#I think Gareth teaches her how to play drums

[lumax-mayclair]

I just love the idea of all of Hellfire being particularly weirded out when Chrissy starts hanging around them all the time, thinking ofc she’d be as mean and scary as all the other jocks, and only getting over it during one instance where they’re all trying to talk shit about her and realize none of them have anything bad to say. She’s never done anything to any of them and actually there were a couple of times, where if she hadn’t been there to distract Jason and his team, things could’ve been a lot worse for the little sheepies 😬

[findafight]

Oh my god!!! That Steve/baby sister fic!!! If you ever want to build it out more I’d be obsessed (ie the party + extended party’s reactions, hop + Joyce and how everyone pitches in)

╰⁠(⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠´⁠꒳⁠`⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠)⁠╯ awwww anon!!!!!

Honestly I have been thinking about it and I know I put in the tags of the original post, buuuut. Robin called Steve Bud or Buddy which morphed into Bubba when they are being particularly soft with each other, and the baby (who I am possibly leaning towards calling Tina so her nickname can be Tintin because it's cute idk) picks up on it so calls Steve her Bubba. Also because "he's my big brother" can sort of become "he's my Bubba!" If words are smushed together by baby babble

But before all that, Steve (who walked to work that day because he didn't have a baby car seat yet and wasn't going to leave his baby sister whom he always wanted and loves so dearly already ALONE or worse. With their FATHER.) goes to, of all people, Mrs. Wheeler for help. He'd go to Joyce but she's working and Karen Wheeler has the youngest kid he knows so is the best bet for maybe getting some tips and also maybe a carrier because the bjorn isn't going to cut it for long. So he goes and Mr. Wheeler immediately thinks Steve's Accidental Baby Acquisition is due to Steve's own recklessness. (Steve is a prolific lover, sure, but he's smart and safe about it! When he was thirteen his dad sat him down for a talk about not wanting the disgrace of a shotgun wedding and his grandpa gave him a run down of venereal diseases he saw (didn't mention having but. Well.) His pals have in WWII that put the fear of God in him regarding unsafe sex. Moreso than the potential babies. So. He's always very careful. For this very reason!! Except apparently his dad didn't use his own advice but Steve isn't complaining because, once again, he always wanted a little sibling.)

Anyways the wheelers are like ohhhh a Harrington Scandal not involving the boy our daughter dated? Okay sure here's Holly's old baby carseat. Hopper is just. He's like. I thought Steve and that kid I kept giving warnings to about selling dope to were a thing and Steve is like "will people stop assuming she's mine!! I know I am a bit of a slut but I am terrified of chlamydia!!! And even if this WAS my fault (which it is not and also she's a gift I love you little baby sister you're the light of my life) I am taking responsibility for it so maybe we all need to be a little less judgy hmmm??"

Joyce and Karen give him some hand me down baby clothes and books, some good tips about feeding and burping and things like that, and Claudia and Sue offer to come passive aggressively congratulate Steve's dad.

Dustin is a little jealous because this Steve Time is going to be encroached upon by This Literal Infant but Steve is like Dustin... you are my Little Brother... My silly pal...Now you have a sister too!! 🥰 And Dustin is like Oh Shit That's Right and proceeds to try to teach this Literal Infant, it cannot be stressed enough that she is a few months old and cannot stay sitting up by herself, how to build a radio.

Eddie is just trying to not have a heart attack from the concentration of Pure Longing activated by seeing Steve With A Baby and has also been forbidden from playing anything loud near them. He is fine and deals with this by writing ballads that make Gareth gag from their sweetness and Jeff have a very knowingly indulgent look when he sees the lyrics. But Gareth lets he hit his drums with he baby hands and Jeff pretends she stole his nose so they aren't that put out by it.

El is Fascinated by the tiny human and asks lots of questions and wants to play with her, give her experiences of softness and kindness right off the bat she knew she herself was denied, so she's often the official baby holder when Steve needs to do something when the Party is around.

The rest of the party is pretty meh on the baby. Sure it's exciting at first but she just kinda becomes part of regular life. They take turns doing actual babysitting for Steve so he can work or run errands or even, gasp, have some normal early adult fun times, but it's all pretty regular. Erica is glad she's not the party baby anymore.

They do however probably secretly fight over who gets to be baby's godparent. Steve isn't allowed to know.

[therosebunpost]

Okay, little tidbit about myself but I fucking love the drums. Which I think would be so funny, because imagine a Reader meeting Eddie. Hearing he’s in a band, and gets so excited because omg what if he plays the drums?

And then he tells them he plays the guitar. Which is still very cool! Very awesome! But he can tell she’s just a tad bit disappointed so she shyly explains that she’s always loved the drums, and always dreamed about learning to play.

Cue a very determined Eddie begging Gareth to teach him how to play the drums, because he sure as hell isn’t going to let anybody teach you but himself. And then we have Eddie trying to teach Reader, and it’s this cute little date because Reader can tell he doesn’t actually know what he’s doing but he’s so willing to teach her, and he’s just so sweet about it. So encouraging even if they’re both a little confused.

Later on, for another date, Reader asks Eddie to teach her how to play guitar, and then he really shines. She may always have a soft spot for the drums, but the guitar holds another place in her heart, just like he does.

[rosemaryandarsenic]

Gareth would go crazy for his metalhead girl best friend

ABSOLUTELY. I have a fic I just wrote for this, ill link it, but also here are some HC's.

Warning! NSFW, Minors DNI!

You get a piercing of some kind and it takes him a while to notice but when he does he stops dead in his tracks.

He's a little bit of a perv but in a wholesome way, so when it's cold out he'll steal your jacket so he can see your nipples get hard through your shirt.

He likes to touch you all the time like you two will always be sitting next to each other or between each other's legs. You never sit on his lap because that would be too obvious, but he thinks about it a lot.

He gives REALLY good hugs.

He'd make you mixtapes.

I'm picturing him doing that thing that happens in every rom-com where the romantic interest teaches the girl something and practically wraps themselves around her. Like you're trying to learn drums so he makes you sit on his lap and teaches you how the pedals work and how to drum basic beats. You forget all of it because you're trying not to go feral which is fine because he's so distracted he's not teaching you correctly anyway.

If you're short he leans over you a lot and you get to see his necklace bang on his chest.

You wear fishnets and thigh-high socks a lot and it drives him INSANE. He's always late for lunch when you dress like that because he's in the bathroom jerking off lol.

He has specific songs that remind you of him and he'll ask Eddie to put them on the set list so the band can play them for you.

Here's the link!

[8em-em-em8]

Music genius Steve won't leave my mind and now my brain has an entire story cooked so there it is (buckle up, you're in for a long drive)

+ Steve and Eddie bond after the upside down and Eddie, who was expecting Steve to call his music 'noise' or to exclusively want to listen to top 30 songs, notices Steve likes pretty much all kind of music, and Steve confesses he never really paid attention to it : his dad influence, think music is disposable and anyone pursuing it as a career is ruining their life, that's why he made fun of Tammy Tomson is S3 but seeing Eddie with Corroded Coffin at gigs/practices is making him change his mind.

+ Steve rapidly learns Eddie's song by heart and sings them, adapting the key to his voice and capacity, sometimes doing some impro. He's really good at it.

+ Other than band practice, Eddie has jamming sesh with Johnathan and Argyle. Johnathan plays the bass and Argyle has one of those cool electric keyboard that can do all type of sounds

+ (Argyle is rich, like, his family owns Surfer Boy Pizza, and he gets his own apartment in Hawkins and it's where all of them hang out most of the time).

+ Eddie start to teach guitar to Steve with his acoustic one, till one day Steve shows up with what he think is an electric one (he wants to be cool like Eds), but it's a bass, so now Johnathan also teach him.

+ As a good band kid, Robin also get dragged into all of this, she's always there but since Trumpet is not easy to add in their music she takes a fancy on drums. Gareth start to teach her and everyone can see he's got a crush on her. I think it would come out one night around a bond fire, when Jeff teases him about it. Robin looks at him to gauge his reaction but he's very layd back, he just shrugs whit a ''So?'' and the boys go crazy except that Steve seems worried. Eddie thinks it jealousy, especially when Robin looks at him next, but Steve just nods, very tense and then Robin comes out to everyone. Eddie's surprised Steve knew already and was fine about it but it makes him feel brave so he takes one more big gulp of liquid courage and announce that he's gay too.

+ after a while, Eddie starts asking Steve for his opinions when he writes songs, and Steve doesn't seems to understand why him, but he helps and every suggestion he has is good.

+ Sometimes they have really deep conversation about life and it's meanings and once Steve ask the traditional ''How did you know you were... You know'' and Eddie's been picking clues up for a while now, how Steve Gase lingers on some boys sometimes and other things, but he doesn't push it, only talking about his own experience.

+ So for Eddie, the logical following would be for Steve to write his own songs, but Steve is like ''Dude, I hardly can read and write and you want me to do music?!'' Robin immediately volunteer to write things down and when Eddie buys him a recorder two days later with a ''Now you don't have to write '' comment to go with it, Steve start to understand that his friends are serious when they say he's talented.

+ Corroded Coffin get spotted by a record at one of their gigs in Indianapolis. Quite quickly they get signed, and they have to go record an album in Chicago. Steve does all the driving because he claims the boys needs to have energy for it/ rest after, so they sleep in the back at all time.

+ On one of the trips to Chicago, one of the Corroded Coffin boy get wind of a gay bar opening in the street they work at and they all decide to go, at least to see how it is. That night Steve and Eddie kiss for the first time (it's not a relationship seal, they just talked a lot about Steve figuring his sexuality lately, and seeing all those ppl being happy makes him want to try so he ask Eddie if they can kiss. Of course the boy says yes, but he understands the second they lips meet that he's fucked (as in he's in love)).

+ After the first Corroded Coffin albums drops, it takes only a month for the boy's to get a US tour fully booked, Chicago is their first and last date and all of the party is there both time, standing in the front row. Their last is a Sunday, so they think they finally get to SLEEP for the rest of their life, but on Saturday, Dustin barges in their hotel room to drag their ass out, especially Eddie's. ''Dont ask and trust me on this one, you'll thank me later'' and they end up in a really small bar at Steve very 1st gig, with him on the guitar, Johnathan on the bass, Robin as their grummer and Argyle with his wierd keyboard. And the 1st song is ''Figure you out'' from DJO and Eddie's mesmerized, getting flash back of the time Steve admitted having no idea of who he was and what he wanted to do with his life, Eddie's telling him he had all his life to figure it out.

+ Eddie kisses him senseless after the wrapping up, saying to Steve that he's never gonna let him go again, that he missed him too much while on tour so now that he's an accomplished artist he's gonna drag him to do Corroded Coffin first part in their newt tour and Steve respond with something like ''I love you too'' while someone, the only person who hadn't already understood what was going on between those two (so probably like because he's too busy dealing with his own sexual crisis) is looking at them with their jaw on the floor.

[boldlyvoid]

Princess Hellfire | Part 2

Part Two | Masterlist

Summary: Senior Year is a weird one...

Warnings: set season 1, canon-typical violence, eddies dad worked at Hawkins lab in 79, parental death, mourning, crying, coming out, making out, love confessions, bullying, fighting, homophobia, internalized homophobia, angst, underage drug use (weed) (let me know if i missed anything)

Word Count: 7k

“Can I have five bucks?” Eddie asks Wayne, first thing on his first day of senior year. 

He nods, handing him a fiver and returning to his newspaper and coffee, “whatcha need it for?” 

“Schools doing hotdogs and drinks for the first day,” he waves it off, placing two waffles in the toaster and waiting impatiently beside it. 

“I think I’m going to ask Y/N to be my girlfriend, today,” he announces, nervous, but needing an outlet to get his confidence back. 

“Really?” Wayne’s so excited for him, “it’s about time. You’ve been seeing her, for what? 4 months?” 

“We’ve been a bit more than friends since May…” 

So much has happened since then. The whole summer happened and they were both so incredibly busy. They barely saw each other during the day, which meant that after work they got to hang out together… and they did everything they could when they were free. 

Y/N worked at Benny’s Burgers, she was the best waitress the town has had in years. They could never ever keep a girl there, people always said it was cause benny was too pushy, he was a hard person to work for, but Y/N found it quite the opposite. She said working for him was easy if you listened to the rules on the first day. She memorized the table numbers, she knew the menu like the back of her hand, she cleaned everything to a level greater than what was expected, and benny loved having her there. 

Eddie on the other hand, he worked at the auto shop downtown, he used all the things he learned when his parents were stealing cars and applied it to fixing trucks for the redneck assholes he went to school with… for guys who think they’re tough, they always pay with daddy’s credit cards… They were also so rude to him when he did it, he was a grease monkey to them, he was the scum of the earth and people hated when he was the only one available to change their oil or put air in their tires. 

On nights when he went to her work to have dinner on Wednesday nights and take her home after her shift, he watched the town gawk over her. All the old ladies told her she was beautiful, the old men tipped her and all the kids having dinner with their families were enamoured by her. 

She was so attentive, she was kind and outgoing and wonderful. 

Sometimes it really made him wonder what she saw in him… more importantly, he wondered if she saw anything good in him at all because he wasn’t the greatest influence on her as of late. 

This summer they went bridge jumping together in an illegal spot by the quarry. They smoked weed together for the first time out by lovers lake. She snuck out a few times to go to parties with him at Reefer Ricks, only to take care of him when he got drunk, she got him home to Wayne and then walked to her own in the middle of the night… all alone… not his proudest moment.

The proudest would probably be when he brought her to a Corroded Coffin rehearsal and made Gareth teach her how to play the drums. Gareth wasn’t too happy about it after the fact, because even on her first try she was better than him. She loved it, she went so far as to even audition for the school band so that she could spend more time with Eddie after class when the semester started again.

This year he was starting the first semester with home economics, wood shop, English and Art. It wasn’t too hard to pass, but the added help from Y/N was definitely going to make it easier. 

“How are you gonna ask her?” Wayne pried. 

“They’re selling drinks, right, so I’m going to get her an orange crush and say like it’s been obvious I have a crush on you, would you like to be my girlfriend instead… or whatever, I don’t know yet,” He gets all embarrassed, turning pink and keeping his head down. 

“I’m sure she’ll say yes, I have a feeling she’s very smitten for you, Eds,” he takes a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, taps it on the table and flips the carton open. “Want one?” 

“Seriously?” He panics a bit, he knew that Wayne knew he smoked, he just never thought he’d be so open about it. 

He nods “thanks.” 

“No problem,” Wayne hands him one before placing another between his own lips. Eddie uses a lighter from within his jacket pocket to light his, he grabs his waffles and waves Wayne a goodbye and hits the road. 

He hops in his van, overjoyed to have a vehicle of his own now. It was a really interesting story about how he got it… he didn’t have to pay a single penny for it, he simply went to Y/N’s house one day after school and learned that her uncle passed away and left everything to his brother, Y/N’s dad. 

That included a beat-up old van, it was dark green with a white stripe.  The seats were cloth, they carried the smell of cigarettes and wet dog, it was nothing a thorough cleaning couldn’t fix. 

“It’ll probably sell for around $1300, I could put some signs up at the plant,” Mr. Y/L/N explained to his wife as Eddie and Y/N walked into the kitchen. 

“What’s going on?” 

“Sweetie, it’s not a good time,” her mother tried to rush her out of the room, not wanting her to be upset. 

“No, no, she’s old enough to stay,” her dad counters. “Remember how your uncle Norman passed away a few months ago and left me his van well… you know what, I know what we can do with it now, honey.”

“What?” Both Y/N and her mom look at him confused but he stares right at Eddie. 

“Do you have your licence, son?” 

Eddie nods, “yes sir, I do…”

“Would you like a free van?” 

“Are you kidding me?” Eddies jaw dropped to the floor. “Free?” 

He nods, “I have no use to it, I don’t need to profit off my brother's passing, and at least this way it basically stays in the family if you’re going to be driving my daughter around all the time.” 

“Oh, absolutely,” he had no doubt about that. 

“Good, I have to pick it up in Illinois on Monday, you can drive it home.” 

The bond he had with Y/N’s family only got stronger after that. 

Every day Y/N brought him a sandwich and gave it to him before he dropped her off, she even wrote Eddie on the paper bag with a heart over the dot in the i. 

He was allowed to have dinner with them most nights, except the first Wednesday of each month because her dad was hosting his book club which included Bob from Radio Shack and the middle school science teacher…

Her dad was a strange man, but then again, Eddie felt very strange himself, so it was a no-brainer that they’d get along so well. 

He made a deal to pick Y/N up every morning for school in exchange for the van, and of course, he was already running late on their first day. He turns off Kerley onto Cornwallace. He’s careful around all the stop signs and school zones, he waits behind a few busses on Elm, but he finally pulls up to Y/N’s house with 10 minutes to spare. 

She’s waiting on the sidewalk with her arms crossed, “I thought I told you that every time you light one of those you lose 7 years off your life.” 

“And I told you I’m here for a good time, not a long time, princess,” he teases as she walks around the van and opens the passenger door herself. 

She tosses her books in, puts her backpack on the floor and then jumps into her seat. It was so funny watching her try and get in without flashing him and the whole neighbourhood. “seatbelt.” 

“You first,” she protests. Waiting for him to put it on before she pulls at her own and clips it into place. 

“You’re in a mood today…” 

“I still have a big decision to make,” she sighs, leaning back against the headrest. 

“Cheerleading or Sr. Editor at the paper… decisions, decisions,” he mocks her. “How will you ever pick?” 

She shoves him and he pretends to swerve, making her grip his leather jacket, “Eddie!” 

“Don’t hit me then!” 

“Ugh!” She gets even more frustrated. “Why can’t you take this seriously? I know you don’t give a rat's ass about graduating this year, but I need at least 1 stellar extra credit activity to put on my college applications and being the drummer for the school band won’t cut it alone.” 

“How are you seriously going to drum, cheer and report the pep rally’s all at the same time?” He laughs at first but then he realizes just how serious she is. 

“Don’t you want to be a journalist? Are you seriously thinking that cheerleading is going to wow the old men reading those applications over the amazing work you do as an editor? No. Not unless you hem the skirt up 3 more inches and give them a special performance…”

“Ew,” she knows he’s right though. “What if everyone hates me for jumping right to the senior editor when I just got here last year?” 

“Then fuck ‘em!” He attempts to inspire her. “Seriously, babe, there’s a reason why Mrs. Ford picked you, and if she likes you and she’s grading your work and she's writing your letter of recommendation, then it doesn’t matter what the kids have to say about it.” 

His lips curl into a smile, “did you just call me babe?” 

He goes white as a ghost, keeping his eyes on the road but they grow impossibly wide. “Did I? Huh… I guess I did.” 

She stares at him quietly as he continues their drive to school, it’s such a short trip but that didn’t stop either of them from wanting more time together.

When he pulls into his regular spot and throws the car in park, he turns to her, finally. “What?” 

“Am I going to have to be the one to ask it, seriously,” she whispers.

“Ask what?” He doesn’t know where she’s going even though it was blatantly obvious. 

“Ask me out.” 

“Oh! Oh, y-yeah, I mean no?” he thinks about it. “No you don’t have to ask, yes I’m going to do it, I have a plan…” 

“You have a plan?” She teases him. 

He nods, “at yearbook distribution, I have something for you.” 

She smiles, wide and toothy, “okay, alright, well… I guess I’ll see you then?” 

“You don’t want me to walk you to class?” He gets all pouty. 

“I don’t have class this today,” she smirks and opens her door, she hops out and gathers her things. “Yearbook kids get the morning off to hand out class schedules and make sure the new kids are where they need to be and as a reward, we get the afternoon off.” 

“Boring,” Eddie adds quickly. 

“Better than home ec,” she slams his door and he immediately gets out and follows her into the school. 

“Is it though? Because when I finish sewing buttons onto all the pillows I have to make, you’re going to be so jealous I didn’t make it for you.”

She laughs, filling him with pride as he follows her through the hallway and towards her locker. Everyone watches them together, the Freak and the Geek. He felt bad that she got that nickname simply for being near him and good at science, it made him want to beat people up when he heard it, but she wouldn’t let him. 

He leans against her locker, glancing down the hallway at Steve Harrington doing the exact same thing to Nancy Wheeler. He points over in their direction, “can you believe they’re together…” 

“No, it’s weird,” she whispers. “He’s in our grade, she’s a sophomore. Just cause he’s taken almost everyone's v card in our year doesn’t mean he can go through all the other grades now.” 

“I don’t know, I think he might actually like her,” he shrugs. “They’re so cuddly together.” 

“So are we?” she doesn’t see anything wrong with that.

“Yeah, but we’re also basically dating,” he says it before his brain can catch up. “I mean— come on you know we’re more than friends.” 

“We are,” she smiles up at him and grabs the collar of his jacket, pulling him in closer until their noses touch. “And yet you still haven’t kissed me on the lips.” 

He shakes his head and pulls back, “uh-uh.”

She pouts, “fine. But if you don’t ask, I’m going to become a cheerleader and end up dating someone like Jeremy Carver…” 

Just the thought of her dating anyone in the Carver family made his blood boil. They were the basketball family that was apparently going to bring the championship back to Hawkins with their new generation of strong blonde boys… it made him think they came from Nazi Germany to Hawkins after the war. 

Jeremy was in their grade, Jason was a sophomore with Nancy Wheeler, and there was another Carver in middle school, probably raising hell there too.

“Oh god, no, ew, please don’t,” he can’t even fathom that, it makes his stomach turn, “do you want to be my girlfriend? Quick, yes or no?” 

She laughs, looping her arms around his neck and looking into his eyes, “yeah, Edward, I guess I’ll be your girlfriend.” 

He can’t control his smile, eyes flicking to her own, he places a hand on her cheek and guides her in for the first kiss of many. Their lips touch ever so gently smiles still formed on their face, unable to relax now that they’ve found true happiness. 

“Excuse me,” he whispers against her lips and steps away so he can make a scene, “excuse me! Attention everyone!” 

Of course, has to make a scene. 

He locks eyes with Harrington and shoots him a wink. 

“I just want to make it clear, to everyone here at Hawkins Hell Hole, that, Y/N Y/L/N is my fair lady and I will not hesitate to duel anyone who attempts to take her from me!” 

“Eddie!” She scolds him, 

 “No one wants her!” Someone yells from the back of the crowd now assembling. 

“Who said that?” Eddie follows the voice, walking chaotically towards it and kids scramble, displaying the one, the only, Jason Carver at the back. “Wanna try saying that again, hot shot? What, do you think cause you can throw a ball in a basket, what? like 23% of the time, that you’re the be all end all of the school?”

He gets flustered, unable to ever fight back when Eddie looked him square in the face. 

“That’s what I thought,” Eddie laughs in his face. “You throw balls because you don’t have any of your own…” 

Jason throws the first punch and Eddie catches it in his big hand, squeezing as tight as he can, Jason throws his other fist. Eddie holds them both in front of him, squeezing so tight that he can’t hold his arms up anymore, Jason’s face trembles, he wants to cry out in pain but he’s embarrassed. 

Eddie ‘The Freak’ Munson was embarrassing him in front of everyone. 

“Break it up, break it up,” Mrs. Ford comes pushing through and makes the boys part from one another. “What’s going on here?” 

“Jason was bullying the geek and then threw a punch at the freak,” a geeky little nerd from the crowd explains, pushing his glasses up.

“Do you want to get hit next?” Eddie turns to them. “Stop fucking calling her that! She’s smarter than all you fuckers, she’s going to go to Notre Dame and she’s going to get her journalism degree and you fuck heads are going to have to see her on CNN every night at 6pm for the rest of your lonely lives saying ‘I wish I had been nicer to the geek’ well Fuck That! Be nice to her now! She’s the best fucking person to go to this school, but no one would know that because you saw her with me and immediately thought something was wrong with her! It's you!!! Something is wrong with all of you!!” 

“Mr. Munson!” The principal caught the end of his grand speech. “While your statement is profound, that is not the language we use in this school.” 

“Oh but the years of every kid in here calling me a queer was fine to you? I say fuck and I’m the bad guy?” 

“Mr. Munson that’s enough!” He raises his voice louder. “Follow me.” 

“You’re going to suspend me on my first day for standing up for my girlfriend getting bullied?” He laughs, following anyway. “Sick… just fucking sick.” 

—

Eddie was given an in-school suspension, kicked out of the marching band and told if he misbehaves again they might make him retake the whole year just to teach him a lesson… it made her wonder what other colourful words he chose to use in the principal's office. 

She went to the yearbook classroom for orientation, being senior editor she was in charge of delegating responsibilities, leaving just her and Nancy Wheeler alone in the classroom. 

Nancy Wheeler sat quietly in the back corner near the large paper slicer, organizing newsletters about yearbook sales. But she kept glancing over at Y/N every few minutes. 

She could feel Nancy’s eyes burning a hole in the back of her head like she was trying to read her thoughts or something. She turned to Wheeler, watching her look away and pretend it was nothing, more than once, and then she finally went over. 

“What?” 

“Huh?” Nancy looked up at her with faux innocence. 

“You’re staring. What’s up?” She repeats. 

“Oh,” she brushes her hair behind her ear and gets nervous. “I just… I wanted to know if you’ve picked a junior editor yet, you know, 'cause you’re going to need to do that soon for Mrs. Ford.” 

“I thought you were going to ask about Eddie,” she shakes her head with a sigh and takes a seat beside Nancy. “People always think I’m crazy for being his best friend… well, girlfriend now, I guess.” 

“I’m just surprised… that’s all.” 

“Why?” Y/N genuinely wanted to know. 

“You’re like me, you care about your grades and going to college and Eddie’s… colourful?” Thats the nicest way she could’ve put it. “And plus, there was a rumour going around that you two fucked in his van in the back parking lot this summer, I heard that from Tommy…” 

“What?” She looks horrified. “Oh my god, no, no, we haven’t,” she shakes her head horrified that people would even say that. “I haven’t… ever…”

“Me either,” Nancy lets out a shaky breath. “I think Steve wants to though…” 

“He’s a boy,” she gives her a knowing look. “If you don't want to, don’t. If you feel like he’s making you, kick his ass.” 

She nods, “I wouldn’t let him… I’m pretty strong when I need to be.” 

“Me too,” she smiles, feeling Nancy’s vibe and warming up to her quite easily. She reminds her a lot of herself when she sat down in science last year, so she takes a chance on her “you can be my junior editor, I feel like if you’re in Steves circle and I’m in Eddie’s, we can learn everything in this school… and this way I can still be in the band for the pep rally’s and you can do the physical reporting for me?” 

Nancy smiles back, putting her hand in the middle of them for a shake, “you’ve got a deal.” 

—

There’s a new girl in band, she comes prepared with a trumpet and a smile and keeps glancing over at Y/N. And she’s very cute. 

It makes her panic, Eddies only in the stands watching on as they practice since he can’t join them… Her mind wandered all over the place, she was anxious that he’d notice the glances and the smiles and the fact that every time they rearrange to find the best flow for everyone to perform at their best, they keep getting closer and closer to each other. 

“Hi,” she leans over and whispers near her ear, “I’m Robin.” 

“Y/N,” she smiles back. “Are you new?” 

She shakes her head, “to Hawkins, no, but to this band, yes. I’m a sophomore, I haven’t been here that long and I was tired of hiding cause I didn’t have friends so I just joined on a whim… sorry, I didn’t know what you meant so I kinda just said both answers anyway and then that happened…” 

“That’s okay,” she stifles a laugh, trying to stay quiet while the teacher tries to talk them through the new choreography for the football games. “It was cute.” 

It was only the first week of school, and their teacher couldn’t expect a group of teenagers to listen to her after 2 months away from school. 

Robin blushes and looks away, bringing her trumpet back to her lips and pretending to play along as her lips wouldn’t cooperate to actually play. Meanwhile, Y/N carried on with her snare drum. The cheerleaders did flips in the background,  balls are thrown and “hut hut!” Is yelled repeatedly, there’s so much going on in their small field for an early September afternoon. 

The turnout for tryouts was wild, ’83 was their year. 

After practice, she waves to Robin and heads over to Eddie on the bleachers. “Hey, princess,” he kisses the side of her head as he wraps his arm around her. “Who’s that?” He gestures towards them with the lift of his chin in her direction. 

“Robin, she’s new. To band, not Hawkins, she’s in Wheeler’s grade.” She keeps her head down and avoids eye contact with him, almost ashamed of her slight attraction to her. 

“What’s up?” He catches it. 

“Hm?” She finally looks up at him, guilty as all hell. “Nothing.” 

“Okay then,” he laughs it off and tugs her along for their walk back over to his van. 

She’s quiet most of the way home, well, back to eddies place. She mostly just lets him talk, explaining how hard it was to not snap at the principal. He had an in-school suspension for the rest of the week, he’d be doing all his school work in the office, alone, without even a break for lunch. 

“Well, I’m going to be bringing your lunch in every day and if they don’t let me sit with you there will be hell to pay,” she complains. “Because today I had lunch with Nancy Wheeler… and when I tell you it was weird, thats an understatement.” 

“Why?” He can’t believe what she said. 

“She’s going to be my junior editor, I figured I’d need someone to take game notes while I play and she should get a decent amount of gossip off Harrington and his weird-ass friends.” 

“That’s actually so smart,” he compliments with a beautiful smile, putting her back at ease. 

Feelings are weird, but she knows for sure she loves him more than anyone who could ever enter her life. 

It isn’t until he’s parking out front of his trailer that he talks to her again.  “Seriously? Is something going on?” 

She shakes her head, faking a smile. “I’m just tired. I’m not used to getting up this early anymore.” 

“Okay,” he tries to believe her, but he can’t. “You mind if I smoke? I don’t have to drive you home till later, anyway?” 

She nods, “yeah, I don’t mind, just, can I go lay down while you do it out here?” 

He nods and hands her the keys, “head on in.” 

And she does just that, watching him take his secret stash out from under the steps and head to the back f the trailer so no one would see him. 

She gets a few minutes alone in his room, and she goes right to tidying to ease her anxieties. She has cleaned his room with him before, she’s done his laundry in with her own after getting caught in the rain, and she’s even showered at his place before. She felt very safe and comfortable with him as if this was her home too. 

She goes to make his bed, she moves the pillow to fluff it and finds something she never expected. 

“Heavy Metal,” she reads the title of the magazine aloud as she picks it up, noticing the naked woman riding a Pegasus into battle with a large sword and huge tits. It’s exciting to her, it feels wrong to be able to see something so graphic just out in the open… she flips through the pages, breathing heavily, her heart almost beating out of her chest. 

She hears the screen door open and she throws the magazine back down onto the bed, covers it with a pillow and sits down before he gets into the room. 

He comes running in and jumps into the bed, tackling her down and tickling her stomach, she laughs, screeching for him to stop but he doesn’t, “my girl needs giggles! Doctors orders!” 

“Eddie!” 

He stops and looks down at her with a sweet smile, “you know I’m always here if you want to talk?” 

She reaches under the pillow and pulls it out, handing it to him. “this…” 

“How did you know about this?” His face goes white as a ghost, and he sits on his knees with a look of shame.

“I don’t care that you have it… I care that I like it…” 

“Oh? oh!” He finally gets it and then his eyes narrow in on her, “oh…” 

“Eddie, I’m being serious, it’s weird, I feel like I’m cheating on you and all because I keep noticing women being pretty now that we’re together… why didn’t this happen before we got together?” 

“I find dudes hot,” he shrugs, admitting something just as scary to even the playing field. “Like today Harrington looked really nice, I even winked at him.” 

“You didn’t?” She smacks his arm. “Seriously?” 

“It’s the hair,” he shrugs. “What can I say, us men with good hair, we’re hot.” 

She laughs, “I think I just like nice people… like robin today, she was so smiley and she kept wanting to stand with me and it reminded me of you, honestly.” 

“Are you saying I’m cute and smiley?” He thinks about it, “no one has ever used those words to describe me.” 

She pulls him in for a hug and then a cuddle, he snuggles into her chest and wraps his arms around her middle. “I think it's normal to find people cute, it’s not wrong, it only becomes a problem if you hide it from me or it stops you from liking me anymore…” 

“That could never happen,” she assures him, smoothing her hand over his back, she presses a kiss to his head. “You’re my home, Eddie. No one can replace you.” 

“Good,” he smiles, she can feel his happy cheeks against her chest. “Cause you’re never getting rid of me.” 

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” 

“Guess what I learned today?” She whispers.

“What?” 

“Tommy and his dips hit girlfriend are telling people we fucked in the van, parked at the school this summer.” 

He sits up and looks down at her, “are you serious?” 

She nods, “Nancy told me. I think she just wanted to talk about sex cause Steve might be pressuring her…” 

“I should give him a talk,” Eddie mumbles. “That’s not cool.” 

“I told her to kick his ass if he tries anything, I think she could,” she tries to make Eddie smile and gets a laugh instead. 

“We could team up and all kick his ass, too,” Eddie suggests. “I think it would be hot to see you kick someone's ass…” 

“Yeah?” She raises her brows, “how high are you right now?” 

“My usual amount, I’m just allowed to tell you my thoughts now… my girlfriend should know I think she’s the most beautiful person in the world.” 

Her heart swells, “and I can finally tell you that you’re hot… I’ve been telling you that you’re handsome, so I guess I need to kick it up a notch now.” 

“And I can do this now,” he places his hand on her cheek and leans in for a kiss. 

His lips are soft as he presses against hers, breathing in deeply through his nose and relaxing against her. She rests her hands on his hips and tries to spread her legs to let him settle between her as the kiss heats up. It was the first time she really kissed a boy… and it was everything she thought it would be. 

—

September 6th comes around again like it did every year, and every year it got a little bit easier… but losing his dad was never going to be okay. It was never going to be normal. 

After his mom left and stealing cars landed him in prison for a few years, his dad became a security guard for the Hawkins Lab. 

He died during a security breach at the Lab, Eddie will never know the specifics, but he knew it was horrific. His father wasn’t in any condition to be seen afterwards, the lab actually paid for his cremation and he now sits in a little urn on the table beside the tv. 

When no one was home, sometimes Eddie would walk over, press a kiss to his forefingers and gently press it to the top of the urn and tell him he missed him… sometimes he would even tell his dad whole stories about his day, sitting down on the carpeted floor of his uncle's trailer for hours just catching up with the jar of his ashes. 

Today, however, just pressing a kiss to the top of his eternal container wasn’t enough. He felt extra sad this year because so much was different. This year he has a girlfriend and this year he graduates… those are two very big things and he’s not going to be home for them.

He’s been home for a few hours, after dinner with Y/N she had family time and that meant he had to go. Sometimes she called him at night before bed, but most nights he just sat alone in his room while Wayne was at work.

Wayne always takes the 6th off, Eddie knew he’d be home, in the main room, and he knew he’d be willing to talk about it if Eddie opened up to him about his feelings… but when he walks out into the main room, Wayne is sound asleep with the urn tucked under one arm and a bottle of beer in the other hand. 

He just picks up his keys, slugs on his coat and quietly leaves the trailer. He doesn’t even know how late it is, it might not even be the 6th anymore, but he needs something… He needs someone. 

Someone very specific. 

He’s there before he even realizes where he’s going. Pulling into Y/N’s driveway, he notices her bedroom light is still on, and so is her father's study on the first floor. As he gets out and begins his walk towards the porch, the light comes on and her father is opening the door. 

“Eddie?” 

“Hi, Mr. Y/L/N,” he carries a tune of sadness in his voice that anyone could pick up on. 

“Are you alright?” 

He nods, trying to stay calm as long as he could but begins to break down the longer he thinks about it. “No…” 

Without thinking, her father wraps his arms around him and pulls him into a hug. He rubs his back gently, “it’s okay, son… what’s going on?” 

He pulls back and wipes his tears, pulling himself together. “I’m sorry, really, I didn’t mean to come here this late, I just— it’s— my dad died 4 years ago today and in all honesty, I just came here for a hug from Y/N, so, thank you— for the hug, sir.” 

“You can head on up to her room,” he lets him in and points up the stairs, “Wayne know you’re here?” 

He shakes his head, “he’s not going to notice I’m gone, he’s having a rough night too… only he’s allowed to have booze.” 

“You’re welcome to stay here,” he looks him in the eye, acknowledging that he trusts him to stay the night in his home, specifically in his daughter's room. “No funny business, Kyle’s room is also free if you want to sleep there.” 

“Thank you, sir,” he pats his shoulder, “I promise, I’d never do anything to ruin the relationship I have with your family. It means a lot to me.” 

“Anytime, son.” 

With a heavy heart, he kicks off his shoes and heads up the stairs to Y/N’s room. The door is closed, like normal, so he gives it a quiet knock. 

“Come in?” 

He opens it slowly, “hey, princess.” 

She flings the covers off her bed and runs to him, “Eddie? Oh my god?” 

He sneaks in and closes the door behind himself just in time to open his arms and catch her. She holds him tightly, it’s everything he wanted and then some. “Hi, my love.” 

She pulls back and looks up at him, wiping the residual tears off his cheeks carefully, she’s so concerned, “what’s wrong?”

“Um, let’s go sit down…” he isn’t ready to say it again yet. 

She nods, “Yeah, okay.” She takes his hand and drags him over to the bed and that’s when he notices she’s only in a long T-shirt as a nightgown. 

“um… your dad said I can stay here, I promised to behave, but um, can I borrow some PJs or would you be okay with me in my underwear and shirt?” 

She laughs, “take ‘em off, I’m only in underwear and a shirt, see?” she pulls up the nightgown and flashes a pair of bright yellow granny panties. “It’s not a big deal, it’s the same as a swimsuit.” 

She’s not wrong there. He strips down, he gets comfortable and joins her in her big comfy bed. She has so many pillows and the softest blanket, she lays back and lets him cuddle right into her, cheek on her boobs, hand on her tummy, he was in heaven. 

“You know how my dad died…” 

“I’m still so sorry for your loss, honey, I know it’s not fair,” she pets his ever-growing hair lovingly and then presses a kiss to the top of his head. 

“It’s 4 years today.” 

“God, I’m sorry, baby,” she says with her lips still touching his head, and then she places a few more kisses and holds him tighter. “I can’t even begin to imagine what you’re going through.” 

“I’m just glad I have you this year,” he admits, tearing up again. “And your dad… he gave me a hug too.” 

“Really?” She sounds so happy to hear that. 

He nods, “you’re my family, Y/N… I— I love you.” 

He’s called her ‘my love’ a million times, they both say nothing of it, they don’t take it seriously, but in all seriousness— Eddie was only saying it to test the waters before he told her that he loved her. 

They’ve been dating for a week. 

A Week. 

Sure, they’ve been friends for almost a year and sharing cuddles and secrets and cheek kisses for months now… it still felt weird to admit to her that he was in love with her. 

Like enough to make him go insane— levels of in love with her. The kind of love that made him want to be a good person and get good grades to get a good job and be a good husband and one day— god willing— a good father to her kids… their kids. 

He’s thought about it so much it seems a bit excessive, but when his head hits the pillow at home, all he can think about is spending the rest of his life with her. 

“You love me?” 

He pulls back and props himself up on his arm so he can look at her, “Is that okay?” 

With both hands she cups his face, “oh, Eddie, I love you too.” 

They haven’t kissed on the lips much, but pressing them together feels like coming home. He’s safe in her arms, cocooned in her warm embrace, he melts into the kiss and prolongs the kiss with his tongue. 

Making out was new for them but they both found it relatively easy over the last week and very beneficial for their mutual touch-starved hearts. He didn’t mean to grope her, but he rests his free hand on her boob and squeezes gently, invoking a moan from her that threatens the promise he made to her dad. 

He pulls back to apologize and she immediately starts apologizing instead, “seriously, I didn’t mean to! It’s just—“

He places his finger over her lips and shushes her with a smile, “if I plan on staying in your dad's good books, I can’t get turned on and do something we both regret later…”

“Okay,” she understands and lets him pull away more, he settles into the pillow beside hers and looks over at her, sweetly.

But sweet is the last thing on her mind. 

“Can I ask you something?” 

He nods, “always, princess?” 

“Do you think I’m hot? Like I know you love me, and so you must like more than just the fact we’re best friends and we have a bond… cause I find you really handsome and dare I say, sexy, even. But— what I’m trying to say is, would you ever want to get physical one day? With me?” 

He laughs, which is the exact opposite of what she needed to hear. It makes her brows furrow and he starts backtracking immediately. “Oh my god, no, I didn’t laugh cause I think it’s silly, I laughed cause you really have no idea what you do to me, so you?” 

She shakes her head and moves in closer, settling next to him, their faces only inches apart. “So tell me?”

He laughs again and pulls at the neck of his shirt so that it’s not choking him. “Well, for starters, and this is probably going to sound shallow, I only sat down beside you in science ‘cause you were hot and I hadn’t seen you before and I thought maybe if I talked to you first, then you wouldn’t believe anyone else that I was a freak.” 

“I’ll personally assassinate everyone who’s called you that,” she jokes, only that’s what he thinks. She feels completely serious about wanting revenge on the fuckers that made her man feel like this. 

“I think being in love with you makes me find you more attractive than I ever did when I first saw you.”

“How?” She seems a little confused. 

“I think it’s beautiful that you saw me without a lunch and started bringing one for me. I think it’s hot that you get so angry when I talk down about myself. And I think it’s sexy as fuck that you’re here in your underwear making out with me under your daddy’s roof, pretty girl… you’re tempting, but I always keep a promise.” 

She basically purrs with excitement, “you’re so hot when you notice the things I do for you and let me keep doing them… cause like, I know you hate when I put hearts on your sandwich bags cause the dudes at work think it’s girly, but you let me do it because it showed you how much I loved you even before I could say it out loud.” 

“We’re really dumb,” he laughs, “you know that, right?”  

“We have basically been dating since we danced in your trailer and you kissed my forehead,” she teases him. “I think that’s when I fell in love with you for real.” 

“When you pinned the ribbon to my jacket,” he admits the moment that got him. “Being granted a lady’s token is not something a knight forgets.” 

“Come here,” she pulls him back onto her chest and back to the way they were before. She kisses the top of his head a few times, “I’m so glad you said it, cause going to bed tonight without saying I love you first would be so weird.”

He smirks, “you’re welcome, my love.” 

She reaches over to her night table and turns off her light. She settles back in with him and runs her fingers through his hair, “sweet dreams, my Eddie.”

“I love you,” he whispers against her chest. 

“I love you, more.” 

He lets her think that, but she’ll never know the leaps and bounds he’d go to to prove that to her. He’d go all the way to the ends of the earth for her, all she need do is ask. 

They both fall asleep soon after that, peacefully unaware of her dad opening the door before he also heads to bed, carefully he peeks in to see them cuddled together under the blankets, his jeans laying at the foot of her bed, he fit into her life like he was always there. And a part of him hoped he always would be. 

eddie munson taglist (ask to be added)

@fightingdragonswithwho @allybatch @mrs-dr-reid @reidselle @kyomito

[a-strange-inkling]

Lets forget about Metallica for a second. How are the girls favorite members of Corroded Coffin?

They both have a little crush on Jimmy, because he’s so cute, but I think Livvy’s favorite is Uncle Jeff (even after he went solo, once Corroded Coffin always Corroded Coffin) and Maggie’s favorite is Uncle Gareth, he teaches her how to play drums 🎸🤘🏻💀

[1lostsoul0fishbowl]

Definitely didn't send an ask yet for those 15 questions... So I choose Gareth! 😏

Totally only the one ask in my inbox! 😂 thanks bestieeee 💕 here ya go…

1. Are you named after anyone?

I think my parents might’ve got Gareth from a book called Give Your Kid A Welsh Name Americans Will Actually Be Able To Pronounce… honestly I have no idea where that came from. Middle name Alwyn is after my granddad.

2. When’s the last time you cried?

Do we really have to go there? Wouldn’t you rather know about my favorite pizza toppings? (Pepperoni and pineapple.)

Alright Janie says I should be honest, so the last time I cried was three days ago, I dreamed that she was back in Hawkins Lab and they maybe-accidentally-maybe-deliberately drowned her in that stupid fucking tank of theirs, and I woke up bawling like a stupid baby. There. Happy? Can we go back to talking about pizza now?

3. Any kids?

Nope. Maybe someday, waayyyy in the future, but not now.

4. Do you use sarcasm?

Yeah, it’s actually a pretty bad habit of mine. My big mouth has gotten me in trouble more than once.

5. What’s the first thing you notice about people?

What they’re wearing. I don’t judge them for it, I just notice it. Especially if it looks like a band shirt.

6. What’s your eye color?

Janie likes to call it “cornflower” (because she’s just goddamn adorable) but it’s just ordinary blue.

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

I kinda like both. I don’t mind being scared by movies because I know the bad guys don’t usually win.

8. Any special talents?

Just music I guess. I play drums and piano. Eddie’s trying to teach me guitar but it’s pretty slow going.

9. Where were you born?

Bala Cynwyd, PA. My family moved to Hawkins when I was three.

10. What are your hobbies?

Playing music, dungeons and dragons, writing crappy songs and poems, drawing, and helping Janie look for cool rocks to add to her collection.

11. Do you have any pets?

No, I want a cat but my dad’s allergic.

12. Any sports you play?

Um… between fifth grade and tenth grade I played this super awesome sport called Run The Hell Away From Bullies. Sooo much fun.

13. How tall are you?

NOT TALL ENOUGH, OKAY???

14. What’s your favorite subject?

In high school it was English. It’s harder to pick now that I’m in college— I’m studying to be a music therapist and just about every class on that topic is fascinating.

15. What’s your dream job?

Honestly I’m pretty excited about the music therapy, but if I had to pick something different I’d say author. It would be pretty cool to write something as awesome as Lord of the Rings!

Losty answers as your choice of character

[fairysteve]

i really wish i could stay awake and write but i should be going to bed within the next 30 minutes

but here because i want to talk about it

so close yet so far away (the distance is shorter than you think)

1: stick-and-poke club at gareth's house (eddie giving steve a tattoo because he's had more practice than gareth (and gareth needs to be holding steve's hand actually)) 2: before corroded coffin practice (gareth is trying to teach steve how to play drums, eddie arrives early) 3: at the mall (they were looking in a music store but gareth craved ice cream (or to see steve in those shorts)) but instead they find scoops ahoy abandoned and steve and some girl outside the cinema (timeline established yay) 4: in the junkyard (eddie was looking for gareth, got told he was at the junkyard, finds gareth just kind of sitting on a car and watching steve hit things with a bat, shirt off, face healing from what the fuck happened at the mall, maybe gareth is throwing things for steve to hit actually) 5: steve dropped gareth off at eddie’s trailer (driver gloves… pulled them off with his teeth because max just moved here and steve’s not gonna wear the gloves to check on her (after mall burnt down oops) and then seeing steve put them on again as he leaves max’s trailer, snapping them against his wrists)

+1: after hellfire, steve is not even there for gareth, he’s there for dustin, eddie’s new lost sheep, steve and gareth has a short convo outside of earshot, gareth forces everyone out of the room for some reason, then eddie is left with steve like wtf and he says something mean and this lead to steve mentioning how he and gareth aren’t exclusive and that leads to steve and eddie getting heavy in eddie’s throne and then gareth comes back like “dustin is getting inpatient stevie/baby/something” not at all blinking at steve straddling eddie, confirming this was okay, steve kisses a stunned eddie and leaves the end

[nevermorered]

Im moving ur hellcheer headcanons! What do you think about the hellcheer babies? Would they be parents, how many, names? I adore you 😘

Thank you! They’d totally be parents. I see the first time being unexpected and before being engaged. They’re crazy exited and totally shit scared.

Their first is a girl. Maddie Marie Munson. She’s a screamer from go. Strong lungs. A singers longs, Eddie says. The only place she ever seems relaxed and at ease is when she’s cradled by the body of Eddie’s acoustic guitar. Her lullabies are just slowed down metal songs. They call her Mad Maddie or just Mads because even as she gets older, she’s just an absolute chaotic mess. Riotous auburn curls and huge brown eyes, she’s a menace with an angels face.

Their second, and last, is a boy. Dwayne Ace Munson. He’s always gone by Ace, though. Unlike his sister, Ace is a quiet baby. Same mess of auburn curls, hazel eyes, and the sweetest smile. His favorite thing is to listen to Chrissy read to him and as he gets older and it becomes evident that he has more intense interests than most kids, Eddie indulges him. A ten minute monologue on different types of sea creatures? Tell me more, Ace! Hearing again how an orca isn’t a whale? Oh my gosh, that’s so interesting!

The kids are as different as night and day, but goddamn do they love each other. Mads gets sent home with detention because she punched a kid for teasing Ace about his hyper fixations. Neither Chrissy or Eddie get mad at her, though Chrissy asks her to please use words before fists next time. Eddie teaches her ways to wreak havoc on someone without ever touching them.

Ace picks up drums with the ease of breathing after spending one evening perched on uncle Gareth’s lap. Eddie rolls his eyes, but buys him his own starter kit and they spend evenings down in the basement playing wildly while Mads screams her little heart out. Chrissy watches on with so much love in her heart she just might burst.

[made-ofmemories]

When Life Tears You Asunder, But You’re Not Alone

(Chapter 16/18)

General Warnings/tags: Found family, implied Wayne/Susan in future chapters, Max & Eddie have a sibling like relationship, fluff, hurt/comfort, Lumax and Steddie make appearances throughout the chapters but the primary focus is on the familial bonds between characters

Chapter specific warnings/tags: Steddie (mentioned), The rest of corroded coffin make an appearance, Gareth and Max are buddies.

Word count: 3064

Summary: Billy was a pretty shitty brother, there was no denying it, but Max still finds herself mourning for the sibling relationship they never got to have. With him gone she thinks so are her chances of ever having the big brother figure she’s always wanted. Then in a turn of events that she never saw coming, Eddie Munson waltzes into her life. Or more like, almost runs her over.

Notes: There’s a supernatural reference hidden in here somewhere, let us know if you spot it!! And as always comments and kudos make our day, we love hearing from you guys :) Co-written with the wonderful @ladydorian05 and crossposted on AO3. Updates every Friday.

Series masterlist

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“Absolutely not.”

“Why not?” Max insists as if he hasn’t already explained this to her 5 times already, she’s persistent he’ll give her that.

“Because I am not taking a 15-year-old to a bar.”

He can’t see her, he’s in the back of his van loading up the supplies for the Corroded Coffin gig whilst she hovers around by the door. He doesn’t need to see her to be able to picture the glare he knows he’s getting from her, however.

“Almost 16.” She argues. He pops his head out of the side door of the van to throw an unamused scowl her way, “Gareth has been going with you since he was 15.”

“Gareth is part of the band.” He argues.

He doesn’t understand her persistence, it’s not like she’s never heard them play before. She’s constantly dropping by during practice, and Gareth has been teaching her how to play the drums, but she’s relentless. They’ve been having this argument on and off since he told her about the gig a week ago and today she’s been going at it since he picked her up from school more than an hour ago and she hasn’t let up, not once.

“So? I can help!”

“Child labor is generally frowned upon.”

“Eddie.”

“No.”

He thinks that’s the end of it, finally, when she doesn’t respond. Max is nowhere to be seen when he hops out of the van and slides the door shut. She must have given up and headed home to sulk, he assumes, until he opens the driver’s side door and sees her sitting there, seatbelt on, in the passenger seat smiling smugly. He pinches the bridge of his nose, he really should have seen that one coming.

“Alright. Fine.” He says, climbing into his seat and closing the door behind him, “2 rules. Number 1, you stay backstage. The entire time. No exceptions, got it?”

The gig is at a dingy little dive bar just outside of town. It’s a step up from the Hideout, where they previously played most of their gigs, they now get a crowd of maybe 10 drunks instead of 5 which Eddie counts as a win. There isn’t really much of a ‘backstage’ per se but there is a small corridor to the side of the stage with a tiny room Eddie suspects might have been a closet at one point but has since been refurbished into a makeshift dressing room. He should be able to keep an eye on her back there from the stage.

“Ok. Fine.” She agrees though she doesn’t look happy about it.

“2nd rule, do not tell Dustin about this.”

That one seems to confuse her a little, but she agrees anyway much less reluctantly than before. He really doesn’t want to have to deal with Dustin’s insufferable moaning if he finds out he’d taken Max along to a gig when he’s been begging to tag along for months and then he’d have to give in and take them both along to the next one. He is not going to be responsible for babysitting 2 teenagers at a bar they’re far too young to be at, especially not those 2 teenagers.

“Your mom is going to kill me.” He mutters as he starts the engine.

They meet the rest of the band out the back of the bar. Eddie parks his van in the usual spot and hops out to start unloading their equipment. Gareth, Jeff, and Carl are of very little help, much too busy excitedly conversing with Max who they hadn’t been expecting to tag along…

Neither had Eddie.

“Hey, Red.” He calls, interrupting their conversation, “You said you wanted to help right?”

She nods and makes her way over when he holds up one of the smaller amps from the back of the van. It’s much heavier than she’s expecting it to be and she almost drops it when he first hands it over until she adjusts to the weight of it. Eddie feels a little guilty for dumping it on her.

“You got it?” He asks, hands hovering near the amp ready to grab it if she needs him to.

“Yeah, I’m good.” Her voice is strained with the effort it takes to hold up the amp, and she shuffles off letting Gareth help her with it as they head inside and he shows her where to place it.

He does most of the heavy lifting after that, with some help from Jeff and Carl, and leaves Max to help Gareth setting up the drum kit. She’s been fascinated by the drums more than anything else ever since the first band practice she attended, much to his dismay. He’s tried countless times to convince her the guitar is clearly much cooler, but she won’t be persuaded.

Max finds him a few minutes before they’re due on stage. He’s bouncing on the balls of his feet, all excitement and nervous energy. He’s humming quietly in an attempt to calm his nerves. Eddie is by no means shy, he doesn’t think anyone could ever mistake him as such. He’s always been filled with confidence, maybe a little too much confidence at times, with a larger-than-life personality. But something about those final few moments before heading on stage to perform will always fill him with anxiety.

“Are you humming Metallica?” She asks, voice filled with mirth.

“Helps calm me down.” He explains. Their conversation is cut short when Jeff calls for Eddie a second later, “Alright, remember the rules. You stay right there. Do not move, ok?” He says hurriedly as he rushes to join the rest of his band.

“I know, I know!” She huffs, but her grumpiness is short-lived and quickly replaced by a wide smile, “Good luck!”

Eddie loves his job at the garage. He does. But this, being on stage and performing, this is everything.

They play mostly covers with the occasional original song thrown into the mix. He glances over to Max throughout, partially to make sure she’s ok and partially because he knows her and would not be surprised if she snuck off. She stays put and even seems to be getting into it, jumping along and banging her head to the music with a smile plastered onto her face the entire time.

The bar had been quiet, to begin with, but by the time they play the last song they’d gained quite a crowd. Max is right there when he steps off stage, talking so fast he can’t make out a word she’s saying. He’s never seen her like this, so… hyped up.

“Max.” He says, but she continues on anyway. He places his hands on her shoulders and tries again, “Max! Slow. Down.”

That snaps her back to reality and her smile gets impossibly wider as she grips his arms, “That was awesome!”

He laughs at her excitement and then the other 3 are surrounding them and he’s swept up in a mess of one-armed hugs, high fives, and more unintelligible excited chatter. Max fits right in.

Loading up the van again is the worst part. The only good part about it is the rush of the cool February air that hits them when they step outside. The air in the bar had been stale and sticky with heat and Eddie had spent the past hour jumping around the stage which hadn’t helped.

Despite his makeshift tank top (an old iron maiden t-shirt with the sleeves cut off), he was covered in a sheen of sweat, his curls damp and sticking to his forehead. Jeff, Gareth, and Carl don’t look much better off. Even Max looks like she’s suffering from it, a few stray hairs escaping from her twin braids and sticking to the side of her face and the apples of her cheeks glowing a rosy red.

“You hungry?” Eddie asks as Max helps him load up the last of their equipment.

“Starving.”

“Alright, I know a place near here.” It’s somewhat of a post-show tradition, greasy fast food is just what they all need after a performance.

Jeff and Carl don’t stay, they have to work early the next day and make their orders to go, both of them heading back to Jeff’s car after sharing their goodbyes. Gareth stays, insistent that he’ll be able to wedge himself into Eddie’s van alongside all of their equipment.

They take up a table in the corner of the room, there’s no one else around other than the staff who mostly remain behind the counter on the other side of the room, and the occasional customer who wanders in to pick up an order and then leaves just as quickly.

Eddie notices that Max squints her eyes a little while reading the menu much like how Steve does when he’s having trouble with his eyesight. It’s not the first time he’s noticed her doing it, but for now he’s been keeping it to himself. If bringing up his eyesight was a delicate topic for Steve, asking Max about her own is just asking for trouble. When it comes to Max, the best course of action more often than not is to let her reach out on her own.

Max excuses herself to use the restroom almost as soon as they’re seated with their food, leaving Eddie alone with Gareth.

“You’re just sad that loverboy couldn’t make it this week.” Gareth is saying, waving a fry around between them as he talks, right as Max returns.

“Wait.” She says, brow furrowed with confusion, and Gareth whips around to see her standing behind him. His face drops, he clearly hadn’t heard her approaching over the sound of the music playing through the speakers scattered around the room, “Steve comes to your gigs?”

Gareth's expression very quickly morphs into something much more mischievous and Eddie lowers his head to the table with a thud. Great, now there’s 2 of them.

“Oh yeah, all the time.” Gareth confirms, “Dude always sticks out like a sore thumb, he showed up in this bright yellow sweater last week. He said he liked one of our original songs and Eddie blushed about it for like 3 hours afterward.”

“Awww,” Max coos, and Eddie groans. His forehead is still plastered to the sticky table in front of him, it can’t be very hygienic, he doesn’t even want to think about the last time it was cleaned but he also can’t find it in him to care all that much at the moment, “He likes your songs!” She mocks, her tone is light and teasing, earning a laugh from Gareth.

“You’re both walking home,” Eddie announces, finally looking up long enough to throw a fry into his mouth.

“Steve wouldn’t be very happy about that.” Max quips back, trying to suppress a smile but failing miserably.

He narrows his eyes at her, twirling a fry around in his fingers as he contemplates throwing it at her.

“Yeah, Eddie, what would loverboy think of you if you make Max and your best friend walk back home in the middle of the night?”

“There’s going to be a vacancy for that best friend position very soon.” He informs Gareth, deciding to throw the fry at him instead.

“Bet you’d let Stevie fill it in a heartbeat.” Gareth continues, apparently unphased by the fry-turned projectile as he picks it out of his hair and tosses it onto the table.

“I don’t think that’s the title he’d like to give to Stevie.”

“God damn it, you two are insufferable! Why the hell did I introduce you to each other!?”

“Oh, come on, you love us.”

“Just not as much as Stevie right?” Max adds. She and Gareth are laughing so hard they can barely breathe, making Eddie regret the day they met, he should have known this would happen.

----------------

Max falls asleep on the ride back to the trailer park after dropping Gareth off at his house. It isn’t particularly late, but apparently, the excitement had taken its toll. He shakes her awake with a hand on her shoulder once they’re outside her trailer, careful not to startle her too much and she blinks herself awake groggily.

“Wha- whasup?” she asks, looking around trying to make sense of her surroundings. He is sure that if he doesn’t get her moving in the next couple of seconds she’ll fall asleep again.

“We’re back, come on, let’s get you home.” He holds her hands and tries to pull her up to no avail. “Come on Red, you have a perfectly comfortable bed waiting for you. You really don’t want to sleep in the van, believe me, it sucks.”

“Nooo, my legs don’t work.” She whines, closing her eyes again.

“They worked just fine before.”

“But they don’t work anymore.” She mumbles, letting her body slump further in the passenger seat. “You’ll have to leave me here or carry me home.”

“Jesus, Max. Are you for real?”

“Yeah.”

Eddie parks his van beside his trailer, that way he could make a beeline to his bed after taking Max home, she’s not the only one who’s exhausted. He gets out of the van and walks to Max’s side to open the passenger door.

“Come on, Red, hop on my back.” He says turning around.

“Can’t” Max grumbles.

“What do you mean you can’t?” He asks, turning to face her.

“Can’t get up.” She complains as she tries to push herself from the seat fighting the restraint of her seatbelt.

“Of course you can’t, Red. You haven’t taken the seatbelt off.” Eddie laughs in exasperation. He reaches over and unbuckles the seatbelt, guiding it back to the pillar loop making sure the tongue won’t hit her as it retracts back to its place. “There, done, now hop on.”

Max gets on his back, her arms in a very loose grip over his shoulders, head resting on one of them, for a moment he’s scared he’s going to drop her before he hoists her up and gets a more secure hold on her legs which are dangling limply at his sides. “I swear, Red. You constantly argue with me every time I call you a kid and then you go and pull this off. You’re lucky you’re my sister.”

“Daughterofanothermister?” He wouldn’t have understood what she just said if it wasn’t for her face being right beside his ear.

“Yeah, yeah, daughter of another mister and all that. Just don’t drool on me.” He closes the door of the van with his hip before beginning to walk towards her trailer. The lights are on and he really hopes that her mom is still awake, if not he’d leave a note and she’d have to crash at his place, there’s no way he’s going to try to get the spare key while carrying a half asleep teenager on his back.

He knocks on the door twice, making sure he still has a secure grip on Max before trying the second time. Thankfully Susan is still awake and lets him in. At first, she tries to take Max from him, but he brushes off her concern, “Don’t worry about it Susan, I got her. I’ll just leave her on her bed. And make my way out.”

“Alright, if you say so. How was your mini concert?" Now that's news, he didn't know that Susan was aware of his gigs, "Did you kids have fun?"

"You knew about it?" He asks with wide eyes.

"Of course, that's all Max has been talking about, she begged me to let her go with you." So the little rascal had permission and didn't tell him!

"It went well. We stopped for some food on the way back, so she’s eaten."

"I see, well thank you for bringing her home. I’m going to bed now that you two are home safely, be a dear and lock the door for me on your way out please?.”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Thanks, good night Eddie.” She closes the distance between them and presses a kiss to his right cheek and a gentle pat on the left before heading to her room.

“Good night Susan.” While not a rare occurrence by now, he’s still not used to Susan’s maternal affection being directed at him. Not that he dislikes it, it just brings back bittersweet memories.

Eddie takes Max to her bedroom. He pulls the sheets back, keeping Max balanced precariously on his back the entire time until he’s done and carefully sets her down. He has to coax her to lay down correctly with her head on her pillow instead of across her bed. He takes her sneakers off before covering her with the sheets. There’s a pair of glasses on her bedside table and he picks them up to get a closer look. They haven’t been worn in a while based on the thin sheen of dust covering the surface.

“These work a lot better when you actually wear them, you know that right?” He asks, but all he gets in return is a sleepy grumble. He’s about to leave when her hand darts out from under the covers and grabs onto his wrist.

“Hey, Eddie?”

“What’s up, Red?”

“Most metal concert ever.”

“That’s high praise there, Red. Good night.” He says with a big smile.

“Night, Eddie.”

He locks the front door with the spare key and places it back in its hiding spot. For a moment he contemplates unloading the van, but he’s too tired to be lugging around the amps. He just grabs his sweetheart and prays that the rest of the equipment will still be there in the morning.

He’s so tired. The adrenaline of the night from the performance, from doing what he loves, has long worn off, only leaving a kind of satisfied tiredness.

He takes his boots off, his belt and jeans follow next. While he knows he shouldn’t have taken Max with him tonight, he’s glad he did. He’s even more glad that she had actually asked her mom for permission. He’s happy he got to share this part of his life with her. And she was right, it was metal, her presence there really made it a great night.

Even if he now has to deal with her and Gareth teaming up against him. But that’s a problem for future Eddie to deal with.

[thenukacolachallenge]

some random things about my stranger tanger ocs bc i feel like it

-Dee and Danny both tend to call everyone by their last name, since that’s common in military spaces, and they’re military brats. Eddie likes to joke that he knows he’s in trouble with Dee when she uses his first name bc of it, at least at first. it becomes more of a “i know you’re being serious when you use my first name” thing, and once they start dating, Dee only calls him Munson when they’re joking with each other.

-both of the Davis kids also listen to a wide variety of music, Dee especially. Danny’s favorite is easily loud and heavy music like punk and metal, but he listens to most genres of music. Dee listens to a little bit of everything, she loves music in general and she’s just as likely to listen to punk or thrash metal as she is to top 40 radio, or even old 20′s and 30′s era crooners(her dad is a huge fan and it’s something they’ve bonded over before), as well as classical music. Eddie and Dee like to tease each other about their musical tastes, and Eddie and Danny have a (mostly)playful rivalry about if punk or metal is a better genre.

-Dee has a unique relationship to Hopper compared to the other Hawkins cops. Unlike Powell, who she doesn’t care about, and Callahan, who she hates and thinks is an idiot, she can see Hopper is more perceptive and just, generally better at his job than the others. That doesn’t mean she likes him more(at first anyways), but she knows she has to really watch herself around him. The first time they meet, it’s so she can pick Danny up after being arrested for vandalism. Mr. Davis(the kids’ dad) is busy at work, so Hopper arranges for her to come get him. They have a brief conversation about Danny’s behavior, and Dee, seeing Hopper’s bracelet and semi-correctly assuming he has a daughter, plays up the “dutiful but quiet daughter and sister who just wants what’s best for her family” shtick she does to cops, in order to keep Hopper from putting Danny’s arrests onto his permanent record. It works, and Hopper agrees(so long as as Danny doesn’t do anything especially bad, like hurting people) so that he can get into a good school and eventually become an EMT. Hopper is in for a rude awakening come season 3 when he finds out how Dee really is lmao.

-Dee gets a temporary job at the town arcade at some point, and immediately becomes good friends with Max Mayfield, with both of them being girls in groups of mostly boys who love video games. She’s very protective over the younger girls in the Party in general, taking Max, Eleven(for the brief time they know each other), and Erica under her wing when the others are treating them differently or unfairly. she also tries to give them life advice when she can.

-Dee knows the Hellfire boys fairly well even before anyone from the Party joins them. She knows Eddie well enough as-is, since she buys drugs from him, but it’s not until Danny comes to visit Hawkins and meets Eddie, and subsequently joins the group, that Dee really gets to meet them. It’s a long-running tradition among the siblings that Danny is the more extroverted one, and that he always brings Dee along with his friends, regardless of if she wants to or not. Gareth, Jeff, and the others are of course nice to her, but mostly they’re intimidated by her, since she’s always very terse and short with everyone, making it clear every time she’s dragged along that she doesn’t want to be there. Eddie, of course, knowing how she really is, sees through it, and both he and Danny are glad she’s having her version of fun with them. She’s also been forced to sub in on a few dnd sessions, but she’s not good at the game and it’s never gone well. they try not to force her to play if they can help it.

-Danny plays a lot of different instruments, including guitar, drums, bass, and piano. He teaches Dee how to play bass so he always has someone to have a jam session with. Eventually, once Eddie and Dee start dating, he starts teaching her how to play guitar, using his dumb acoustic “This Machine Slays Dragons” guitar. He eventually gets her a guitar of her own, planning to gift it to her for her birthday or a holiday, but the events of season 4 happen before he gets the chance. The guitar survives said events, having been hidden in the backseat of Uncle Wayne’s truck, since if it was anywhere in the trailer, Dee would have found it easily. Wayne gives it to her after she and Dustin break the news to him about Eddie’s death. (Thanks Tara @chadillacboseman for this extra-sad one!)

-i’ve mentioned it a few times, but Eddie is the first friend Dee makes in Hawkins, and really one of the only friends she has that she’s made on her own, outside of Danny’s attempts to help her on that front. She’s very reserved at first, being used to being on her own, but Eddie’s incredibly good at breaking down other people’s walls and adopting them into his little cavalcade of freaks and misfits. the moment where he really starts to break through the walls she has put up, is during the events of s1. Dee is secretly a big, emotional softie, and seeing that there’s a kid in town that’s missing makes her very upset. She also sees Jonathan putting up missing posters for Will, and it hurts her heart, makes her think about how she’d feel if it were her and Danny in that scenario. She joins the scouting teams to try to find him, and when the news breaks that his “body” is found in the quarry, she cries all night. Eddie sees her at school the next day, looking visibly miserable, and pulls her aside, basically insisting that she comes over to hangout after school, so they can smoke and drink and listen to music to try to make her feel better. It ends up working, and Eddie finally gets a glimpse of her real personality underneath, which makes him happy too.

-During that same hangout session, Eddie mentions that he and Uncle Wayne rarely do anything for the holidays outside of simple gift-giving. This bothers Dee, and she decides to bring them Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for each respective holiday. She swears it’s not a big deal, she’s used to making enough for four + leftovers anyways(she always cooked the holiday dinners, since both her parents are disasters), so it’s easier to just make it the same as usual and bring them the extras. Both Eddie and Wayne are super touched by the gesture, and it ends up becoming a yearly thing.

-Danny is gay. prHe’s pretty closeted about it, being a teen in the 80′s and all, but Dee knows and accepts him as he is(she’s bi but doesn’t realize yet). He ends up getting a boyfriend at some point in the later seasons! i need to do more with this.

-Dee, despite being kind of plain fashion-wise and not being very popular around town, has had a  few guys try to hit on her before she ends up with Eddie. Billy, when he firsts moves to town and before he really gets a feel for the social hierarchies at the school, tries to start up a conversation with her after seeing her wearing a t-shirt of a metal band he likes(much like how Eddie and Dee bond when they first meet), but Dee is not interested, being able to sense the douchebag energy he radiates lmao. Keith also tries to ask her out while they both work at the arcade, and she’s at least a little nicer when turning him down. As well, Fred Benson, member of the school newspaper and eventual victim of Vecna, once asked her to a school dance. Dee is incredibly confused every time it happens, considering she’s never shown interest in any of them.

[sofiiel]

Stranger Things Ramble|Hellcoffin Summer

Masterlist : of my ST madness

This song just makes me think of Corroded Coffin and Hellfire Club being dipshits and annoying the town during Summer Break. It's just so much fun.

I mean, picture if you will.....

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The insane cart races through Barry's Big Buy, TP-ing the lawns of the students who gave them hell during the school year, being too noisy as they laugh through movies at the theater, Bugging Steve and Robin at the video store - only to drag them into the madness.

The party chilling on the garage floor while Corroded Coffin practice. Pizza boxes, candy wrappers, microwaved snacks and soda cans are just all over the floor. The party is probably planning their characters for the new campaign when school starts back up.

Dustin's telling Eddie about how he plans on calling Steve for advice as he met this new girl over the summer and has a crush, but is still 100% team Susie. Eddie's there trying to convince Dustin that he can help too, and Dustin's just heckling him because it took him years to even talk to his crush. Lucas tries to add in his thoughts, only to be hushed by Max, who tells Dustin he's better off asking Robin instead.

Eddie and the boys talked the party into pool crashing.....at Steve's house while he was at work. He returns home to find his yard a mess and Robin is trying to hop the fence with a pool bag in tow. He knows he can't beat them, so he joins them instead.

Jonathan luring Nancy to her first metal concert with Argyle's help, The Pizza Van and Eddie's van are packed with the older crew as they take a road trip to Chicago. Eddie, Jonathan, and Corroded are trying to school Steve, Argyle and Nancy on the music they're about to hear, and it's just not sinking in. Meanwhile, Robin and Vickie are sucking face in the backseat.

One big "we're all bored as sin" day, where everyone is piled in Mike's basement, much to Ted's dismay, just napping and being lazy and chatting....and eating all the food in the Wheeler's fridge. Holly wanders down to join the big kids, and just everyone fawns over the newest little party member.

Eddie seeking out Steve for Gareth, Jeff, or Noname because one of the boys needs romantic advice about summer flings, which turns into Steve, Eddie and Robin trying to be the boy's wingmen. It goes about as well as you'd expect.

Camping near one of the many lakes and awesome bonfires with the large group.

Steve managing the impossible and coaxing Jason and the Team to be friendly, an intervention is set up and a truce of toleration is written. But Eddie's still willingly but in good spirit annoying Carver to death because....yeah, Chrissy hasn't dumped him (yet).

All that plus things like, house parties, spin the bottle, the party having their first seven minutes in heaven, while the older crew are in mom/dad mode and trying to stop it from happening.

Max trying to teach El and Argyle to skateboard both thinking he can't, and he just starts killing it, meanwhile Jonathan and Eddie are off to the side have a high debate about musical taste and art.

Steve and Eddie at the clothing store, with Dustin barking at each other about why style the boy should choose. Only to have Argyle and Jonathan walk in and take him to the brightest multi patterned clothing in the world.

Mike takes up guitar and Will starts writing songs. Meanwhile, Steve is giving Lucas all his pearls of "how to be cool but not a douchebag" wisdom. Gareth and Robin are teaching Max to play the drums because you know at some point during Robin's marching band life she played the drum.

Kali and the crew roll through town and show everyone how summer should be done. Dottie's probably got a crush on Eddie, Robin, or Noname. Jeff and Gareth deeming Funshine their new big brother. Mick and Robin becoming besties and Steve trying to wiggle in as a platonic third wheel. El excitedly introducing Kali to Max. Both Kali and Max giving Mike the blues. Axel becoming Will's second brother and he, will and Jonathan just listen to music all day.

As a bonus? The parents and Wayne having a night to relive their glory days together. Talking about how they all vaguely knew each other or used to hang out in high school, and how they're all happy their kids get along. Then they try to figure out why their kids are so over the moon about DnD and try to play it themselves. But only Joyce and Ted want to read the manual. Lucas' Dad and Hopper are already frustrated, Wayne and Susan are just confused, and Karen, Dustin's mother and Lucas' mom are already pros and trying to explain it.

Masterlist : of my ST madness