ᴍᴜᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ- sᴛᴇᴅᴅɪᴇ

1- ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴜsᴛᴏᴍᴇʀ ɪs ᴀʟᴡᴀʏs ʀɪɢʜᴛ, ʜᴀʀʀɪɴɢᴛᴏɴ

A random Wednesday, Hawkins, 1986

It was a hazy afternoon, nothing much happening- not that it ever does in their corner of town- but they'd had a fair few customers that morning. It was quite relaxing, actually, to be able to feel the sun on their skin as it burned through the windows, highlighting stray dust on the shelves that Steve had failed to clear and illuminating all of the metallic-foiled movie bundles.

Thinking about it, they barely seemed to get any customers past a certain point in the day- which had already passed by that point- unless it was one of Harrington's kids, pining them for a free movie rental or something to take so they could pirate and re-watch whenever they pleased. Today though, the group seemed to have other plans, so there Robin and Steve were left, moping around and making themselves anything but useful.

"That comes out next week, right?" A voice spoke, snapping Steve out of his tired position, leaning on the counter.

He blinked in return, totally not catching the start of Buckley's speech. Behind him, the chime of an opening door sprung into action- but he paid no attention.

"Labyrinth, y'know, the movie?" She shook a VHS tape which was placed in her left hand. "David Bowie? Ring any bells?"

Steve tilted his head in thought. He wasn't actually sure when the movie was meant to be released to the public, but figured it was better to be safe than sorry. Just as he was opening his mouth to let his co-worker know that he definitely knew exactly when it was meant to be out, there was another noise from in-between a quiet isle.

"Next week. Five days, if you want the specifics."
It was a sombre voice, or maybe just a quiet one, but whatever it was, it caught Steve's attention.
Just across the storefront, buried deep into their collection of gruesome horrors, stood a brown head of hair. Nothing more could be seen at that moment, but a spark in Robin's eye spilled the news that she knew the occupant.

"Steve, he's after your job."
She let one side of her lip be jerked up into a smirk, delicately mocking her friend and stopping herself from letting out a giggle. "Thanks, Ed."

Ed. Steve seemed to recognise that name from when him and Robin would share memories from high-school. It was interesting to see it from another shitty perspective- one being from golden-boy Steve Harrington, the other being from sexually confused, band-nerd Robin Buckley. However, at that minute, the guy's full name didn't seem too evident in knowledge.

As Steve watched Robin take a hasty skip back into the storage cupboard to return the Labyrinth VHS, the man, who had been hidden by shelves up until that point, stepped into view.
And quite honestly, he was nothing like Steve had ever seen in his life.

Now, Hawkins was full of people who were classed as freaks, Steve possibly being one of them now that he had absolutely no popularity and hung out with the town's closeted lesbian, but Eddie seemed to be on another level of the word. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing, of course not, but it certainly was strange.

The man browsing could only be described as a raging metalhead. Completely decked out in black clothing, chains, chunky rings of all shapes and sizes, platformed boots which housed a whole range of buckles, laces and straps, band pins stapled in any free space on his denim jacket- which looked to of been in use for decades, Steve might add- and slightly curled hair which sat just below his shoulders.
Yep, a complete and utter freak.

In the thought process, the guy in question had noticed that he was being watched. But even as he returned the gesture, the man slumped against the counter just didn't pull his eyes way.