colemontgomeryx·:
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.
+++
“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?”
Hey
Favourite stranger things scenes??
hey!
just off the top of my head, i'd say the running up that hill scene (sadie sink my beloved!) in s4; then when they found will's fake body in s1 - heroes playing in the background, the joyce and jonathan scene, poetic cinema ; the sauna scene in s3 because dacre montgomery's acting is insane and, of course, how could i ever forget 'don't ya, big boy?'
honorable mention is the ted wheeler slander here:
stevehharringtcns·:
.
steve wouldn’t have been able to forgive himself if something had happened to eddie at the carnival. he had been arrested and steve felt his heart sink when he had been told that. the worst part was that he was unable to help, but he was glad to see that the other was okay. he had been unharmed in the explosion. he wouldn’t have been able to handle it if eddie had been in the bed right next to him, in a different room or worse, if he had died. steve didn’t like thinking about that. not after everything that had happened two years prior, where steve had been the one to visit at the hospital after he had been attacked by the demo-bats and almost died. of course, at that point he hadn’t been this close to eddie, but he was still concerned of course. especially since dustin had become so close to eddie and he didn’t know how the kid would handle that loss. now the roles had switched.
he let his eyes be closed for a little longer, opening them to look at eddie. he hadn’t noticed he had been cold this entire time until eddie pointed it out. “a blanket… would be nice.” he said as he tried to adjust himself on the bed, but he was far too weak and far too bruised to even attempt to move. he would have to try again later, he thought. “but… just stay here for now.” he said, squeezing eddie’s hand so that he wouldn’t get up just now. he wanted for the other to stay beside him. it’s all he asked for at that moment. he looked over at him, a small and weak smile forming on his lips as he felt eddie’s hand on his. he was glad he was there with him. they both had survived and they both would be okay. they had to be. steve couldn’t imagine a future where the two of them wouldn’t be okay anymore. he had pushed away the thought of everything going wrong between them.
he enjoyed the silence for a couple of moments, heavy breathing as he did. he looked over at eddie when the other started sobbing, but he didn’t say anything. he couldn’t stop the other from feeling that way. he lied there, as he started feeling his own tears streaming from his eyes down his cheeks. he didn’t sob, he knew that it would hurt if he did, but he was crying. he hated seeing eddie like this, breaking down in front of him and he just couldn’t wrap his arms around him and bring him close. he squeezed his hand once again. “eddie…” he said, his voice weak as he sniffed, hoping that the tears would stop eventually. for both of them. the two were alive, yet they found themselves crying like one of them had died. it didn’t make any sense, but the two had been through enough for this to be allowed. “i’m not going anywhere. i promise…” he said weakly, nodding his head slowly. he wanted to keep that promise. he couldn’t leave eddie, he didn’t want to leave him. he couldn’t hurt him again. and seeing him like this made him feel stupid that he hadn’t seen the signs sooner, when they were fighting vecna and eddie was flirting with him. steve was too busy chasing something that he didn’t want. he wanted to be with eddie, and he was sure of it. “and when… when i leave the hospital, we’re going to…” he said, stopping to cough a little more, wincing as he felt the pain of his broken ribs spreading through, stopping to take a breath. once he recovered, he continued. “we’re going to watch… dirty dancing. and we’ll learn that… lift move. i promise.” he said with a nod.
he let the two of them calm down for a bit before he asked what he wanted to ask. he had been thinking about it for quite some time now. he just didn’t know that he needed a near death experience to actually say it. “life’s too short.” he started by saying, taking a deep breath after that. “i could have died… and-and…” he said as he started rambling, trying to find the right words. “i want you… to be… my boyfriend, eddie.” he said. it felt weird to say that out loud, he wasn’t used to it, but he knew that it was right. he knew that eddie was right for him. “no more… pretending that we’re just seeing each other and going out. i want… to be your boyfriend.” he said, giving the other a small nod. “okay?” he asked.
+++
eddie nodded so fast and eagerly that he nearly strained his neck. “yeah, of course, blanket, blanket....”, he trailed off, anxious, strained eyes darting around, briefly landing on the bed cole montgomery currently occupied. but - no, eddie frowned, shook his head to himself softly, no, he couldn’t steal cole’s blanket. the man needed it to himself, probably. despite steve’s wishes to simply stay put, eddie reluctantly let go of his hand for a moment to shrug off his signature leather jacket and denim vest, carefully draping it over steve’s chest. “to tide you over ‘till you’re letting me leave to get you that blanket, hot shot.”
words followed by a weak, disingenuous smile, he squeezed steve hand again, tight, until the tears came spilling out on their own accord, body rocked by heavy sobs. eddie hated it, how easy he began to cry. in front of others, too. ever since he’d been a little kid, once the tears came there was no stopping them, which had obviously made eddie the subject of ridicule. over the years he had learned to ‘suck it up’, develop thicker skin, bottle up his feelings. not let people in on what was truly going on inside him. but steve was ... different.
and steve was crying, too. eddie’s head snapped up as he heard him sniffle, his own sobs ceasing instantly. his chest heavy with the guilt that his display of emotion had caused the tears he was now softly wiping away with his thumb, caressing steve’s cheek as he did so. “hey, shh. i’m sorry, sorry, sweetheart. i didn’t mean - sorry.” he shook his head, shaking the last couple of tears out of the corners of his eyes as he did so. they’d have plenty of time to cry once steve got out of there. besides, crying was exhausting, and steve was here to get better, to rest and relax. and eddie could get up and finally get him that blanket once they had both calmed down. steve’s hands really were cold.
the cough made steve wince and eddie tear up again. he bit down on his lip, hard, winced and mirrored steve’s grimace, wishing he could mirror the pain, too. if he couldn’t take it from him then they could at least be together in their suffering . teeth moving over his bottom lip, he waited patiently as steve recovered enough to continue talking. an incredulous chuckle drawn from his lips, brows raised, eddie softly shook his head in disbelief, raised their joined hands to his lips again. “yeah. yeah, alright, we’ll learn the lift. whatever you want.”
life’s too short, i could’ve died. feeling the lump in his throat grow bigger, eddie blinked and averted his gaze to their hands, thumb softly tracing over his knuckles. his whispers of “no” and “don’t say that”, quickly ceased as steve finally popped the dreaded question. come to think of it - not dreaded at all, actually. eddie lifted his head very slowly until he met steve’s eyes, a puzzled look on his face as steve’s words kept repeating in his head. boyfriend, boyfriend, boyfriend. i want to be your boyfriend. he blinked, confused, squeezed steve’s hand - yeah, no, this was real. this was definitely real.
“i - i’m sorry?” a couple of beats passed before the meaning of steve’s words had apparently sunk in, eddie’s bemused expression suddenly fading, making way for a wide, toothy grin. he nodded slowly, his grin spreading wider and wider before eddie surged forward, to connect their lips in a short and soft kiss, careful not to hurt steve in any way. “yeah. yeah, of course, dumbass. duh. “ and eddie laughed, genuinely and loudly, quickly pressed his lips together, giving steve a sheepish smile. “i mean - you’re, like, a hundred percent sure about this? because .. cause i’d hate for you to wake up, like, tomorrow or whenever the painkillers have worn off and regret the whole thing.”
zccming·:
.
max was comfortable with silence, silence was safe most of the time. she could live there for a while if needed. she knew full well that she wasn’t the best with words, and usually, if ever, people didn’t come to her for her motivational speeches. more often than not, it looked like this, max going to someone and offering herself up as a shoulder, someone to share the load of a burden with if only for a little while. at least, lately, that’s what it looked like.
she watched eddie not speaking, setting her bowl down when he did, quietly indicated, nah, me either. it was the thought that counted or whatever, right? when eddie frantically verified that she was alright, max kept an expression of stone as she nodded. she was more or less in one piece, so was he, so was steve, so was everyone. now she wasn’t happy all of this had happened, but the relief that came with doing her rounds and seeing her friends alive and breathing was enough to propel her through a sleepless twenty four hours at the hospital, and a long ride on her board back home.
their wordless processing ended though as eddie confessed, his voice uneasy. max hadn’t really seen him like this. not for a long time, not since they’d gotten closer. instantly, she jumped to all of the ways she could fix this, which started with calming eddie down and ended with something along the lines of throwing callahan in a deep deep pit he couldn’t crawl out of. “you’re not a monster.” she said swiftly and with such conviction she hoped it knocked into him like a punch, like he’d have no choice but to believe it. “you were innocent then and you’re innocent now.” max wouldn’t tell him it was okay because she knew he didn’t feel like it was. “they haven’t released names yet, i don’t think anyone other than…us saw it happen.” she used reason to talk him down.
when none of that seemed to work and he shook his head and began a spiral, max yelled, hopping to snap him out of it “eddie!” she took his hands and offered the following words like a get out of jail free card, “steve will not let anything happen to you. i will not let anything happen to you.” she laughed a wryly, hoping to make everything feel less heavy, “you think robin, and nancy, and literally anyone else would let that slide? fuck no.” she shook her head, then offered her final comfort, “we’ve figured it out like four times before, we’ll do it again. you’re a vet this time, munson. you just gotta screw your head back onto your shoulders.”
+++
eddie scoffed, slumping further back into the couch, wishing it would swallow him whole. “yeah, and just like ‘86 nobody’s gonna believe me. real fucking nice.” he didn’t mean to snap at her, neither of them had anything to do with the utter chaos that was currently playing out in hawkins. but the rational part of his brain had long since bid its farewell and he simply hoped that max knew this. what did it matter if he was innocent or not? when people already stared at him , mistrusted him without a solid reason. now they had one and eddie didn’t want to imagine what the scalding looks burning into the back of his head could soon turn into. because he knew it, he’d lived it, and he couldn’t again, never again.
he gave her hands a short, tight squeeze before he relased them, carding his fingers through his tangled hair. taking deep breaths, he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. this was just max, just max. meaning only good. trying to calm him. there was no reaosn to get upset, not with her. his mouth felt awfully dry. when he opened his eyes again they were fixed to the ceiling, looking at nothing in particular. “yeah, yeah, well, you remember what happened last time, right? i’m a vet, sure, but ... i almost wasn’t. almost wasn’t anything anymore.” and his lip quivered slightly at the memory, it was still fresh as day. a swarm of demobats circling around him, knocking him to the ground. a sharp sting in his side soon followed by agony and a fade to black, a teary goodbye, a faint white light. a faint white light that, for some reason, perhaps divine intervention, had faded into a shrill green-ish one, the distinct hue of hospital fluorescents.
but what good had it ever done, dwelling on the past? dwelling on what almost had been, eddie munson, only good for running, it seemed. ‘don’t try to be cute, don’t try to be a hero’. he should’ve just listened to steve, stayed a decoy. heroism clearly didn’t suit him. thinking of... he sat up a little straighter. “how’s - how’s steve? have you seen him?”
where: the munson trailer, living room
what: date night <3
who: @stevehharringtcns + eddie
eddie didn’t know how long they’d been in this exact position, both of them on the couch, eddie’s legs lazily draped over steve’s, the record he’d put on had long since faded into a static crackling noise. it felt unreal, having steve over. like this. with eddie’s arms around steve’s neck, bringing him down every so often for the occasional kiss. it felt unreal, it felt better than every dream eddie had ever had about a similar scenario. better than the little daydreams that helped him go to sleep.
it was the real thing and eddie wondered if the butterflies in his stomach woiuld forever be there. clutching at steve’s shoulders, he pulled him into another kiss, a shorter one this time, hands tangled into the other’s hair. ready to deepen the kiss, eddie suddenly cursed and quickly pulled back, trying to untangle a lock of steve’s hair from one of his rings. “oh, shit, sorry, princess”, he gave him a sheepish smile, shook off a strand of hair that he’d accidentally pulled out. “sorry, my bad. should’ve taken ‘em off.”
dissatisfied with not being as close as humanly possible to steve anymore, he quickly grabbed his hand, intertwining their fingers. gazing up at him in a way that could only be classified as ‘lovingly’. big, stupid grin on his face. eddie let his head loll to the side so it rested against the backrest. as much as he tried to actually get a conversation going - well, it was hard when steve had the audacity to look this pretty.
“you wanna watch a movie, hot shot? i - i don’t have a lot here, can’t promise they’re any good, wayne taped over a lot of them.”
where: lover’s lake (cabin)
what: steve best give eddie back that vest, or else ...
who: @stevehharringtcns + eddie
“knock knock.”, eddie said aloud, while simulatenously knocking on the doorframe of the cabin, cautiously entering it. cursing himself for actually being that sort of person that felt he need to say ‘knock knock’ while they knocked, but whatever. it wasn’t like steve wasn’t already used to his antics.
that’s who he’d come to look for - steve. he hadn’t seen him in a bit, had been busy attempting to help dustin pitch up his tent, and eddie didn’t like not knowing the current whereabouts of steve, didn’t like it one bit. just the sight of lover’s lake made him feel queasy, made him feel like he was back on that boat - marvelling at the sight of steve without his shirt on in one moment and freaking out because he’d been pulled down into watergate in the next.
besides - the heat of the day started to wear off and eddie, wearing only a sleveless ‘dio’ shirt with plenty of rips in it, started to feel a little chilly.
“hello? anybody in?”, he called out again, walked further into the cabin until he finally saw steve. eddie smiled, crossed the distance between them.
“there you are, harrington. been looking all over for you. was beginning to think you were hiding from me - or trying to take off with my vest.”
elevcnhops·:
xx
Steps faltering, within approach the other obviously easily startled. So… this was ‘ Eddie ‘. Returning back to Hawkins to hear her friends regale her with stories of the one whom considers appearing at the scene of their crime so terrifying. El did have to accept his accusation of creeping. Years of living in mostly seclusion and the constant fear of being tortured by the government is good practice for slinking around. Poor guy, that twinge of guilt tickling her stomach. Increasingly aware of a clear trauma response from the other.
He was spoken so highly of by her friends, he helped them. Therefore El must be trust him - even if he was on edge ever since they first met. She did promise someone special that she would… and she wasn’t about to break that promise. Shuffling under his gaze. Unable to gauge him, or at least feel a sense for him. “ I was not creeping. “ scoffing to hide the embarrassment that she was in fact creeping. Turning the accusations around on him, “ And you are out here alone too. What are you doing? “
Before he could answer she realized his question, Hopper Junior? Unconsciously grimacing before looking away. Tapping her chest with her index finger, symbolism of her identification over the years. The better alternative than pulling up her sleeve to show ‘ 011 ‘. Though, she had noticed the tattoos inking his skin. Eddie’s were more extensive and El wondered if those hurt just as bad as her. Was he strapped down to the chair like she was? “ My friends call me El. And they say I should give you a chance. “
+++
he nodded, feelin a little caught. “fair. i was just ... i don’t know, man. looking for those things, i guess? i don’t even - i don’t even know what they were, i don’t think i wanna know, to be honest...”, eddie trailed off, one hand on his hip, the other dragging down his face. he made a mental note not to agree to hang out with nancy anymore, at least not before she told him what she had in mind, in detail.
and there he was, standing in front of the burnt out shell of beloved family owned diner ‘benny’s’, hoping and praying to god that whatever they’d stumbled upon had burned down with it. the image of the cracks in the shell burned into his mind, he squeezed his eyes shot for a moment, shook his head, as if to shake the thought out of him.
and to think this wasn’t even the weirdest thing that happened to him in hawkins. fucking unbelievable. quirking a brow, eddie turned back to her. “el - oh, shit. you’re the el. like, the superpower girl.”, he blurted out, a wide smile tugging at his lips.”sorry, i’m, like, out of it today. ‘course i know you. i probably know, like, a little too much about you, actually - mike wouldn’t shut up about you, always going on and on about how cool you are and how he has a girlfriend. gotta say i thought he’d made it up for a hot minute.”
stevehharringtcns:
.
“don’t worry about it… she was old anyway.” steve shrugged it off, he didn’t really care for his family that much. not his real family either way, he liked to think that everyone he knew in hawkins and was close with were his actual family, rather than his blood. but that didn’t matter now, steve was too focused on eddie to think about that right now.
steve stared at eddie for a couple of moments as he talked, nodding his head slowly once the other mentioned that he was tough. “i know you are, but tough guys need some ice sometimes. it’s okay.” he said with a small smile, before shaking his head once he mentioned that he was a hero. “you know, i’m not really a hero if i get beat up every time i try to get into a fight. but thank you. it’s good to know that you think i’m hot, munson.” he said with a smirk, as he looked at eddie with a smile on his face. steve didn’t expect to spend this much time with eddie, especially not alone, but he liked it. the other was good company and it was easy to talk to him. sure, they wouldn’t have been friends in high school, but that was the thing. they weren’t exactly in high school anymore. steve was glad for that.
looking around his room once eddie started commenting on it, he couldn’t help but to blush slightly. he had never really gotten around to change his room to his style, his mom didn’t seem to like it, but why did she care? it wasn’t like she was around to see it anyway. the only thing that made that room steve’s room was the bat with nails under his bed, but he didn’t want to tell eddie that. he didn’t need to know he kept it there. “it’s not me, it’s my… mom. i just never really bothered to change it” he said with a small shrug of his shoulders as he looked at eddie again.
without even having time to process it, eddie was changing right in front of him. he didn’t know why he stopped breathing for some moments there, after all, he was used to seeing guys changing in the locker rooms when he was in the swimming team, but this… it was different. it was eddie. his eyes lingered on the other’s body, checking the tattoos for a few moments until he finally put on steve’s shirt. it was weird how he looked good on it, or maybe steve just liked the sight of eddie wearing his clothes. whatever it was, steve couldn’t help himself to turn red. “that’s a secret i’ll never tell.” he said with a chuckle.
steve stood by the door for a few moments as he looked at eddie, deciding if he should stay or not, but when he heard eddie say that the bed was big enough, steve nodded his head. “sure, i… i can stay with you. that’s fine.” he said, before closing the door behind him. he was about to spend the night with eddie munson on his bed and he wasn’t sure how to feel about that. it wasn’t the first time he had brought someone up to his room, but this was eddie.
steve didn’t waste any time as he climbed onto his own bed, sitting up on it as he looked over at eddie. “come on.” he said with a nod, as he cleared his throat and patted the spot next to him. what was he doing? what if eddie took it the wrong way? he wouldn’t, right? he was the one who had asked him to stay, and steve wanted to stay more than anything. “i’ll even let you choose the side you want to sleep on.” he smiled.
+++
‘it’s good to know that you think i’m hot, munson’. eddie’s lips parted, a nervous chuckle and amused scoff drawn from them. as good as it felt that steve was so receptive to his teasing, it felt bittersweet all the same. because eddie had spent the better part of, what, two years now flirting with him. in vain, of course, for steve had never picked up on any of his advances. or if he had, he’d certainly given eddie the impression that they weren’t welcome or worth to be acknwoledged.
“but, you know, the fact that you get into fights in the first place - sure, you get your ass kicked but you’re doing it for a righteous cause. that screams hero to me, harrington.” not to mention that steve looked bonkers hot when he got a little roughed up.
he could feel steve’s eyes on him, his stare burning into his back and he squirmed under his gaze. eddie hoped the dim lighting of the room wuld hide the deep, deep blush that had risen to his cheeks. who could blame him, that felt like a perfectly reasonable reaction to having steve harrington watch you change. and before he could stop himself, before he even knew it the words had already fallen from his lips, causing his brain to short-circuit somewhat. “see something you like, stevie?”
a sigh of relief drawn from his lungs, eddie relaxed slightly when steve agreed to stay and closed the door behind him. still, he wtached in...nervous excitement when as steve made his way to his bed,. sat down and invited him in. no, it was too much - it was more than he’d even dared to imagine in his wildest fantasies.
cautiously, he climbed into the bed, body brushing past steve’s as he settled. a small smile playing on his lips, edie wasted no time scotting under the covers. “i’m more of a wall side guy myself.”, he said, shifting around until he’d made himself comfortable.steve’s bed was so incredibly soft it took all he had for him not to fall asleep right then and there. eddie turned to the side to face steve.
“uh, listen, man, i...i get like, these, night terrors ? i guess?” chewing on his bottom lip nervously, he averted his gaze. “so, uh. don’t get freaked out when i, like, move around. and if i get too close or something feel free top, just, push me away. don’t worry,”, he said, gave him an amused scoff, “you don’t have to cuddle with the freak or anything.”