Xihopper·:

colemontgomeryx·:

xx.

As redness overtook Eddie’s cheeks, Cole took another drag of his cigarette. “Yes, I’m gay. You can say it,” he confirmed, his voice remaining low. Cole was sure Eddie would never out him, partially because that wasn’t Eddie’s character, and partially because of mutually assured destruction.

It was exhausting to have to keep such a large part of him a secret, and Cole was frustrated by it. Maybe that’s why he told Eddie (other than, obviously, trying to hook up with him). When Cole went to college, he was able to be himself more freely; he wasn’t out, per se, but he was much more comfortable discussing his sexuality. He wondered if Eddie had a similar experience in Chicago, and was now, like Cole, struggling to reconcile all the different parts of himself.

Cole grinned, noting the change in Eddie’s demeanor. Cole finished his cigarette and reached behind Eddie to throw it away. He brushed his arm against Eddie’s and took advantage of proximity this move afforded him. Glancing up into Eddie’s eyes, Cole’s own twinkled mischievously. “Well, that’s too easy. What about foreplay?” his voice was barely above a whisper. 

+++

final confirmation, eddie swallowed, blinked nervously as the words fell from cole’s lips. he nodded, a nod that said ‘me too’. as if eithr of them needed to state the face that they were both interested in men again. getting old at this point, eddie finsighed his own cigarette, felt his lips twitch, hands shaking a little.

you got this, munson, you got this. he wasn’t like this, usually, when flirting with guys. antsy and nervous and downright freaking out. he just needed to pull himself together, pretend like this was just any old other encounter in a bar or somewhere back in chicago. 

his lips twisted into a smile as he thought about the fact that the last time he’d been this nervous about flirting with someone, he’d gone and called steve harrington ‘big boy’ as they’d hijacked a goddamn rv. 

suddenly cole was much, much closer than before and eddie gulped, his eyes flicked down to meet cole’s, momentarily lingering on his lips. for maybe just a tad too long. he swiped his tongue across hi bottom lip, feeling it had suddenly gone extremely dry. eddie discarded his own cigarette, burshing up against cole, bringing them even closer. 

“well...”, he breathed, raised a brow. “we’re in the middle of a mall, in the middle of, like, vandalising said mall...what do you have in mind that won’t get our asses kicked?”

zccming·:

.

max squinted in eddie’s direction, communicating all she didn’t say. the main take away being, are you stupid? “i do do this for myself, like most nights out of the week.” her mom worked the night shift most days, it had been that way for years, max had learned how to fend for herself. sure, it wasn’t always a hot homecooked meal, but she did know how to feed herself, and she definitely knew how to use a knife without nearly losing a finger. “but you have a point.” max sighed, carefully avoiding the words you’re and right. “next time i’ll cook for us.”

at the end of the night, it didn’t matter whether or not eddie had made a five star meal or the inedible mush on their plates. the principal of sit down dinners was never about the food served, or each participants etiquette. they were about spending quality time with one another, and making an effort to connect. 

she hadn’t grown up with the most functional family and max never had a halting revelation that she wasn’t miss american pie and they weren’t the brady bunch. it was known in the same way she learned to walk or talk. she was born into chaos, from her parents divorce, to having billy hargrove and his insufferable dad as her new family members, then moving to hawkins. max seemed destined to walk a rocky path, but with eddie around, the idea of family stopped feeling so painful. it wasn’t how she always pictured it to be, but it felt nice when there were nights like these. 

unsolved mysteries prompted max to wonder if all of them were real, but that wasn’t of concern right now. she dismissed eddie’s thanks man with a, “shh! … you’re welcome.” as her eyes glued to the screen. it was going to be a long wait for their food if she couldn’t immerse herself into the show. at eddie’s assessment of incompetent law enforcement, max gave him a look, “if it seems that way then it definitely is that way.” she rolled her eyes, “we’d know living in hawkins… did you know they tried to give me a traffic violation for skateboarding on the side of the road?” groaning, max had to admit, “i’m so jealous that you don’t live here anymore. and you know, it’s only getting worse the older i get.”

+++

eddie rolled his eyes, over-dramatically but hummed in agreement, carerful not to let his pleased grin show because thats what he’d hoped max would suggest. not that he wouldn’t help her prepare the mayfield-munson-found-family-tv-dinners, he’d definitely help! just not...do them all by himself. because, as it turned out, he sucked at it. 

he settled further into the couch, idly sipping on his beer, dragging his upper lip mindlessly across the rim of the can as he let himself be engulfed by the storyline. eddie was a bit of a restless spirit, always fidgeting, never quite able to direct his attention on one sole thing for more than a few minutes. always looking for another distraction. it had been like that for as long as he could remember, though it had worsened significantly after their trip to the upside down.

as if on cue, he felt a phantom burn where his scars were located. a constant reminder that he’d been through hell and survived. “huh?”, he frowned, tore his eyes away from the screen to look at max. “for skateboarding? jeez, man. whats next, tickets for walking down the street? breathin?” eddie threw his hands up in theatrical mock outrage. “alas, we keep being oppressed by the man! sickening.”

he took a pointed gulp of his beer, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “you know, you can always get outta here, max.”, he said, mood a little sobered now. “offer still stands, kiddo. come back to chicago with me. i mean, yeah, my apartment’s like half the size of this trailer and a fucking shithole but we’ll make do. we can figure something out.”

murray-baumans·:

who: murray & @eddiemcnson·

where: the music center

After the semi-successful investigation at the border, Murray decided to treat himself to a relaxing night in– he’d cook a lasagna, pour some wine, and unwind to some jazz. In particular, he was looking to replace his George Benson record; he’d discovered earlier that day that he’d left it in Illinois. So, Murray found himself a the Music Center, which must have been run by a middle schooler because the organization was completely senseless.

Approaching who he assumed to be an employee, Murray cleared his throat to make his presence known. “Excuse me, could you point me in the direction of your jazz collection?” he asked, investigating the button’s on the young man’s jacket. “You a metalhead?” he wondered aloud.

+++

the music center was one of his more frequented places, eddie made sure to stop by at least once when he came back to hawkins. though vastly different from the record store he worked at in chicago - which was more specialised on alternative music and the sort - he enjoyed browsing through the stacks of vinyls and tapes, spending time rummaging through the bargain bin. it reminded him of his childhood and early adolescence. really, eddie had spent hours on end in the store, some days only leaving if he was explicitly asked to do so.

today, however, he’d simply come in to take his mind off things. off the ‘tragedy at benny’s diner’, more specifically. he wanted to browse through some new releases, see if they got any heavy stuff at all. drop by to make sure that cole was okay, too - they’d left things on a rather....awkward note, too, having had their encounter in the mall cut short by max’s arrest. 

“sorry?”, eddie’s head popped up from behind the shelf, he threw the other a puzzled look. eyes narrowing as the man in front of him mentioned the words ‘jazz’ and ‘collection’. “uh, i don’t....work here, man. sorry.”

eddie stared at him for a moment, wondering if his question was, perhaps, a trap of sorts. and because, quite frankly, he was an odd looking fella. “uh, yeah. sure am. what gave it away?”, he asked jokingly and laughed, gesturing down at his buttons.

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."

stevehharringtcns·:

now that had been a turn of events that steve hadn’t been expecting when he set foot in the carnival. everything had happened so fast. he had gotten into a fight with jack and heather, he remembered that. he remember being bruised when he punched jack, which was weird. and the next thing he knew… he was at the hospital. apparently it had been a full day ever since those events and when he woke up and learned that eddie had been arrested, he felt sick to his stomach. at least he saw that max, dustin and robin were okay. even though, everyone else didn’t seem to be. how had things escalated so fast?

he found it easier when he had his eyes closed, although it was hard to get some sleep with all of the pain he felt. the explosion had left him with a couple of broken ribs, a broken wrist and some other bumps and bruises. he would have thought that his face looked the worst however, with whatever had happened with jack. he was still trying to figure out what had happened, but his brain was too busy thinking about other stuff. he hadn’t seen eddie ever since the carnival, and he was starting to get even more worried about it.

he lied in his bed, mostly because there was nothing to do. he kept his eyes closed, now used to the noises that the nurses made when coming in and out of his room. at least he had been able to charm the nurses to get more cups of jello, which he didn’t mind at all. he didn’t know why people complained so much about the hospital food - it was good in steve’s opinion. the noise of the door closing didn’t bother him, keeping his eyes closed as he took a deep breath, his insides aching a bit because of the broken ribs and then he heard a voice calling for him. a voice that he knew all too well.

opening his eyes slowly, he saw eddie approach his bedside and he felt relief. actually, he thought it was just a dream at first, but he quickly realized that it wasn’t. he couldn’t help but to give the other a weak smile. “eddie…” he said weakly, nodding his head slowly. “hey…” he said, smiling at him. he wished he had the strength to wrap his arms around him and hold him close, but any movement he made, made his body ache. he would get better eventually. “are you okay?” he asked, looking at the other’s face.

+++

he practically sprinted the last couple of steps to steves bedside as he hear his voice perk up. a relieved exhale basically ripped out of him, eddie blinked repeatedly, gasped a little at the feeling of hot tears streaming down his cheeks. "oh my god, oh my god, steve." he sobbed, crashed into the chair conveniently placed next to the bed. bottom lip trembling so much it made it hard to breath, eddie sucked in a breath, choked on it, erupting into a sputtering cough as the true emotional and physical weight of the past day and a half came crashing over him like a wave. his whole body ached, eyes sore, he wanted to scream.

eddie had to physically hold himself back from pulling steve into a bone-crushingly tight hug,but he needed to reach out and touch him, make sure that this was real, this wasn't just some vecna nightmare scenario thing, where everything started off good and then went horribly wrong. but the other looked so pale, weak. frail and delicate, eddie's hands shook as he softly reached out to let his knuckles ghost across steve's cheek. "god, im sorry.", he croaked, buried his face in his free hand as he let the sons rock through him for a moment. "i should've - i should've been there, i should've done something." something other than run. he dragged his hand down his face, exhaled with a groan.

"you - you're seriously asking me if i’m okay? you're the one in the hospital bed, not me, princess." a smile, an incredulous chuckle broke through eddie's crying, he shook his head softly in disbelief. "don't worry about me, ill be fine. always am. how are you, stevie? you’re okay, right? you’re going to be okay?"

walkie talks || steddie

steve: that's not what i meant, eddie! i just want a private talk, that's all...

steve: i wanted to come over but i wasn't sure if you wanted to see me...

steve: i've been trying for days to get on the... right fucking channel, or whatever

steve: i just... i wanna know what happened back in the cabin

eddie: a private talk on a walkie line any of the shitbirds could intercept at, like, any moment, huh?

eddie: gotta say i probably wouldn't have fist bumped the air if i'd seen you pull up in my driveway

eddie:... i say drive way like it isn't a trailer park

eddie: anyway

eddie: thought it was quite obvious what happened at the cabin. *you* made it quite obvious, chief.

walkie talks || steddie

steve: i didn't think anything

steve: fine, i'll be there soon

steve: nothing

steve: just forget it, we'll talk when i'm there

eddie: nothing?

eddie: ... alright then. suit yourself.

eddie: see you later, king steve.

eddie: over.

cassieconrads·:

WHO: cassie conrad & @eddiemcnson· WHERE: near town hall

Ever since Cassie had seen her, the cheerleader, in her mind, it was all she could think about. She hadn’t even seen the girl’s face, really–Cassie had become her, and the thought of who it could have been had been racking her brain every waking moment (which there were many of, since she hadn’t slept). She finally had the chance to sneak out of the Wheeler household and head to the library, where she could maybe find some more information. Asking Nancy seemed too risky–she didn’t want to worry her about some weird vision that she had at the cemetery just yet, not until it seemed important enough. With Thad in town, she had enough to worry about.

Looking like a lost tourist with her folded map again outstretched, Cassie sat on a bench outside the Town Hall, looking for her bearings. It seemed like the library had to be close enough to where she was, but it was too hard to tell on the dated map. “Hey! Would you mind, um, giving me some help with this map?” she asked the guy passing her, thankful that she finally found someone to help. “Sorry, I know this one is from a few years ago, and I’m trying to find the library, but every street … looks the same.”

+++

eddie was a little disgruntled, seeing as he found himself on the second walk through town this week. walkman clasped to his belt, headphones tight and secure over his ears, he just needed a little fresh air to clear his head. after the disaster at benny’s. the fact that hopper had been there at least meant he didn’t need to worry about the cops busting down the trailer door to arrest him for arson - if it was going to be pinned on anyone, eddie was sure it’d be him -  but the other aspects of their investigation just didn’t seem to leave him.

well, granted, how could he hope to get some peace of mind when they had stumbled across those freakishly large eggs - hatched eggs, he thought to himself and grimaced - and had set the freaking diner on fire, too. it was hopeless. coming back to hawkins, that cloud of threat and doom always lingered above them. some people went as far as saying that hawkins was cursed. eddie thought that they were absolutely spot on right on the money.

“huh?” eddie jumped a little, pulled down his headphones so they hung around his neck. he glanced down at the map, frowned, looked back up. “uh...you know what, i’m like, headed in a similar-ish direction. wanna tag along? i mean, i gotta warn you i’ve got a bit of a reputation as the town ‘freak’ ‘round here, so you might get some, uh, dirty looks.”

rcbinbvckleys·:

⚢

“i should be the one checking on my eyes! wait, you’re definitely actually you, right?” logistically speaking, this could be an elaborate trick from the upside down to lure robin to her doom. okay no, this was real and she really had to stop thinking like that. physical contact was usually something she avoided, but eddie was someone she was comfortable with — although she barely had any time to react, so just had time to put one arm around him to pat his back. “it’s gotta be one hell of a campaign to stick around all summer.” if robin were given the opportunity for a responsibility free summer, she would most likely want to travel, not return to her hometown.

“i’m just, toeing the line. college. and i’m still working at family video! i’m saving up.” it was true, the glass jar shoved in the top of her closet was filled with bills. but what exactly was she saving for? the multitude of escape plans she had come up with in the past had never worked out. something was keeping robin in hawkins. maybe it was the fear of being out there in the world, alone, with no one to turn to or rely on if it all went to shreds. or maybe a minuscule doubtful piece of her mind had convinced her that one of the creatures they’d encountered in the past would follow her wherever she went. “and you, you haven’t made it big yet? i was hoping i’d already have a tape with your face on it!”

+++

he nodded, grinned, did a little spin for her. “as he lives and breathes. eddie munson, in the flesh.” some days he couldn’t believe his own eyes, when he caught his reflection in the mirror, blinking at him, staring with that confused and surprised look on his face. couldn’t believe that he was still here, among the land of the living. because that day in the upside down, he’d said his finaly goodbyes to the world, thinking that that was it. here he was, back in hawkins after all those years, 

he was alive, and so was his unlikely little group of friends that still hung about in that godforsaken town. “oh, trust me, it is a sadistic campaign, the likes of which hellfire club has never seen before.”, eddie explained, a glint in his eyes but he stopped himself from rambling - they’d be here all day once he got into the logistics of his campaigns. “chicago gets crazy and busy during summer. thought i’d escape to...a different kind of crazy.” he threw her a knowing glance. “besides, had to check up on all of you guys, see how you’re doing now the talk of the town’s moved away. tragic, i know. spare me your tears.”

eddie nodded and listened, recognized himself in her. he, too, had saved every penny, having scratched together just enough to fuck off immediately after graduation. “still working with harrington? how’s he doing? oh and keith, right? is he still, like, you know....as weird?” seriously, eddie had often wondered why the town had branded him a ‘freak’ just because he listened to metal and played a fantasy game, and not keith with...well, with his whole thing. it made eddie grimace.

so did robin’s comment, he waved it off. “don’t ya worry your pretty little head about that, i’m still a rockstar in the making. i’ll make it, i’m sure.” and he wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince here. eddie looked around, as easy as talking to robin felt, he still didn’t feel exctly safe with so many people around.

“hey, do you wanna maybe get outta here? i got some, uh, pretty good shit from chicago that’s calling our names.”

zccming·:

WHO: max mayfield & @eddiemcnson· WHAT: max checks in with eddie. WHERE: forest hills trailer park.

if max had to guess, she’d say she got a solid half hour of sleep in her twenty-four hours at the hospital. and that had been when she was waiting to get her hands stitched up per steve’s request. eventually, she checked on everyone one last time for the night, then peeled out of the hospital and straight for the trailer park. she was banking on eddie having been released and if he hadn’t yet? she was fully prepared to burn hawkins p.d to the fucking ground. it was like as soon as max ticked one concern off her post-disaster checklist, five more got added to the bottom. she didn’t have enough sleep on her side to keep up with it all, but she was trying. and in all fairness? it got infinitely easier to do when she ran out of tears to cry at around five o’clock in the evening that same day. 

skating from the hospital to the trailer park was a fucking trip and a half. max had learned that the hard way back in ‘86 when she stubbornly insisted she could still skateboard home with a broken arm. luckily for her, a car full of her friends who knew she was being stupid about the whole thing followed close behind to pick her up when she gave up less than halfway into the journey. max’s hands might have been bandaged, and her mind might’ve been a little broken following the warped record of what happened in the past twenty-four hours, but this time, she made it the whole way. it was the one place it made sense to go to first, share the news about steve.

carelessly, she chucked her board somewhere in the yard on her arrival, and willed her tired body to sprint up the steps and bang on the door. when eddie opened it, relief washed over her as she hugged him and refused to let go for a long minute, a minute where she didn’t think about how bad it was out there, and live in the space where she was happy she hadn’t lost another brother. when max stepped back she croaked up at him, “how fucked are you?” then she nodded a little, “don’t sugar coat it, munson.” she demanded. standing still, max suddenly felt jittery and couldn’t wait for his answer before interrupting him again, “wait, first, sit down.” she started barking orders the moment she got out of the house of mirrors, and hadn’t stopped since. figuring eddie hadn’t had the sense to eat, because she hadn’t, she beelined for the kitchen and got to fixing them…bowls of cereal. while she was digging in the fridge for milk, she called out to him, “you can answer now.” it took her about five minutes after that to sit down with their bowls that were most likely going to remain untouched. 

+++

despite his various run ins with the law over the years, eddie had only ever been arrested once before, when some nosy nelly had caught him with a joint in gareth's garage freshman year, and had promptly reported them. moving to chicago had made him clean up his act, or rather hide his act more proficiently. he wasn't dealing anymore, hadn't been since graduation, and when the cops once again raided one of the bars he frequented he was the first to pluck that bandana from his back pocket and book it.

returning to hawkins for the summer, eddie had been prepared for lots of things. dirty looks burning into his back, sneers, maybe even a couple pushes and shoves here and there. but he'd expected to be relatively safe, seeing as he'd planned to lay low, anyway. and now? now it was like '86 all over again. the upside down had undeniably snuck its way back into their lives, eddie felt the effects weigh heavy on his mind as he absentmindedly rubbed the burns that officer callahan's handcuffs had left on his wrists.

just like 86, when he'd woken up chained to a hospital bed until hopper and some dubious government agents had come through with a cover story, clearing him of all charges. just like 86, when he'd looked up from where he'd been pushed to the ground by callahan, he'd caught the curious bystander's looks. accusatory glances as he was manhandled to the back of the police car. 'that's him', they seemed to whisper among themselves, 'that's that deadbeat satan worshipper that killed all those kids' 86. no wonder he's responsible for this, too. '

he'd been home for approximately an hour or two when max had come knocking at his door. eddie hadn't slept a wink and it showed, lids threatening to flutter shut at any given moment, palms nearly bloody from how he'd nervously scratched at them for hours. when max had come knocking he'd simply opened the door, no 'hello', no 'thank fuck you're okay', not even a nod, he'd stepped aside to let her in. closed the door, then followed her order to sit down, the sofa felt weird underneath him, a sharp contrast to the rough, hard bench in the prison cell.

his eyes focused on nothing in particular, eddie coughed, mouth feeling awfully dry. when was the last time he'd had a sip of water? max's hands carrying the bowls came into view, he frowned. "what happened to your hand? are you hurt?"