Feat. Thad - Blog Posts
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.
mmuscles:
so, yes, thad was late, but he had to scour town for decent enough tools to get this repair on the road. he doubted that cole had anything that would suffice and he wasn’t gonna half ass this job, but truthfully, he didn’t think cole would notice. he pulled up to the montgomery residence, motley crue’s girls, girls girls, blaring as he put the car in park. the sound stopped when he took the key out of the ignition, grabbed the tools from his backseat, and made for the garage. of course cole commented on the fact he was late, which caused thad to place a hand on the side of his head, dragging it gently after him in a bro rough housing kind of way as he head for the garage.
he called back as he moved to assess the damage, “are you drunk already, pretty boy?” thad wondered if cole really found him that insufferable, but quickly concluded that couldn’t be the case. he was…thad. and people loved him. he shook off the thought and began buffing feeling around the dents of the car, not entirely focused on conversation with cole, but still responding, “grab me one!”
thad was pushing around on the crumped metal, seeing if any of the repairs could be done by hand when cole returned with the drink. gladly, he took the bottle, took a sip, but nearly spit it out as cole called adam his boyfriend. fortunately for his own pride, he swallowed the beer, then stood to meet cole at eye level, “yeah, i met him. no big deal.” he shrugged, and thad hadn’t thought it was, until now. adam wasn’t anything spectacular in thad’s eyes, but he could feel this conversation going downhill fast, so he diverted to another question, “is he really like, your boyfriend?” the idea of a guy so openly, so gently calling another guy that, well, it formed a lump in thad’s throat that he had no idea how to explain. it definitely wasn’t a bad thing, just different, in fact, thad felt kind of jealous that cole was so comfortable with the word. so, he set his beer down, and turned back to the car.
xx.
A hint of an amused smile flashed over Cole’s face when he heard what Thad had been listening to on the way here. Motley Crue: Girls, Girls, Girls. A bit obvious, in Cole’s opinion, but for once he didn’t feel like picking a fight over something so small. That is, until Thad grabbed Cole by the side of the head. Wiggling out of his grip, Cole shot Thad a look. “Don’t mess up my hair,” he grumbled, fully knowing it was still wet and unstyled. It was the principle.
“I’m not drunk,” he corrected, and watched as Thad inspected the car. Honestly, he was still surprised Thad even came. That was... decent of him. Since they’d met, and since Thad had kissed him, Cole’s sneaking suspicion that Thad wasn’t that bad had been on shaky ground. There were glimpses of decency, even kindness-- but Thad hid that behind whatever show he thought he was putting on.
Cole hid his smirk behind the beer bottle, taking another swig. He didn’t tell Thad about Adam solely for his reaction, though he assumed it would be amusing. Resisting the urge to argue with him-- actually, Adam is a big deal-- Cole crossed his arms over his chest. Not helpful right now, probably. At Thad’s question, Cole was glad he’d held off. “Yeah, he is,” Cole said simply, words accompanied by the smile that always lifted Cole’s lips when he mentioned Adam. The stupid smile that he couldn’t banish even though things were so tense right now. “Since high school. He was... gone for a while, but obviously, he’s here now.”
Pretending to inspect the passenger side door, Cole hazarded a glance at Thad’s face. As usual, his expression was unreadable-- guarded. “It goes without saying, but... not everyone knows.”
who: Cole & @mmuscles
where: the Montgomery residence
Cole had thought about calling off the repair about a hundred times, given everything that happened at the impromptu keg party in the woods. The last thing he wanted was to give Adam another reason to be upset. Not upset, but more confused. But, he didn’t have a phone number for Thad, and... his mom’s car was borderline undriveable, so he was stuck.
He’d been a bundle of nerves all morning: worried about what Adam thought of him, worried that maybe Adam wasn’t thinking of him at all, worried about what Thad would do or say. It was all unreasonable, he knew that, but if Cole had a talent for anything, it was catastrophizing.
Just twenty minutes before Thad was scheduled to arrive, Cole had finally peeled himself out of bed to move from wallowing in the dark to wallowing in the shower; drama was another one of his talents. He trudged down the stairs and opened the garage door. Two beers in hand, he plopped down in a lawn chair with sunglasses hiding the remnants of his nasty hangover.
And waited, for thirty extra minutes, in the heat. By the time he heard Thad pull up, Cole had gone through both beers. “You’re late, guy,” Cole called, gruffly. Though, he supposed he couldn’t be too upset-- free labor and all. He stood up, pushing the lawn chair with a loud screech-- and gestured for Thad to step inside the garage. “’m gonna get some more beers, but, uh... make yourself at home, I guess.”
Cole slipped inside and exchanged the two empty bottles for two fresh ones. Shutting the door behind him, Cole stretched his arm out to offer Thad the bottle. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, he kicked some leaves to the side. “So, you met my boyfriend.”
mmuscles:
still utterly fixated on getting cole to agree, the words that came from his mouth flew right over thad’s head. with a determined huff, he pointed his finger seriously in cole’s direction as he insisted, “yeah! you won’t!” as soon as it fully clicked that they had a deal, thad deflated a healthy amount and nodded, “oh. okay. cool.” feeling confident in his negotiation skills, he dropped his hands to a comfortable resting position on his hips.
there was some kind of energy cole exuded that was causing thad’s stomach to churn. what was he thinking about? why was he thinking so hard? thad never thought that hard about anything. right when it curious sparks were about to fly off the tip of his tongue, cole cracked a joke, and thad instantly frowned. this fucking guy. “i am, pretty boy. thank you very much.” he said proudly. he liked to think he was skilled in a lot of departments, money, girls, sports, but he put the most value into being good with cars. as if he were scheduling a meeting, thad held out his hand in proposed, “i’ll swing by monday afternoon?”
xx.
Cole studied Thad’s eyes, attempting to nail down what the other was feeling. Wondering if he’d even thought about why what had happened had happened. But, Cole decided, this ‘deal’ seemed like the best option for them both. If it would make Thad feel good enough not to take out his anger on Cole and Adam, it was good enough for Cole. Though, it was hard for him not to care, not to sympathize with Thad. It wasn’t his place. Thad would figure it out when he was ready.
“Great. Monday it is,” Cole agreed. “I’ll try not to wreck it again before then,” he added in, to ease the tension he’d built up in his mind. Something about Thad being at his house to fix his car felt... risky. But Cole decided not to press the issue. With a polite nod, he left the other standing there and went to look for Adam in the crowd.
END.
mmuscles:
.
thad hadn’t come to cole for some bullshit heart to heart, he came to level with him. considering what a pain in the ass he had been for the duration of their prior interactions, he was kicked off guard when cole was so…cool about it. he didn’t understand. and most definitely thought it was a trick. “i’m not bribing you, man.” thad ran a contemplative hand through his hair. there was no way he was trusting a guy he just met with a secret this big. “let me fix the car.” it obviously wasn’t out of kindness, but he didn’t have the words to explain what he was trying to do here. the way his brain worked though, was if he actually did something for cole, he’d feel less inclined to spill. thad merely hoped if he pushed enough, rather than articulate, cole would surrender. other than through his parents, that was how thad got most things he wanted in life, through brute force.
for the record, it’s okay to feel that way.
thad’s tongue got stuck at the front of his mouth and he gulped down his initial thoughts. how dare he? he didn’t feel any way. not him, not towards cole. “what way?” he asked, aggressively jutting his chin out towards cole. he wasn’t going to hit him or anything, but scaring him wasn’t out of the question. the last thing he needed was some…pretty boy telling him how to feel.
xx.
It was a good deal... a $3,000 worth of a repair for his silence. But Cole felt weird blatantly accepting it as a bribe, as if what had happened was gross or wrong. It was unexpected, sure, but... Cole had asked for it, hadn’t he? He assumed Thad was just very confused. Either that or Thad had a major lapse in judgement and now thinks Cole is wrong, sinful, a freak, even. With a tentative shrug, Cole gave in. “Okay, fine. Guess I won’t get a better deal than that.”
Cole was torn. He wanted to push the issue, to prove to Thad that there really is nothing wrong with liking guys... but that put him, and by association, Adam, in an extremely vulnerable position. At least with he kiss, the two were on equal footing. Leaning away from the discomfort, Cole decided to lighten the mood. “I guess I have to hope you’re good with your hands, guy,” he smirked. The usual back-and-forth of their interactions was a welcome reprieve from the temporary heaviness.
mmuscles:
.
thad watched the grass crunch below his feet as he walked off with cole. the fact he even had to say anything about this at all was stressing him out and the one feeling he kept coming back was wishing he simply hadn’t done it. maybe the thoughts of cole couldn’t haunt his mind and maybe he wouldn’t feel so uncomfortable with having to use some tact. as easy as it was to intimidate with fists and words, he didn’t want to do that with cole. with what little he knew about the guy, it didn’t seem like it would work. they spent a long time wandering around the field, thad unspeaking despite pulling cole aside.
finally, he shoved his fists into the pockets of his shorts and looked down at cole, “look, i like, really don’t want anyone finding out about….” he trailed off, nervously licking his lips. he was too embarrassed to even say what had happened, speaking about the incident made it more real, and that made thad more nervous. trying to keep up a tough exterior for cole, he continued, “i’ll fix your car if you keep that big mouth shut, deal?” he asked, sticking out his hand for cole to shake. would this be a business deal that thad’s father would be proud of? probably not. as he waited for cole to take it, thad added, “like, as collateral or whatever.”
xx.
Wordlessly, Cole followed Thad around the field. Maybe Thad wanted to be further from people to say what he wanted to say. Cole had a foggy idea of what this conversation would be about; he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about it too. Mostly, he’d thought up about a dozen questions, all that he couldn’t imagine Thad wanted to hear. Cole knew from personal experience that things as big as this couldn’t be forced; Thad had to be ready on his own.
He could tell Thad was nervous, ashamed even, and that made Cole sad. God, he was getting soft. Cole ventured to look into Thad’s eyes and decided, for once, to be earnest. “You don’t have to bribe me. I won’t say anything.” Deciding to be the bigger person, Cole let the ‘big mouth’ comment slide. Besides, he knew how Thad really felt about his mouth. “For the record... it’s okay to feel that way,” he said, though his muscles were tense. He was ready to duck out of the way if Thad swung on him, just in case.
mmuscles:
WHO: thad bradshaw & @loverboymontgomery WHAT: it’s like, collateral. WHERE: the meteor shower
thad was ashamed to admit he’d thought about cole since he cornered him in his garage. he wished he could say it was a time or two, but when he laid on the hood of his car outside of the motel 6 and moping about his life soundtracked to elvis each night, he found his thoughts drifting to cole, kissing cole. fuck, this was bad. he knew he had to say something next time he saw cole, and not kiss him this time, actually say it. there was no accounting for when he would see him next and secretly thad hoped it would be never, but of course the cookie just didn’t crumble.
he had gone to nancy to the meteor shower the next time he saw cole. he was there with some other guy and thad knew he had to act. quick. he told nancy he was going to take a leak and walked up to cole, who was newly alone and looking in the direction of the boy he was walking off, “hey, pretty boy.” he greeted, gesturing with his head to a less congregated area of the field, “wanna walk with me? i gotta talk with you.”
xx.
Being in public with Adam again was weird. Good weird, but weird. After they’d spent the last few days alone, making up for lost time, Cole found it difficult to keep his hands off Adam now. Not in a trashy way-- all he wanted to do was hold Adam’s hand, brush the same pesky hair out of Adam’s eyes, press a reassuring kiss to his shoulder. But Cole knew Adam was already on edge given, well, everything, so he was on his best behavior. Besides the two sharing a blanket and a few stolen glances, an innocent bystander would hardly know Cole and Adam were together.
When Adam left to go catch up with a friend, Cole’s eyes followed him. The fear that Adam would disappear still hadn’t gone away. He’d long given up trying to reason it away, because there was frankly nothing reasonable about anything in this situation, and sat lost in thought until he was approached by a familiar face. At Thad’s customary greeting, Cole couldn’t help but laugh. He figured this was coming, at some point, but he still didn’t know what he was going to say. The fear Cole had felt after Thad kissed him came rushing back; he was grateful they were in public, because he wasn’t sure what to expect-- anger, shame, aggression, even. “Uh, sure, guy,” Cole said, hoping his nerves weren’t apparent in his tone. Pushing himself off the ground, Cole followed Thad to a more private corner of the field. “What’s up?” he asked, glancing anywhere but Thad’s eyes. Instead, Cole skimmed the crowd and took momentary comfort in seeing the back of Adam’s head.
mmuscles:
“cole montgomery,” thad repeated the name back to him in a scoff. he shook his head, lowering his voice in turn, “i like pretty boy better.” he felt dizzy, confused even. why had he come here in the first place, again? the only thing he could hone in on was cole’s stare, their proximity was suffocating. while his brain screamed at his feet to bolt and get back in the car, thad only found them firmly planted on the floor of his garage and his gaze unwavering as it bored into cole. who was this guy?
thad liked to think he was strong. he liked to think he acted in way that would make his family proud, but as cole drew closer and demanded that show him, he was suddenly a very weak man. exasperated, he unnecessarily exclaimed, “fine! i will!” then fervently closed the distance between them. in one urgent motion, thad’s lips were on cole’s and his body was on his body, effectively sandwiching the other between himself and the wall.
the anger thad felt towards cole was especially invigorating, only furthering the franticness of each of his actions – kissing, roaming hands, whatever. thad, obviously, didn’t divulge these impulses very often, so the moment his brain slipped back into his head, he pulled away. he looked at cole, wide eyed with an expression somewhere between pissed and shocked. forcing himself in the intimidating direction of indignation, thad glared at cole, then marched off to his car without another word.
xx.
Cole wasn’t sure what it was, exactly, but he could see a battle waging behind Thad’s eyes. Through narrowed eyes, Cole studied Thad, trying to crack his code-- until, suddenly, Thad was pushing him against the wall again, and pressing his lips to Cole’s. At first, Cole was too shocked to respond. Thad who refused to learn his name was now kissing him?
It didn’t take long for Cole to give in; he hadn’t been kissed like this, maybe ever. Thad’s aggression translated to passion, and Cole ran his hands along Thad’s arms, encouraging him to keep going. When Thad pulled away, Cole couldn’t help the pout that his lips turned into. But he dared not protest-- something about Thad’s expression felt dangerous. Cole wasn’t sure what he would do, whether he would never speak of it again or whether he would take out his anger and repression on Cole.
So, Cole let him go. As Thad stormed off to his car and peeled out-- loudly, of course-- Cole lazily traced his lips, as if to check for physical signs that this had really happened. Steve was surprising to Cole, as was Eddie, but this? This felt earth-shattering in a completely different way. Not exhilarating and meaningful like with Adam, but... scary. And though it should’ve made him afraid of Thad, he couldn’t help be a little sad for him, too.
mmuscles:
.
“you better watch it, buddy.” thad said, jaw clenched, inches from cole’s face. it would’ve been easy to punch him, the other was annoying enough, but he found himself dropping his fist and rather gripping the collar of cole’s shirt with both hands. “i don’t fucking want you to buff it out.” he said, shaking his head, “it’s about the principle, the paying for it.” he listed, “plus i bet you can’t buff for shit.” thad sincerely doubted a guy who looked like that when batting his eyelashes knew the first thing about cars. for a split second, he stared at cole. openly, plainly, unapologetically licking his lips for a moment. then a barrier went back up, anger pointed fiercely at cole. thad didn’t have confidence in cole’s ability to amend this situation, but he did recognize that he had a knack for getting under his skin.
the longer thad stood there in close proximity, his grip loosened. his breathing remained shallow, and now felt as good of a time as any to reveal – “i already fixed my car.” he glanced over his shoulder, out of the garage, and out to the street. that car was his life, he had the knowledge on how to fix it, and there was no way he was taking it back out on the street dented, so he did what he had to. when thad looked back to cole, a quick, burning sensation coursed up from his toes and settled at the tips of his red ears. he must have been really mad or maybe, maybe this was something else. thad wasn’t looking to find an answer to that question right now. priorities. jolting cole by his collar, he repeated, “did you hear me? i already fixed it, pretty boy. are you gonna pay for my time or what?”
xx.
“Cole Montgomery,” he said, his eyes not leaving Thad’s. Clearly, this guy wasn’t going to let it go anytime soon, and Cole knew he’d already gotten under his skin. When Thad focused on Cole’s lips, he barely resisted the urge to pull Thad in closer. Cole wanted to retort to Thad’s comment, but also didn’t want the other to get more defensive-- he didn’t want to hurt the chances of Thad acting on his desire. “If you say so, guy,” Cole replied, his voice low.
He’d already fixed his car, so why was he here? Why was he putting up such a big fight? That was as much confirmation as Cole needed. Cole didn’t particularly enjoy Thad’s personality, but that had never stopped him from appreciating an attractive man before. It’s not like he was looking for love. As Thad jostled him, Cole leaned closer, leaving mere inches between their faces. “If you think I’m so pretty, Thad, why don’t you show me?”
mmuscles:
.
each time thad thought this guy was going to go right, he veered left. how did he know nancy? he lives here, dummy. why did he say that? why the fuck did he say that? the discomfort, outrage, and curiosity sparked blatantly behind thad’s eyes. he was never one to successfully mask his feelings, and now that trait was coming back to bite him in the ass. he opened his dry mouth and leaned in closer to the other, pointing a firm finger in the stranger’s face, “watch what you say about my girl,” and then, “and i’ll call you whatever i want, pretty boy.” thad was becoming gradually more convinced that the other just liked to hear himself talk. the offer to buff out his car for him made thad audibly laugh, “yeah right, like i’d even trust you to spell your own name correctly.” he looked at his car, “you couldn’t handle her. not in the slightest.” he scoffed, then snatched the legal pad out of the stranger’s hands. Steve Harrington. so he had a name. smugly, he tapped the pad of paper on top of steve’s head. “nope.” he popped the p. “this’ll do, i gotta jet. more important things to do.” thad winked at steve as he walked back to his car, feeling satisfied with the conversation.
when thad had left the stranger in the dust, he hadn’t been expecting to have to go on a hunt to find him again. turns out he was most certainly not steve harrington. for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to ask nancy about this mystery man. and he definitely wasn’t going to ask cassie. so thad was left with no choice but to ask strangers if they’d seen the small fry with the curly hair? to which he got a different answer almost each time. thad thought he might just lose his mind. the longer he had to go on this chase the more fired up thad got, stuck on the mental image of this guy’s stupid face and his stupid idea of a joke. he became more and more set on the idea of finding him, then giving him a piece of his mind. thad, actually, replayed the thought over and over, near obsessively over the course of the two days it took to find him. when thad next laid eyes on this asshole, it happened completely on accident. he was driving around, killing time when he saw him, barreling down his driveway on a skateboard.
wasting no time, thad screeched to a halt and scrambled out of his car, “you!” he shouted, pointing a finger as if it would make him sound more clear. immediately, he stormed up the driveway and eventually backed him into the garage, “do you think i’m like, stupid or something?” he asked, then balled up the fabric of the other’s, as if he might strike him. but he didn’t. instead, thad faltered, and eventually backed him into the wall of his garage, “you’re not steve.” he breathed out obviously. if it wasn’t already apparent why he had shown up, thad leered over him as he demanded to know, “are you gonna fix my shit?”
xx.
My girl. What an absurd thing to say about Nancy Wheeler, Cole thought. He couldn't imagine them together at all-- this guy who felt the need to control... everything, it seemed, with Nancy who was the most capable and independent person Cole knew. Even worse, Thad was a person who gendered his car. He probably named it too. Gross. Showing his distaste on his face, Cole looked from Thad to Thad's car. "Whatever you say, guy. Let's hope I spelled my name right," he smiled, glad to be done with Nancy's boyfriend.
When Cole didn't hear from Thad, he figured he'd uncovered Cole's scheme and decided he didn't care that much-- which was the plan. His mom's car wasn't any closer to getting fixed, but at least he didn't have to scrounge up his last three paychecks to pay for an overpriced repair on a gendered car that he could do himself. So, in lieu of a ride, Cole took to skateboarding around town. He'd just returned from work and was skating up his driveway when Cole heard a familiar voice yelling at him.
With an eyeroll and a groan, Cole planted a foot on the cement and turned. Unable to hid his smirk, Cole shrugged at Thad's question, "I never said that. Maybe I just misspelled my name. Oops." Cole's eyebrows shot up as Thad pushed him against the wall. Well, didn't this feel familiar. "I'll happily buff it out myself, guy, but I'm not paying for that shit. Why don't you call your diamond daddy and ask him for a favor?" Cole said with a sickly sweet smile and a bat of his eyelashes.
mmuscles:
.
thad hadn’t known what he was expecting when he started (deservedly) railing into a random stranger for denting up his car, but it wasn’t this attitude. as if the temperature rapidly ticked up about ten degrees, thad had the sudden urge to tug on the collar of his own polo shirt. he bit back the desire and instead combatted the other, “i’m not guy, i’m thad.” he exclaimed, “you’re guy.” he shook his head, huffing. the feeling began to sink in that this wasn’t going to be easy in the slightest as the other continued arguing in that annoying tone of his. right as thad opened his mouth to recover, the other intruded on his personal space, knocking the words directly out of his mouth. thad attempted to hide that fact with a scoff. “right. tell me, pretty boy, you make a habit out of rear ending people? is that how your car got so fucked?” he looked past him, and to the car. partly because he wanted to see it again, but mostly because he couldn’t stand to meet his eyes.
groaning and throwing his neck back dramatically, thad condescendingly laughed at the stranger, “i don’t want your fucking number, champ.” he proceeded in his attempts to assert his importance by giving him a firm smack on the shoulder, “i want you to pay for my car.” thad gripped his shoulder, hard, “put the keys down, you look ridiculous.” he followed that up by releasing the other. thad clicked his tongue, then shot him a finger gun, “be right back.” he turned around and jogged back to his car. throwing open the front door he dug into his glove compart for his mini legal pad and ballpoint pen that read bradshaw & co. diamond manufacturing. with both in hand, he was surprised to see his car’s assailant still standing in the road. thad jogged back, extending the pen and paper, “now be a good boy and give me your information, guy.”
xx.
Cole couldn’t help the smirk that overtook his features. Though this was an objectively shitty situation, the guy’s out of proportion outrage was entertaining, at least. “Thad?” Cole repeated, his eyes sparkling with laughter. “If I were you, I’d stick with guy.” At least ‘guy’ didn’t give off super-rich silver spoon asshole. Though, if Cole had to guess... that wasn’t far from the truth. Then it clicked: this was Nancy’s boyfriend Thad. Summer home in the Hamptons Thad. Completely ignoring Thad’s questioning, Cole arched a brow. “Careful, guy, I’m not sure Nancy would love the idea of you calling another me pretty,” he winked. “But hey, what happens in Hawkins can stay in Hawkins.” He was purposely laying it on thick, hoping to make Thad squirm a little.
I want you to pay for my car. Yeah, good luck, as Cole could barely even pay for his own. Wiggling out of Thad’s grip, Cole fixed him with a sickly-sweet and very fake smile. “Why would I pay for your car when that’s an easy touch up? Hell, I’ll even buff it for you, but I’ve got other expenses.” Cole rolled his eyes, shoving his keys in his back pocket. Rolling the pen around in his fingers, Cole snickered at the company name. A diamond manufacturer was asking him, a music store manager, to pay for a tiny dent? The irony. So, Cole decided to fuck with him. On the legal pad, he wrote: Steve Harrington, 6130 Valley View Rd. Plastering on the sickly sweet smile once again, Cole handed the notepad and pen back over to Thad. If Thad managed to make his way across town from Steve’s house to his own, he might be impressed enough to actually chip in for the car’s repairs. “You sure you don’t want me to throw in my phone number, guy?”
To say Cole was having a really fucking bad day was the understatement of the century. He’d started his morning being yelled at by a woman at work who was positively incensed that The Music Center of Hawkins, Indiana didn’t carry some brand new Yamaha keyboard. As if Hawkins was the epicenter for all trends and expensive brands? Then, he’d taken his mom’s car to the shop to assess the damage, and those crooks were claiming he’d have to pay $3,000. Who in Hawkins had that kind of cash laying around and what the hell did they need it for? So, yeah, he’d left the shop in a bit of a flurry and maybe wasn’t paying the best attention to his surroundings-- but it was not his fault that his car slid into the one in front of him. He’d slammed on the brakes, but the damn thing reacted so slowly. Could you damage your brakes in a crash?
Cole groaned when the prick got out of the car. This was going to be fun. The guy started yelling and, truthfully, Cole was barely listening. He was distracted by the guy’s antics... and maybe a little by his face. Cole unclicked his seatbelt and slid out of the car, wishing he had a cigarette right now. He had barely even hit the car, it wasn’t even dented-- something that could easily buff out, which Cole knew because he’d buffed out plenty of scratches on his mom’s old station wagon before. “Calm the fuck down, guy,” Cole said, rolling his eyes. “I happen to like driving my car around like this, unsure if the brakes will give out or if it’ll all just go up in flames at any minute. Keeps me awake,” he articulated every syllable, leaning into the guy’s personal space. Then, because he couldn’t help it: “If you wanted my number, you could’ve just asked without all the fuss.” He paused and, when the guy prompted him again, Cole threw his hands out in a shrugging motion. “The fuck do you want me to write my information on? Your car?” he dangled his keys in front of the guy, as if he would key his home address into the bumper.
WHO: thad bradshaw and @colemontgomeryx WHERE: the streets of hawkins
thad could read a map, he really could! he’d even taken cartography lessons growing up, but nothing, nothing, could have prepared him for how to navigate hawkins. the roadways made no sense, the city planning was incomprehensible, and he was thoroughly irritated. as his road rage was about to peak, everything halted when some piece of shit came barreling into the back of his car. his baby. he had a lot of outlandish things in life, but none quite as important as his car. money was no object, and neither was the labor, thad would drop both gladly, but it was the principle. nice things, like his car, should be kept nice. and ugly things, like the clunker that hit him, should be driven off a bridge.
stepping out of his car huffing and puffing, thad slammed the door closed, “hey, man.” he said, jaw clenched. “i don’t know if your brains are scrambled or you think driving that thing is street legal, but you just ruined my car!” it was a dramatization, really. he hadn’t even looked at his bumper, but right now it was more important that thad get the point across that he was upset. “it’s an engine combustion waiting to happen,” he placed his hands on his hips, “not only are you stupid, but you’re lazy. that would take me maybe…two…three afternoons worth of work.” he boasted, simultaneously insulting the other, “and god knows, there’s nothing to do around here, so maybe you should get your priorities in check, pal.” now that he had sufficiently ranted, thad thought clearly to demand, “give me your information, so i can contact you with a bill after i fix my car.” he looked back at his baby, all dented and scratched in the back. thad’s lip could’ve quivered. he turned back to the monster who did this, and more forcefully prompted, “well don’t just stand there, now.”
