goldenboyrichards:
Home had always been a safe place for Adam. It was a place full of laughter, of love, a place where he could mostly be himself. Even once Adam had realized he was gay, home hadn’t felt scary or unfamiliar. He hadn’t told his parents or sisters - although, he was pretty sure at least Beth knew - but he hadn’t felt weird about bringing Cole around, either. They were friends first, Cole was technically even Adam’s tutor, so it was never weird having him around. He’d fit into their family seamlessly, almost. Adam could even pretend that it would still be like that if his family fully knew the truth.
Come home after…. whatever had happened to him over the last three years was the first time things felt off. Something had shifted within the Richards’ household once he had left, something he never could have anticipated. Adam knew that when he and Cole ran away, his family would be hurt. But then Adam hadn’t run away with Cole - he’d gone to live in the forest around Hawkins, apparently. And while he was gone, his family had fractured in small ways. Like the result of an earthquake, the foundation had cracked and changed, and the happy family of five was now a sad family of four.
Now they were a family of five again, if Adam could just figure out how he fit into the new picture. But it felt like maybe he was too jagged now; his pieces didn’t fit anymore.
Going out in public seemed too scary these days. Everyone knew his face, knew his name, knew the golden boy he’d been before. And they all wanted to know just what the hell would make someone like him, someone seemingly perfect, disappear for three years. And the worst thing was, Adam had no answers. He didn’t know. Because he just couldn’t wrap his brain around the idea that he would run away and leave Cole behind.
He sat on his front porch, baseball cap pulled low and sunglasses on to hide his face from prying neighbors. If Mrs. Sanders asked one more fucking time how he was feeling, he might actually explode. As someone approached the front door, Adam was ready to bolt back inside, warm weather be damned, when he heard a voice he knew as well as his own.
“Cole?” He asked, looking up at him to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. But standing there in the flesh was Cole Montgomery. Adam’s heart fluttered at the sight of him standing there with his skateboard, exactly as Adam remembered him.
Pulling the sunglasses off, Adam tossed them aside carelessly to show Cole that it was him. “Cole, I’m so sorry.” He apologized, slowly standing up and taking a cautious step towards him. Adam didn’t know how upset Cole might be with him; he’d just abandoned him for three years, after all. But… if he was mad at Adam, why was he visiting Adam’s house? “I swear, I don’t know what happened. I didn’t mean to just leave you. I’m so sorry.”
xx.
Cole’s arms went slack and the VHS tape clattered to the ground. His jaw dropped and he was sure he looked like a cheesy cartoon character. He couldn’t believe he was having another vision, like what happened at the graveyard last week. Only, this time, he knew he had come to the Richards’ house. If nothing else, the VHS was evidence of that. And, besides, if this was a vision-- why would Adam be apologizing for leaving him? As if he had a choice?
If this was a vision, Cole knew it would quickly turn dark-- he’d watch Adam die, again-- so he should just turn around and leave. But Cole couldn’t resist just a few more moments together, one last kiss, even if it was fake. So he closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around Adam’s torso. Burying his face in Adam’s chest, Cole’s tears pooling against the other’s t-shirt. He squeezed his teary eyes shut and waited for the dark eyes, the “I’m sorry,” the body bursting into flames...
Only, it didn’t. Cole’s death grip around Adam loosened and he peered up at the familiar face. Everything was the same: same lips, same nose, same eyes-- though they looked sadder. What if this was real? He searched his lover’s eyes, looking for answers. If this was real, what did he mean he left? Cole had seen his body, had gone to the funeral, had grieved the death of the only person he could ever love for three years. What kind of sick joke could this be? Cole untangled his hand to swipe at his face and finally choked out: “Are you really real?”
bethkrichards:
“You know, just because you’re sick in bed, it doesn’t give you a free pass to talk about how attractive you think my brother is,” Beth teased, giving his shoulder a poke with her finger. “When I come back, I’ll be throwing popcorn at you the whole movie.” Cole wanted to try something new, and this was it. They’d never really talked about Adam in this same light in years. It was strange, getting used to talking about him in the present tense, leaving out the part about his death like it’d never happened. Ever since Adam had come back, they’d never discussed why or how his sudden reappearance came to be: it just was. That seemed to be more than enough for both of them.
Still, she sauntered off to the kitchen, throwing in a bowl of kernels to microwave, just as Cole had asked. Beth noticed that there was a photo of the three of them in there again, perched on a shelf, from Adam’s football days. One that made her smile now, instead of wanting to cry. “Here’s your snack, my liege,” she offered upon reappearance, sitting down on the couch beside him with a bowl full of warm popcorn. “Forgive me for a moment until I get up again and put the movie in, will you? I want to hear about how you’re doing without the voice, and face, of Link Larkin distracting us.”
xx.
“What, I need a pass now? Being the love of his life suddenly isn’t enough?” Cole pouted, leaning his head back dramatically. “Count your blessings, Elizabeth, because if he hadn’t met me do you have any idea how many guys he would’ve gone through looking like that?” He was intentionally laying it on thick, and the grin showing through his hand was evidence enough. As Beth stood up to get the popcorn, Cole couldn’t help the content smile on his face. Sure, things were complicated with what happened at the carnival and how Adam came back in the first place, but he couldn’t help how right this felt. How this was always what life was meant to be.
Cole took the bowl, ignoring the pang in his ribs as he stretched his arm out to grab it. At this point, the pain was all the same, just a dull, nagging ache. “Woah, no need for formalities. I’m still the same old Cole,” he teased. He took a few pieces of popcorn and smiled agreeably at her proposition. They did have a lot to catch up on. “Link Larkin can wait.” Cole shifted his body so he could face Beth head-on. “I’m okay. I mean, I’m worried about him, you know? He’s gonna carry that shit-- the guilt-- no matter what I say.”
goldenboyrichards:
Being co-host of the camping trip, Adam had had to spend awhile checking in on everyone else when they got back. A lot of theories were being thrown around, as well as stories from the cabin, but he wasn’t paying much attention to them. They sort of went over his head. He didn’t know what grabbed him and Cole, but it had felt stronger than algae. He couldn’t be sure, though.
Cole drifting away from the others wasn’t surprising to Adam. He understood needing a minute after all of that, and it was starting to get a bit cold out here now that the sun had gone down. Without asking, he passed Cole one of the hoodies he’d brought with him in his duffle bag. If anyone noticed that Cole was wearing his clothes, Adam was kind of beyond caring. He’d do anything that Cole needed him to do right now.
“You didn’t make it up,” Adam assured with sad eyes, hating that what had happened to them was real. If only it could have been some fucked up nightmare or something. “I’m fine,” He assured, giving Cole a small smile. Honestly, he was worried. But there were no physical marks on him, and he and Cole had both eventually made it to shore. Adam would be okay - this was just another weird thing to add to the list of awful stuff happening around him lately. “I’m not going anywhere.” Adam glanced around, checking to make sure no one was paying too much attention to them. Once he was sure they were safe, he squeezed Cole’s knee in reassurance.
As Cole began begging him to leave with him, Adam’s heart ached. That had always been the plan, hadn’t it? But Adam had fucked it up somehow three years ago, leaving Cole alone to pick up the pieces. And as much as Adam wanted to go now, he thought about his mother. His dad. Beth, Cindy. He couldn’t just leave them again. He couldn’t run away this time. When he and Cole left, they deserved to know in advance. “Cole,” Adam began sadly, squeezing his hand. “Cole, I want that so bad. I want us to go to California like we planned. I want that.” He assured him, voice steady because someone had to be. “But I can’t leave my family right now. My mom…I don’t think she’s sleeping much, these days. My dad calls home to check and make sure I’m still here every few hours when he’s at work. My sisters didn’t stop crying for hours when I finally came back,” Adam rambled, running a hand through his hair. “I just can’t go right now. I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”
xx.
When Adam passed Cole his hoodie, he smiled. Though it was a cliche, he loved wearing Adam’s clothes-- so much so that he’d periodically stolen dozens of shirts, hoodies, and jackets over the years. He brushed his hand against Adam’s and tugged the hoodie on, trying to act cool, calm, and collected when he was anything but. Both because he was freaking out about whatever had grabbed them in the lake and because Adam was here, looking at him with those eyes, and he wasn’t allowed to hold him.
“Kind of wish I did,” Cole said, with a sigh. He wished he had answers for Adam-- or rather, that his answers made any fucking sense. When Max had told him about the Upside Down and the Mindflayer and the fucked up shit happening in Hawkins, it had actually made him feel better, for a while. He finally knew that Adam hadn’t died hating him, that he was... possessed. But when Adam showed back up with a completely different story, any comfort Cole took in the truth was long gone.
I’m not going anywhere. Cole closed his eyes for a moment and willed himself to believe it. Only, Adam couldn’t guarantee that. Cole couldn’t guarantee that either. Adam coming back both gave Cole a future again and threatened his utter demise. Losing Adam once had already destroyed him, but the thought of losing him twice felt like a death sentence. He did his best to muster up a smile, so as not to worry his boyfriend, but Cole knew better. Adam was always able to tell when something was up.
Cole knew Adam’s answer before he elaborated, just based on the way he said his name. He nodded profusely along as Adam spoke, as guilt settled into his stomach. Of course Adam couldn’t leave his family now. He’d just gotten caught up in the moment, in his own fears, and was desperately trying to find something to cling to. “Of course, love. Of course,” he murmured, squeezing Adam’s hand back. “I’m sorry, that was... I was being emotional. I don’t want you to leave your family.” If anything, Cole wanted to bring Adam’s family with them. “I understand how they feel. I’m so scared of losing you again,” he finally admitted, rubbing circles on Adam’s hand with his thumb.
After several days too long stuck to the hospital bed, Cole was thrilled to be home, to have a change of scenery. He was still bedridden for the most part; the three broken ribs made it difficult to walk still, but his daily trek downstairs to the family room and then back upstairs to the bedroom felt better than sharing a 4x4 room with Steve Harrington. No offense to Steve, but he snored. Or maybe it was Eddie. Either way, being home alone and lounging on the living room couch was ideal. Adam had left an hour ago, promising to be back soon, and Cole was half sleeping half watching whatever stupid Western was on at 1p.m.
When Beth walked in, Cole smiled up at her. It was funny, the ways all the people closest to him entered his house: Adam and Chrissy with a polite knock, Beth breezing through the door, Max scaling the side of the house. “Thought you were my mom,” he remarked before studying the options she’d brought over. “I don’t know... should we try something new?” Cole grabbed the tape from Beth’s hand and held it up with a teasing smile. “Yeah. Hairspray. He’s hot, remind me of Adam,” he winked. It was fun to be able to tease Beth about him and Adam again, like he used to before. And it was nice to hang out without one or both of them breaking down into tears. “I think we need popcorn, though. There’s some in the pantry, if you don’t mind,” he asked, giving her his best pleading eyes.
WHO: beth richards & @loverboymontgomery WHERE: the montgomery house
There was nothing more that Beth hated than feeling useless. It was exactly how she felt for most of the time when Cole was in the hospital: Adam was there to hold his hand, and she was left to provide not much more than moral support and the occasional errand. She hadn’t even been with Cole and Adam when the explosion went off; she was with Cindy and their parents, distracting them while her favorite couple in the world spent some much-needed what was supposed to be care-free time together. Now that Cole was home, though, Beth had ordered Adam to sleep, something that he hadn’t done in days, while she ran over to Family Video and then the Montgomery household to keep Cole company.
After three years of just Beth and Cole, Cole and Beth, it was strange to not just spend time the two of them anymore. She wasn’t complaining: having Adam back was all they’d wished for and more since he died. What she missed now, though, were the late nights that she and Cole spent up watching the latest movie on tape, early mornings at the diner when they simply hadn’t slept at all. Now, at any opportunity to try and relive just that, she jumped at it. Beth let herself into the house, Maggie more of a surrogate mother to her now than Ms. Montgomery, and headed toward the family room, where Cole had been set up with the television on loop. “Alright, I’ve got lots of options. Dirty Dancing, which, I know we’ve seen a bunch since it came out, but I think it’s becoming a comfort of mine. Or, hear me out, Hairspray. Just came out on tape, Steve Harrington said I came by just as Karen Wheeler dropped it off.”
who: cole & @joycefm
where: the byers residence
I know the timing isn’t great, but I just wanted to let you know... No. I just wanted to run this by you... Still no. I hope Will’s okay and also I’m his half brother.
The entire ride to the Byers house, Cole tried to rehearse his opening line. So far, nothing inspiring had come to mind. He wasn’t sure why he was so nervous; Joyce had always been kind and everyone in town knew how much he loved her boys. But, Cole wasn’t sure how she’d feel about her ex-husband having another one... who happened to be very close in age to her oldest.
To Cole’s credit, he hadn’t grown up around Lonnie; Maggie was convinced Lonnie didn’t even connect the dots and realize that Cole was his. Fitting. Cole never felt like he was missing out on much, and after his mom told him who his real dad was when he was sixteen, Cole knew for sure he was better off without Lonnie Byers as a father figure. He felt a pang of guilt, knowing that Jonathan, Will, and Joyce had to live with the asshole for so long.
Before he knew it, Cole was on the Byers’ front porch, his hand balled in a fist to knock on the door. Now or never. He knocked, stepped back, and pasted a smile on his face when Joyce opened the door. “Hi, Mrs. Byers! Sorry to just barge in... but I was hoping you had a minute?”
Cole was certainly freaked out by what had happened at the lake. One minute, it felt like high school again-- like they were just hanging out with friends at the lake. Then, whatever the fuck was going on reared its ugly head again, freaked Adam out again. That was the worst part to Cole. He desperately wanted Adam’s second chance at life-- or re-entering into society, whatever-- to be positive. He’d even settle for bearable.
When they’d come away from the shore, Cole had found refuge in the fire. It was starting to get chilly, and he felt like moping alone for a while. Let everyone else talk it out and theorize, but he wanted nothing to do with it. All he could think about was getting out of Hawkins. Clearly, he and Adam had no shot at a normal life here for a multitude of reasons. Their plan had always been to get away, what was stopping them now?
Cole tore his eyes away from the crackling fire as Adam sat down next to him. Despite everything, he smiled at his boyfriend. This felt familiar-- the sensation that Adam was nearby but never too close so as to arouse suspicion. Finally, the point in the night where it was safe to be close again, even if they still had to be on guard.
“Hey,” he echoed, taking the drink with a grateful smile. “It’s really not bad. Maybe I made it all up,” Cole confessed. “And you? Are you okay?” he looked Adam up and down for any sign of injury or distress. Whatever had happened, Adam had been right there, too. “No--” Cole protested quickly, “It’s okay. Really.” Then, quieter, he chanced: “Just... stay with me?”
In the dark, Cole reached over and took Adam’s hand in his own. It was a risk, but he needed the reassurance. After a few moments of silence, words tumbled frantically out of Cole’s mouth: “What if we just got out of here? We could go anywhere, really, just... maybe it’s Hawkins, and it’s time go. Like we always said. Then all of this wouldn’t matter. I can fix everything.” Cole was embarrassed by his pleading tone.
WHO: Adam Richards & @loverboymontgomery
WHAT: A sweet lil fireside check-in
WHERE: Lovers’ Lake
Adam couldn’t begin to explain what had happened to them tonight on the shore. One minute, everything was fun and happy; the closest Adam had felt to normal since coming back. And then the waves had picked up, and he’d not been able to make it back to shore with Cole. Something had grabbed them both - Adam had felt it - but only Cole had gotten marks. None of it made any sense, and Adam was so fucking sick of nothing making sense.
He wished, more than anything, that he could just have normal issues to deal with for five minutes instead of whatever this stuff was.
After they’d made it back to the campsite, Adam had tried to stick as close to Cole as possible without being too clingy. He just needed to know that his boyfriend was okay. It had been scary for both of them, but Cole was the only one to actually get hurt from it. Maybe Adam hadn’t been grabbed as hard?
“Hey,” He greeted Cole later, when most people had drifted back towards the shore or to their tents. “How’s your ankle?” Sitting beside Cole at the fire, he offered him a drink and a small smile. Adam knew that the marks had disappeared from Cole’s leg - another thing he couldn’t explain - but he wasn’t sure if it still hurt. “I can go put some ice from the cooler in a bag, if you want. Or someone might have brought a First Aid kit.” That would have been a good idea for them, honestly.
mmuscles:
thad refused to meet cole’s eyes as they got into boyfriend talk. sure, cool, they were a couple or whatever, but he didn’t want to hear about it. it had been so deeply conditioned within him that what cole was…boasting about was wrong. maybe it was right for other people, but not for thad, not in this lifetime. the whole conversation confused thad to the point he regretted even asking, so he put on his best sour expression and stared at the car. his hands were numb and he had to take another large gulp of beer before he got back to work on this piece of shit car. “whatever man,” he shook his head, “i’m not gonna go tattle to the first person i see, don’t flatter yourself.” thad huffed, insisting cole and now adam didn’t take up nearly as much space in his mind as they did.
“everyone keeps talking about being gone…” thad started, no acutely aware that he couldn’t stand to talk about cole or adam any longer, otherwise this job wasn’t getting done. “but where did they go, like, study abroad? vacation? i don’t get it.” he didn’t read the papers or keep up with the times. as far as thad was concerned, he kind of lived in his own little bubble amidst the chaos that descended upon hawkins. it was one of many things he remained blissfully unaware of.
xx.
Thad clearly didn’t want to talk about it. And that was fine, it’s not like Cole wanted to get into details... but he felt a sense of relief that Thad knew, if only so that what had happened before wouldn’t happen again. It was easier, anyways, to fall into the bickering back-and-forth with Thad; avoid the real stuff. “Whatever,” he echoed Thad’s tone. “I know you’re obsessed with me,” he laughed, to make it obvious he was joking.
Cole felt his stomach sink at Thad’s question. Of course Thad Bradshaw didn’t know what was going on in Hawkins, if Cole barely knew himself. “They were... off in this... group. In the forest. Like, a commune?” Cole said, trying and failing to infuse certainty into his tone. “It’s weird, but a bunch of them did it. Guess they had enough of the bullshit. Anyway, you can read about it in the paper. Assuming you can read,” he tacked on the end, hoping to piss Thad off enough to distract him from the ‘commune’ nonsense.
zccming:
cole might not have known about the truth about upside down, the mall fire, or the flayed, but he did know the truth of loss. he understood better than most the weight of grief and how it could change a person. at least, cole understood it in some of the ways max understood it. regardless, as soon as she started feeling jittery about everything she searched for cole. naturally, he met with an argument, which only made her scoff as she moved to refill her cup, “i wouldn’t trust you to remember how to spell your own last name, let alone cups.” max assured him, then took a drink from her cup as a vow of don’t worry, i will.
swallowing the last of her sip, she took a couple of step backwards, “come on, i have something better.” max turned around and proceeded to lead cole halfway down a stopped escalator. they sat overlooking a fountain on the lower level, it’d be almost pretty if this entire place didn’t feel so eerie. she fished around in her pockets, shoes, then bra to a produce a baggie, paper, and zippo lighter. “gotta get this off me.” max insisted, like it wasn’t perfectly clear why she had pulled cole aside. it wasn’t often max and cole got vulnerable with one another, but it happened enough that they managed to stay friends throughout all the bickering. a trauma bond ( and then some ) or whatever.
max got to rolling, throwing her trash off the side of the escalator as if to say fuck this mall as she went. all finished up, max sighed, “are you as miserable as me right now?” she asked bluntly, extending the joint to cole, then the lighter. max placed her hands on her knees and shook her head, “like, this is super messed up, right?”
xx.
"In my defense, my last name is long," Cole teased, trying to lighten the mood-- but the smirk on his face felt wrong, like he was spitting on Adam's grave. How dare he be happy in the place he had died? Cole finished his cup and set it on the ledge nearby, taking a long drag from his cigarette in the process.
When Max told him to follow her, he did so without hesitation. She was one of the few people in this town he trusted fully, oddly enough. Their friendship, however unorthodox, was a natural one: after running into her at the skate park a few times, he started bringing snacks for them and they just clicked. He could tell they were similar: both of them carrying around a pain they didn't know how to handle, and both of them unwilling to burden another with it.
Upon seeing her stash, Cole put out his cigarette on the side of the escalator, following suit and launching it over the side. Fuck this mall, indeed. Cole laughed, though it was more a breath than anything. "Oh yeah. Let's go throw a rager to memorialize the place our friends and family died. Nothing weird about that," he remarked, taking the blunt and lighting it behind his hand. He took a drag and handed it to her.
"It's just... do you ever feel like it should've been you? Like, why did all those people die and not me?"
Cole still hadn’t quite recovered from discovering that Family Video in Hawkins, Indiana had a copy of Maurice. That had been a few months ago, and he’d forced Max to check it out for him so they could ogle Hugh Grant together. Well, so he could ogle Hugh Grant and Max could sigh disapprovingly. Anyway, today he was on a mission to find Full Metal Jacket; some film major had told him that Kubrick was shaping up to be the ‘voice of their generation,’ or something, so Cole figured he’d give it a try.
But of course, he’d ended up wandering the entire square footage of the store. He was glancing at new releases when a familiar voice asked him a question. He hadn’t known Barb well in high school, given that she was a year above him, but he knew her as Nancy’s friend. Cole smiled warmly at her and peered around to see her options. He wasn’t much of a comedy guy, so he didn’t recognize many. “Hmmm,” he studied the shelves, then had an idea. He ducked into another aisle and came back with The Lost Boys. “It’s technically horror, but I promise it isn’t scary. Just... a cheesy vampire movie. It’s my go-to,” he said, holding the title out for her. “Other than that, I’m afraid I’m out of suggestions.”
Where: Family Video Who: Barb & ??
Barb had become reliant on video tapes since she’d come home. She couldn’t afford anything beyond the basic cable package, and even then, the reception in the postage stamp she called an apartment wasn’t the greatest. So she’d been checking a lot of books out of the library – even more than usual – and renting plenty of video tapes. She had started out renting her favorites, like the 1978 version of Lord of the Rings, along with Grey Gardens, All the President’s Men, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. But in the past few weeks, she’d started to branch out. She started with political thrillers, because they were fairly familiar ground. Marathon Man, The Odessa File, Sleeping Dogs…from there she began watching action movies, like Jaws, Alien, and Star Wars: A New Hope.
Tonight, she was perusing the comedy section, which was definitely unprecedented ground for her. “Oh, shoot,” Barb muttered, as the movie she was looking at turned out to be rented already. Seeing someone out of the corner of her eye, she turned to look at them. It wasn’t like her to seek the advice of a stranger, but since she was already trying a new genre tonight – why not? “Hey, would you recommend anything?” she said, gesturing at the shelves in front of them. “These movies aren’t really my thing, so…you could really tell me any one of these is great, and I’d sort of have to believe you.”
stevehharringtcns:
.
everything had been such a blur and happened so fast that steve wasn’t sure what had happened anymore. he thought if some parts of it had been his imagination, but… he had definitely gotten into a fight with both jack and adam, but only he had come out injured. which was weird to think about, because he had definitely thrown around a couple of punches and he remembered quite well hitting jack in the face and then immediately feeling the pain in his face. he wasn’t sure how that had worked, but he wouldn’t be the one to figure out either. not while he was recovering, he thought to himself.
he looked over at adam for a couple of moments, pursing his lips as he did. he knew that he wouldn’t do anything like he had done at the carnival, he was hoping that whatever had happened had been a one time thing, which he doubted. but he wasn’t about to go around doubting everything that adam did. it just wouldn’t be cool of him to do so, and adam was a good friend to him when he wasn’t puking out some black goo and attacking him.
letting out yet another chuckle, immediately wincing at the pain that it caused, steve shook his head. “listen, i’ll ask the nurses to bring some more for you.” he said, nodding his head slowly when he heard cole talking about eddie. sighing, steve nodded again. “yeah, they… they arrested him. which was stupid because eddie would never do anything to hurt anyone. they were just trying to find a way to get him arrested for… the shit that happened two years ago.” he said, shaking his head, clearly still angry that someone would just do that for fun. he hated everyone who had been part of arresting eddie. “we’ll all be okay… eventually.” he nodded, letting out a sigh. at least he hoped that they would be.
at the question, steve just shrugged his shoulders. he hoped that he would have all of the answers to give to cole. he hated that he had been dragged into this, just like everyone he knew had been dragged. he hated that something was back and that they couldn’t do anything about it. “i don’t know… i really don’t know. i would try asking nancy, she’s… she’s the whole brains of the group. i’m sure she knows something by now.” he said, not knowing if it was true or not, but considering their last encounters with something supernatural, nancy was always the one to figure it out.
xx.
Cole tried, desperately, to read Steve’s expression when the others’ eyes fell on Adam. Right now, in the hospital room, Adam was the least threatening presence-- his arm snaked around Cole’s fingers, intertwined, dirty blond hair rising and falling with his breaths. But Cole and Steve both knew what he was capable of when he wasn’t in control, and it was something Cole had begun to fear. What would others say or do to Adam now? And could Cole protect him? From others, from whatever was causing the blackouts?
He trusted Steve to be fair and kind, he had no reason not to. Since Steve had stopped hanging out with Tommy H and Carol, Cole had seen another side of him-- from afar-- a more sensitive and caring Steve Harrington. And after everything that had happened between the two of them, Cole hoped that Steve’s goodwill could extend to Adam, too.
Cole smiled, relieved that Steve’s comment pulled him out of his head, at least for the time being. “Yeah, bat your pretty eyes at them and get them to bring extra, while you’re at it,” he joked. It felt nice, even normal for a minute, until Steve told him about Eddie. Cole’s frown pulled his eyebrows together. “No, he wouldn’t. That’s bullshit,” his voice raised, which hurt his throat. “I can’t believe they’re holding onto that, with... Chrissy back.” Steve’s sigh seemed more hopeful than it was convincing, but Cole decided to let it slide. Positivity, however forced, wasn’t bad for them at the moment.
He nodded, then frowned when he remembered that Nancy was in the hospital, too. He wasn’t surprised, really, that she was the brains. It made him feel even a little confident that whatever this was could be stopped, with Nancy at the helm. “Is she doing okay? Have you heard?” Cole asked, worry creasing his brow. He leaned back in his bed for a minute and studied his and Adam’s hands, how they’d always fit together so naturally. Cautiously, he glanced back up at Steve. “You know that that wasn’t him, right? He would never... he doesn’t hurt people.” Cole’s eyes betrayed his desperation for someone to believe it, for someone to be on their side.
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?”
walden "cole" montgomery / 21 / junior at indiana state / manager at the music center / the loverboy* penned by nikki
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