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The air was thick with stale sweat, stale beer and stale smoke as you pushed your way through the crowd for the exit and the promise of fresh air. You’d seen all you’d came to see that evening and had no intention of sticking around longer than necessary.
The hideout was a small, dingy bar at the best of times but the owner filled it to capacity and then some for nights like this. Halloween was always the one night a year they could be sure of a crowd, even more so since Corroded Coffin had sprung to fame when their guitarist was accused of murder.
After the real murderer was caught and Eddie Munson’s name had been officially cleared by the shady looking government types who’d swarmed Hawkins after the fact, the owner of the Hideout was only to happy to let the band start playing again. Any attention is good attention after all.
It was hard enough to get access to new music in the current day and age , with mothers crying on the news about their poor innocent children being “taken in” by the devil’s music or Preachers at pulpits warning against letting anything ‘impure’ into the home. It didn’t help that in the middle of nowhere Middle America it took longer for new music to reach the record stores and radio stations than it did in the big cities or even Indianapolis itself.
So there you were standing outside a dive bar in a town you didn’t live in because you’d heard about a show and wanted to see if the band lived up to the hype.
They did.
Eddie was grinning from ear to ear after their set, Halloween really was the best night of the year. He’d been a little hesitant, of course, to play to a crowd this big. With the resentment that had built in town for him and by extension the band because of their visible difference from the modern mainstream even before Vecna and the upside down and Chrissy Cunningham, an unlikely comrade in arms who stood firm at Eddie’s side throughout it all and maintained his innocence to anyone who thought otherwise.
She’d come to see their show along with the rest of the Hawkins Monster Slayers or at least the ones old enough to be in a bar, or who’s fake ID looked convincing enough. She had flung herself at him after stepping off stage and exclaimed about how amazing the gig had been,,
“Eddie that was so cool!” She yelled over the noise of the crowd, “if you guys don’t get signed soon then clearly those big record labels don’t know a good thing when it rocks an entire bar like this!”
“You’re too kind Chris” Eddie laughed wrapping an arm around her middle, trying not to get her shirt wet with his own sweat
There were congratulations from the rest of the assembled group, Jonathan Byers offering to take 'professional' pictures of the band anytime they wanted for their first album cover. Steve Harrington offering his parents money to bankroll anything the band needed,
"They're assholes anyway, the money should go to a good cause"
Cue Robin Buckley stating that she was the best cause and Steve should give her a thousand dollars so she could 'woo' the girl of her dreams. Nancy Wheeler adding that if the girl in question was only attracted to Robin for her money than she wasn't worth knowing.
Which somehow sparked a debate amongst the boys in the band and the others about what they'd do for money, or who they'd do for money. It was at this point Eddie snuck away for his post show smoke break/adrenaline crash panic attack.
You were standing in the parking lot of the hideout shuffling from one foot to the other trying to get some heat into your body. The payphone inside the hideout hadn't been working so you'd had to walk a few blocks to a gas station to use theirs.
You'd hoped to be able to hang out in the gas station for your ride but were told in no uncertain terms if you were there for longer than it took to make your phone call that the store owner would involve the law. Something about the teens in this town not taking advantage of him again.
You didn't get the time to tell the store owner you weren't from Hawkins before you were all but shoved back out into the cold. So you'd made your way back to the Hideout and commenced the 'keep warm' dance on the frigid October night.
"Hey, are you ok?" a man's voice called, causing you to snap in the direction of the sound, hoping that you weren't about to be the latest victim of Hawkins' terrible luck. Instead you found yourself looking at one Eddie Munson with a cigarette in his hands, the smoke curling towards the street light above him.
"Oh, yeah, no I'm ok. Thanks" it wasn't that you believed the rumours but you still had no desire to be alone in a deserted parking lot with a strange man you didn't know. The statistics weren't great.
"If you want to dance you should probably go back inside. Though if you've gotta use the restroom you're probably safer out here, I don't know about the girls room but the guys isn't exactly clean" Eddie laughed,
"I'm just waiting on my ride home" you told him, "they should be here soon"
"You shouldn't be waiting out here on your own" he said coming closer, "especially not tonight, all the freaks and weirdos are out"
"I'm fine really, I'm not gonna be here that long anyway" you repeated hoping he'd take the hint
"You're not from Hawkins are you?" Eddie asked with a laugh, "nobody from town would be out here on their own, I mean maybe if they were drunk or high enough"
Eddie had gotten closer and you'd not realised that for every step he'd taken towards you you'd taken a step backwards, Eddie had noticed though. You could tell from his expression. Which made you feel like a massive asshole,
"No I'm from the next town over, Salem? I just came to the bar tonight for the show. You guys sounded great" you said, taking a step towards Eddie and hoping you didn't come across as a total dick, "it's so hard to hear new music in bumfuck nowhere you know?"
"Oh yeah for sure, gotta be careful with all that devil's music around these days" Eddie joked crossing himself, "someone ought to think of the children"
"Oh yes the children, they must be protected from y'know satan and stuff" you nodded seriously before the giggles took over, "oh my god I can't"
"I'm Eddie" he offered his free hand that wasn't holding the cigarette and you shook it and gave him your name,
"I'm serious though you guys sounded really cool, do you have any demo tapes or anything?"
"I mean not yet but I'm suddenly seriously considering it" he winked at you making you laugh again, "I mean a pretty girl tells you how cool she thinks your band is changes a lot"
"I didn't say anything about cool" you teased, "but you're alright"
Eddie clutched his chest with his free hand and stumbled backwards, groaning and making choking noises,
"I have been mortally wounded"
"Oh no, whatever will the band do without you?" you asked, "however will they go on without someone so cool?"
Eddie righted himself and pushed his hair out of his face, grinning broadly. The cigarette had fallen from his hand amongst his theatrics and lay burning softly on the ground,
"Well would you look at that? I'm cured!" Eddie announced bounding back over to you before blowing some stray locks of hair out of his face, "sorry about that, my hair has a mind of its own and apparently wanted to be included in the conversation"
You nodded before pulling the scrunchie out of your hair and offering it to him,
"Well since this is a private conversation why don't you use this to keep the nosiness under control?"
Eddie accepted the scrunchie gratefully and tied his hair up in a ponytail brandishing the ends with a flourish,
"I really think this is my colour don't you?" he asked shaking the ponytail around, "it's adding extra cool points to my rockstar image"
You were about to reply when you saw your ride pull into the parking lot, you hadn't even noticed the time going by while you'd been talking, flirting , with Eddie,
"That's my ride so I gotta go but, I'm holding you to that Demo Tape"
"Well if you're going to hold it over me, but how will I know where to bring the sacred item?"
You grabbed a pen from your jacket pocket and scribbled your phone number on Eddie's hand,
"You can call me when it's done. The scrunchie is collateral until then"
“I guess I'll see you then”
“Count on it, Eddie”
Eddie watched as you got in the car and drove away. He waited until you were out of sight before fist pumping the air, he couldn’t believe what just happened. Chrissy wasn’t going to believe it either when he told her.
As a matter of fact Eddie immediately turned around and raced back to the stage door of the Hideout and kicked it open,
“Chris, holy fuck” this was too good not to share.
He had a date.