Zccming​:

zccming​:

.

“well, maybe you shouldn’t be so loud when you come around. whisper…or…knock on the window, like a normal person.” max suggested as if it were simple math. her shoulders seemed to unwind as cole turned the music down. as much as she protested about it, that smile did minorly aid in lifting her spirits. as a thank you to cole, she punched him in the arm as he called her an asshole and let that fire die out with a “yeah, yeah. sure i am.” still. she saw the look of concern in his eyes and felt a brief twinge of regret for spilling about the upside down to him. max mayfield was not a girl who liked to be treated as fragile. 

fortunately for their friendship, cole knew better and offered her a cigarette in lieu of questions. much better. she lit it and began puffing away. “irresistible?” max scoffed, “yeah, right. who said that? your mom?” she teased, taking another drag. this was peaceful. it was one thing in her life that felt normal right now. at least when the tides were changing in hawkins, max had the comfort that her and cole would stay the same. “adam?” she verified. yeah, she’d heard about that commune. she couldn’t fake a smile for cole granted those were the same circumstances that allegedly brought billy back to her doorstep. max knew he died, but billy, billy didn’t seem to think so. she didn’t know what to make of that. instead of digging into the mystery, she threw him the meager bone of, “i heard. that’s great.” he must be so happy, she thought. she didn’t want to spit on his moment. 

clearly, cole had some fears though. max shrugged, “i mean, i definitely don’t feel as excited about my shithead step-brother being back home.” her tone was flat, not indicating how much it really rocked her. diverting the focus back to cole, she told him more sincerely, “i’m glad you have adam back.” it was her turn to look up at the stars and smoke now. what’s up with you, mayfield? sighing, she looked back down at him, “i kissed el.” talk about a shitshow.

xx.

Cole leveled another dramatic sigh in Max’s direction. “Even if I learned sign language, you’d complain about the sound of my hands.” As much as they picked on each other, Cole usually knew how to decode Max. But tonight, there was something else going on-- something he couldn’t figure out. He faked a wince when she punched him, holding his arm. “Listen, I already broke my finger for you and got a fucking concussion from falling into a grave, what more do you want from me?” he protested, though the glimmer in his eye proved that he was joking.

Taking a puff of his cigarette, Cole leaned back on his arms. “Lots of people. I can name names,” he fired back, jutting his chin out to make his point. It was a nice night, which is part of why Cole had originally come to the skate park. It was rare to be outside without the heat making everything sticky, and he fully intended to take advantage of it, and he’d been wanting to update Max, anyways. But her response was weird. It was like she hadn’t heard what he said. Or her mind was elsewhere.

Before he could repeat himself-- hello? Adam is back?-- Max continued, and Cole’s face fell. Billy Hargrove. He was back, too? Thinking about it, Cole had heard that Billy had been off in some community in the woods... “That asshole’s back? Why?” Cole asked, shelving the Adam conversation for now. It was better this way; no questions about how Adam came back to life meant no sending him back to the grave. Hopefully. 

Then, another bomb from Max Mayfield. “Seriously?” he exclaimed, sitting up straight and turning to look at her. “What was it like? How do you feel?” 

As he began blinking awake, Cole’s memories from the fucking carnival from hell began to resurface. He saw Lucas crumped on the ground, Jack shoving him away, Adam yelling at him to leave him the fuck alone. But then he woke up and the first thing he saw was Adam, their arms intertwined, blonde head bobbing up and down as he snored. Cole squeezed his eyes shut. Was it a dream? Why did he remember a bomb? An explosion? It was all making his head hurt. 

Cole must’ve fallen back asleep, because the next time he opened his eyes, Max was there. She was holding his other hand and mumbling something. He shifted, trying to sit up, and instantly regretted it. Pain shot through his abdomen and he groaned. His movement caused a barely-cold icepack to shift off of his ribcage; had he broken a rib? 

With a weak smile, Cole turned his gaze to Max. “Tell me you’re not crying over me, asshole.” His throat was painfully brittle, and he attempted to swallow to make it easier to speak up. “The fuck did you do to me, Maxine?” he asked, a piss poor excuse for a joke, and squeezed his eyes shut again in an attempt to stop the pounding in his head. 

WHO: max mayfield & @loverboymontgomery​ WHAT: max checks on cole WHERE: hospital </3

max had been lingering in the hospital for around twelve hours now and had no intentions of leaving any time soon. herself, dustin, and max, worked in shifts, using steve’s room as base. she was in and out a lot, mostly to cry, but sometimes to check on the status of her other friends who had been admitted last night. it was nearing ten-thirty in the morning when max took a break. she went to cole’s room first, after a nurse told her he woke up between now and her last break. anything that stood between her and that door got shoved out of the way or fully knocked over until she was on her knees beside his bed. 

unfortunately, cole was out again when she entered his room. she clocked adam’s close proximity, who was also asleep. not wanting to disturb them too much, but at least see how cole was doing for herself, she took the hand of his that wasn’t occupied and grabbed it with both of hers, then set her forehead on top of it. she sat like that for a second, listening to the chorusing of the heart monitor. all good signs, all good, but still, she found herself wanting to cry again. max rubbed her lips together, then whispered, not intending for cole to hear her, “hey, fucking…stupid shithead…” she mumbled, “i leave for one night and you land yourself in the hospital? geez.” she laughed wryly, a tear slipping out. a life without cole flashed across her mind. it wasn’t one she was interested in seeing. this blows, she thought. sitting up, max wiped the couple of tears that snuck up on her, then rubbed her tired eyes, “i’m glad you’re okay…” she continued in her quiet tone, “and i’m so kicking your ass when you get out of here.” 

Funnily enough, this was the second time in his life Cole Montgomery was sneaking into a girl's house. First, it was Max telling him to be quiet and not wake up her mother; now, Robin sending him straight upstairs. The fact that Robin had invited him over at all was surprising to Cole; sure, they'd talked and had mutual friends, but they weren't super close. At least, until the cemetery fiasco. He guessed that living through something like that meant they were bonded for life, or something.

Cole saluted Robin, turned on his heel, and marched upstairs. "Yes, Sergeant Buckley," he joked, keeping his voice low. Cole peered around the corners, taking the opportunity to snoop before Robin got upstairs. He stepped through a doorway that he assumed was her room and surveyed the walls.

Just as she threw the soda, Cole turned and managed to catch it. Hey, maybe those 'football lessons' forever ago with Adam paid off. "Thanks," he cracked the soda open and lifted into the air as if to cheers her. Cole leaned against the wall, taking a sip and shaking his head in disbelief. Fucked up was an understatement. He still couldn't get the vision... or whatever it was.. out of his head. "You could say that," he paused, hesitantly. "Did anything... weird happen to you? Like, other than the fire going out and me falling into an open grave, I don't really remember anything."

𝐖𝐇𝐎: robin buckley + @colemontgomeryx​ ! 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄: buckley residence

robin didn’t really invite anyone over to her house, she was used to just keeping her home and social life different. steve was an exception to the rule and he’d been there more times than she could count, although robin had to tell her parents that they weren’t dating way too many times. then there were the odd few occasions where she’d had one of the others over for some reason or other. and today, she’d took a literal leap and invited cole over for the first time. which would only welcome a barrage of questions from her mom who was currently home, but if she didn’t actually know that he was here then…

robin was watching out her bedroom window for cole’s arrival, and as soon as she spotted him she took to carefully making her way down the stairs as if to not make a single sound. she opened the front door with ease, slowly shutting it behind him once he made his way inside.

“please go straight up, i really don’t want my mom to ask any questions!” having said that, robin snuck away to the kitchen and to the fridge hoping for some beers, for their ‘trauma bonding’. sadly there was nothing but cans of soda so she grabbed two anyway before quietly making her way up to her room. “catch!” robin threw one of the cans at cole, assuming that he would catch it or alternatively, it would land on her bed. “so the other night was really fucked up, right?”

who: cole & @dvstybuns

where: the music center

Thursdays at The Music Center were predictably slow, and today was no different. Cole had already finished the new Stephen King novel, reorganized the vinyl and cassette tapes, and done inventory. Usually, he would pass the time by using the shop’s instruments, honing his piano skills or struggling on guitar-- but because of his broken finger, he’d not been able to.

Today, though, the boredom hit so hard that he abandoned his finger splint and carefully played a few scales on the electric keyboard. It didn’t hurt too bad, so he began playing through the song that had been stuck in his head for weeks now: Steely Dan’s “Third World Man.” 

He got carried away until he heard the door open. Cole glanced over his shoulder and a grin overtook his face. “Hey, kid,” he said, motioning for Dustin to come in. “What’s up?”

Will and Cole weren't exactly close, despite being half-brothers. Not that Will was aware of that... yet. Every time Will came into the Music Center and chatted with Cole, guilt crept its way into Cole's chest and settled there. He's sure nothing would change once Will knew, it's not like either of them talked to their dad anyway, but the longer Cole put it off, the weirder it became to bring up in casual conversation.

So, when Will came in today looking for a model, Cole volunteered. He always thought he had an artistic form anyway, and the Music Center was always dead this time of day. But now, his nervousness and guilt caused him to fidget-- which was less than ideal for the artist. "Right, right, sorry," he straightened his spine. "So... how's your family? Everyone home?" Cole had to force himself not to wince at the awkwardness of his phrasing.

WHO: will byers + open

WHERE: you decide

     His drawing skills have only improved since those childhood days scribbling with crayons and colored pencils, but it still requires practice, a constant honing of his abilities to stay sharp. And anatomy, realistic human portraiture, is one of the hardest things to get right, because when it’s just a little off…well, it can get creepy fast. People have always been one of Will’s favorite subjects to draw, probably stemming from his interest in visualizing his and the party’s childhood DnD characters. It would just be a lot easier if…

     “Could you try not to move so much? Sorry, it just helps if you stay still.” He didn’t want to come across as impatient, but if his model was already fidgety, then sitting longer to finish the sketch wasn’t going to help matters.

joycefm​:

    hand  freezes  on  the  refrigerator  handle  at  cole’s  words.  again,  she’s  not  surprised  at  all.  lonnie  had  always  tested  joyce’s  trust  -  she  wasn’t  stupid  nor  was  she  blind.  she  saw  how  people  looked  at  him  in  high  school  and  she  chose  to  ignore  it..  simply  because  she  thought  she  was  head  over  heels  in  love.  and  well…  she  definitely  was  at  the  time.  there  was  a  lot  of  love  there  at  one  point  but  the  idea  of  happily  ever  after  with  lonnie  didn’t  last  long  when  she  started  catching  him  out  on  lies,  multiple  fights..  she  could  go  on  and  on.  “i  mean..”  she  started,  a  small  shrugging  following  as  she  moved  back  towards  cole  to  take  a  seat  next  to  the  other.  “i  thought  there’d  be  more  of  you,  honestly.”  there  probably  was.  joyce  knew  well  that  lonnie  was  up  to  no  good  —  it  was  more  surprising  to  her  that  lonnie  had  been  cheating  on  her  way  before  she  picked  up  on  it.

    “it’s  fine,  cole.  you’re  fine.”  it  wasn’t  like  you  could  chose  your  parents  -  lonnie  byers  certainly  shouldn’t  have  been  anyone’s  first  choice.  “he  sucks  even  more  for  not  being  in  your  life..  you’re  a  good  kid.”  it  just  reminded  her  of  will  -  it  wasn’t  like  lonnie  was  around  much  for  him  either.  not  to  mention  the  name  calling  and  the  fights  that  came  along  with  all  that.  “either  way..  i’m  not  surprised  at  all  and  i  promise  you  that  you  aren’t  missing  out  on  anything  with  him.”  hand  reaches  out  towards  his  shoulder,  giving  it  a  small  squeeze.  “but  that  also  means  you’re  family  now.”  joyce  smiles  wide,  looking  for  the  positive  in  the  whole  situation.  “have  you  told  jonathan  and  will?”

Cole kept his eyes trained on Joyce, watching her hand freeze and looking for any indication of what was going on in her head. He’d imagined this moment dozens of time in the last hour, many more in the last five years. He knew he couldn’t expect her to welcome him with open arms; even if she didn’t love Lonnie anymore, Cole’s existence was evidence that Lonnie had been running out on her for a long time. That was enough of a reason to resent someone, in Cole’s mind. When she finally spoke, Cole let out an involuntary sigh of relief. If it weren’t so fucked up, Cole would’ve laughed at her comment-- I thought there’d be more of you. What a fucking asshole. “I know it wasn’t me, but... for what it’s worth, I’m sorry he was such an ass. Sorry that you all had to deal with him.” 

And then, Joyce offered the thing Cole hadn’t dared ask for: acceptance, permission to exist without guilt. He felt pressure behind his eyes and tried to blink it away; he so desperately didn’t want to make this a thing. “Thank you,” he breathed, glistening eyes meeting yours. Cole laughed at himself, swiping at his face, “I don’t know why I’m crying.” But he knew; he had never, in a million years, expected that he’d be welcomed into a family that, for all intents and purposes, wasn’t his. Should have never been his. He never even thought that anyone other than his mother would consider him family or look out for him, and in one single moment he was offered an entire family unit. 

Joyce’s remark shook Cole out of his thoughts. He nodded, readily agreeing that he wasn’t missing out on dad of the year. Eyes dropping to his hands, Cole shook his head. Then, lifting his gaze to meet Joyce’s eyes, he explained: “No.. I wanted to make sure you knew first. And, I guess, ask for your permission?” That sounded weird. “Like... if you didn’t want me to tell them, I don’t have to,” he shrugged. Cole didn’t want to give more detail if he didn’t have to; he knew he had a certain reputation around town, not a bad one, but one that everyone wouldn’t appreciate... and he wasn’t sure how Joyce would feel if he got close to Will and Jonathan and started bringing his ‘best friend’ around. But that felt like a conversation for another day; there was no need to spill every one of his secrets today. 

eddiemcnson​:

+++

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?”

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?” 

rcbinbvckleys​:

⚢

“i think some faces are just, way more noticeable than others.” it would have been much easier to pretend that she didn’t know him at all, but words had escaped her mouth way quicker than robin’s mind working to figure that one out. hopefully, she’d just managed to pull it back. if cole ever actually found out… she’d practically beg the ground to swallow her up. 

“truthfully if you said that you didn’t know him, only then would i be surprised.” it felt like steve knew everyone, and they all definitely knew him. he had been known as king steve, after all. “and he was so obnoxious back then, right?” it wasn’t surprising that cole and he were friends, even if robin felt like there were some other details she didn’t know. “it was truly some crazy fucked up shit. i’ve never been more scared in my life.” until the events of 1986, but that was a whole other ball game. “if it wasn’t for steve and that stupid hair of his, i honestly don’t think i’d be here right now.”

xx.

“If this is your roundabout way of calling me pretty, I’ll take it,” he teased, trying to ease the tension. Hawkins High was a small school, anyways, so it shouldn’t be surprising that they’d seen each other around. He needed to let it go, but was used to being on the defensive with his classmates.

Cole laughed, nodding knowingly. He didn’t believe there was anyone who’d gone to Hawkins High in the last... six years, give or take, who didn’t know Steve Harrington. “Was, past tense?” he joked, “As far as I can tell, he’s still obnoxious. Less of an asshole, though.” Cole’s teasing quickly subsided into a sad smile. “I can’t imagine being here. It’s fucked up enough that I knew people who died, you know? Like, I can barely deal with that.” Deal with it was generous, as he really hadn’t, but Robin didn’t need the details. 

sinclairss​:

if it weren’t for the most recent injury, lucas would’ve gone on a run right now. the adrenaline coursing through his veins meant he barely felt any pain, not from his surgically-repaired knee and not from his newly-dislocated shoulder. he could use something to channel that adrenaline, especially when he wasn’t entirely sure how deep into this conversation he wanted to get.

to buy himself some time, lucas hopped out of the car and rounded the passenger side to tug cole’s door open. “yeah,” he finally said with quick nod. “i felt like…i thought i was gonna die.” and that would be a shitty way to go. he held his arm out, unsure if cole might need him for balance and then heading for the doors beneath the glowing EMERGENCY ROOM sign.

this, lucas wasn’t sure on, but he had a hunch. “two’s a coincidence. three’s a pattern,” he said, like he didn’t need to elaborate at all.

xx.

“Thanks,” Cole gave Lucas a grim smile as he climbed out of the passenger seat. He was able to stand on his own, which Cole hoped meant it wasn’t a major injury. Something that would go away in two days, tops. But Cole was tired-- not just physically, but emotionally. He was drained and if he was honest, all he really wanted to do was lock himself in his room for a few days to try and understand what was going on.

Cole waved his hand, dismissing Lucas’ arm. “I’m good, thank you though,” he repeated, feeling bad that Lucas had driven him all the way here just to field his questions and be released with a concussion. Lucas said ‘I thought I was gonna die’ so casually that Cole barely clocked it, so when he realized what Lucas said, Cole stumbled over some shitty landscaping job. “Mine was really real too. Only I wasn’t the one dying,” he added the last part in a mumble.

Raising an eyebrow at Lucas’ comment, Cole turned to him. “Three?” he prodded. He knew he’d remembered a few others mentioning things they’d seen, but everyone was so rattled that he guessed he hadn’t paid much attention. “What does it mean, if it is a pattern?”

After a few days at the hospital, Cole was finally home, in his bed, staring at the same Smiths poster he’d tacked up when he was sixteen. He’d pretended not to notice that his room was much cleaner than he’d left it, instead flashing his mom a guilty smile when she’d first ushered him up the stairs. Cole knew that she’d found his stash of beer cans, and something in her eyes promised he’d be hearing about it later.

His first few days home had passed thanks to a steady rotation of Adam, his mom, and his aunt. He felt better than he had in the hospital, but it was still hard to walk on his own and he hadn’t been sleeping at all. Every time he closed his eyes, he heard people screaming during the explosion or saw Adam shoving him away. None of it made any sense, and Cole wasn’t up to figuring it out. He’d leave that to Will and his friends. 

When his mom called up the stairs that he had a visitor, Cole expected it to be Adam. If it was Max, she would just climb through the window or something, and he assumed Chrissy was under her mother’s lock and key. He was pleasantly surprised when he recognized her sing song-y voice. Pasting on a grin, he attempted to push himself into more of a seated position. “Hey, Chriss!” he said, hissing the ‘s’ sound in pain at his sudden movement. 

Cole smoothed out the comforter for her to sit down. “You didn’t have to do that,” he smiled, though he took a tart right away. Biting into it, he savored the flavor. “This is so much better than hospital food,” he praised her, mouth still full. “God, how did you know I needed this.” 

Wiping any lemon tart remnants off of his mouth, Cole gave Chrissy a half-hearted shrug. “Like I got hit by a bus, honestly.”  

𝐖𝐇𝐎: Chrissy Cunningham & @loverboymontgomery​

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓: Chrissy’s first order of business after being set free? Visiting Cole!

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄: Cole’s House!

When Chrissy found out about the explosion at the carnival, she had counted her blessings that she had been far away from the fairgrounds, despite the circumstances. That was until word got around of all who had been killed or hurt and when she heard Cole’s name, she was set into a slight panic which led to calling the Montgomery residence which led to a conversation with Maggie that Cole was fine for the most part, or at least fine enough that he was alive and would recover. She let that qualm her anxiety for the next few days, until she knew that Cole was home from the hospital. She knew that his hospital room was probably full of family and friends, and she just didn’t want to be a burden. She’d let everyone else see him first. 

When she heard that Cole was back home, Chrissy spent most of the morning figuring out what she wanted to bring over. Cole was sick, and what brought someone back to life more than a sweet treat? She sat atop her kitchen counter, perusing her grandmother’s cookbook (until he mom yelled at her to get down), and she eventually settled on a lemon tart recipe she found.

Hours later, lemon tarts in hand, she knocked on the front door. She made light conversation with Cole’s aunt, even handing her a tart, before making her way to Cole’s room. Tapping lightly on the door, she pushed it open, holding up the lemon tarts so high that they were covering her face. “Coley,” she sang, pushing the door closed with her foot. “I’ve got the best medicine you could buy… lemon tarts!” It may or may not have been helpful in her case that she knew Cole liked fruity desserts.

She sat towards the edge of his bed, holding the plate out to him. “How are we feeling?”