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Outgrown Me - Eddie Munson x Reader

Summary: You never came to terms with your feelings for Eddie while you were both still in Hawkins, but now that you were away for college you realize maintaining just a friendship might be harder than you once thought. 

Word Count: ~2.5k

CW: drug use (weed), very slight sexual reference. 

A/N: There’s no real Stranger Things content in this, everyone is just living a ‘normal’ life 1980s Hawkins. Also, I’ve never written anything about Stranger Things so please be gentle. 

The airport is crowded, joyous greetings all around you. It was Christmas break and you were back in your hometown for the holidays, along with many other college aged students flocking through the airport. Finally your eyes land on the person you had been waiting to see for the last 4 months. He looked exactly like he had when you left him, long curly hair, layers of denim and leather covering his classic Hellfire Club shirt. When your eyes meet both your lips curl into smiles and your pace picks up steadily till you slam into his body, arms wrapping around him tightly. 

“Hey bug,” he chuckles, stumbling back slightly following the impact. You still could not remember how the nickname came about or why it stuck but the way it made your heart swell couldn’t be ignored. “How was the flight?”

“Good,” you tell him, lugging your bag up further onto your shoulder. “I’ve missed you…and I have so much to tell you about.”

Eddie wraps his arm around your shoulders, angling you towards the baggage claim. “Plenty of time for that bug, let’s just get your bag and get out of here.”

Glancing up at Eddie you can’t wipe the smile from your face. You may have only known Eddie for less than five years but at his side was the place you felt the best in the world. You had spent every day of those five years denying the fact that you loved Eddie, but deep inside you knew you did. You can still vividly remember the day you met Eddie, all those years ago. 

August 15, 1981

Thirty five days. That’s how long you had been living in Hawkins. You didn’t want to move there. Of course you wouldn’t want to move. You were going into your first year of high school which was scary enough, now you were doing it in a town in which you didn’t know a single soul. But your mom didn’t care, couldn’t care. You couldn’t afford rent in your hometown and your uncle offered to sell her his trailer in Forest Hills Trailer Park in Hawkins for relatively cheap. 

You had gotten a part-time job at a music store downtown a week to the day after you moved. Your mom could barely afford groceries and the mortgage, if you wanted to have clothes that fit you needed to be able to afford that on your own. Not that you minded working, it wasn’t like sitting alone in the trailer was more fun. 

Eddie was a regular at the store and you would be lying to say you hadn’t been interested in him. But you were too shy to say much so you refrained from saying more than hello, would you like your receipt?, and goodbye. 

But on this day in particular Eddie was on a mission. He had come into the store with intention and when you gave your typical ‘hello’ greeting he turned to the front counter and walked straight over. “Do you have any copies of For Those About to Rock in stock yet?”

You knew the store had been sold out for awhile but you also knew there was a few boxes sitting unpacked in the back that you had yet to get around to putting away. Staring at him for a few minutes you finally let out a breath, deciding to go rummage around in the back to see what you could find. Typically you would have said no but you felt a nagging desire to please the boy in front of you. “I’ll go check in the back.”

With the door to the stock room propped open Eddie stands in the doorway, shoulder pressed against it while watching you open a few boxes. Reaching into the last box you pull out a light brown tape with AC/DC printed across the top. Holding it up to show Eddie you watch a smile spread across his face. And from that moment on every time Eddie came into the store he spent most of the time leaning against the front counter, talking with you. And when school started that year the two of you were nearly inseparable. 

“-anyway, I got 96 percent on my painting for that project and my professor said it was one of the best he’s seen from a first year student which was pretty cool but there are just so many incredible artists in that course, like…amazing. My one friend Jack painted this abstract piece that is just so cool. He said he’ll paint me something like it as long as I promise to hang up it in my dorm which obviously I will but Linda says she thinks he’s just flirting with me. I don’t think he is, I think he just wants people to like his art, which I totally get, but-.” You stop your rambling sentences suddenly, turning your eyes down to look at the cushion of Eddie’s couch. “Sorry I’m talking so much.”

Eddie reaches over, his hand landing on your knee. You had your legs crossed, sitting sideways on the couch to face Eddie, so you could project all your pent up energy and stories directly at him. “It’s fine,” he assures you, but the smile he forces onto his lips drops the second he finishes saying it. 

“No, I want to hear about you. How has the year been?”

Eddie pulls his hand away, shrugging and staring across the living room blankly. “Same as the last two years I was a senior in high school.”

Sighing quietly you fiddle with the sleeves of your sweater. You had always felt bad about how much Eddie struggled in school. You came into high school one year younger than him and you graduated a year before him, with straight A’s throughout it all. You also left Hawkins with a full scholarship to art school. It wasn’t that you hadn’t tried to help him, but every time you did he convinced you to smoke a joint or go for a walk or listen to a new album or anything other than helping him study. “I’m sure you’re doing better this year.”

“It’s going to be my year, bug.”

Smiling you lean over, kissing his cheek. “I know it is,” you whisper. 

Eddie shifts in his seat, leaning forward suddenly. There was a palpable tension between you two in moments like this but you refused to ever act on it. No matter how badly you wanted to press your lips to his and let him take you in anyway he wanted. 

“You, um, you still smoke now that you’re a prestigious student?” He asks, chuckling and looking over at you. 

Giggling you roll your eyes playfully. “Of course I do.”

Half an hour later you’re laying on Eddie’s bed, some album playing in the background. You’re talking but you’re not even sure about what anymore, most of your sentences ending in giggles. 

“I’ve really missed you,” Eddie laughs as you bury your face in his blankets, trying to contain your laughter. 

“You should move to Chicago with me,” you say suddenly, pushing yourself up so you were kneeling on the bed beside him. 

“Yeah, okay,” Eddie responds sarcastically, laughing as he shakes his head. 

“I’m serious. It’s so much better than here. There’s so much more going on, people aren’t as…uptight.”

“And what am I going to do in Chicago? Live in your dorm room?” 

“We could get a place…together,” you suggest, your mind racing with big dreams of the two of you living a picture perfect life in Chicago, where you could both be yourself.

Eddie reaches over, taking your hands and gently pulling you forward till you collapsed back onto the bed, laying your head on his shoulder. “I still have to graduate high school, bug.”

“Okay,” you whisper, your eyes fluttering shut. “And then we’ll get a place together,” you whisper, ignoring the fact that Eddie seemed distant and hadn’t even considered the suggestion before saying no. You’re not sure when but you eventually fell asleep in Eddie’s arms, like you had on many occasions before. 

The next morning you walked into the trailer just down the road from Eddie’s place, the trailer you had called home throughout high school. Your mom was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and a newspaper in front of her. “You know I don’t like when you spend the night at his house.”

Swallowing heavily you drop your jacket onto the arm of a chair in the living room. “You know I don’t like being home alone at night.”

Your mom finally turns her head to look at you, a tense smile on her lips. “I know, sweetheart. I wish I didn’t have to work so much.”

Shrugging you walk over, leaning against the kitchen counter. “I wish you didn’t have to either.”

Standing up your mom pulls you into a hug. “I’m glad you’re home.” 

You spent most of the day with your mom, till she was heading out for another 12 hour shift and leaving you alone in the trailer. After taking a shower and spending the better part of an hour picking an outfit you head back from your trailer to Eddie’s, knocking on the door before slipping through it. 

“What are you doing here?” 

You stare up at Eddie uncertainly. “What?” You ask, shaking your head. You look over at the clock, 3:30 pm. “Are Thursdays not campaign night anymore?”

“I mean, yeah,” Eddie replies, picking up his keys from the table by the door. “But you’re not coming.” 

“What? Why?” You ask, shaking your head in confusion.

“I didn’t plan the campaign around you being here.”

You stare up at Eddie in confusion for a moment. “You knew I was coming home.”

“I didn’t know for sure.”

“What does that even mean? When have I ever let you down. I was always the most loyal member of Hellfire.”

“Thanksgiving,” Eddie deadpans, watching the gears turning in your head till you realize what he was saying. 

You were supposed to come home for Thanksgiving. But you were bombarded with school projects and the flights were more expensive than you thought they were going to be and you really didn’t have that much time off to make the price worth it. So you cancelled your plans to come home last minute. 

“Eddie, I explained that to you. I wanted to come back, I really did. But it was expensive and I was busy and I-.”

“And you’ve outgrown us, the club, this town…me. You can just admit that you had better things to do, that you probably didn’t even want to come back this time either.”

“Stop,” you snap, shaking your head. “None of that is true…but if I’m not welcome in Hellfire anymore that’s fine.” Opening the door you step out of Eddie’s trailer, glancing back at him. “Have fun tonight,” you mutter before slamming the door and stomping back to your house. 

You spent the night watching movies from Family Video before falling asleep on the couch. The next day you hoped Eddie would make an appearance at your door so the two of you could talk about what had happened. But he didn’t and he didn’t the day after either. Maybe you should have reached out, maybe you should have done a lot of things. Maybe you shouldn’t have talked so much about all the new experiences you had in Chicago, about all the new people you had met and friends you had made. Maybe you shouldn’t have asked him to move there. Maybe you should have listened more, to what he needed, what was going on his life. But you didn’t. 

And suddenly it was Tuesday and you hadn’t said a word to the only person you really wanted to see in Hawkins. Your mom was at work that evening and before you knew it you found yourself standing in front of The Hideout. A few deep breaths later and you were inside the pub. It was familiar to you, but only from Tuesday nights, when Corroded Coffin played to a small crowd of drunk locals. 

Finding a seat in a slightly sticky booth along the side wall you watch Eddie on stage, your heart racing nervously. Maybe you shouldn’t have come. It wasn’t like you to miss a Tuesday watching Corroded Coffin, but it also wasn’t like you and Eddie to go four days without talking. When the band wraps up for the night you slide out of the booth, slowly wandering towards the stage, keeping close to wall as if it provided some sort of protection. 

“Y/N,” Gareth cheers, causing Eddie to whip around, eyes landing on you. “Missed having you in the audience,” he says, hopping off the small stage to pull you into a friendly hug. 

“I’ve missed being here,” you reply, but your eyes are locked on Eddie’s eyes. “You guys are somehow sounding even better.”

“Somehow,” Gareth snorts, laughing as he hops back onto the stage to continue putting his gear away. 

“You came,” Eddie comments, setting his guitar down and walking over to you. 

“Of course,” you say gently, struggling to maintain eye contact now that you were so close. “Look, Eddie, I’m sorry I didn’t come home for Thanksgiving. I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal, that you would care this much. Honestly, I hate it here. You’re the only reason I want to come back and I would do it every weekend if I could, just to be with you. But I can’t. And I don’t ever want you to think I’ve…outgrown you, or whatever. I could never outgrow you. I…I think I love you and it fucking scares me to say that out loud but if I need to say it to get you to understand what you mean to me then I will.”

You can feel ringing in your ears, your blood pressure and heart race rising with anxiety as you stare up a dumbstruck Eddie, the background noise of the pub not nearly enough to drown out the silence between you two. 

You’re on the verge of tears, nearly gasping for breath with every passing second that Eddie doesn’t say or do anything. Just when you’re about to turn around and flee into the night Eddie places his hand on either side of your face, pulling you in till your lips are pressed to each other. 

The kiss is sudden and you’re so caught off guard that you don’t kiss him back. He pulls away, his hands still on your face and you stare up at him with wide eyes. “Sorry, I thought when you said you loved me it was, you know…”

“It was,” you whisper, rocking forward onto your tip-toes to lean up and kiss him again. 

“Holy shit,” you hear Gareth whoop from the stage and you pull away from Eddie, cheeks flushed. “When did this start?”

Giggling you glance from Eddie to the ground, waiting for him to answer. “Officially right now,” Eddie tells him, wrapping his arms around you from behind. Leaning down his lips graze along your hair to pause by your ear. “But I’ve wanted to be with you for years, bug.”

Your heart is racing in your chest as you lean back into Eddie, his body warm around you. 

“Can’t believe I owe Jeff ten bucks,” Gareth mutters, heading back to finish up packing up his drums. 

“Will you come over tonight?” Eddie asks, turning you in his arms to look down at you. 

Nodding you lean up, kissing him gently again. “I’d love to.”