So have you got the guts?

chapter one

When news of the Starcourt mall being rebuilt finally got around town there were a lot of mixed reactions. Some thought of it as disrespectful, or distasteful, for those that lost their lives in the tragic accident and others saw it as a means to replace a bad memory with better ones, so not shortly after the announcement did building begin and within a record time of only five months, Dr. Owen’s and his branch of the government were to thank for that speedy build no doubt, it was up and running once more which meant the return of Scoops Ahoy. Now the decision to work there and Family Video wasn't one Steve Harrington willingly decided on, but if it wasn't for his “emotional support lesbian” dragging him back there he probably wouldn't have even bothered reapplying. However, he would admit, more money meant he could finally finally leave his parents house. Not like they were ever there to begin with but having his own space was something he has wanted for awhile now, especially with the events that happened over last spring.

Vecna was gone. The gates were closed. Hawkins was once again a safe ordinarily boring ass town with only thing to worry about being "satanic cults" corrupting the youth. But even that was short lived and squashed down once Jim Hopper returned from the dead and took his place as Chief once more and those pesky murder charges were erased with the framing of Jason Carver. Wasn't hard to get this story to stick. His teammates saw how erratic he was. How unhinged and out of control he had become after hearing about Chrissy, so fabricating that he hunted Eddie Munson down and held him at gunpoint wasn't too far from the truth. Minus him fumbling into a gate after them and getting caught in a hoard of Demobats trying to escape of course, but not important. 

Technicalities and miniscule details conveniently chosen to be left out by Hopper, the man who's been dealing with this kinda shit since '83.

So by the time the summer of '87 rolled around and things had finally started to look up for this town, it wasn't surprising that people were still talking badly about Eddie. What was a surprise to most people was Steve Harrington being hauled in by deputies for fighting on numerous occasions. Whenever anyone dared to bad mouth the metalhead, Steve was magically there to defend his honor despite the latter barely showing himself to the town anymore since graduating. Steve wasn't the only one, a few of the kids had gotten pulled into the principals office for the same thing; once or twice Nancy fucking Wheeler was one to be dragged in for actually breaking some woman’s nose at the super market for saying something not so nice about their friend.

It wasn't as if the metalhead completely cut everyone off, he would show up to their gathered events and get togethers but not as often as they would all like him to be. This was, after all, the first time Eddie had to deal with the events of an Upside Down episode while everyone else was on their fourth or third roundabout. So isolating himself wasn't exactly strange but with how close-nit this group was they would've much rather prefer to be there for him than know he's dealing with God knows what all on his own.

So maybe Nancy was in fact hiding a bit of information of her being in contact with the older teen more than any of them knew. Why Eddie chose her to confine in was a mystery even to himself but she never questioned it, and let him sneak into her place and cry for hours about everything. She didn't judge him, didn't make him feel weak; she never even questioned it when it slowly became routine for the two. His opinion on her during high school was thrown out the window the moment he saw her dawn that shotgun. She didn't ask questions or interrogate him about why he would show up, she would just let him in and lead him up to her room where she had tea ready. It was a friendship that Eddie never thought to have.

Sneaking up to a girl's room honestly was something Eddie never expected himself to be doing, especially the girl being Nancy Wheeler . Tonight of all nights was a hard one. He tried to sleep back at his place, a 'We're sorry an interdimensional demon from another world tore your trailer into pieces, here's a house now shut up.' gift. At least his bedroom was still in tack and he was able to pack it all up before the government came and demolished the entire thing. Silver linings or something his Uncle Wayne had said while they stayed in a hotel for a bit. So since he struggled with sleeping he frequently found himself here, again , in the bedroom of Nancy with a hot cup of tea in his hands just staring down into the liquid.