Latest Posts by eddiemcnson - Page 3

steve & company - 001/???

001 - the fruity four @rcbinbvckleys ; @eddiemcnson ; @backtowheeler

+++

eddie scoffed, amused. "yeah cause i chucked it at you, since you were like half-naked and bleeding.",he said with a playful roll of his eyes. "not that I was worried about the injuries or anything. nah, one more minute of you and your fucking chest hair, looking all sexy and hero-like after slaying that bat, may the lord have mercy, i would've jumped your bones, stevie." back then eddie had used the word 'metal' to describe steve's bat-slaying. come to think of it now, 'ridiculously hot' fit the situation better.

his grip on the bottom of steve's shirt loosened slightly before it instantly tightened when he felt the other wrap his arms around his waist. he quickly took the chance to get closer, even closer than steve was pulling him in, hands tentatively roaming up his biceps. jesus, eddie thought, steve's arms should come with a warning - caution : can cause resident gay metalheads to become extremely hot and bothered.

eddie pouted at the sudden loss of contact as steve pulled back and gave him his vest, the wink didn't go unnoticed, bringing a blush to eddie's cheeks. grinning, he rolled his eyes and, as if to prove a point, brought the vest to his face, inhaling over exaggeratedly, before he pulled it on. "aw, shucks, steve you caught me."

though he quickly dropped the teasing, leaned into steve's touch, palms flat on his chest, he tilted his head to the side, a fond yet uncertain look in his eyes. it all felt so awfully familiar and comfortable, he wondered again if this was all some cruel joke.

eddie gave a slight weak nod, steve was right, they needed to talk about what had happened. about what.... this was. they definitely needed to talk - at some point, though, not now. now, eddie grabbed a fistful of steve's shirt and pulled him close.

"yeah, let's talk.",he breathed, gaze darting down to his lips before he connected their lips, sighing into the kiss.

eddiemcnson​:

+++

he couldn’t help but bite his lip, grinning, hands clasped behind his back as he leaned against the wall next to steve, eyes raking over his frame. nope, definitely couldn’t deny that the vest looked good on him - had looked even better when he’d worn nothing under it but that was a thought for another time.

a spark ran through him as steve got closer, remembering the last time they’d hung out. when eddie had shown up on his doorstep, terrified, and it had ended up with them sharing a bed, making out, waking up cuddling. they hadn’t talked much since, the events of the day had pretty much prevented eddie from forming a single coherent thought aside from frantic, panicked over thinking.

he nodded, eyes darting down to the floor. “yeah. everytime i look at that like I think of -”, he stopped himself, gave steve a sheepish smile, shrugged. steve knew what he thought of, he’d been through it too, after all, and eddie really didn’t want to make any hurtful memories resurface.

aside from watergate, lovers lake also strongly reminded eddie of his time spent in hiding. the fear that had gripped him when he’d looked over his shoulder and seen jason carver, eddie thought he’d seen his life flash before his eyes. he shrugged again. “weird doesn’t even begin to cover it, man.”

steves hand on his arm made eddie shiver and he smiled again, leaned into the touch, his fingers idly toying with the hem of steve’s shirt. fidgeting - nervous habit. “yeah, yeah, we all know you’re crazy handsome and everything looks good on you, yada yada. you done now?” a teasing chuckle fell from his lips as he looked back up at steve. “doesn’t mean you get to keep it. besides, I’m starting to get cold, man.”

eddie’s mood sobered a little at steves question and he gave another shrug. “i don’t know if I’ve ever been, like, fully okay after… what happened. but being here…. it’s weird. and not a good kinda weird. bad weird.” a couple of beats passed before eddie broke the silence with a soft “I’m glad your here, steve.”

.

ever since eddie had spent the night at his house, in his bed, that things had been different between them. not a bad different, steve definitely liked that he was now intimate with eddie. he just wasn’t sure what other people would act like if they were to find out. not that he minded people finding out, but he wasn’t exactly sure how they would react to it. how would nancy take it? steve didn’t want to think about it in that exact moment. eddie was standing in front of him right now and that’s what mattered.

“we don’t need to talk about it… we both know what went on in that lake. oddly enough, i wore this vest not long after.” he chuckled slightly at the thought, remembering the time where eddie had tossed his vest in steve’s direction so he would have some clothes on. now that he thought back on it, it probably meant something, but steve hadn’t given that much attention to it.

just by touching eddie, steve could almost feel electricity. and it was only his arm. steve smiled as the other got closer to him. it didn’t take long until steve wrapped his arm around his wait and brought him closer, his face just a couple of inches from the other’s face. he wanted to kiss him. but if they were caught, what would people think? “i know, i know, i’m glad that you remember that… because it’s the truth.” he chuckled, pouting slightly when the other asked for the vest back. “alright, alright.” he said.

steve quickly pulled off the vest off and handed it back to eddie with a smile, winking at him. “now it smells like me, just admit that’s why you gave it to me.” he teased the other as he pulled him close by the waist again, now wrapping both of his arms around him. this felt awfully intimate and steve didn’t mind it one minute. he could stay like this forever, but part of him hoped that the cabin had locks, something that it seemed like it was missing.

“i’m glad you’re here too, eddie…” he said with a smile, blushing slightly as he looked over at eddie. “we should… uh… talk about what happened in my room the other day, yeah? i mean, i just need… to figure out what’s going on.” he said, not sure what else to say. he needed to talk with eddie about it or else he feared he would go crazy about this whole thing.

elevcnhops·:

xx

Steps faltering, within approach the other obviously easily startled. So… this was ‘ Eddie ‘. Returning back to Hawkins to hear her friends regale her with stories of the one whom considers appearing at the scene of their crime so terrifying. El did have to accept his accusation of creeping. Years of living in mostly seclusion and the constant fear of being tortured by the government is good practice for slinking around. Poor guy, that twinge of guilt tickling her stomach. Increasingly aware of a clear trauma response from the other.

He was spoken so highly of by her friends, he helped them. Therefore El must be trust him - even if he was on edge ever since they first met. She did promise someone special that she would… and she wasn’t about to break that promise. Shuffling under his gaze. Unable to gauge him, or at least feel a sense for him. “ I was not creeping. “ scoffing to hide the embarrassment that she was in fact creeping. Turning the accusations around on him, “ And you are out here alone too. What are you doing? “

Before he could answer she realized his question, Hopper Junior? Unconsciously grimacing before looking away. Tapping her chest with her index finger, symbolism of her identification over the years. The better alternative than pulling up her sleeve to show ‘ 011 ‘. Though, she had noticed the tattoos inking his skin. Eddie’s were more extensive and El wondered if those hurt just as bad as her. Was he strapped down to the chair like she was? “ My friends call me El. And they say I should give you a chance. “ 

+++

he nodded, feelin a little caught. “fair. i was just ... i don’t know, man. looking for those things, i guess? i don’t even - i don’t even know what they were, i don’t think i wanna know, to be honest...”, eddie trailed off, one hand on his hip, the other dragging down his face. he made a mental note not to agree to hang out with nancy anymore, at least not before she told him what she had in mind, in detail.

and there he was, standing in front of the burnt out shell of beloved family owned diner ‘benny’s’, hoping and praying to god that whatever they’d stumbled upon had burned down with it. the image of the cracks in the shell burned into his mind, he squeezed his eyes shot for a moment, shook his head, as if to shake the thought out of him. 

and to think this wasn’t even the weirdest thing that happened to him in hawkins. fucking unbelievable. quirking a brow, eddie turned back to her. “el - oh, shit. you’re the el. like, the superpower girl.”, he blurted out, a wide smile tugging at his lips.”sorry, i’m, like, out of it today. ‘course i know you. i probably know, like, a little too much about you, actually - mike wouldn’t shut up about you, always going on and on about how cool you are and how he has a girlfriend. gotta say i thought he’d made it up for a hot minute.”

loverboymontgomery·:

who: Cole & @eddiemcnson·

where: the shores of Lover’s Lake

What a weird fucking night it had been. It was already weird enough for Cole to come to an open-invitation camping trip. Add onto that that Adam, his resurrected boyfriend, was helping to plan it. And then everything that had actually happened in the lake. Ninety percent of Cole was internally screaming at him to go home– but he wanted to be a good sport and a supportive boyfriend, and besides, whatever ‘injury’ he had earlier was now gone. 

Still, Cole needed a reprieve from the crowd; apparently shit had gone down in the cabin, too, and Adam was being the usual Good Samaritan and helping some stragglers put their tents together. So, Cole slipped away back towards the lake. He was certainly going to keep his distance from the water, but something about the scene and the sun setting on the lake’s horizon was enough to calm his fears from before. 

As he rounded the corner and heard the chatter behind him die down, Cole spotted a figure closer to the shore. That hair was unmistakeable, and a grin broke out onto Cole’s face. “Hey, Munson!” he called to announce his presence. Though they hadn’t spoken much since that day in the mall (and they hardly spoke that day either, to be fair), Cole felt incredibly comfortable with Eddie. Like they’d been friends for years. “You hoping to find the Lochness monster down here or something?” 

+++

god, it had been an eventful six-ish hours at the lake,and eddie was more than ready to just fuck it and go home again. he'd even debated sleeping in the van but after what had went down he wasn't sure if he'd be brave enough to be on his own tonight.

a nice, simple, fun, relaxing camping trip had sounded like a hell of an idea, once he'd found out about it he'd been all game. not to say that the fact that they were camping at lover's lake didn't make him uneasy, oh god it did. everytime his gaze fell on the open water he gulped, a ghastly shiver running down his spine as he remembered the events of spring break '86. watergate. the upside down.

still he'd come along, because what else was there to do? soon enough the fun had turned sour, when adam and cole had been dragged down in the water, when dustin had started acting weird, apparently some shit had gone down over at the cabin, too, but he could barely even wrap his head around what had happened at the shore. in true hawkins fashion, the paranormal apparently couldn't take a day off.

he needed a break. he needed some time to clear his head, so eddie had split from the group. to breathe, have a smoke, be alone with his racing thoughts for a moment. though the solitary didn't last long.

a lopsided grin, eddie awkwardly waved at cole, cigarette between his fingers. a faint blush rising to his cheeks as memories of the day of the mall protest flooded his mind. "nah, not here for nessie. just.... needed a break. from all this." he shrugged, took a drag. "how's your ankle, montgomery?"

rcbinbvckleys·:

⚢

all robin seemed to be able to do when eddie spoke even louder was laugh. “you are so annoying.” she shook her head fondly, paying no real mind to the loud music coming from the bedroom. this was eddie they were talking about, and if there was one thing besides hellfire that he was known for, it was his love of music. which is why robin wasn’t fazed, and she was pretty used to it by now. it was just something that came with their friendship.

 “i will never forget that mattress in my life. the image is still carved into my eyelids.” robin hoped that somewhere along the line, eddie or at least his uncle had replaced the old thing. but until she received explicit confirmation, it was pretty likely that she would purposely stay well away from sitting on eddie’s bed. 

 taking the joint from eddie’s hand, robin took a long drag from it. “where do i even start?” another drag, just for good measure before passing it back to him. “do you ever feel like, something’s going on but you just can’t be too sure about it?”

+++

the second the joint was taken from his fingers eddie buried his face in his palms, partly to hide the embarrassed flush that rose to his cheeks, a long groan falling from his lips. "buckley, please, i'm begging you - I know it was gross, okay? i have a new mattress now and i - i don't know what those stains were, okay?"

eddie knew absolutely what those stains were but the nature of said stains was a secret he'd take to his grave. he flung his hands about, gestured for robin to move on to a different topic of conversation.

he sat up a little straighter as she spoke, took the joint from her hands, a long inhale. "uh..." brows pulled together, he followed the smoke as it traveled up from his mouth to the ceiling. "just.... like, on a daily basis." a lopsided grin, he huffed. "what's this about, rob?"

stevehharringtcns·:

something about returning to lover’s lake didn’t feel right to steve. the thought of the lake alone made steve almost panic, but he had to keep it up and act like the brave guy he was. he was brave. it was just a lake. the gate was closed. but people had been dragged. like he had been two years before. he wasn’t going in that water ever again, he thought to himself. everyone was just lucky that everyone was okay and not dragged back to the upside down. the gate was closed. he was standing by himself in the cabin, looking at himself in the nearest mirror.

he had been wearing eddie’s vest ever since they had returned from the shore. and it looked good on him. it still did. and it reminded him of eddie. well, of course it did, it was his. but steve thought it looked better on him, but of course eddie looked good on it too. he was lost in his thoughts when he heard eddie’s voice coming from behind, which made him quickly turn around from his reflection and see eddie.

“i’m here.” he said with a smile on his face, his smile only widening as eddie got closer. the last time they had been alone, well… they had ended up kissing in his bed. he wasn’t sure how this one was going to turn out, but there were people out there. and steve wasn’t sure if he wanted everyone to catch them making out inside the cabin.

“i wasn’t hiding from you… but i was definitely hiding. it doesn’t feel right being back here.” he said with a small sigh, shaking his head. “feels weird being back, right?” he asked, raising an eyebrow slightly at eddie’s comment about his vest. “i wouldn’t run off with it, but… you should know that it definitely looks great on me. better than it looks on you.” he chuckled at him. “are… are you okay?” he asked, as he reached out to place a hand on eddie’s arm in a comforting way.

+++

he couldn't help but bite his lip, grinning, hands clasped behind his back as he leaned against the wall next to steve, eyes raking over his frame. nope, definitely couldn't deny that the vest looked good on him - had looked even better when he'd worn nothing under it but that was a thought for another time.

a spark ran through him as steve got closer, remembering the last time they'd hung out. when eddie had shown up on his doorstep, terrified, and it had ended up with them sharing a bed, making out, waking up cuddling. they hadn't talked much since, the events of the day had pretty much prevented eddie from forming a single coherent thought aside from frantic, panicked over thinking.

he nodded, eyes darting down to the floor. "yeah. everytime i look at that like I think of -", he stopped himself, gave steve a sheepish smile, shrugged. steve knew what he thought of, he'd been through it too, after all, and eddie really didn't want to make any hurtful memories resurface.

aside from watergate, lovers lake also strongly reminded eddie of his time spent in hiding. the fear that had gripped him when he'd looked over his shoulder and seen jason carver, eddie thought he'd seen his life flash before his eyes. he shrugged again. "weird doesn't even begin to cover it, man."

steves hand on his arm made eddie shiver and he smiled again, leaned into the touch, his fingers idly toying with the hem of steve's shirt. fidgeting - nervous habit. "yeah, yeah, we all know you're crazy handsome and everything looks good on you, yada yada. you done now?" a teasing chuckle fell from his lips as he looked back up at steve. "doesn't mean you get to keep it. besides, I'm starting to get cold, man."

eddie's mood sobered a little at steves question and he gave another shrug. "i don't know if I've ever been, like, fully okay after... what happened. but being here.... it's weird. and not a good kinda weird. bad weird." a couple of beats passed before eddie broke the silence with a soft "I'm glad your here, steve."

stevehharringtcns·:

.

steve thought about the person who he was back in high school and he let out a sigh. he definitely hadn’t been fair to eddie or to anyone, really. he wished he had realized that sooner and maybe things would have been different. “i probably didn’t, i’m sorry…” he said with a sigh, although he knew that king steve was long gone, only the nickname staying behind - even if people didn’t use it as much now. he thought how things could have changed if he had always been the person he was now during high school. but it wasn’t good to dwell on the past, he decided to put his focus on the present, specially when he was kissing eddie munson on his bed. he thought what tommy and carol would think of this for a few moments, but then he shook it off his mind. “i barely slayed the dragon, but i’m glad that… everything’s good now.” he said with a small smile.

he kept kissing the other on the lips, their bodies close together as steve kept his arm around eddie’s waist, pulling him up occasionally to bring him into another kiss. he even dared to break the kiss for a couple of seconds to kiss eddie’s neck momentarily, before pulling away and diving back into the other’s lips, closing his eyes as he took the moment in. he thought he could do this for the rest of the night, but they needed to sleep sooner or later.

feeling the other’s tongue on his bottom lip as he pulled away from the kiss sent a chill down his spine as he stared down at the other and how he looked. just looking at eddie looking like that made steve’s heart skip a beat. he had left him like that.

“i…” he said, before clearing his throat and shaking his head as he looked down at eddie. “i’d love to continue, but…” he said, as he reached up with his hand to move eddie’s hair from his forehead in a loving gesture, as he looked down at him. “i work tomorrow… and you were pretty tired, so… maybe we should get some sleep.” he said as he blushed slightly. he was pretty sure that the two could keep doing this for the rest of the night, but maybe they should stop before anything else happened.

listening to the other say that he wanted to keep kissing him, steve didn’t waste his time as he dove down for another kiss, deepening it instantly before pulling away. “we… can continue this some other time. are you free tomorrow? i get off at 5.” he asked simply.

+++

eddie felt like he was floating, ever sense flooded with steve. the smell of his cologne and his laundry detergent, the feeling of his hair as he softly carded his fingers through that ‘best feature’ of his. he had his arms wrapped tight around the other’s neck, humming into the kiss, a pleased sound. soon replaced by a low whimper caught in the back of his throat as steve focused his attention on his neck for a moment and eddie’s grip on his hair tightened ever so slightly.

yeah, he could do this all night. all day, all week, really. and he suddenly thought to himself that coming back to hawkins for the summer was just about the best decision he could’ve made. did absoultely nothing in terms of getting over his silly little crush on steve - because now that he’d had a taste of what it was like to have him, eddie wasn’t sure if he was able to go without it again. the thought of this just being an experiment on steve’s part, or a sleep-drunken mistake, had his somtach in knots. but then again, whatever it was, he really was simply glad it had happened, no matter how they’d gotten there.

he chased after steve’s lips as they pulled back, eyes wide, just ... staring up at him. up at him - eddie hadn’t even noticed, sometime during their make out session - god, he felt like a teenager again - they must’ve shifted, with steve now towering above him. steve brushed a few strands of hair off his forehead and eddie nearly choked, shivering at the contact. a gesture far too ... caring and loving, not something eddie was used to. 

he nodded. “yeah. yeah, sure, i get it.”, he smiled, lop-sided, somewhat content with this being the end of it, maybe the only taste of steve he’d ever get, just as steve pulled down to connect their lips in another kiss. he pulled him down, flush against his chest, fingers clawing into steve’s shirt. his heart jumped at the .. .suggestion ? and he nodded, eagerly, let go of steve and put some distance between them. “i - yeah, that sounds - yeah. perfect.”, he grinned, shifted onto his side, pulling the covers over him. “i’ll  see you at family video at five, then. night, stevie.”

where: lover’s lake (cabin)

what: steve best give eddie back that vest, or else ...

who: @stevehharringtcns​ + eddie

“knock knock.”, eddie said aloud, while simulatenously knocking on the doorframe of the cabin, cautiously entering it. cursing himself for actually being that sort of person that felt he need to say ‘knock knock’ while they knocked, but whatever. it wasn’t like steve wasn’t already used to his antics.

that’s who he’d come to look for  - steve. he hadn’t seen him in a bit, had been busy attempting to help dustin pitch up his tent, and eddie didn’t like not knowing the current whereabouts of steve, didn’t like it one bit. just the sight of lover’s lake made him feel queasy, made him feel like he was back on that boat - marvelling at the sight of steve without his shirt on in one moment and freaking out because he’d been pulled down into watergate in the next.

besides - the heat of the day started to wear off and eddie, wearing only a sleveless ‘dio’ shirt with plenty of rips in it, started to feel a little chilly. 

“hello? anybody in?”, he called out again, walked further into the cabin until he finally saw steve. eddie smiled, crossed the distance between them.

“there you are, harrington. been looking all over for you. was beginning to think you were hiding from me - or trying to take off with my vest.”

stevehharringtcns·:

just thinking about that night sent shivers down his spine. he was sure that he was never going to forget that, how could he? he would be lying if he occasionally didn’t have nightmares about it, but he tried to shut them out. he was also sure that he wasn’t the only one who dreamt about getting attacked by demobats or about vecna. everyone down there had to share the same trauma they both did. “you definitely got the worst of it all, eddie… from what dustin told me, you could have…” he said, stopping himself from saying anything else, fearing to put that out in the universe. “you were the hero that time around.” he said with a small nod of his head.

being this close to eddie felt right to steve and it made him forget about the world outside of that room. it seemed like nothing was going to ruin this moment as long as they stayed in bed. “no need to thank me, i just want to help.” he said, nodding his head. it was true anyway, eddie had showed up at his door, clearly panicked about everything going on and steve just wanted to help in the best way he could. he couldn’t control the giant eggs or whatever was running around the woods at that very moment, but he could help eddie.

“people should be nicer to you… i mean, i probably wasn’t… you know, during high school.” steve thought back to the person he used to be in high school. it only took a demogorgon and a nancy wheeler for him to actually become a better person, but that was past the point. he remembered making fun of everyone who wasn’t popular, meaning that he probably hadn’t been the nicest to eddie when he was in high school, throwing snarky comments his way when he knew he shouldn’t.

and now there he was, kissing eddie munson on his bed. it felt like it was something that should have happened two years before, but better late then never, right? he only deepened the kiss, propping  himself up on his elbow as dove down for another kiss until they finally pulled away once steve realized that he could have been hurting the other’s bruise.

listening to eddie say that everything was okay, steve nodded his head slowly as he stared into his eyes for a couple of moments. suddenly, everything that eddie had told him before, the flirting and all of it, it made sense in steve’s head. why hadn’t he realized that before? it wasn’t that hard to notice, but yet, steve had gone through all of the signs that eddie gave him and now he just felt stupid.

before he knew it, steve was grabbing him by his shoulder and pulling him down for another kiss. steve didn’t hesitate as his arm slithered around the other’s waist and pulled him even closer, if it was even possible, deepening the kiss, hungry for more. after all, this had been a long time coming, steve had been the one who hadn’t realized it. he pulled away again, as he looked down at eddie and at his lips. “uh… um… do-do you want to get some sleep?” he asked, biting down on his lower lip. the other had gone to his place to rest and now they were making out. steve thought the other would be tired. “we don’t… need to, i’m not tired.” he said with a nod.

+++

"gotta say, you definitely didn't give me the impression that you were too fond of my existence back in high school.", eddie said with a chuckle, absent-mindely shuffling closer to steve. lost in thought for a moment, how school now seemed like such a distant time, a different land, different life lived by a different person. back when they'd been eddie 'the freak' and king steve. when everyone's biggest worries had been who they were taking to homecoming and what their position in the social hierarchy of hawkins high was. it was funny thinking about that now, after all they'd been through. left a bittersweet taste in eddie's mouth. "but you sorta made up for it when you, like, heroically slayed the dragon and saved the world from doom. all good now, harrington. don't worry 'bout it."

steve's arm around his waist made him shiver and he gasped into the kiss, arms wrapped around steve neck, pulling him further down. all his worries, the nightmares that kept him awake usually, seemingly forgotten the instant their lips had connected. god, Eddie was sure he could do this for hours. really, eddie could die right then and there and be happy and content with his life, simply because he'd spent his last moments kissing steve harrington.

the mere thought of it made him dizzy with glee. he hummed, a pleased sound, and experimentally liked across steve's bottom lip just as the other pulled away.

eddie knew he looked a mess - lips swollen, cheeks flushed, eyes impossibly wide. he was panting, the mere sight of steve took his breath away, and eddie swallowed. "i... uh, i don't know. i'm.... i mean if you don't wanna, like, continue or something...." all the while his eyes darted between steve's, fingers toying with the hair at the nape of steves neck. "you know what i am pretty tired."

eddie exhaled shakily, his eyes dropped to steve's lips, fingertips tracing across his cheek, in awe. "but i also kinda want to keep kissing you."

loverboymontgomery·:

xx.

A satisfied grin spread across Cole’s lips at Eddie’s remark. It was easy to be good at kissing Eddie, he thought, when Eddie looked at him like that. Simultaneously, Cole was desperate to have more of Eddie and terrified that he’d never really find what he was looking for. But that was a problem for tomorrow.

Heat spread across Cole’s body as Eddie grabbed his waist and pulled him closer. Unable to stop himself, Cole let his hands wander Eddie’s body– slipping under his shirt and balling up the fabric in his hand. If they weren’t in public, Cole would tug it off… and other things. 

Pressing his lips to Eddie’s ear, Cole whispered: “Oops, it’s already gone to my head.” As Eddie took his chin, Cole shut his eyes and gave in to Eddie’s demands. Darting his tongue inside the other’s mouth, he felt his cheeks heat up and his heartbeat quicken. It felt so natural with him, like they’d done this before. 

Cole pulled back, giving them a chance to breathe, and focused his attention on Eddie’s neck. Careful not to leave any marks, he trailed his lips down to Eddie’s collarbone, his hand lazily rubbing Eddie’s back. In the back of his mind, behind the kissing-induced haze, Cole heard several voices– were they yelling? But he couldn’t tear himself away from Eddie.  

+++

eddie very nearly hissed when cole pulled on his shirt, when he felt his breath ghost over his ear a few seconds later. almost instinctively, his grip on cole's waist tightened, fingers experimentally darting underneath the fabric to feel the warmth of his skin, the sensation made his arms break out in goosebumps. god, it had been a fucking long time since he'd last been this close to someone. and eddie certainly hadn't expected to find himself in this situation when he'd loaded his stereo into the van to drive to an illegal party in the mall some four hours ago.

a slight, dazed grin tugged at his lips, he rolled his eyes. "you're a cocky bastard, you know that?", he whispered with a slight shake of his head before their lips were connected yet again and eddie gasped into the kiss, shivered as their tongues lazily brushed together.

he hummed, pleased, when cole moved onto his neck, let one hand travel up to card his fingers through cole's hair. he let his head fall back, eyes closed, trying to town in the sensation of cole's lips on his skin -

- but no, there was something else, something disturbing them. he frowned, and, tugging at cole's hair slightly, pulled back. "i - d'you hear that?"

backtowheeler·:

— ✎ —

“I thought you would enjoy it, okay?” Nancy defended herself, even though she knew Eddie wasn’t being serious with any of his theatrics. A laugh emitted from her lips, somehow being able to find the humor in what they had just discovered and ultimately, destroyed. That was a crap shoot though, wasn’t it? The evil in Hawkins would never be defeated, no matter how many monsters or people they got rid of. It would come back like a plague until Hawkins burned to the ground, taking its hell with it.

Nancy chortled. “That’s not saying much,” she teased, opening the passenger door. “Mike wouldn’t know good driving if it hit him in the face and…” she clicked her tongue. “It’s probably best if Max never gets behind a wheel. I’ve been trying to teach her how to drive and, Jesus Christ, I don’t think she knows where the brakes are,” it was unfortunate, considering Nancy was attempting to teach her so she’d be able to leave Hawkins one day, but that didn’t seem to be anytime soon. 

She buckled herself in and turned to Eddie. “Yeah? She gets me around and that’s good enough to me. Thad always tells me that I need to get something better than the station wagon,” she explained. It was a car, a vehicle to drive, and that’s all she cared about. “He calls it an abomination to vehicles everywhere,” she held her fingers up in quotation marks and lowered her voice. 

“Oh, this?” She glanced down at her hand, inspecting the damage somewhat. It was nasty. “I’ll be fine. Nothing some Neosporin and a bandage won’t fix. I’ll even have a cool matching scar,” she pointed out, holding up her left hand, a faded mark still etched in her skin from when her and Jonathan had lured the Demogorgon to his house years ago.

+++

"fucking hell, you've got some balls, wheeler, taking it upon yourself to teach that heathen how to drive. I'd fear for my fucking life.", he muttered with a frown, one that turned into a bit of a grimace as he remembered the time he'd allowed max to drive the van. out of the driveway, that was, eddie had very nearly seen his life flash in front of his eyes.

he started the car, carefully and skillfully maneuvering them out from her parking spot onto the road. eddie frowned again. "well it's sure as hell not a limousine but i wouldn't go as far as calling it an abomination.", he said, then, with a quirked brow, added: "thad?"

chewing on his bottom lip, eddie glanced down at nancy's hands before focusing his attention back on the road. "well, if you say so. matching scars are metal as hell, though.", he says with a little grin, an attempt to lighten the mood. "where'd you get the other one? this ain't your first time burning down a beloved family owned diner?"

dvstybuns·:

Dustin wasn’t even remotely phased by having woken Eddie up. He’d woken him up at weirder times before back when Eddie was in Chicago and Dustin had something he had to tell him right that second. It was a wonder Eddie put up with him still, but Dustin wasn’t one to question when people grew a soft spot for him. “I’m talking about the Upside Down! Probably,” He amended. Dustin didn’t know for sure that that was what was behind all of this, but considering it always was, it was a fair guess. 

“I’m injured, I have to elevate it!” Dustin complained when he was called a heathen. Rolling up the leg of his jeans, Dustin showed off Max’s poor bandaging skills to prove that he wasn’t making it up. But, he did move his feet off the coffee table and onto the couch beside him. “What? Come on…” Dustin whined, not fighting the lack of beer too hard. It was noon, after all. And really, he could steal one from Steve’s fridge if he really wanted one. 

With a deep sigh, Dustin began his retelling of their night in the woods. “Okay, so Joyce, Murray, Max, Will, Mike and I were in Joyce’s car going to check something out at the town border. But then I saw something out the window. It was like… human but not? Some kind of mix with a demogorgon?” He shrugged, still not really knowing what to call the thing. “It hit the car, so we all got out to look for it. Then, we kind of got separated. Someone went missing, or something. Anyway, it came back and hit Joyce’s car again and I fell, fucked up leg and took Max down too. We were lucky to get away.” In truth, some of the details were already becoming fuzzy for Dustin. Maybe a side effect of the adrenaline wearing off, or maybe he’d hit his head or something. He wasn’t entirely sure. 

+++

the upside down. if there were any two words that drew a visceral, gutteral reaction out of him it would be those two. a shiver ran down his spine - or was it up, actually? -, goosebumps on his arms, he nearly choked on his coffee. didn't even need the damn thing anymore, seeing as he was suddenly wide awake. still he held onto it, took a cautious sip, for comfort more than anything else.

dustin's mention of his injury had a similarly effect, sobering him up completely, eddie rubbed the last remnants of sleep Form his eyes, cranked his neck to get a better look at his very poorly bandaged injury. "who the fuck stitched you up? max with her eyes closed?"

still, he listened intently to dustin's storytelling, taking the occasional sip of coffee, his tiredness all but forgotten. replaced by an eerie feeling of dread. because dustin's story, combined with eddie's own experiences at benny's, it became undoubtedly clear - the supernatural had somehow wormed its way back into hawkins. and, presumably, it was out to get them.

"fucking - shit, man.", he hissed, dragged a hand down his face. "are you sure? like, a hundred percent - you're not fucking with me here, henderson, are you?"

cassieconrads·:

Cassie let out a half-snorted laugh at the mention of Thad, who she could tell without even hearing about his conversation with Eddie how it must’ve gone. Thad was probably the most judgmental person she’d ever met, which was saying a lot, given the current state of her sorority life. Eddie was made for somewhere like Hawkins, Indiana, while Thad, quite simply was not. “He sucks, and I cannot express how sorry I am that you had the misfortune of meeting him. I could literally go on forever about how horrible I think that man is, and I’ve tried to very subtly bring it up to Nancy many times, but she won’t budge. I don’t know why, but maybe someone here can help her see the light more than I can.”

Though they’d only really driven through Chicago, Cassie couldn’t imagine what could have possibly brought someone back to Hawkins from a big city like that. “And you came back?” she asked, raising a brow. 

She gave a theatrical curtsy in response to his bow, unable to hide a smile. “You as well. I might have to start stealing all of Nancy’s friends for myself, if you’re all this cool.” Cassie didn’t want to bring up the cemetery or her vision to someone she’d literally met on the street, but maybe he knew something about the girl she’d been. “Right, well, I was looking through Nancy’s yearbook, and there was this whole page memorial kind of thing that sparked my interest. Some cheerleader girl, did something happen to her or something? I was just looking for anything that might be in the archives, I was … just curious.”

+++

he scrunched up his nose in disgust. so that was wheeler's infamous boyfriend. truly, eddie could not imagine how she'd moved on from steve to... whatever the hell this guy's deal was. "can't imagine that she'd value herself so little to  willingly be with this guy. you sure he's not, like, blackmailing her or something?"

just as cassie had said, eddie, too, hoped that someone would help nancy back onto the right path. not - not that that someone had to necessarily be steve, mind you. no, eddie really wasn't keen on a repeat of the 'upside down flirting with your ex while trying to fight vecna' debacle. he valued both steve and nancy's company greatly, but the thought of the two of them shamelessly flirting made him want to gag.

he shrugged, nodded. "yup, sure did. my boss is traveling the states for the summer, gave me a couple months off. thought I'd check back in with the crew." namely the people he'd spent spring break of '86 fighting an evil monster from a hell version of hawkins with. and the teenagers he used to play dnd with. " my uncle still lives here, too. only family i got."

eddie's smile slowly but surely faded as cassie continued talking. as if someone had punched the air out of him, he felt nauseous all of a sudden, hands cold and clammy. eyes darting around nervously. cheerleader. dead cheerleader. dead cheerleader in nancy wheeler's graduating class.

"chrissy cunningham.", he blurted out, voice meek and close to breaking. "what do you... why do you wanna know what happened to her? what is this, some kind of - are you trying to mess with me? is that what this is?"

stevehharringtcns​:

.

.

listening to eddie talk about their matching scars made steve let out a dry chuckle, nodding his head as he thought about it. he still remembered how much it hurt, feeling the demobat’s teeth sinking into his skin. the thought alone made his skin crawl, especially when he thought about the tail wrapped around his neck. he didn’t want to think about that right now, so he decided to shut off those thoughts and focus on what eddie was saying. “you’re right, we do have matching scars…” he said slowly with a nod of his head. “i think you got the worst of it though. sorry i wasn’t there to help you… you know, like you did with me.” he said as he thought back about that night and everything that had happened. it scared him to think that things could have been worse.

steve stared at eddie for a little longer as he shifted closer to him. he didn’t know much closer he could get. he was too quiet, which was weird coming from eddie. he talked a lot and seem to ramble, but steve liked that. but now he was quiet and it was making steve wonder if he was actually uncomfortable with this. after all, they were cuddling and this was the first time steve had been this close to eddie.

“are you sure you’re okay with this? we don’t need to cuddle… i just… i don’t know, i wat to help with the night terrors.” he said, but he wasn’t sure how cuddling the other would help with that. maybe it would, maybe it wouldn’t. steve didn’t want to make the other uncomfortable. maybe he should have gone to the guest room. maybe this was a bad idea. but then he looked at eddie’s face and every single one of those thoughts seemed to vanish. the other didn’t mind, right? if he did, he would have had a worse reaction then this.

“i don’t think you’re a freak at all… i think whoever calls you that, doesn’t really know you.” he said simply, as his eyes looked up from eddie’s lips into his eyes for a couple of moments and then back at his lips. it was like his brain was deciding on what to do next and couldn’t make a decision. he wanted to kiss him. was it wrong of him to think that? would eddie take it the wrong way? steve really couldn’t know what the other’s reaction would be, and that’s when he heard eddie say that he wanted to kiss him.

he immediately turned red when he heard those words coming out of eddie’s mouth and he felt his cheeks warming up. had he heard that correctly? he did. eddie wanted to kiss him, and steve wanted to kiss him too. “uh… i… uh… you can kiss me, if you want. i mean, yeah, you can kiss me.” he said, stuttering in his own words as he looked at eddie. the two seemed to be closer than ever. and steve couldn’t wait that much longer.

without warning, steve threw himself forward, his lips crashing into eddie’s for only a few seconds as he paused to think about what he was doing. he looked at eddie’s eyes, then back to his lips, before pulling him in closer to another kiss. this felt right. like something that was going to happen sooner or later. steve’s only regret was that it didn’t happen sooner. he brought one hand to eddie’s hip, only to remember that there was a bruise there. “sorry, sorry…” he pulled away from the kiss once he realized where his hand was. “was… was that okay?” he asked, wanting to reassure himself that he wasn’t kissing eddie when he didn’t want to.

+++

eddie frowned and quickly shook his head. “no, man, no, don’t...don’t go there. i think we kinda shared the worst of it, really.” thinking back to their first trip to the upside down via watergate, eddie admittedly had ... mixed feelings. as horrible as frightening as it had been, watching steve nearly get eaten alive by demobats - well, eddie was a simple man. and the sight of steve pulling that ozzy move, finishing that bat off by biting it’s head off - yeah, yeah, alright, even under the horrid circumstances, that might’ve been just about the hottest thing eddie had ever seen in his life. 

steve shifted even closer to him and eddie felt like he could just die, right then and there, cheeks burning, goosebumps all over his skin. he seemed top have that effect on him - everytime he was close to him, eddie felt like he was intoxicated. the air was static between them, heavily charged with something eddie didn’t dare think about, lest he jinxed it.

he nodded, quickly and perhaps a little too eager. heat pooling in his stomach. “y-yeah. this is fine, it’s... yeah, it’s, uh okay. ‘s good. don’t worry. helps. with the night terrors, i mean.” followed by a choked off ‘thanks’. he wondered if this was simply another act of king steve’s inexhaustible kindness. if eddie was the one making it weird by reading too much into it.

but steve’s gaze so obviously dropping to his lips every so often told him otherwise. a shiver ran down his spine,eddie felt his breath and heartbeat quicken. he was sure steve could hear how fast his pulse was going, heart hammering away in his chest, deafeningly loud in the brief silence that hung between them. “that’s...that’s good to know.” he swallowed, tongue darting out to wet his lips. “that might be, like, the nicest thing anyone’s said to me, man.”

then steve gave him confirmation and before eddie quite had the time to process it, to throw all caution to the wind and go in for a kiss, steve’s lips were already on his. lips crashing together in a quick, rough kiss, teeth clacking together - steve pulled back briefly, eddie’s heart sunk but before he could mutter any apologies, steve had connected their lips in another kiss. 

eddie gasped into it, cautiously wrapping his hand around the back of steve’s neck to pull him closer. it was exactly like eddie had imagined the kiss to be and vastly different at the same time. better. because this, this was real. eddie was awake. he was awake in steve harrington’s bed, kissing him. and he wondered briefly if this was some cruel joke. or if he had died back then in the upside down, if this was his personal heaven. sure felt like it.

another gasp mixed with a pleased hum as steve’s hand found his hip, next thing he knew the other had pulled back. leaving eddie breathless, panting. almost immediately, eddie’s grasp on steve tightened, he tried to pull him closer. afraid that once he let him go that that was the end of it - that he’d never have this again.

“yeah”, he breathed, licked his lips, eyes darting between steve’s, half-lidded. “yeah, it’s nothing, don’t worry. all good.” eddie quickly covered steve’s hand with his own, moved it up to his waist, before grabbing steve by the shoulder and pulling him in for another kiss. 

stevehharringtcns·:

.

listening to eddie talk about him like that made steve blush slightly. he wasn’t sure where he had become a hero, but the truth was that he had always thought of himself as one. it didn’t help with his ego, but it was the truth. steve had always been in the front line to defend his friends and the people he cared about, and that was something it wasn’t going to change anytime soon. even if it ended up with him getting beaten up by russians. he just hoped that part of his life was over or else he could end up with permanent scars on his face. the ones on his body were enough, he thought to himself. “thanks, eddie… that’s really nice to hear.” he said with a nod.

he felt himself blush even harder when eddie asked him he saw something that he liked, making him turn his head away after staring for too long. “i just think… your tattoos are pretty cool.” he said, nodding his head. it wasn’t a complete lie, but steve was doing much more than checking out the other’s tattoos. he didn’t know what else to say, so he just stared up at the ceiling as he waited for eddie to finish getting dressed, and once he knew it was okay, he looked back at him and smiled, nodding his head slowly.

he watched eddie carefully as he joined him in bed. this was weird. he had never slept with a guy in his bed before, and now eddie was there, lying down next to him. he didn’t know what to do with himself, but he didn’t know where to look at either. he looked into the other’s eyes for a few moments. he felt like he was back in high school again, like he was just a teenager, but somehow, this felt right. better than it ever did before. and steve was enjoying every moment of it. “that’s fine.” he said, nodding his head as he kept staring at him.

steve could fall asleep by just looking at eddie’s face. he was sure that the other was going to fall asleep anytime soon, and then steve would be left alone to wonder what the hell was he doing with eddie munson in his bed. listening to him talk about the night terrors, steve let out a small sigh as he nodded his head. “oh, don’t worry about that, it’s totally okay, eddie… i mean, it’s kind of hard not to have those after everything we’ve been through… it’s weird to think about that we’ve both been attacked by those demo-bats.” he said with a small chuckle escaping from his lips, his heart almost breaking when he heard eddie calling himself a freak.

it hurt him that there were people who called him that - they clearly didn’t know eddie that well. getting to know him seemed to be the only good thing that steve could think of that vecna had brought him. the rest had been misery, but at least eddie was part of his life. without thinking, steve wrapped his arm around eddie’s body, careful enough so he didn’t get his hand near the bruise he had seen earlier and looked at him. “is this okay?” he asked, blushing as he did so. “i don’t think you’re a freak, eddie.” he said in a quiet tone, as he looked into the other’s eyes again and gave him a small smile, before his eyes wandered off to eddie’s lips for a few moments.

+++

he nodded, relieved and found that he agreed. steve was right, really, it was hard to imagine for anyone who’d been to the upside down not to wake up occasionally, drenched in cold sweat and shaking all over, consumed by an all-powerful feeling of dread and doom. said feeling probably heightened for steve and himself, seeing as both had very nearly met their end down there. and in eerily similar ways, too. “shit, you’re right, i forgot about that.”, he said with a lopsided grin. “but now we’ve got matching scars. and that’s, like, way more metal than matching tats.”

gripped with a sudden urge to let his fingers trail over steve’s demobat scars, he flexed his hands in a desperate attempt to keep himself from doing so. to not make it weird. the fact that steve was friends with robin assured eddie in the fact that, should he find out that eddie was similarly inclined, he wouldn’t, like, bash his brains out or anything. however, eddie didn’t want to push his luck and bring either of them into an uncomfortable situation either. 

so, the fact that he suddenly found steve’s arm wrapped around his middle caught him even more off-guard. his eyes widened, flicking between steve’s, trying to make out the expression that lay behind them - failing to make out much of anything in the dark. hs heart skipped a beat at the touch, maybe a couple of them, actually, and his skin suddenly felt like it was on fire. blood burning in his veins, boiling, his breath hitched in his throat. 

eddie really couldn’t speak, he nodded weakly, a strangled sound in the back of his throat. ‘is this okay’. steve could’ve just as well asked him if he liked to breathe. or if he listened to dio. it was okay, it was more than okay, exceptional, really. and eddie couldn’t help but feel pathetic that something as simple as a friendly, comforting touch could make him react that way.

“i - you don’t ?” it wasn’t much of a question, more of a startled observation. his lips gave a weak twitch though he was too taken aback, too riled up to give him a proper smile. he watched, carefully, eyes growing impossibly wide, as steve’s eyes dropped to his lips. all the bells inside his head were ringing, all alarms going off. some screaming ‘go for it’ others alerting him ‘danger - this is a trap, beware!’. 

he skillfully ignored all of them, swallowed, his lips suddenly felt awfully dry and eddie was sure he could hear his heart beating, could feel it in his throat, too. he must’ve shuffled closer without realising, seeing as steve’s face was suddenly so close, impossibly close. his own gaze darted down to steve’s mouth, lingering there for a touch too long. eddie licked his lips.

“steve, man,”, he suddenly heard himself saying, the words spilling out on their own accord, before eddie had time to stop himself.”i feel like i wanna kiss you.” he swallowed, god, when had his throat become so parched? “you don’t...you don’t have to kiss me back if you don’t want.”

stevehharringtcns​:

.

“don’t worry about it… she was old anyway.” steve shrugged it off, he didn’t really care for his family that much. not his real family either way, he liked to think that everyone he knew in hawkins and was close with were his actual family, rather than his blood. but that didn’t matter now, steve was too focused on eddie to think about that right now.

steve stared at eddie for a couple of moments as he talked, nodding his head slowly once the other mentioned that he was tough. “i know you are, but tough guys need some ice sometimes. it’s okay.” he said with a small smile, before shaking his head once he mentioned that he was a hero. “you know, i’m not really a hero if i get beat up every time i try to get into a fight. but thank you. it’s good to know that you think i’m hot, munson.” he said with a smirk, as he looked at eddie with a smile on his face. steve didn’t expect to spend this much time with eddie, especially not alone, but he liked it. the other was good company and it was easy to talk to him. sure, they wouldn’t have been friends in high school, but that was the thing. they weren’t exactly in high school anymore. steve was glad for that.

looking around his room once eddie started commenting on it, he couldn’t help but to blush slightly. he had never really gotten around to change his room to his style, his mom didn’t seem to like it, but why did she care? it wasn’t like she was around to see it anyway. the only thing that made that room steve’s room was the bat with nails under his bed, but he didn’t want to tell eddie that. he didn’t need to know he kept it there. “it’s not me, it’s my… mom. i just never really bothered to change it” he said with a small shrug of his shoulders as he looked at eddie again.

without even having time to process it, eddie was changing right in front of him. he didn’t know why he stopped breathing for some moments there, after all, he was used to seeing guys changing in the locker rooms when he was in the swimming team, but this… it was different. it was eddie. his eyes lingered on the other’s body, checking the tattoos for a few moments until he finally put on steve’s shirt. it was weird how he looked good on it, or maybe steve just liked the sight of eddie wearing his clothes. whatever it was, steve couldn’t help himself to turn red. “that’s a secret i’ll never tell.” he said with a chuckle.

steve stood by the door for a few moments as he looked at eddie, deciding if he should stay or not, but when he heard eddie say that the bed was big enough, steve nodded his head. “sure, i… i can stay with you. that’s fine.” he said, before closing the door behind him. he was about to spend the night with eddie munson on his bed and he wasn’t sure how to feel about that. it wasn’t the first time he had brought someone up to his room, but this was eddie.

steve didn’t waste any time as he climbed onto his own bed, sitting up on it as he looked over at eddie. “come on.” he said with a nod, as he cleared his throat and patted the spot next to him. what was he doing? what if eddie took it the wrong way? he wouldn’t, right? he was the one who had asked him to stay, and steve wanted to stay more than anything. “i’ll even let you choose the side you want to sleep on.” he smiled.

+++

‘it’s good to know that you think i’m hot, munson’. eddie’s lips parted, a nervous chuckle and amused scoff drawn from them.  as good as it felt that steve was so receptive to his teasing, it felt bittersweet all the same. because eddie had spent the better part of, what, two years now flirting with him. in vain, of course, for steve had never picked up on any of his advances. or if he had, he’d certainly given eddie the impression that they weren’t welcome or worth to be acknwoledged.

“but, you know, the fact that you get into fights in the first place - sure, you get your ass kicked but you’re doing it for a righteous cause. that screams hero to me, harrington.” not to mention that steve looked bonkers hot when he got a little roughed up.

he could feel steve’s eyes on him, his stare burning into his back and he squirmed under his gaze. eddie hoped the dim lighting of the room wuld hide the deep, deep blush that had risen to his cheeks. who could blame him, that felt like a perfectly reasonable reaction to having steve harrington watch you change. and before he could stop himself, before he even knew it the words had already fallen from his lips, causing his brain to short-circuit somewhat. “see  something you like, stevie?”

a sigh of relief drawn from his lungs, eddie relaxed slightly when steve agreed to stay and closed the door behind him. still, he wtached in...nervous excitement when as steve made his way to his bed,. sat down and invited him in. no, it was too much - it was more than he’d even dared to imagine in his wildest fantasies.

cautiously, he climbed into the bed, body brushing past steve’s as he settled. a small smile playing on his lips, edie wasted no time scotting under the covers. “i’m more of a wall side guy myself.”, he said, shifting around until he’d made himself comfortable.steve’s bed was so incredibly soft it took all he had for him not to fall asleep right then and there. eddie turned to the side to face steve.

“uh, listen, man, i...i get like, these, night terrors ? i guess?” chewing on his bottom lip nervously, he averted his gaze. “so, uh. don’t get freaked out when i, like, move around. and if i get too close or something feel free top, just, push me away. don’t worry,”, he said, gave him an amused scoff, “you don’t have to cuddle with the freak or anything.”

colemontgomeryx·:

xx.

Instinctively, Cole’s hand snaked around Eddie’s neck, a desperate attempt to pull him closer. Cole sighed into Eddie’s lips, allowing his chest to rest on Eddie’s. Tilting his head, Cole brought his other hand to Eddie’s face, cupping his jawline and stroking his cheek.

It had been a while– a few months, at least– since Cole had been kissed, and the clandestine nature of their meeting didn’t help the fluttering in his stomach. He knew he and Eddie would never be together in any real sense, but right here, right now, the future didn’t matter. As far as he was concerned, the future didn’t even exist.

Cole pulled away, just for a moment to catch his breath, and ran his thumb over Eddie’s lips. Lifting his gaze to meet Eddie’s eyes, Cole’s mouth twisted into a smile. “You’re pretty good at this, Munson,” he remarked, pulling his face back to Eddie’s– daring him to lean in again. 

+++

he melted into the kiss, well, eddie had expected ole to be a good kisser but this ? this blew his expectations. so differet from the encounters he’s had in chicago, all rushed and messy, and oddly...cold and distant where it should be intimate and warm. kissing ole was a welcome change to that, the way he softly cupped his cheek, leaning into him.

eddie chased his lips when they pulled apart, a dazed, glossy look in his eyes. he blinked, lips parted and swollen, breath shallow, his heart beating so fast it was threatening to burst out of his chest any second now. a  grin tugged at his lips. “yeah, well, i can only return the compliment, montgomery.” his hands found cole’s waist, drawing him in closer.

and while there was certainly a different person in the back of his head, eddie noted that kissing cole felt vastly different than how he imagined kissing steve to be. and maybe that was a good thing. maybe that would actually ground him, in a way, bring him back to the realms of what was possible and what was seemingly destined to play out in his fantasies only. this was cole, not steve, eddie repeated to himself. it was cole and it would likely never be steve. and right now, that was more than okay.

because kissing cole was maybe the best thing he’d felt in a long time. “don’t let it go to your head, though.”, he grinned, took hold of cole’s chin and drew him in closer. his lips found cole’s easily now, they moved together in a steady, comfortable rhythm.

zccming·:

.

it was weird enough that eddie had stopped by during her shift, but his entire demeanor was enough to send a jolt up her spine. shut up. max looked physically taken aback, “what gives?” she asked in return, but eddie would up answering her with a string of paranoid questions. wondering how he might know, max shifted in her seat behind the counter. his sense of urgency was suddenly adding up and it seemed worth her while to pay attention. 

to max, eddie was so blatantly wondering about here whereabouts because he went through something, at the same time. she scooted a little closer to the counter, “i was with the boys, well not lucas, but the rest of them. will’s mom…” max started, a distant look glossing over her eyes. apparently, it wasn’t going to get any easier each time she disclosed this information, “we went to the edge of town,” she mustered up the courage to glance back up at eddie, “something tried to get us, but we made it out.” the way she put it wasn’t exactly comforting, but she thought finishing it off with a little sarcasm might make it better. max tilted her chin up to reveal a bandaid, “so stoked to have another scar!” she flashed a sickeningly enthusiastic smile, then her expression dropped along with her chin.

maybe the fabrication of an unaffected demeanor would rub off on eddie. her hopes weren’t high, but she had to try something to chill him out before he lost all his marbles. “nothing weird since,” she hummed, “except you, right now.” figuring that this conversation might be best continued privately, max exited the booth the counter sat inside, grabbed eddie, pulled him back inside after her, then sat him down in her chair while she pulled the blinds down in the windows. this warranted an early lunch break. after a couple of quiet moments spent gnawing on her cheek and staring at eddie, max asked, “so? what happened to you two days ago? that’s why you’re so freaked, right?” max had been at the border, heard about the cemetery from lucas, and now this. truly, how much worse could it get?

+++

he listened intently, brows drawn together in concentration. and he felt his stomach drop as max affirmed his  suspicions - something had happened. something weird. to her, too. whatever the fuck had been going on in hawkins since, well, seemingly since the dawn of time, it was back. it was happening again and eddie was, quite frankly, absolutely terrified.

“something.”, he echoed, brows pulled into a nervous frown. “’something’ tried to get you. not someone. something.” and his voice pitched up slightly, the way it did right before it got all loud and panicky, so albeit unexpectedly, startling him, max pulling him back into the booth was a welcome gesture. giving him the opportunity to take a couple calming breaths in the process.

if he hadn’t been on the brink of the second or third nervous breakdown in two days, eddie would’ve snorted with laughter at the way max drew the blinds and sat him down - like a scene right out of a film noir, where the detectives finally sit their subject down and interrogate them. he cleared his throat. 

“i was....hanging with nancy.”, he said, and that statement alone was odd enough for his tastes. it was about to get even weirder. “we, uh, that’s hopper and his kid, nancy and i. well, we went..we were investigating and we sorta, uh.” he looked up at her, sheepish smile on his face. “long story short we burnt down benny’s.”

a moment of silence, eddie’s eyes darted around as he tried to gather his thoughts, remember what was important. “long story a little longer - there were eggs. in the diner. big, big, freaky alien eggs that have hatched, max.” and his voice went shaky and breathy and intense at the last two words. “there was this, this goo on the ground and we thought it was blood but! but it wasn’t. and then - the eggs and. yeah. burnt it down. went home. as if nothing happened.”

he cleared his throat, purses his lips as he exhaled, deeply. “it’s happening again, isn’t it.” it’s not really much of a question. “i can’t fucking believe this.”

cassieconrads·:

Cassie gave a nod at Eddie’s question, noticing his demeanor shift as she mentioned the Wheelers. As he described how he was friends with Mike, things started to make sense: maybe her new companion wasn’t that much of a stranger, after all. “Yeah, I came back with Nancy from the summer from college,” she explained, “we’re in the same sorority there, and they kind of all suck, so we bonded over it. Mike, though? I’m trying to get him to like me better than Nancy’s boyfriend, who somehow managed to follow us across the country to try and win her back, or some shit.” Cassie shrugged.

She let out a laugh, supposing he was right: Eddie certainly wasn’t the kind of guy she saw on the streets of Boston or San Francisco. “Shit, I’m sorry. I mean, I’m from California, and we had nothing like that going on there. Honestly, more has happened in the past few weeks that I’ve been here than my whole life there.” Including, but not limited to, a weird night at the graveyard and an entire diner burning down. “I’m Cassie. I appreciate the personal escort.”

+++

see, any friend of nancy’s that nancy trusted and liked enough to invite to stay with her over break surely wouldn’t mean no harm and eddie immediately relaxed. the...unfortunate encounter with ‘unnamed asshole slash jason carver carbon copy’ still had him somewhat shaken, looking over his shoulder more often than usual. and, at the mention of a dubious boyfriend that had followed them across the country, he slowly began to connect the dots. hoped to god that he had connected them all wrong. “that, uh, that boyfriend of hers - does he, like, have a little temper problem? and, like...does he sort of look like a ken doll right out of the box? “

he chuckled at her statement, shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “yeah, hawkins sort of does that to a person. lived here all my life before i moved to chicago, twenty years of, like, constant mayhem. and not, like, the good kind of mayhem, either.” 

but he spared her the gory details, the story of how, two years ago, he had nearly died while being attacked by vampire demon bats in the literal hell version of hawkins underneath the town. “well, pleased to make your acquaintance, cassie.”, he said with a grin and gave an over-exaggerated bow. “may i inquire what brings you to the library on such a fine day?”

rcbinbvckleys·:

⚢

slipping in the front door of eddie’s trailer, robin almost had the scare of her life when eddie called her name from such a short distance. “do you ever speak at a normal volume?” a rhetorical question, for she already knew the answer. eddie always had a lot of energy, it was almost admirable and very infectious. perhaps one of the reasons robin enjoyed his company so much. besides the fact that she didn’t ever feel the need to hide with eddie, which in itself was extremely freeing.

“i’ve been here before, dingus. i remember that mattress of yours, for example.” and how gross it was. flashing a mischievous grin in eddie’s direction, robin joined him on the couch, eyes fixed on watching his hands work at rolling the joint. he was much better at rolling than she was, probably because he’d had a lot more practice. sure she’d been to eddie’s trailer a number of times but nothing could really compare to the first few where they’d literally all been on the verge of death.

“it’s good. no, great!” a barefaced lie and they both knew it. maybe getting high with eddie munson was the release that robin needed right now, but would that really make everything just… go away? sure, for a little while but not completely. “actually, i’ve been kind of distracted recently.”

+++

“huh? what was that?”, he called out, even louder, a wide, toothy, teasing grin on his face. he’d turned up his stereo real loud, not loud enough to cause any of the neigbours to call the cops on him but loud enough so that the muffled sounds of the latest ‘ratt’ record were audible in the living room.

eddie grimaced as she mentioned the mattress, resisted the urge to pull his hair over his face to hide behind it, seeing as he wasn’t particularly keen on having it go up in flames. “oh my god, robin, just let it go. please. i give you plenty enough material for your mediocre jokes as is, let the fucking mattress go.”, he muttered around puffs, brows drawn together. 

but he loved it, their dynamic. hanging out with robin was always easy and comfortable, didn’t feel forced at all. their vibes just .. matched, it was hard to explain. after vecna, after everything had happened and they’d gotten closer, started to hang out more, eddie had often wondered why they hadn’t been friends in high school.

kicking his feet up on the coffee table, he passed the joint to her, eyed her with a frown. “bullshit.”, he said, crossed his arms over his chest. “what’s the matter, what’s going on?”

my brain in social situations

stevehharringtcns·:

.

“trust me, i would have stayed behind if i knew you that most of you would start fires and get attacked in cemeteries… but i really didn’t have a choice, it was my… great aunt’s funeral.” steve shrugged his shoulders. it was the truth, he shouldn’t have left town for the funeral, after all, he was pretty sure that he only saw his great aunt during christmas and even then it wasn’t for long. also, all of the biscuits she made him were stale, so it’s not like steve had really a connection with her. but his parents insisted that he went, and since he didn’t want to argue with them and risk getting kicked out of the house, he obliged. “you really think i’m a fearless leader, huh?” he asked with a small smirk on his lips, as he looked down at eddie’s bruise carefully.

“you don’t need to act tough with me, trust me, i know how painful it can be. i’m not proud, but after getting beaten up by a ton of people, including russian spies, i know how a painful bruise looks like. i’ll get you some ice.” steve nodded his head slowly. he always seemed to get into fights, whether he put himself in them or if he just got in the way, but the bruises were the worst part of it. he kept his hand on eddie’s hand as they went up the stairs and towards his room. he opened the door and let the other inside with a smile, before turning to look at him. 

“you don’t need to worry, i wasn’t sleeping, but i was almost falling asleep. it’s fine, i’ll be sure to catch some sleep.” he said. “and don’t apologize, you clearly were… disturbed by that whole thing. you can always come over when you want.” he said, remembering everything that had happened in eddie’s place - it was probably hard to sleep after having a portal to the upside down on his room and after seeing chrissy… die like that.

“you’re very lucky… here, i’ll borrow you some of my clothes. but i want them back, so don’t you dare try and run off with them.” he said with a small chuckle, smirking slightly as he turned away from eddie, letting go of his hand, and towards his wardrobe so he could grab some of his clothes. he grabbed some sweatpants and a shirt that he hadn’t worn in a while and placed it on top of his bed, as he looked at him with a smile. he stood there awkwardly for a couple of moments, debating on what to do. should he stay with eddie? or should he just leave him alone? part of him thought that the last thing eddie wanted was to be alone, but then again, he didn’t want to assume anything.

“i’ll…go to the guest room. i’ll leave you alone. if you need the bathroom, it’s just across the hall. and the guest room is right next to it if you… if you need me.” he said as he started making his way towards the door, turning around to look at eddie, as he pondered if he should leave him alone or not. it wasn’t that hard of a decision, but like usually, he seemed to be complicating things.

+++

“oh shit.” eddie frowned, carefully tried to read the expression on steve’s face. though he knew family was a touchy subject for him, with his parents being gone most of the time, he still gave him a sympathetic look, squeezed his hand. “i’m sorry, man.”

steve mentioned russian spies and the like - robin had let him in on all the details of the shit that had gone down in hawkins, starting with will’s disappearance - but eddie’s thoughts were still stuck on the fact that a) steve harrington had very nearly touched his bare skin and b) he was going to sleep in steve harrington’s bed tonight. he felt all consumed with ... just steve. he was all around, eddie caught a whiff of his cologne and his eyes nearly rolled back in his head. “thanks.”, he smiled when steve offered to get him some ice. “it’s really not that bad, y’know. i’m tough.” eddie offered him a charming toothy grin. “and yeah, duh. ‘couse i think you’re a fearless leader, stevie. you got roughed up by literal russian slash alien super spies and made it out alive. that’s, like, so hot. you’re a hero, man.”

‘you can always come over when you want’. it made eddie’s heart skip a beat, he blushed, bit down a grin before he tore his eyes away fro steve, opting to look around his room instead.”jesus fucking christ, harrington. are you, like, freakily into geometrical shapes?”, eddie muttered with an amused huff as he let his gaze wander over the wallpaper, the matching curtains. steve’s room looked oddly like some model room, or a page right out of architectural digest. eerily not...lived in. while eddie’s room, their trailer, was the absolute opposite.

steve let go of his hand and eddie instantly missed the warmth and weight of it, his fingers flexed, he began rubbing his fingertips over his palm, nervous habit. “thanks.”, he repeated with a small nod, immediately went to pull off his own shirt and replace it with steve’s. steve’s. it smelled like him, like his detergent and eddie turned his face to hide his grin. oh, he was definitely keeping it. and the sweatpants, too. “jesus, how is your clothig so fucking....soft, man?”, he muttered with a chuckle, hands rubbing along the fabric.

and suddenly, steve had moved to the door, said goodbye for the night and eddie was left just ... standing there. a little on edge, he chewed on the inside of his lip nervously, opened his mouth to say something, anything, even a simple ‘good night!’ but didnt’ manage a single word. he’d come to steve’s house to not be alone, and while he was fucking jumping at the chance of staying somewhere that was so quintessentially steve’s, it still meant he’d spend the night on his own.

but steve turned back around, a curious, unreadable expression on his face, and eddie flexed his hands again. “i - uh. can you...stay?”, he asked, voice meek, brows drawn together, bracing himself for the impact of steve’s rejection. “i ... your bed’s like, big, and i don’t...want to be, uh, alone? yeah.”

stevehharringtcns·:

.

steve nodded as the other said that water was good, but he didn’t move. for some reason that he couldn’t explain, he didn’t want to leave eddie alone in the room. not because he didn’t trust him, but because he felt like he couldn’t just leave him like that. and he doubted that he wanted to be alone too. so he just stood there, staring at eddie as he waited for him to relax a bit, but it seemed like panic was going to consume eddie and steve didn’t know what to do. he looked at eddie to see the look that he sent his way once steve made the joke, but in all honesty, he was just trying to calm the other down in the best way he could.

“i leave town for a week and you guys… manage to set fire to a whole diner. how is that even possible?” steve asked, knowing that it probably wasn’t anyone’s fault, but he thought that if he were there, that everything could have been avoided. after all, he was a pretty damn good babysitter after all, and he could have prevented the whole thing - that’s what he thought anyway, because he clearly didn’t know what had happened at benny’s diner.

he couldn’t help but to notice eddie’s hand ghosting his own hip, which made him frown slightly. he was hurt. steve didn’t even think about his next move as he grabbed the edge of the other’s shirt and lifted up slightly only to reveal eddie’s bruise. it looked painful, steve thought to himself as he looked back into eddie’s eyes, only to realize what he was doing. “eddie, you should… go to the hospital and get this checked out. it looks… bad.” he said, looking over at him, his face turning slightly red by only looking at eddie’s bareskin, even if it was bruised.

steve kept his other hand, however, on eddie’s shoulder, giving it small reassuring squeezes as he was trying for the other to feel better with just his touch. he didn’t move when he felt eddie’s hand on his own, but it didn’t help with his blushing. he kept his hand there, nodding his head slowly as he heard the other talk. “i believe you, eddie… i mean, it would be stupid not to believe you, we’ve all seen shit… i just don’t know what it could be. we closed the gates. all of them… it can’t be vecna. he’s dead.” he reassured the other, hoping that he wouldn’t end up regretting his words. “you’re not alone, okay? we’re all here for you… i’m here for you, and we’ll figure everything out. you just need to rest or something.” he said, nodding his head.

“i just came back two days ago, it couldn’t have been me, eddie… i’ve been out of town.” he said, letting out a sigh as he grew concerned about people seeing him around town when he clearly was out.

“i’m sure… my parents are out of town again, so it doesn’t matter, we don’t need to worry about them… coming back or something of the sorts.” he said with a small sigh, looking over at eddie with a small smile on his lips. hearing that the other wanted to make sure that he was safe made him smile, nodding his head slowly. “don’t get all soft on me now, munson… i’m fine.” he said with a chuckle. “you can stay in my room, i can stay in the guest room. c’mon.” he said as he finally moved his hand from eddie’s shoulder and grabbed the other’s hand without thinking as he started leading the other up the stairs to his room. “you’re lucky, most girls don’t get to see my room until the third date.” he teased.

+++

“see, you can’t just leave town for a week, harrington. we need our fearless leader.you’re lucky the town still stands, actually.”, eddie muttered, a small grin tugging at his lips - not that he wasn’t spooked anymore, oh no, he absolutely was, but steve’s company did wonders for calming his jangled nerves. and that fact was definitely something to unpack another day. although, thinking about it, there wasn’t really that much to unpack, other than the fact that eddie’s big fat schoolgirl crush on steve harrington was slowly but surely resurfacing. clawing its way to the surface and growing stronger with every day he spent in hawkins.

though, could anyone blame him, when steve went ahead and did things such as yanking his shirt up to reveal his bruise? eddie’s breath hitched in his throat, eyes widening as he glanced between steve’s eye and his hand, fingers not quite touching his bruised skin but ghosting over it, hovering and even that made eddie’s heart hammer in his chest. he gulped, managed a weak smile. “ah, no, no, it’s nothing. nothing to worry about. i’m just clumsy.”, he waved it off with a shrug.

 “i’ll live.”, he repeated “i mean, i’ve survived worse.” and the memory of the swarm of demobats circling above him made him grimace, slightly, he hoped that steve didn’t notice. eddie leaned into steve’s touch, relaxing with every little squeeze he gave his shoulder. he hummed and nodded, more to himself. “yeah. yeah, you’re right...i’ll be fine.” eddie swallowed. “sorry, i - i shouldn’t’ve come. it’s stupid. i woke you up, didnt i? i’m sorry.”

chewing on his bottom lip nervously, eddie looked up at steve again, considered just...leaving instead of making things awkward. but the look on steve’s face, the smile, suggestes that he hadn’t just offered for eddie to stay simply not to be rude. it seemed genuine - he relaxed, slightly, nodded again. fingers tracing over steve’s hand on his shoulder as if to ground him. 

steve took his hand, led him up the stairs - eddie nearly forgot to breathe as he stumbled up. forgot to walk, too. he’d only ever imagined this scenario in his dreams, though with a vastly different premise and outcome. he grinned, wide and toothy. “well,well, well, aren’t i a lucky gal.”

mmuscles·:

.

thad didn’t take kindly to when people didn’t take kindly to him. in hawkins, it was happening at what felt like every turn, but with this guy? it was different. not only did it bug him that he wasn’t wagging his tail to help him find a bouquet for nancy, but he totally gave thad the creeps. he countered for that by continuing to huff and puff and blow everyone in hawkins down with his ‘charm’ and ‘status’. it probably would have been wise at this point for thad to exit the conversation, and yet, he couldn’t stand to surrender first. “yeah man, ‘cause you’re like, the first person i saw?” thad furrowed his brows, shaking his head slightly as he explained where he was coming from, frustrated. “it has nothing to do with you specifically, in fact, it would’ve been killer if i could have avoided talking to someone like you.” he continued to rant and rave about totally irrelevant information, but the desire to let the other know how much he didn’t care for him was too strong to stop. 

“mike brady? really?” he scoffed, “do you think you’re like, funny or something?” thad narrowed his eyes, taking a step closer, “i don’t like jokes.” he informed. that wasn’t really true, he just didn’t like that joke. still, these directions were the closest thing thad had gotten to help. so he might just have to swallow his pride and take them. “of course i can manage that.” he answered promptly, “you think i can’t?” he asked foolishly, clearly now just looking for a fight. thad tried to reign it in though, he couldn’t show up at nancy’s with a fat lip. “watch your back.” he threatened, with no intention of following up on that. in a final power play, thad spit at eddie’s feet and continued towards this melvald’s.

+++

eddie simply stood there and watched with his brows drawn together, nose scrunched up in what could only be described as digust. “someone like me.”, he echoed, nodded to himself. noted how eerily similar this felt to just about any interaction he’d had with jason carver back in high school. noted how all he ever really got in chicago was a shove to the shoulder on the street, a couple of dirty looks. not someone so clearly unapproving of his life choices that he was looking for a fight.

he’d presses the play button on his walkman before the head of the brady bunch had stopped talking, could hear the music faintly playing over the headphones hanging around his neck. he gave him another look up and down, then shrugged. “back your watch.”, eddie called after him before he slipped his headphones back on and stomped off in the opposite direction, a little faster than before.

colemontgomeryx·:

xx.

Since Adam had died, Cole had been chasing the feeling– the euphoria– of connecting with another. That’s not to say he was looking for a relationship… no, he was too closed off for that. He was looking for a reminder that he was still capable of connection, maybe even love. One day.

And today, this chance encounter with Eddie was exactly the feeling he’d been wanting. He’d always noticed Eddie in school– how could he not, the way Eddie seemed to fill up every room? But he’d never seen Eddie like this: nervous, but sure. In control. And Cole was loving it. 

Cole’s stomach leaped when Eddie took him by the wrist and pressed him against the wall. He could feel the heat coming off of Eddie’s body, he could practically taste Eddie’s words. Fluttering his eyes, Cole looked up at Eddie, hand still gripping the other’s shirt.

“I am. Are you?” 

+++

his eyes flicked between cole’s - jesus, how did he have lashes like that, it was unfair - as if searching for even the slightest hint of uncertainty that would make him pull back, apologize, would make them part ways. but cole’s hand was still in his shirt, he was still so intoxicatingly close and now he had verbal confirmation, too.

eddie looked around one more time, hating how nervous and paranoid he got everytime he went back to hawkins, a shaky exhale drawn from his lungs, the air was clear. and still he felt himself hesitate, eyes meeting cole’s again, and the thought of how bizarre this was, how this wasn’t even the guy he’d spent his waking moments fantasizing about while sat in the back of ms. o’donnell’s class.

no, no, he nipped that strain of thought in the bed, no, this wasn’t the time to dwell on past crushed. to hell with it. eddie gave a weak nod, grin pulling at his lips. “yeah”, he breathed, “’m sure”, and dove in to connect their lips.

backtowheeler·:

— ✎ —

Whatever the hell this….shit is, was gonna catch up to me eventually. Nothing truer could be said for anyone who had ever experienced what went down below Hawkins. It felt too good to be true. It felt too easy to just say yep, that’s a wrap on all the weird shit. It would never be over. No matter how many times they’d defeat it, something would come crawling back whether it be as massive as someone like Vecna or as small as… hatched eggs? Nancy had already started mentally working on her hypothesis. Baby Demogorgons was her top thought, although thinking about Dart and how tiny he had allegedly been, she was starting to think otherwise. They were human sized, carrying something big enough that could possibly only continue growing.

“Still, I was hoping you would get to see an actual crime scene. Not so much… whatever was in there,” she told him, truth in her voice. Nancy didn’t really have a partner to lean on anymore whenever she got some sort of lead. It was part of the reason why she asked Eddie to come. She didn’t want to ask any of their younger friends and considering the two of them never got much one on one time together? She thought it could be a bonding experience. Plus, there was nothing more metal than some blood, gore, and crime, right? It’s what they were always singing about. 

When the keys were unwillingly snatched from her hand, Nancy let out a sigh. “Fine,” she conceded, mostly because of the throbbing pain in her hand. She walked in the direction of where she had parked, blowing on her hand as if that would stop the pain. “Just promise me you won’t crash my mom’s station wagon?” She asked. Nancy had never ridden with Eddie while he had been behind the wheel so she had no indication of his driving, but if she could guess? She figured it was much worse than her own.

+++

eddie clasped a hand over his heart, brows drawn up, lips twisted into a pout. “oh, geez, wheeler - you wanted to take me out to see a crime scene? little old me? oh, i’m touched.” and he wiped an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye, then let his hands fall back to his side, grinning. not willing to abandon his theatrics even in the face of impendind doom and evil. ‘cause that’s what this was, eddie thought, a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. this was only the beginning and eddie wasn’t sure if he wanted to stick around to see the end of it.

not running away had nearly gotten him killed the last time around. he nodded, hummed, a pleased little sound when nancy didn’t put up a fight and followed her to the car. “i’ll have you know i’m an excellent driver, wheeler, thank you very much.”, he retorted, swinging the keys around his fingers. though he promptly stopped as they hit his knuckles with full force, cursed under his breath. “pinkie promise. you know, i used to give max a ride to school everyday. gave dustin rides home after hellfire - actually, your brother, too. you can ask him, i’m sure he’ll vouch for my driving skills.”

though he skillfully glossed over the fact that one of the reasons he’d given max a ride to school almost everyday was that max was an absolute menace to society everytime she drove a car, and eddie very much wanted to see her live to graduation. he unlocked the car, quickly hopped in, an appreciative glance around before he looked back at nancy.

“not bad.”, he said, nodding to himself. “i mean, i’d take the van, any day. but not bad.” eddie shrugged, turned the keys in the ignition before his attention was drawn back to her hand. “you should get that checked out, wheeler. looks pretty nasty to me.”

I hate how everyone has to make Eddie gay like just stop. He's not.

eddie munson wants to kiss steve harrington so bad. this ask just made him fruitier. he's at his homosexual peak rn.

elevcnhops·:

WHERE ; benny’s burnt down diner WHO ; el &. @eddiemcnson·

of course he was an admired hero in their party - dustin wouldn’t stop talking about him on more than one occasion. even mike had mentioned the other once or twice. eleven just never imagined she would be meeting him in a deserted diner. even more surprising that he was still around after… everything. remembering his absolute panic as the lights went out. and even all the things after. feeling a bit guilty, their experience felt all too familiar. this was probably her fault. the never ending twinge of guilt ever since she returned.

better yet, he was back at the place of their first actual encounter. el’s better judgement leading her back to the diner. the other night with nancy and Hop… but he was there. she could recognize that hair anywhere. she wasn’t the only nosy one in this town apparently.

eleven smelled the ash before she could sense it. sure, the smell of burnt concrete was a grim reminder of the fact.. this place was done for. “ do you see anything? “ she didn’t know his name, only that he was to be trusted. inhaling briefly in the aftermath of the destruction that they brought upon themselves. “ eleven. “ giving him a second of truth as she roamed through the debris. “ and you? “ hiding the rosy tiny upon her cheeks as embarrassment flooded her questioning tone. “ i’m sorry, i should know that. “

+++

it was stupid. it was a horribly, horrifically stupid idea but, staying true to the munson name, eddie actually found himself standing where benny’s diner once had been, just... staring. contemplating, maybe? he didn’t know. didn’t know what had posessed him to hop into his van and drive back there in the first place but there he was, standing in the midst of the burnt down ruins, just looking.

eddie liked to think that he didn’t know what he was looking for but that was a lie,  eddie knew exactly what he was looking for as he absent-mindedly kicked some pieces of gravel through the ash. those ‘eggs’, those freakishly large eggs that had had tears and cracks running through them. and the weird sludge, just... clues. he was looking for clues. upside down clues and he hated the thought of that with a fiery passion. 

“god - jesus - fuck!”, eddie jumped, one heart coming up to clutch at his heart as he whipped around violently, curls whipping through the air like daggers. the frame of ... hopper junior, eddie didn’t know her name, came into view and a shaky yet relieved breath was drawn from his lips. hands on his thighs, eddie dropped his head, took a couple beats to get his breathing under control. “shit, man! you can’t just creep up on people like that.”

after what had happened at benny’s, eddie was even more on edge than usual. he frowned. “no, i...don’t see anything, kid. ‘cept for you, scaring the freaking daylights outta me.”, he muttered, eyes travelling over the site once more. confirming to himself that he was definitely not seeing any eggs or the like.

eddie narrowed his eyes, brows drawn together tightly. “huh? eleven?”, he echoed, looked her up and down. then looked behind her, to see if he’d missed anything. or anyone. “eleven what?”

this exchange was getting weirder by the minute, eddie planted his hands on his hips. “uh, eddie. munson.”, he said after a moment, smiled. “well, i mean i’ve got no idea who you are, hopper junior, so no offense taken.”

cassieconrads·:

Cassie looked up from concentrating on her map to take stock of the guy in front of her, who claimed to be Hawkins’ biggest outcast with a disclaimer. She couldn’t imagine why, if Hawkins itself was already an anomaly, that the town decided to pick on one particular resident. Thankfully, Cassie’s temporary residence lent itself to not giving a shit about who she hung out with this summer; she’d be leaving Indiana soon enough. She folded up the map, sticking it in the back pocket of her jeans as she stood to join the stranger on their walk in the direction of the library.

“I don’t mind,” she assured him, “I’m just here for the summer, crashing at the Wheeler residence.” It was getting old, having to introduce herself as the new girl, but she supposed that it was better than a ‘freak’, as her companion had so described himself. “May I ask how you acquired that title, or is that too intrusive for a singular block into our walk?”

+++

he pressed his lips together into an awkward smile, shoved his hands into the pockets of his denim vest, nodding for her to come along as they set off towards the library. he felt himself visibly relax once she mentioned the wheeler’s - if she was staying nancy and mike then he was definitely safe with her, or rather from her, even if a stray angry hick decided to expose just why he was deemed the town freak. 

“the wheeler’s.”, he said and hummed, nodded in acknowledgement. “they got a pretty nice pad. are you one of nancy’s college friends? or...” eddie looked at her, eyes narrowed. “ .. or in some dubious connection to mike?”

at her question eddie gave a shrug, steered them to the right to turn onto the main street. “well, for starters i don’t really look like your average small town prom king.”, he said, blew a lock off her from out of his eyes. “and i was, uh, head of the dnd club at school. mike was in it, too, actually. then the ‘satanic panic’ spread over ‘murica.” eddie wiggled his fingers, raised his brows before he dropped the theatrics, chuckled.

“i don’t know, people are werid, started saying we’re not actually playing dnd but worshipping satan.”, he shrugged.  “i’m eddie, by the way.”

zccming·:

WHO: max mayfield & @eddiemcnson· WHAT: eddie is worried and max is suspicious!!! WHERE: the hawk movie theater (june 19th-ish)

having a summer job was maybe one of the most mind numbing things max mayfield ever had to endure, and that was saying something considering she’d tried to sit through the boys’ campaigns once or twice. it wasn’t so bad though, when she didn’t have any customers at the ticket counter, she could usually get away with reading a magazine or two, and if it was really slow, she’d even pop on her walkman, then kick back and relax. 

this afternoon just so happened to be one of those days where max mayfield looked like an extra from any high school movie set ever. she chewed gum and blew bubbles until they popped while she feasted her eyes on the february edition of Right On! magazine, and listened to iggy pop’s Lust for Life album on her walkman. every second she spent overstimulating herself to avoid remembering what happened at the border the other night was a heavenly illusion that life right now was good. 

her dreamscape was shattered at the sight of eddie approaching the ticket counter. minorly confused, max slid her feet off the ticket counter, set her magazine down, and slipped her headphones down around her neck, “eddie?” she squinted, “the fuck are you doing here?” max reached for her magazine again, then rolled her eyes, “if there was anything good out, i would have told you.”

+++

nearly two days since hanging out with nancy wheeler had turned into a supernatural investigation followed by arson and eddie had not known a moments peace since. had barely slept, aside from passing out from exhaustion for a couple of hours, the events of the night kept replaying in his head. and while he wasn’t exactly sure just what it was they’d stumbled across, eddie knew one thing.

it was back. that weird, creepy alien-y part of hawkins was back, the impending doom looming threatingly over the town, turning the air sour. it was back and eddie wished desperately that he was anywhere but hawkins, indiana. anywhere but the epicentre of evil. he couldn’t do it again, fuck now. his need to not run away had nearly gotten him killed last time around, so this time eddie was going to fucking book it if push came to shove.

last time. vecna. the name still sent icy shivers down his spine, his stomach dropped at the thought of someone else who nearly hadn’t made it out alive. and without a second thought eddie went and grabbed his keys, hopped into the van and drove. he knew max wasn’t home, he basically knew her schedule by heart. and as much as he didn’t want to bother her at work this couldn’t wait.

 overwhelmed with a desperate need to make sure the other was safe, a feeling usually only reserved for siblings, he jumped out of the car, approached the ticket counter fast. a wave of relief rushed through him - she was there, safe. she was okay, by the looks of it.

“shut up.”, eddie snapped, brows drawn together, he leaned forward on the counter. “i know this might seem, like, .... weird but where were you, like, two days ago? notice anything weird since? “