&&. Max +eddie 002 - Blog Posts

zccming·:

as eddie yelped in pain, max cut in, “geez! watch it! i can’t afford to pay for your burn treatments right now.” the state of the kitchen stirred enough concern in max that she crawled off the couch and stood guard at the threshold, watching eddie. “don’t blow my house up.” her words of encouragement, obviously, weren’t helping, but she couldn’t seem to bite her tongue. the effort from eddie was sincere, and max did appreciate it, but at the end of the day she was a little shit who couldn’t keep her mouth shut and the idea of her mom coming home from a long shift to this mess was enough to get her antsy. 

eddie miraculously finished the meal and max stared at the aftermath skeptically, “i don’t complain.” she whined in refute. “now you go sit down, find us something to watch.” max prompted, mostly urging him out of the kitchen. while she had been very vocal about not helping him clean up, once she got him sitting, that’s exactly what max did. she swept the vegetables off the floor and did some of the dishes she could before making a plate for eddie and herself, then pouring then drinks to match. maybe this would work out to be a nice gesture after all. 

“here.” she handed him his food first, then sat with her own. eddie signaling max to try first didn’t bode well for the final product of this dish. willing to be somewhat optimistic, she took a bite, then immediately frowned. she managed to choke it down, then looked at eddie, “eddie,” max levelled with him, “this is burnt.” before he could ask what part, max clarified, “like, all of it.” she tapped her fork onto his plate, “you eat it and try to tell me this is edible.” she set her plate down, shaking her head. “idiot. i told you.” 

eddie had made enough choices about dinner that max was finally taking matters into her own hand. she marched into the kitchen and pulled out various take out menus from a drawer. calling to eddie, she asked, “do you want enzo’s, takeout from the bar menu at the hideaway, or something else?” and while she was at it, might as well add, “i hope you found something worth watching in the meantime.” 

+++

eddie scoffed, “this is hardly a house”, and turned on the tap, holding his hands under the cold water. he doubted this would actually help the blisters that would most definitely form on his palms in the near future but, oh well, better than nothing. 

next thing he knew he was being ushered out of the kitchen and eddie knew better than to protest. not that he was particularly keen on having to clean up, either. so he just rolled his eyes and plopped down on the couch, straining his arm to reach for the remote because once eddie sat down he was sat. he’d rather perform an acrobatic stunt that get up again, not after what felt like hours he’d spent slaving away in the kitchen. he chuckled. sounded like he was a housewife or something.

he aimlessly zapped through the channels, hooked on a dallas plotline for a moment before changing the channel yet again. dynasty? definitely not. zap. oh - he sat up straighter. now, this would do. eddie grinned, looked over his shoulder at max. “found our evening entertainment. unsolved mysteries.” eddie wiggled his eyebrows. “sorta ironic if you ask me. but it’s so good, max.”

what was, apparently, not as good was the food he’d cooked, as even eddie himself stared down skeptically at the plate she’d handed him. “what? come on, don’t bullshit me, you can’t burn pasta.” and to reiterate his point he did take a massive bite and soon found out that it was, in fact, very possible to burn pasta. he nearly choked, grimacing as he chewed and then swallowed. frowning, he set the plate aside on the side table. “god damn it. son of a bitch must’ve given me the wrong recipe.”

blame someone else, always a good tactic. sheepishly, eddie looked at max, gaze following her as she went to get the take out menus. “’m sorry. i fucked up.” and really, eddie was quite mad at himself. good for nothing. couldn’t even cook them a nice meal. shit. “um, enzo’s sounds good?”

zccming·:

after starcourt–

after billy, it wasn’t uncommon to find max tucking herself away from the rest of the world. of course, she did that before too, but it came to a more extreme head in the following years. eventually, it developed into part of who she was. jaded, distant, sad. of course, she was a lot of other things, but tonight max was feeling like she was only those. she leaned back against a store front, staring at her half empty cup. it should’ve been you instead. vecna was only trying to get even with you. she didn’t remember a life before those thoughts decided to act up and rattle against her skull religiously every once in a while. max also found  that the memories of billy’s face, his lifeless body, and the chilled feeling in her feet liked to pair themselves with her guilty mantras. all these thoughts came with no solutions to permanently soothe them, and if there was an instruction manual, she was too stubborn to read it. her beer looked like blood in the dark. rather than moping, she should have anticipated that eddie at some point would come to check up on her, but she didn’t. 

jumping slightly at his approach, she sighed, “much fun as i can.” deflect, deflect, deflect. “you couldn’t have brought any crowd pleasers with you?” she teased in reference to his very obviously personal tunes blaring throughout the mall. “seriously, i can’t tell if it’s the beer, your music, or those upcoming hawkins high school seniors that are giving me this headache.” the words were harsh, but she managed to smile over at eddie when she asked in turn, “you having fun?”

+++

eddie rolled his eyes, lightly and playfully shoved her. “shut up.” he knew her well enough to know that max wasn’t a champion at talking openly about her feelings and what was bothering her - but then again, neither was he. and pressuring her into talking about something that triggered even more painful memories was the last thing he wanted. so he just shrugged, let her deflect all she wanted while he stood idly by. his presence and gaze screaming ‘ i am here, if you need me ‘. 

he dug in the inner pocket of his denim vest and pulled out a mixtape, shoved it at her. “here you go. nothing but crowdpleasers. top of the fucking pops.”, he grumbled, made a fake gagging noise and then threw a sly grin her way. “i came prepared, butthead. but so far no one’s complained about my tunes so...”, eddie trailed off, then narrowed his eyes and threw her a dirty look. “ - ‘cept for you! traitor.”

the mention of said hawkins high seniors made him involuntarily flinch, he clutched his beer tighter, eyes darting around the mall to spot the familiar green, white and yellow varsity jackets. they were kids, he tried to reassure himself, just kids, too young to have been part of the angry mob led by jason carver who had initiated the witch hunt. ‘ hunt the freak ‘. and to think that wasn’t the weirdest thing that had happened that year. eddie hurriedly shook his head, as if trying to shake the thought out of his mind.

he turned back to max. “i should have an ibuprofen somewhere in my van. d’you want me to go get it for you? or, alternatively, you could always stop drinking that god-awful beer. tastes like straight up piss.”

where: blue quarry mall

who: eddie + max !

@zccming​​

despite popular belief, eddie wasn’t completely clueless. he was in a lot of matters, mostly concerning normal social interactions, but he wasn’t completely oblivious to what had happened those years ago on the very spot they were now standing, partying. after venturing through the upside down he’d been filled in on most of the gory details on what whack shit had taken place in hawkins and it had all started to make a little more sense.

presently, eddie knew, they were very much dancing on graves. of people who had died posessed by the mindflayer, people who had been ‘collateral damage’ and people who had heroically sacrificed themselves. people like billy hargrove.

he’d never been that close to billy, hadn’t come to known the guy that well, except for a few hushed drug deals here and there. their connection hadn’t gone past a somewhat acknowledging nod to one another at a metal gig. but eddie knew that, in a twisted way, he’d filled the position that billy had left -

- in max mayfield’s life. so he’d kept close watch of her througout the evening from his position next to the stereo. when he’d spotted her a little further away from the crowd, he’d quickly made his way over.

“hey kid. you good? having fun?”