Feat. Eddie - Blog Posts

eddiemcnson​:

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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.”

xx.

Cole searched Eddie’s face, noting how viscerally uncomfortable talking about this made him. Clearly, Eddie had seen some shit. If Cole couldn’t sleep because of a vision of Adam’s death, how much worse would he be feeling if he had really experienced any of that shit? 

With a frown, Cole watched the gravel scatter under Eddie’s foot. He nodded, trying to wrap his mind around another tragedy that was actually supernatural in origin. “What the fuck,” he said, incredulously. He almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity, because... why Hawkins? Lifting his eyes to Eddie’s face, Cole nodded at his hopeful conclusion. He patted the other’s shoulder in a slightly awkward display of affection. “I’m sorry... I know that was... fucked up,” he said, at a loss for something more substantial to say. He took a puff of the cigarette and turned it over in his mind. When you get outta here, it gets better. Cole hoped that much was true, and hoped that he and Adam could get out sooner rather than later.

With a teasing smile, Cole flicked his cigarette. “Not half bad,” he echoed, his eyes lingering on the water in front of them. It was nice, something glaringly normal in the midst of everything else. A reminder, almost, that things could be simple and easy. “Don’t let it go to your head,” he warned, with a chuckle.

“Thank you, really... it’s nice to get to talk about it,” Cole said, Eddie’s congratulations causing a swell in his chest. In another world, where they didn’t have to sneak around, Cole would parade Adam around, would wear his name ever on Cole’s lips, because he could never get tired of the feeling that Adam loved him. Despite everything, Adam chose him.

Clearly, Eddie could relate to the feeling. He nodded his understanding, smile still pushing on his lips. “But why shouldn’t he? You’re a catch too.” With a hint of mischief in his eyes, Cole shrugged, “I mean, we already established that I have good taste.”

eddiemcnson​:

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“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.”

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. 

eddiemcnson​:

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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?”

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. 

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?” 

eddiemcnson​:

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eddie very nearly hissed when cole pulled on his shirt, when he felt his breath ghost over his ear a few seconds later. almost instinctively, his grip on cole’s waist tightened, fingers experimentally darting underneath the fabric to feel the warmth of his skin, the sensation made his arms break out in goosebumps. god, it had been a fucking long time since he’d last been this close to someone. and eddie certainly hadn’t expected to find himself in this situation when he’d loaded his stereo into the van to drive to an illegal party in the mall some four hours ago.

a slight, dazed grin tugged at his lips, he rolled his eyes. “you’re a cocky bastard, you know that?”, he whispered with a slight shake of his head before their lips were connected yet again and eddie gasped into the kiss, shivered as their tongues lazily brushed together.

he hummed, pleased, when cole moved onto his neck, let one hand travel up to card his fingers through cole’s hair. he let his head fall back, eyes closed, trying to town in the sensation of cole’s lips on his skin -

- but no, there was something else, something disturbing them. he frowned, and, tugging at cole’s hair slightly, pulled back. “i - d'you hear that?”

xx.

When Eddie slipped his hands beneath Cole’s shirt, Cole decided he was glad he came to this protest/party/whatever it was. A rush of warmth flooded Cole’s chest and he leaned into Eddie’s body, wishing they could be closer still. He knew he made Eddie feel good; the goosebumps and hums were evidence enough.

At Eddie’s eye roll, a confident grin pushed Cole’s lips upwards. “It’s been said. Not sure I agree,” was all he managed before their lips connected again with a desperate crash. Cole relished the feeling of Eddie’s soft lips, his tangled hair, their arms intertwined. 

As Eddie tugged on Cole’s hair, his kisses became more frantic, eventually leading back to the other’s mouth. Cole hummed back as their lips connected; the hum turned into a groan when Eddie pulled back. Blinking and catching his breath, Cole reluctantly pulled his hands out from underneath Eddie’s shirt.

Shit. Did someone just say the cops were here? Smoothing out Eddie’s tussled hair, Cole grabbed his hand and pulled him to the wall nearest them. There was an exit that way, if he remembered correctly. Cole glanced at Eddie one last time and winked, “That’ll be hard to forget, Munson.” Patting down his own hair, Cole slipped off to the right to inconspicuously re-join the group, allowing Eddie to do the same a few moments later. He was sure the vandals would be too frantic to notice.

eddiemcnson​:

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he melted into the kiss, well, eddie had expected ole to be a good kisser but this ? this blew his expectations. so differet from the encounters he’s had in chicago, all rushed and messy, and oddly…cold and distant where it should be intimate and warm. kissing ole was a welcome change to that, the way he softly cupped his cheek, leaning into him.

eddie chased his lips when they pulled apart, a dazed, glossy look in his eyes. he blinked, lips parted and swollen, breath shallow, his heart beating so fast it was threatening to burst out of his chest any second now. a  grin tugged at his lips. “yeah, well, i can only return the compliment, montgomery.” his hands found cole’s waist, drawing him in closer.

and while there was certainly a different person in the back of his head, eddie noted that kissing cole felt vastly different than how he imagined kissing steve to be. and maybe that was a good thing. maybe that would actually ground him, in a way, bring him back to the realms of what was possible and what was seemingly destined to play out in his fantasies only. this was cole, not steve, eddie repeated to himself. it was cole and it would likely never be steve. and right now, that was more than okay.

because kissing cole was maybe the best thing he’d felt in a long time. “don’t let it go to your head, though.”, he grinned, took hold of cole’s chin and drew him in closer. his lips found cole’s easily now, they moved together in a steady, comfortable rhythm.

xx.

A satisfied grin spread across Cole’s lips at Eddie’s remark. It was easy to be good at kissing Eddie, he thought, when Eddie looked at him like that. Simultaneously, Cole was desperate to have more of Eddie and terrified that he’d never really find what he was looking for. But that was a problem for tomorrow.

Heat spread across Cole’s body as Eddie grabbed his waist and pulled him closer. Unable to stop himself, Cole let his hands wander Eddie’s body-- slipping under his shirt and balling up the fabric in his hand. If they weren’t in public, Cole would tug it off... and other things. 

Pressing his lips to Eddie’s ear, Cole whispered: “Oops, it’s already gone to my head.” As Eddie took his chin, Cole shut his eyes and gave in to Eddie’s demands. Darting his tongue inside the other’s mouth, he felt his cheeks heat up and his heartbeat quicken. It felt so natural with him, like they'd done this before. 

Cole pulled back, giving them a chance to breathe, and focused his attention on Eddie’s neck. Careful not to leave any marks, he trailed his lips down to Eddie’s collarbone, his hand lazily rubbing Eddie’s back. In the back of his mind, behind the kissing-induced haze, Cole heard several voices-- were they yelling? But he couldn’t tear himself away from Eddie.  

eddiemcnson​:

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his eyes flicked between cole’s - jesus, how did he have lashes like that, it was unfair - as if searching for even the slightest hint of uncertainty that would make him pull back, apologize, would make them part ways. but cole’s hand was still in his shirt, he was still so intoxicatingly close and now he had verbal confirmation, too.

eddie looked around one more time, hating how nervous and paranoid he got everytime he went back to hawkins, a shaky exhale drawn from his lungs, the air was clear. and still he felt himself hesitate, eyes meeting cole’s again, and the thought of how bizarre this was, how this wasn’t even the guy he’d spent his waking moments fantasizing about while sat in the back of ms. o’donnell’s class.

no, no, he nipped that strain of thought in the bed, no, this wasn’t the time to dwell on past crushed. to hell with it. eddie gave a weak nod, grin pulling at his lips. “yeah”, he breathed, “’m sure”, and dove in to connect their lips.

xx.

Instinctively, Cole’s hand snaked around Eddie’s neck, a desperate attempt to pull him closer. Cole sighed into Eddie’s lips, allowing his chest to rest on Eddie’s. Tilting his head, Cole brought his other hand to Eddie’s face, cupping his jawline and stroking his cheek.

It had been a while-- a few months, at least-- since Cole had been kissed, and the clandestine nature of their meeting didn’t help the fluttering in his stomach. He knew he and Eddie would never be together in any real sense, but right here, right now, the future didn’t matter. As far as he was concerned, the future didn’t even exist.

Cole pulled away, just for a moment to catch his breath, and ran his thumb over Eddie’s lips. Lifting his gaze to meet Eddie’s eyes, Cole’s mouth twisted into a smile. “You’re pretty good at this, Munson,” he remarked, pulling his face back to Eddie’s-- daring him to lean in again. 

eddiemcnson​:

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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?” 

eddiemcnson​:

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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?”

xx.

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

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

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

eddiemcnson​:

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“oh.” eddie just continued to stare, stupidly, until his eyes widened, brain finally catching onto what cole had just admitted here. shit. so hawkins wasn’t as prim, proper and heterosexual as he’d been made to believe all this time. eddie licked his lips, blinked. wracking his brain on what to say next. nearly choking on his own breath when he said ‘we fucked’ and oh, his cheeks immediately lit up, stained a deep red colour. he nodded.

“so you’re….”, he trailed off, browd furrowed, giving cole a meaningful look before he dropped because shit, what else did he need, here? cole had just said he used to have a boyfriend, whom he quote unquote ‘fucked’ - or the other way around? he tried not to think about it, it was getting hard trying to concentrate as is -  what other confirmation could he possibly need to know that cole was into guys?

he didn’t miss how cole’s eyes slipped to his lips and his tongue darted out to swipe over his bottom lip. shit, why was he this flustered? getting hit on in chicago eddie usually wasn’t this squirming and blushing mess of a man. but hawkins? whole ‘nother story. not that he was totally suave in chicago, either, but at least a little more in control. here, he felt powerless. 

however, he straightened his back, took another drag. however, he thought, it didn’t need to be that way. if he pulled himself together. “oh yeah?”, he questioned, brow raised, a grin forming on his lips. “yeah? well, what if i -” and he actually couldn’t believe he was going to use a line this corny but here went nothing - “ well, what if i wanted to skip straight to dessert?”

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. 

eddiemcnson​:

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see, cole could’ve hit eddie flat in the face with a giant metal sign that said ‘i’m into guys’ and he still wouldn’t have taken the hint. just…the thought of someone else in hawkins that was like him. surely not - or well, they just wouldn’t come right out the gate and say it. no, being…different, whatever kind of different, and living in that godforsaken town - for some people that was comparable to a death sentence.

still, his eyes widened, blinking at cole with that ‘deer caught in the headlights’ look as he hastily in- and exhaled the smoke. not that that did anything in terms of calming him down. on the contrary, eddie just started to fidget more. “as in….you like them or…like, like like them….” he felt like a fucking middle-schooler. but he just continued. “your boyfriend. you mean like when … wheeler and buckley or like, i dunno, girls call each other ‘girl-friends’ or like….like if…like, when wheeler called harrington her ‘boyfriend’ when they were still a thing?”

as confused as eddie was about the whole situation he apparently still had it in him to blush and get insanely flustered at cole’s….suggestion? if that’s what it was? lips parted, mouth dropped open slightly, he took another drag. his eyes never left cole’s, only once to go look around them, see if anyone was in earshot. negative. “h-how….”, his lips formed around words he didn’t say, a thousand scenarios flashes in his head. eddie blinked.”…how would - you, uh, prove….it?”

XX.

Cole felt bad, but he laughed at Eddie's inability to accept what he was told. It was a defense mechanism, he assumed, after many years of having to keep this part of him secret. For a moment, Cole was grateful for Adam-- grateful he had someone to share it with; in a way, it made this whole ordeal easier. More natural.

"He was my boyfriend-boyfriend," Cole explained. "As in, we fucked," he took a drag of his cigarette, granting Eddie time to take in what he said. "Sorry to be so explicit, but wasn't sure what else to say," Cole explained, though he wasn't really sorry. Part of him liked seeing Eddie squirm. He liked the effect his words had on the other.

Cole smirked, letting his eyes linger on Eddie's lips. He figured it would never happen, but he was open to all possibilities. Especially possibilities that looked like Eddie. "Well, I'm a gentleman. I'd take you out to dinner first," he winked, taking another drag of his cigarette.

eddiemcnson​:

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droplets of nervous sweat starting to appear above his brow, eddie’s eyes darted down to where cole pulled out that blasted bandana before he took both the cigarette and lighter from him. he clicked it a couple of times, no light appeared, eddie nervously glanced back up at cole, down at the lighter. violently shook it around for a moment, another attempt - it thankfully lit this time and he handed it back to cole.

he was a bundle of nerves. the previous pleasant buzz from the alcohol had almost entirely disappeared, he flicked  the cigarette’s filter repeatedly, fidgeted with his rings on his other hand. as if he was almost….waiting for cole to ridicule him. instead, however, he said something completely unexpected and eddie chocked on his own breath, sputtering cough.

he looked up to lock eyes with him. i am, too. the fuck did he mean? and ‘too’? was this some sort of trap? or was he literally genuinely saying what…eddie thought…he was saying? hadn’t he not gotten any of his surely widely popularly used phrases moments ago? he quirked a brow, took a drag once his coughing had subised. “you are….what?”, eyes narrowed, voice low in case this was, indeed, a trap.

adam richards was mentioned and, oh, jeez, it all made sense. eddie almost instantly felt bad, a guilty nauseau creeping up on him. way to go, munson, way to go. “your best friend, wasn’t he?” brows pulled together, lips twisted into a sympathetic smile. of course, max hadn’t been the only one who’d lost someone on the very ground they were standing on. “listen, man, i’m so…sorry - like, that’s gotta be rough, like, being here and everything. sorry. i can go and  leave you alone if you want to.”

xx. 

Cole didn’t waver under Eddie’s gaze. If he was correct, Eddie’s behavior made sense. Cole felt it too, the fear of being found out by someone who wasn’t safe. It was the reason Cole and Adam snuck around for the three years they were together-- to avoid the football jocks and the band geeks and the teachers berating them and calling them names. Only it never stopped there; it often got physical, violent. Of course Eddie was afraid.

It was like they were playing chicken, like they were standing in front of a train for as long as possible and pulling back at the last second-- exhilarating, maybe, but not satisfying. Something about being in the mall, all his thoughts about Adam... it was the perfect concoction for a confession. “I like guys,” he said, meeting Eddie’s eyes again. “Adam was my boyfriend.”

And then: relief. Cole felt like he’d recovered part of himself, like he’d regained a phantom limb. He hadn’t been able to talk about his feelings this openly since, well, Adam. It was refreshing, rejuvenating even. “If you want, I’ll prove it,” he teased, giving Eddie a once-over. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so open about it, but what’s the worst that could happen?

eddiemcnson​:

+++

shit. shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. he should’ve known, should’ve known that this was a bad idea, should’ve known better than to ask a current resident of hicksville, indiana if he was flagging. stupid, stupid, god, what had he been thinking? nothing, apparently, and now his mind was wiped empty once more as he stared at cole blinking at him in confusion - and, what was that, curiosity? - as eddie scrambled for something to say. he cleared his throat. 

“never….mind.”, he said slowly, cautiously, tongue pressed to the roof of his mouth. shit. eddie shook his head. “nothing, nothing. i just thought -” oh my god, munson, shut the fuck up. “i just - “ no matter how hard he tried to stop himself the words now fell freely from his lips. “well, i wondered if you…well, do you know someone named - “ if he didn’t stop talking right then and there he was going to explode. well, spontaneous human combustion it was, as he simply carried on. “are you…perhaps a friend of, uh. of dorothy’s ? “ a beat passed, eddie sucked on his bottem lip nerverously. he waved it off. “you know what….nevermind. nothing. it was stupid.”

he flashed him a pained grin, nodded, ‘right, then’,  and turned on his heel. already squeezing his eyes shut because oh, the embarassment now creeped up on him, made his cheeks flush. at the last minute he decided to turn back, walk back to cole. “can i bum a cig off you?” please, please, heaven, god, if there is one - eddie thought to himself as he stared at cole expectantly -  please just don’t let him bring it up again.

xx.

Cole’s eyes sparkled with amusement and curiosity as he searched his brain. Dorothy? Flagging? What was Eddie trying to ask him? And why was he speaking in this obscure code? At first, Cole wondered if it was a DnD thing, but then realization hit when Cole spotted a bandana in Eddie’s back pocket. He instinctively reached for the bandana he’d tucked in his own pocket and the amusement on his face morphed to something akin to wonder. 

At Eddie’s question, Cole nodded and held out the pack, though his eyes were still glazed over. As Eddie plucked out a cigarette, Cole offered his lighter. He wanted to say something, at least to put Eddie at ease, but he wasn’t sure if he was ready to say it out loud. No one knew yet... well, that wasn’t true, because there was Steve and then there was Max. What the hell?

“I am, too,” Cole said, abruptly. He lowered the cigarette from his lips and looked at Eddie, motioning to the flag. For some reason, he felt the urge to prove it. God forbid Eddie thought he was playing a mean prank. “Do you remember Adam Richards? Tall, broad, blonde? He was my... well, you know,” Cole stumbled through his words, feeling his cheeks heat up. He was never this awkward. 

Cole hadn’t realized what he’d gotten himself into by volunteering to bring a keg-- scratch that, multiple kegs-- to this shindig. It might not bother everyone, but the sticky beer dripping on the linoleum made Cole’s spine shiver, so he dug into his backpack for something to clean it up with. Digging to the very bottom, he found a black handkerchief. Perfect. Cole wiped down the side of the keg and the floor beneath it, and decided to perch nearby in order to nag people not to let it drip on the floor. Really, how hard was it?

In his bag, Cole caught a glimpse of his cigarettes and felt a familiar pang in his gut. Surely it wouldn’t be in bad taste to smoke inside, given the circumstances? Absentmindedly, he tucked the bandana in his back pocket and grabbed a cigarette. “Hope no one minds,” he mumbled, mostly to himself, and lit up.

Shutting his eyes, Cole allowed the blaring music to distract him from the fact that he was inside the mall where the love of his life died. Light stuff. He wasn’t mad at the music choice, surprisingly. Cole tried not to be pretentious about music, but he could only take so many days of people coming into the Music Center asking for the new Rick Astley or Whitney Houston. Thankfully, this music had some teeth. He wondered who’d been recruited to play it. 

When Cole opened his eyes to take another drag, he was shocked to see Eddie Munson running right at him. Cole leaned back instinctively, confusion written on his face, “Uh, sorry. What’d you call me?” He followed Eddie’s eyes to his pocket and pulled out the handkerchief. “Wait-- flagging? I’m cleaning up the keg because these goddamned kids can’t be bothered to catch their beer...” he paused, suddenly curious. “What did you think?”

where: blue quarry mall who: eddie + cole ! @colemontgomeryx​​

despite the inital apprehension, because he really didn’t need the hawkins police department all up in his business again, not when he’d been a murder suspect barely two years ago, eddie slowly felt himself relax, some of the tension slipping from his body. not all, ever since that upside down debacle he hadn’t been able to relax fully. but the beer helped - bless that kid who’d brought the keg - and the general air of…insanity that lingered amongst the party-goers and protesters.

the sounds of black sabbath filled the mall, eddie felt himself nodding along to the tune, and, hey, he really didn’t care that most of the people here had never heard of ozzy osbourne in their lives. they all seemed to have a great time, anyway. so he didn’t even need to whip out that tape of 1988′s top of the pops he’d recorded, just in case they’d want to burn him at the stake for seducing them with his evil satanic dnd music.

he leaned against a pillar, let his eyes wander among the crowed, took a sip of beer and - hey, there he was, that kid with the keg. definitely not a kid now that he got a proper look at him. eddie tilted his head, his mouth dropped open slightly and he craned his neck, pushed himself off the wall, because… wait a minute.

wait a damn minute. he narrowed his eyes, looked down and. holy shit. well, if his eyes weren’t deceiving him then that - yeah that - that was a bandana. dangling from his - cole’s - back pocket. on display. he nearly choked on his beer, coughed and, taking another sip to ease said cough, he booked it across the mall, tapped him on the shoulder.

“hey, man - cole.”, he said, held eye contact with him for perhaps a tad longer than was appropriate. cleared his throat, gestured down towards his own back pocket. a quick look left and right, they weren’t in hearing distance of anyone else. still, he lowered his voice. “hey man, are you… are you flagging?”

This was exactly what Cole had wanted to do all day: sit by the lake holding a book, giving him the perfect excuse to disassociate without being judged. But instead, he's been all over town: helping Max break into a grocery store, getting roped into the Wheeler barbecue, and generally exhausting his already-low social battery. So he trudged through the vegetation to his favorite spot: an isolated bench just far enough away from the shoreline to be remote.

Or so he thought. A sudden burst of movement much too big to be a squirrel caused Cole to slow his steps, until he peered around the trees to see none other than Eddie Munson. Cole didn't know Eddie very well, but everyone knew about Eddie. Personally, Cole didn't believe the stories: Eddie was so not the kind of guy who could kill a cheerleader. Plus, Eddie was friendly with Max and Harrington, so he couldn't be that weird. Geeky, maybe, but not creepy.

Setting his novel aside, Cole bent down to help Eddie pick up the figurines. Fuck, why were they so small? "Yeah, I'm good," Cole said, handing over the three he'd collected. "Eddie, right? Were you leaving?" he asked, not wanting to kick Eddie out of his spot. "Hey... what are these, anyway?" Cole asked, standing up and brushing leaves off of his knees.

who : eddie munson + open !

where : the shore of lovers lake

Sometimes when he comes home he just likes to do …. this. Sit on a bench near a busy place- near, not, like, in the middle of it, ‘cause in Hawkins he’s still Eddie ‘the freak’ Munson - and people watch. Thinking about how he has miraculously made it out of this shithole, alive. Not made it all too far but he’s managed to get out of Hawkins, Indiana at all, and that amounts to something. To him it does.

So he sits there, closes his eyes for a moment and inhales deeply and - oh, yep, that’s definitely cow shit, isn’t it - just listens to the sounds that surround him. Families having picnics, teenagers sneaking away, people bathing in the sun, birds singing, twigs cracking - hold on. Eddie jolts upright. Oh, fuck this, he’s getting outta here, he’s not in the mood to get roughed up by some high school freshmen who still think he’s put some satanic DnD spell on those students that died two years ago. 

Eddie grabs his Van Halen lunchbox, jumps up, ready to make his escape as he bumps into someone - he grabs onto the backrest of the bench for balance, watches the contents of his metal box spill out onto the floor. Well, at least there’s no drugs this time. “Shit”, he curses under his breath, crouches down to collect all the little figurines he’s fucking hand-crafted for the next Hellfire campaing, “Shit, jesus, fuck.” Why did he have to make them this small? “Shit ,ah, sorry. Sorry, my bad. You - you good?”