Rcbinbvckleys·:

zccming·:

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max was comfortable with silence, silence was safe most of the time. she could live there for a while if needed. she knew full well that she wasn’t the best with words, and usually, if ever, people didn’t come to her for her motivational speeches. more often than not, it looked like this, max going to someone and offering herself up as a shoulder, someone to share the load of a burden with if only for a little while. at least, lately, that’s what it looked like. 

she watched eddie not speaking, setting her bowl down when he did, quietly indicated, nah, me either. it was the thought that counted or whatever, right? when eddie frantically verified that she was alright, max kept an expression of stone as she nodded. she was more or less in one piece, so was he, so was steve, so was everyone. now she wasn’t happy all of this had happened, but the relief that came with doing her rounds and seeing her friends alive and breathing was enough to propel her through a sleepless twenty four hours at the hospital, and a long ride on her board back home. 

their wordless processing ended though as eddie confessed, his voice uneasy. max hadn’t really seen him like this. not for a long time, not since they’d gotten closer. instantly, she jumped to all of the ways she could fix this, which started with calming eddie down and ended with something along the lines of throwing callahan in a deep deep pit he couldn’t crawl out of. “you’re not a monster.” she said swiftly and with such conviction she hoped it knocked into him like a punch, like he’d have no choice but to believe it. “you were innocent then and you’re innocent now.” max wouldn’t tell him it was okay because she knew he didn’t feel like it was. “they haven’t released names yet, i don’t think anyone other than…us saw it happen.” she used reason to talk him down.  

when none of that seemed to work and he shook his head and began a spiral, max yelled, hopping to snap him out of it “eddie!” she took his hands and offered the following words like a get out of jail free card, “steve will not let anything happen to you. i will not let anything happen to you.” she laughed a wryly, hoping to make everything feel less heavy, “you think robin, and nancy, and literally anyone else would let that slide? fuck no.” she shook her head, then offered her final comfort, “we’ve figured it out like four times before, we’ll do it again. you’re a vet this time, munson. you just gotta screw your head back onto your shoulders.” 

+++

eddie scoffed, slumping further back into the couch, wishing it would swallow him whole. “yeah, and just like ‘86 nobody’s gonna believe me. real fucking nice.” he didn’t mean to snap at her, neither of them had anything to do with the utter chaos that was currently playing out in hawkins. but the rational part of his brain had long since bid its farewell and he simply hoped that max knew this. what did it matter if he was innocent or not? when people already stared at him , mistrusted him without a solid reason. now they had one and eddie didn’t want to imagine what the scalding looks burning into the back of his head could soon turn into. because he knew it, he’d lived it, and he couldn’t again, never again.

he gave her hands a short, tight squeeze before he relased them, carding his fingers through his tangled hair. taking deep breaths, he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. this was just max, just max. meaning only good. trying to calm him. there was no reaosn to get upset, not with her. his mouth felt awfully dry. when he opened his eyes again they were fixed to the ceiling, looking at nothing in particular. “yeah, yeah, well, you remember what happened last time, right? i’m a vet, sure, but ... i almost wasn’t. almost wasn’t anything anymore.” and his lip quivered slightly at the memory, it was still fresh as day. a swarm of demobats circling around him, knocking him to the ground. a sharp sting in his side soon followed by agony and a fade to black, a teary goodbye, a faint white light. a faint white light that, for some reason, perhaps divine intervention, had faded into a shrill green-ish one, the distinct hue of hospital fluorescents. 

but what good had it ever done, dwelling on the past? dwelling on what almost had been, eddie munson, only good for running, it seemed. ‘don’t try to be cute, don’t try to be a hero’. he should’ve just listened to steve, stayed a decoy. heroism clearly didn’t suit him. thinking of... he sat up a little straighter. “how’s - how’s steve? have you seen him?”

zccming·:

WHO: max mayfield & @eddiemcnson·

WHERE: mayfield residence

sure, max was just about as grounded as her mom could get her, but she still valued tradition. it wasn’t like there were many of those in the mayfield household anymore, so the ones max did have were gripped and guarded with the utmost care. every time eddie came into town, they’d have their semblance of a “family” dinner. it had been this way since max was in high school, and if she had it her way, it would be this way until the day she died. it took some shuffling to actually figure out when the best time would be, but when susan picked up a graveyard shift, max set the plans into motion. 

she was a touch skeptical when eddie said he wanted to actually cook verses ordering takeout or the ever reliable heating up of a frozen dinner. but hey, maybe he started up with cooking classes in chicago. max laid on her couch, flipping through the three channels they got, repetitive and impatient. filling the role of whiny younger sister well, she called to the kitchen to complain, “there’s nothing good on!” max sighed, then turned, and continued cycling through the channels anyhow. sitting up, she now peered into the kitchen, “what’s taking so long?” she glanced at the mess surrounding eddie, then let him know, “i’m not helping you clean up.”

+++

see, it wasn’t as if eddie was a horrible cook. there was that batch of cookies he’d made in ‘75 for the middle school bakesale that had not turned out terrible. and sometimes when his roomates in chicago - one of them a cookery student - were out, he cooked his own meals, too. in fact, eddie was really, really decent at cooking rice or frying eggs for just the right amount of time. 

but, like, actually...nutritious dinners that involved preperation and recipes? not really his forte. what was a recipe, anyway, if not a bunch of rules to disobey, as was in his nature? still, coming back to hawkins meant mayfield-munson family dinners in front of the tv and this time he was actually going to make an effort. he’d watched his roommate cook - figured how hard could it be, anyway ? - and with both of them embarking on their own seperate life journeys who knew when they’d get the opportunity to do this next? besides, they’d both been through so fucking much in that hellhole of a town, eddie thought as he wiped a sheen of sweat from his forehead, they deserved something nice.

so probably the opposite of what eddie was currently prepearing. the kitchen was a mess, bits of chopped vegetables had fallen the floor, he had three pots and one pan on the tiny stove. this was enitrely too fucking difficult. eddie cursed under his breath, quickly took one of the pots threatening to overcook off the stove - and then held it in his hands for a moment, unsure of where to put it down. “ow, fuck, son of a bitch!” naturally, the handles started to heat up - he distantly recalled himself from an hour ago saying something along the lines of ‘fuck oven mitts,do i look like a grandma, i can handle this’ - and he rushed to put it down on a coaster. eddie  went back to check on the other things on the stovetop - he turned off the stove completely - and stirred everything aimlessly. 

“fuck off.”, he shouted back, rushed to throw the chopped vegetables that hadn’t fallen to the ground into what...could be considered a sauce. stirred again. they’d have to order take out, he thought with a sigh. he drained the pasta, stirred it again, then carried both the pot and the pan over to the dining table. “voila. “ eddie wiped his hands on his jeans, then looked over at max. wondered if it was going to be edible. “now stop complaining and eat. “ - he made a welcoming gesture with his arm, inviting her to dig in first - “ after you, of course.”

Ozzy Osbourne -   Crazy Train  ♰

mmuscles·:

.

“the fuck is your deal?” thad responded in turn. there were some people he could feel were up to no good, and there were some he could just tell. well whoever this random was fit the bill to a t. he let go of the stranger’s shoulder, shoving him back slightly on release, then folded his arms across one another, laying them flatly over his puffed out chest to prove that he was not one to mess with. from the other guy’s hair, to his clothes, and even the look in his eyes, thad wasn’t going to let him detect any sort of weakness. 

it didn’t help that almost immediately after, thad was all but laughed at. which really pushed at his buttons. “what’s funny about that?” he asked flatly, nose twitching. “i’m trying to buy my girlfriend flowers, sure you know all about that, pal.” he breathed out. unsure of why he was even listening to this guy’s suggestions, thad still looked around. where was melvald’s? what was melvald’s? uncomfortable with the whole situation, but wanting to walk away with something suitable for nancy. reluctantly, thad asked, “what the fuck is a melvald’s? where is it?”

+++

eddie’s brows shot up, looking the other up and down with a bemused and bewildered expression on his face. everything about him screamed ‘preppy’ and eddie scrunched up his nose. a scoff drawn out of him as he was shoved back. not that he was too surprised, of course, still plenty enough people in town who’d love for him to meet a gruesome end, he was sure. but he’d never seen this... perfect carbon copy of a ken doll around town before. eddie thought he even saw the other puff out his chest and he snorted.

“well...no, i don’t know ‘all about that’ but i don’t see how that’s, like, relevant here ? “, he asked cautiously, pressing ‘stop’ on his walkman. “i mean, you’re the one who approchaed me, in need of my services. but whatever.” as much as he liked to press people’s buttons, rile them up, he wasn’t looking for a fight, either.

“melvald’s. it’s a store, mike brady.”, eddie said and frowned. “down the main street, turn left when you see the church. think you can manage that?”

stevehharringtcns·:

who: steve harrington & @eddiemcnson·

where: eddie’s place / the trailer park

what: steve gets a haircut (looks like this)

his hair had always been a part of steve and he took it very seriously. after all, it had given him his reputation for all of those years, he couldn’t deny it. he was still steve ‘the hair’ harrington, even if he had been slightly slacking ever since he graduated from high school. after being a couple of days in the hospital, he thought it was for the best if he got it arranged, or at least, a few trims so it could go back to the way it looked when he was in high school. he always thought that it had looked the best back then. what he didn’t expect was for the hairdresser that he would usually go to cut it a little bit too much. it wasn’t terrible to say the least, in fact, steve enjoyed it more than he thought he would. maybe he would keep it like this for quite some time, even though he was sure that people would comment on it, but it wasn’t like he was concerned about people’s opinions on him anymore.

he knew that one of the people that would probably notice it the most would be his boyfriend. steve wanted him to be the first one to see, so he didn’t waste his time in driving down to the trailer park once he was out of the hairdresser. steve knew that eddie would probably be there. he parked his car and quickly got out of it, making his way towards the door, opening it and walking inside. he had been doing this for a couple of weeks now and he knew that eddie wouldn’t mind. wayne was probably working too. “eddie?” he asked out loud. “okay, i know that you love my hair a lot, but… you know, i needed to do something different or i might have just gone crazy with my hair looking like that.” he said right off the bat, only to realize that the other wasn’t anywhere to be seen. “are you here?” he asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked around for a bit.

+++

eddie hadn’t gone out much since what he had dubbed the ‘junkyard incident’. partly due to the fact that he, quite literally, couldn’t go out, seeing as his ankle was wrapped in bandages and he’d been advised by the doctor to let it rest as much as possible. the antibiotics he was on - because doppelganger or not, rabies was still a thing - made him drowsy, too, and so eddie had spent most of his time lounging on the couch in the two or three positions he could comfortably rest in. until, inevitably, his foot would fall asleep and he’d have to get up and move around a bit. 

wayne was at work and so eddie couldn’t whine and ask him to do all the tedious stuff, like making snacks or refilling the electric kettle so he could keep himself from sleeping through the day by drinking copious amounts of coffee. so here he was, shuffling into the bathroom since the tap in the kitchen didn’t have a water filter - it had broken and wayne had promised to pick one up after his shift - to refill the kettle. rubbing at his eyes as he let the water run, wobbly on his feet. 

eddie turned off the tap, startled by a sudden noise coming from the living room - wondering if there was really someone there or if he was that out of it. sure enough the voice persisted, and a voice he knew all too well, and so, with a stupid wide toothy grin, eddie walked back - and nearly dropped the kettle. in his right mind to put it onto the kitchen counter, all he could do was stare, gape, really, chin dropped, eyes wide.

no, yeah, that was steve, undoubtedly. but ... unlike eddie had ever seen him. not sporting his signature, gravity defying hairdo. eddie never thought he’d live to see the day. he brushed a lock of hair behind his ears and came closer to inspect it, running a hand through steve’s hair, ruffling it. an incredulous chuckle fell from his lips, he softly shook his head in disbelief. “my, my.... well, it’s my pleasure to welcome you back, steve ‘the hair’ harrington.” he gave him a nod, then took his face in his hands, pressing a kiss to the space between steve’s brows. “i love it.”

STRANGER THINGS (SEASON 4) Chapter Seven: The Massacre at Hawkins Lab

Still super jealous as hell, by the way.

zccming·:

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before max could even get mad, she was grateful. eddie came to visit often, but it wasn’t often enough by max’s standards. after the dust settled, eddie and herself struck up an odd little friendship in those last few weeks before he finally managed to hop into that cap and gown then leave. it consisted of meals spent together, regular check-ins, and generally good, quality time. with her mom still out of it, it was the closest semblance to family max had in a long time. so of course, it sucked when he left. but it was an even better feeling when eddie eventually made his rounds back. she didn’t like to clue anyone into how much either meant to her, though. same as now, she stifled her reaction and took the hug in stride. 

“i thought you were the cops.” max lied, pulling away. there was no time to be wasted with the when did you get in?s or the how long are you in town?s. “there’s a barbecue at the wheeler’s. you can come if you want.” she explained with a hefty sigh, as if she wouldn’t eat up every second of suburban normalcy. “i’m trying to get something to bring.” she gestured to the store, “didn’t have anything at home, don’t want to show up empty handed, here i am.” max glanced back to the road where she had discarded her rock, then looked up at eddie with a faint smirk, “i mean, how bad would it really be if i smashed through the front? nobody would know.” then she added, as if it were a perfectly good point, “and it’d be pretty cool if i were maybe able to…i don’t know…snag a couple of beers and bring them to my friends?”

+++

eddie was an only child, didn’t really have any family except for his uncle, but if you were to catch him in a vulnerable moment, there was a seventy percent chance he’d list max as a family member. he returned to hawkins semi-regularly,but if it weren’t for max he surely wouldn’t come back just as often. his uncle was fine, after all, got on great on his own, eddie wasn’t too worried there. but, jesus, with all the shit max had gone through ever since moving to hawkins - well, he just liked to make sure she was ok.

“do i look like a cop to you? be honest.” eddie gave her a ltitle tiwrl, showing off his outfit - black ripped jeans, worn out converse - not docs like he usually wore but how was he expected to survive in boots in this weather ? - black muscle shirt and his denim vest. and, of course, that ever present black bandana dangling from his back pocket. “‘cause if there are cops in hawkins looking like this well, shit, i might just have to go an join the force.”

eddie clicked his tongue, narrowed his eyes as he looked back and forth between max and the store. “ok, so, let me get this straight, yeah - you’re invited to a barbecue at the wheelers” - he emphasized the name, paused afterwards - “and instead of showing up there and going ‘oh sorry! i spaced, my bad, all store’s are closed’  your next immediate thought is ‘oh, you know what, let me fucking .... break into melvald’s and smash in the front’. just so karen wheeler won’t look at me funny.” 

he stared at her for a moment, feigning outrage before he erupted into loud laughter. eddie softly shook his head, dug into the pocket of his jeans to produce a hairpin. “thought i taught you better than that. take this -”, he thrust it into her hand, looking at her intently - “ and pick the lock in the back, and, like, grab some... i don’t know, some barbecue-y stuff.” he shrugged. “my van’s parked across the street, meet me back there once you’ve secured the good. i got a couple of six-pack’s in the back, so at least you don’t have to steal alcohol. ‘cause that’s like so beneath you, maxine.”

he grinned. truthfully, eddie could think of a about a thousand better ways to spend his afternoon that lounging in karen wheeler’s backyard, getting dirty looks from hawkins’ good society. but whatever, it was gonna be worth it if it meant he got to spend some time with max.

stevehharringtcns​:

“you could have gotten my attention without almost getting yourself killed… we survived all of that stuff two years ago, don’t take it for granted by throwing yourself in front of a car…” he said, shrugging his shoulders as he looked over at eddie - he was pretty sure he would have never run over eddie, even on accident, he was confident that he was a pretty good driver - he was sure of it, actually. but he couldn’t do much if someone had jumped in front of his car. “so, you haven’t been back for long, i’m assuming? it’s like you forgot how good hawkins really is.” he said, teasingly, letting out a small chuckle as he started driving again, this time actually paying attention to the road and not letting himself get distracted by his thoughts - at least he had eddie to talk to while he drove to the wheelers’ house - he wasn’t sure how people would react to him bringing eddie, but people around seemed to like him.

at the question about him and nancy, steve sighed and shrugged his shoulders slightly. he should have expected for him to ask this, it was all people did when they saw him and he couldn’t blame them, but it was still uncomfortable to talk about it. “huh… there’s not really any trouble.” he lied, he wasn’t even sure how nancy felt after they split, but in his head everything seemed to be alright. “we just broke up… not that long ago. but we’re fine. i think, i really can’t be sure… if we haven’t talked since, you know, we broke up.” he said, as he kept his eyes locked on the road, not daring to look at eddie while he spoke about it.

his lips curled into a smile as he heard eddie talk, letting out a small chuckle as he heard that the other was still wreaking havoc. it didn’t surprise him that he was still doing that. “you know what, it is kind of weird not having you around, so i did kind of miss you, dude. it’s good to have you back, even if it’s just for the summer.” he said with a nod, now looking at eddie for a couple of moments and then back on the road. “well, you know, i’ve just been… working at the video store still. taking a few classes at the community college… not that much fun, as you can see, but that’s hawkins for you.” he said with a shrug.

+++

a wicked glint in his eyes, eddie grinned. “oh, but harrington - ‘to die by your side, is such a heavenly way to die’ “, he half-sung half-spoke the infamous smiths lyrics, watching steve with his brows raised in anticipation, to see if he’d get the reference. “you know? like the song?”

he rolled down the window, jesus it was hot outside, and put one arm behind his headrest, absent-mindedly drumming his fingers in the tune of the before mentioned smiths song. he shut his eyes for a moment, relishing in the feeling of the soft breeze lightly grazing across his heated face, locks of dark brown, curly hair - all frizzy due to the humidity - flying about. eddie nodded, eyes still closed. “yeah, man. just got back yesterday,” and he scrunched up his nose at steve’s comment. “if anything i forgot how much hawkins smells like cow shit.” though there was some truth to steve’s words - eddie had, actually, missed hawkins. not the place itself, but the people still inhabiting that strange little town.

no way. he opened his eyes.“oh shit, man. i’m sorry.”, eddie said,his delivery a little awkward because...well, he sure as shit hadn’t seen that coming. after all that stuff with vecna, wheeler and harrington both risking their lives for one another without a second thought, well, eddie had thought they were bound to stay together, forever, or something along those lines. he shited in his seat, looked over at steve with a frown. “i didn’t know..” of course he hadn’t, eddie silently cursed himself. awkward social situations, not his forte. “do you wanna, like, uh...talk, or something- ?”, he trailed off, grimaced. “i mean, we don’t have to, i usualyl don’t - i’m not realyl good with - “, more wild gesturing before ddie dropped his hands in his lap with shrug. “yeah. whatever. i just mean that i got an ear to lend, steve. just so you know.”

a wide grin spread on his lips, a twinkle in his eyes, eddie dramatically clutched at his heart. “oh, harrington, you big old softie! how those words warm this cold, cynical heart with affection! i missed ya too.” with a laugh he stretched his arms over the seat again, both hands now behind his headrest. he caught steve’s eye, his thoughts momentarily trailed off because holy hell, why did harrington always have to look this pretty?

“you still working with buckley, i assume?” another person he definitely needed to pay a visit to sooner than later. “oh, community college, huh? you know, academic scholars are like, super hot.”, he said with a teasing grin. “what classes?”

dvstybuns·:

WHO: Henderson & @eddiemcnson·

WHAT: Screaming Crying Throwing Up Post Event

WHERE: Eddie’s Trailer 

Everything at the carnival after they’d exited the Tunnel of Love had seemed to happen so fast. One minute, Dustin was trying to study some black goo, and the next he was watching people die. People get knocked out. Eddie get arrested. If Steve hadn’t been hurt, Dustin would have tried to intervene, convince Callahan that he couldn’t arrest Eddie just because. Because… because what proof did they have that he was even connected? Why was Eddie always the scapegoat? Why couldn’t he catch a fucking break for once?

He’d gotten out of jail sometime later, before Steve was out of the hospital. Dustin had already gone home by then, collapsing after explaining everything about the Upside Down to his extremely understanding and wonderful girlfriend. When he’d woken up and convinced his mother that he was fine and didn’t need to be watched so closely every fucking minute, Dustin had set out for Eddie’s trailer. 

Dustin didn’t know if Eddie’s uncle, Wayne, would have had time for grocery shopping or anything like that since everything that had happened. He couldn’t imagine that he did. So, on his way over, Dustin had picked up a pizza for the Munson’s. They all needed to eat something, no matter how poor their appetites were right now. 

“Eddie?” Dustin called, knocking on the door. “Dude, are you here?” He hoped that Eddie was okay; Dustin couldn’t imagine being in jail. He knew he wouldn’t make it. But thankfully, Eddie was a lot tougher than him. He was a hero, after all. “I thought you could use some dinner.” 

+++

eddie blamed his lack of sleep and judgement but somehow, steve had managed to convince him to leave his bedside for a while. leave the hospital altogether, and despite swearing high and holy that he’d not leave steve out of his sight again, now or ever, he’d eventually complied, after not even fifteen minutes of protest. he’d grabbed his stuff, pressed a kiss to steve’s lips, promising to come back in two hours tops. the rest was hazy. wayne had waited for him at home, pulled him into a bone crushing hug, he remembered that much. one of them had cried, maybe both. it seemed to be all eddie was capable of doing since the carnival. then his uncle had steered him into his room and lights out, the world had gone dark the second eddie’s body had hit his disgusting, worn out mattress. 

he’d woken up with that icky feeling you got from napping too long, mouth dry and sticky, eyes seemingly glued shut, a faint buzz all over his body. no sense of time at all. it was darker outside, he noted as he blinked, eyes narrowed, but not by much. rubbing sleep out of his eyes, he’d dragged himself out of bed to open the door, a faint smile playing at his lips as dusting came into view.

“hey, henderson, hey, man. how’s it going.” it wasn’t a question and eddie didn’t wait for an answer as he pulled dustin into the trailer and into a tight hug, not as strong as wayne’s hug had been earlier but nearly. eddie pressed his lips into a thin lip, exhaled sharply through his nose. he’d only just woken up but he was ready to cry again. god, if he could he’d jump straight into his van and drive back to chicago. taking dustin with him, of course, and max, and steve, and everyone who was near and dear to him. in time he released dustin from his grip, reached up to ruffle through hair. “thanks, man.” you didn’t have to. but dustin never had to and he always did, anyway. eddie gave him a sleepy smile. “how are you holding up? are you okay? you’re not hurt or anything?”