Stranger Things - Imagines

Eddie Munson X Reader - The Very First Night

A/N - This chapter was inspired by the song The Very First Night (Taylor's Version) by Taylor Swift. Eddie and Reader are in their late 20s in this chapter. I hope you all enjoy it. 

It was probably a little corny to say it, but you always knew that you would always love Eddie. After all, he was the first real love of your life. The first guy you had kissed. The first guy you'd ever slept with. He was your high school sweetheart, even if he had always hated your use of the terminology. You'd been together since you were 14. You'd had 8 years of being a couple. And even though it had been necessary for you to go your separate ways, it had still been one of the most painful things you had ever had to do. And deep down, you had always known that he would be the one man you would always regret losing. 

But after graduation, the band had started gaining some traction, and it had been pretty evident that their career in Hawkins would be limited. There weren't exactly a big crowd of people in these parts that listened to metal music, and without an audience, their live shows weren't exactly getting them the attention they needed to sign to a label. 

He'd come to you with his suggestion first, looking so damn nervous that he'd practically vibrated with the anxious energy.  He and the boys had the mad idea to travel out to LA, find some part-time jobs and see if they could make it out in California. It would only be for a year, and if by the end of that time period they hadn't managed to sign to a label and start making some money, they'd move back to Hawkins and go back to performing their small gigs. 

He'd been so damn excited that you'd immediately been on board. I mean, you'd been at every single Corroded Coffin gig since they'd first formed. You'd been there when they'd come up with the name. Half of Eddie's songs were written about you. You wanted them to succeed more than anyone else in the world. Hell, you'd been so excited that you'd almost forgotten that him going to LA meant he wouldn't be in town anymore. 

And then, whilst you were smiling at him so sweetly, it had clicked into place. Eddie would be leaving town and you wouldn't be able to go with him. You'd only just started a new job. You'd decided to stay in Indiana for work in order to stay close to him. And now, he was leaving. 

It had broken your heart when you'd told him to go and have the rockstar experience. It had hurt even more when a couple of weeks later, you'd called him crying because you'd missed him more than you could have ever imagined. And within a month, you'd called again to tell him that you couldn't do it. Long distance wasn't working. Half of the time, you wouldn't hear from him for days at a time, and even when you did, you ended up bickering, both too frustrated by the situation to realise that you weren't actually angry at each other. 

He had offered to come home. Offered to come back to Hawkins and settle down. He could get a job in town and you could buy a place and get married. Hell, you could even start thinking about having kids and you could get a dog. He was willing to live that little suburban life if it meant he had you. But you couldn't stand the idea of ruining the one chance he had of making it big and you'd made it clear that you didn't want him to come home. You wanted the world to see him as a rockstar; the rockstar you already saw when you looked at him. You'd settled on a deal, if in a year's time he did decide that LA wasn't working, he could come home and you'd be ready to go back to how things were before he'd left. Part of him hoped that the band failed. The other part of him knew that you would never forgive him if he didn't try his hardest to make them succeed. 

It wasn't until you were going to LA for the first time, travelling with work, that you really thought back on the breakup. Hell, it was hardly even a breakup. Half of your friends hated their ex-boyfriends, but you still loved Eddie more than anyone else in your life. It drove them insane half of the time, listening to you nattering on about how the band were doing so well. You heard their music on the radio. You saw them in magazines and on TV. You'd gone to the record store just to see their album sitting on the shelf, snapping a picture of it with your polaroid to remember the moment. 

Of course, part of you wished you could have gone back and changed how you'd done things. You could've held out with the long distance until you could afford to change jobs and then moved out to California to be with him. Or you could've transferred to a different company in California. Or hell, you could've just quit and moved out with him to start with. 

You'd been thinking exactly that when you'd been wandering back to your hotel from a meeting, and then someone had caught your elbow and you'd been spun around to find Eddie staring at you with wide eyes. 

"It is you," he started, a bright smile spreading across his face and making the butterflies in your stomach take flight. 

"Eddie?"

"I didn't know you were in LA," he told you, still grinning down at you. "You should've called-"

"I'm only here for a couple of days. My boss asked me to come and check out the new office."

He nodded, hesitating for a moment. "Let me take you out for dinner," he pressed on. "Like old times, but this time I can afford to get you something better than shitty diner food."

You let out a shocked gasp. "Deedee's wasn't shitty," you corrected. "That place basically raised us," you added, a little hint of a smile breaking through with your teasing. 

"Oh, don't get me wrong, Sweetheart. I loved the place, but it was a heart attack waiting to happen." 

You nodded slightly, considering his question. "Dinner sounds good," you finally told him. 

*Time Skip*

"So, you've got a new office in LA, huh?" he hummed, his elbow leaning on the table as he watched you carefully. Hell, he'd always thought you were beautiful, but it seemed you'd only been getting prettier since you guys had split. 

You nodded, clearing your throat slightly. "Yeah, the company is spreading out to the West Coast and the boss is trying to convince me to move out and head up the new branch-"

"You're moving out here?"

A soft sigh slipped out of you. "I don't know," you told him, shrugging slightly. "I like Indianapolis. It's close to home, you know? But this would be an incredible opportunity for me." 

He nodded slightly. "Planes exist for a reason," he hummed. "And phones," he added softly. "And you know that you've always got me out here to lean on when you're missing home," he hesitated for a second, clearing his throat slightly. "And Gareth, and Jeff, and-"

"Yeah," you interrupted, smiling softly at him. "I miss you, Ed," you finally murmured.

"I miss you too, Baby-" he paused, shaking his head. "Sorry," he uttered. "It's been what, 7 years? And it still comes so naturally to just call you that shit," he explained softly.

"Has it really been 7 years?"

He nodded. "7 very long years," he confirmed. "And I still sit around missing you like it's that first night."

You swallowed down the lump in your throat. "I still have that jumper you gave me," you confessed, the words tumbling out of you before you could catch them. "It stopped smelling of you ages ago, but I still like wearing it around the house."

"Yeah?" he hummed, a small smile pulling at his lips as he reached across the table to catch your hand, watching you nod. "You know, we were together for 8 years, right?" You nodded again. "Those sorts of feelings don't just go away." He paused for a moment, his thumb dragging over the skin of your knuckles. "If you choose to move out to LA, call me, okay?" 

"Okay."

Please consider supporting me for just £3 using Ko-Fi. The link is available on my profile page. If you have any questions about Ko-Fi please feel free to private message me. Thank you. L x