Chapter Text
It was an hour before his first class of the year, and Eddie hadn't even glanced at his roster. In his defense, he had only gotten it about 15 minutes ago. What kind of school has the first day on Friday, anyways? The school was rarely of any help, forcing him to take the role of "Humanities Teacher’' when it was really just a way for him to act as the music, art, and literature teacher for the paycheck of only one of those positions.
He loved teaching, though, and couldn't bring himself to quit his job despite the wildly disproportionate paychecks. Unfortunately, that also meant taking a second job. He loves all his students, he really does, but he can't help but cringe when hordes of children flock to the coffee shop after school and the weekend shouting “Hi Mr. Munson!” and “Did you grade our test yet?” or his favorite, “If I tip well will you give me extra credit?”
As of now though, he spun himself around in his chair, hair threatening to fall out of its ponytail from the sheer speed he was getting off this thing. He always got nervous on the first day of class, but something felt different this year. It’s not like he had much time to ponder what was different anyways before the bell rang.
Eddie was expecting middle schoolers to walk through the door, but what he got was more of a blob of tiny humans crashing through his door and rushing to grab the best seats, AKA the ones furthest away from his desk. He let an amused smile fall on his face, he forgot how excitable everyone is at that age. He wishes he could say he missed his own middle school years, but that would be a lie. He did, however, miss recess.
“Alright, let’s get this show on the road, folks.” God, he was white.
“I’m Mr. Munson, and I’ll be your benevolent dictator for the year.” A few breathy laughs and chuckles; score.
“I’m gonna roll through your names real quick, make sure we got everybody here. If I mispronounce anything, just give me a heads up, yeah?” Eddie ran through a couple of names. The calm before the storm.
“Silvia Harmon?”
“I’m Here”
“Dustin…Harrington?” Harrington?
“Present!”
“Uh, Maxine Harrington?” There’s two of them?
“It’s actually Max.” Holy shit there’s two of them.
“Max, okay great, got it.” This was not great. He did not get it.
“Jane Hopper?”
“Here.”
He ran through the rest of role call as per usual, ignoring whatever feeling that was stirring in his stomach.
“Right, now that that’s all settled,” He sat himself down on top of his desk. “Let’s talk real quick about what you can expect from me as a teacher and all of that mandatory school stuff. Now, I’d like to think I’m the ‘cool teacher’ but after teaching for about 3 years now, I can safely say there is no such thing.” More scattered laughter, he was on a roll.
“Listen, I know that none of you really want to be here, or if you do, it’s because your friends are here, and that’s fine. You’ll feel the same way in high school too, I guarantee it. But, because of that, I want to at least make it not so terrible for you guys, yeah? My classroom is always open if you need a moment to decompress or talk or any other stuff, everyone is welcome.” Some smiles and nods, now onto the tricky part.
“However,” He leaned over a bit, trying to emphasize his point, “This is my job, so sometimes I gotta enforce rules I don't like. Personally? The dress code here? Total BS.” That one got more giggles. “But, if I don't enforce it, and people who do like it notice, it comes back on me, you get it? So sometimes, I’ll have to, you know, actually do my job.” He clears his throat. “But uh, this class is something special, you know? The arts are what keep us alive, so sometimes I might get a little intense. It's what happens when you're passionate about something, and I’m not asking you to care, but at the very least, pretend you do, for my sake, are we all good on that?” the class murmured something akin to ‘yeah’ and that was good enough for Eddie.
To waste time, Eddie had the kids put together a ‘get to know me’ collage with some of the art supplies, telling them to ‘mix media’ and ‘go nuts’. He smiled to himself at the bright colors each kid plastered onto their mini posters. Then his eyes landed on the Harrington twins.
One, a little shorter, with dark curls framing his face (Dustin, Eddie thinks) was currently yelling (more like screeching) something at the other, a redhead (huh. how'd that happen) who looked way too smug to be up to anything good (Maxine, wait no, Max!). Eddie tentatively walked over.
“What can I help yo-” Before Eddie could finish, Dustin cut him off.
“Max keeps ruining my hard work!”
“Ruining? Hard work? You’ve got like, 3 words on there and two of them are your name!” Eddie held back a laugh.
“Yes but it’s in cursive so it’s fancier!”
“No one above the age of 25 can read cursive, Dustin!” Max turned to Eddie, “No offense.”
Eddie raised his hands, in surrender. “None taken. But hey, remember, art can't be ruined, only improved.” He said, trying to console Dustin.
“Yeah well it has to be considered art first” Max sneered at Dustin.
Oh yeah. These were definitely the Harrington twins.
Dustin scowled. “I am SO telling mom about this.”
“What are you, four? You're gonna tell on me?”
“Admit it, you’re scared of her!”
Oh God, there was a Mrs. Harrington too? Is one Harrington not enough? Eddie couldn't mentally handle this flood of information, so instead, he slowly backed away from the twins. Which he instantly regrets as he knocks into another child.
He turns around, hoping he didn't just send some poor child tumbling to the ground.
“Woah, Woah! Sorry there, kiddo.” When Eddie finally got a good look at who he ran into, he was met with a bowl cut he knew very well.
“Oh Will! How’s it goin’ bud?”
Will Byers, who Eddie had been teaching piano over the summer, was such a sweet kid. He’d never admit it but Will was probably his favorite kid he’d ever taught. “Hey Mr. Munson,” Will greeted with a smile. “I’m doing good, thanks.” The boy suddenly turned shy, looking at his feet a bit before continuing, “I uh, actually wanted to ask you something.”
“Go for it, Byers.”
“Well, we got my D&D club approved.”
“That’s great, kid! I know you’ve been trying to get it started for a while now, right?”
“Yeah! But uh, all the rooms after school are taken up this year, but I know you do aftercare on Fridays so uhm, I wanted to know if-”
Eddie cut him off.
“If you could host it in aftercare? Hell yeah, you can!” Some heads turned at the slight curse word. “I mean, uh, Heck yeah.” The heads turned back around. “I’m warning you now though Byers, I will in fact be spectating your game, I can't pass up listening in on a good campaign.”
“Thank you so much! I’ll let my mom know! I actually have a list of some of the other kids in the club, if you need it!”
“I’d like that, yeah. That rocks, Will. Congrats!”
Will smiled and nodded before running off to some kid with long dark hair and a kid with a bandanna on his forehead. Michael Wheeler and Lucas Sinclair, he thinks. Damn, he needed to learn these kids' names.
It was cute, though, seeing kids nerd out unashamedly. But Eddie can’t help but feel a little envious about how open these kids are about it. Eddie can remember every name he was ever called for being who he was. Freak, Fag, Creep, and his least favorite, “Devil Worshipper”. He remembers people like Jason Carver, who spat on him (both figuratively and literally), who said those words. He remembers Billy Hargrove, who would get physical and had left him with more bloody noses than he’d like to have.
His eyes fall onto the Harrington twins. He remembers Steve Harrington. He’d take Jason’s words and Billy’s Fists over what Steve Harrington did to him. He wasn't open about his distaste for Eddie, which, Eddie thinks, is worse. He remembers the looks Steve gave him, the way he’d lean over to Carol Perkins and Tommy Hagan and whisper God knows what, as they looked directly at Eddie and laughed. He remembers how Steve would talk about Eddie in front of him like he wasn't even there. Like he wasn't a person. Jason Carver and Billy Hargrove made Eddie feel like the outcast, the freak. Steve Harrington made Eddie Munson feel like nothing .
He shook his head, snapping himself out of his pity-party flashback. They’re just kids, maybe they're different. It’d be unfair to push his thoughts about their father on them, but man is it easy.
The rest of the day sort've passed in a blur, and even though Eddie was a little ashamed to admit it, he was excited for aftercare, to see the turnout of Will’s club. For now, though, he was setting up the room with Chrissy for the aftercare kids.
Chrissy had been running around all day, being a school counselor, especially middle schoolers, was a tough ass job. She loved it, though. Being able to be there for kids having a rough time, being the support they needed. The support she wished she had at that age. So when they asked her if she’d run aftercare she agreed, of course (The extra bit of cash surely helped too). She got paired with one of her best friends too, how could she say no?
The two had been covert best friends while in high school, but they were adults now, so they could be open about it without worrying if they’d live to see the next study hall period.
“It’s so sweet that Will’s club got approved, I’m glad you pushed him to do it,” Chrissy said, as she was setting up chairs for the kids. Eddie shrugged, a bit bashful. “It’s-it’s whatever, you know? I think kids should have an outlet for their creativity and all that yada yada inspirational bullshit.” Chrissy looked unimpressed at this.
“It’s not just ‘whatever’, Eddie. I think what you're doing is special, even if it's just something as simple as a club.” She leaned into Eddie affectionately, “Seeing you so happy with the kids isn't doing your ‘dark and mysterious’ aesthetic any favors” She teased.
Eddie dramatically looked around the room before shushing Chrissy, “Shh! We can’t let anyone know I have feelings, Cunningham!” She playfully rolled her eyes at his antics as she picked up a piece of paper near the desk.
“What’s this?”
“Oh uh, like an attendance list for Will’s club, I think.”
“Byers, Wheeler, Harrington, Sinclair, Hopper-”
“Sorry?” Eddie didn't think heard that right.
“The last names of the kids for Will’s D&D club.”
“And you said?”
“Byers, Wheeler, Harrington, Sin-”
“Stop. Pause. Rewind.”
Chrissy eyed the piece of paper before her eyes went wide.
“Harrington?” She asked, incredulously.
“Yeah.”
“Like, Harrington Harrington?”
“There's two of them.”
“TWO?”
“Twins, actually”
“Wow. I…I haven’t seen Steve in forever.”
“Me neither. And I hadn't planned to. Like, ever.”
Chrissy sighed, “Eddie, look, what- what happened in High School was…bad.”
“That's a word for it.”
“Listen, just…it’d be hard to believe he’s the same person he was back then, you know? Just…keep that in mind, okay?”
“And if he is?”
“Then fail his kids.” She shrugged. That was a good enough answer for him.
The two of them ended up finishing set up just as the kids started to file into the room. Will & Co. Scrambled to the back to use the largest table. The kids went all out, Will had made them all mini figures of their characters, along with a map that covered half the table. Lucas had brought an abundance of snacks, which was only half helpful since his sister (Erica, Eddie found out) kept eating them. Dustin & Max apparently had brought dice, Jane had made cute custom name tags for everyone and their characters. And Mike was also there.
“No one told me I had to bring anything!” Mike tried to defend himself, in vain.
“It was implied!” Dustin protested.
Fair point, Eddie thought.
Eddie watched the game with interest (though, from a distance, he didn't want to disrupt the flow of the game). He found himself cheering and despairing with the kids, which Chrissy teased him endlessly for. The game was rather short (for D&D anyways) lasting only 2 ½ hours. But aftercare wasn't busy, making them the only kids left in the building. They were almost as loud as a full classroom though, laughing and talking about their recent adventure.
“So I guess I don't need to ask if you guys had fun?” Eddie said, walking up to the group.
He was met with a cacophony of laughter and shouting. He smiled, “Glad it was good, sounded like quite the adventure.”
“Yeah, and it’ll only get better! Ms. Harrington is taking us out to ice cream after!” Lucas beamed.
Ms. Harrington, Eddie could deal with that. Probably.
“You mean get worse, ice cream days are terrible! I gotta to share whatever disgusting flavor Dustin gets with him all the time! Mom never lets me choose!” Max said with a scowl, then proceeded to pretend to choke herself.
“Hey! Pistachio is good and you know it!” Dustin huffed.
Yikes. Yeah, he was with Max on this one.
It seemed like Max recognized this.
“Mr. Munson, you and Ms. Cunningham have to do everything in your power to convince my mom to let me choose! I’ll even pay you!” Max gestured frantically. Jesus, guess this girl really didn't like pistachio.
“Well, I don't know if we can-” a groan. “But! Maybe we can have an ice cream day as a class as a treat some time. You can bring your own flavor.” This still seemed unsatisfactory to Max, who glared daggers at Dustin.
“What’s your favorite flavor, Mr. Munson?”
He struck a thinking pose, and to be honest, he’s never really thought about it.
“Cookie dough. Definitely.”
“Mine too!” Will said excitedly.
“I just like vanilla, I guess,” Mike mumbled.
“Lame.” Erica said matter-of-factly.
“And yours is better?”
“Uh, Duh. Mint Chocolate Chip is unbeatable.”
“Ew, how could you like that? It tastes like toothpaste!” Dustin exclaimed with disgust.
“It says more about you than it does me that the thought of toothpaste scares you, pistachio-boy” How old was Lucas’ sister again?
As Dustin floundered to defend himself, Lucas shrugged and simply said “Easy. Cookies and Creme” A tame yet eloquent choice.
“I like rainbow sherbet,” Jane said politely.
“Rocky Road is the best and you all know it.” Max said, with no room for argument.
“Well,” Chrissy jumped in on the conversation, “I like strawberry the best, personally”
“That’s our mom’s favorite too!” Dustin piped up.
“Well tell your mom that her taste rocks,” Chrissy said cheerily.
“She says thank you.” A voice came from the front of the room.
A tall figure was standing in the doorway. Their hair was longer than Eddie’s, but shorter than Chrissy’s. Eddie couldn't really see them too well, with the 5 PM sun giving their glasses a glare. Their outfit though was just a simple sweater and a long skirt…or really baggy sweatpants, he couldn't really tell. Chrissy came up to greet them, and they started talking and saying things Eddie couldn't really overhear.
Chrissy, as she bounded up to greet the parent, started taking in their features a bit. They had clear glasses, and moles framed their face. Weirdly familiar but Chrissy couldn't place why.
“Hi! I’m Christine Cunningham, I’m a counselor here at Hawkin’s Middle, I obviously also run the aftercare program! If you're picking up, I do need to see an ID though!” She said just as she rehearsed.
“No problem.” Their voice was deep, but not heavy. Like their words carried no weight to them. They started digging through their skirt pockets, producing a wallet, and turning their ID over. “It’s been a while, Chrissy. I haven’t seen you in forever!” They smiled.
Chrissy tilted her head in mild confusion before taking their ID and reading it.
‘STEVEN E. HARRINGTON’
Her eyes must have given away her shock as Steve let out a light laugh. “Not like how you remembered me, I’m guessing?”
“Oh no, I mean- I am? Shocked? Not in a bad way! You just-you look…different. It’s good. I like your style.” Chrissy said earnestly.
“Thanks, I really appreciate that. It's uh, a bit of a shock to people, I get it.” Steve said with an embarrassed smile.
“Of course, Stev- Wait, is it- um, still Steve? Or do you go by something else or…”
He shrugged. “Steve, Stevie, Stephanie, whatever other name you wanna come up with. I don’t really mind. I’m not really using any labels on anything right now.” He said, with an awkward smile.
“So like…pronouns?”
“Whatever you’d like to call me,” Stevie said, waving Chrissy's concerns away.
“Great! Thanks for letting me know.”
“Thank you for asking.”
“It's common decency, don't thank me!”
“You’d be surprised.”
Chrissy let out a sympathetic chuckle, “Let me go wrangle up your kids as compensation.”
“Wrangle away.”
“Uh, Eddie can help you with the paperwork stuff, right Eddie?” She shouted the last part towards the back of the classroom.
Eddie picked his head up in confusion, “Huh? What? Sure.” And he started making his way up.
Admittedly, Chrissy did feel bad for putting Eddie on the spot, but this could be a learning moment! ...Or it could go terribly horribly wrong. That too.
She started walking towards the back as Eddie walked to the front, quickly stopping when they met in the middle to whisper in a rush, “That’s Steve, by the way, good luck!” She now realizes she could’ve possibly maybe worded that better. But Eddie already had a mortified expression on his face by the time the name ‘Steve’ left her lips. She mouthed ‘SORRY' to appease him, but she doubts that helped very much.
Oh God oh fuck oh God oh fuck.
As he got closer to who he now knew was in fact, Steve Harrington, he realized that Steve wasn't wearing baggy sweatpants, it was a skirt.
Oh?
OH.
Huh.
Hmm.
Okay.
Eddie unceremoniously handed the paperwork to Steve, who took it with a courteous nod. The paperwork was relatively quick, leaving two standing awkwardly as Chrissy gathered the kids.
Eddie shifted his weight on his legs a bit, standing uncomfortably in the aftercare lobby, waiting for Chrissy to round up the Harrington twins and Co. He eyed Steve, whose hair was considerably longer than the last time he saw him, whose legs were hidden by a long light blue skirt, and whose arms were shoved in his sweater pockets. Eddie couldn’t help himself,
“So…Steve?“
“Or Stevie.”
“Or Stevie…Harrington? Still?”
“Yep. No last name changes”
“So Ms…?”
“Or Mr.”
“Or Mr…Right, okay got it.” A pause.
“Your uh, your hair’s longer” Eddie felt pathetic.
“Extensions.”
“Huh.” God, strike him down.
An air of uncomfortable silence (well, uncomfortable to Eddie, Steve didn’t seem to pay it any mind) rose. A stalemate in the conversation. Thank God for Chrissy Cunningham.
“Alright Steph, I got all your little rascals! I think.” As Chrissy paused to turn around to count up the kids for the fifth time, Eddie spoke up again.
“Steph?”
“Stephanie works too.”
“A lot of options you got there” Jesus, what was he, a cop?
“I guess so.” Steve shrugged.
Chrissy shot Eddie a look of confusion, to which Eddie returned with a shrug. He didn’t know how to crack Harrington. Well, to be honest, he doesn’t know why he even wants to talk to Harrington, the guy who made his life utterly miserable in high school. Just because he’s got a new look (and names, lots of names) doesn’t mean he’s a changed man. (Man? Was Steve a man?).
“I’m not,” Steve said, tone painfully neutral.
Oh. Oh, he said that out loud.
Chrissy slowly turned her head from the kids (who thankfully were too caught up in each other to hear the conversation) to Eddie, looking something akin to mortification. She ushered the kids towards the back for a moment, God bless her.
“Fuck- I mean, I didn’t-“
“You’re fine.”
“Yeah sure, but I’m not like- like a bigot, or something I was just-“
“You’re fine, Eddie. I know.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“You know, generally, I’m much more agreeable than this”
“I figured. But I’ll cut you some slack, Munson. It’s not every day you see the ‘king’ from high school in a skirt.”
“Well, for what it’s worth, you look great.”
“I know,” Stevie said with a slight grin.
“Asshole.” Eddie said, with a matching look.
“Many names Munson, many names.”
Chrissy came back with a gaggle of children behind her. “All set for ice cream everyone?” Stevie asked in a bit of a sing-song voice. A general shout of “YES” seemed like a good enough answer. Stevie held the door open for the kids to walk through, and as he was about to leave, Eddie spoke up.
“Hey, Stevie?”
He turned around, facing Eddie now, tilting his head in a silent question.
“Rocky Road. It’s uh, Max said you skipped her turn to pick the ice cream she and Dustin share. She said her favorite was Rocky Road.”
Stevie smiled, “Thanks. Rocky Road it is tonight.” and he turned and left.