Stevehharringtcns·:

found it in a better quality guys 😭😭 I wanna cry

stevehharringtcns·:

steve couldn’t say that he had ventured out in flirting with men before, at least, if he had done it, he couldn’t tell that he was doing. it was part of his personality to be naturally charming - he thought to himself. and it wasn’t like eddie was bad looking, there was definitely something about him. he wasn’t sure if it was the hair or the tattoos, but steve definitely liked what he saw whenever he looked at eddie. a smile showed up on his face and he let out a small chuckle. “so, you’re here to see me, is that it munson? you could have just told me that, i know i’m great company.”

once he was done rearranging the cases on the shelves, he started making his way towards the counter and passed on the other side, knwoing that eddie would follow him. his company was definitely better than keith’s, he thought. he could stay with eddie all day and he was sure that the day would pass on faster than it normally did. opening his mouth as he was offended, he let out a small chuckle. “i am definitely not a nerd, but yes, you are… didn’t you play that dragons and dungeons game or whatever it was called? i’m not even sure if i know what that game is about.” he said with a chuckle, shaking his head slowly as he leaned forward against the counter and stared at eddie, a smile on his face. he really was attractive… steve hadn’t seen that before. i mean, he definitely had noticed it, but it wasn’t like this before.

“oh, uh…” he thought a little about the type of movies he liked. “i really don’t have a type. i just kind of like… everything.” he said, clearing his throat as he did. “but horror’s pretty cool, i think. but i think our life has been enough horror as it is.” he said with a small chuckle, feeling himself turn red at eddie’s compliments, mentioning his hair and face. “thanks, man… and it’s a secret, i can’t just reveal that to anyone.” he said with a chuckle. “you’re not so bad yourself… you definitely could be a great contender to be the best hair in town if i weren’t here.” he said with a smirk on his face. “and the tattoos are sick, man.” he said with a nod.

he stared at the other, feeling himself still blushing before he just shrugged his shoulders and looked over at his watch. “do you have plans for after this? my shift ends in about twenty minutes, we could do… something.” he suggested with a small nod.

+++

“and that’s exactly why i didn’t tell you. your hair’s big enough, your ego doesn’t need to be the same size.”, eddie said with an overexaggerated sigh, grin still playing on his lips. all said in good fun because, well, in all honesty eddie wouldn’t mind being ‘round steve all day, paying him compliment after compliment. just to watch his cheeks take on that lovely pink colour.

he followed steve through the store like a lost puppy, stumbling over his own feet every so often. he feigned a look of outrage, one hand clutching at his chest, he let himself fall dramatically back against the counter. “oh, you wound me, harrington! pretending as if you do not even know what the sacred game is called - pain! “, he wailed dramatically, then got back upright, chuckled. “it’s dungeons and dragons, pretty boy. and well, why don’t you go and think real, real hard for a moment what a game called ‘dungeons and dragons’ could be about, hm?”

eddie watched in delight, a dazed glint over his eyes, as steve blushed at his compliments. which was very dangerous because now there was no stopping him, the compliments would fall freely from his lips. but when steve actually returned the compliment, in a way, and smirked - eddie gulped, audibly, smiled nervously. his heartbeat had increased rapidly. “oh, this frizzy mess? looks way tighter in chicago, trust me. hawkins is too fucking humid.”, he waved it off - eddie had never been particularly good at receiving compliments, though when steve gave them to him he did feel all sorts of buzzy inside. “and yeah, some sweet old tatties, hm? actually got a couple more. see?” and, feeling particularly bold, he pulled down the collar of his shirt to expose his inked skin.

and then steve asked him what he was doing after his shift, actually suggested that they do something together and his stomach flipped, in a good way, pulse speeding up. fuck yes, he didn’t have to be the one to ask. eddie blushed, nodded eagerly. “hell yeah, man.”, then, considering he might’ve come on to strong, he shrugged. “i mean, yeah, whatever, let’s do it.” god, he wished he could’ve been a touch less of an idiot when talking to steve. he leaned against the counter, tilted his head to the side. “thought i’d never see the day where steve ‘the hair’ harrington, king steve, asks me out.”, he said teasingly with a smirk. “it’s a date, then. how about....well, we could do the classic approach, dinner and a moive. or, if you’re that sort of girl, the drive-in straight away. bit....”, he wiggled his brows suggestively, “...racy for a first date but you do have a reputation ‘round town,”

stevehharringtcns·:

.

steve chuckled at eddie’s explanation on why he had thrown him the vest in the first place. at first he thought he was sort of jealous of the things between him and nancy, but he would have never figured it out that he was jealous of nancy. it didn’t matter, the past was in the past. he let out a small chuckle at the other, shaking his head slowly. “i’m sorry if my injuries bothered you so much, next time i’ll just bleed out in the upside down and then you won’t have to look at me.” he said in a teasing tone, tilting his head to the side as he stared at eddie’s lips for a couple of moments. “what was it that you said again? for your modesty?” he teased the other, biting his lower lip for an instant.

bringing eddie closer made steve take a deep breath, feeling a shiver down his spine once he felt eddie’s hands on his arms. he wished the two had been alone on this trip, at least they would have some more privacy and the chances of someone walking in while they were… well, like this, were way few less than right now. but still, he wanted to take his chances as he held eddie close to him.

looking as eddie took the vest, steve smiled as he mockingly wiped the other’s shoulders as he put it on, smiling as he looked at him up and down. “you know what, you definitely look good in it. but maybe next time you can wear it without a shirt on. like i did.” he said with a smile, as he kept looking at the other with the vest on. he did look good in that vest and there was no denying that. “oh, don’t sniff it like that, you… dingus.” he said, stealing robin’s nickname yet again. he did that too often. “if you’re good, then i’ll give you one of my shirts.” he said with another wink. 

the two really needed to talk, but being this close to him, it made it almost impossible to just talk. that’s why he didn’t waste any time in kissing the other back and pulling him even closer, the closest possible to him, as he held on to the other’s vest. he kept kissing the other for a few moments until he finally pulled away and sighed.

“are you sure…?” he asked, taking a moment to lick his lips and then looking at eddie. “it’s better if we talk… about… you know.” he said. he had never been good with words, not even when he was together with nancy and everything seemed to be easy. he was at a loss for words. “i just don’t know what to say.” he said, as he leaned forward slightly to kiss eddie’s forehead.

+++

he winced, groaned, sqeeuezed his eyes shut for a moment. "for your modesty", eddie echoed with a nod, digging his fingers further into the material of steve's shirt. "and to think you didn't know i was flirting with you, pretty boy. come on, that was like, shameless." really, in eddie's head the words 'for your modesty' had sounded more like 'stop flirting with your ex and kiss me already'.

feeling his cheeks flush and become hot, eddie quickly averted his gaze, cursing steve for that damn lip bite and pulled the vest back on. it still fit snugly, of course, though it didn't feel.... right anymore, in a way. like it was his anymore, at least not full, truly. "you know, steve, if you want to see me without my clothes on you could always just ask. slim to none chance i'll say no.", he grinned teasingly, mirroring steve's lip bite for a moment.

though his teasing, cocky demeanor quickly faded as he caught steve's wink and for a second eddie nearly let his eyes roll back in his head. "yeah?" sounding a little more breathless now, his gaze dropped to the other's lips for a split second. "so if im like, super good, you'll let me have that little yellow sweater of yours?" not that yellow was his colour, or any colour he'd ever seriously consider wearing, but the sweater was something so uniquely steve's that eddie truly wouldn't mind.

he sighed into the kiss, arms wrapped around steves neck as he felt him draw him closer by his vest. hands tangled into steve's hair, not caring whether or not he messed it up or if they got caught. let them, he thought as one hand came down to softly cup steve's face.

he chased after his lips when he felt the other pull away, pouted at the sudden loss of contact. sighing, he dropped his head a little, leaning into steve further. "what.... d'you want to talk about?", eddie muttered, lids fluttering shut as steve pressed a soft kiss to his forehead.

it was too nice, almost. being with steve, it felt too comfortable, too familiar. too nice. and nice things didn't just happen to eddie munson. he softly swiped his thumb across his cheek, basically clawing at steve's shirt with his other hand.

"you don't have to say anything, steve. i feel like I know what you're gonna say, anyway...", he muttered, pressed his lips together, as if that would hide the way his face fell. voice lower now, weaker. eddie sighed. "... so can I, like,... kiss you again before you push me away and decide that you're bored with and, I don't know, disgusted by me? listen i get it, im the freak and all, and im a guy, too, it's... a lot. but... one last kiss? please? and then i promise I'll get out of your hair, never bother you again."

walkie talks || steddie

steve: c'mon eddie, just... give me a chance to talk

steve: whatever, i just thought i shouldn't show up at your door...

steve: did you mean what you say? do you really think it was just... a joke?

eddie: you had plenty chance to talk at the cabin, steve.

eddie: i don't know why you're doing this, are you like ... mocking me? listen, i get that you're, like, embarrassed and shit, that you regret it. i get it.

eddie: you had your fun, let's just forget it, ok, harrington?

stevehharringtcns·:

now that had been a turn of events that steve hadn’t been expecting when he set foot in the carnival. everything had happened so fast. he had gotten into a fight with jack and heather, he remembered that. he remember being bruised when he punched jack, which was weird. and the next thing he knew… he was at the hospital. apparently it had been a full day ever since those events and when he woke up and learned that eddie had been arrested, he felt sick to his stomach. at least he saw that max, dustin and robin were okay. even though, everyone else didn’t seem to be. how had things escalated so fast?

he found it easier when he had his eyes closed, although it was hard to get some sleep with all of the pain he felt. the explosion had left him with a couple of broken ribs, a broken wrist and some other bumps and bruises. he would have thought that his face looked the worst however, with whatever had happened with jack. he was still trying to figure out what had happened, but his brain was too busy thinking about other stuff. he hadn’t seen eddie ever since the carnival, and he was starting to get even more worried about it.

he lied in his bed, mostly because there was nothing to do. he kept his eyes closed, now used to the noises that the nurses made when coming in and out of his room. at least he had been able to charm the nurses to get more cups of jello, which he didn’t mind at all. he didn’t know why people complained so much about the hospital food - it was good in steve’s opinion. the noise of the door closing didn’t bother him, keeping his eyes closed as he took a deep breath, his insides aching a bit because of the broken ribs and then he heard a voice calling for him. a voice that he knew all too well.

opening his eyes slowly, he saw eddie approach his bedside and he felt relief. actually, he thought it was just a dream at first, but he quickly realized that it wasn’t. he couldn’t help but to give the other a weak smile. “eddie…” he said weakly, nodding his head slowly. “hey…” he said, smiling at him. he wished he had the strength to wrap his arms around him and hold him close, but any movement he made, made his body ache. he would get better eventually. “are you okay?” he asked, looking at the other’s face.

+++

he practically sprinted the last couple of steps to steves bedside as he hear his voice perk up. a relieved exhale basically ripped out of him, eddie blinked repeatedly, gasped a little at the feeling of hot tears streaming down his cheeks. "oh my god, oh my god, steve." he sobbed, crashed into the chair conveniently placed next to the bed. bottom lip trembling so much it made it hard to breath, eddie sucked in a breath, choked on it, erupting into a sputtering cough as the true emotional and physical weight of the past day and a half came crashing over him like a wave. his whole body ached, eyes sore, he wanted to scream.

eddie had to physically hold himself back from pulling steve into a bone-crushingly tight hug,but he needed to reach out and touch him, make sure that this was real, this wasn't just some vecna nightmare scenario thing, where everything started off good and then went horribly wrong. but the other looked so pale, weak. frail and delicate, eddie's hands shook as he softly reached out to let his knuckles ghost across steve's cheek. "god, im sorry.", he croaked, buried his face in his free hand as he let the sons rock through him for a moment. "i should've - i should've been there, i should've done something." something other than run. he dragged his hand down his face, exhaled with a groan.

"you - you're seriously asking me if i’m okay? you're the one in the hospital bed, not me, princess." a smile, an incredulous chuckle broke through eddie's crying, he shook his head softly in disbelief. "don't worry about me, ill be fine. always am. how are you, stevie? you’re okay, right? you’re going to be okay?"

rcbinbvckleys·:

⚢

slipping in the front door of eddie’s trailer, robin almost had the scare of her life when eddie called her name from such a short distance. “do you ever speak at a normal volume?” a rhetorical question, for she already knew the answer. eddie always had a lot of energy, it was almost admirable and very infectious. perhaps one of the reasons robin enjoyed his company so much. besides the fact that she didn’t ever feel the need to hide with eddie, which in itself was extremely freeing.

“i’ve been here before, dingus. i remember that mattress of yours, for example.” and how gross it was. flashing a mischievous grin in eddie’s direction, robin joined him on the couch, eyes fixed on watching his hands work at rolling the joint. he was much better at rolling than she was, probably because he’d had a lot more practice. sure she’d been to eddie’s trailer a number of times but nothing could really compare to the first few where they’d literally all been on the verge of death.

“it’s good. no, great!” a barefaced lie and they both knew it. maybe getting high with eddie munson was the release that robin needed right now, but would that really make everything just… go away? sure, for a little while but not completely. “actually, i’ve been kind of distracted recently.”

+++

“huh? what was that?”, he called out, even louder, a wide, toothy, teasing grin on his face. he’d turned up his stereo real loud, not loud enough to cause any of the neigbours to call the cops on him but loud enough so that the muffled sounds of the latest ‘ratt’ record were audible in the living room.

eddie grimaced as she mentioned the mattress, resisted the urge to pull his hair over his face to hide behind it, seeing as he wasn’t particularly keen on having it go up in flames. “oh my god, robin, just let it go. please. i give you plenty enough material for your mediocre jokes as is, let the fucking mattress go.”, he muttered around puffs, brows drawn together. 

but he loved it, their dynamic. hanging out with robin was always easy and comfortable, didn’t feel forced at all. their vibes just .. matched, it was hard to explain. after vecna, after everything had happened and they’d gotten closer, started to hang out more, eddie had often wondered why they hadn’t been friends in high school.

kicking his feet up on the coffee table, he passed the joint to her, eyed her with a frown. “bullshit.”, he said, crossed his arms over his chest. “what’s the matter, what’s going on?”

zccming·:

WHO: max mayfield & @eddiemcnson·

WHERE: mayfield residence

sure, max was just about as grounded as her mom could get her, but she still valued tradition. it wasn’t like there were many of those in the mayfield household anymore, so the ones max did have were gripped and guarded with the utmost care. every time eddie came into town, they’d have their semblance of a “family” dinner. it had been this way since max was in high school, and if she had it her way, it would be this way until the day she died. it took some shuffling to actually figure out when the best time would be, but when susan picked up a graveyard shift, max set the plans into motion. 

she was a touch skeptical when eddie said he wanted to actually cook verses ordering takeout or the ever reliable heating up of a frozen dinner. but hey, maybe he started up with cooking classes in chicago. max laid on her couch, flipping through the three channels they got, repetitive and impatient. filling the role of whiny younger sister well, she called to the kitchen to complain, “there’s nothing good on!” max sighed, then turned, and continued cycling through the channels anyhow. sitting up, she now peered into the kitchen, “what’s taking so long?” she glanced at the mess surrounding eddie, then let him know, “i’m not helping you clean up.”

+++

see, it wasn’t as if eddie was a horrible cook. there was that batch of cookies he’d made in ‘75 for the middle school bakesale that had not turned out terrible. and sometimes when his roomates in chicago - one of them a cookery student - were out, he cooked his own meals, too. in fact, eddie was really, really decent at cooking rice or frying eggs for just the right amount of time. 

but, like, actually...nutritious dinners that involved preperation and recipes? not really his forte. what was a recipe, anyway, if not a bunch of rules to disobey, as was in his nature? still, coming back to hawkins meant mayfield-munson family dinners in front of the tv and this time he was actually going to make an effort. he’d watched his roommate cook - figured how hard could it be, anyway ? - and with both of them embarking on their own seperate life journeys who knew when they’d get the opportunity to do this next? besides, they’d both been through so fucking much in that hellhole of a town, eddie thought as he wiped a sheen of sweat from his forehead, they deserved something nice.

so probably the opposite of what eddie was currently prepearing. the kitchen was a mess, bits of chopped vegetables had fallen the floor, he had three pots and one pan on the tiny stove. this was enitrely too fucking difficult. eddie cursed under his breath, quickly took one of the pots threatening to overcook off the stove - and then held it in his hands for a moment, unsure of where to put it down. “ow, fuck, son of a bitch!” naturally, the handles started to heat up - he distantly recalled himself from an hour ago saying something along the lines of ‘fuck oven mitts,do i look like a grandma, i can handle this’ - and he rushed to put it down on a coaster. eddie  went back to check on the other things on the stovetop - he turned off the stove completely - and stirred everything aimlessly. 

“fuck off.”, he shouted back, rushed to throw the chopped vegetables that hadn’t fallen to the ground into what...could be considered a sauce. stirred again. they’d have to order take out, he thought with a sigh. he drained the pasta, stirred it again, then carried both the pot and the pan over to the dining table. “voila. “ eddie wiped his hands on his jeans, then looked over at max. wondered if it was going to be edible. “now stop complaining and eat. “ - he made a welcoming gesture with his arm, inviting her to dig in first - “ after you, of course.”

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.”

zccming·:

.

if there were any men that max hated nearly as much as billy and his dad, they were named callahan and powell of hawkins p.d. her interrogation with them in the spring of ‘86 never strayed far from her mind. max recalled how they chose her first, probably thinking she was the weakest link. they must have thought it would be so easy to plop her into a chair and that she would tuck herself away into a corner at the first sign of intimidation, that she was merely some stupid, meek, little girl for them to scare and trick into fessing up. well, they were wrong, and frankly, not very intimidating either. from the moment she exited that room, max vowed to herself that if she made it out of this vecna bullshit alive, she’d make them pay. 

she made good on that promise for the years following that, wreaking minor nuisances and unleashing dishonorable displays at any chance she could. and she didn’t do it just for herself, she did it for eddie. while she might have initially bought into the idea that he could’ve been some psycho killer, her opinion of him changed swiftly and drastically. eddie didn’t do it and he didn’t deserve the complications from having it pinned on him either. this rivalry of sorts came to ahead earlier in the summer when callahan pulled one over on her by arresting her at the blue quarry mall. it hadn’t been fun while it was presently happening, but now that hawkins p.d was doing this shit to eddie again, giving them that grief felt worth it. 

max sat across from eddie, shoving the bowl of cereal into his hand and clutching her own close to her chest with no intention of eating. instead, she silently watched him, brows furrowed as she looked him over for any signs that she might actually set hawkins p.d ablaze when the dust settled. at the same time he spoke, max did too, “i’m gonna fucking get them.” she said, voice feeling raw and unfamiliar in the back of her throat. max got mad all the time, she’d learned to deal with it, but rarely did her rage scare her or feel out of control like this. she wondered that as she felt the aftershocks of what had happened at the carnival, she skipped ahead to the anger stage of grief, that this was misplaced. maybe she was upset, sure, that was always a possibility. or maybe, it was the best she knew how to show eddie she cared, how sorry she was that this had happened. she didn’t know and didn’t plan on figuring it out. 

poking at her cereal with her spoon, max mulled over eddie’s question she had spoken in time with. finally, she answered, “i’m alright, steve made me get stitches.” she said his name warmly, flashing it like a lighthouse, a beacon to eddie to indicate that not only was he alright, but so was steve. that was important to her to convey. “i busted it on some mirrors…” max added, then shrugged as if to say no big deal. it was a big deal, but everything was right now. quietly and flatly, max reminded eddie, “you didn’t answer my question….” a pause, “how fucked are you?” to max, it was her way of wanting to know how he was holding up and what was happening on his end. 

+++

eddie stared thoughtlessly into his bowl, tired eyes searching for something, he didn’t know what. something to say, maybe. something to think about other than shock, horror, disaster. life and death. the upside down. vecna. he weakly pushed the bowl a bit further away from him, like a defiant, sulky child. eating was the last thing on his mind. then again, eddie couldn’t even pin point one singular string of thought - it was a mess up there. more so than usual. it felt like the world was spinning. there wasn’t a fibre in his being that wasn’t aching or nauseaous.

he didn’t quite register max’s words, they accompanied the faint beating of his heart and loud rushing and ringing in his ears,  but there was ‘alright’ and ‘steve and that’ snapped him out of his momentary trance, drew a shaky, relieved exhale from his lips. “you’re good? you’re okay. you’re - you’re alright.” eddie whispered, more to himself, nodded. 

a couple of beats passed, the room silent except for their labored breathing and the sound his knee made as it the coffee table every now and then. he wanted to cry, he desperately needed to, to sob his heart out and draw max into a bone crushing hug. staying in the embrace until one of them would start whispering empty, reasuring promises of how ‘everything was going to be okay’. but eddie was exhausted, and ... god, he felt so... resigned to his fate. he barely managed to muster up the strength to meet her eye.

“i can’t do this.” was what eventually broke the silence. voice barely above a whisper, a fatalistic tone to it. “i can’t ... i can’t have everybody thinking i’m a monster again. hunting me down, i - no. “ he gave a weak shake of his head, drew in a ragged breath. “i’m not - i can’t run anymore. i can’t- i can’t do it. not again.”

scribblcs·:

WHO: gabe diaz & @eddiemcnson· WHAT: gabe spots a familiar face WHERE: downtown hawkins

gabe was settling into hawkins nicely. sure, it was vastly different from chicago, but this small town quiet was something he might be able to get used to. he’d seen a few patients already, but he still had a lot of downtime. on an ideal day, he walked to downtown in the morning, tried some coffee, read the paper, then went to work. following sessions, he liked to walk the town again, try some more coffee, then return home. gabe was really making an effort to immerse himself with the civilians. he’d gotten tangled up in a deep conversation with an elderly gentleman inside of melvald’s late in the afternoon, and they strolled about town together for a while before they parted ways, leaving gabe to finish out his walk alone at dusk. 

at least, he’d thought it would be alone. a couple feet ahead of him, an unmistakable mound of hair veered around the corner and gabe curiously squinted. that bandana certainly looked familiar…tailing the other for a while, he remained inconspicuous until he stole a glimpse of the other and got confirmation that he was in fact, eddie munson, a client from back in chicago. laughing in disbelief, gabe cupped his hands together and warmly called, “eddie!” last he’d heard from eddie, he was taking another trip back to his hometown, how was he to know that it was hawkins? despite how in depth they had gone about how horrible it was for him there, they’d never gotten on a first name basis with the place. gabe knew he made frequent visits, but typically, they weren’t this long, and when gabe left town to take up this new job, he worried about how eddie might react upon his return to find out his therapist had up and left him. luckily, those worries were quickly erased as soon as gabe saw how well eddie seemed to be faring. approaching him, beaming, gabe went in for a hug. oftentimes his heart seemed to get in the way from successfully preventing professional bleeding into personal and such was the case with eddie. he was one of many clients that gabe took a personal liking too, worried a little more about, and hoped extra harder they’d have an emotionally rich future. pulling back from the hug, gabe laughed in disbelief, “i have to admit, i’m quite surprised to see you here. i’m sure you could say the same.” 

while this was all well and good, it gave gabe second thoughts about hawkins. if this was the town that was such a source of hurt for one eddie munson, maybe it wasn’t as nice as he was starting to believe. 

+++

today was ... weird, to say the least. having previously ridden the high of managing to make steve all flustered and blushed when he’d stopped by family video, eddie’s modd had been dampened significantly by his run in with mayor spencer, leaving with a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach as he turned the corner, made his way back to his car. maybe he should park closer to family video next. re-route his evening walks to go through the woods instead of downtown hawkins. lost in thought, he’d barely even taken notice of the figure that had started to follow him, jumping slightly, hand on his heart as he ehard someone call his name.

turning around, prepared to lock eyes with someone who was definitely not fond of seeing him around town, eddie found he was pleasantly surprised as his former therapist came into view. slowly, he lowered his hand, squinted. “.... dr. diaz ? what - what are you- “ doing here, he thought as he was interrupted by gabe’s arms puilling him into a tight hug. one that eddie eagerly returned, wide smile on his face. “yeah... well, my boss is travelling the states for the summer, gave everyone an advance and closed up shop. thought i’d stop by here, pay my uncle a visit, you know.” he shrugged, non-chalantly, as if he hadn’t described hawkins as ‘hell on earth’ to gabe during therapy sessions for the last, like, three years. “and you? what brings you to hicksville, indiana?”