveiling a cardboard box. “Wow, how thoughtful of you! I’ve always wanted a box,” you teased him.
Eddie rolled his eyes. “Alright, genius, the gift is inside the cardboard box,” He leaned back on his hands and pushed his legs out in front of him as he watched you open the box.
Inside was a gorgeous two-piece necklace, one for you and one for Eddie. It was one of his signature pick necklaces, yours was pink and in the shape of a heart and had your name engraved into it. Eddie’s was black, but his was an upside-down heart.
You held the jewelry in your hand and stared down at the piece in your palm. “Eddie, this is gorgeous. How did you do this?” you asked, holding the necklace by its chain and getting a good look at it.
“Stole some of Wayne’s tools to engrave your name and cut it out into the shape. Almost lost a finger, jesus,” he giggled as he remembered the memory. “Turn around, let me put it on you,” he gestured towards the necklace, you handed it over to him and turned around on the floor.
You held up your hair as you felt Eddie’s hands wrap around you to secure the necklace into place. “I know I don’t have a lot of money to get you something you deserve, but I figured this should suffice,” he spoke as you turned back around, looking down at the necklace falling down between your breasts.
“Eddie, you could get me a rotten apple with a little Eddie charm added to it and I would hold it close to my heart forever,” you told him.
“Noted,” he said as he felt warmth rise to his cheeks at your sentiment.
You smiled at him and grabbed your two gifts from under the tree and handed the first thinly wrapped gift to him. “Your turn, rockstar,” you said as he inspected the gift.
“I have a feeling I already know what this is,” he said as he eyed you, slowly opening the gift and unveiling its contents. His smile grew on his face as the familiar colourings of the album were revealed, the dark colours of red, orange and yellow. It was the Master of Puppets vinyl.
“Yes! Where did you get this? It’s been sold out in town since it came out?” he asked, his face crinkled from smiling so much as he looked at the sought-after album in his hands.
“I may have had to make a trip to the city and call countless record stores for it,” you told him, tucking a piece of hair behind your ear.
“You’re unreal, thank you so much,” he pulled you in for a quick hug. “We’ll be playing this as soon as humanly possible,” he spoke as he inspected the album in his hands.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less. But I have one more, so don’t get too excited over this one,” You told him as you grabbed the second gift. It was a little heavier this time.
“Sweetheart, I’m afraid I might have a heart attack if this one is better than this,” he gestured to the album in his hand before setting it down and putting the second gift into his lap.
“Wait until you open it before you have a heart attack, please,” you giggled as he started to slowly unwrap the gift.
Inside was a large scrap book that you’ve been making over the years. The cover of the book was coloured half black and half pink to symbolize the both of you, both of your names on the cover with the year 1977 – infinity on it, because you had no set date to end your friendship anytime soon.
He ran his fingers over the cover, looking at it in disbelief. “I – I don’t know what to say,” he said as he continued to inspect the large book in his hands.
“Open it before you decide what to say,” you giggled and nodded your head towards the book.
Inside the book were countless photos of you two, from the time you first met when you were kids, to the school talent show, the time you broke your wrist and Eddie was there the entire time. He continued to flip through the book of memories, absolutely in awe that you had all these memories hidden away.
“How long – Jesus, how long have you been making this?” he asked, running his fingers along one of your favorite photos of you two out by Lovers Lake taking a swim in the hot and humid summer.
“Pretty much since we first met,” you told him. “I knew you’d be in my life for a long time. I feel like now was a good time to give it to you. Look, if you keep flipping through the pages there’s a bunch of blank pages that I want you to fill out with your own photos,” you skipped a couple pages and flipped towards the end, showing him the number of empty spaces in the book.
“I – Wow. I’m speechless,” he let out a breathy laugh, skimming through the rest of the photos of you two slowly getting older. His eyes landed on a more recent photo. The two of you at Halloween, dressed up as Laurie Strode and Michael Myers. Dustin, Mike, Lucas, Max, Will and Eleven were also photobombing the photo, but you didn’t know they were there until the photos got developed.
“What… What do you think?” You asked. It wasn’t like Eddie to be this silent.
He continued staring at the photobook in front of him, his eyes wide and mouth felt dry from hanging open in awe. “I think … Uh – I think I’m in love with you,” he spoke, finally meeting your gaze in front of him.
You felt your breath hitch in your chest. Your whole world slowed down in that moment, looking into the brown doe eyes you loved so much filled with so much love.
Love.
That’s what it’s been this entire time.
“Wh – what?” you stuttered slightly, having no words in your brain and no air in your lungs to get anything else out.
“I’m so hopelessly in love with you and have been since the moment I met you. Fuck, I’ve never felt this way about anyone and it scares me. It scares me so much because part of me thinks you could never feel the same way about me, so I’ve tried to push it away my feelings, so I don’t lose you. But it never works. Every time I see you I fall more in love with you – If that’s even possible,” he chuckled slightly, scratching the back of his head awkwardly as he continues his confession.
“You’re the best person in my life and I guess this just sealed the deal even more – I’m so in love with you. I can’t not say it anymore, just wanted you to know,” he spoke shyly, looking down at the book in front of him to avoid your gaze.
His eyes met yours slowly. “Please … Say something,” he almost whispered.
You didn’t need to say anything. You shoved the book out of his lap and pushed yourself onto him, wrapping your arms around his neck and kissing him. He froze for a second, his arms up in the air before he melted into this kiss and wrapped his arms around your back, kissing you back.
You pulled back and rested your forehead against his. “Eddie Munson, I’m so in love with you too,” you smiled and gave him another quick peck on the lips.
“You’re a little shit, you know that?” he giggled against your lips as he pulled you against him again, his back falling onto the ground with you towering over him, kissing him just to show him how much you really love him. It was a fast an eager kiss, pouring as much of yourself into it as possible.
You two pulled away, a mess of giggles and large smiles. “I really thought you were going to run outta here by the look on your face,” he teased as he brought his hand up to your cheek and tucked some stray hairs behind your ears.
“You’ve got me for life, rockstar,” you told him. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily,” you giggled, sitting up straight while still straddling him. His hands found their place on your hips.
“I think we have a lot of catching up to do,” he said as he squeezed your hips slightly.
“I also have another present for you, just in case this all went well,” you giggled and lifted your skirt, revealing a small pair of red panties with a white bow on them.
“You’re gonna kill me,” he said as he stared directly at your mound in front of him. “Did you know I was going to spill my heart out to you?” he giggled as his hands made their way to your thighs, his fingertips leaving goosebumps in their wake.
“Had a feeling the photos might make you break,” you teased as you ground your hips over his slowly, making his eyes roll to the back of his head.
“Merry Christmas to me,” he said as he pulled you down for another heated kiss. The gifts were long forgotten on the floor as he picked you up and brought you to his bedroom.
That was the time you knew you had Eddie Munson for life.