Chapter Text
“The first time we met, we hated each other.”
“No, you didn’t hate me, I hated you.”
“The second time we met, you didn’t remember me-”
“I did too, I remembered you!”
“The third time we met, we became friends.”
“We were friends for a long time.”
“And then we weren’t.”
"And then we fell in love."
Part 1
The first time you met Eddie Munson, he was dressed as Jason Voorhees.
It was Halloween, so the mask wasn’t completely out of the blue. He was 13, his hair was buzzed, and you had never (to your knowledge) spoken a single word to the boy.
The year was 1979. You and your best friend, Robin, had made the executive decision that you were too old for trick-or-treating, opting to stay home and watch scary movies in your bedroom instead. Deaf to the rest of the world, the two of you had holed yourselves up in the darkness of your room, huddled together in front of your TV set under a patchwork quilt your grandmother had made as you watched Carrie go on a blood-soaked killing spree.
Both of you swore up and down that you weren’t scared, but that didn’t stop either of you from screaming like banshees when a tap at your window revealed Jason’s hockey mask and a plastic knife.
Though you were only 13 yourself, you’d furiously thrown open your window, jammed your bare feet into a pair of sneakers and launched yourself into a high-speed chase after the stupid, stupid soul who had tried to make a fool out of the wrong girl.
It hadn’t taken you long to catch up to him; the masked menace had slowed down once he’d thought he was far enough from your house. You could see him up ahead, laughing with his friends and reenacting your terrified screams as he waved the prop knife in the air.
You never stopped running, waiting until you were just about thirty feet from pint-sized Jason before yelling, “You’re dead, dipshit!”
Even though he was wearing a mask, your adversary’s body language spoke for itself- from the way he froze, then turned in the direction of your voice, then took off running- you could tell that he hadn’t expected you to race after him. His friends watched, dazed as you shoved them aside in pursuit of the punk in a mask that you were gaining on with every stride. When you finally caught up to him in the grassy field beside the neighborhood playground, you grabbed the back of his jacket and yanked as hard as you could.
The kid hit the ground with a loud “ Oof” , throwing up his hands in surrender as you stood over him and took the lapels of his denim jacket in your two clenched fists. You could see his big brown eyes behind the mask, wide with terror that matched the shrillness in his voice.
“Whoa whoa whoa, hey hold- HOLD ON!” He raised his hands out defensively in front of his face. “I’m sorry, okay? Jeez, you caught me, I’m caught, I surrender!”
You paused, glaring at the little heathen for a second before shoving him back on the ground. As soon as you let go, you heard a muffled sigh of release behind the mask before the terror before you unmasked himself. You recognized the kid’s face, but couldn’t quite place where you knew him from.
“Do I know you?” you asked, hands placed on your hips. You took a couple of steps back, allowing him room to push himself off the ground.
The kid looked at the ground, avoiding your eye contact as he huffed out a humorless laugh. “ Of course.” he muttered to himself before answering your question at normal volume. “Yeah, uh, Eddie Munson. We have history together.”
You watched him, unmoving, raising an eyebrow. When he looked up and saw your skeptical expression, his eyes widened and he practically hopped up off the ground. “Class! History class!” He brushed his hands on his jeans before shoving them in his pockets and looking back down at the grass between his sneakers. “We’re in the same history class.”
You nodded slowly, still struggling to place him in your memory. “Cool.” you replied, face expressionless. “So you snuck over to my window in a Jason mask… why? Exactly?” Your tone was sharp and accusing.
The kid- Eddie- looked at you confused, as if he hadn’t heard you right. He looked around, gesturing vaguely to the various trick-or-treaters, plastic pumpkin heads and candy-filled pillow cases held in each sticky little fist.
“It’s Halloween,” he replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “I’m going to everyone’s windows.”
“Just to scare people?” You asked, the accusatory tone of your voice impossible to miss. “You have nothing better to do?”
He shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest as he defensively avoided your eyes. You waited a moment in silence before huffing out a breath and stomping past him. Robin was still sitting in your bedroom, undoubtedly on the verge of a nervous breakdown after being scared half to death and abandoned soon thereafter.
“Whatever. Stay away from me.” you left him with those parting words and marched back to your house, Ready to go back to school on Monday and thoroughly ignore him in history class.
***
The second time you met Eddie Munson, you were at the Hawkins High Winter Formal, circa 1982.
You were clip-clopping angrily in your satin heels and ignoring the obnoxious way they echoed in the eerily empty tiled hallway. “Tyler, hold on.” you bit out, struggling to keep the desperation in your chest from seeping into your tone. “Tyler, wait!” You reached out and managed to grab your date by the crook of his elbow, but he shrugged you off.
“Forget it, I’m going.” he grunted, not even bothering to face you. “I never wanted to go to this dumb dance anyway.”
The cool chill of December night air hit you hard as he launched the exit doors open. Your arms flew up to shield your bare shoulders from the icy breeze, heels crunching against the uneven concrete as you stepped through the open doorway.
“Tyler, this is so stupid! Just come back inside, it’s freezing!”
He just shook his head, making a beeline for his beat-up baby blue pickup. You’d matched your dress to that pickup. You had searched every boutique in Hawkins to find the perfect shade of baby blue… and now he was leaving you to drive away in it.
Tyler continued to ignore you as he opened the driver-side door, hopped in, stuck his key in the ignition, and pulled out of the parking lot. That left you standing in the cold, shivering in silence- completely alone.
Or so you’d thought.
“Trouble in paradise?”
The taunting question came from behind you, some twenty feet or so down the wall. You turned to see who had witnessed your embarrassingly loud spat with your date, and immediately gave a sigh and an eye roll when you saw who it was.
Eddie’s hair had grown long over the years, dark curls now coiled past his earlobes, just shy of brushing the shoulders of his black leather jacket. You were surprised to see him here- dances didn’t seem like his thing. Obviously, he didn’t know the meaning of the word formal, judging by the absence of any clothing items that might deserve the word. He leaned casually against the dimly-lit brick wall, hands in his pockets and eyeing you curiously.
“Mind your business, Munson.” You scowled, turning to grasp the handle of the door- and felt your heart plummet when you realized the door was locked.
“All the doors but the ones by the front office are set to lock from the outside.” Eddie supplied you with an answer to a question you hadn’t needed to ask. “You’ll have to go all the way around.”
You huffed out a frustrated, humorless chuckle. “I wouldn’t say I’m all too eager to go back in there in the first place.”
Silence hung in the air between the two of you. Weighing your options for a moment, you settled on postponing your inevitable embarrassment by joining Eddie Munson in leaning against the painted brick wall. You knew the way your friends talked about Tyler; how they’d tell you he was always an asshole and they’d told you such since the beginning of your relationship.
You’d rather deal with the school outcast right now.
Eddie’s eyebrows stayed raised on his forehead for nearly a full minute once you took up your spot next to him on the wall. You didn’t say anything, not for a while. Finally, the silence was broken when you let out a loud, involuntary shiver, hands clutching your shoulders and rubbing up and down your upper arms in a desperate attempt to warm up.
Eddie glanced over at you, rolling his eyes at how pointedly you were avoiding his eye contact. Letting out a heavy sigh, he asked with the least amount of enthusiasm possible-
“Do you want my jacket?”
You looked up at him, a look that mixed incredulity and disgust painted across your expression. “Well not when you ask like that.”
Eddie scrunched up his nose, dropping one eyebrow while the other stood its ground. “Like what?”
“Like it’s an obligation.”
“Like what’s an obligation?”
You huffed, “Offering me your jacket!”
Eddie chuckled humorlessly, “Now why, ” he spoke your first and last name as if it were a pompous title like ‘Grand Duchess’ or ‘Queen of Sheba’, “-would I feel obligated to offer you my jacket?”
You huffed. Again. The sound of your heels crunching once more over the pavement as you turned to face him tore through the silent winter air. You couldn’t believe you were explaining this to him, as if he didn’t already know.
“When a girl is cold, and she doesn't have a jacket, boys are taught that they’re supposed to offer that girl their jacket.”
Eddie nodded as you spoke, as if he were an eager student learning something life-changing from his favorite professor. “Fascinating, fascinating … and who teaches this to boys?”
You crossed your arms over your chest defensively, wishing he would just give up the bit and hand over his jacket. “Seriously?”
He waited, smiling eagerly. You couldn’t stand this guy.
“Ugh, I don’t know, fathers, I guess?”
“Ahh, well you see-” Eddie muttered, waving his pointer finger in the air as if he were about to shout ‘eureka’. “-I didn’t grow up with a father, so where did I learn it then?”
You knew he was trying to make you feel bad. Trying to make you uncomfortable so you left him alone. You wouldn’t play his game, though.
Giving him a haughty smile and shaking your head slightly, you replied, “Well maybe your mother knew to teach you anyways and you learned it from her.”
Eddie sucked his teeth, making a sympathetic hiss to accompany the wince on his face. “That’s the thing, my mom’s dead so I don’t have one of those either.”
You came up short after that one. Remorse weighed heavy on your chest, realizing that the game you were playing may not be worth winning.
You were both silent for nearly a minute before you spoke-
“Does the offer to take your jacket still stand?”
His retort was bitter and immediate. “What if it doesn’t?”
You sighed heavily, closing your eyes and hanging your head in defeat. “Then I would understand completely, due to my being a bitch.”
He looked at you, took in your pitiful, shivering form, and rolled his eyes again. “Jesus Christ, here-”
Eddie shrugged off his worn leather jacket and placed it over your shoulders. You immediately felt yourself relax into it, feeling the warm satiny lining melt like butter onto your gooseflesh skin. You tugged it tight around yourself and slipped your arms into the sleeves.
“Thank you.” you said warmly, giving him a grateful and apologetic smile.
Silence settled over the two of you again, and you were curious if he felt the elephant in the room trumpeting as loudly as you did. You decided to test the waters.
“So… what did you do this Halloween?”
You nearly jumped when Eddie clapped loudly, spinning in a circle and grinning at you like a kid who’d just beat their high score at the arcade.
“You remember!” He laughed, elated and grinning at you so largely that you couldn’t help but grin in return.
“Remember what? The heart attack you almost gave me, or the look on your face when I tackled you to the ground?” You were laughing with him, pride and nostalgia painting your smile with colors that matched the glee in his eyes. He’d remembered that night for years, he couldn’t get it out of his head if he tried.
“How about the way it made you remember my name?” His eyes sparkled, cockiness written on every inch of his face.
You gawked, a little bit impressed by his forwardness. Was Eddie Munson flirting with you? That was the last thing you’d expected out of tonight. You decided to play along.
“Well yeah, how else was I going to report you to the police for public disturbance?”
“You could’ve just given them a physical description and they’d’ve known it was me, disturbing the public is a favorite pastime of mine.”
“It was dark, I couldn’t see you well enough to give a thorough description.”
“You can see me now, what would you tell them?”
Eddie was quiet, patient…waiting for you to take the bait. You were just about to, before you were interrupted by the rev of an engine at the end of the parking lot. It snapped you out of your trance.
Glancing up toward the source of the sound, you felt a wash of relief when you identified it as Tyler’s pickup truck. Quickly, you slipped out of Eddie’s jacket, shoving it into his arms and rushing to meet Tyler at the curb. You stopped after a few steps to look back at Eddie.
“That’s Tyler, I need to go talk to him. Thanks for letting me wear your jacket, and I’m sorry about-”
Eddie hissed out a sharp laugh, digging into his pockets and retrieving a cigarette and lighter. He shook his head ruefully, muttering a “Just go. Have fun at the dance.” and that was that. You were dismissed, conversation over.
Which was a good thing, right? Tyler wouldn’t like you hanging out with “The Freak”… This was better. You took a few more steps forward, stopped, then looked over your shoulder one more time at Eddie.
He was staring straight at you. Your heart rate accelerated exponentially.
BEEP BEEEEEP!
Tyler was parked at the curb.
Plastering a forgiving smile on your face you rushed to the truck. “Coming, I’m coming!”
Eddie watched you climb into the car. He looked away when Tyler the asshat glared daggers at him. He pretended to be more interested in his cigarette than the fact that this guy treated you like garbage, yet you still ran to him like a lost puppy. He ignored the wishful thinking that someone might ever look at him the way you’d just looked when that truck pulled up to the curb.
Your dress matched his car. Had you done that on purpose? If he had asked a girl to the dance, would she have found a dress to match his van? That would be a horrible idea, his van was dingleberry brown and laminate countertop yellow. Eddie was pretty sure those weren’t going to be colors featured in the latest Gunne Sax catalog.
Tyler’s baby blue pickup parked in the back of the lot. Eddie watched the lights shut off. Neither of you got out of the truck.
He took another drag from his cigarette.
***
The third time you met Eddie Munson was in the theater department during your junior year.
You’d joined theater because you needed the fine arts credit. Thus far in your high school career, you hadn’t signed up for choir (your voice sucked), band (you didn’t have time to practice with your part time job at Scoops Ahoy), or drawing & painting (you couldn’t draw for shit). Ergo, theater was your only option. Unfortunately for you- and for the theater director, Mr. Chavez- you soon discovered that you have horrible stage fright.
In lieu of forcing you to play a part onstage, Mr. Chavez said he would award you credit for the class if you agreed to be stage manager for this year’s spring play. That was why you were in the theater department late into the afternoon on a Friday, gluing fake moss to a fake tree.
You’d been warned that the D&D club had their sessions in the theater on Friday nights, so you weren’t surprised when Eddie Munson and his band of merry nerds waltzed into the auditorium.
Eddie, however, was surprised to see you.
He paused mid-sentence when he was greeted by the sight of you, hot glue gun in hand, bent over a long piece of cardboard cut to resemble a cartoonish-looking tree.
“Uhh,” he started, “Hellfire has the auditorium on Fridays.”
You nodded, glancing up at him as if you’d just noticed his presence. “Yeah, I’ll stay out of your way, just working on set pieces for the play. You won’t even know I’m here.”
Eddie crossed his arms over his chest, eyeing you suspiciously. “I doubt that.” he muttered, but it was loud enough for you to hear. You took the high road and chose to ignore it.
You stayed focused on your half-finished cardboard tree while Eddie and his cronies began setting up for whatever D&D was. You were pretty sure it was a board game or something, you hadn’t heard much about it other than it was another thing that everyone made fun of Eddie for.
Time passed. You held true to your word- as more Hellfire members showed up and sat down to begin their game, you continued to mind your business and silently work on your set pieces. You remained quiet as a mouse, but as time continued to tick on, you couldn’t help but catch bits and pieces of Eddie’s narration as the game progressed. You’d finished your work about forty-five minutes after the game began, but you’d become so engrossed in the story that Eddie was spinning for his friends that you pretended to be busy until their playing drew to a close for the night. You could see why these kids loved the game when they had someone like Eddie leading them through the storyline- he was a very immersive storyteller, unafraid to use a different voice for every character, transforming every aspect of himself to suit the needs of the story.
When they all began to pack up, you did the same and busied yourself with gathering your belongings into your backpack. To your surprise, you noticed a pair of Chuck Taylors out of your peripheral walking toward you.
“You uhh…” Eddie said, bending a knee to help you gather your things. “...you get all of your work done?”
You gratefully accepted your composition notebook from him. “Um, everything I needed to finish tonight, yeah.” You replied, offering him a smile. “That game actually seems cool, you’re a good storyteller.”
That seemed to flatter him enough to elicit a genuine smile. “Yeah? You liked it?” you nodded, grin slipping further until it showed your teeth. Eddie tucked his head down shyly, but still unable to hide the obvious satisfaction on his face. “So when’s the play?”
You sighed. “Not for about three weeks. I’m the stage manager, so I’ve got my work cut out for me… pretty sure I’ll need to keep staying late on Fridays until then if I’m going to be ready in time-”
“You can’t work on it any other day of the week?” He interrupted.
You balked. Well, at least he isn’t beating around the bush… but still, rude.
Eddie, who winced the moment he’d spoken, seemed to read your mind. “Shit, that came across ruder than I’d meant- I just meant that I didn’t realize you were so busy every other day.”
You eyed him suspiciously. Yeah, sure. Nice save.
“Well,” you sigh, “I tutor on Mondays and Tuesdays, work on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and-”
“Where do you work?” Eddie interrupted… again.
You tried not to let your frustration seep into your tone. “I, uhh, I work at that ice cream shop at the mall, Scoops Ahoy.”
Eddie’s smug smile was slow as it crept across his face. “Wait… is that the place with the little sailor outfits?”
You rolled your eyes; you’d walked right into this one. “Yes, it is.”
He bit his lip, like he wanted to say something but was holding it back. “Geez, they better pay you well if you have to wear that monstrosity.”
You chuckled, zipping up your backpack and pulling it over your shoulder as you stood up. “Yeah, pay’s not too bad. It’s enough that I should be able to pay to get my car fixed by the end of the school year, so that-”
“What happened to your car?”
You huffed, annoyed. “God, Munson, you ever heard someone finish a sentence before?”
Eddie’s eyes widened, his open mouth clamping shut. Your angry eyes softened- your tone had been a bit harsh.
“Sorry-”
“Sorry-”
You both apologized simultaneously, followed by a chuckle from the both of you. After a beat of silence, Eddie smiled tightly and gestured for you to go first.
“I drive an old car, and it needs a few parts replaced before I can take it back out on the road safely… so until then, I’m a perpetual pedestrian.”
Eddie frowned, arms crossed over his chest. “You’re walking home?”
You nodded, not seeing the problem. “I don’t live far, it’s only a ten minute walk.”
He didn’t seem satisfied by that reply. “It’s pretty dark out, you want me to just drive you home?”
You opened your mouth to decline his offer, but no sound came out. He had a point- the path home wasn’t very well-lit; some might even consider it dangerous, since there wasn’t a sidewalk for most of your route. You gave him a slightly apologetic smile.
“You’re sure it won’t be any trouble?”
He shook his head, eyebrows scrunching as if it were ludicrous for you to even ask the question. “Nah, don’t worry about it.” Gesturing to the table- which was now deserted by the other members (when had they all left?)- Eddie said, “Just let me get all my stuff together and we’ll head out, cool?”
You nodded, smiling gratefully. “Yeah, cool. Thanks, Eddie.”
He waved you off, busying himself with the multitudes of papers and little plastic figures strewn across the table.
Once you were both ready to leave, you followed Eddie out to his car- er, van. It was a very large van. Once inside, the smell of weed was unmistakable. Eddie realized this the moment you sat down.
“Sorry about the, uh…” he began, wincing and gesturing to the air around him.
“...weed smell?” you supplied, smirking.
He barked out a nervous laugh. “Yeah. Didn’t know if you’d recognize it.”
You feigned offense, placing a dramatic hand over your heart as he turned the key in the ignition. “Edward Munson, are you drawing the conclusion that I’m a prude who can’t place the smell of marijuana?”
He laughed- a real laugh, haughty and unbridled. “Well for starters, people who smoke marijuana don’t call it marijuana. ” You felt the shocks working beneath your seat as he shifted the car from park to drive, pulling out of his parking space and exiting the lot.
“Okay, you blew my cover.” You giggled. “What do you call it, then?”
Eddie made a show of thinking it over. “Oh, lots of things- weed, mary jane, grass- the devil’s lettuce is my personal favorite.”
You snorted. “That’s one I haven’t heard before.”
“I love teaching people new things.” Eddie smiled, taking his eyes off the road a moment to flash another smile in your direction.
A comfortable quiet settled over the van, breaking only for you to advise Eddie on which turns to take on the way to your house.
After a few moments of silence, Eddie spoke up.
“So are you still dating that guy… Timmy, Tucker…?”
“You mean Tyler ?” you supplied.
“Yeah, that’s what I said.”
You let out a bitter laugh. “God, don’t remind me I ever dated that asshole.” smiling ruefully, you shook your head. “No, he was bad news. A whole three months of my life wasted that I’ll never get back.”
Eddie whistled. “Damn, guy really did a number on you, huh?”
You shrugged. “I think I was so obsessed with the idea of being with someone like him that I missed all the red flags that were so obvious to everyone else. It hurt for a while after I finally broke up with him, but I got over it.”
He was quiet, contemplative as he nodded to your words. You turned to face Eddie completely. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“I’ve never heard about you going with anyone.”
Eddie snorted. “Even if I was going with someone, I doubt you’d hear about it.”
Your brow furrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I mean my love life- nonexistent as it is- isn’t exactly the hot gossip of Hawkins High.” Eddie’s eyes never wavered from the road ahead as he turned into your neighborhood.
You raised your eyebrows at that. “Actually, if you dated someone I think a lot of people would talk about it.”
Eddie looked at you, confused, almost like he didn’t believe you.
“Seriously,” you confirmed, “When somebody dates all the time, no one really cares who the next person they date is. But when somebody who never dates starts dating somebody, everybody talks about it.”
His expression remained unchanged as he digested that information. After a moment, he sighed, replying, “In that case, I’m never dating anyone until I’m out of Hawkins.”
“What? Why?” you pointed out your house at the end of the street.
“Because I wouldn’t wish school-wide gossip on anyone, it’s taken me a lifetime to get used to it.” He gave you a snarky smile and shook his head. “Most people aren’t as strong as I am, they’d crack under the weight of infamy.”
You countered his snark with disbelief, but couldn’t hide a smile at his reply. “Well I’m glad you have such a high opinion of yourself, Eddie, but I think you need to give people more credit. The right person wouldn’t care about the gossip, they’d care about you more.”
The van jolted as it came to a stop in front of your house. “Well if I ever find someone who fits that description, I’ll let you know,” Eddie replied, “but until then, I think I’ll let people keep gossiping about me for the normal reasons.”
You unbuckled your seatbelt, hauling your heavy backpack onto your lap. “Such as…?”
“Drug dealer, white trash, spawn of Satan…” Eddie made a show of counting them out on his fingers. You giggled. He grinned.
“Well, in all seriousness-” you said softly, “I think you’re selling yourself short. You’re a much nicer guy than you think you are.”
His grin grew wider, now accompanied by a blush that Eddie hoped you wouldn't see if he looked down at his lap and let his hair form a curtain around his face. You caught it anyway. “That’s very kind of you, but you don’t really know shit about me so I’m not sure that you’re a qualified source-”
“I know you’re the kind of guy who gives his jacket to girls whose dates leave them at dances, and doesn’t embarrass them with questions about why the date is leaving.” It was your turn to interrupt him now. “And now I know you’re also the kind of guy who cares enough to give someone a ride home because it’s dark enough outside for him to fear for their safety.”
Eddie was quiet, smiling tightly but refusing to meet your eyes. “Well…” he drew the word out until it was three-syllables long. Shyly, he looked up at you through his dark brown curls. “...that’s what friends do, right?”
The smile that bloomed across your face was so sudden, it surprised even you. “We’re friends now, huh?”
He mirrored your smile, back to his devil-may-care brashness that you’d come to expect from him. “I said no such thing, now get out of my van.” His words did nothing to dampen the joy evident on his face.
You laughed in response, pulling the handle of your door to do just that. “Don’t lie to yourself, Munson, I know what I heard!” Your smile was kind, but your eyes said something along the lines of na-na na-na na na.
He said nothing for a moment, just smiled back at you before shaking his head.
“Bye, friend.”
Your shoulders shook in a gentle laugh, and you replied, “Bye, friend.” before closing the car door and walking up the concrete walkway to your front porch. Eddie waited until you were inside before driving away.
*That day, four years and five months after you’d initially met Eddie Munson, was the first day of one of the strongest friendships of your life.*
*That friendship would last for about one year.*