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If Steve hears the name “Eddie Munson” one more time, he’s going to scream. Just start screaming and not stop until all sound in the universe is replaced with his rage and the name of a certain high school burnout is gone and forgotten with only Steve’s cries echoing as a reminder.
Not, that Steve’s jealous or anything. No, nope – no jealously here, just pure concern for the ragtag flock of children that follows him around. Or at least used to. Back before high school started and they suddenly didn’t need rides to the arcade anymore because they had to prepare for Eddie’s campaign, the time wasting dicks. They could tell him these things before he shows up at their houses.
Which to be fair, the Byers moved away, Lucas started basketball, and Max has been pretty MIA since the summer – so mostly it’s Mike, who never really liked him anyways, and Dustin that are falling under this guy’s spell.
(He will never, so long as he lives, tell the others that he may have spent a few days playing pickup games and practicing different shots with Lucas before the kid tried out for the team. He’s listened to Dustin complain about his friend’s new jock status enough to know how that revelation would go over. Nor, is he going to mentioned the couple of times he’s checked up on Max, disguising it as bringing over movies he thought she’d like. Each time she had slammed the door in his face, but not before he had managed to peek inside and see the beer bottles littered throughout the empty trailer. But that’s not really his secret to share.)
It’s Dustin he’s really worried about because the kid simply will not shut up about Eddie fucking Munson and how amazing he is.
All Steve really knows about the guy is that he’s loud; obnoxious in a way that means everyone in their small town has at least heard of the freak. He’s also been held back two times already, which is impressive considering even Steve managed to claw his way out of repeating a year - much less two - to graduate. And Steve’s an idiot, so what the fuck does that make Munson? He also knows Eddie is the go to dealer for people who don’t want to deal with Tommy H., or for people looking for something harder than weed.
None of that adds up to someone that Steve is really all that comfortable being around the Party. Dustin isn’t an idiot by any means, but he is impressionable and a little naïve. This is a kid that tried to adopt a baby Demogorgon for fuck’s sake – so, sorry if Steve is maybe a little worried that this Eddie guy is just another monster Dustin is trying to tame.
He’d just been listening to another monologue about how great the leader of the Hellfire club is – how cool and awesome – when Dustin suddenly realizes the time and rushes out of family Video to bike home with hardly a glance back.
“Okay, bye” Steve sarcastically calls out from behind the counter. Henderson had only stopped by for a little bit, barely letting him get a word in edgewise, before scampering off again. With a sigh, Steve turns around to eye his coworker, arms folded. “What do you know about this Eddie freak?” he asks.
Robin looks up at him with a snort from where she’s sorting returns. “Wow” she drawls out. “Great impression of a middle-aged dad finding out his daughter is dating someone, Harrington. You gonna sit there polishing a shotgun if Henderson ever actually brings him ‘round, just to complete the stereotype?”
Well, fuck Steve for being concerned, he guesses.
When he continues to just stare at her, Robin puts down the tape she's holding to face him. “Look, I don’t know anything more than everyone else. You know – rumors, hearsay, tales of satanic sacrifices in the dead of night?” she finishes jokingly.
Ignoring her light hearted tone, Steve comments, “Really? I thought you two would have, you know, run in the same circles or something.”
“Nuh uh” Robin objects shaking her head, “I’m a band geek and he’s a metalhead burnout – those are two totally different subgroups of loser, dingus.” At Steve’s confused shrug she sighs before elaborating, “It’d be like if I compared you to, I don’t know, Jason Carver.”
Steve lets a strangled, but totally manly, squeak. “Ugh, don’t lump me in with that holier-than-thou asshole, Robin” he definitely doesn’t whine.
“Exactly!” she exclaims, pointing at him in triumph. “You were more of the “one-night-stand, party hard” type of popular while he’s the hypocritical “site scripture, marry his high school sweetheart” popular. Just as there are many different species of douchebags among the in-crowd kids, there are infinite little ecosystems of us rejects.” She punctuates her explanation with a flourish of hands before returning to sorting the VHS tapes.
Well, that was informative but ultimately unhelpful. And now Steve’s feeling even worse than before (not that he’s sad about Dustin spending time with the freak over him) at the reminder of his past self. Because, he tried to be the “marry your high school sweet heart” type; tried to soften his harsh edges and be the sappy, devoted, boyfriend. He wanted to be the kind of guy Nancy deserved, without thinking about the kind of guy she wanted. It hadn’t worked out, of course. Probably because both of them were pretending to be something they weren’t.
But now, Steve can’t help but feel that he’s right back where he started. Since his summer slump passed and he’s not quite so, you know, sad, he’s back to only going a few dates with girls before one of them gets bored and move on. Sex is great, don’t get him wrong, but he may be getting a little frustrated that all his fleeting relationships seem to only revolve around that part.
“Speaking of being the same species” Steve hazards out, pulling himself out of less than stellar thoughts. “Have you talked to Vickie lately?”
“Steve!” Robin hisses, shooting him a glare.
With a grin he continues, “Because, I really think you have a shot here, the-!”
“I am not listening to this again, Steve!” she interjects, before gathering up the returns in her arms and heading towards the back.
“The evidence doesn’t lie, Buckley!” he calls out after her before hearing the bell above the door chime. As he laughs, he only partially has to fake a large smile before turning to greet the customer.
________________________________________
So. Eddie murdered someone. Not just someone – Chrissy Cunningham.
Steve knew Chrissy - liked her, even. She was bubbly and friendly; one of the few genuinely kind people you’ll ever meet in your life. She was soft-spoken but quick to laugh, and she had turned down Steve’s advances at a party the same way she did the beer: cheeks red, but smiling. Not partaking, but also not judging. Really, her one flaw had been that she decided to date that asshole, Jason.
And now she’s dead.
And Eddie’s the only one who was around for it.
Steve would kind of like to say he told them so, but Dustin and Max are convinced Munson’s innocent. And – Steve isn’t saying that he isn’t! Just that there is a chance Eddie murdered one of the sweetest girls he’s ever met, and he isn’t exactly bursting with excitement to drive Robin and the kids towards someone who could do that.
Not to mention, Steve wouldn’t mind if the weird things happening in Hawkins were, for once, more “local freak murders cheerleader!” and less “government cover-up kills numerous residents!”. You know. As a fun change. If there’s a chance this is the police’s problem and not some random group of teenagers? Yeah, Steve will jump on that opportunity – hook, line, and sinker.
________________________________________
Eddie hasn’t been what Steve thought he’d be.
When they’d first entered the boat house, Steve had grabbed the closest blunt object he could find and (cursing that he hadn’t insisted they stopped back by his house or the nail-bat) tried shove the oar at any possible hiding places a potential murderer might be lurking.
Unfortunately, Steve was about two jabs away from finding the guy before getting distracted by Dustin’s chatter. Then, suddenly, he was in the familiar, but not all pleasant, position of another teenaged guy crowding him, threatening him. Only this time, it was with a knife at his throat, and. Holy shit! Even fucking Hargrove hadn’t had a knife!
(And, in the moment, Dustin didn’t mention Steve besides “he’s cool”, while the girls both got little introductions. But. That’s okay; it’s fine. Henderson didn’t have to call him his friend or anything.)
But since then, Munson has seemed . . . lost. He recounted Chrissy’s death with a distant disbelief, a terrified numbness, that Steve is all too familiar with. And, with only slightly suspicious glances at Steve, he’s accepted their help without much reservation. He’s panicking, and clinging to even the barest glimmer of hope.
So, maybe Steve has to face that this isn’t a cut and dry case, and that Eddie is a position a whole hell of a lot closer to what Steve was in just over two years ago then he wants to admit.
________________________________________
“Henderson told me you were a badass. Insisted on the matter, in fact” Eddie reluctantly admits, after already complimenting on his escape from the demobats. Which, holy hell – Steve had fully gone into this conversation prepared to thank Munson for helping him, and maybe be the bigger man about jumping to conclusions. But here the other boy is, not only beating him to the punch, but revealing some pretty heavy information.
“Wait? Henderson said that?” Steve quickly questions, hoping his disbelief isn’t evident in his voice.
“Oh yeah” Eddie, agrees easily. “Shit. The kid worships you, dude. Like, you have no idea. It’s kind of annoying, to be honest.” Steve zones out for a bit, because holy shit, what? Dustin, who seems to take endless pleasure in proving him wrong, thinks he’s a badass? He tunes back in though for, “. . . Guess I got a little jealous, Steve.”
This is not how this conversation was supposed to go at all. Eddie Munson, the devil may care freak, who has so much more in common with Dustin than Steve does, isn’t supposed to be jealous. He’s supposed to be riding high on his obviously better understanding of the kids; on the ways he can connect with them that Steve can’t. He’s not supposed to be jealous. Steve’s the one who’s supposed to be . . . concerned. Who’s supposed to be resentful and worried about this asshole replacing him and putting the kids in danger. Steve is the one who’s supposed to graciously be the bigger man here and let past assumptions go because . . .. Okay, because he was jealous.
Fuck.
Suddenly, Eddie’s leaning in close to his face to comment with a wild smile, “Still super jealous, by the way” and Steve elbows him back with a startled laugh.
Besides, Steve knows what it’s like to see danger and turn heel and run – he did that, didn’t he? When he first encountered all this supernatural bullshit, Steve had run out of the Byers house, fully intending to pretend he’d never been there. What matters is that he went back – what matters is that Eddie dove in after him. The reasoning isn’t all that important, not when people can say they’re alive because you did something. Munson needs to give himself a break.
Steve means, there’s a slight chance Eddie isn’t all that bad.
________________________________________
He isn’t all that sure why people keep insisting he and Nancy should get back together. Robin he understands, since she’s his wingman, his bro. If she sees an opportunity, she’s going to pursue it - whether he tells her to or not - much like he’s doing with Vickie for her. It’s Eddie’s comments that really confuse him, because the other man doesn’t have any investment in this but is still trying to claim Steve and Nancy should rekindle old flames.
Which, yes, they love each other. They’d die for each other. And the should, in no way shape or form, ever be in a romantic relationship ever again. The way they handle things - the way they view the world - isn’t actually all that compatible. And he doesn’t think that’s going to change. Fuck, he still thinks he’ll always love Nancy a little bit; always want to cherish and protect her. But that isn’t what Nancy needs, much less what she wants.
Neither of them are any good at actually being what the other wanted, no matter how hard they tried.
And, well, maybe Steve’s done being the distraction; the pushover who’ll do whatever he thinks his partner wants, all the while not realizing he’s just the best option out of a bad lot. He’s tired of being the backup plan. Of being second place.
Maybe, he’s trying to hold out for someone who thinks he’s actually a good dude.
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Steve’s the only one who hears Henderson when they get to the Upside Down version of the Wheeler's. At least at first. The others stare at him like he’s crazy, deaf to the ramblings of the kid until Steve points it out.
Until he shares a connection only he originally had.
Even Eddie hadn’t heard the other boy until Steve claimed that Henderson was here and, maybe it’s a little petty, but something warm fills his chest at that fact.
________________________________________
Defeating Vecna isn’t exactly easy, but they still manage to sink their nails into survival and claw their way out to the other side like they always do. Afterwards, it isn’t all that hard to convince the government that wiping away one man’s murder charges is easier than “disappearing” a whole host of people involved in this shit, and Munson is a free man.
Which, apparently, is a little awkward for the former lynch mob gunning for his head on a spike.
“Goddam fucking vultures!” Eddie hisses out, slamming the door to Family Video behind him. Steve had watched, head cocked in curiosity as yet another person had approached the man, face contrite as they talked to an apparently stunned, then furious, Eddie. “Galless idiots who think apologizing will make up for calling for my blood!” Munson goes to kick an endcap before apparently catching Steve’s glare and deciding to pace instead. “The worst is that they’re all trying to pretend they actually like me now – like I’m not still just Eddie “The Freak” to them!” He pauses his pacing to whip around to glare at Steve “I don’t have to be palatable for them to have been wrong!” He spits out the word “palatable” like it’s something horribly offensive. Which, Steve guesses to Eddie it might be.
He holds his hands up in surrender, “Hey, no arguments here, dude.” The other man snorts out what might be a laugh, and Steve continues with a smile, “Don’t worry, Munson. I still think you’re a dick.”
Eddie stops moving finally, staring at Steve with an odd intensity, head tilted, before he asks, “Do you really?”
“I-.” Steve starts before cutting himself off. With a sigh, he continues. “No, not really. Not anymore, at least.”
Munson hums in response, prowling closer to the Family Video Counter.
“Look, man” Steve continues. “I gotta be honest with you – since you did the whole honesty thing back in the bizzarro woods. I was also on the whole, “you killed Chrissy” train – at least until I met you, I mean.” He hurriedly adds the last bit of truth when the other man’s brows furrow. Then continuing, he explains, “And, to be fair, that was mostly fueled by the fact that I didn’t really like you because I was . . ..” he trails off before taking a deep breath and finishing, “I was jealous.”
“No” Eddie utters in disbelief, smile forming on his face. “Steve “The Hair” Harrington was jealous of little ol’ me?”
“Yeah” Steve confirms with a huff. “Yeah, I was. I don’t exactly have, like, a lot going for me right now, but as much as I like to deny it, I am a pretty goddam good baby sitter. So, it really sucked when they started talking about how awesome you are and just wouldn’t fucking shut up about you.” Eddie’s smile grows, showing off the dimples framing his mouth. Steve rolls his eyes and continues, “Yeah, yeah – it was stupid. I know I’m an idiot. But at the time, I thought you were just an asshole who was gonna fuck up the kids somehow. I didn’t realize you weren’t so . . ..”
Steve trails off but Eddie, twirling a piece of curly hair around his finger, finishes for him, “Mean and scary?”
“Yeah. That” Steve breaths out.
Eddie hums again in response, leaning against his elbows on the counter across from Steve. He searches his face, eyes darting back and forth before he seemingly decides something and his smile grows again.
“Did you ever actually listen to Black Sabbath, Steve?” he asks, which is not, exactly, what Steve was expecting him to say in response to his confession.
“Uh” Steve stammers before admitting, “No?”
“Well that just won’t stand” Eddie comments, once gain twirling his hair around his fingers in a motion that feels oddly familiar to Steve for some reason. “Can’t have someone recreating one of the most metal moves of all time and not even know what he’s paying homage to. Luckily, I happen to have all the Black Sabbath records you could ever want.” Dropping his hair, Eddie leans even further onto his forearms, bringing his face closer to Steve’s. “Come by mine tonight? Say about 9-ish?”
Steve’s face is melting. That’s the only explanation for why it feels so hot. “Um” he chokes out before clearing his throat. “Yeah. That sounds great.”
Eddie finally leans back with a smile. “See you then” he confirms and, slapping the counter, laughs before backing out of the store calling, “I’ll make a proper metalhead of you yet, Steve!”
He watches the other man leave, face not feeling any less close to spontaneous combustion. Taking a deep breath to try to combat the nerves suddenly dancing along his spine, he turns to see Robin staring at him from the entrance to the back room, mouth slightly ajar.
Before Steve can say anything, she assures him, “I swear to god – if you kiss a boy before I kiss a girl, I’m gonna punch you in the face.”