Elevcnhops·:

colemontgomeryx·:

xx.

Cole usually didn’t get nervous; he had an unearned air of confidence supported by the belief that he could get with any guy. The flirting was no problem, but after that? When the feeling was returned? It had been so long since he’d felt this. Finally, Eddie was reciprocating and moving closer to him, confirming that Eddie felt it too.

Cole breathed in deeply, catching a whiff of Eddie’s cologne mingling with cigarette smoke. A smell that made Cole want to bury his face into Eddie’s chest, so he could smell it on himself the rest of the night. Cole couldn’t drag his eyes away from Eddie’s lips, watching the other run his tongue along his bottom lip.

“We’re in a mall,” Cole repeated, his voice breathy. “There are plenty of places to hide. And I doubt the vandals will notice we’re gone,” he grinned, tugging on Eddie’s shirt as if to say let’s go now. 

+++

his thoughts were spiralling, dizzy with how close they suddenly were to one another. a contact high, if you will, eddie thought and nearly chuckled at his own joke that he had cracked, to himself, in his own head. decided against it because he had a strong feeling that that might ruin the mood. and after his love life had been a big heap of, well, nothing, these past few months, eddie was definitely not trying to do anything that could potentially ruin the mood.

eddie watched, enraptured, as cole’s eyes stuck to his lips and is own darted down to cole’s. and man, while he hadn’t taken much notice of him in hgih school, he now wondered why - cole was pretty. like, very pretty. the relevation hit eddie hard, made his breath hitch. shit.

his heart skipped a beat, stopped for a second, he thought, as he felt cole tug on his shirt. he bit his lip as his eyes flicked down to cole’s lips, god, they really had to get out of there, stat. so eddie nodded, hummed in agreement. grabbed hold of his wrist and looked around for a moment before he dragged him off around the corner, pressing him up against a marble pillar.

nervous eyes searching is. “uh...you, uh, sure about this?”

where: blue quarry mall

who: eddie + max !

@zccming​​

despite popular belief, eddie wasn’t completely clueless. he was in a lot of matters, mostly concerning normal social interactions, but he wasn’t completely oblivious to what had happened those years ago on the very spot they were now standing, partying. after venturing through the upside down he’d been filled in on most of the gory details on what whack shit had taken place in hawkins and it had all started to make a little more sense.

presently, eddie knew, they were very much dancing on graves. of people who had died posessed by the mindflayer, people who had been ‘collateral damage’ and people who had heroically sacrificed themselves. people like billy hargrove.

he’d never been that close to billy, hadn’t come to known the guy that well, except for a few hushed drug deals here and there. their connection hadn’t gone past a somewhat acknowledging nod to one another at a metal gig. but eddie knew that, in a twisted way, he’d filled the position that billy had left -

- in max mayfield’s life. so he’d kept close watch of her througout the evening from his position next to the stereo. when he’d spotted her a little further away from the crowd, he’d quickly made his way over.

“hey kid. you good? having fun?”

walkie talks || steddie

steve: c'mon eddie, just... give me a chance to talk

steve: whatever, i just thought i shouldn't show up at your door...

steve: did you mean what you say? do you really think it was just... a joke?

eddie: you had plenty chance to talk at the cabin, steve.

eddie: i don't know why you're doing this, are you like ... mocking me? listen, i get that you're, like, embarrassed and shit, that you regret it. i get it.

eddie: you had your fun, let's just forget it, ok, harrington?

walkie talks || steddie

steve: i wasn't, it's just hard

steve: i didn't say that...

steve: do you want me to come over?

steve: i'm...

eddie: but you thought it, didn't you

eddie: my uncle's out till late so if you want to talk then come over. i don't know what you'd want to talk about but... if you do then by all means.

eddie: you're.... what, harrington?

where: the hospital

what: a sleep-deprived, traumatized eddie visits an unconcious steve

who: @stevehharringtcns​ + eddie

despite max’s insistence to wait until the morning, get some shut eye and straighten himself out, eddie found himself wandering the hall so hawkins’ hospital. the circles under his eyes darker then his messy, tangled and frizzy hair, a worry wrinkle on his forehead that hadn’t gone away since he’d seen jack foreman knocking steve out. it was tempting to say that he couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this awful, but that would be an outright lie. oh, eddie remembered. only then, the roles were reversed - with him waking up in a hospital bed, though chained to it, and steve probably wandering the halls, pacing up and down the corridors. 

he blinked rapidly, his eyes felt weirdly dry and strained from the harsh led lights above him him. max had told him what room steve was in, and so far eddie had managed to successfully sneak by various nurses and guards unnoticed. finding the room was another question, eddie could barely make out the numbers on the doors clearly, and in his sleep-deprived states, all corridors looked the same to him. like an endless maze.

another left turn, then a right, eddie was right back where he started and every step was nauseating, he felt heavy, every inhale getting more and more difficult. so when he finally reached steve’s room he didn’t even bother looking left and right to see if he was beinf watched, eddie bursted through the door,  letting it fall shut with a semi-loud ‘bang’. 

lips trembling as his eyes settled on steve. laying in his bed, his hospital bed, with all sorts of monitors hooked up, beeping deafeningly loud. eddie exhaled shakily, drew his brows together tightly, he swallowed as he approached the other’s bedside. fingers absent-mindedly ghosting over the bruises - burns, more like - that officer callahan’s handcuffs had left on his wrist. “.....steve?” voice meek, eddie nearly choked on a sob. there was time to cry about all of this later, he scolded himself. first he had to make sure that steve was ok. “can you hear me?”

backtowheeler​:

— ✎ —

Nancy had definitively decided she despised being in the hospital. Every time a nurse came in to check on her, she’d just ask when she’d be able to go home with not much of an answer. In her mind, she wasn’t even that badly injured! Her casted wrist didn’t even hurt, allegedly, and the pain in her ribs was bearable at best. Not to mention the scrapes and bruises she had sustained, but she was fine! She was sure of it. In fact, she was so confident that she was planning on proving it. She had to play it out carefully, though. Nancy waited until her parents were gone and that no one was on duty with her to make her great escape. It took her a few minutes, but she managed to slide out of the hospital bed, finally feeling free from the chains of such an uncomfortable mattress.

Nancy eventually found a bag that has spare clothes in it, assumingly for her once she was released but she was going to put them on now. Reaching down to put on her pair of socks, she heard the door open. Shit. Her head popped up, just as stunned as Eddie, thinking she had just gotten caught. “My liege?” That was a new one. She nodded. “Right,” she finished putting on her other sock best she could with her good hand. “I had no idea you and Steve were boyfriends or whatever,” a joke, and a poor one at that. 

At his question, Nancy stood up from the bed, wincing slightly but attempting to cover it up with a laugh. “How do I look? Great, right?” Great was an overstatement. She hadn’t even bothered to tuck her shirt into her pants and her hair was matted in the back from how long she had laid on the pillow. “Wanna help me with something? I’m trying to escape this shithole.”

+++

his confused and sleep-deprived gaze travelled down her form to where she was currently in the process of putting her socks on. getting dressed. in something other than a hospital gown. something was off here. but before eddie had time to quite put his finger on it, he suddenly jumped at the word ‘boyfriend’. crap. had she heard them? their rooms were right next to each other, after all. nervous eyes flicked to the washed out teal colored walls. they did seem quite sturdy ... however, if he concentrated hard enough, eddie was almost sure he could hear the constant beeping noise of one of the monitors steve and cole were hooked up to. shit.

“hey now, where did you pick that one up?” was what he settled on eventually, paired with a nervous chuckle meant to sound aloof and like this was totally not a big deal. it wasn’t. besides, nancy was dating someone else, and her and steve hadn’t been a thing in ages. and - nancy was a great person. she wouldn’t ... eddie sniffled, scrunched up his nose, discarded that train of thought right away.

now wholly focused on the barely unnoticeable wince nancy had tried to cover up. a sound he knew all too well, after all, he’d been in her position not two years ago.the desperate need to get out, convincing yourself that you were all better now, actually, thanks so much for asking. eddie gave a little amused scoff, shrugged. “you look fine, nancy. considering.” 

considering that the universe wouldn’t let them catch a break, apparently. that a lifetime of trauma experienced in the span of, what, three years, wasn’t enough. eddie wondered if they’d ever be free of this. the hospital visits, the constant worrying, the fighting, the loss. the nights spent laying awake with the lights on. “woah, where do you think you’re going? listen, i’d help you with anything, man, but, like, i think a couple more days of r&r wouldn’t do you any harm. trust me.”

walkie talks || steddie

steve: eddie?

steve: it's me, steve!

steve: are we alone... here?

eddie: oh. hi.

eddie: what do you want, harrington?

eddie: i see, even on the walkie line he's afraid someone might hear ...

loverboymontgomery·:

xx.

With a grateful smile, Cole took the cigarette from Eddie’s hands and lit it. He took an extended drag, hoping the hit of nicotine would numb the panic swirling around his insides. It had subsided to a dull ache now, to the point where he was just coexisting with it, but after the lake, it was loud again. He was determined not to let it show, lest he worried Adam.

Cole nodded, his lips pulled into a thin smile. It was reassuring for his sanity, at least, but he couldn’t deny that it is not what he wanted to hear. “You’ve known about… this stuff for a while, right?” he asked, meeting Eddie’s eyes. “Does it get… I don’t know, easier?” Everyone else seemed relatively well-adjusted, like they were taking all of this in stride, though, Cole supposed that could just be for show.

He couldn’t help but smile at Eddie’s characteristically nervous response. “Okay,” Cole breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay, yeah. I just wanted to… check in, I guess.” He paused, sucked on the cigarette again. “Because you’re not half bad, and I think it’d be cool if we were friends,” he suggested. 

It would be hard for Cole to forget the relief he’d felt when Eddie had approached him at the mall– not in a romantic way, the kissing had been good and all– but because Eddie was also like him. Other than Adam, Cole hadn’t met anyone he could be honest with. And that was refreshing. Maybe even one day, after the dust settled and Cole had finally told Adam, all of them could be friends. 

A blush rose to Cole’s cheeks at the other’s comment. “Shit. I didn’t realize we were so obvious,” he said with a breathy laugh. But it was probably true; this time around, Cole cared very little about who saw and more about being near Adam. “Thanks. I know he is,” Cole gushed. Even after all this time, Adam’s smile made him feel like he was staring at the sun. “And he’s like… an incredible person,” Cole said, dopey smile and all. 

Feeling exposed, Cole quickly turned the conversation back to Eddie. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you and King Steve,” he raised a brow, lifting his cigarette once more to give him a chance to respond. 

+++

pursed lips, eddie took another drag, buried one hand in the pocket of his jeans. he huffed. oh, he’d known about this stuff for a while, alright. the mere thought of it made his stomach drop, he squeezed his eyes shut for a second, softly, almost unnoticeably, shook his head. trying to shake the image of red skies and black lightning, swarming bats from his mind. 

eddie clicked his tongue, absent-mindedly kicked some gravel. “’easier’.”, he echoed, musing. wondering if he should shield cole from the truth. but he’d been roped into it, too, now. so what good it denial do him. and how cruel would it be of eddie, not letting him in on all the crazy. “remember....remember spring break ‘86? the.. ‘earthquake’ - it wasn’t an earthquake. anyway.”, another drag, eddie quickly exhaled. “anyway. anyway, shit .... went down, basically. like, supernatural shit. and i, well. i almost died.” eddie shrugged, resigned. it seemed so far away now, unreal. though it became frighteningly present again, every other night when eddie woke up in a cold sweat, heaving and panting and clutching at his chest to remind himself that he was alive and breathing. “it’s not .... it’s serious stuff, cole. but it - well, in a way, it sort of gets better. when you get outta here, it gets better.”

he glanced at cole, a small smile tugging at his lips, he nodded. “yeah. friends, i’d like that. that’d be cool. you’re not half bad yourself, montgomery.”truly, eddie hadn’t expected to make any new friends during his summer back in hawkins. and this was a pleasant surprise. 

quirked brows, eddie watched with an amused expression on his face as cole went on about adam, gushing about him, and he felt a warmth swelling in his chest. he was genuinely happy for cole, even more so since they were both so alike. which made eddie hopeful that maybe he could be just as happy as cole one day. “yeah, he seems pretty cool. great catch, cole. well done.”

eddie quickly looked away, flustered chuckle, the mention of steve brought a blush to his cheeks. “it’s... ah, it’s nothng, not really. it’s - “he was cut off by his own incredulous laugh, eddie ran a hand through his hair, then rested his palm on his forehead, he turned to look at cole. “i just can’t wrap my head around the fact that i, like....i made out with steve harrington. king steve. that’s - that’s not real, you know? like, guys like him don’t... they don’t go for guys like me. it’s mental.”

# eddie is fed up with their lack of music culture

STRANGER THINGS | Papa (4.08)

joseph quinn as eddie munson in stranger things 4 vol. 1 (2022)