&&. Cole + Eddie 003 - Blog Posts
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.”
loverboymontgomery·:
xx.
As he walked closer to Eddie, he tried flexing his ankle. It was sore, but the soreness was dull enough that it left Cole wondering if it was all in his head. The last few weeks had Cole questioning his sanity more times than he was comfortable with. Pulling Adam’s flannel around his torso, Cole nodded in agreement with Eddie’s statement. “Yeah… it’s a lot. Kind of too much to try and figure out right now, after that keg stand,” Cole admitted with a grimace. Not his brightest idea.
“Can I bum a smoke?” Cole asked when Eddie brought the cigarette to his lips. Cole glanced down to his ankle and laughed humorlessly. “I don’t know. I can’t tell if it’s all in my head or if that really happened. You’d tell me if you thought I was going crazy, right?” he asked, half-joking. Cole straightened his back and met Eddie’s eyes.
“So, not to be awkward, but… we’re cool, right?” Cole asked, sincerity written on his face. “I just mean… like, to me, we’re good.” They never had a chance to talk about what had happened, and since then, there was Thad and then Adam coming back. He didn’t think it was that deep, really, but wanted to make sure.
With Steve, it had been an unspoken agreement: Steve will bring it up if he wants to. But with Eddie, he wasn’t sure. With the frantic way things ended at the mall, it was impossible to know what Eddie had been thinking, what he could be thinking now. Cole felt drawn to him as a friend, and he hoped what had happened hadn’t ruined that from the start.
Besides, Cole was very curious about what he’d seen between Eddie and Steve. It was glaringly obvious to him at the shore that something had happened, and when it clicked in Cole’s mind, he’d wanted nothing more than to congratulate them. Obviously, that was out of the question, but now that he’d found Eddie alone, he hoped it would come up.
+++
"sure, here ya go.", eddie nodded, fumbled to pull a cigarette from his pack and handed it to cole, along with the lighter. his eyes followed cole's, dropping down to his ankle, brows drawn together in worried concern.
he shook his head. "no, you're not going insane, man. i saw it, too. i mean, like, not what... what exactly dragged you down or anything but, uh, i was there." eddie shrugged, pulled his lips into a polite smile - certainly not his best bid at reassuring someone that they weren't losing their mind but hey, he'd tried.
the question, albeit expected, caught eddie somewhat off-guard. fingers flexing, he nearly dropped the cigarette, straightened his back, searched cole's eyes. "uh, yeah. totally, totally, man. we're, uh, we're cool. yeah." accompanied by eager nods,brows still drawn together.
they hadn't had a chance to talk since the mall disaster, really, eddie had been preoccupied with committing arson, coming to terms with the fact that the supernatural was making a reappearance in town and kissing steve harrington, his schedule was quite busy these days. eddie had stopped by the music centre a couple of times, though he'd either been too nervous to talk to cole or had been roped into long, winding conversations about jazz and being a metalhead. so, yeah, they hadn't talked. and now, apparently, it was time to do just that.
not that eddie hadn't picked up on the fact that cole and adam were seemingly going strong again - the looks the two of them exchanged reminded him of one's that he shared with steve, too, and the thought of it made a faint blush rise to his cheek.
he nodded again. "yeah, we're cool. no worries. i.... saw that adam's back in town. im happy for you, man. really." said with a genuine smile, he patted cole's shoulder. "and also he's like smoking hot, so go you."
loverboymontgomery·:
who: Cole & @eddiemcnson·
where: the shores of Lover’s Lake
What a weird fucking night it had been. It was already weird enough for Cole to come to an open-invitation camping trip. Add onto that that Adam, his resurrected boyfriend, was helping to plan it. And then everything that had actually happened in the lake. Ninety percent of Cole was internally screaming at him to go home– but he wanted to be a good sport and a supportive boyfriend, and besides, whatever ‘injury’ he had earlier was now gone.
Still, Cole needed a reprieve from the crowd; apparently shit had gone down in the cabin, too, and Adam was being the usual Good Samaritan and helping some stragglers put their tents together. So, Cole slipped away back towards the lake. He was certainly going to keep his distance from the water, but something about the scene and the sun setting on the lake’s horizon was enough to calm his fears from before.
As he rounded the corner and heard the chatter behind him die down, Cole spotted a figure closer to the shore. That hair was unmistakeable, and a grin broke out onto Cole’s face. “Hey, Munson!” he called to announce his presence. Though they hadn’t spoken much since that day in the mall (and they hardly spoke that day either, to be fair), Cole felt incredibly comfortable with Eddie. Like they’d been friends for years. “You hoping to find the Lochness monster down here or something?”
+++
god, it had been an eventful six-ish hours at the lake,and eddie was more than ready to just fuck it and go home again. he'd even debated sleeping in the van but after what had went down he wasn't sure if he'd be brave enough to be on his own tonight.
a nice, simple, fun, relaxing camping trip had sounded like a hell of an idea, once he'd found out about it he'd been all game. not to say that the fact that they were camping at lover's lake didn't make him uneasy, oh god it did. everytime his gaze fell on the open water he gulped, a ghastly shiver running down his spine as he remembered the events of spring break '86. watergate. the upside down.
still he'd come along, because what else was there to do? soon enough the fun had turned sour, when adam and cole had been dragged down in the water, when dustin had started acting weird, apparently some shit had gone down over at the cabin, too, but he could barely even wrap his head around what had happened at the shore. in true hawkins fashion, the paranormal apparently couldn't take a day off.
he needed a break. he needed some time to clear his head, so eddie had split from the group. to breathe, have a smoke, be alone with his racing thoughts for a moment. though the solitary didn't last long.
a lopsided grin, eddie awkwardly waved at cole, cigarette between his fingers. a faint blush rising to his cheeks as memories of the day of the mall protest flooded his mind. "nah, not here for nessie. just.... needed a break. from all this." he shrugged, took a drag. "how's your ankle, montgomery?"
