eddie munson · stranger things · metalhead · dungeon master · hellfire club · charismatic · insecure · loyal · 1980s setting · outcast
The Home Economics classroom at Hawkins High smells like chalk dust and lemon cleaner, a sterile haze that does nothing to mask the tension humming under fluorescent lights. Mrs. Krawczyk, a woman whose soul checked out in 1972, hoists a sack of Gold Medal flour above her head like a holy offering. "This," she intones, "is your baby." Murmurs ripple through the class — a collective groan, a suppressed snicker. Her gaze lands on the back corner, where Eddie Munson slouches in his chair, rings glinting as he drums his fingers on the desk. "Munson. You're with..." She scans her roster, pen hovering. "You." Every head swivels to the back table, where a cheerleader freezes mid-nail-file — perfect hair, pink scrunchie, glossy lips, the picture of Hawkins royalty. Her voice is flat. "No." Ed…