PSA: while some of eddie’s backstory is influenced by the flight of icarus novel,　a lot has been altered.　if you want a brief rundown of what i’ve changed,　you can find that here.
triggers:　death,　terminal illness,　parental neglect.
pre—eddie.　elizabeth franklin grows up surrounded by music.　memphis,　tennessee is the birthplace of the blues　&　the home of rock ‘n’ roll ;　it should come as no surprise that she grows into musicality like she grows into her long limbs and wild curls.　lizzie is the apple of her dad’s eye,　and her mother is her best friend.　for all her life is beautiful,　she still dreams of getting out　—　boarding a plane to who-knows-where and finding new music in new places.　that plan flees the moment al munson blows into her world with the crooked smile and dubious charisma of the outlaws in her country songs.　she’s only nineteen when she lets him sweep her off her feet and away to hawkins,　indiana.
whirlwind fantasies only give way to unseen disaster :　al munson is a thief of more than hearts,　and the poverty in which they find themselves will never satiate him.　it’s here in hawkins that al’s charisma is unmatched by any other　—　he sways the bankers when the mortgage is short　&　the milkman for the bottles with the most cream at the top.　he weaves epic tales of the big get that will set them for life,　baby,　i swear,　and elizabeth is convinced every time,　her starry eyes never losing their rose—tinted affliction.
1966.　eddie’s birth is an event to nobody in particular.　though his mother’s embrace is loving　&　her smile is warm,　the shadow of al munson looms over what should be the happiest day of her life.　it is becoming increasingly apparent that elizabeth’s husband is not a good man despite his affability ;　al is not there in the delivery room,　and he is not the one who drives elizabeth and eddie home from the hospital.　that honor goes to al’s brother,　wayne.　so do most things that could be deemed responsibilities once eddie is born.　the poor-but-happy free-wheeling lifestyle of a young wedded couple in the wind is over.　life has set in,　and al munson wants nothing to do with it.
1967 - 1971.　the only memories of this time are those regarding his mom.　though elizabeth grows disillusioned with al through the years　&　the light in her eyes is snuffed out entirely when her parents pass,　she does her best to let none of that darkness be cast upon their son.
what eddie remembers most are her things,　things to which memories can cling through the years.　her records are her plane tickets :　they permit her the fantasy of taking eddie and leaving al,　a method of escapism passed on to young eddie.　each piece of jewelry adorning her person carries a story,　but her favorite is the one inherited from her mother ;　a black diamond encased in silver.　the children’s birthday cake cookbook she lets eddie pick a ridiculous cake from every year for his birthday :　a butterfly,　a pirate ship,　a dog,　a wizard’s hat.　she spins her records while they bake them,　substituting expensive ingredients for cheaper ones from the corner store.　( eddie’s contributions to the baking are the same as most small children’s　—　this being sticking his fingers in the batter and the frosting. )
1972.　eddie remembers precious little of 1972.　he remembers holding his mother’s hand in his in the hospital when it went limp　&　cold.　he remembers seeing her unmoving in her casket and asking wayne why she wasn’t wearing her necklace,　or any of her rings.　he remembers uncle wayne swallowing around words he wouldn’t say,　but glaring daggers into his dad like it was his fault,　somehow.　he remembers the sudden lack of music echoing throughout the house,　and the bruise he gets trying to reach the record player to put his mom’s favorite album on,　because his dad wasn’t there to do it for him.　actually,　of the little he remembers,　he can’t drag up a memory of his dad outside of the funeral that year at all.
1973 - 1978.　if childhood is kind to eddie,　it’s because his uncle wayne makes it so.　he bandages eddie’s knee when he gets into skating for a month and inevitably ends up bleeding onto the cement.　he shells out the money from his meager paycheck to buy eddie the records he wants　&　the clothes he needs.　elizabeth’s memory is kept alive in stories and pictures.　eddie grows used to the sound of silence when wayne is at work,　&　he grows used to the sight of his own shoes being the only ones at the front door.　if it were possible to leave more than you arrived,　al munson would surely manage it.　there are days where eddie grins at the other kids at school,　because i don’t have a bedtime,　i get to stay up as late as i want,　and boasts abandonment like a trophy in the way only an ignorant child can.　he stays up watching the television and thumbing through books he is far too young to read.　wide—eyed and curious,　he is able to convince himself he loves his independence by fleeing to fantasy realms on screen and page.　a child-led diet of sugar and soda does not a calm child make,　but there is nobody for his school teachers to call,　anyway.
there are other days　:　　birthdays　—　his own　&　his mother’s　—　and christmases and fathers’ days.　days that come with the cruel reminder of reality and smack eddie with a wave of longing so intense he could puke.　he drowns it out with the sound of music as loud as his mom’s record player and tinny speakers will allow.
if any of his dad’s gambling and scheming results in cash,　eddie never sees any of it.
when eddie is eight,　his dad goes to jail for the first time.　the grownups in suits with severe looks on their faces make him stay with wayne ;　stubborn little eddie is incredibly bitter about this.　he’s always been fine in his empty house alone,　he doesn’t need to move into the trailer park now.　some of that bitterness softens when he meets veronica.　ronnie ecker,　newly moved into the trailer park,　is eddie’s first real best friend.　she cares as little for what people think as eddie does,　and listens to the same music.　al comes back　—　something about prison overcrowding　—　and takes eddie home,　but he keeps his new friend.　
on eddie’s tenth birthday,　wayne makes him a birthday cake from the same cake cookbook his mom had used to.　it’s a clown.　its green m&m eyes and licorice smile are poorly done,　and its skin is a hideous shade of pink,　but eddie cries anyway.　he knows something’s coming,　because he doesn’t get things like this anymore without a let-down to follow.　the other shoe never drops.　fending for himself becomes normal,　the only adult supervision in his life largely being wayne poking his head into the munson house every few days.　in 1978, he forms corroded coffin for his middle school talent show.　his dad’s face is one of the few absent from the audience　—　and he tries not to be disappointed.
1979.　shortly after eddie’s thirteenth birthday,　he comes back from school to find his home in flames,　his father cuffed in the back of a police car.　it’s the first time he’s seen al munson in months,　and the last time he will see him for years.　turns out dear old dad had screwed over the wrong people,　and they’d set his house ablaze in retaliation - taking with it all of eddie’s memories of his mom.　her records,　her cake book,　gone.　burned up in the flames.
he moves in with wayne that week for good,　this time.　wayne’s kindness is suffocating,　the same way good food might make a starved body sick at first.　eddie is thirteen and terrified of the affection so easily offered.　he decides to take control of it and force wayne’s hand ;　eddie stays out too late with ronnie,　starts playing dungeons　&　dragons,　grows his hair too long,　but his uncle’s love doesn’t falter.　perhaps the most confusing part of it all is this :　every time wayne leaves for work,　he comes home after.　he doesn’t leave for days or weeks,　and the fridge is always full of …　well,　not fresh fruit,　they’re still poor,　but edible food.　when eddie tells wayne,　steely—eyed and knuckles taut white in shaky fists at his side,　that he’s gay,　it’s half confessional　&　half test.　this is it, he’s sure,　this is the moment wayne’s unconditional care gives in.　it doesn’t.　eddie is left with nothing to do but settle in to his new life.　
1984.　al munson returns to hawkins with a plan,　&　charm enough to sell it.　he wows eddie the way he had used to elizabeth,　promising him a cut of the money,　them working together as a team,　them being a real fuckin’ family this time.　wayne might see through his brother,　but eddie is not yet so hardened as he pretends to be ;　he lets himself be swept into the fanciful illusions his dad presents.　twenty thousand dollars worth of pot.　they’re going to steal enough weed to make them legends　—　or put bright red targets square on their backs.　devotion to a man so flighty as al is a dangerous game,　&　eddie should have known he would get burned playing with fire.　when things go wrong,　it’s his face their new-found enemies know.　when one such new foe shoots a cop dead in front of wayne’s trailer ?　al does what al does best.　he leaves.　he leaves his son behind,　preferring his son to be the one found with the corpse.　it’s eddie who’s taken in handcuffs,　the image of the man with the gun burned into his brain　&　the stench of spilled blood still in his nose.　never again will he believe his dad has the capacity to love him,　a lesson learned the hard way :　people are only pawns to al.　they are only what roles they can play in his game and what falls they can take so he never scrapes a knee.
the miracle that is eddie not being charged does nothing to dispel the scandal that rumbles through pta moms and their children alike.　eddie munson shot a policeman!　al munson’s boy,　he’s a murderer,　don’t you know.　they say it was his dad,　but i don’t believe that.　have you seen what that boy looks like these days?
ronnie ecker graduates　&　moves away,　destined for better things.　eddie doesn’t.　he takes a ‘job’　selling pot and pills he buys from reefer rick,　and swears he won’t let anything stop him graduating　—　whether it’s next year,　or the one after that,　or the one after that.　he almost grew into his father’s shoes,　and he’s not going to see that through.　he’s better than that.　he’s going to be better than that.
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