#protective robin

51.

The phone rings late a few nights after Starcourt, jolting Robin out of an uneasy sleep. She shoots out of bed, racing for it before her parents wake up. She manages to get downstairs and down the hall in just a few more rings and snatch it up.

“Hello?” she whispers. 

“Robin?”

Her hands clench on the plastic handset at the sound of Steve Harrington’s voice coming down the line. “Steve!? What’s wrong, are you okay? Did something happen?”

“‘M fine,” Steve rushes to assure her, stumbling over his words. “I’m fine. I just. . . . I’m calling to say I’m sorry. For dragging you into this shit, 's my fault because you were working with me, and Dustin can’t talk quiet worth a damn, and. . . . I’m so, so fucking sorry.”

Okay, not so much stumbling as slurring. Okay. Steve Harrington is calling her drunk in the middle of the night. Sure, that’s a relatively normal thing to happen after . . . everything. 

“Have you been drinking?” Robin hisses. “You’re drinking with a head injury?”

“I’m, ‘m drinkin’ by myself,” Steve mumbles, and he sounds so young when he says it. She wants to crawl through the phone line and hold his hand. 

“Where are your parents?”

There’s a long silence on the other end of the line, and then Steve says, “On a business trip.”

“Still? I thought you called them.”

“Yeah, they. . . . It’s an important trip. Meeting. Thing, I d’know.”

Robin chews on her bottom lip. On one hand, she barely knows Steve, really. She has no idea what his home life is like, but it doesn’t seem great that his parents know about his concussion, broken ribs, etc. but still didn't bother to come home and look after him. That’s what parents are supposed to do.

On the other, this is the guy who loudly drew the Russians’ attention so they took him for interrogation instead of her. And even if that was plain old sexism on the Russians' part, he’d still run his mouth even after being pummeled, insisting that she wouldn’t tell them anything. They’d almost pulled off his fingernails, for fuck’s sake.

“Steve,” Robin says firmly. “I can get to your place in fifteen minutes on my bike, okay? I’m gonna hang up and do that, and can you do me a favor while I do?”

“Of course Robs, anything,” Steve slurs easily, and goddammit. This dingus is going to end up being her best friend, isn’t he?

“Drink a glass of water for me while you’re waiting, okay?”

“Okay,” he replies. She can practically hear him nodding, which also can't be good for the already bruised brain knocking around in there.

She gets there in under ten, discarding her bike halfway up the driveway and darting up to the front door in case any of the neighbors are awake at this hour. It’s unlocked, and for a moment she’s frozen with terror at that fact—what if the Russians are back and they’ve tracked Steve down? What if they’re here? 

But then she goes inside and finds Steve in the most bland foyer she’s ever seen, sitting on the carpeted stairs with his head in one hand and a half empty glass of water in the other. He looks up at her approach, eye and cheek and lip still swollen. It looks like he got chewed on and spit back out, and all she can think of is how small his voice had sounded over the phone. 

Mr. Popular, Mr. Cool, cries on her shoulder while telling her how sorry he is again. He tells her about Nancy’s friend Barb and how she died in an alternate version of his pool because he’d thrown a stupid party. He tells her about bullshit  and like we didn’t kill Barb and Nancy leaving him for Jonathan Byers until he’s hiccuping—

When he throws up on her shoes he apologizes for that too, and she womanhandles him upstairs to his room and the attached bathroom with her thoughts racing. 

Steve Harrington used to be a total douchebag. She hadn’t been wrong about that. But this is a totally different Steve, stumbling and full of guilt and a hefty portion of his dad’s liquor cabinet. This is, actually, a lot like Steve on Russian truth drugs. (There’s even a bathroom this time too, Steve hunched over the toilet and Robin trying to keep his hair out of harm’s way.) This is the boy who doesn’t treat her like a freak for liking girls instead of guys. The only person she’s ever told her secret, and isn’t holding it over her head the way she’s always had nightmares about. (Her nightmares have plenty of new material to work with now, anyway.)

He’s all alone, and not taking very good care of himself when left to his own devices after a buttload of fresh trauma, from the looks of it. So. 

Robin is going to be here for him as much as she needs. Not because she owes him or anything, but because this Steve deserves to have someone relentlessly in his corner. And since his parents seem to have abdicated that responsibility, that someone will just have to be her.

-

Robin can’t believe what she’s hearing. 

That Eddie, who knows a thing or two (hundred) about being treated like a freak, who’d fought with them in the trenches of saving the world from unknown horrors, would do something like that. To Steve. 

But there’s also Wayne Munson, who she knows now. Not as well as Steve, who looks more comfortable in this house than she’d ever seen him back in his parents’ place, but he’s a good person. A kind man, someone she can’t fault Steve for helping to save. 

The two things don’t fit in her head, and she has to pace while trying to wrap her brain around it because otherwise she feels like she might explode. 

“Okay,” she says, finally wheeling on him with a glare. “Okay. So you knowingly let some guy blackmail you, homophobically and hypocritically, because you thought he was hot and Dustin was sad?”

“Well—”

“And,” she interrupts shrilly, “you didn’t tell me. You hid not having enough money to eat—”

“I still ate,” Steve protests. “And I learned to make all those casseroles, you love those!”

Robin storms back over to the couch. There aren’t any decorative pillows like there had been at his parents house, because the Munsons don’t go in for that extra frills sort of shit. She snatches one of the cushions instead and thumps him on the head with it, making him drop his pizza in his lap.

“Aw shit, toppings side down. . . .”

“Steve,” she snaps. 

He looks up, holding the rescued slice in his hand and licking a glob of red sauce he’d scraped off his jeans off his other thumb. “I didn’t tell you,” he agrees, voice heavy. “You would’ve tried to talk me out of it and I couldn’t just. . . . Not after Barb.”

“Just because Nancy said so doesn’t mean what happened to Barb was your fault, Steve,” Robin reminds him. She's about ready to throw the entire cushion at him in frustration because they’ve had so many talks about that now. Has none of it stuck?! “But guilt or not, that doesn’t make what Eddie did okay!”

“I know,” Steve says quickly. He’s got those big damn puppy dog eyes that all but bleed sincerity. “I know it’s not okay. And that it’s not my fault about Barb.” There’s pepperoni and veggies on his leg; he starts picking them up and putting them back on his pizza. “I didn’t know that if I’d done something different, she might not have died. But I knew that about this, okay? Eddie was working himself to death and it still wasn’t enough, and I knew I could help.” 

The without getting the shit kicked out of me goes unspoken, but Robin knows his track record with that and can read between the lines. It’s almost definitely the easiest time he’s had saving a life since 1983.

But still.

"Blackmail isn't the cornerstone of a stable loving relationship, Steve!"

“I know.” Steve sighs, and goes to rake a hand through his hair before remembering just in time that it’s covered in pizza sauce and grease. “I know. . . . We’ve saved each other's lives though, Rob. And we’ve talked it all out, okay?”

She frowns, squeezing the couch cushion in frustration. “Not okay.”

“Come on. I know it was a shitty thing to do, and so does Eddie. You forgave me for years of being a douchebag, can’t you forgive him for this one thing?”

One thing. One thing, when said thing was threatening to out someone? Holding it against their throat, against Steve’s throat, like a broken bottle with actual intent to spill blood? How could she possibly, possibly not hold that against Eddie, when just the thought of it made her adrenaline spike and pulse race because being forcibly outed in Hawkins fucking Indiana is literally her own worst nightmare?!

Or, well. One of.

Steve is still giving her the damn puppy dog eyes. He looks so sad, whereas he’d looked so happy a moment ago, in a dumb, goofy, sappy way that she’d never quite seen from him about any of the parade of girls he’d gone out with since after Starcourt. It’s almost as though he thinks his epic quest to find The One (she can never help but crack a smile when she thinks of it as ‘finding his Suzie,’ and she’s upset right now, dammit, this is no time for grinning) has finally come to an end.

With Eddie Munson, who until ten minutes ago she would have said was a nerdy but perfect match for him. 

And, okay. She doesn’t want to be the reason Steve looks sad. He’s old enough to make his own decisions, and if he seems happy with them then it’s not up to her to rip that happiness to shreds, even over perfectly reasonable concerns. 

After a long moment Robin drops back into the couch next to him, clutching the cushion to her chest. “I still wish you’d told me. I would’ve shared my food with you. I would’ve known not to bum off of yours, and forced you to take gas money!”

“Robs, no,” Steve groans, then shoves a big bite of his messed up pizza slice in his mouth and keeps talking around it. “I told you a million times, I don’t want to be treated like a taxi driver.”

As if she doesn’t know for a fact that he threatens Dustin and the rest of the kids that he’s going to start charging for rides at least once a week. He’d explained to her once—after a night hanging out with Argyle and the rest of the older Hawkins crew, and everything had been hilarious at the time—that he doesn’t want the little shits to take it for granted and act as entitled as he used to.

Steve Harrington is too fucking good for his own good these days, even if he is a total dingus about it a lot of the time. 

Lucas fell asleep within the first twenty minutes, Dustin remained silent the whole film but you saw him enjoying the part where they made the tree grow big and when they traveled on the Bus-Cat thing.

Will commented occasionally, you nodded every time, mostly you were amazed by the imagination of the people that had created the film. Like you, Robin and Steve were ‘wow-ing’ every time something magical happened, your heart melted when the little girl found Totoro’s secret house, and you three were barely holding tears when the little kid disappeared.

“That was really cool.” Max said at the end, credits rolling.

“See? not everything has to be about spaceships and guns.” Steve looked at Dustin as he pointed this out.

Dustin kicked Lucas' feet, the latter almost fell off his seat.

“Uh, is it over already?”

“Yeah man, you missed it.” Steve took the tape out of his VHS player. “You, kids and ladies, want to order some pizza?”

Everyone cheered and the reunion moved to the kitchen. Steve put out beers for you and Robin only with the condition to not get drunk, he said it giving Robin a furtive glance. She didn’t care just drank a can within minutes.

“Jeez, Robin, keep it cool.”

“Shut up Steve, I’m with my best friends, I wanna celebrate.”

Music played softly in the background as everyone chatted, the pizza arrived in fifteen minutes and considering it was Friday night that was quite the record. Laughs were heard and you felt incredibly at ease, not worried or bored, you liked being there. Steve and Robin were fun and knew when to listen, their advice was trash but somehow it had worked so far, still they had no clue of when to keep their mouths shut.

“So are you excited for tomorrow, lover boy must have a whole repertory ready to serenade you.” Robin chucked, tipsy already.

You nudged her, widening your eyes as if she would get the hint to not say a word… too late.

“Wait… did it work? You and Eddie?” Lucas asked, cheese hanging from the corner of his mouth, he looked shocked.

“Lucas, told you to not say anything!” Max said with greeted teeth, the whole group heard her.

“Uh… Dustin? Did you tell them?” you knew the answer already.

“Shit!”

“DUSTIN!!”

“Y/n, sorry. Max can be persuasive and very scary at times.”

“I’m not scary!”

“Yes, you are.” All the boys said at the same time.

“Of course, and she told Lucas and I bet Will and your friend El and Mike and the whole town now knows I like Eddie. Fucking awesome dude.”

You let your head fall over the kitchen counter making a horrible thud.

“You fucked up man.” Steve said nonchalantly, eating his pizza.

“Hey, why are you so against me today, Steve. Thought we were like Batman and Robin or Doc Brown and Marty McFly.” Dustin threw his hands up in the air, clearly bothered.

“I mean we are, but come on dude, this is y/n we’re talking about, have some respect over the lady’s heart. Look at her, she already has enough on her plate just by liking Munson.”

If only you had laser vision, you would’ve burnt Steve’s hair.

“Sorry, I take that back, it was a bad joke.” He apologized.

“Well, now we all know, so what’s the plan for tomorrow.” Will intervened, patting your shoulder. It was nice of him to do so.

“Nothing. I just want to enjoy the night and then… we’ll see.”

“But you’re like totally kissing him, right?” Max said, with that wry smile.

The rest of the boys didn’t agree, they all made gaging noises or just grunted.

“If the time feels right, hell yeah.” More grunting. “But I don’t want to make it weird, I’m leaving in a couple of weeks so I don’t know.”

“This is so exciting! Love is in the air, that’s why I have some news guys.” Robin exclaimed, jumping and clapping her hands. “I kissed Vickie this morning.”

“No way!”

“Are you for real?”

“That’s the way to go!”

Everyone spoke at the same time giving Robin all the support and greetings she deserved. She’d been so in love with Vickie since forever and now they were finally making progress.

You hugged her and then Steve did the same, slowly everyone joined the ball of hugs until Robin pushed you all away because you were causing her anxiety. Still she was smiling so wide, she seemed to be glowing.

The teens were dancing and Steve started to make drinks with lemon and mint, you weren’t sure what he was doing but he was enjoying himself, this gave you time to put Robin aside, Steve’s garden was calm and the air was making your hair dance and finally with a little bit of privacy you hugged Robin properly.

“I’m really so happy for you, you and Vickie!! Oh god it’s been long enough Robs,” Robin’s face went red, bright and cute.

“Thanks, yes it took us a lot, right? But I guess it was totally worth the wait, she was so so sweet and it wasn’t even planned nor I felt like I had to do it, the total opposite; we were simply walking. She walked me home after I went to give her a few books she lent me so we were there and literally was like a swift move, our hands kinda brushed and she was already so so red, like it matched her hair and I was laughing and she was too but I said to myself ‘Robin you gotta hold her hand’ next thing I knew bam! I was holding her hand and even though our palms were all sweaty she didn’t let go, can you believe that y/n she didn’t!” Robin gasped for air, “And when we got to my place, we talked a bit more about going to the cinema next week and it just kinda happened, we were close and still fidgeting with our hands and,” she grinned, and let out a low shriek as she grabbed both of your hands. “We were kissing and it was cute and nice and yes very self-conscious and nerve-racking afterwards but it was perfect, and that’s what I want for you and Eddie, to feel all that all at once but perfect and unique in its own way.”

You felt the tug at the ends of your lips, your friend was finally receiving the love she deserved, but a sigh scared you, “Robin I know you want that for me because that’s all I want for you but stop that, this isn’t about me, this moment is about you and Vickie and you being happy and in love for once.”

“I love you so fucking much. I’m so glad you are here.” She engulfed you into the most loving and peaceful hug ever. Tipsy Robin was just the same as sober Robin, the only thing was that she was clumsier.

“I love you so much more but please you are standing on my poor feet.”

“Shit sorry.”

“Come, let’s have a drink to celebrate you and only you”

“I like the sound of that.”

In that moment the chatting inside the house became louder, you and Robin traded looks. These quickly turned into shocked ones.

“You’re late man” Steve said, patting the new addition to the party.

“You fucking called me with an hour notice Harrington, I had plans already.”

Eddie’s eyes found yours. It made your breath hitch and Robin had to nudge you slightly so you stopped gawking.

“Hello everyone!” Eddie waved to the teens but for you and Robin he winked.

Bitch!

Dustin threw himself at Eddie playfully pushing him to what he laughed and soon enough the tension of his sudden appearance dissolved into innocent jokes and playful banter. Steve rolled his eyes because even when he tried his best to hide his jealousy, it was kind of obvious he felt threatened by Eddie taking the spot of Dustin’s best friend. But Steve was too cool and cared too much about the young boy to try and sabotage his happiness.

You on the other hand tried to ignore his presence as much as you could. But the furtive glances started to become too obvious and too intense that they had to be interrupted by Steve’s deliberate glass clatter over the table or by Dustin’s fake cough.

“Are you avoiding me? After I showed you how to play guitar… low blow y/n!” Eddie clutched his chest as he softly laughed sitting closer to you on the grass.

Everyone was scattered around the Harrington’s garden, you were near the edge of the pool drink in hand and the summer night as the only witness of that gathering.

“I’m definitely not, you are the one chatting with everyone except me” you half shrugged hiding a smile behind your drink.

That's what happened, Eddie was happily exchanging stories with Will and Dustin, Lucas intervening ever so often, then Eddie went to Max and Robin, he even helped Steve prepare drinks–alcoholic and none alcoholic–there was something for everyone, Steve was actually a good bartender, which was surprising. The thing was that Eddie had only approached you because Robin was half passed out a couple of feet away from you, leaving you an easy target.

“Pff, okay, but look at us now, free range to talk all night long if necessary,” Eddie cocked an eyebrow, “I don’t have a joint this time but we have extremely sweet drinks instead.”

“Steve likes them too sweet, right?” Eddie nodded once, still both of you drank the lemony stuff. “So… I heard you were busy. Practicing I suppose?”

He gulped, “er, yeah, it’s gonna be a great show, a lot depends on how tomorrow goes so no pressure,”

Max was smirking from afar watching the interaction with Will by her side eating whatever Steve had left at his place.

“You’re gonna do great, I know it, I can feel it in my soul.”

“Yeah man, your band is really good.” Steve sat down near you, he had a jar of his creation ready to fill up your cups.

You of course didn’t deny Steve the pleasure so you drank and Edie drank which allowed the conversation to flow, all walls that usually were put up too high by Steve when it came to trying to maintain his image in front of Eddie crumbled a little, giving the feeling that in that moment you could talk about anything without the other person getting offended.

You had to ask about this  particular idea that had been circling in your brain like a fly on food, “how do you meet? Like I know we all went to school together but you sure weren’t friends so how did this happen?”

You blinked a few times feeling the drowsiness of alcohol, the lightness of your body. The feeling of fluffy grass under you kind of distracted you from their reaction but you heard Eddie sigh.

Steve snorted, “it’s a long story, but basically, we bonded over…trauma …and mostly because we found ourselves in a situation where we needed to protect Dustin”

“Basically it was a forced friendship, ”

“Yeah, pretty much.”  

“I can give you a fun fact, we share a mutual dislike for bats.” Eddie pushed Steve’s leg with his white tennis. “Right Harrington?”

Steve gave the long haired boy a grin, it was the kind you share with a friend with a hidden meaning, some private joke going between them and their funny glances. “We practically bled for each other.”  

You only watched, sipping alcohol to knock yourself out. “Hmm sounds fake but if you don’t want to tell me it’s fine.”  

Steve rolled his eyes at you, while Eddie just looked at you with a wry smile.

“Nothing seems to satisfy you woman.” Eddie said.

You squinted at him, a smile tugging at your lips, “I have a few things in mind that could.”

“Okay, I’m not willing to hear this.” Steve stood up from his spot.

Eddie was laughing at your side, you watched Steve wobble a little as he closed his eyes and extended his hands to try and find some balance. He held a finger up, “I’m all right.”

His drowsy smile made you chuckle. “You sure?”

“Just sit down Harrington”

“Promise not to talk about anything dirty in front of you.” You said sipping from your cup.

“Even though it’d be an interesting conversation.” Eddie mumbled only for you to hear.

The heat immediately reached your cheeks. You had to clear your throat, your eyes moved from the green grass to Eddie’s dark eyes, he was smirking.

“What? Feeling a little hot?” that smug tone was doing something to you.

“What?” you said in a pitched tone.

His fingers traveled in slow motion to your cheek, he stroked it slightly with this thumb, “your face is red, like blazing red, and it’s… warm.”

It was as if your body reacted without your permission, you leaned to the touch and Eddie couldn’t stop watching you, maybe the alcohol was doing a little too much.

“It’s the… you know… the drinks.”

Your breath hitched, as his thumb went a little closer to you lower lip and it was making you buzz from the inside, as if something was bubbling inside you like pop rocks fizzing all over your skin.

“Where am I?!” Robin startled all of you in the garden, she jerked up too fast she had to hold her head, but started to look around.

You missed Eddie’s touch the moment he stopped caressing your skin. He got up and kicked the lounge chair Steve had perched himself on. The breath you took next was met by several giggles coming from the teens who were running inside the house, it took you a moment to regain composure.

Dustin and Lucas put a video game on as you helped carry Robin to Steve’s room, she was talking nonsense about a dream she had about some dinosaur and an ice rink until she finally passed out at three in the morning. The teens were still going hard, but of course they did, with zero alcohol in their system the advantage was on their side and their youth. However you didn’t feel so young when your head started spinning the moment you sat down on the floor of the room. Steve was drunk and that’s when he decided it was the perfect time to show you how he did his hair every morning, step by step. You and Eddie traded glances, both still under the soothing effect of booze. Sometimes you giggled as Steve kept going, Eddie nodded because he didn’t feel like talking and he was enjoying how the boy by the mirror was humiliating himself without even noticing.

Steve was now on the last steps of his routine, the spray made a cloud around his head making him choke a little too hard he had to run to the bathroom… you held his hair back, not because he needed it but because he asked you to. Eddie’s laugh soundtracked the moment.

“Please, y/n don’t let it get dirty, it’ll be my ruin.” He threw up and you almost did too but you swallowed it down. Someone needed to give you an award for being the best of friends.

You had to call the boys to help you put him in bed beside Robin and soon after that you all were sleeping in Steve’s room, with pillows from his parent’s bed, towels and covers you found in a closet. Eddie's warmth clashed against your arm, he was lying on the carpet right next to you, his hand found your hair and he started brushing it, strand by strand absentmindedly, just like you once did.

“Are you nervous? for tomorrow?” you whispered. You back on the floor, Eddie on his side, watching you, not that he could because it was pretty dark but your eyes became used to the obscure room.

“I am a little, but it’ll be fine because you are going to be there… all of you.”

“Right.” you closed your eyes, “I’m glad you came tonight.”

“It was fun, I should be getting some sleep, but I don’t know if I can with this noise,” an orchestra of snores was all you heard apart from your low voices.

“Yeah, I won’t have a problem with that because the way you’re playing with my hair is making me very sleepy right now.”

“I’m stroking it as if you were a cat.” He said, closer to your ear. “Goodnight, y/n”

He kissed your cheek, but you were almost out so all you did was half smile and whisper “goodnight.” back.

Surrounded by the people you loved and Eddie’s fingers on your hair lulled you to the land of dreams.

★★★

After a good breakfast—more like lunch—made by you and Lucas and a cold shower the drunk musketeers were brought back to life, still a little hungover but nothing a few aspirins couldn’t handle.

Eddie had disappeared before any of you had the chance to wake up, he left a napkin with a thank you on it and a lopsided smiley face. You had been sighing non-stop, but no one dared to say anything to you except for Steve’s comment when you were alone washing the dishes.

“Your flirting last night was disgusting, you think I didn’t hear all the shit you were saying?” Steve shook his head, “get a room next time.”

“Now you know how Robin and I feel when you flirt with every girl you see.”

He scoffed, “That's different! They just want me for my looks. Munson is so head over heels for you, he almost moaned whenever you made a move, gross really.” The smile on your face made Steve chuckle, “Take things slow okay?”

“I am, we flirted like once, chill mom.”

“Funny,” he nudged you and threw the towel over your head as he gave a loud clap, catching the group’s attention “we need to get going everyone. There’ll be no bathroom stops so please empty those blades, you have half an hour, and no more… yes I am talking to you Sinclair!”

Robin added a little eyeliner to you as you fixed each other’s outfits. The ones you chose days in advance. You were ready in no time, not like Steve who took the longest time in the bathroom just because his hair wasn’t falling on the right spot on his forehead. But yes, between squeals, running feet and malicious laughs from the boys Steve managed to take them all out in time.

Dustin, Max, Lucas and Will were sitting on the backseats of Steve’s car. You had no license, neither did Robin and Steve was the only one with a car, so you all had to squish each other inside. Robin and you were sharing the co-pilot spot, the seatbelt was choking you as Steve drove as smooth and as fast as he could.

Age of Consent played. You and Robin nodded your heads to the beat, the kids were singing and eating snacks, Steve tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.

“Hey, no crumbs on my leather seats, or you’ll clean them. This is the first and only time I’ll say it,” Steve was indeed the mom of the group.

“Yeah guys do what mom Steve says, or he’s not driving us anywhere again” you said pouting.

The kids started chuckling and talking all over one another making Robin laugh and Steve to give you a severe look.

“Really y/n? Was that necessary?”

“It’s pay back for this!” you pointed to yourself. “I’m gonna end with a big bruise on my neck and Robin will have to amputate her leg because of lack of circulation; I’m literally over her. Get yourself a bigger car!” You snapped just before Steve pushed the break a little too harsh making you gag.

“Oops,” he said in faux sorriness.

You flipped him the finger, Robin folded your finger down and wiggled her body to try and find a better position. “Fuck, Steve how long is it going to take?”

“As long as it takes, Robin!”

“Damn, they’re worse than my parents.” Lucas casually said.

“Shut it, Sinclair.” Steve snapped.

“Just the facts.” The teens said all at the same time.

“Jeez, I can’t believe we all hang out for fun, need to get myself some male friends my age.” Steve pointed, shook his head clearly annoyed but you knew he loved every single one of the teens in the group.

After more banter and lots of shouting you all arrived at the place. In neon lights the name of the bar made you all sigh in relief. Robin pushed you out of the car, you almost fell on your knees, she apologized several minutes later, her leg had lost all sensitivity. Steve walked in first, teens in the middle, Robin and you right at the back, your poor friend leaping her way through.

You all had to give your names to the man at the door, he nodded and checked his list, as Eddie had promised you, you were on the list. The place was crammed. From afar you could see Jeff fixing some cables around the stage and giving his bandmate a thumbs up, when he looked your way he waved, smiling. You would be lying if you said you weren’t racked with nerves, and excitement with anticipation of seeing Eddie in action for real this time, the first time you didn’t remember if he sang nor the guitar solos he played but now you were there for him, to try and record every moment in your mind.

It’d be nice if your stomach stopped churning and jumping whenever a longhaired person appeared in your line of vision, unfortunately none of them were Eddie. The memory of his fingers on your skin and his lips on your cheek made you want to run away.

“He’s gonna be here any second, you’re making me nervous y/n. Stop moving your leg.” Steve handed you a glass of lemonade.

“Yeah, sorry I’m anxious.”

“Why? It’s obvious the guy likes you, he is probably just waiting for the right time, at least I would.” He half shrugged.

“Right, I know I said I wanted to enjoy the night and not preoccupied myself with these feelings but it’s impossible.” You gulped the fresh liquid.

“We’re all here for support, Porthos and Aramis, always here for Athos.” he put his arm over your shoulders, squeezing you lightly. “Right, Robin?”

“What?” she leaned closer to you two.

“That we’re here for y/n.”

“Of course we are! We are the three musketeers. You’ll be fine, otherwise I’d like to show Munson these muscles.” Robin flexed her inexistent biceps.

You snorted, “okay, thanks for that Robs, it really helped with the nerves.”

Dustin came to you running, “they are about to start, it’s going to be amazing, fucking hell I feel like this is the start of something big, do you guys feel it too? They’re gonna kick ass!”

“You need to drink some water Dustin, too much sugar is going to kill you.” You patted his head.

“It’s been like three sodas and a packet of sour patch kids, nothing to worry about.” He was already jumping all around your spot.

You looked at Steve, his eyebrows shut upwards, clearly perplexe. The worst part, he had to deal with him later on.

Dragging Max and Robin to the front row was not easy, especially when there were other girls waiting for the main band, still you had to keep your part of the promise. The stage was just a couple of meters aways as some guards tried to keep distance from it and the crowd.

Like the first time the lights went off, and your pulse turned on in a rush, you felt your palpitations drumming against your chest, too fast to be safe. The white noise of guitars being plugged and the taps on mics made the girls by your side smile your way and shriek in excitement.

The reflectors shining on the boys you knew, They were all looking like rockstars, leather pants, chains and some had eyeliner. Eddie had some kind of golden glitter on the high points of his cheekbones which made you gasp, who the hell does he think he is?

It took them a minute to finish prepping, his doe shiny eyes found yours. In that second was like the world stopped, you knew you were just as doomed as you had told Robin she was for Vickie, you were falling in love with this boy and he was up there winking at you.

“Did he just-?” Max yelled at you.

“Fuck, y/n you are soooo doomed.” Robin confirmed it.

“I—wish I could say something.”

Robin laughed.

Eddie took the mic, his poise of someone who belonged up there, who knew how to handle attention and he loved it. “Hello everyone!”

Crowds losing their minds, or was it just you.

“We are Corroded Coffin and we’re ready to give you one hell of a night, let’s get started shall we?” That cheeky grin had your knees wobbling.

“If you are going to pass out let me know so I can try and catch you, okay?” Robin said, with real worry in her eyes.

“Yup, yeah, ok.” You gulped, mouth dry.

It was good to know she had your back. They started with a song called Storm, your mind would never recover from Eddie’s singing voice even though you had heard him sing before but this was a whole new level of hot. You let yourself get lost in the music, Robin and Max dancing by your side, jumping mostly and screaming when the chorus hit, you didn’t know the lyrics but it didn’t matter. What mattered was how Eddie threw looks your way and smiled or winked or simply watched. He looked so damn good and happy, he was enjoying himself, it was crazy to you how you hadn’t paid attention to him that first night you saw him play.

Next song was a cover of Kiss and the crowd was singing along. Guitar solo came in and your insides melted, feeling suddenly very hot everywhere. Robin had to push you softly to bring you back to life.

There was a lot of screaming and pushing and jumping and it got sweaty real fast but it felt good, so good. A few original songs got played until there was this pause, Eddie grabbed the mic again. Pushing his hair aside he chuckled against the microphone, guitar pick in one hand as the other pushed the guitar to the side.

“Are you having a good night or what?” shouts and some cups of beer went flying. “Well, you better because we definitely are… this is our last song. It's a little bit of a last minute addition but there are people here that will enjoy this, I have someone special in mind. This is a classic and from one of the coolest bands… this is for an even cooler person.” He pointed a finger at you, “this is 20th Century Boy by T Rex .”

Your mouth dropped as the first riff played, Max was gawking looking at you, as Robin laughed so loud her raspy voice almost disappeared. Next thing you knew it was how you were jumping and singing the lyrics as hard as you could. If your smile could only go wider you would crack your face in two, yet, it was all about you and Eddie, you were trying hard to not think of the meaning of the words he was singing so fucking amazing at you or how he showed his tongue when he repeated.

20th century toy, I wanna be your boy

20th century toy, I wanna be your boy

Or when your eyes locked and he mouthed the words ‘told you.’ You were floating in a bubble of love and adoration. His rings caught light as he played the last chords, raw and loud, the whole place was on fire, metaphorically. Corroded Coffin was the best opening act ever.

Literally being dragged away from the stage by Max, you and Robin were laughing in incredulity, it felt like a dream like something that only happened in movies.

The boys welcomed you with lemonade, chips and grossed faces. Bet you looked indeed gross. You felt so sweaty and sticky but you were in a trance, literally daydreaming.

“That was for her right?” Dustin said first looking at Max, to which she nodded gulping down her lemonade. “Fucking knew it, I knew he wanted my cassettes for a reason.”

“Wish I could lie but that–that was great, even I was on my toes.” Steve said, probably just as mesmerized as you. “Munson, that bastard has to show me a few tricks.”

“She looks dead, is she okay?” Will asked, pointing at you.

“I’m fantastic, never better.” You sighed.

“Shit, we lost her.” Dustin confirmed.

“Now we need some air.” Robin stated, taking your hand and Max’s. “We’ll be right back.”

The boys nodded once letting you go, not before hearing mom Steve, “put your sweaters on, don’t want you to catch a cold.” He threw the jackets at you, practically hitting you on the face, zero reflexes activated, just a stupid grin on your face, “wow, she is like a zombie.”

“A zombie in love” Lucas corrected.

The crowd noise muffled as you stood outside, just a few people smoking and chatting were around. Robin shook you a couple of times until you finally connected back to earth.

“Was that real?” you were trying to wrap your head around the whole situation.

“I know, it was unbelievable, so cool, and romantic are you kidding, y/n. Eddie is so so in love with you, no one would do that just for a friend you know, if he did that for friends Dustin would’ve had a song dedicated to him a long time ago.” Max was pacing around as she talked.

Robin agreed with everything, “and he pointed at you, it was so obvious and yes, romantic. So if he doesn’t kiss you tonight I’ll kick his ass, yeah you heard me I look weak and I am weak but I’d do it for you, anything for you.”

“Oh I’d kick his ass too if he doesn’t kiss me or at least declares his love to me, I swear I can’t believe this happened, like what!!”

You chuckled, both of your palms holding each side of your face, feverish that’s how you felt. You were in cloud nine, that was stated, it took you a second to notice Robin’s features, she had gone silent, your eyebrows furrowed. She threw the jacked over her shoulder and looked at Max.

“Max?” you muttered.

It took the red-haired girl a second to react, “I think we should go back inside, but you stay here!”

Both girls ran back inside, you turned around to find a sweaty Eddie jogging to you. He was glowing, literally. His grin was so big your stomach fluttered.

You were so fucked, bad bad bad.  

“Hi” he said, pushing hair out of his rosy lips.

“Hello, there… that was— wild!” you couldn’t help it, you felt the adrenaline still running. “Can’t believe you played the song!!!”

“I said I would, and it was a hit, if I knew people liked it so bad I would've added it since the beginning.”

You hummed, “so it wasn’t for me, it was for the crowd, now I see how it is. Look who’s throwing low blows now eh, Munson?”

Eddie chuckled, “now you are fishing for compliments, but fine I’ll give them to you.” He crossed his arms over his chest, his outfit was so distracting, all of him was distracting your brain right now, “it was for you y/n. Wasn’t it obvious enough?”

You shrugged, feeling your cheeks go extra warm, “I don’t know,”

“What can I do to fix my lack of clarity then?” there was a playfulness in his words, you thought of asking the one question, the request you felt appropriate enough to fix it but you were afraid of his answer so you played it safe.

“Wanna buy me a beer?”

Eddie’s reaction surprised you, he let out a laugh, “do you want to go back inside?” a crease formed on his forehead. He lowered himself a little to be on the same eye level as you, “I don’t think I want to… I’ve seen the band a few times now.”

“I guess we can… go?”

He smiled, eyes sparkling along with his shimmery cheeks, “That sounds about right.”

His hand extended your way, ringed fingers and a couple of blisters on his finger pads, your eyes traveled up to his face, but his gaze had frozen on a spot past your back.

“What?” you asked.

You turned on your heels and there, you saw. Chrissy in a beautiful dress beaming at the man you had now by your side, you couldn’t help but look at Eddie, he waved a hand at her, your stomach dropped.

You took a step aside when Chrissy’s heeled boots clacked on the pavement, making her way to Eddie, she was practically running, she launched herself into his arms. They hugged and it was bad. Eddie closed his eyes and when he opened them they were watching you, you felt the tears prickling the rims of your eyes, but you held them. This was humiliating enough as it was.

“I’m sorry that I missed it! My dad didn’t want to lend me the car and had to practically get here on the bus last minute.” She giggled. Grabbing Eddie’s hand, the one he had extended to you, “was it good? I bet it went amazing.”

She said cheerfully, Eddie’s gaze was one of pain, but he didn’t say a word, he just stood there.

“It was pretty awesome actually.” You said your voice low, it almost cracked.

Chrissy finally looked at you, her big eyes and smile too kind for your liking.

“I bet, ugh so bad I missed it, but next time I’ll be there.” She said, “you can tell me all about it on the way.”

Eddie’s hand went to his hair, he mumbled a low “fuck,” and looked at Chrissy with a grimace.

“You forgot, didn’t you?” She wasn’t upset but you were, and you needed to get away from there.

“Nice to see you Chrissy, I have to go back with my friends… bye Munson.”

You backed out, hearing Eddie calling your name but you ignored him, the warm air from inside hit you, you had to step aside taking a few deep breaths to avoid the tears. A big knot was forming on your throat, your hands shaky. You saw Robin wave at you, you jerked up fake smiling.

Keep it together, keep it together. Was all you could repeat to yourself as you walked back to the table.

The main band was already on stage. the lights were low which you internally thanked because it would hide the pain a little better.

“Hey, you okay?” Robin, asked.

“Yeah why?” you busied your hands drawing with the condensation of your cup.

“You seem a little… weird. Did Eddie say something?”

You scoffed, “nah, he just had to do some stuff with his band and I wanted to stay with you guys. It’s all good.”

“Hmmm, ok.”

The rest of the concert you passed it with them, faking happiness, pretending everything was fine, that your heart was not getting ripped out of your chest. It was all going to pass… at some point, at least you hoped so.

On the way back, everyone kept on talking about Corroded Coffin and how Eddie had performed a T Rex song so perfectly. You nodded and laughed when everyone did, trying your best to stay in the moment, not letting your mind drift off, not letting intruding thoughts drown you, it was hard and you didn’t want to be alone, not tonight.

Dustin and Will were the first ones Steve dropped, Will staying with the Hendersons until his brother came back, Joyce was with Hopper in California for a week, or that’s what he said to everyone. Lucas next, he was kind enough to give you the last chocolate he hid in the car for later that night. It was supposed to have a rabbit shape, instead it looked like a deformed cat. That's when you noticed that maybe you were not as good of an actress as you thought. Max got out of the car with furrowed eyebrows.

“Had a great time… hey y/n… whatever happened you got this, okay? Love you!” She ran down until she reached her home.

“Love you too.” Robin shouted.

You three watched her get inside.

“My place?” Steve suggested.

“Yes.” From the corner of your eye you saw Eddie’s empty home, your chest squeezed.

“Let 's go.”

It would’ve been cool to say that the topic remained untouched, but the first thing Steve did was go to his backyard, grab his spiked bat and hand it to you as he tried to take something from his garage.

“Steve, what’s this for?” The bat was heavier than what it appeared.

Steve dragged some kind of mannequin/scarecrow figure, it was pretty damaged already so you guessed this was a thing he did often.

“Just hit it, whatever shit went down you need to release it or else it’ll pop into something worse, trust me.”

You sighed, “why do you think something went down”

“Uh, I don’t know, maybe that horrible face of yours, I mean… no offense I mean it like you’ve been quiet and just wincing whenever we talked about Munson.” Steve said, hands on his hips, “so if you are not going to tell us at least let it go.”

“You should try it.” Robin pointed.

“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you it’s just that… I feel… stupid.”

It was true you were feeling like you could curl into a ball and cry,

“You are not stupid,” Robin went to side hug you, “you can always tell us what’s up.”

Your fingers scratched your forehead, letting the bat fall at your feet, “it’s so dumb but, Chrissy showed up and I’m not entirely sure but—Eddie and her had plans for something and he had just asked me to ditch the concert and go with him… we were flirting, okay? and then… we weren’t.”

Steve crossed his arms, looking at the floor. Robin simply pursed her lips, “well… that’s kinda fucked up if you ask me.” he said.

You saw Steve clench his jaw, with a swift move his foot sent the bat upwards, catching it with his hands. In a second he swung it straight to the scarecrow thing. You and Robin winced.

“Maybe it was nothing… like they could be hanging out as friends you know?” optimistic Robin showed up, you felt like crying again.

“Robin we know that’s not true, he has this crush on Chrissy and they were probably going on a date and I was stupid enough to believe he had feelings for me.”

You curled against Robin’s embrace as Steve hit the thing once more.

“The signals were pretty clear, even I saw them!” he said abruptly, “we all saw how he did the rockstar shit and winked at you like- come on man!” Steve was panting, his face red. “you don’t go to a lady’s house twice for nothing.”

You threw Steve a sharp look, as Robin gasped. He cocked an eyebrow “I don’t mean it like that, Jesus. You two have a dirty mind.”

Whatever he meant it didn’t matter now, your whole body felt so heavy, so tired. “I’m so pathetic Steve, you don’t have to cover it up with theories.”

“He is not covering anything!” Robin said, taking the bat from Steve’s hold, “We all saw it, Dustin noticed and proved it! If he is actually dating Chrissy, well that’s low.” She started punching the scarecrow as obscenities came out of her mouth.

“Yeah! Robin, show him who’s boss.” Steve clapped prodding her to keep going.

“You should totally try it Y/n it feels good,” she yelled.

“Come on, you need to take it all out.” Steve took your hand and guided you to the target.

Robin placed the bat which tilted in your grasp. A moment later you hit, over and over again. Loud growls, bad words and cheers were all that one could hear coming from Steve’s house. The good thing was he didn’t have neighbors close enough to complain about the noise.

It was all shits and giggles until you couldn’t continue, the bat falling to the ground. The horrible feeling of dread and the intrusive thoughts of not being enough, not being good to keep people around. This time you were not alone, Steve and Robin sat you down, you didn’t even notice you had started crying until Robin wiped a tear from your chin, she even cried a little too, Steve sniffed but he hid it well. You three had gone through similar shit, understanding the other was easy. You grabbed their hands and sobbed the pain away, at least until you were too tired and too hungry to keep going.

That night, none of the three musketeers was left alone, you all slept in the living room, Steve handed you and Robin clothes to sleep in, he put what used to be your cassette on. George Harrison doing his best to band-aid the cracks of your heart with his sweet voice and poetic lyrics. A little comfort came when Here Comes The Moon echoed in the house, Steve gave you a sad lipped smile and Robin pushed away the hair of her face.

“It will be okay, y/n. Everything finds its way back around, and that idiot will regret it.”

“I’ll make him regret it.” Steve said deadpan.

“Steve, please don’t.”

“I’ll cancel his Family Video membership,” Robin quickly said.

“Or we can charge him extra.” Steve added.

“Ugh, you always do what you want, don’t you?” you knew what they were going to respond.

“Just when Keith isn’t around, so basically all the time, yeah.” Steve agreed.

“At least give us that, our little fuck you to the guy.”

“Fine,”

Steve got up and turned the lights off as well as the stereo, on his way back you clearly heard the high five he gave Robin. After a couple of minutes of silence someone had to corrupt the peacefulness.

“Girls.” Steve mumbled, softly.

Both of you hummed, already feeling the drowsiness of sleep crawling its way up your body.

“You know I’d do anything for you, right?”

“Of course we know dingus. We are family.” Robin quickly reassured his friend.

“Exactly, I’d do anything for you too, all for one—” you said

“And one for all.” your two best friends ended the phrase.

Giggling and sighing you three were.

“You are the best friends one could ask for. I love you.” Steve added.

“I love you way more guys” Robin mumbled.

“I love you musketeers, forever.”

“You guys are going to the movie night, right?” you asked both of them as Nancy drove.

Nancy nodded, throwing you a glance through the rearview mirror. “Sure, Mike has been bothering me about it since he found out, and maybe it’d be good to have photos of it, you know just for the memories.”

“Yes, correct. We have Byers’ boy here to take the most epic photos.”

“You got it! I wouldn’t miss it, mostly because there will be free food anyway so absolutely,” Jonathan smiled at you. “It’s going to be good.”

“It is already good, come on! I can’t believe we finally come to this.” the fluttery feeling of nerves and excitement increased in the base of your belly, your hard work was reflected in the almost finished magazine.

“Yes, it’s been hard… and expensive but it’s good, my mom thinks it has potential.” Jonathan exclaimed, looking out the window, “I don’t say it because it’s my mom but you know… it’s nice to have the adults opinion.”

“Tell her what Hopper said.” Nancy shot Jonathan a funny look. It made you squint at them.

“What did he say?”

“Uh. well… um he thinks it is very… cool? no, no, he said dope… your magazine is dope kid!”

“No way,” you snorted, and all three of you were laughing as Nancy reached your aunt’s home. “At least we have a strong fan base guys, it’s getting better.”

The car came to a halt when Eddie’s van came out of the curve, parking right on the same spot he had since you met him a year ago. Your whole body buzzed at the expectation of seeing him again for the first time in months.

Nancy and Jonathan traded secret glances and looked at you.

“Well, see you later,” Nancy smiled.

You saw Eddie coming out of his van and your heart somersaulted against your ribs, ready to burst.

“Say hi to Eddie for us.” Jonathan said, but you were already shutting the door close.

Eddie looked the same yet hotter and hell! his smile, you ran to his arms without thinking through.

The clash of bodies, took the breath out of his lungs as he heard you laughing, clinging to his neck, legs surrounding his hips, he had no option but to put one of his hands on your butt and the other on your waist.

“Hey, love how are you?” he was surprised by the calmness of his voice, on the inside he was shaking, legs felt like jelly just by feeling you around his arms. “Fucking hell, I missed you!” his face hid between your hair.

For the first time you felt like you were home.

Your backpack fell at your feet when Eddie put you on the ground, his eyes were shining and yours were watery for some reason you felt like crying.

“No crying, come on baby, we are having our romantic encounter.”

“But these are happy tears!” you tried to defend your emotional state but it made Eddie’s face to contort into a sad lipped smile, “don’t do that it makes me feel bad, I’m just happy to see you Eddie,”

“Then kiss me,” he quickly grabbed you by the waist and in a second you two were kissing, it started cute just chaste kiss after chaste kiss.

You had curious eyes on you, people passing by in their cars, slowing down just to see who was showing PDA on the streets of Hawkins. The news of you and Eddie being together was very new in town and of course they talked about it, your aunt was worried about what people could say or think of you but your mom eased her down, Eddie is the cutest sweetest boy in the world. She said.

Whatever happened around you was the least of your problems, you were very interested in kissing every part of each other’s faces. Your hands grasped Eddie’s soft dark hair just as his hands squeezed your sides a little as the kiss intensified slowly, tongues got in the way and restless hands tried to grab more than they could.

At some point you were dragging Eddie across the living room of your temporary home, you left the backpack on the entrance of the house. Eddie chuckled as you kept on pulling onto his arm, all was good until you got to the stairs, he froze mid-step. Your uncle watched you two from the rim of this newspaper, he was sitting on the couch, facing you.

You clearly heard Eddie gulp, and his body stiffened. Knitting your brows together, your eyes went from your boyfriend to your uncle as if you were watching a tennis match.

“Uh, good afternoon Mr. Johnson… sir.” Eddie half bowed half waved with his free hand. He wanted to run the hell away from there. The image of that gunshot still fresh in his mind.

“Good afternoon.” Your uncle grunted, folded his paper and walked out to the garden where your aunt was watering her roses, minding her own business.

Immediately after the man disappeared from Eddie’s line of vision he visibly relaxed, a sigh came out of him and you tugged at his arm calling for attention.

“What was that about?” You had a funny look set on Eddie.

He half shrugged, “nothing–I think he doesn’t like me much”

“But I do- and we are going to be here only for a few minutes, let’s go.” You had agreed to go help Steve decorate his house for the Star Wars thing, which was set for tonight.

As you guided Eddie up the stairs, he held your hand to his lips. “You’re taking me to your room? Oh babe, that’s so naughty of you.” his smug tone made you giggle.

The moment the door of your cousin’s room clicked closed you pushed Eddie against it and started kissing him again. It’s been a while. You haven’t seen each other in 3 months, you both needed it, no matter how much you had clashed your lips together earlier it was not enough.

Eddie’s hands on your hair and neck, he grabbed the chain you had around it, he saw the ring he gave you hanging there, warm to the touch, smiling he kissed you harder, biting your lower lip lightly, causing ripples of desire go down your belly. Your own hands found a place under his shirt, fingers running down his back. It made Eddie shiver and gasp mid kiss, causing you to grin. Oh the power you had over him, you were barely aware of it.

“Hey there, I have something to tell you,” he mumbled shakily over your lips, pushing your hair aside so he could have better access to your neck.

“What is it?” Eddie left tiny pecks on the side of your neck up to your cheek, eyelids and finally he kissed your nose.

His smile was one you’ve never seen on him before, wide and sweet. His eyes sparkled and he was looking down at you, with so much adoration it was making your insides squirm.

“What?” You asked again, your hands brushing the top of his hair.

He half shrugged, kissing the tip of your nose again. You felt him grip your hips slightly harder “I think I’ve never been this happy. You make me happy y/n”

Your own lips tugged upwards, “is that what you wanted to tell me?”

Eddie chuckled, “well yeah, I mean it’s not like you didn’t know already”

“But it’s nice to hear it, because you, Eddie Munson, make me extremely happy and proud.”

Eddie felt his whole face flush, he truly didn’t have much word encouragement or appreciation in his life growing up so this was nice and new and he was enjoying every second of it.

“You forgot to say that I’m the most handsome man you’ve met, with the best band in the world, that we are the future of music.” You scrunched your nose laughing, “what’s so funny huh?” He poked your stomach making you laugh even harder.

“Aah stop,” he didn’t until you fell flat on the matters, Eddie’s legs on each side of your hips, he leaned over you, as you slowly stopped laughing.

“Seriously, you make me happy and… I have news.”

Eddie had you pinned down but he was only looking at you as if you were the most precious thing in the whole universe, to him you certainly were. Grabbing your hands, interlacing his fingers with yours, he stared.

“Okay, tell me… better be good news.”

“They are,” his smirk gave it away, “we–Corroded Coffin–have a deal… like a real record deal.”

You felt your stomach clench, “are you for real?” Eddie nodded, biting his lower lip. “Shut the fuck up!”

“I fucking know! It’s insane, I mean we have to go to Chicago in two weeks to see details about the contract but… baby, it’s happening!”

Eddie squealed, jumping out of his spot in the bed, he started pacing around telling you all the details about the phone call he received only two days ago, how his friends and band members were over the moon for the news. For Eddie this was huge, and you knew, but he felt beyond happy, words were not enough to express how he felt, never in his life experienced such an amount of joy.

He truly felt like he could burst into specks of sparkles and confetti. You watched him talk with crazy hand gestures and incredible wide grins, teeth showing and rings shining. You could watch him do that forever. But most importantly he was happy and you were there to see him shine and grow.

☼

The arrangements for the Star Wars party were pretty simple but you were in awe when the mirror ball reflected the colorful lights Steve had already installed in his living room. It showered the house in rainbow rays of light, it really made you think of how the whole space jump aspect of the films looked like.

While Eddie helped put cushions on the floor and place the cookies shaped as Ewoks and R2D2’s on large plates. You went to meet Robin in the kitchen, you gave Eddie a once-over, he was smiling at the decorated cookies, proud of the way he had arranged each of them in perfect lines, you loved a childish man.

Grinning, you almost clashed with someone on your way in. Liquid swinging dangerously inside the transparent cups the person was holding on a tray.

“Shit, I’m so sorry.” you said, helping the girl.

The red haired girl smiled at you, “no worries, we didn’t spill anything, we are good. Steve would’ve killed us.”

“He totally would,” you laughed, “You’re Vickie right?” the girl nodded and suddenly Robin was by her side, as if she had appeared out of thin air.

“Ah, fantastic!” Robin said gleefully. “My two favorite girls here. so I’ll make the introductions.”

“We were already–” you tried to say.

“Shh, Y/n, this is important.”

You rolled your eyes at your friend, you heard Vickie chuckle.

“Y/n, this is Vickie… my beautiful girlfriend.” The beam Robin showed to the girl beside her made you want to cry, they both looked so happy it was the most joyful you’ve seen her in your life. “Vick, this is y/n, my best friend… I’ve told you a lot about her.”

“Yes you have, but it’s lovely to finally meet you in person y/n”

“Likewise, my friend here has been utterly in love with you since forever.” you laughed, but quickly went silent when Robin threw you a sharp look. “anyway… I hope she has told you only the nice things about me.”

Vickie nudged Robin–who still had you with a death glare– with her elbow, your friend looked at her, and then at you, her face softening immediately, cheeks growing red.

“You know Robs, she told me everything about everyone really, so yeah the good and the bad,” Vickie shrugged, “you’re okay though, don’t worry, I bet she’s one drink away from telling you all my embarrassing stories as well.”

You both laughed, and Robin grunted in faux irritation, she loved that both of you were bonding even over her gossipy self.

“I wouldn’t doubt that, but hey, let me help you with that.”

Taking the tray Vickie had been holding with drinks in bright almost radioactive colors, you turned around and walked to the living room, the snacks table was already set, all thanks to your handy boyfriend.

Eddie met you there. Smiling he leaned closer to you as you placed the tray on the surface of the clothed wooden table.

“She is cool, right? I mean, Vickie. I’ve talked to her a few times and she is just like Robin, she is less clumsy but they kind of have the same… um, goodwill and are always there to help, if you know what I mean.”

“She is very nice,” you both looked at Robin and Vickie, pouring green stuff into more cups, they were laughing about something and pushing each other playfully. Vickie kissed Robin’s cheek and then Robin kissed her on the lips.

That was your cue to look away.

“I’m just happy Robin is happy, and for once she is being herself fully, that is all that matters.”

Eddie’s sneaky arm went over your shoulders, dragging you closer to his body, he smelled like mint gum, you sniffed, oh he definitely ate one of the cookies because there was some hint of cinnamon in the air.

“I’m happy everyone is happy right now, even Harrington. He deserves someone who loves him for who he truly is not because he was popular in school,” Eddie scoffed, “it’s beyond me how he pulled off dating Wheeler, but I guess the world works in mysterious ways.”

You nodded but quickly turned to face your boyfriend, “wait… why you say that? Do you know something I don't?”

Squinting at him, Eddie gulped, shit now this was his fault, he shouldn’t have said anything.

Fuck me!

Steve was going to kill him. But more than anything he knew very well he couldn’t divert your attention to other topics, you were not going to let it go until you found out what was going on,

“Shit, okay…” the palm of his hand brushed across his face, eyes tightly closed. “Promise me you won’t tell Harrington I told you, because he made me swear on my guitar that I wouldn’t tell but look at me, I’m always so stupid. Also, he wanted to tell you everything… so… can you promise?”

His shiny dark chocolate pools of irises were enough to swear on it.

“Now spill Eddie!”

Eddie sighed and whispered in your ear, you were in shock, how was that not even Robin had told you about this, it was odd and impressive at the same time. You hated when they knew stuff and you were the last to find out. Yet you understood why Steve hadn’t told you about his current crush.

The girl was not the obvious option for him, she was new in town and she was a Star Wars fan, she had read about Lord of The Rings and played all the games at the arcade. It was the opposite of Nance. So it was twice as shocking to you when that night you found Steve blushing and giggling like a little child when said girl was around, it was a s if Steve had lost his brain in one of the rooms of his big house and now he was just… being stupid.

Robin told you all about how they met, it was all the kids doing; Max invited her to one of the movie nights and that was the end for mom Steve. You’ve seen Steve being an idiot before, several times, like it was part of his personality, yet that night he reached another level of idiocy.

Green punch fell off his hand and splashed his jeans, and carpet, the girl–named Maggie–was laughing, while Eddie snorted by your side, he was not going to let that go easily. From far away you saw Nancy and Jonathan communicating as they did, with knowing looks and smiles and giggles as they watched the scene grow more dramatic as Steve knocked over another cup of punch with his feet as he made his way to the bathroom.

Keith rolled his eyes and sighed, but not only Steve but everyone who dared to make another sound during the movie, he would remain annoying for the rest of his life.

Maggie was jolly, if you and Robin were a happy combo now with Vickie and Maggie around it was all big laughs and whispering gossip, this made Eddie and Steve worry about their own sanity, but just as Eddie said earlier, it was good, things were finally good in Hawkins and that was better than it had been in years.

At the end of the night, the whole gang was dancing to radio music as some collected trash, others ate the leftovers, and the rest just pretended to do the job as the chat kept going. And things felt like they have always been like that, Steve pulled you aside, he told you all about Maggie as you pretended to be shocked, gasping and smiling. Then again it got proven how bad of an actress you were.

“You knew already! Jesus! I can’t keep something for myself in this town or what!” Steve shouted to everyone in the house, “don’t even tell me, I know it was either Robin or Munson.”

“Hey, this is your fault, you should’ve told me! It hurt me not to hear it from you first, you dumbass.” you smacked him on the arm, he gasped.

“Ok, rude… and, sorry. I was overwhelmed and Robin made me feel bad about it the whole time, as if I had committed a crime for liking Maggie or something.” both hands on his hips, waiting for your acceptance of that horrible apology.

“Steve, shut up I never said anything bad to you, stop blaming me for your lack of confidence.”

Steve showed Robin his tongue and she flipped him the finger, you grinned, there they were, your two best friends being… them.

“Whatever Steve, are you asking her out or do you want me to tell her?” you snapped, with a wry smile.

He grimaced, “I can do that myself please y/h, I’ve done that a million times now,” your eyes narrowed, making Steve wince under the strong staring, “stop that, I swear I am inviting her out, just…. I need more time.”

“Ugh, if you say so.”

Eddie scoffed, “man, just do it… she’s gonna say yes, we all saw the way she laughed –rather loudly I dare to say, when you did stupid shit… trust me you did tons of stupid shit and still she stayed for the whole trilogy.”

Eddie was right, it was an act of stupidity followed by ten more that night, including choking on his own saliva as he said the name “Wicket W. Warrick.”

“She did not laugh that much!” Steve squealed, his cheeks going red.

“She definitely did,” Lucas tried to imitate Maggie’s laugh, only making you all laugh at his attempt, “y’all jerks.”

“Do it Steve!” Dustin started chanting, and soon everyone joined him until Steve put his hands up in the air to make you all stop the nonsense.

“You little fucks are the worst, just shut up and… let me call her.”

Howls and whistles sounded, prodding Steve to finally ask her out.

By the end of the night Steve had a date for the weekend with Maggie. That Sunday, you saw him go out of Family Video wearing a navy blue polo shirt, hair extra puffy and leaving a trace of lotion behind.

“He used too much of that thing,” Eddie coughed as you waited for Robin to finish her shift, you were taking her to the mall where she was meeting Vickie.

Robin smiled at the image of Steve fixing his hair again on the rearview mirror. If someone had enjoyed seeing him suffer that was Robin.

You were all leaning on the main desk. As Eddie and Robin made fun of him, you thought how nice it was to see him finally dating someone good for him, not that Nancy wasn’t but he was looking for someone who could replace her rather than someone he liked being around with.

Robin still had twenty minutes to go for her shift to end, meanwhile you and Eddie were pacing around Family Video, reading the back of the tapes’ summed-up parts in funny voices. When that got boring, Eddie dragged you to the farthest aisles, he put you against a self and kissed you, you were giggling the whole time.

“Shhh, VHS sheriff Buckley is coming for us.” Eddie mumbled as he leaned closer to your lips, in the movement, his hand smacked a tape off the rack and there they went… the whole line started to fall like a domino line.

“Guys!” Robin shouted from her spot on the desk, her head popped to shoot you the nastiest stares. “Seriously, can't you keep it in your pants for a few more minutes Eddie? And you y/n… I’m disappointed.”

You hid your face on Eddie’s chest, you both snorted, but it only made Robin more annoyed and for you to laugh even harder.

“Sorry Buckley, I’ll put everything in place, my bad.” Eddie put a hand over his heart, apologetically, as if that was enough to make Robin feel less frustrated.

Robin’s eyes rolled, it almost looked hurtful. “Just… ugh!” She went back to do whatever she has been doing before the commotion.

As Eddie placed the tapes back on, trying to look for the right place they were before, you watched him, not even bothered to help.

If someone saw you right there you were sure you would look like a complete idiot, Eddie was just everything for you. The way he blinked, how his smirk made your stomach twist and your toes curl, his hands were always warm and gentle when he touched you, and his rings were always there making a nice contrast to the temperature of his skin. His hair was soft and even when he didn’t want people to know he took good care of his messy locks, smelling like lavender and yeah, sometimes like weed, but hey “those are natural scents” he’d say to you with an easy shrug and a grin.

Maybe the future wasn’t going to be as easy as just being there with your friends but for now it all felt perfectly okay.

For Eddie it was like a whole new level of intimacy to have someone around not only to talk or joke around but to hug and hear encouraging words. Eddie was used to being pushed away, or looked at the wrong way, you were somewhat like the light he has been waiting on to shine on his path, to make him see things were good too. So he never missed the opportunity to say the nicest things to you, to kiss you whenever he felt like it, to hold you so close it felt natural to be there. For him it felt so instinctive to do everything knowing it was for you, and it wasn’t a possessive thing it was just a way to thank you and show what he never had growing up, love.

Eddie furrowed his eyebrows when he saw you standing there, just watching him. A smile playing on his lips, he wanted to ask what were you thinking but Robin’s clock chimed, and that only indicated that she was off, finally.

Placing the last couple of tapes on what he guessed were the right spots, he sighed looking at his work, it wasn’t the best but it was better than nothing, shrugging he turned to you and took your hand.

“Stop looking at me like that,” Eddie pushed you slightly with his hips, the chain on his jeans clicking. “It makes me feel all self conscious.”

“I was just admiring your beauty, but if you want I can look at other boys.”

He scoffed, “as if they were better looking than me.” you snorted, “don’t laugh! Let’s be honest I’m both gorgeous and have a great personality.”

“Yeah,”

“You’re mean” Eddie pushed you again, making you laugh harder, he smiled and went to the desk to see what Robin was doing.

“Just five minutes, I need to change.” She said, shoving her best in the pits of her backpack.

“Fineee! We’ll be outside. Hurry up Buckley!”

“Yes mom!”

Eddie passed you, opening the door open for you. Hand extended for you to take, funny enough, no matter how many times he did that, or kissed you, every single time you felt like squirming and jumping, the butterflies hadn’t had a rest since spring break.

Taking his hand. With a light squeeze Eddie guided you to his van, both got inside to wait for your friend.

Eddie put the radio on, pop music playing, he scrunched his nose, you only shook your head, classic Eddie.

Taking the bag you left in the car, there rested a new mixtape you made during the weeks leading up your comeback to Hawkins. Throwing it at Eddie’s lap he saw a name written on it, Jitterbug love, the song he sang to you that night a year ago.

A huge grin spread on his rosy lips, his fingers traced the name letter by letter, causing you to bite the inside of your cheek.

“Should I put it on?” He asked, already pushing it in the stereo.

“Hope it’s good enough for your high standards.”

“We’ll see about that.”

The first notes of We Will be Strong played Eddie immediately turned his face to face you, lips forming an ‘O’, for the chosen song and the fact that you knew the band had him a bit more in love with you

“Fucking Thin Lizzy, have I told you before how much I fucking love you?”

Your heart skipped a beat. No, that was the first time he ever said I love you, but he had expressed it plenty. Still the impact of his words felt funny in your chest, making your face heat up.

“Nope, but I love you too.”

He leaned in his lips and smacked yours so suddenly, grabbing you by the back of the neck, surprising and all you quickly you recovered.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about,” he simply said, bopping your nose with his index finger.

His head banging to the rhythm as the guitar riffs filled the space in the van, you felt at ease, joyful. From your spot inside the van, you saw Robin running around Family Video trying to put everything in place before closing for the day.

You sighed, resting your head on Eddie’s shoulder as he played air guitar. You two had the whole summer ahead, things were so different from what they were a year ago, and yet similar, one thing was for sure, change was inevitable and you were ready for it, as for that moment you were pleased with how life was developing. Next year, who knows what it’d bring.

☼

A year later.

Eddie puffed smoke out of his nose, this was the third cigarette he consumed in a row. The crowd inside the venue was only growing, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t feel nervous, his fucking keens were wobbling as if he was little Bambi making his way out of his mother’s womb.

It was ridiculous to him to feel so jittery for a performance when he has done it a dozen times now. To make things even worse you weren’t there, that was what had him more worried than anything else. Almost an hour late, he should be by the side of the stage now, getting ready to go up there.

The butt of the smoke went flying away with the flick of his finger. The autumn air was chilly, he had no jacket on because he felt like he didn’t need it, at least he wouldn’t once he started the show, but the moment the wind hit his naked arms he regretted not grabbing at least Steve’s corduroy jacket.

This was the most important performance for Corroded Coffin, that was true, but he tried to push the thought far away, not needing the extra pressure.

Eddie started pacing around the alley, close enough to the backdoor of the venue if someone came out looking for him but far enough to have a moment of privacy. Chicago looked so huge from where he was, he felt so little and insignificant when he thought about all he had gone through the last couple of years. All from being called the leader of a satanic cult, to fighting monsters in an alternate dimension to being in love and then being heartbroken just to be in love again, then Corroded Coffin getting big, who knew he had to go through all that just to be standing there in the cold without you in his arms.

The immensity of the world reduced to your figure running across the street. Your boots echoed in the alley, and Eddie finally felt like he could breathe.

“Christ! Baby I thought you were not going to make it!” Eddie shouted, you instinctively jumped to his arms once close enough, koala like, like a tradition now.

“I am so sorry, my bus broke down on my way here. I had to take a taxi and then another bus. But I’m here now.”

Your lips kissed Eddie’s cheek, holding his face between your hands, you smiled, he looked so beautiful with glitter on, his eyes shining even more.

“Aren’t you cold?” You asked, feeling the cold from his rings coming through your jeans.

“Nah, I’m all good now.” He grinned, and kissed you fondly.

“You were smoking,” you scrunched your nose.

He chuckled, “yeah, but I have a good excuse… you weren’t here and I was anxious, I am pissing my pants but it’s okay, you are here and that is just what I needed.”

“Hmm, okay then let’s go inside.”

Eddie let you down, fingers intertwined like second nature, it had been a difficult year for you both in terms of seeing one another. Eddie had done everything in his power so the debut album of Corroded Coffin could be recorded in New York, which they granted yet this was happening in the upcoming weeks. He was yearning for that time to spend it with you as much as he could.

They had done tours, as the supporting band which was great for them, they released their first songs at the beginning of the year and now they had them playing on the radio. It always made you smile when you heard your boyfriend’s voice coming from the speakers. Proud flooding you.

But for that you two had sacrificed visits and holidays together, so both of your careers could take off. You traveled as much as you could manage to be at Eddie’s shows and it was so much fun, you were not complaining at all, on the contrary you loved it, however, being back at Hawkins in his van sounded like a dream right now.

For you it had been good as well, the magazine was launching its official first edition in a few more weeks, shiny paper and a few record shops in Queens and Brooklyn agreed to sell copies in their establishments. That was another reason why you all were there, this was Corroded Coffin’s first performance as a band with a record on the way and singles playing everywhere, and you were there to have that first show ready to be redacted and placed on your magazine, this being one of many collaborations of the two.

Inside the venue was warm and loud as shit, Eddie’s chocolate eyes met yours every now and then as he showed you around, the green room was the final destination. Relieved sighs and claps were heard when the two of you stepped inside.

You hugged the whole band, Jeff already off the walls, like a wild animal ready to be set free.

Steve hugged you so hard the air in your lungs came out in a puf.

“Jesus, y/n. What took you so long! You should’ve told me I could have waited for you in Hawkins,”

“I’m here now, don’t sweat it.” you have him a kiss on the cheek to ease his nerves. “How was the trip?”

“Long, these kids I swear they are going to make me go insane.” Steve started to complain about all the noise and mess they made in his car, “good thing is that Maggie was there with me.”

They drove all the way from New York, to Hawkins to pick up the teens and take them to Chicago for tonight. Not all heroes wear capes.

“Where is Maggie?” You looked around to try and find her.

“Out there with Vickie and the kids, they said they wanted to have the best spots, even when I told them we had them already,” Steve rolled his eyes, “you know how they get.”

You nodded, understanding completely.

“Is Nancy and Jonathan here too? I need to know if we are good for the shots.”

Your body turned to Eddie, who was drinking water. He gave you a thumbs up, but soon enough you felt him coming for you, hugging you from behind.

“They got here like two days ago. I saw Byers earlier with all these different cameras and Wheeler was gathering information from the manager, so yeah all set.” Eddie mumbled, his chin resting on your shoulder, he kissed your cheek, that being enough for you to turn on your toes and kiss him back, harsher than necessary, making everyone grunt, you smiled, proud of the reaction.

“Hey! Am I invisible or something?” Robin complained, “I’m your best friend, y/n. I want a hug too.”

You chuckled, “We saw each other two days ago, Robs”

“So?”  

“It's my time to shine Buckley, you’ll have her later.” Eddie pointed, poking his tongue out.

Now Robin and Steve were in New York with you, which was fantastic, you three shared an apartment. Good thing was that Vickie had got into a college in Brooklyn which was very convenient for Robin.

Maggie was always around, and occasionally the kids were seen in the apartment as well, you weren’t sure how but they managed to convince their parents to let them go to Manhattan. You didn’t even want to ask, they were sketchy whenever you asked about how they got permission or money. So you let them be.

“The band just finished their set. They gave you long enough so no more excuses, huh Edward.” Their manager, Martin, appeared at the door giving Eddie an accusative glance.

“Noted.” He responded still holding you, he saluted the man who smiled at you, closing the door.

“Hah, Edward.” Robin said laughing.

“Shut it, Buckley.”

Robin kept on laughing, you shook your head, dynamics always the same but it was funny to see Eddie covered in dark clothes, long hair and glittered face and then hearing someone call him Edward.

“Are you ready?” you looked at your boyfriend right in the eye.

“Am ready now that you are here,” your heart somersaulted, and the butterflies in your stomach danced wildly.

“Have the best night okay? Have fun!”

Eddie grinned, now he was finally feeling like this was the life he wanted, “can I get my good luck kiss please,” Eddie begged, his nose brushing yours.

“Of course,” your lips met his soft, pink ones, sweet and deep, his tongue met yours, teeth colliding and sighs escaped the two of you. “Good luck.” you whispered, barely able to speak.

“I love you!” Eddie held you closer, you heard his heart hammering in his chest.

“Love you more!” you replied, with a big grin, he finally let you go, reluctantly though.

Eddie felt whole for once, you were there, his friends were there, his band was not the opening act any more. They were finally playing a sold out show on their own, life couldn’t be better, after all the lows, he was finally living his dream.

“I want a good luck kiss too.” Gareth complained.

“Hey! Watch your words, man. You always have Jeff for that,” Eddie pushed his friend, clearly joking. “Let’s go boys, we have a show to give.”

The band started jumping, and patting each other on the back, making weird noises and letting the excitement wrap them.

Robin and Steve made gestures for you to follow them, but not before you could give Eddie one last look, he winked at you as you took different paths.

You followed your two best friends through a few corridors until you reached the designated place for you all. The kids hugged you and asked you about your trip and the whys you were so late, all the boys wearing their Corroded Coffin hand made shirts.

From there you saw Jonathan, he was fixing the lens of his camera, doing his best to find the best spot for the photos. Nancy and Maggie met you there the moment the light went off.

Screams made it all feel like the motor of a plane ready to take off, roars only going louder the floor shaking at your feet. Robin held your hand, Vickie by her side, Max as always ready to jump and dance with you, like your little own tradition.

Nancy had a tiny notepad by her side, she wrote a few words and went back to watch the show.

The reflectors went on stage and the band came out, the noise grew and grew making your body buzz with excitement. It started with Eddie giving a speech thanking everyone who attended the show and for requesting their song on the radio stations.

The concert went on with songs you knew by heart, shouting and dancing with your friends around, Nancy was enjoying herself a lot all the while she wrote down stuff, Jonathan nodded his head when he was not shooting flashes and changing lenses.

Their new song Fonder got everyone singing, dancing and sweating, passing water bottles to each other and laughing at the peak of happiness.

Corroded Coffin sounded better than ever, and looked even better, Eddie was shining, moving his hips, and banging his head to the sound. Solo guitars made the venue rumble as the crowd lost their shit to the sweet voice of their lead singer, and the absolute hypnotizing rhythm of the bass and drums.

“Now,” Eddie spoke on the mic, sweat pearls on his top lip. “This one means a lot to me, and I think it got secretly picked for the setlist a long time ago, and I don’t think I'd be going anywhere. Here’s a classic, Jitterbug Love by the iconic T Rex. This one's for you baby.”

A finger pointed at you, his wide grin made your breath hitch, the kids nudged you. It was the end of the song when you clocked Eddie placing his guitar aside, people screaming to get his attention but Eddie had one goal and that goal was to get to you.

The music continued thanks to the band who seemed to be very well prepared for this moment, elongating the song.

Eddie ran and dodged hands, gave high fives to a few and when he reached you, he only did what his heart felt like it. He kissed you, hands on both sides of your face, as the crowd shouted to the air, you laughed half way through the kiss.

“What are you doing?” you asked.

“I just felt like kissing you right fucking now.”

Eddie’s smile could light the whole city if possible, he was sweaty, you probably were too but it was all too sweet to even think of how sticky you felt. He ran back to the stage to sing the last couple of lines.

Jitterbug Love is going all around now

Jitterbug Love is going all around now

Here it comes again…

Eddie shouted to the microphone, blew a kiss to you. Cheeks were hot and you were shaking.

The green room was a party once the show ended, flowers were received and champagne spilled. Everyone gathered in the tiny room. You sat on Eddie’s lap, as he held you against his still hot sweaty body. You had glitter plastered all over your face and hands, you were loving it.

Jonathan and Nancy were talking about the piece they were writing together. Jeff pointed, “if your are good Byers, we could hired as our personal band photographer”

Which it was obvious he would.

Eddie bit your ear to drag your attention to him. You slapped his leg, hearing the rumble of his laugh on your back, “Can’t believe this happened,” he whispered.

“To me it’s all like a dream, it was wild.” you confirmed, looking into his eyes, “you were fantastic.”

“Thank you very much, I have a great girlfriend that supports me and is my biggest inspiration.” a peck on the corner of your lips, “truly, you are the best I don’t think I could’ve done any of this without you.”

A sigh escaped you, “back at you boy, Sonic Fret will have a special thank you note for your contribution.”

“Nah, not necessary. I’m happy with this, you and I here, with our friends.”

“Me too,” you snuggled closer to him as Steve and Robin depicted to everyone in the room all the crazy stuff they’ve seen in the subway in New York.

Eddie snorted, “Can’t believe they’re your friends,”

“Excuse me? They’re yours too. We fit in with them just right, we are all a little… derange.”

“In the best way obviously.”

“Hey don’t be calling us derange, you crazy rockstar.” Robin explained, “If it wasn’t for me you wouldn’t have met.”

“I didn’t even say anything! And you are completely wrong! If it wasn’t for Vickie.”

“What about me? I left Y/n there, duh” Steve stepped in.

You gasped, “how dare you admit that Steve. I had to walk home alone because of you.” You pointed at him and there the chaos unleashed.

“We all made it happen, now shut the fuck up, and keep on telling us why that lady had a squire inside her pocket.”

It was a normal evening in an unusual way. It all came full circle.

Loving Eddie was easy from the beginning. You’ve done it for two years now and no matter how much your lives changed you were ready to spend it with him; weird night encounters, long distance and random PDA’s with occasional fights over who had the best music taste. You always won, though.

You bit the side of your cheek… after a second of looking at the number you shrugged, taking the phone from your mom’s room you dragged it to yours. Closing the door you dialed. There were plenty of chimes, until a man answered. Mr. Wheeler had always been a grumpy man, so you went straight to the point. You heard how the man shouted for Nancy to pick up the phone, and after a minute she did.

An exasperated grunt sounded before she could talk.

“Who is this?”

“Hi, Nancy it’s y/n, I’m sorry for calling all of a sudden, Steve gave me your number and I just decided to call you, how are you?” you wanted to self palm yourself, the rambling inevitable, but that was the way; politeness first, then business.

“Uh, yeah y/n of course, Hi. I’m good, what about you?” she sounded bored to you but sure she probably had better things to do.

“It’s all good, just um… listen I know this is awkward specially because we were never close, not even friends back in school but I’m in New York now and an idea came to me, it’s different from what you’re doing at the moment with the school paper and such but maybe if you are interested in the future, would you like to work with me? I mean, I have a magazine project in mind, it’s for college, very in the works, don’t know what I’m naming it or anything but if you find it slightly interesting would you mail me? or call me? I’ll give you my number, do you have something to write with?”

Silence, you gulped closing your eyes, it was the fast Robin kind of rambling again. Shit, you always ruined these things doing so, it surprised you to hear her laugh.

“That was a lot for a first time call” you heard shuffling on the other line, “listen, I have a few things going on right now but sure… What kind of magazine are we talking about though?”

You felt the tug at the end of your lips going upwards, a light flutter in your chest “oh god, are you serious? Wow for a second I thought you had hung up on me. Wow, um ok so… it’s mostly a music magazine you know like Rolling Stone, but made with a female perspective, with interviews, maybe some movie recommendations, and I don’t know perhaps we can add a few other important things that are happening in our society respecting girls, it’s basically that.”

“Wow,” she sighed, “that actually sounds interesting… I like it, don’t take it the wrong way but this is a little ambitious for just the two of us.”

“No, yeah you’re right but it’s just the beginning. Listen, this is just like the main idea, we can work on it and polish the whole concept, I just need a few people that I can count on and build this slowly, so are you in, Nancy Wheeler?” you were twisting the phone chord so tightly around your index finger it was starting to turn a sickly kind of purple.

“I don’t know how you’re planning on putting this into a real magazine but yeah, count me in! Why not?!” she giggled and you let out a big puff of air out of your lungs.

“Hell yes! That’s amazing Nance, can I call you Nance? Oh god, okay um… do you think Jonathan would be interested in helping?”

Nancy snorted, “I think I can convince him, don’t worry about it.” A big grin spread on your face, this was the first good thing that came out of your trip to Hawkins, well that and your friendship with Steve… and Eddie, but that was another topic.

“Fantastic, ok well, I can give you my number and we can discuss this with more detail. I still need to talk to my teacher about it and see if I can use it for a dissertation project or something but yeah, cool… I’m rambling now, just tell Jonathan and let me know, do you have paper and pen?”

“Yes,” you gave her both your number and the one of your apartment “got it!”

“Ok cool,”

“Um, thanks for considering me, this can be a good thing, for lots of people.” Nancy said, your heart felt full in that moment.

“Don’t mention it, it was like a collective idea, I’m glad you’re giving me and this crazy idea a chance. Well, I'm gonna leave you alone for now, thanks Nance.”

“Thanks for calling y/n, talk soon.”

The line died and you plopped on your bed, the bubbly feeling starting to rise from your belly, this was good.

☼

Halloween arrived in the blink of an eye, it had been two weeks since you talked to Robin and Steve, they had way too much work for you to interrupt them. So it was set as an obligation for you and them to have a phone call the night of Halloween. Ten at night and you dialed Steve’s phone number, the line chimed more times than you cared to count, but you waited, they were the only lucky ones you waited for to pick up.

“Harrington with H of Hello.”

“Ugh, that was awful Steve, please just stick up with Hi,”

“Oh look who it is, miss grumpy pants. Nice to hear from you, miss-I’m-too-busy-for-my-friends.” You heard him munching something.

“Me? You were the ones that didn’t call, I waited for hours and last time I did call, you were all ‘oh no I have so much work and my date is in one hour’ whiney dork.”

“Hah, so funny guys, first of all that was an outrageous imitation of me.”

Robin’s laugh floated to your ear, “He is a whiney dork, and I had to do all the stuff he didn’t just so Keith wouldn’t fire him.”

“This is exactly what I don’t like about our group calls, you always attack me.”

“See? He whines too much.”

“Shut up Robin. Are we going to watch the movie or what?” Steve interrupted the banter.

“Fine, do you have snacks and all?” you asked, opening a can of soda, placing it on your bedside table, right beside a half eaten chocolate bar.

After forty minutes and a break for the bathroom, your room’s door opened.

“Can I use the phone?” Katia opened the door of your room, you had popcorn all over your shirt, a melting square of chocolate on your fingers. She grimaced when she glanced at you.

“Uh… no? I’m using it, weren’t you supposed to be at that party of lawyers you were bragging about the whole week?” you cocked an eyebrow.

Katia grunted. “I just wanted to call Justin so he could pick me up.”

“Well, it’s a shame you won’t be able to.” The chocolate got placed in your mouth, warm and tasty.

“Are you talking to Robin?”

“Yes, wanna say hi?”

“Hello Katia,” Robin shouted from the other line, speakerphone now on.

“Hi Robin, I expect a better Christmas gift this year, last year’s was trash.”

“It’s what you deserve after what you gave me.”

“Oh fuck you then.”

“Always nice talking to you.”

“Whatever,” Katia rolled her eyes but smiled. “See you later y/n, don’t eat all the ice cream or I’ll kick your ugly ass.”

You flipped your finger at her, she walked away chuckling.

“She’s such a doll.” Steve’s sarcasm made you grin.

“She’s okay, the only thing is that she thinks she’s better than the rest of us.”

“Dudes the best part is about to happen, shut up.” Robin said and yes the slayer movie started to get bloody.

The whole mechanics of synchronizing your TV VHS player with theirs took a while, but you managed to play it at the same time after several tries.

To you Fredy Krueger wasn’t that scary but you thought that maybe if it wasn’t Halloween you would totally freak out if you saw him on a regular Wednesday in your dreams.

“Jesus, that looks way worse than my period.” You mumbled to no one.

“Please don’t start.” Steve quickly said before you three grunted, made gagging noises and hissing sounds when someone died. “Yep, that was a lot of blood.”

“I don’t think I'll be drinking the rest of my wine anymore,” you said, gulping, giving a glance at the cup by your side, the soda far gone now.

“Wine? You're drinking wine!”

“Hell yeah Robs, you know I can’t stand horror shit so I need to be tipsy to handle the stress.”

“Who’s whiny now.”

“Zip it Steve.” You and Robin said. Your soft laugh made Robin do the same.

“Also it’s the cheap kind, so don’t expect much from it, Harrington. Carton wine isn’t as fancy as your dad’s damn bar.”

“You got a point there… So now we watch the new addition to Family Video horror collection?” Steve said far away from the phone.

“Child’s Play it is.” Robin sighed, pretty satisfied with her pick.

“Shit, guys you really don’t want me to sleep tonight.”

“Who said anything about sleeping, we are partyiiiiing.” Steve shouted in a weird voice, making you laugh.

After taking out the tape you put the new one on, good thing that they had a copy available at your local video rental. You curled up with a blanket and your snacks, you spilled a few drops of soda every now and then whenever Chucky did something funny, like running, or when it was all burnt but the thing didn’t feel like dying anytime soon. Steve and Robin made the experience more like a comedy than a horror one, which you appreciated and made you miss them way more than before.

✤

The first bash of snow rested on the streets of New York, it was a week before Christmas, which meant buying your friends gifts that were not shitty and were definitely overpriced but still the whole ritual was kinda therapeutic to you.

For Jonathan and Nancy were easy to pick, you bought a bunch of film rolls for the Byers guy, different IOS exposure and a mix of b&w and color ones, plus a camera lens filter for cold tone photos. Nancy, you were in between buying her a nice fluffy sweater in pastel tones, the poem collection of Sylvia Plath and a new diary. You opted for the latter, you weren’t sure if that was her style, she was very into fashion and you were not so it was better to give her something she could use plus a nice set of colorful pens.

Katia and Sharon weren’t your friends in the very sense of the word but they were cool and did things for you like sometimes paying rent when you were a little late with the payments, so they got scented candles and a box of chocolates each.

For the teens in Hawkins was a hard thing specially because you weren’t sure what they liked, well except for Dustin the kid was very specific on comics so you bought a bunch of Marvel stuff for him, all from the X-Men to Spider-Man. Lucas was all into sports and music so He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper album was a no brainer when you saw it with a Christmas discount, it was still a rip off but the kid deserved it. Will, you cared so much for him you had to be very careful where to buy artsy things that were the quality he needed, so a box of pastels, a special block for them and a watercolor set got nicely wrapped in a shiny christmas-y paper.

Max got a new set of wheels for her skateboard along with a cassette you found from a french punk band. You knew she was going to like it especially when she felt angry, at that age you were always angry and ready for a fight. You found Max to be a lot like you, which made you want to protect her and be always there for her.

Things got a little harder when the Steve and Robin gifts had to be chosen. It could either go excellent or down the hill to ‘the worst gift given in history’ like that one year Robin gifted you some socks she found “cute”, they had blue frogs who wore cowboy hats. That was not the worst part, it was that the socks were too little for you to wear so they ended at the bottom of your drawer. The never used pair of socks.

It’d be a lie to pretend you knew what Steve needed other than therapy and a hug. You guessed a comb would be as good as any other gift but it was cheap and you were not ready to ruin your friendship with him thanks to a comb. The sight of a blue sweater screamed Steve to you, a button down sweater was good, he looked good in blue so why not. That and a compact mirror with the symbols of the Rebel alliance in Star Wars, after that Obi-Wan reference that seemed very appropriate.

And Robin, you had found a set of pins since early February, those were destined for her the moment you saw them, they were all David Bowie, that was the symbol of your friendship, if it wasn’t for him you wouldn’t be friends with her so you took them without questioning the price, it was right, and now you needed something else to form the perfect Christmas present. It didn’t show itself to you until the moment you were about to give up and go home.

A mug with an orange-y bird standing on a branch, it was perfect, handmade, hand-painted, just the ideal mug for Robin, a Robin mug, literally. If someone would appreciate that would be her, you were certain about it, you two had the same sense of fucked up humor, so it got secured in a box filled in with newspaper and that got into a bigger box with the address of Robin’s parent’s.

It was a cold morning, when your mom had sent you to buy a few things in preparation for Christmas. Brooklyn was one of your favorite places to walk around, it was a bit less crowded than downtown and there were always Christmas markets in random streets. You ended up buying a new pair of pink jeans with yellow flowers on them, and a few books, poetry and magazines you could use for inspiration for your new project, but it was the sparkle of silver chains that caught your attention.

Belt chain formed with little skulls, it was all Eddie, it’d be mistake not to buy it, so you didn’t think much about it, maybe it was a sign for you to try and stay friends with him, at the end of the day he was part of the Hawkins gang and you didn’t want him and the teens or your two musketeers to be vexed with each other.

It got inside a blue silver-like wrap, it lied on your bed for a few hours once you got home, you weren’t sure if sending it was a good idea but at the end of the day you placed it at the bottom of the box, where you couldn’t see it, as if that was enough for you not to think about it. You checked your list and yes, you had gifts for everyone, even Mike and El, you didn’t know them well so a scarf got folded for Mike and a set of shimmery makeup for El also got a spot inside the box. The shipping wasn’t cheap but it was worth it.

So worth it you got a call from Robin the moment it got delivered at her door.

It was the morning of Christmas Eve when she called, you just got your own package as well sitting at the foot of your bed, it was a big box filled with gifts, she put an extra bag of candy for your mom and one box of chocolates for your roommates; who were not impressed but at least it wasn’t just a Christmas card.

“Did I just see a gift for Eddie here?” Robin wondered but you caught her wry tone.

“Oh my god Robin! Don’t open it!”

“Jesus, okay sorry I just saw the package. I mean, I’m in charge of delivering all these, I’m practically Santa, therefore I need to know the list of names of the well behaved kids, am I right?”

“Ugh okay yes, it’s for Eddie, the thing is how did you know it was for him, it has no tag on it?”

She giggled “well… I took a peek and the skulls are pretty much his thing so… yeah sorry.”

“Knew it… you are too nosy, but I forgive you because you got me a new corduroy tote bag, and these cool markers… but tell me, what do you think?”

“Uh, about what?”

“Dude…” you slammed your palm on your forehead, “about Eddie’s gift, of course!”

“Well, it’s nice, very nice I’d say, but don’t worry I won’t tell Steve because he’s gonna be jealous about you giving Eddie jewelry when he got a sweater.” She scoffed

“But it’s a nice sweater.”

“It is, maybe I’d tell him you got him nothing so I get to keep the sweater… hah just kidding the material feels itchy on my skin, but he’ll love it.”

You grinned, “Open your present now, I wanna hear the reaction.”

“Hmmm okay, must be a nice one.” The line went silent for a moment then you heard your best friend screaming loudly as she picked the phone again, her voice sounded very high pitched and raspy, “This is the absolute best, are you fucking joking! The pins are going straight to my working vest, so I can see them all the time… and this mug, oh!”

If she could only see you, you had the biggest grin, your cheeks were starting to hurt, dammit! You wish you could be there to see her reaction in real time.

“You know you are the best right? Like yes it sounds biased when I just got the most perfect gifts ever but you truly are the best friend I could have ever asked for, and no gifts, no money, no long distances would change how thankful I am to have you in my life. Honestly, it sounds so cheesy but it’s true. I love you dude, just wait until you see the rest of the gifts, especially those mixtapes.”

She squealed and you started to open yours, it was a tradition now, you had always opened the gifts the day they arrived at either your house or hers, this year was extra special with extra gifts for you at least.

Yes, there were two mixtapes, one with the name of ‘the last-first party of the year’ and the second one had nothing on it, which was odd but you didn’t ask questions, you were sure Robin was not going to answer any of them.

“I know my present is the best one but what did Steve give you? That dingus didn’t want to tell me.”

It was a pink wrapped present, when you ripped it open the box came onto view, it was not a common box it was a jewelry box made of wood, your heart squeezed when you opened it, depicting a picture, one you weren’t sure when was taken but it was Robin, Steve and you at Family Video watching a movie, you were almost sure it had been taken by Dustin, because it was simple, like very in the moment. You were looking at the tv, you three midway to a laugh, cheeks rosy and you seemed happy.

“Did he give you the photo too? And the book?” Robin asked when you gasped.

“Uh yes,” you couldn’t help but hug the small book against your chest, it was the three musketeers book, “which one did he get you?”

“It’s the second novel,”

“I got the third one,”

“He must have the first one, he is sentimental like that isn’t he?” Robin said giggling.

“Yes, but it’s cute.”

You felt full of love, noticing how Steve cared for simple yet meaningful things, next year you had to give him something handmade, that was your mission, make him feel important and special.

“Max gave me a tie dye shirt.” Robin took you out of your train of thought.

“Same here, I think she is more into practical stuff than us, it is cool though.”

“Totally. We can wear matching outfits when we see each other.” Robin said with clear excitement.

“I like that, what did Dustin get you and why is a handmade D&D guide for dummies?”

“He got me that plus a coupon for a free lesson, that kid needs to learn a few things.”

“I’m regretting spending my money on him.” You grunted.

“Lucas really put some effort in this, he made us all the New Year's mixtape, he said we could play it along together when the clock strikes eleven thirty, so it plays for exactly thirty minutes and we can listen to the last song of the year all at the same time, then the other side on the first half hour of the new year…”

“That is cheesy—if I was to say something—but I appreciate it, he better put some good tunes there.”

“He has cool music taste so I trust the boy.”

“No way Will did this cartoony portrait for us, mine is so funny, wow if I were to say that any in the gang was destined for success I’d put Will on the first spot because he has some skills.”

You were in total awe at the image you had in your hand, it was you scrunching your nose with glitter on your eyelids and a very punk vibe, you weren’t sure you gave away that aura of coolness.

“He showed me his progress and I think he captured you pretty well, like strong but also nice? I don’t know, it gives off both kind of opposite perceptions of you.”

“Hmmm… am I that intimidating, I look angry.”

“No, it’s just that you know what you want, and that you are very… um listen you are like Steve in the sense that you give off intimidating energy but in the best way possible.”

“That sounds so horrible, Robin, we better change the topic.”

“Yes, that’s what we should do… uh Jonathan and Nancy sent you like the biggest shit ever, why on earth would they pay for a typewriter? Is Nancy now your new best friend? After all we’ve been through?” she squealed, but your laugh was the hint she needed to understand it wasn’t about that.

“It’s for work, I’m working on this magazine project. If you are interested in sharing some of your film opinions and recommendations I have a spot open.” You bit the inside of your cheek.

Robin started laughing, but you kept silent, hence she stopped the mocking, “wait you are serious, oh my god yes! Absolutely, shit dude why didn’t you tell me oh my god, wait—that’s why they’ve been traveling so much, right? Mike was showing off how Nancy had bought him merch from some weird nerd store he likes from Chicago. Shit! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

It was true, Jonathan and Nancy had bought a typewriter for you, you had only agreed to it because it wasn’t new and you paid half of the price, they decided to pay the rest as their Christmas present to you. Still it was a very dope gift, you had received it only two days earlier than the gang’s own box of presents.

“Yes, to all of it, and I didn’t tell you before because it’s still pretty much in the works, we are working on names right now so if you have any ideas I’m very happy to hear them.”

“I mean, not at the moment but surely I’ll come up with something. Y/n this is great, I can send you reviews of some of my favorite films and you can decide what to post. This is so cool, Steve is gonna love it.”

Mike and El got you a bunch of stickers and a handmade pen holder made out of a can of something that still smelled sweet, it had more stickers on and lots of ribbons. It was nice. Definitely better than nothing.

Still there was the cassette at the bottom of the box.

“Uh Robs, you guys put an empty cassette here or does it actually have some music?” you had to ask because it had no name, and no indication that it had been recorded.

“It has music, you should listen to it but I recommend you to do it when you are alone, with headphones on and just with an open mind…”

You snorted, “okay… is this some kind of joke? Because I do not appreciate jokes on holidays.”

“It’s not a joke, geez you should trust me I’m your best friend.”

Facts. Still there was something sketchy about it.

“Right,”

And you did what Robin advised, it was Christmas, two in the morning and you were ready to call it a night, your mom and aunt were a little tipsy taking over the karaoke so there was no point in trying to mingle.

The door on your room closed, the mixtape rested on your bedside table. Feeling deep inside you that you should listen to it, maybe it was the Christmas spirit or just your brain trying to find a way to muffle your aunt’s horrible howls when she sang Astral Weeks .

The cassette got placed inside your walkman, headphones on. White noise, being the only thing you heard, for a second you thought Robin had played you a prank, but the voice you heard next made your chest clench.

“Henderson, are you sure this shit is being recorded because I swear to christ if you’re just-“

“It is recording Eddie please you're talking about me, when have I let you down?”

“Uh yeah I'd rather not answer that… shit ok… hi, um y/n I hope you're listening to this… I don't know when but-“

“Go to the point dude,” you clocked Steve’s voice in the background.

Steve the traitor Harrington!

“Right, um so I just want to apologize for what I did. I was confused and stupid, I still am pretty stupid so we are not debating that,” he lightly laughed, “I never said this to you, not because I didn’t feel it but because it wasn’t fair for you at the moment, so… I really appreciate you, no—um it’s not appreciation I feel, ok yeah I do appreciate you but it’s stronger than that.”

He made the largest pause, he was being more dramatic than necessary, but it was worth it.

“I like you… a lot actually…”

Your breath hitched, heart skipping a beat, accelerating into a dangerous pace.

“Aww” the sweet chime of girly voices backgrounded the recording.

“Hey guys you are very supportive and all but can you fuck off for a minute!” Eddie yelled to them. It made you laugh only imagining the whole thing. “Yes exactly, finally some privacy. Alright where was I?”

After a second of no sound a big sigh coming from the tape made your tummy drop.

“Y/n” Eddie mumbled, “I fucked it up. I should’ve known you were going to ruin me the moment Buckley introduced us, you with your sweaty hair and sparkly eyes like... SHIT!”

You closed your eyes, headphones in place as you sat on your bed. If you concentrated enough you could almost see him with his hands over his eyes, trying to put his shit together.

“That’s why I called Robin and Steve and went to see you that night, you know? I guess you don’t know, but I wanted to see you again and be just there, to forget about the rest of the world. Never felt like this about anyone, yeah I’ve been attracted to girls but with you is like a collision between lust and care and love and I wanted to make you laugh all the time, and hold your hand and—Jesus, I sound like Harrington.”

You smiled, laying on the mattress, your hand went to your chest trying to have some control over the flutter inside you. Failing of course, you wanted to squeal and roll on the floor.

“You kinda always have been there; buzzed hair and school guitar rehearsals. Yep I saw you a couple of times walking through the empty halls on your way out of school. It always intrigued me why you were always there so late. And that night when you told me it was for me, for the guitar… I guess I knew that since I was a kid, because it changed something within me, unconsciously of course because until now I was in the dark of how it had shifted things for me. Although I finally acknowledged it; I wanted to be the best guitar player and wanted to impress people, not just you but everyone around, that’s when the band formed and I became unapologetically myself, I wanted to do it my way.” He chuckled, a sad one you could hear it.

“Anyway, I hope we can at least stay friends… or stay in touch. Umm, there’s something else I want to tell you, no one knows this but we got a deal, not a record deal but it’s getting close to one…this thing is big. Corroded Coffin got its first tour… we aren’t the main act but we are opening for a small band from California and they wanted us to play for them for their northern area slot… so yeah I guess it’s pretty cool huh? If things get better, I hope that sweet deal about an interview in your magazine is still on the table. That’d be fucking great,” he cleared his throat.

“Just wanted to share that with you because you’re important to me. And I don’t know, that’s all I’m gonna say before I get too mushy so… the rest of the cassette is just a mix I made, remember that bet we made? About you playing guitar and going to my shows and me listening to your mellow shit? Well,—I did it, I listened to all kinds of things you mentioned and some other recommendations from Steve and Robin, so yeah” Eddie’s chuckle rumbled all across your body, it was causing a reaction in your system. “Lots of great tunes here, because as you already know I have a fantastic music taste anyway, so enjoy it. And have a very Merry Christmas or New Year or… whatever it’s happening the day you listen to this.”

“Don’t feel forced to give any kind of reply, it’s all cool….You don’t even have to forgive me, because—hell I wouldn’t forgive me either to be fair… anyway. Uh, should I sign this with my name or something? Well, shit I don’t know… With love, Eddie Munson. That sucked, ok um bye.”

A low thud sound followed by “Hey Dustin how do I finish the recording.” Another thud and shuffling sounds, mumbles and swears, followed by white noise finally filling your ears completely.

It took a few seconds there for the Echo & The Bunnymen to abruptly start. Your whole body came back to life, Lips Like Sugar made your insides squirm.

Eddie had declared his love for you, well he just said he liked you but that was enough. You laid in bed listening to the selection of songs that practically were a love letter for you, everything he could feel or express got translated into songs you liked and that he related to you.

Was this the ultimate token of love?

Absolutely, you’d be stupid not to see it.

The fact that this was sent even before you had sent your own gifts was a clear signal that you and Eddie have been thinking of each other for a few weeks or months now. You sent him a gift without expecting anything back, instead you got a mixtape one that had songs that made you want to jump and dance and cry and take a bus to Hawkins to go kiss the boy but oh well you had stuff to do, and no money left to spend.

Uptown Girl made you laugh hard because it made sense for him to add it to the mix, not because you were rich or anything but looking at the situation you were in, he was becoming someone just to get out of Hawkins and hell, Corroded Coffin was finally getting places, you were happy, too happy to know what to do now, if you called it would be weird, and what if he wasn’t home. Of what if he picked up and you didn’t know what to say to him, that would be embarrassing, but Eddie deserved all the success, he was pure talent along with the boys, Jeff and Gareth and their other band member and you just hoped you could manage to at least see him again, without resentments, without expectations just good vibes and kindness.

That mixtape got replayed over and over again to the point of your roommates having to hide it inside the oven no one used just for you to give them a break. At some point you decided to call Eddie, or at least you’ve tried a couple of times but it always ended with you hanging up before someone would pick up.

A whiney coward that’s what you were. This was all you wanted from the boy and now you were afraid of how strongly you had fallen for him, not wanting to get hurt again.

The hiding spot was weak, you found the tape within the span of hours after you realized what they tried to do. The list of songs had T Rex on it which was no surprise to you, what surprised you was Honey, Honey by ABBA , which unlocked the memory of Eddie telling you about liking them and now you were certain Eddie Munson was low-key an ABBA fan, it always made you beam whenever you listened to it, the butterflies having their own party in your stomach.

Unconsciously Eddie was making you smile, bringing happiness into your life. Damn you loved him.

You whole body hummed at that though, you love Eddie Munson, it was scary but it was way scarier to try and imagine your life without him in it.

✣

When February hit, you had the heads up form your teachers, the magazine was happening, the name you weren’t entirely sure yet, but it started to shape into something good. Jonathan had sent you a few photos he had taken of an art exhibition he and Nancy had gone to in Chicago during the holidays, Robin had more than six reviews on films, and you were working twice as hard to bring this into reality.

Nancy was such a fantastic writer you were actually thinking of paying her just because she was giving you some of the best pieces you’ve read in your whole life; inspiring and eccentric, always speaking from the truth.

When March hit you had the base of the magazine, after much debate between Nancy, Robin and yourself the magazine got named Sonic Fret which was powerful–as Robin pointed out–it was catchy, the articles got placed and edited a couple of times by you, Nancy always attentive to how it looked, she had experience with the school paper so it was easy for her to see how things would look better and attract more attention. It took time, and sleepless nights to try and find the perfect look for it, especially when you had to send each other photos through mail.

But it all came out nicely, you had the first draft in hand one night, still there was something missing, the spot was there, ready to be filled. All you needed now was one last interview to have the perfect first print.