Chapter Text
The chill of the autumn day bit into you as you sat anxiously at the wooden picnic table. Your leg shook, crunching the leaves beneath you with your heel, evaluating and then reevaluating every decision you’ve ever made, especially the ones that brought you here.
Due to your parents' work, you moved around a lot. Unfortunately for you, the curriculum differences across states and the general stress of moving had caused a lot of back and forth with your education. Now here you were, nineteen years old and finally having a senior year. It was only about a month into the school year, but you could already feel yourself slipping. Maybe it was a senior slump, or maybe you were used to packing your things and moving again, but your grades were already starting to fall. After spending all summer practically alone, you felt like you were drifting through space; nothing was interesting or fun, or worth doing anymore. You never bothered making any friends because you didn’t expect to be around long enough for the effort to be worthwhile. And now you were here, turning to drugs to try and get you to feel something.
You had seen Eddie around school, and you knew he was the main source for what you were after. You also knew he was generally disliked by anyone who wasn’t part of his club, but you didn’t believe in forming real opinions on people you didn’t know. You thought of him the way you thought of almost everything, completely and utterly neutral. But your sense of neutrality was what was now driving you to near insanity, and you hoped to God the pot would be worth the money if it could give you any sort of sensation.
Considering you never spoke a single word to Eddie before today, he was reasonably surprised when you hastily walked up to his locker between classes telling him you wanted to buy. But being a regular dealer, you were sure he was used to having new clientele, and he promptly responded with the time and place to meet. You nodded, and nearly ran to your next class. The whole exchange had taken less than twenty seconds, which seemed unreasonable given that it had taken nearly the entire previous class for you to work up the courage to ask him in the first place.
So now here you sat, on a bench, in the woods, awaiting Eddie Munson. The social outcast, the drug dealer. You pulled your cardigan tighter around you and debated just running back home and pretending this never happened, but the sound of footsteps coming from behind signified that it was too late. Eddie Munson rounded the picnic table, dropping a black metal box across from you as he took a seat. You felt like the whole world was happening in slow motion, your mind was too wound up to register any sounds until your full name coming from Eddie Munson’s mouth caused your eyes to finally tear away from that menacing box and all its hidden wares.
“Surprised to have you out here.” Eddie smiled at you, drumming his fingers against the wood. You should’ve had a more related response, but your brain and mouth were still highly uncoordinated, so what you said instead was…
“You know my name?” You considered yourself virtually invisible at school, and while it made sense for you to know his name, you hadn’t expected him to know yours. Although you weren't sure why it mattered, or why your dumb brain decided to ask at all. Eddie raised a brow but continued smiling.
“We have Ms. O’Donnell together.” He explained. You knew that of course, but it wasn’t much of an answer.
“No offense, but I didn’t think you paid any attention in Ms. O’Donnell’s classes.” Fuck. Why would you say that? You were beginning to think that not having any friends has given you a severely underdeveloped social filter. Your stomach began to twist until the sound of Eddie’s laugh calmed your nerves just a bit.
“Oh, I do, just to all the wrong things. Like which window I’d smash in the event of a fire. How many tattoo ideas can I draw on the desk before she yells at me. Every time she gives me a piece of paper, I consider taking up origami.” A slight smile grew on your face as Eddie listed off all his distractions until he noticed that you seemed to be a little more at ease. “You’re new here, right?”
You chuckled softly, “Well I’ve been here for a little over a year, but sure, if that still counts as new.”
“Yeah, well most of Hawkins has been in the same social circle since birth, so yeah you’re still new.” Eddie’s head was slightly tilted, a small grin plastered on his face as he teased. He could feel your leg was still shaking underneath the table. “You okay?”
You stilled your movements, trying to maintain a less worrisome composure in front of him. “Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just…So how does this usually work?” You asked, going forward with the reason you sought him out.
“Well, it’s your typical transaction except you know, cash only and uh, no receipts. Total discretion guaranteed.” He explained, finally opening the box, his fingers adorned with an assortment of rings. You had never been this close to him before and certainly never face to face like this. “I can do a half for… let's say 20 bucks.” He pulled out a small plastic bag with clumps of weed, which you just stared at.
“A half of what?” You asked, eyeing the illicit substance in his grasp.
“Half an ounce. Should last you a while, it’s a fair price for what you’re getting.” He explained, trying gently to push the sale. Your eyes moved away from the weed and onto Eddie’s as you bit the inside of your cheek. It wasn’t until you were here sitting across from him that you realized how woefully underprepared you were for any of this.
“I-” You started, “Well how much are you supposed to use… like each time?” Now, Eddie’s face began to twist in confusion as he set the bag down back in his box.
“Each time you smoke?” He questioned. You just nodded, your movements small and unsure. “Well, I don’t exactly measure it out, you know. You sorta just… eyeball it…” Eddie looked you over, his words slowing to a stop. Based on the expression on your face, he was pretty sure anything he could say was going to make little sense to you.
You weren’t looking at him anymore, your eyes were cast down at the table. Your cheeks were slightly flush, and your brows were slightly furrowed in confusion. You were starting to feel a little foolish. You had thought long and hard about asking Eddie Munson for weed when you should’ve known sooner that you had exactly zero ideas about what to do with said weed once you had it.
“You… you don’t know how to roll a joint, do you?” It came out more like a statement than he intended, but he already knew the answer. You shook your head. “Ever… used a bong?” You shook your head again, still glancing off to the side in embarrassment. “Do you have any sort of weed paraphernalia at all?” You looked at him now, silently pleading with him to not make you answer again.
“I’m sorry.” You finally spoke again, running your hand over your face in shame. “I probably look really dumb right now.”
“Hey, no you don’t” Eddie was quick to defend you from yourself, reaching across the table to place his hand over yours. “It’s just, what were you planning to do? Buy some pot and just figure it out on your own?”
“Pretty much.” You sheepishly admitted, although now you couldn’t tell if your cheeks were red because of your embarrassment or because his hand was still covering yours, large and a nice warm contrast to the late September chill. He pulled his hand back, and twisted his hands together, fiddling with one of his many rings.
“I don’t wanna discourage you or anything, but I don’t think getting high for the first time is something you should do alone.”
“Why not? I’m sure plenty of people smoke by themselves,” You questioned.
“Well yeah, but they’re usually more experienced. If it’s your first time, you don’t know how you’ll react. What if you have like a panic attack or something. Or like, lose your fucking mind and try to like jump off your roof, you know?” Eddie explained, and you figured he had a point. You really had no idea what it would be like. “You should wait until some of your friends can be with you. Make it like a group activity or something.” He laughed again, still fidgeting with his hands like he wasn’t sure what to do with them. He was sort of awkward, but in a comforting sort of way, which is why you weren’t as scared to admit that…
“I don’t have any friends.” You shrugged. You smiled apologetically at him, his brown eyes searching your face, immediately recognizing the emotion you were trying so hard not to express. It was a feeling he was all too familiar with. You were lonely. “I’m sorry,” You apologized again, “I’ve totally wasted your time, this was a bad idea.” You laid your palms against the table, rising off the bench ready to go home feeling like an idiot.
Eddie’s mouth twisted in contemplation as he watched you, the look of defeat evident on your… objectively pretty face. Why couldn’t he come up with another adjective? His face scrunched and he tilted his head back, eyes looking up at the sky in silent prayer that he wasn’t about to make an ass of himself.
“Wait,” He called out, to your surprise. You sat back down hesitantly, waiting for him to continue. “Do you really wanna do this? Get high?” Your eyes squinted slightly, wondering where he was going with this. You took this as an opportunity to reevaluate your entire situation. Was getting high really going to be a solution to all your problems? Probably not. But you’ve overheard many conversations, in hallways, in classrooms, and even in public. People made getting high seem like fun, and you wanted fun.
“Yes.” You nodded at him. He sighed, deciding how to come out with this next part more delicately.
“If you want…” Eddie now looking at you apprehensively, “If you’re okay with it, maybe I could… We could smoke together if you want. You know for your first time. Just so… so you’re not alone.” Somehow Eddie managed to get the general idea out, though he fumbled the words a few times. You stared at him blankly. “I could teach you to roll and shit, so you can try and do it yourself next time.” He added. Fuck he thought, she probably thinks I’m a total pervert. Trying to get her alone and high for some sleazy shit.
You continued to stare, trying to make some sort of expression but your brain seemed to be temporarily malfunctioning. There was currently a hurricane of thoughts causing a shortage as you struggled to process his suggestion. Eddie Munson is offering to smoke with you. There were many things you just didn’t do; two of them being that you didn’t smoke and you didn’t hang out with people. And here you were being offered an opportunity to do both. You went over the possibility that getting you high and alone might have just been Eddie trying to sleep with you. But the more you looked at him, the more you noticed the slight flush in his cheeks, the way his hands moved, his long fingers fidgeting together, the way he was just slightly leaning back and forth in his seat as he awaited your response. Eddie Munson was nervous, and you were no expert on reading people, but he didn’t seem like he was trying to put the moves on you. Perhaps he really was just trying to help. Eddie opened his mouth, ready to accept that it was his turn to run away, but you cut him off.
“Sure.”
“Sure?” He repeated you, clearly surprised. You couldn’t help the soft smile that formed on your lips at his reaction. You nodded.
“Yeah sure.” You said again. Now he was the one grinning, running a hand through his long tousled brown hair, exhaling a sigh of relief.
“Cool, cool.” He said, trying to play off his nerves. “So uh, I’m guessing a school night probably isn’t ideal for you. But we could do tomorrow if you’re good with that?” He offered. You just nodded, letting him work out the details. “Well I have Hellfire after school, but you could swing by my place at around seven.” As he spoke, he pulled out a small notebook and a pen from an inside pocket of his leather jacket, and scribbled messily on it before ripping it out and handing it to you with a grin. “My address.”
“Thank you.” You smiled back as you took the paper and folded it neatly before putting it in your pocket. You stood from the bench, and grabbed your bag, getting ready to head out. You looked at Eddie, expecting him to also gather his belongings.
“You can head out first. It's… probably not a good look for you to be seen leaving the woods with me.” Eddie explained, a bit more soft-spoken than before. You frowned, you didn’t really care about what people thought of you, not like they were gonna snitch to your parents. You looked at the boy who had already changed your entire experience in Hawkins in one day, still twisting and playing with those rings. He has nice hands, you thought absentmindedly. You felt your face begin to warm and suddenly all the courage you had left to tell him that you didn’t mind walking together burned up and dissipated from the heat on your cheeks.
“Oh. Okay.” You pulled the straps of your bookbag onto your shoulders, still in near disbelief at the plans you had made, but not feeling any regrets. Not yet, anyhow. “Well thanks again, Eddie. I’ll see you tomorrow.” You offered him an appreciative glance before turning away and heading back through the woods towards the school.
Eddie watched as you walked away, still unsure that any part of that conversation was real. Inviting people over to smoke was definitely not in his nature. His friend group was limited, to say the least. And he had never had a drug deal make him feel so… so… He didn’t even know how to describe it. He was on edge but in a not bad kind of way. There were, however, two things he knew for sure. One, he really liked hearing you say his name. And two, he was really looking forward to tomorrow.