✓ Her Mixtape, Stranger Things

lx. the supercut

That day, he realized why his mother lied so much. He understood why his mother always put up with his father's jest because if it wasn't her, it was him or Alex.

And he decided at a young age that he didn't want it to be his mother anymore, and he didn't want Alex to be a choice. So he became the man his father was, stealing, smoking, drinking, selling drugs, doing drugs, and getting in trouble with the cops because his father would target him instead of his mother and younger brother. Because maybe then, his father will feel threatened in some way.

Ricky was willing to ruin himself entirely.

Then came graduation day, and he realized Alex was older than he remembered, that in the blink of an eye, his baby brother had become a teenager, and he'd completely missed out on his life.

"You still have time to make it up to him," Dani said later that night, as they sat on her living room couch, watching Alex play with her dog, Spots, and Eddie with him. They could hear their mothers preparing dinner to celebrate their graduation from the kitchen as Eddie's uncle reassures Dani's dad that Eddie will graduate next year... or eventually.

Hopefully.

Ricky glanced at her, tucking his knees to his chest, "It's too late."

"It's not."

"How'd you know?"

"Because," she shrugged, "you never changed. Not really. You're still Richie... and I'm sure he thinks of you that way, too." She paused and frowned, placing her hand on his shoulder. Dani tilted her head to meet his eyes, "What that man did to you, what he said you were... none of it is true. You're nothing like him."

He sighed, looked away and mumbled, "The abused becomes the abuser, Dans..."

"It doesn't have to be that way," she said, beginning to stand, "I'm not going to tell you what to do, Richie. What you end up doing with your life is your own decision. If you want to keep overdosing in the bathroom every weekend, go for it. But if you really want to change, you have to try. The choice is yours."

Ricky made the decision to change after seeing Dani walk into the kitchen and laugh with her father. When he turned to look at his younger brother again, he saw him laughing while Spots jumped at Eddie, knocking him over.

All of this led to a situation he never expected to be in a few years later. Eddie Munson was knocking on the bedroom window of a small house he had managed to rent after the summer. Alex would occasionally bunk with him on weekends when his mother was away on business. But that wasn't the point.

Eddie's knuckles were banging against the glass at such a rapid pace. Ricky got up from the couch, certain he'd break the glass, and knowing he couldn't afford to replace it and rushed to pull it open.

"Dude, what the fuck?" Ricky mumbled as he watched his best friend stumble into the room, knocking over books and records. "You have your own set of keys-" He came to a halt when he noticed Eddie's eyes were dormant and horrified. Ricky reaches for him, his hand on his shoulder to keep him steady. "What is it, Eds?"

"I..." He gasped, trembling, "I think I killed Chrissy."

Ricky blinked, dropping his hand, "Who's Chrissy?"

Eddie collapses onto the bed, tears in his eyes as he presses the heels of his hands against them. "Chrissy, man! The- the girl!"

"You got a girl?" Ricky was visibly surprised, confused, but surprised. He sat down next to Eddie, clapping his hand on his thigh, "Hey! Congrats, man. Took you twenty-one years but you did it. Dani was wrong, you're not gonna die a virgin."