#but if this becomes one of my legit wips im considering having her there for more of the story

[duck-in-a-thrift-store]

Oops

My hand slipped

*(warning: long ass post below the cut, and massive spoilers ahead if I ever do get around to fleshing this out into a fully-fledged fanfic)

(Also, if you saw this before it was finished... again, no you didn't)

I'm thinking Wayne took Eddie to his buddy's ranch once when he was younger, maybe like right after he moved in with him, and it just. Changed his life.

(I also wanna tie this into being around the same time he came out/realized he was trans, and maybe the trip was Wayne's way of being supportive and/or getting him out of Hawkins for a little bit so he could experiment with presenting more masc safely. I'm a forever trans Eddie truther so for me this is just a given lol)

He just sort of naturally connects with the horses, relishes the feeling of freedom riding gives him once he works up the nerve to try, and he feels inexplicably more at ease, more at home, in his brief taste of ranch life than he ever has in his small town

Next thing he knows he's obsessed

Unfortunately his lot in life doesn't really present opportunities for him to engage with this newfound interest. Wayne can't take off long enough to repeat the trip; he was toeing the line with his boss the first time, and no way in hell could Eddie ever afford to actually have a horse, but even if he could, there'd be nowhere to keep it. Hawkins isn't exactly known for its wide open rolling plains, and neither are the bigger cities he's considered moving to someday in hopes of finding a more... accepting environment

So he's resigned to the fact that his daydreams of being a cowboy will never be a reality

But that doesn't stop him from learning as much as he can, and gushing about it to his peers at every opportunity (full on special interest/hyperfixation style, along with a lack of awareness regarding others being uninterested and annoyed by his infodumping. Neurodivergent eddie my beloved <3, another headcanon hill I will die on)

It gets to the point that the other kids find it obnoxious and start making fun of him; rumors about the circumstances of his criminal father dumping him with his uncle- along with speculation about why he doesn't quite look or sound like the other boys his age- certainly don't help, and neither do his ventures into "violent" music and "satanic" games

Eventually the Eddie we know and love today develops, the metalhead who sells drugs at house parties and runs the school's d&d club and shepherds younger students who don't quite fit in, the guy who embraces his status as town freak, because hey, if that's how everyone's going to see him anyway, might as well live it up, right?

But his horse girl/cowboy phase is something he keeps close to his chest. It's a part of him that's a little too personal, a little too integral to his growing up, and he also thinks it clashes a little too hard with the persona he's built for himself. Fortunately for him, most of the students at Hawkins high either don't remember that phase or flat out don't recognize him anymore, so he gets by without anyone but Wayne knowing the truth (and regularly teasing him about it)

Except.

He barely remembers- there was so much going on, so much has happened since, and he isn't the only one who's hardly recognizable from his eleven year old self- but there was one kid in middle school who actually liked him during that phase, who would talk just as excitedly about cowboys and rustlers and horses, who played along with him at recess while all the other kids either ignored them or rolled their eyes from a distance as they played their own games of tag or basketball or hopscotch

That kid understood him like nobody else did, back then. But back then, she was a girl- as far as anybody else knew- and one of the least popular students in school

So how the hell was Eddie supposed to realize that popular, normal, golden boy jock Steve Harrington was that same kid?

After a fateful spring break filled with running from the Hawkins mob, reconnecting with his childhood playmate, and horrors beyond his comprehension, Eddie finally connects the dots, and by then, he and Steve both have plenty of reason to get the hell out of dodge

However, it's a bit hard to go on the run when you're both confined to hospital beds after getting very nearly eaten alive by alternate dimension bat monsters

(I will absolutely be taking the opportunity of them being in the hospital together for Eddie to notice Steve's top surgery scars and have an "oh shit, he's like me" moment, which is probably when it finally clicks and he understands why he's felt so familiar despite them never being friends in high school. For context, the kid he knew in middle school mysteriously disappeared in seventh grade and was eventually replaced by incoming freshman "new student" Steve Harrington, whom everyone immediately liked and who instantly rose to the top of the social ladder without really even meaning to, so Eddie had never gotten a chance to run the same circles as him before now)

Eventually they do make it out of the hospital, still nursing their wounds but stubborn and desperate to get far away from Hawkins and everything it represents, besides the family and friends they leave behind, but that can't be helped- Eddie was wanted for a murder he didn't commit and Steve had taken the rap for Nancy's sawed off shotgun (as well as a bunch of other shit the kids had gotten into over the years) and there were also whispers among the police about his involvement in the mall fire the year before, so they were both running from the law. Taking the others along only would have put yet another target on their loved ones' backs, and besides, they're not exactly in fighting form at the moment, so it's not like they can do much to protect them

Along the way as they're running to god knows where- more running from than running to, really- they encounter a farm

A farm with horses

Horses that are clearly being neglected or maybe even abused

And that opens up the biggest can of worms in Eddie's life, because, for one, horses, but also, he knows what it's like to have the people who are supposed to take care of you turn their backs and lash out when things are going south- he can thank his dear old dad for that

So basically, there's not a bone in Eddie's body that's going to let him just walk on by without doing something about the situation, and when he says as much, he's pleasantly surprised to find that Steve is enthusiastically on board, possibly just as pissed as he is, in fact

And hey, it's not like they have to worry about ruining a clean legal record, and they've stolen an rv, they're definitely crazy enough to steal some dick's malnourished horses

So they do

Perhaps it's just meant to be, because there happen to be exactly two horses and exactly two of them

They succeed in their mission and get away with both horses without getting caught, and they're far away already by the time the dude notices they're missing (don't ask me how they transported two weak, full grown horses I haven't figured that out yet so shhh)

They've found a place to hide out for the time being, and they get to work rehabilitating and nursing the horses back to health. Eddie, having gone through his whole intense hyperfixation on equine care, is weirdly knowledgeable about determining what exactly is wrong and how to treat it, as well as knowing more than he has any reason to about training and riding, and Steve- well, Steve is just naturally a caregiver, and determined as hell. Between the two of them, the horses end up far healthier and happier probably than they ever have been, and they've definitely bonded with the kind humans who helped them get there

And thus, sort of by accident, Eddie and Steve have scored themselves two loyal, sturdy horses, just in time for Steve to have to ditch his car because they realize they've been tracked by his plates

Obviously they take off, renegades on horseback, Eddie having taught Steve how to ride at some point because even after all this time he's never forgotten, and through some beautiful twist of fate they wind up back at the ranch where it all started, and Wayne's old buddy offers them a job as ranch hands, telling them he doesn't need to know shit about their background as long as they know how to handle horses, and they clearly do

Basically they get to fulfill their childhood dreams of being cowboys (and maybe fall in love along the way) and live happily ever after or whatever I'm not really sure how this ends yet

(Oh and obviously Robin is going to somehow end up at the ranch and be reunited with Steve because ~platonic stobin is love platonic stobin is life~ and also because Robin dressed as a cowboy is something I think we all know is Right and Correct)

Was working on a thing for the au and a new headcanon occurred

This most likely won't be plot relevant, like, at all, but for some reason now that it's in my head I'm kinda stuck on it

It's just that Eddie secretly loves horses. That's all. That's the headcanon.

Will this matter story wise? No, no it will not. I'm pretty sure they will at no point encounter even a singular horse over the course of this fic

BUT

Look me in the eye and tell me Eddie Munson wasn't a horse girl in middle school