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pollenallergie · 1 year

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Munson Men headcanons <3

Description: Just some miscellaneous headcanons about my favorite father-son duo <3

Word Count: About 2k

CW: Swearing (I have a potty mouth, that’ll never change), Eddie and Wayne’s frugalness and sense of innovation are heavily inspired by my family’s supernatural ability to avoid spending their money at all costs, hints at the first half of Eddie’s childhood being less than stellar (to put it mildly), brief mention of Eddie’s dad.

A/N: Let me know if you guys would like me to write the origin story of the fantastic, dynamic duo that is Eddie and Wayne Munson!! I have so much lore about their pre-canon lives floating around in my little ole noggin.

The Munson’s have movie night on the first Monday night of every month. As unorthodox as it may be to stay up late watching movies on a school/work night, it’s the only night of the month when Wayne usually doesn’t have to work the night shift, so it’s the only time they have to relax and hang out. <3

Wayne taught Eddie most of the basics of playing guitar, including how to tune his acoustic. However, other than that, Eddie’s pretty much self-taught. He mastered playing the electric guitar all on his own. <3

Wayne, much like Eddie, is shockingly big on nicknames. For example, Wayne’s longest and most enduring nickname for Eddie is Ferret because the boy has more energy than he knows to do with. Eddie’s also insanely good at squeezing into small spaces, which makes that moniker even more apt. Wayne also came up with your nickname, Jitterbug, because you’ve always been a fidgety, nervous nelly. <3

Wayne even has a nickname for your mom; he calls her Apple because she always uses apple-scented shampoo, the same apple-scented shampoo you used to use until you grew up and started acquiring your own hair care products. Also, Wayne calls your mom that because she often wears this cute little sweater with apples knitted all over it during the colder months. <3

Wayne keeps a picture of you and Eddie on his dashboard. It’s of you two leaning up against the brick wall at Hawkins Elementary, smiles beaming at the camera as you’d huddled in close on the morning of your first day of the third grade. On the back of it is written, in Wayne’s oddly elegant handwriting, “Ferret & Jitterbug Go To School - August 1973.” <3

Eddie is the heaviest sleeper on god’s green earth; he always has been. Consequently, when he was much younger, Wayne used to have to physically haul him out of bed in the mornings and dress him himself. Now that Eddie’s older, though, Wayne rings a rusty old cowbell he got at a garage sale to wake his nephew up; it works like a charm. Wayne thinks the cowbell was one of the greatest purchases he ever made. Eddie, on the other hand, has tried (and failed) to sneakily rid the Munson household of that damned bell on many occasions. <3

The first time Wayne caught Eddie smoking weed, when he was thirteen years old, he sprayed him with the hose to put it out. Then Wayne gave his drenched, shivering nephew the sternest, most long-winded lecture of his life. <3

After Eddie got done reading the Crucible in his 9th grade English class, Wayne had to deal with him constantly greeting him with a prim and proper “How now, dear Uncle.” <3

Eddie is one of the greatest gift-givers of all time. He listens more intently than others might initially think, so he always knows the perfect gift for someone. He gets that talent from Wayne, who inherited it from his mom, Eddie’s grandmother, Margaret Munson. <3

Similarly, both Wayne and Eddie get their dramatic flair from Mimi (what Eddie calls his grandma). She used to read Eddie his bedtime stories to him, using different, silly voices for the characters and narrators as she read through the tale, even pausing for dramatic effect when she felt it was necessary to do so. Mimi’s favorite book to read to him, which also happened to be his favorite book when he was little, was Millions of Cats. Eddie still has her copy of the book. The inside cover has the words “property of Eddie and Mimi Munson” inscribed in her pretty handwriting. He stores the treasured book in a memory box under his bed, opting to have it tucked away for safekeeping. As gross as it might be to some, Eddie finds it profoundly comforting that the book still smells like the menthols she used to smoke. <3

Wayne Munson is the DIY king, and Eddie is his protégé. Seriously, these men never hire a repair service because they fix everything themselves. Wayne even went as far as to check out books on basic wiring and electrical work from Hawkins Public Library when their trailer’s circuit breaker was giving them trouble. The Munsons have even been known to craft their own furniture from time to time, like when Wayne built the nightstand next to Eddie’s bed out of the wood that one of his friends had left over after building a new front porch for their house. He even got some dark wood stain to use on it for half off from the local hardware store since the can it was in was so dented that it hardly resembled a cylinder anymore. <3

The Munson men are also pros at shopping secondhand. They can scout out the best deals at garage sales. They can also easily scope out the most extraordinary hidden treasures at even the most cluttered thrift stores. Going shopping with them is a breeze because you know that, no matter what, you’ll get precisely what you need. <3

Wayne makes the most delicious grilled cheese sandwiches. You and Eddie aren’t sure how or why the ones he makes are always so much better than any other grilled cheeses you guys have had before, but they are. <3

Wayne’s never been a big fan of cake, so instead, you and Eddie make him a blackberry cobbler every year for his birthday using his mom’s recipe. Luckily for you both, or, rather, for your wallets, Wayne’s an August baby. Hence, blackberries are in season for his birthday and are, consequently, super fresh and not too expensive. <3

Contrary to how the rest of the town views them, most of the residents at Forest Hills quite like the Munsons, especially the elderly residents. Eddie and Wayne are the kinds of neighbors who will offer to help someone carry in their groceries, who will mow a neighbor’s lawn for free if they’re unable to do so themself, and who will even leave a lovely card in someone’s mailbox on their birthday. The Munsons are good people, and unlike most people in Hawkins, the folks who live at Forest Hills can clearly see that. Although, Eddie’s tendency to drive recklessly and blast metal music at all hours of the night sometimes makes it a little hard for his neighbors to remember just how good of a guy he truly is. <3

Wayne was your most loyal customer when you were in Girl Scouts and had to sell cookies every year. He’d save up money for months ahead of the cookie-selling season. Then, when the time finally came to start going door-to-door with your cookie forms, wearing your adorable little Junior Scout uniform, he would use that money to buy as many boxes as he could afford just to help you out. His favorites are the Tagalongs because, well, in his eyes, peanut butter and chocolate together is an unbeatable combination. <3

While Eddie’s “old man” may not have taught him how to fish, his Uncle Wayne sure did. When Eddie was a kid, back when he was still living with his shitbag of a dad, Wayne used to take him fishing at the lake at least once a week during the summer months to allow his nephew to escape his dad’s torment during summer break. Consequently, Wayne has many, many photos of a young, freckle-faced Eddie holding up the various fish he’d caught while flashing a beaming, toothy grin at the camera. He’s even got a couple of Eddie pressing kisses to some of the tinier fish his nephew caught. He also has one very special picture of 8-year-old Eddie gagging after his lips made contact with the slimy, scaly skin of the fish he was holding. That last picture is one that he’s opted to keep in his wallet; that way, he can look at it and laugh whenever he’s having a hard day. <3

Wayne and Eddie like to tease each other a lot. Granted, it’s only ever friendly fire. For example, Wayne teases Eddie about how loudly he snores at night. Meanwhile, Eddie teases Wayne about the so-called “grandpa noises” he makes when he gets up from the couch, bends over to tie his shoe, picks up something heavy, etc. <3

Wayne doesn’t really know what to do when people start crying around him; he tenses up and gets all awkward, unsure of what to say or do to make things better. But you bet your ass he tries his damnedest to console them, offering kind words, affectionate side-hugs (his full-on hugs are reserved for when his family needs them most, because he’s not really big on hugging), comforting shoulder pats, and when all else fails, a shoulder to cry on, to lean on in your time of need. <3

Wayne deserves a presidential medal of honor for all the times he’s had to take you, your siblings, and Eddie out to the Indiana Dunes for your yearly vacation by himself, which makes up nearly all of the times that you guys have gone to the Dunes, mainly because your mom was hardly ever able to get off work to come along with you all. Being stuck in a car with a bunch of ornery little shits for four hours (two hours there and back) is bad enough. Imagine how draining it is being stuck camping out in the woods with them for an entire week. Not to mention, Wayne almost always got stuck sharing a tent with you and Eddie, the orneriest of the little shits. After every single one of your trips to the Dunes, your mom would let you and Eddie have a week-long sleepover at her place so that Wayne could get some reprieve. However, Wayne almost always had him return home after about three days, as he found that he missed his boy in their time apart more than he missed the blissful silence when Eddie was home. <3

Wayne Munson can and will kick anyone and everyone’s ass at backgammon. He’s also unfairly good at Battleship, much to your and Eddie’s dismay. Also, Wayne’s never been the kind of person to let a kid win simply because they’re a kid; he is ready and willing to best you and Eddie at every board game known to man. Consequently, game nights at your mom’s place (to which Eddie and Wayne are always invited) are an intense affair, to say the least, but damn, are they fun! <3

Finally, Wayne used to sing “Don’t Fence Me In” to Eddie to get him to fall back asleep after a haunting nightmare woke him up, something that happened far too often when he first came into Wayne’s care. </3

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