Stranger Things - 4x08 - Papa

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?"

zccming​:

max narrowed her eyes while eddie showcased his outfit for her. she nodded, hand thoughtfully on her chin. “i don’t know, eddie.” she sighed as if she had bad news, then reached out and smacked her hand onto his shoulder, “you’re looking like the spitting image of callahan these days.” max grinned, then stepped back, crossed her arms, and resumed examining the storefront. max knew it wasn’t going to open if all she did was stand there and before she got the chance to sit on it some more, eddie was running through the inciting events with her. she didn’t deny the way he framed it. in fact, max nodded along, until she just had to interject, “okay? have you ever had karen wheeler look at you funny? it gets brutal after like…” she muttered a couple numbers under her breath, “five times.” 

there was an easiness that came in interacting with eddie. most of the time, max had to force herself to listen to and engage with other people. when it came to eddie though, she just did it, like it was built in. if she was inching anywhere near an edge of truly snapping in the face of this inconvenience, eddie’s laugh pushed her about fifty steps back. she gratefully accepted his hair pin, “yeah yeah. so beneath me.” max started for the back of the building. an exit without insult or profanity could be chalked up to a thank you from max. with eddie’s help and the guarantee of a few beers now on her side, she’d consider this outing a score. 

max took a grand total of fifteen minutes to round up all she needed to avoid mrs. wheeler’s stare of death before crossing the street back over to eddie’s van. she tossed her bag and then her skateboard inside without much care, then followed in suit. “we got like an hour before we should show up.” max announced, “we could go now but…” she sucked in on her teeth, “i don’t think we want be in the first wave of guests.” it was an annoying truth, but if max arrived to the wheeler household with eddie munson before the droves of people piled in, well, about a quarter of that target audience wouldn’t bother coming at all if they caught word. not needing to explain that, she flatly posed the next step, “so, how are we going to kill an hour?”

+++

he scrunched his nose, grimaced. “callahan?” listen, he’d heard a lot of insults in his life but this? and coming from max? “wow, that’s, - that’s the worst name i’ve ever been called. and isn’t that, like, before your time? aren’t you, like, twelve or something?” at her comment about wheeler he just shrugged with his palms held out. he’d never met the woman, didn’t usually hang about that part of town, but the way max described her - well, eddie wasn’t sure if inviting himself to that cookout was such a good idea after all. but fuck it. “the hell did you do that made mrs wheeler stare at you funny five times, max? that sounds more like a you problem if you ask me.”

and off she went, eddie looked around, made sure that no one around had seen her sneak off before he went back to his van. resisted the urge to turn up the music because they really didn’t need to draw any attention to themselves. he left the doors to the van wide open, sat side-ways in the driver’s seat, legs dangling out the door. then max returned with her secured goods, he lazily turned his head and watched as she climbed into the passenger seat. “sweet haul”, he said and nodded his head towards the stolen yield. “what did you get?”

he blew a raspberry. “an hour.”, he mused, fingers drumming on the dashboard. he’d been ready to slam his keys into the ignition and speed off but now, here they were, in the middle of downtown hawkins, after robbing a store on memorial day, with an hour to kill. eddie shifted so he sat properly in his seat, pulled the door shut and rolled the window down. “i don’t know, man. we could, like, chill in the sun somewhere? or hey, maybe the arcade’s open today?” he shrugged. “anywhere but here, dude. your choice. your wish is my command.”

my brain in social situations

dvstybuns·:

Dustin was glad that Eddie was out - he still for the life of him couldn’t figure out what the fuck they were even charging Eddie with. Hopefully they hadn’t, because a court case was the last fucking thing any of them needed now. He was glad that Eddie was a free man currently, and that he’d finally gone home to rest here instead of with Steve. He had to take care of himself right now too, which Dustin knew was easier said than done. After all, he was struggling with that himself - he assumed most of their group was.

When Eddie finally opened the door and pulled him into a hug, Dustin set the pizza down on the end table beside the couch to wrap both arms around him. He needed this - they both did. It was proof that they were both okay, that they’d made it back here in one piece and comfort from the shit they’d experienced. Dustin hugged him tightly, just happy that he was okay, as a few tears slipped out. He wiped them away quickly when Eddie let him go, smiling at the familiar hair ruffle. Dustin had missed this while Eddie had been in Chicago, although part of him wished now that Eddie had stayed, if only because it meant that he would be safe and not at risk of being arrested again. 

“No, I’m okay.” Dustin told him, shaking his head. “Some bruising and scrapes, but nothing major.” There was a lot happening emotionally, but he didn’t need to talk about that shit right now. Not when he was worried about how Eddie was holding up. “What about you, though? Are you okay? Do we need to find you a lawyer or something?” He asked, brow furrowed in concern for his friend. That was a terrifying prospect, but they’d handle it if they had to. 

+++

eddie pulled away from the embrace very reluctantly, tempted to draw dustin right back in again as he spotted the few wayward tears on his cheeks. why did everything about hawkins have to be so complicated? why could this town not grant them more than a year’s peace? they had no control over where they’d been born, so really, the universe was quite cruel for roping them into the curse so undeniably interwoven with hawkins’ very core. “good. ‘m glad. i  - i saw you going in the tent with suzie and - “ he stopped to take a deep breath, shook his head softly. it didn’t matter, no need to dwell on the tragedies that could’ve been. “you gotta be more careful, kid. got it?”

and eddie gave him a stern look that soon faded into another weak attempt at a smile. the mention of lawyers brought the ever present nausea back to the pit of his stomach and, with a sigh, he turned around and plopped down onthe couch, gestured for dustin to follow along. one hand reaching up to rub at his temples, he shrugged. “i don’t know, man, i - all i know is they released me. said i’m still a ‘prime suspect’ or whatever, that was it, that was - that was all they told me. apparently they think that hargrove and i are responsible for the explosion - or, well, they’re pinning it on us, anyway.” another shrug, he let his head fall back against the cushions. “but it’s - don’t worry ‘bout me, henderson. i’ll be fine. always am.”

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.”

#hellfireclub

EDDIE MUNSON + HANDS Stranger Things 4 (2022)

zccming·:

after starcourt–

after billy, it wasn’t uncommon to find max tucking herself away from the rest of the world. of course, she did that before too, but it came to a more extreme head in the following years. eventually, it developed into part of who she was. jaded, distant, sad. of course, she was a lot of other things, but tonight max was feeling like she was only those. she leaned back against a store front, staring at her half empty cup. it should’ve been you instead. vecna was only trying to get even with you. she didn’t remember a life before those thoughts decided to act up and rattle against her skull religiously every once in a while. max also found  that the memories of billy’s face, his lifeless body, and the chilled feeling in her feet liked to pair themselves with her guilty mantras. all these thoughts came with no solutions to permanently soothe them, and if there was an instruction manual, she was too stubborn to read it. her beer looked like blood in the dark. rather than moping, she should have anticipated that eddie at some point would come to check up on her, but she didn’t. 

jumping slightly at his approach, she sighed, “much fun as i can.” deflect, deflect, deflect. “you couldn’t have brought any crowd pleasers with you?” she teased in reference to his very obviously personal tunes blaring throughout the mall. “seriously, i can’t tell if it’s the beer, your music, or those upcoming hawkins high school seniors that are giving me this headache.” the words were harsh, but she managed to smile over at eddie when she asked in turn, “you having fun?”

+++

eddie rolled his eyes, lightly and playfully shoved her. “shut up.” he knew her well enough to know that max wasn’t a champion at talking openly about her feelings and what was bothering her - but then again, neither was he. and pressuring her into talking about something that triggered even more painful memories was the last thing he wanted. so he just shrugged, let her deflect all she wanted while he stood idly by. his presence and gaze screaming ‘ i am here, if you need me ‘. 

he dug in the inner pocket of his denim vest and pulled out a mixtape, shoved it at her. “here you go. nothing but crowdpleasers. top of the fucking pops.”, he grumbled, made a fake gagging noise and then threw a sly grin her way. “i came prepared, butthead. but so far no one’s complained about my tunes so...”, eddie trailed off, then narrowed his eyes and threw her a dirty look. “ - ‘cept for you! traitor.”

the mention of said hawkins high seniors made him involuntarily flinch, he clutched his beer tighter, eyes darting around the mall to spot the familiar green, white and yellow varsity jackets. they were kids, he tried to reassure himself, just kids, too young to have been part of the angry mob led by jason carver who had initiated the witch hunt. ‘ hunt the freak ‘. and to think that wasn’t the weirdest thing that had happened that year. eddie hurriedly shook his head, as if trying to shake the thought out of his mind.

he turned back to max. “i should have an ibuprofen somewhere in my van. d’you want me to go get it for you? or, alternatively, you could always stop drinking that god-awful beer. tastes like straight up piss.”

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.