Chapter Text
Steve never claimed to have the best memory on the planet, but it had admittedly gotten just a tiny bit worse after one too many hits on the head. A few details got more fuzzy, nothing important, he didn't have memory problems, but sometimes he would just look back and realize certain events of his life were quite blurry in his memory, which really should be at least a little bit alarming, but Steve decided it just was the effect of his multiple concussions since '83.
There were, however, a couple of things that Steve could never, ever forget, no matter how many hits to the head he ended up getting (because he knew at this rate, he was bound to have at least a couple more, even if the doctors had warned him against it. It wasn't exactly up to him).
It's like there was a list of sorts inside Steve's head, labeled ‘Things I Can't Forget’, and each bullet point had its own neat list of notes expanding on it. Some of the items on the list were:
- Robin. One of the notes on it was ‘Robin's birthday’.
- Dustin. Similarly, one of his notes read the same as Robin's.
- The number combination to unlock the fancy locked box on his parent's closet where his mom kept emergency money for him and all his legal documents.
- The Upside Down, and everything relating to it. Steve quite disliked this one, as it was the only one on the list that he hadn't added, and the only one he actively wanted to forget.
- The phone number to his grandmother's house. She lived practically on the other side of the country, and couldn't stand long trips anymore, so hadn't visited in years. But she loved Steve, probably more than his parents ever did, so he made it a point to at least call her every other Sunday.
And, finally, at the bottom of the list, but not any less important:
- Eddie Munson.
This last one was tricky. It had the most notes out of everything else on the list, and with good reason.
The first memory relating to Eddie was from when Steve was around 5 or 6. He didn't have many memories of his early childhood, probably because it was less than memorable and only his mom paid the minimum attention to him, but this was the earliest memory he could think of.
He had been looking around the playground on his first day of kindergarten, eyes suddenly focused on a boy with very short hair, who was gleefully laughing as he proudly held out a bug, making the girl he was showing it to squeal and run off.
“That wasn't nice,” Steve remembers himself telling the boy.
“She wasn't nice.” the boy replied, without missing a beat. “She was gonna step on it.”
The boy punctuated his sentence by showing Steve the bug he was holding. Steve inched back, although he didn't run off like the girl had. He peered at it curiously.
The teacher called them all inside then, and later on, Steve learned the boy's name was Ed-uar-d or something like that. He had never heard a name that long. At least he thought so. Did he know many names? There was mom, and dad, and their neighbor Miss Anne, her dog Bo…
“Eddie,” the boy had corrected the teacher, frowning.
“Eddie,” she conceded with a gentle smile.
Steve told his mom about the boy with the bug once he came home.
“His name was long,” Steve said, swinging his legs as he sat in the kitchen waiting for his lunch. “Ed-Edu… Ed-ua-...”
“Edward?” his mom supplied, and Steve made an affirmative noise. “It's not that long. It has the same amount of letters as yours, six.”
Steve frowned, pausing to count with his fingers. “No it doesn't!” Steve finally said.
“Yes, it does.” His mom paused, turning to face him, and put her hands up, starting to list the letters with her fingers. “E-D-W-A-R-D, S-T-E-V-E-N. See? Six.”
Steve frowned, mulling that over for a moment.
“He said he likes ‘Eddie’ better.”
His mom paused again. “Just like you like ‘Steve’ better. Even then, same amount of letters, five.”
The first thing about Eddie Munson that Steve wouldn't forget was that their names had the same amount of letters, no matter what. It was a pretty silly detail, but it was one of those silly details you learn as a kid and can't seem to ever forget.
Somehow, Steve started to befriend Eddie after that day, and funny enough, he did it by approaching him and saying:
“‘Steve’ and ‘Eddie’ have 5 letters. Friends?”
Eddie seemed to think it over for two seconds before he nodded, and that was that.
They were a bit of an unlikely pair. Eddie was loud, he loved picking up bugs and was easily distracted by pretty much anything and everything. Steve, on the other hand, always stepped back any time Eddie came bouncing over to him to show him whatever he had found on the ground, and tried to always listen to the teacher because he didn't want to get in trouble if his dad found out he wasn't.
Eddie liked spending the time they had out in the playground by looking for ants or spiders; Steve much rather look for ‘treasure’—aka, any odd pennies, candies, or broken pieces of toys other kids left behind. And yet they made it work—they called it their scavenger hunt (Eddie had been the one to name it that, at least, claiming he saw it in a cartoon somewhere). They would split up to look between the bushes, Steve would call Eddie over if he found any bugs, and Eddie would bring over anything interesting he found on the ground for Steve's little treasure hoard.
One thing Steve would also like to forget was just how many times Eddie had almost shoved a spider into his face in his excitement to show it to him. He could never forget Eddie's excitement over it, though. Bright and warm, like the sun.
It was years before Steve knew Eddie was so upbeat and excited despite the fact his mom had just died, only two weeks before he started kindergarten.
The second thing Steve couldn't forget about Eddie was the fact Steve's parents didn't like him. Well, his mom did, kind of. Steve's dad? He didn't like Eddie at all, made a face as soon as he heard his last time, although he never said why.
Steve was 9, sitting in the trailer Eddie had just moved into with his uncle. He had never been to Eddie's place before, where he lived with his dad, mostly because Eddie didn't want him to.
But Eddie's dad was gone now, and Eddie had moved into the trailer his uncle lived in. So it was the first time Steve came over.
The trailer was small, way smaller than Steve's house, but Eddie still looked excited to show him around, even if the tour lasted only 3 minutes, and two had been Eddie just showing him his room, which was his uncle's until a week ago.
The trailer only had one bedroom, which was odd to Steve too, since his house had at least 5. One for him, another for his parents, two for visits, and one specifically for his Nana, when she came to visit. The trailer didn't even have more than the bathroom, the kitchen, and the living room either, and those last two were practically one same room.
Still, it was Eddie's home now, and Eddie seemed to love it, so Steve did too.
He liked Eddie's uncle as well. He had met Wayne before once or twice, when he came to pick Eddie up from school in his pickup truck and take him out to eat something before he had to head to work. But Wayne was also going to be around a lot more now, considering he was, officially, the one taking care of Eddie instead of his dad.
Wayne had taken a look at Steve, sitting in the middle of the trailer, and arched an eyebrow, asking whether his parents knew he was here. Steve thought the question was odd, but nodded, which made Wayne's eyebrow raise further.
“Harrington is letting his kid commune with the trailer trash. I have seen it all now, kid.”
Steve had only frowned, asking what he meant by that, but Wayne had simply shook his head and told him to forget it.
It took Steve a week to figure out the people of Hawkins looked down on those living at the trailer park, and it was only because after the news spread of Eddie living there with his uncle now, some kids at school took to calling him trailer trash.
“What's that mean?” Steve asked Eddie, frowning at the retreating boys that had fled the scene as soon as Steve approached. “Your uncle said it too the other day.”
Eddie had only shrugged. He wasn't as bubbly as he was when they were younger now, and Steve never knew what was actually the cause behind that, whether it had been Eddie's dad being… well, not the best, or the fact Eddie was starting to become more of a target for people at school. Maybe both.
“Means they think I'm dirty or something because I live in the trailer park now,” Eddie eventually replied. “And that makes me less than them, living in their big houses with pools and stuff.”
Steve's frown deepened. “But you're not dirty, you only forget to shower sometimes.”
“It's more like… They think only the worst people live at the trailer park. So by moving in, I'm the worst now, too.”
Steve still didn't fully get it, but what he did get now, was the reason his parents disliked him being friends with Eddie, and Eddie in general. His dad had even told him to stop being friends with Eddie after he found out where Eddie lived now.
“You could always befriend the boy from the Hagans, he's your age.” Steve's dad had said, although it was less a suggestion and more a well-hidden order.
So his small first act of rebellion against his parents was continuing to be Eddie's friend, despite what they might think of him, particularly his dad.
That first small act of rebellion continued to snowball, but ultimately, it was the first step in Steve breaking free from his parents and gaining his freedom, and the reason why it was a note at all on the long list of things about Eddie Munson Steve could never forget, for it had eventually led to him realizing his parents were awful.
Things started to get a bit complicated for them once they were in middle school. By now, everyone had decided to turn Eddie into the town pariah, and honestly, Eddie wasn't helping much.
When he was 11, he had become obsessed with this game, Dungeons and Dragons. Steve still didn't fully understand it or was into it, but regardless, Eddie dragged him along to play with him, and they spent a while learning the rules together and making characters. It made Eddie happy, so Steve agreed to play, even if he was absolutely horrible at it.
The thing was, Eddie was into unusual stuff. Or—what was considered unusual in Hawkins, at least. He was getting into extremely loud metal music, had been into D&D for a while now, and loved this nerdy book series about a fantasy world with elves and other creatures. Plus, he was loud and dramatic, and drew too much attention to himself sometimes.
They were almost 13 when Eddie started getting labeled as ‘the freak’. Steve would always glare at anyone who called him that, and because Steve was good at sports and was a Harrington, no one dared actually do something to Eddie in front of him or else they risked not being invited to Steve's birthday pool party.
Steve never wanted those stupid pool parties. Hell, he was happy to celebrate his birthday just with Eddie, but his parents didn't allow it. They were the ones behind the parties every year, because they had to keep the appearance of a happy family, and it was an opportunity to show off their money to the parents dropping their kids off at the biggest house on the block. Plus, some kids were the children of his father's colleagues, and he wasn't beyond trying to force Steve to befriend them every single birthday.
So, Steve was like Eddie's personal bodyguard, making sure no one physically did anything to him, although he could only do so much about other kids calling him names from afar or during the few seconds a day when he wasn't by his side.
This is when Steve witnessed another change in Eddie. He started to wear his ‘freak’ title as a badge of honor, acting even more over-the-top to anyone who dared say something to him to further solidify the image. Steve was watching, his eyebrows slightly arched upwards, as Eddie fully stuck his tongue out and screeched in the face of a kid that very purposely shoved him and muttered ‘freak’ as he did so.
“Why are you doing that?” Steve asked, curious, once they were left alone again, a self satisfied smile on Eddie’s face.
“Doing what?”
“That,” Steve repeated, pointing in the general direction of Eddie's face. “The faces, the noises, the middle fingers. You're adding fuel to the fire.”
“So?” Eddie said, tilting his head. His hair was no longer as short as it had been when they met, where it was practically buzzed, but he'd let it grow out a bit more, a few curls falling over his eyes slightly. “I'm not going to just stand there and take it. Besides, if they want to call me a freak, I should at least give them a reason to.”
“They really don't need a reason, Eds.” Steve reminded him, and Eddie simply shrugged.
Steve could tell there was something else to his previous answer, something he wasn't telling Steve, but after a moment of waiting, Eddie didn't budge, and instead suggested they went to grab a milkshake at their favorite place after school. Steve, as always, didn't push him.
Again, it was years later when Steve cracked it—Eddie was partly doing it for him. If he put on a show, all the attention would go to him and drift away from Steve, since there were whispers about him now too, about why he would choose to hang out with Eddie Munson, of all people. Nasty whispers that would have Steve grounded for life if they reached his dad, that seemed like the only explanation as to why the two of them were friends.
Why a Harrington would steep that low, because it seemed the closest they got to being in high school, the more people actually seemed to care more about getting more friendly with Harrington than they did with Steve.
But Eddie, being Eddie, never outright told him that. He was like that, constantly trying to protect Steve by just not telling him about certain things, and honestly, Steve hated it.
Although, similarly, there were a lot of things about Eddie he found endearing.
One of them was how easily he could get Steve to care for one of his nerdy things simply because he was a very good storyteller. They had a system of sorts. Every Tuesday, they would get together, lay down in the ground of the trailer or of Steve’s bedroom, and Eddie would read a chapter of a book out loud for them.
It was their own little bookclub, although more often than not, they would end up arguing over something.
“... I’m just saying, how did she even know about the castle?” Steve asked, frowning up at the ceiling as he laid on his back.
Eddie huffed, sitting with his back to Steve’s bed and the open book propped up on his knees.
“That’s not what’s important now, Steve! And can you just wait? I bet they will say it later.”
“But I want to know now! And it is important.”
“Well, I don’t know either, I haven’t read this before.” Eddie replied.
“What was the name of the sister again?”
“What sister?”
“You know, the lady’s sister! What if she told her about the castle?”
“How would she know about it in the first place?” Eddie asked, looking at Steve in confusion.
“I don’t know!”
“Your theories suck, Steve.”
“Do not! One came true.”
“Yes, out of 18.”
Steve grabbed the thing closest to him—a dirty t-shirt, and hauled it at Eddie’s head. Eddie covered his face on time with the book.
“Hey! You made me close it, now we lost the page!”
“You wouldn’t have had to close it if you had let the shirt hit you.”
Eddie groaned, tossing the shirt right back at Steve.
Needless to say, their reading time for that day was done.
And yet, despite them getting along like cats and dogs sometimes, they wouldn’t trade the other for anything.
It was just the way things were. Steve annoyed Eddie to no end sometimes, Eddie slowly but surely turned Steve into a secret nerd, and they both exchanged a single look and immediately knew if something was up with the other.
Which is how it was the last summer before they officially started high school, and Steve could tell, Eddie was incredibly nervous about it.
“Stop chewing your hair.” Steve chastised him for what seemed like the hundredth time. Eddie had really started to let his hair grow out now, and it barely reached a bit past his shoulders.
But it was just enough that Eddie had developed the habit of taking a strand and placing it into his mouth, chewing it a bit any time he was anxious or nervous about something.
Eddie sent him a look, but did spit out the strand of hair, making Steve make a face at him.
“Will you tell me what’s got you so worried now?”
Eddie sighed, making a show of approaching Steve and letting himself fall onto the bed next to him, half crushing him in the process. Steve complained, shoving him to settle on the big bed where he was not digging his elbow into Steve’s side. Eddie let himself get shoved, his hair half covering his face in the process, but he made no attempt to uncover it.
“... What if we’re not friends anymore?” Eddie mumbled, talking through a mouthful of curls.
“What?” Steve asked, half because he almost did not understand him, and half because he thought that was just ridiculous.
Eddie blew his hair away from his face, although it was only somewhat effective. He huffed, finally giving in and using his hand to brush it aside, leaning on his elbow to face Steve.
“What if, in high school, we stop being friends?” Eddie asked now, his big brown eyes just looking at Steve.
“... Don’t be stupid,” Steve said, also leaning up on his elbow to face Eddie. “Why would we stop being friends?”
“Well, you want to join the swimming club, and basketball team, and all these other cool, jock activities…” Eddie started, chewing on his lip. “That’s for the popular crowd, Steve. You’re going to be popular, and I’ll still be… Well, the freak.”
“And?” Steve asked, arching an eyebrow. Eddie gave him a look, like he was missing the obvious.
“The popular kids and the freaks don’t hang out, Steve. It goes against the natural order of the world!”
“As if I care about some stupid natural order.” Steve said, rolling his eyes. “I’ll still be your friend, I promise…” Steve paused, offering his closed fist to Eddie. “Five letters, right?”
Eddie let out a sound halfway between a laugh and a huff. After a moment, he brought his hand up to pump his fist against Steve’s.
“Five letters,” Eddie repeated.
Ever since that first day they became friends, it had become a sort of inside joke of theirs. It was an unspoken rule, that they could get the other to do something they did not want to simply by saying those words, and then they would have to do it, and to say no would be like going against their own friendship.
“We’re not renting Star Wars again, Eddie, we’ve seen it like 3 times this summer!”
“Five letters, Steve.”
“... Fine! But next Friday movie night, we’re renting Grease.”
“Grease?! Come on, Steve!”
“Five letters, Eddie!”
“Fine!”
“Will you show me that mixtape you said you had for me now?” Steve asked after that, and Eddie immediately jumped up from the bed, going to find his beaten up backpack and rummaging through it.
Lately, Eddie had not shut up about making a mixtape for Steve, and finally he had. He produced the tape from the depths of his backpack, letting out a triumphant ‘aha!’ and holding it above his head.
Steve had already jumped up from his bed, snatching the tape from him. On the front of it, it read “Stevie's favorite mixtape”, and Steve couldn't help but roll his eyes at that.
“That's pretentious of you.”
“Pretentious! Big word for you, Steve.” Eddie replied, deciding the ground was a good enough place to hang now and staying there, looking up at Steve with a lopsided smile.
“Yeah, I learned it from you, asshole.” Steve quipped back, turning the tape over to check the song list, scribbled on with Eddie's surprisingly legible handwriting. Out of the two of them, it was Steve's handwriting that looked like chicken scratches.
He examined the song list, recognizing a few of them, while there were others he hadn't really heard before.
“Blondie?” Steve asked, raising an eyebrow. “Doesn't seem like your style.”
“It's not, but it's your mixtape, not mine.” Eddie replied, shrugging. “Seems like your style, though.”
“And are you sure there's no heavy metal songs in here?”
“I swear there's not! Bard’s honor.” Eddie said, dramatically placing a hand over his chest. “I only included, like, a couple rock songs, since that's apparently the limit of real music you'll tolerate.”
Steve rolled his eyes at him again, which was something he did often enough when it came to Eddie, and simply went to retrieve his cassette player from his desk, joining Eddie on the floor.
There were two things about that day he could not forget relating to Eddie. One, he'd made a promise to him that they would still be friends. He'd broken that promise. Two, the mixtape.
It did end up becoming his favorite after all, and permanently lived on the glove box of the car his dad got him once he turned sixteen, even if they no longer spoke to each other by then.
When it came down to it, Eddie Munson was so intertwined into Steve's life that if he ever were to forget him, it would essentially be like he was forgetting himself. He was the reason Steve knew an unexpected amount of nerdy things that he would deny knowing if asked, he was the one that showed Steve it was okay to unapologetically be yourself…
He was the one that inadvertently ended up showing Steve his favorite song.