Idk what happened but season five reawakened my love for Eddie Munson and steddie and it hasn't gone away since
So I am here looking for moots.
I'm stiles. I'm a nonbinary lesbian who would risk it all for Joe keery. (He's part of the reason I thought I still liked men for so long. Fucking comphet). I use they/them pronouns but will use any for the bit.
I'm 26 years old but I feel like a corpse most of the time due to chronic pain and illness.
I ramble a lot. I'm autistic as hell and don't know how to socialize.
Please talk to me and make friends with me. I'm begging.
80s metal was inherently gay and absolutely based on drag and therefore Eddie Munson would definitely have dressed in drag at one point and it would've sent Steve into a spiral had he seen it. In this essay I will-
Established steddie timeloop fic where the only way for Steve to fix things is to not only break up with Eddie, but to completely break his heart.
It takes him several loops to figure it out. He tries everything else he can think of until in one of the loops, he lets some of his frustration out on Eddie. They argue and Eddie storms off away from his picnic table, ditching early. Chrissy dies at her house, and Eddie is never suspected.
It's the first time that's happened. Every other loop, even if Steve disrupts the initial deal, it always ends with Eddie meeting up with Chrissy to sell drugs some way, somehow.
Steve thinks they're finally in the clear. He purpousfully doesn't call Eddie, lets their fight keep them apart so Eddie won't get dragged into it, but Eddie shows up anyway. He wants to make up, to talk things through, and it ends with Eddie bleeding out in the Upsidedown, just like always.
He tries again, calling Eddie to tell him to give him some space. Doesn't work. Tries again.
One time, he lets the frustration and fear and exhaustion and heartbreak get to him again, he says some pretty hurtful shit, more so than in any of the other staged fights. It's the closest they get, but Eddie still catches up to him in the end. He still dies.
Steve starts to get a sense for what he has to do, but he doesn't know if he can. What all these loops have shown him, beyond anything else, it that Eddie loves him. Truly loves him. Enough to keep coming back and trying again for him, even when he fucks up on purpose. He doesn't know how to make himself give it all up.
Steve takes his time, taking loop after loop to spend as much time with Eddie as he can. He takes him on dates, brings him gifts, and tells him he loves him as many times as he can. It all still ends in death, but he chooses to hold on to the good moments. He probably spends a year of time in that bubble before doing what he needs to do.
On the final loops, Steve pushes every button he knows exists. He brings up Al every other sentence, he tells him it was a mistake, that it was a bad idea, that Eddie is a low life freak who can't graduate and is taking advantage of his uncle. He tells him Eddie should be lucky his mom is dead, because at least she doesn't have to see how much of a fuck up her son is.
The only thing he can't bring himself to say is that he never loved Eddie.
It works.
Eddie cries and begs and slaps him and fucks off in his van as far as it will take him. Steve skips his shift to cry his eyes out, but answers the phone call he already knew was coming, which calls him into Family Video.
They win.
Vecna is gone. Max and Will and El are free. None of them died.
i think the book gives us a canon explanation for eddie’s mom’s death but indulge me for a second in something a little darker.
one day the topic of parents comes up. eddie mentions that he lives with wayne because his dad’s in jail. dustin, nosy, immediately asks what for
eddie gets really serious for a second. tells the kids to please, please not go snooping into what his dad did. no one’s ever seen him this grave.
but kids are kids. and these kids have been figuring out government conspiracies since they were twelve. so dustin and max set off to hawkins library to look for old newspaper articles.
finally, in a random box from november 1976 that looks like it hasn’t been touched since, they find a clipping. infamous hawkins petty criminal al munson jailed for the death of his wife. they don’t elaborate on how, but the article mentions the funeral was closed casket
there’s talk about the son left behind too, descriptions of injuries that make even these battle-tested teenagers wince. they lock eyes and immediately realize they screwed up. they shouldn’t have snooped.
eddie’s at the entrance of the library when they leave, waiting for them. they flinch, waiting for him to yell, to tell them he never wants to see them again, but he just sighs. “it’s on me, really. i shouldn’t have told you not to go looking.”
thought about this again and I’ve actually decided Dustin’s reaction would be “well maybe he didn’t do it!! people get accused of murders they didn’t commit all the time!!” and Eddie has to go. Sorry buddy.
Gender is so hard to explain bc what do you mean I feel like a woman but I don't like being called a woman or she or her but sometimes I'm a man but never actually a man but also a they a thing a concept and I hate my body and I wish I had different parts but I love my body and how it's soft and squishy but I want to be hard lines and sharp angles and my hair is too short but then it's too long and nothing is right and everything sucks and why can't it make sense
The idea that Eddie is stronger than he looks is fun.
There's nothing else to it.
He doesn't have the stereotypical "jock muscles" that he teases Steve about and very much resembles a gangly, floppy-muppet creature (especially in the midst of his cafeteria speeches and other such performances). But he's not weak!
And everyone gets their own taste of what that means.
Exhibit A: The Party
Eddie will absolutely haul the children around with the same ease he hauls his laundry bag around (he is SLIGHTLY more careful with the children because they bruise easier than his laundry bag). If they're being particularly unruly, they're going over the shoulder to get the potato sack treatment.
Whenever they need to set up a space for D&D from scratch, Eddie's the one doing most of the heavy lifting. He brings the most stuff (from gear for the actual game to the snacks) and deals with the tables and chairs.
He is the only one allowed to move his throne. He's the only one who knows exactly where it goes for the best effect.
Exhibit B: Corroded Coffin
Similarly, there's a lot of heavy lifting. Eddie and Grant (the unnamed freak in CC) are the only ones who can lift their band's speakers on their own. Gareth and Jeff need to work together, or have help from Eddie and Grant.
He has carried each of them at least once after rescuing them from bullies or for the heck of it (this mostly applies to Gareth since he's still short enough that his feet dangle when Eddie lifts him up).
No one talks about it out loud, but they know Eddie's had to defend his "territory" in the woods on more than one occasion. Being a known dealer in Hawkins has never been as easy as he makes it look.
Exhibit C: Jocks
Eddie's not an inherently violent person, necessarily, but he will and has absolutely thrown down to defend his sheepies. And unlike Steve's track record with human opponents, he's won enough fights to make even jocks like Jason Carver nervous.
He's not afraid to get loud, he's not afraid to bear his teeth, he's not afraid to get in people's faces. No punches actually need to be thrown for jocks to get the idea.
His metal rings have left their marks on certain offenders. The smart ones have healed, but those stupid enough to keep going? Well, at least they'll always have a fun conversation starter when they meet new people.
Steve's not the only one who's been thrown against a wall. He's just one of the few who Eddie willingly let go before the fight was finished. He's also the only one who's walked away relatively unscathed.
Exhibit D: Steve
Eddie refuses to let Steve carry the grocery bags. Even if they're preparing a party that involves all of their friends and their families, and end up buying a quarter of the store to accommodate everyone, Eddie will fight Steve when it's time to get the groceries back to the car. He insists that they maintain the foundation of equal trade--Eddie handles the bags, Steve handles the food later on.
He despises Steve's morning runs, and makes sure Steve knows it. He will cling to Steve the night before and refuse to let up, even when still under the enchantment of sleep. It's only when Steve uses all his might to try and escape that Eddie finally wakes up--no alarm clock needed anymore. Whether Steve proceeds with his run or not depends heavily on his skills of persuasion that day. He's found that bribery usually works best.
Eddie will regularly trap Steve in blanket burritos when he feels like Steve is running himself ragged or notices that he's especially stressed. He's the only one who can get Steve in the blanket and the only one who knows how to secure it so that Steve can't get out on his own.
Steve might be The Party's resilient knight, but he's Eddie's fair maiden. And Eddie treats him accordingly. He loves scooping Steve into his arms with loud declarations of adoration, spinning him around, and then settling him on his lap. Bonus points if Steve ends up falling asleep--it warms Eddie's heart that Steve trusts him enough to NAP in his presence when he's usually too worried about everything to randomly fall asleep.
He will carry Steve to bed if they stay up late watching a movie, or Steve needs some time to come down from a nightmare. That includes braving the stairs with so much care that Steve doesn't realize he's been moved until the next morning.
(If he and Steve had been together during the latter's encounter with Billy Hargrove, or even just friends, Eddie would have left Billy with a permanent limp for laying his hands on Steve and Lucas.)
Some NSFW prompts
Eddie likes pinning Steve against the wall when they make out. He likes it even more when Steve lets Eddie hold him completely--jumps up and wraps his legs around his waist and everything. It feeds his ego to know that he's the first of Steve's partners who can pick him up and hold him where he wants.
When given permission to manhandle Steve around during sex, he doesn't hesitate. He TAKES it. He loves the way Steve moans and whines and tries to grind back into him at Eddie's show of strength. Just as much as he loves watching Steve's blush extend past his face and travel down his body.
He likes holding onto Steve hard enough that his fingerprints leave bruises. His fingerprints on Steve's ass have been a favorite between the two. Hawkins isn't a safe place to be out, but Steve likes physical reminders that he's with Eddie to substitute not being able to freely take him out on dates or commit to his usual grander romantic gestures, and Eddie will leave his mark any way he can.
