#Eddie is Gay

[groupielove21]

Eddie Diaz core

(Buck tries to keep his cool but the next time he goes to Chris' school he makes a coment about how his boyfriend is at work)

[dudesrysly]

Okay, just hear me out… the dialogues are insane!! The pessimist part of me won’t believe that buddie is going to be canon until I see it with my own eyes (I think even then I wouldn’t believe it lol) but Eddie’s lines on this episode are just so crazy!!!

Eddie about Shannon: that was a lot of the reason why we got married; the church. She got pregnant and I think we both felt pressure into it. But I never regretted it and even when things got really bad, there was always a part of me that loved being married to her.

Like… he didn’t mentioned something like “yeah… I grew to love her eventually”

Yes, I know he loved Shannon and was devastated when she died but that doesn’t really prove that he’s straight because she was the mother of his child and of course he loved her. But did he loved her romantically?

Or did he just felt comfortable around her and enjoyed their married life because it was the comfortable choice? Because he had no choice but to marry her?did he felt relieved when by getting her pregnant he didn’t need to actually choose a woman to marry?

Or:

Eddie about Marisol: I’m gonna have to break up with her.

Buck: is that what you want?

Eddie: No! I just asked her to move in with me. All of her stuff is still in boxes.

It’s like the only reason that he doesn’t want to break up with her is that he feels awkward about it and not because he likes her. Which I know that he told Bobby he likes Marisol but it’s really weird that the first thing that came to his mind is “no, no… it’s very rude if I break up with her right after I asked her to move in with me.”

I don’t know, maybe I’m reading too much into it but one thing we know about 911 is that the dialogues are very well written and smart.

Like:

Anyway, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for buddie!

[naturegirl555]

I need buddie fics where it’s in eddies pov and he’s dealing with the gay repression and comphet and he’s sad that he had this part of himself locked up for so much of his life. Plus religious trauma!

[magicalnerdsworld]

Eddie: Isn’t it weird that we can’t ride any other animal except horses. Like if horses weren’t a thing, humans would be fed cause we couldn’t ride any other animals. Like riding animals wouldn’t really be a thing. We should probably be more grateful to horses.

Bobby: Elephants.

Eddie: Blocked.

Chim: Camels.

Eddie: Extra blocked.

Hen: Donkeys.

Eddie: Ultra blocked.

Buck: That dick

Eddie: ...Followed.

[miriam-heddy]

I already reblogged with my response, but I feel like I need to shout a bit! Because I’m a parent. And some criticisms of Eddie I take personally and politically, because they’re so often lobbed at mothers.

People are complicated. Eddie is a person. Therefore...

Look, it's entirely possible for Eddie to have been (subconsciously) looking for another mother for Chris. He also likely knows that it's bad to get a child thinking someone's sticking around when they're not. And he's also likely thinking that Chris isn't the best judge of what he needed. And he probably knows that he's not either.

Eddie is a Parent-In-ProgressTM. He's learning on the job, as all parents do. Cut him some slack!

Contradictions are pretty common. Ambivalence, too. You can want and fear something at the same time!!!

[braincelllostandfound]

Athena after learning about Buddie

Athena: tell me this, Edmundo… 

Eddie: I- I think I wanna go now.

[mason-screams]

tell me why i started to try and determine how Christopher could be both Eddie's and Buck's child without the need for others like just them and their genes 😭 i started to look at both Eddie and Buck's physical traits like hair color, eye color, hair style, stuff like that, and then i looked at canon Christopher and realized that bro is just a combination of Eddie and Buck. i feel like the writers were giving us the hints the second they introduced Christopher. season 7 will in fact make buddie canon trust 😍🤞 (im so delusional but that's besides the point)

[steddiebylerfixation]

Eddie: very gay and also very aware that he is one centimeter away from accidentally outing himself to Steve by pulling all of these flirty moves on him because he just can't help it.

Steve: very unaware of anything ever except for the fact that Eddie is very pretty. Oh and also insert cymbal monkey on an infinite loop that plays in the background of his mind day and night. He's a beautiful sweetheart himbo, he can't help it.

[butraura]

Eddie can get shot multiple times, get left by his wife twice, get buried alive, risk his life every day for his job, run up a ladder in a lightning storm to save Buck after he got STRUCK by lightning, but a beautiful woman that loves him back gives him a panic attack… and we’re supposed to be convinced he is straight….

[technically-a-writer-technically]

remember to do the biphobia/queer hangout post!!

i rlly wanna read it!!<3

Assumption Make an Ass Out of You

Prompt by @whomst-the-hell: steve always knew he was queer fic where steve keeps trying to invite himself to Queer Hangouts w eddie and robin and they keep being like “uhhhh this isnt really your scene…” until steve is finally like “listen i get it ok theres all this fucking stigma but you two are the last people i expected this from!” and eddie and robin are like “youre a very good ally and we appreciate it but the truth is you just cannot relate to some of our experiences and you need to accept that!” and then steve is like “woooaaaahhh hold on i think we’re having two different conversations. i thought you were doing that thing gay ppl do sometimes where they treat bi people like we arent really queer or whatever. did you guys genuinely think i was heterosexual? lol that’s embarrassing”

Gave it a spelling and grammar check before putting it on A03: Assumption Make an Ass Out of You - technically-a-writer-technically (RegularRainbow) - Stranger Things (TV 2016) [Archive of Our Own]

Eddie calls Robin: Birdie

Tags: Angsty, probably a bit ooc, they mean well, their tough love is tough though. Original Male Character/Steve Harrington. I tried learning 80s Slang for this, it lasted several hours and then I wrote this all-in-one sitting, so probably not 80s accurate, especially towards the end. Not beta read, we die like men.

1. Never met an Ally so Good

Tall, Olive Skin, Green Eyes, passed Steve a drink, something pink and yellow, blended ice, with a tiny umbrella and a cherry.

“I didn’t know what you were drinking, but I took my best guess” He said, smile bright as fluorescent lights. The guy was cute in a clinical type of way, clean cut, clean-shaven.

Steve smiled, took the straw from his melting ice in a cup, and gave it a taste, twisting the straw around his tounge. “Ah. Tastes Perfect,”

“Oh, you’re a real maneater aren’t you,” He slipped between Steve’s legs, resting his hands on either side of Steve, boxing him in, “Come on Pretty Boy let me take you for a spin.”

Steve smiled, red decorating the tips of his ears and nose. “Sorry, can’t stay that long gotta drive back to nowhere-ville”

“Alright, Just one dance then, and maybe your number?”

Steve bit the corner of his lip, and smiled “Maybe …” All doe eyes, looking up from under his lashes,“ … maybe you could kiss me?”

“Hey, why don’t you back off” said Eddie, stepping between the two, pushing the guy back with an extended hand.

“Really! I don’t see your name on him” The guy squawked, Steve hadn’t even gotten his name.

“That’s not,” was Eddie’s reply, he sighed “look I’m helping you, trust me, he’s just being nice.”

“Looks like a fucking Belle to me,”

Eddie tilted his head and fixed him with a look, throwing his hand up as if to shrug, and said, “He’s just too nice to tell you to go away.”

“Look there are better ways to get dudes off your guy, you don’t gotta lie,” Then he peeked behind Eddie to get a good look at Steve one more time, and with a wink, he said, “If you ever find yourself in need of French lessons you know where to find me.”

Steve giggled, twirling his straw. (Fucking Flirting.)

Then, Steve said, “You really didn’t need to do that Eddie, I was fine, he was fine.”

“No, he was not fine. He was hitting on you, Steve” Robin chimed in.

“Isn’t that, like, the point of all this. Aren’t we here to get hit on? Flirt a little,” Steve leaned in and whispered, “Wave the white flags, you know what I mean?”

“Yeah, but it’s not cool to lead people on Steve, especially not here.” Eddie said.

Steve winced a little, his smile falling slightly, before he picked it back up, “I mean, there’s no harm in flirting, I didn’t know you guys were gonna get all riled up because I didn’t want to take him home.”

“Look it’s not all about sex, this is about community.” Robin said.

Steve sucked his teeth, and took a swig of his beer, “Okay, uh, whatever, I’m gonna pay for my drinks, and uh, sit in a fucking corner I guess.”

“Grow up, King Steve” Eddie said.

“Fuck you, Eddie, King Steve thinks you should find your own ride home.”

“I mean, we should probably leave.” Robin said.

“No, Rob, if it’s gonna be like that, I’ll just wait in the car.” Steve said. He gathered his things, throwing his coat on, fluffing his hair up and out from under the collar of his a letterman style jacket.

Steve stepped out into the cool night air, face hot with fury. He sighed, trying to release the tension that had begun to build.

“Hey, Pretty Boy, I didn’t get your name before your guard dog cock-blocked.”

“It’s — He’s just a friend. And, Uh, It’s Steve, Yours?”

“My friends call me Ian,”

“Well, Ian, thanks for the drink”

“Really,” Ian said, and it was almost a laugh, “I just had the bartender throw something together, I don’t like that fruity shit, I mean not like that, I just don’t like fruit juice, from fruit,” His talking tapered out. “You’re super cute, and it kind of fries my brain. I mean those pants are too tight.” (Ian say too tight, like he doesn’t mean it, like those pants make him think of something else.)

Steve laughed and looked down at himself, before smiling back at Ian. “Still want my number?”

2. Lavender Menace

Steve dyed the bottom layer of his hair purple. The faintest shade of lavender, barely it, In fact, it was practically silver. But, still, he was sure that everyone who needed to know that it wasn’t silver, would notice. They would notice.

“Did you dye your hair, Steve?” Robin asked, leaning across the Book Store counter to get a good look at his peek-a-boo dye job.

Steve resisted the urge to shake his head and show off. It took a long time to get his hair all nice, he wasn’t gonna mess it up for five seconds of Rob’s appreciation, not after the stunt she and Eddie pulled with Ian.

“Joyce helped,” Steve said, and brushed his fingers through the thick of his hair to show off the dye, just a little bit.

“Don’t you think you should have gone with another color,” Rob said, “You don’t want people to get the wrong idea about you.”

“I —“

“The hoard has arrived,” Eddie declared, as Mike, Will, and Dustin ran in straight for the new comic book section. “Whoa, your hair.” he said.

“Yeah, my hair.” Steve felt the weight of a frown pull at the corners of his mouth.

“You sure that’s the right color?” Eddie grabbed a lock of Steve’s dyed hair, and twirled it between his fingers, “You let the toner sit too long, it’s all purple-y now.”

With a huff, Steve said, “I was going for purple-y”

“Yeah?” Robin said.

“Why?” Eddie said.

“Because I want people to know I’m down with Dorthy” Steve said.

“You shouldn’t have dyed your hair purple, though” Eddie replied.

“Yeah, I agree, I think it’s a bit much … you’ve gone a bit too far this time, and after the bar” Robin said

“W-What do you mean after the bar that was all you guys, I was just having a good time.”

Eddie sighed and looked away, throwing his head back, and disappearing down an isle. “You explain it to your pet jock, Birdie, my head hurts.”

“Look Steve, people don’t need to know you’re ‘down with Dorothy’ it’s better if your not loud about it actually, keeps everyone safer anyway.”

Steve gets hot in the face, bright white-hot red in the cheeks, breaks into a sweat, he’s so mad. Then he’s close to crying, clearing his throat some, but it’s closing in on him. He’s so furious, he’s near tears about it. Dancing around breaking into tears.

If they didn’t like his hair, they could have just said that.

“Whatever you say, Robin” he said, wetly.

“Steve come on, it’s not your life, it’s ours” was Robin’s reply.

He doesn’t speak to her for the rest of their shift.

When Steve got home, he dialed Ian’s house. Ian was there in five minutes flat (He lived 15 minutes away).

“Wow,” Ian said, “Your hair”

“Yeah, I know it’s awful” Steve said, the memory of his earlier conversations brought up sour thoughts.

“No, no, you look pretty, a real bodacious babe.”

Steve smiled, for the first time since he got of shift. “Shut up,”

“Kiss me about it,” was Ian’s reply.

3. Steve’s House Doesn’t have a Purple Door.

“You could have your party at my place?” Steve said, “My parents aren’t gonna be home for another like month anyway”

Eddie smiled at Robin,

“Plus, I’m great at throwing parties, you remember my parties.”

“I don’t think we,” Eddie gestured between himself and Robin, “Were ever invited to King Steve’s famous parties.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Steve said, “But they were famous for a reason. Have it at my place, it makes sense. The venue is like 50% of a party.”

“I was thinking, no allies though” Eddie said, “Just queer deviancy,” Eddie brought the devil hands up to his head like ears and smiled at Robin. They fist bumped.

What they meant was no Steve it seemed.

“Hey, can you pick us up? Robin voice came through the phone loud, like she was shouting on her end of the line.

“From where?” Steve asked.

“A party,” Robin said, Steve felt her wiggle her eyebrows, and she giggled softly.

“I need the location?” Steve said.

“Oh, um, were near Byrock Ct,”

“Okay, I’ll be there in a few.”

Steve got in his car and drove to the Byrock Bar, with its purple backdoor. Ian took him there once, and they danced. Steve loved dancing, it was nice letting go.

This didn’t feel nice.

Robin and Eddie crammed into the backseat of his car, laughing, tipsy, and maybe a little high. Covered in glitter. Eddie had red lipstick on and smeared down his chin. Robin was wearing, glitter gloss and a silvery highlighter.

“You guys look like you had fun,” Steve finally said, before he pulled off.

“I thought you guys were gonna stay in tonight,”

“Steve,” Robin said, it seemed with no real purpose at all, except maybe to stop Steve from going on.

“No, I remember you guys saying that nothing fun was happening tonight so you guys weren’t going out, that’s what you told me!” Steve said, he was white-knuckling the steering wheel.

“Look, Steve, Birdie’s not gonna tell you, but sometimes we’ve got to leave poor ol’ Stevie at home.” Eddie said, kicking his feet up on the block of an armrest between the driver’s and passenger’s seat.

“Not every night is meant to include you, sometimes daddy’s got to come out and play” He said with a smile and a laugh.

Robin sputtered, “Ew, ew, I never want to hear you say something like that again.”

The drive home consisted of laughter and chatter between Eddie and Robin.

Steve pulled up to the entrance of Eddie’s trailer park, it was a short walk, maybe two trailers in was Eddie’s home. Usually, Steve drove him right up to the entrance, any closer and Eddie would fall into his home after opening the door.

“We’re here” Steve said, and put his car in park.

Eddie balked, “Really, are you being serious right now Stevie?”

“Shut up, don’t call me that.” Steve said, quickly, afraid he sounded like a petulant child, but angry enough that it didn’t matter much. “Get out of my car.” He said each word, one by one.

“Okay, King Steve, I’ll never ask for a ride with getting you your invite.”

“You’re a real fuck head, Eddie.”

“Whatever,” Eddie said, and slammed the door.

“That wasn’t fair dude,” Robin said. “How are we supposed to trust you if-”

Steve turned around, giving Robin a death stare, “Nothing, I don’t want to hear it, I, fuck Rob, I trusted you guys”

“Steve?”

“Shut. Up. Shut up.”

He dropped Rob off in front of her house, didn’t even pull into the driveway. He watched her get home safe, same way he did Eddie.

4. Steve’s Queer Agenda

Steve hasn’t been talking to them. He’s not gonna apologize first. And he’s not gonna speak to them until they apologize. Even if he felt like a bitch laying the silent treatment on thick.

Ian was rubbing his back, letting him lay all over him.

He mumbled into Ian’s lap.

“I can not understand jibberish.”

“Play with my hair, loser”

“Ooh, be nice.” Ian said, threading his finger into Steve’s hair.

There was a knock at the door, nice and sweet. Then another, practically knocking the door off its hinges.

“Okay, okay, coming” Steve shouted.

“Harrington residence, how can I help you?” Steve said.

Eddie smiled, pushing himself and Robin into the Harrington homestead.

Ian leaned up, peering over the sofa. He was looking for Steve, evident by the smile on his face, that fell quickly when he saw the culprits making Steve so, well, sad. Sad was the only way to put it. Beneath the quiet anger was hurt, and it hurt more than it made Steve angry. “Well, well, if it isn’t the terrible two-some”

“Bar guy?” Eddie said.

“Ian. My name is Ian.”

“Well, what are you two doing here because I don’t hear enough ass-kissing.” Ian said.

“Look,” Eddie said, looking from Ian to Steve “Maybe we all have the wrong idea,”

“Steve, I’m sorry we told you not to come out with us, and then had you come pick us up,” Robin said.

“Me too, I’m sorry” Eddie said.

“You’re a good ally” Eddie started.

“Are you fucking kidding me!” Steve interrupted. “Why even come if you’re just gonna fucking invalidate me to my face, what’s the point? I get it, I’m bisexual. I’m not gay. Fucking, Steve’s not queer enough to come out with us and get shitfaced. Whatever, call me whatever you want behind my back, but in my house? Really!”

“What?” Robin and Eddie said, practically in unision.

“Look, be biphobic somewhere else, okay. I don’t feel like dealing with this ever again.”

“No, no, I thought you were straight,”, “We,” Eddie gestured between himself and Robin, “thought you were straight.” Eddie practically tripped over his words, he was speaking them so fast.

“Are you fucking with me?” Steve said, “You thought I was straight.”

Eddie hesitantly nods, “We maybe thought you were straight.”

“Fucking, fuck you guys,”

“Yeah, fuck you guys” Ian said, repeated from the couch, laying down ergo he wasn’t visible anymore. “You made my boyfriend cry”

Robin looked horrified, “Steve, I didn’t know, I’m so so sorry. I never meant to make you feel like you didn’t have a community.” She quickly wiped away her tears, evidently determined not to cry right now, as she got red and sniffly. Robin walked toward Steve arms out like she was going to try to hug him. She was.

Robin said, “Can I hug you, Steve”

Steve, who had been trying to keep it all together, sniffled. He wasn’t going to cry if she wasn’t. He was supposed to be mad. He wrapped his arms around her, and buried his head in her shoulder.

Steve wanted to be angry, or he felt like he should be angry. Yet, he wasn���t, he was mad at them for making assumptions, for excluding him.

But, they were family. He’d been mad at them for as long he could, and then he’d taken to gray, blah, sadness. Not crying, but like trying to stave off a rainstorm. There was nothing he wanted to hear more than: we accept you.

It helped take the edge off. He could be mad about it later, take in all their forgiveness now.

“I’m really sorry, Steve, really, really, sorry” Robin said.

“We fucked up, Steve, I fucked up. I’m sorry too. I’m really sorry.” Eddie said.

“Now kiss,” Ian chimed in.

Steve laughed.

[stupidfreakingthoughts]

one day when eddie is coming out of the shower about to get ready, he notices that all of his rings are gone. he’s upset, because no outfit is complete without his rings, so he goes downstairs to ask steve if he stole them or put them somewhere. when he gets downstairs, though, he sees steve with all his stolen rings on his hands, on one knee, holding out a ring box with a huge smile on his face.

[narisinshambles]

Eddie would be the biggest gay hypocrite if he decides to have something to do with Marisol after telling Buck to not date anyone from a call💅🏻🫵🤸

DENIAL is a river in Egypt and Eddie cannot swim for shit🤡

[naturegirl555]

Take this as me being psychic but I feel buddie canon season 8 in my BONES!

[sarahmadisonxoxo]

The Steve Harrington Heist

Full Version: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43980454 The plans had been made, rescuing Steve Harrington from a stuffy New Year's Eve party. Something that had seemed to become a yearly occurrence amongst their group of misfits. No one ever asked why Steve just didn’t voluntarily choose to skip, since his parents had cut him off there was almost no reason for Steve to attend, but traditions were traditions. Rescuing Steve Harrington from his house was the night's objective, the first one to do so successfully would win bragging rights.“ So what’s your plan this year Munson? “Robin questioned, leaning over the Family Video counter. With the nights festivities few people were renting movies, leaving the space open for the group to use as a meet-up. In the past hour Eddie’s been here he’d seen one family come in to make a return, otherwise it was a ghost town.“ Wouldn’t you love to know Buckley...”“ I’m surprised you didn’t want to team up for your first time... Dustin would’ve if you’d asked”The rules of their little games were simple... there were in fact no rules. Any method of rescuing his royal highness from his fortress was accepted. If either of Steve’s parents caught them that member was removed from the game and could sabotage the remaining players. Players could initially team up with one member of the party or go solo. Eddie had decided his chances would be higher if he went in alone. Dustin initially had proposed they teamed up, and it had been something Eddie considered, until he thought of how concrete his plan would have to be for two people to seamlessly carry it out. At least if he was alone plans could change, he could be flexible.Flexibility was something he was heavily relying on... being that he still wasn’t entirely sure how he planned to pull this off.His years of playing D&D should have helped him, offering countless scenarios to rescue their King, but success and failure weren’t going to be measured by a few dice rolls. This was a mission his vast collection of characters would have no trouble completing, but Eddie was nothing like them. Even those characters from his earlier years of playing, ones created with large portions of influence from himself still greatly out skilled him.That wasn’t information Robin needed... as far as she needed to know Eddie had a brilliant plan crafted that no soul would be able to stop.Eddie was going to wing it. Robin just didn’t need to know that.

[magicalnerdsworld]

Eddie: Buck is playing hard to get. Eddie: Little does he know, I'm a master at playing hard to get rid of.

[rybonucleic-ket]

queer coding: eddie munson - analysis (2.0)

---

Eddie's gay as fuck.

get comfy, we'll be here a while

hoping somebody actually reads because I spent a concerning amount of time on this :') I may be mentally unwell

PARALLEL

4x01 - Eddie and Chrissy's drug deal scene

now this scene is like, all of the material Edissy shippers use. but.

if you actually look at it

it parallels s3 Steve and Robin on the floor of the Russian base so fucking hard that you cannot tell me it wasn't intentional

like

~~~ 'how in the holy living fuck am I here with the King/Queen' ~~~

"I feel like I'm losing my mind right now, doing a drug deal with Chrissy Cunningham, the Queen of Hawkins High."

"I can't believe I'm gonna die in a secret Russian base with Steve 'the Hair' Harrington. It's just too trippy, man." [...] "The King of Hawkins High himself."

~~~ 'course you don't remember' ~~~

"Y'know, this isn't the first time we've, uh, hung out." [...] "I wouldn't remember me either, Chrissy!"

"Do you even remember me from that class?" [...] "Of course you don't."

~~~ 'but I do.' ~~~

"Middle school talent show. you were doing that thing, the thing you do. it was pretty cool."

Tuesdays and Thursdays, so you were always late."

LIKE

I'm so mad, Chrissy and Eddie could've been fruity besties like Rob n Steve

why the Suffer brothers gotta be like that

NON-CONFORMITY AND FRUITYNESS

4x01 - reasons for outcast

we're introduced to Eddie with him mocking the satanic panic surrounding D&D. the crack ass article reads:

"Studies have linked violent behavior to the game, saying it promotes satanic worship, ritual sacrifice, sodomy, suicide, and even murder."

if you weren't aware, sodomy is a term used for various "crimes against nature", technically applying to any non reproductive sex, but largely referring to gay sex (I don't think anyone called straight people using condoms sodomy, like, ever) that stems from blatant religious homophobia. it comes from the story of Sodom, in the Bible, which actually was not about gay people at all. the term itself associates queerness with a lot of really bad shit with a high potential of triggering people, so you can look up the story of Sodom if you want to see the horrific extent to which religion has been twisted and weaponized.

now, D&D was primarily stigmatized in the eighties on the account of baseless, delusional satanic panic and the nerdiness of it, generally less about the game turning people gay.

but the fact that the article put "sodomy" in a "violent behavior" category next to human sacrifice and suicide, is an unfortunately accurate depiction of 80s homophobia. even so, considering that D&D making people gay was a less common delusion, it genuinely could've been left out by the Duffers. like, it's accurate, but not necessary to mention to catch the drift of the stigma around D&D. if it was one of the primary conspiracies, sure, but it wasn't. it was a conspiracy, but the fact that they included "sodomy" rather than any of the other less common conspiracies....hm.

anyway, anyway, back to Eddie. now, along with D&D, metal also had satanic panic delusions associated with it (and still does!). Eddie sits at a table full of D&D nerd metalheads, yet... he's Eddie 'the Freak' Munson. the freakiest of freaks. the most alienated of his friend group. which, I mean, makes it seem like there's another factor that makes him more of a freak in the eyes of Hawkins, Indiana. whatever could that be?

PARALLEL

Will Byers and Eddie Munson. if you look at it, they're bullied in very similar ways. s1 and s2, we're told and shown that the Party is seen as a group of outcasts, but Will is the capital F, most alienated, Freak. Will has been seen as different and condemned for being gay since he was a little kid. this observed queerness in Will is what makes him more outcast.

similarly, while in a group with the same interests he's condemned for, Eddie is THE Freak. the capital F, freakiest of freaks. as said before, looking at his friend group, there's not really an explanation unless Eddie has another factor people observe and condemn him for. considering he's got parallels with the only two confirmed gay characters in the series within the first episode he's introduced, it's very likely that factor is Eddie being gay.

RUNNING AWAY - QUEER SYMBOLISM AND WAYNE MUNSON

"There is no shame in running. Not today."

"When I see danger, I just turn heel and run. at least, that's what I've learned about myself."

"I didn't run away this time, right?"

Eddie talks a lot about running away from things that scare him. which, like, yeah love, who doesn't. but Eddie is so conscious of his tendency to run. mind you, almost every single character ran (or tried to) the first time they saw the upside down shit. honest to god, Eddie saw something incredibly horrifying, he didn't run away significantly more than anyone else, all things considered. he had to keep running or Jason was literally going to kill him. he was not exceptionally cowardly. why the hell is he so hung up on running away?

we know like, jack shit about Eddie's family. his dad might be in jail. his mom is never mentioned. all we know is his dad was a douche and he lives with his uncle. enter Wayne Munson!

4x02 - Wayne to Nancy, on Eddie

"My nephew, he may look dangerous," [...] "No matter what anyone says, and they will say things, believe you me. This wasn't Eddie." [...] "It's just...not in his nature."

4x05 - Wayne to Dustin, on Eddie

"I can't imagine we got anything to talk about. My nephew is innocent. He's still missing. I'll put up as many posters as I need until he's found."

Wayne is very well aware of the shit people talk about Eddie, and very adamant that he is a good person no matter what social expectations say of him. so, this is what we know about Eddie's family: his dad is a douche and Eddie no longer lives with him, and Wayne is cool and loves Eddie beyond what anyone else thinks of him, which is who Eddie lived with up until the witch hunt.

we obviously know very little about his family, and this is based on what very little we know, but. Eddie is insistent that he's cowardly for running. his father was an ass and he doesn't live with him anymore. Eddie lived with Wayne, who loves Eddie and gives zero fucks what society says about his nephew. it seems like Eddie lived with wayne for a while, but the amount of time he stayed with his uncle is unspecified. Wayne is persistently defensive of Eddie against those who think poorly of him.

so. this leads me to a few theories. a) Eddie's dad went to prison (Eddie discussed his dad being renowned for getting in trouble w Steve) and Eddie went to live with Wayne b) Eddie's old man said some nasty shit about him and Eddie ran away, living with the unanimously supportive Wayne.

both seem plausible, Eddie saying his dad taught him to steal cars as a kid, and Eddie being weirdly fixated on shame in running away, considering the vast majority of people would also run if they saw the shit he did, so running was genuinely not abnormal or cowardly.

if we take the second into account, I'd say whatever shit his dad did to make him run was probably homophobic. that's just a theory, though.

EDDIE AND NONCONFORMITY

as previously mentioned, Eddie is the capital F Freak of Hawkins high. while that treatment parallels Will, Eddie's response to it definitely doesn't. Will shrinks into himself in response to alienation, Eddie embraces his otherness like nobody else. Eddie is the most adamant supporter of rejecting the norm and bullshit social expectations.

4x01 - Eddie on conformity

"It's forced conformity. That's the real monster. That's what's KILLING THE KIDS!!"

what, pray tell, would cause such incredibly differing responses?

here's what I think. Will has like, a lot, a lot of fear of rejection. he tells Mike this explicitly. Will starts sobbing when Jonathan tells him he'll be there no matter what, which was absolutely Jonathan telling him he knew Will was gay and was supportive, I'm not gonna analyze the whole scene, but that was exactly what Will needed.

I am not, in any way, shape, or form, hating on Joyce or Jonathan, as a disclaimer. I would never. I do think that they didn't talk about Will being gay when they probably needed to. or say like, that's chill, we'd still love you if you were gay. some kind of explicit acceptance. understandably, that was for sure a difficult conversation to have in the eighties.

To contrast, Wayne, in 2/3 of his scenes, says Eddie is a good person regardless of any norms or opinions of others. such contrast between Will and Eddie's responses is because Eddie isn't really scared of rejection, and I think that stems from the extent to which Wayne voiced support.

FUN PART!!

drumroll...hanky code! hanky code is a signaling system used primarily by gay men that indicates sexual roles/preferences/kinks and so on. I think it's still in use today? but it was significantly more common in the 70s-90s. throughout season four, Eddie wore a black hanky in his back left pocket, which indicates domming in S&M. sure, it's possible it was a coincidence, but I doubt it. his hanky is consistently in his left pocket; so consistently, in fact, that in Max's trailer, he asks her for a bandana instead of using the one in his pocket. hmmm. but yeah I guess they could've accidentally made him gay and kinky. a freak of other sorts, if you will.

EDDIE AND STEVE

as much as I love steddie, this is not me saying they're canon. this is me showing you why Eddie was not demonstrating straight boy behavior.

so, the 80s had a much different culture around male friendship than we do today. platonically flirting with other guys was not a thing straight boys did. like sure, today all the jocks smack each other's asses and moan at each other, but that didn't happen in the 80s. not with straight guys. that was very strictly interpreted as gay. and homophobia was so potent then, straight guys would worry about seeming gay (fig. a: Jason's response to Erica implying he and Lucas were a thing) hence, a straight guy from the eighties would not voluntarily put his face inches away from that of a male friend while calling him "big boy".