Dvstybuns·:

colemontgomeryx·:

xx.

As redness overtook Eddie’s cheeks, Cole took another drag of his cigarette. “Yes, I’m gay. You can say it,” he confirmed, his voice remaining low. Cole was sure Eddie would never out him, partially because that wasn’t Eddie’s character, and partially because of mutually assured destruction.

It was exhausting to have to keep such a large part of him a secret, and Cole was frustrated by it. Maybe that’s why he told Eddie (other than, obviously, trying to hook up with him). When Cole went to college, he was able to be himself more freely; he wasn’t out, per se, but he was much more comfortable discussing his sexuality. He wondered if Eddie had a similar experience in Chicago, and was now, like Cole, struggling to reconcile all the different parts of himself.

Cole grinned, noting the change in Eddie’s demeanor. Cole finished his cigarette and reached behind Eddie to throw it away. He brushed his arm against Eddie’s and took advantage of proximity this move afforded him. Glancing up into Eddie’s eyes, Cole’s own twinkled mischievously. “Well, that’s too easy. What about foreplay?” his voice was barely above a whisper. 

+++

final confirmation, eddie swallowed, blinked nervously as the words fell from cole’s lips. he nodded, a nod that said ‘me too’. as if eithr of them needed to state the face that they were both interested in men again. getting old at this point, eddie finsighed his own cigarette, felt his lips twitch, hands shaking a little.

you got this, munson, you got this. he wasn’t like this, usually, when flirting with guys. antsy and nervous and downright freaking out. he just needed to pull himself together, pretend like this was just any old other encounter in a bar or somewhere back in chicago. 

his lips twisted into a smile as he thought about the fact that the last time he’d been this nervous about flirting with someone, he’d gone and called steve harrington ‘big boy’ as they’d hijacked a goddamn rv. 

suddenly cole was much, much closer than before and eddie gulped, his eyes flicked down to meet cole’s, momentarily lingering on his lips. for maybe just a tad too long. he swiped his tongue across hi bottom lip, feeling it had suddenly gone extremely dry. eddie discarded his own cigarette, burshing up against cole, bringing them even closer. 

“well...”, he breathed, raised a brow. “we’re in the middle of a mall, in the middle of, like, vandalising said mall...what do you have in mind that won’t get our asses kicked?”

xihopper·:

@eddiemcnson··

While El didn’t know Eddie very well, she could tell there was an inherent kindness in him. Even if his appearance may frighten those who were…well, who were close-minded, if not outright bullies. In any case, she knew everyone who had been down in the basement the night of the Wheeler’s barbecue was a good person. She trusted her friends’ respective judgment, and they had all seemed to like Eddie. It made her smile to think about the way Steve had been sitting in Eddie’s lap. She had the sense that it was not simply due to a lack of seating. If that was the case, she thought maybe she would have liked to sit in a certain someone’s lap, but it didn’t matter. It wasn’t available.

The sight of Eddie pulled her from her thoughts, and she approached him with a little bit of shyness. Making friends was a skill that still felt fragile to her even after all this time in Hawkins, around people her own age. “We met at the Wheeler’s,” she said. “Do you remember? I was playing DND. It was my first game. I rolled a 19.” She smiled at the memory, still pleased, recalling how excited everyone had been. “But I didn’t tell you my name,” she added, frowning a little. Had that been rude? There were so many people in the basement, and everyone had been focused on the game. “I’m Eleven,” she said finally, offering him a soft smile. “People call me El.”

+++

see, eddie wasn’t really used to being ... approached. he’d been told he wasn’t very approachable, with his long unruly hair, his gory bandshirts, the tattoos, the rings, it all played into his mean and scary metalhead image. however, anyone who’d ever so much as exchanged a word with him had soon come to know that eddie munson was, in fact, extremeley approachable. tough on the outside, soft on the inside, that whole shtick. not that eddie would ever admit this to someone out loud, but yeah.

so it surprised him to say the least when he saw her come up to him out of the corner of his eye, all nerves and smiles. eddie in turn couldn’t help but mirror her smile, he nodded. “yeah, yeah i remember. gotta say, that was a wicked roll for your first ever game, man. ever thought about joining a party?” being back in that basement, steve on his lap, eddie had found himself wishing he could go back to a simpler time. when all he cared about was passing his senior year - third time’s the charm, right? - and planning wicked hellfire campaigns. he missed the club, missed dnd, missed ... everything. living in hawkins had ben literal hell on earth, but it did have its moments.

“holy shit.” there it was. of course, she’d seemed familiar - maybe he hadn’t seen her around before, but he sure had heard descriptions. holy shit. “holy shit, you’re - el. yeah, you are. you’re the...you know, the superpower girl, right?” an excited glint in his eyes, eddie smiled a wide and toothy grin. “it’s, like, so great to meet you. i’m eddie.”

backtowheeler​:

— ✎ —

Nancy had definitively decided she despised being in the hospital. Every time a nurse came in to check on her, she’d just ask when she’d be able to go home with not much of an answer. In her mind, she wasn’t even that badly injured! Her casted wrist didn’t even hurt, allegedly, and the pain in her ribs was bearable at best. Not to mention the scrapes and bruises she had sustained, but she was fine! She was sure of it. In fact, she was so confident that she was planning on proving it. She had to play it out carefully, though. Nancy waited until her parents were gone and that no one was on duty with her to make her great escape. It took her a few minutes, but she managed to slide out of the hospital bed, finally feeling free from the chains of such an uncomfortable mattress.

Nancy eventually found a bag that has spare clothes in it, assumingly for her once she was released but she was going to put them on now. Reaching down to put on her pair of socks, she heard the door open. Shit. Her head popped up, just as stunned as Eddie, thinking she had just gotten caught. “My liege?” That was a new one. She nodded. “Right,” she finished putting on her other sock best she could with her good hand. “I had no idea you and Steve were boyfriends or whatever,” a joke, and a poor one at that. 

At his question, Nancy stood up from the bed, wincing slightly but attempting to cover it up with a laugh. “How do I look? Great, right?” Great was an overstatement. She hadn’t even bothered to tuck her shirt into her pants and her hair was matted in the back from how long she had laid on the pillow. “Wanna help me with something? I’m trying to escape this shithole.”

+++

his confused and sleep-deprived gaze travelled down her form to where she was currently in the process of putting her socks on. getting dressed. in something other than a hospital gown. something was off here. but before eddie had time to quite put his finger on it, he suddenly jumped at the word ‘boyfriend’. crap. had she heard them? their rooms were right next to each other, after all. nervous eyes flicked to the washed out teal colored walls. they did seem quite sturdy ... however, if he concentrated hard enough, eddie was almost sure he could hear the constant beeping noise of one of the monitors steve and cole were hooked up to. shit.

“hey now, where did you pick that one up?” was what he settled on eventually, paired with a nervous chuckle meant to sound aloof and like this was totally not a big deal. it wasn’t. besides, nancy was dating someone else, and her and steve hadn’t been a thing in ages. and - nancy was a great person. she wouldn’t ... eddie sniffled, scrunched up his nose, discarded that train of thought right away.

now wholly focused on the barely unnoticeable wince nancy had tried to cover up. a sound he knew all too well, after all, he’d been in her position not two years ago.the desperate need to get out, convincing yourself that you were all better now, actually, thanks so much for asking. eddie gave a little amused scoff, shrugged. “you look fine, nancy. considering.” 

considering that the universe wouldn’t let them catch a break, apparently. that a lifetime of trauma experienced in the span of, what, three years, wasn’t enough. eddie wondered if they’d ever be free of this. the hospital visits, the constant worrying, the fighting, the loss. the nights spent laying awake with the lights on. “woah, where do you think you’re going? listen, i’d help you with anything, man, but, like, i think a couple more days of r&r wouldn’t do you any harm. trust me.”

stevehharringtcns·:

.

at that very moment, steve wanted to get up from the bed and wrap his arms around eddie, tell him that everything would be okay. he just wanted to do that, but he couldn’t. his cuts and bruises were still pretty recent that every movement that he made, made his body ache. he hated seeing eddie like this. steve looked at him as he opened his hand slowly for the other to take. if he couldn’t hug him, he could at least hold his hand. it was the least he could do, he thought to himself. “eddie…” he said, pursing his lips as he tried to hold back his own tears as he saw eddie like this. he didn’t like it, he didn’t like it for a second, but he thought it would be better if the other just shared how he was feeling rather than repressing it.

when he felt eddie’s hand on his cheek, steve closed his eyes for a few moments and let out a sigh of relief. eddie was okay. when he had heard that the other had been arrested for no apparent reason, steve almost thought about getting up from the hospital bed and marching on to the police station, but just the thought of it made his body ache. he was still weak from everything, but he wanted to act tough for eddie. “no… i’m glad… you weren’t there.” he said weakly, giving the other a nod of his head. he would have hated if anything had happened to eddie like it had happened to him, he hated just thinking about it. “when i woke up… and you weren’t here… i thought…” he said, choking up on his own words. he couldn’t finish the sentence, he just couldn’t think about something like that. he didn’t want to. “i’m just glad you’re okay.” he said with a small nod, his hand reaching out to eddie’s.

“this? they’re just some cuts… and bruises. i’ll be fine.” he said weakly, letting out another small chuckle as he started coughing, his body flinching with the pain he felt in his ribs. that was going to be hard to get used to, but he closed his eyes for a couple of moments, gathering his strength as he looked back at eddie. “i need… to ask you something, okay?” he asked, looking over at eddie.

+++

“shh, shh, don’t speak. don’t.”, eddie gulped and quickly shuffled closer, elbows resting on the edge of the bed. cupping steve’s face with one hand he slid the other into his palm, gave it a gentle squeeze, thumb softly tracing along his knuckles. careful not to move any of the iv’s attached to the back of his hand, he gently lifted it to press his lips to his hand, trembling lips lingering there for a moment or two. it’s real, it’s real, it’s real. this is real. eddie squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, brows knitted together. this is real, steve is fine, he’s fine, it’s real. fate had played one trick too many on them these past few years, eddie wouldn’t let himself have that breath of relief until he was absolutely certain that this wasn’t all just taking place in his head. being back in hawkins he was never sure of that.

eddie sniffled,blinked a few tears away. “you’re cold.”, he simply stated as he lowered steve’s hand again, smoothing over where his lips had met his skin with his thumb. “your hand, you feel - it feels cold. do you need a blanket or something? want me to call the nurses? or i can  - i can look for one myself, if you want. i’ll do it. just say the word.” he was full aware that he was rambling. but when steve eyes had fluttered shut at his touch, eddie’s blood had run cold, his stomach had tightened at the sight and if it took him rambling or, hell, even singing for steve to open his eyes again then eddie would gladly oblige. the feeling passed somewhat, not entirely, when he  met steve’s gaze again. no more closed eyes, no more cold hands. from now on only warmth and aliveness. eddie hadn’t even realized that his fingers had positioned themselves around steve’s wrist so that eddie’s pointer rested over his pulse point. 

the sound of steve’s voice had eddie biting down on his bottom lip to stifle a choked off sob. he’d never seen him this weak, this frail. close to crying, too, eddie gulped in an attempt to swallow the enormous lump in his throat. he shook his head, shushed him again. “it’s - i’m fine. nothing happeend, i’m fne. i’m fine, yeah? we’re - “ the small smile eddie had mustered up and given steve now suddenly fell as he broke, erupting into loud, soul shattering sobs. the kind of crying that left one breathless, gasping for air. that had people tell you to ‘calm down’, asking what’s wrong but that left you unable to respond, for every sound was replaced by a wail. the kind of crying usually reserved for a child seeking its mother’s attention. eddie lowered his head so that his hair would hide his face, watched through his clouded gaze as tears fell onto the material of steve’s bedsheets, leaving marks there. “i thought you’d - i - that you weren’t - you - “ he struggled through the words, they made no sense in his head, either. nothing made sense, except for the way the soft skin of steve’s palm felt underneath his calloused fingertips. “i thought you were dead. when max said -” eddie shook his head, didn’t want to continue the sentence. he sniffled again, struggled through shaky breaths until his voice was a little calmer than before. lower, too. weaker, mirroring the sound of steve’s. “i can’t do this without you, man. i can’t - here - i can’t be here when you’re not here. this, the - the whole upside down vecna shit, i can’t - “, he looked back up at steve, through tear stained lashed. “i don’t want to be here - i can’t. i can’t be here without you. heree, everywhere, not - not without you.”

if he’d expected anything from his summer back in hawkins, well, crying at steve harrington’s bedside and telling him how he couldn’t live without him, that certainly hadn’t been on eddie’s bingo. and his sudden confession certainly took a weight off his chest, yet it invoked a sense of horror and anxiety in him previously unknown. he’d let his guard down. he was vulnerable in a way he’d never been before. a way he’d promised himself to never be, not in hawkins. not anywhere, really. weakly and cautiously, he gave steve a nod. “sure. anything, man.”

🎸

stevehharringtcns·:

.

listening to eddie talk about him like that made steve blush slightly. he wasn’t sure where he had become a hero, but the truth was that he had always thought of himself as one. it didn’t help with his ego, but it was the truth. steve had always been in the front line to defend his friends and the people he cared about, and that was something it wasn’t going to change anytime soon. even if it ended up with him getting beaten up by russians. he just hoped that part of his life was over or else he could end up with permanent scars on his face. the ones on his body were enough, he thought to himself. “thanks, eddie… that’s really nice to hear.” he said with a nod.

he felt himself blush even harder when eddie asked him he saw something that he liked, making him turn his head away after staring for too long. “i just think… your tattoos are pretty cool.” he said, nodding his head. it wasn’t a complete lie, but steve was doing much more than checking out the other’s tattoos. he didn’t know what else to say, so he just stared up at the ceiling as he waited for eddie to finish getting dressed, and once he knew it was okay, he looked back at him and smiled, nodding his head slowly.

he watched eddie carefully as he joined him in bed. this was weird. he had never slept with a guy in his bed before, and now eddie was there, lying down next to him. he didn’t know what to do with himself, but he didn’t know where to look at either. he looked into the other’s eyes for a few moments. he felt like he was back in high school again, like he was just a teenager, but somehow, this felt right. better than it ever did before. and steve was enjoying every moment of it. “that’s fine.” he said, nodding his head as he kept staring at him.

steve could fall asleep by just looking at eddie’s face. he was sure that the other was going to fall asleep anytime soon, and then steve would be left alone to wonder what the hell was he doing with eddie munson in his bed. listening to him talk about the night terrors, steve let out a small sigh as he nodded his head. “oh, don’t worry about that, it’s totally okay, eddie… i mean, it’s kind of hard not to have those after everything we’ve been through… it’s weird to think about that we’ve both been attacked by those demo-bats.” he said with a small chuckle escaping from his lips, his heart almost breaking when he heard eddie calling himself a freak.

it hurt him that there were people who called him that - they clearly didn’t know eddie that well. getting to know him seemed to be the only good thing that steve could think of that vecna had brought him. the rest had been misery, but at least eddie was part of his life. without thinking, steve wrapped his arm around eddie’s body, careful enough so he didn’t get his hand near the bruise he had seen earlier and looked at him. “is this okay?” he asked, blushing as he did so. “i don’t think you’re a freak, eddie.” he said in a quiet tone, as he looked into the other’s eyes again and gave him a small smile, before his eyes wandered off to eddie’s lips for a few moments.

+++

he nodded, relieved and found that he agreed. steve was right, really, it was hard to imagine for anyone who’d been to the upside down not to wake up occasionally, drenched in cold sweat and shaking all over, consumed by an all-powerful feeling of dread and doom. said feeling probably heightened for steve and himself, seeing as both had very nearly met their end down there. and in eerily similar ways, too. “shit, you’re right, i forgot about that.”, he said with a lopsided grin. “but now we’ve got matching scars. and that’s, like, way more metal than matching tats.”

gripped with a sudden urge to let his fingers trail over steve’s demobat scars, he flexed his hands in a desperate attempt to keep himself from doing so. to not make it weird. the fact that steve was friends with robin assured eddie in the fact that, should he find out that eddie was similarly inclined, he wouldn’t, like, bash his brains out or anything. however, eddie didn’t want to push his luck and bring either of them into an uncomfortable situation either. 

so, the fact that he suddenly found steve’s arm wrapped around his middle caught him even more off-guard. his eyes widened, flicking between steve’s, trying to make out the expression that lay behind them - failing to make out much of anything in the dark. hs heart skipped a beat at the touch, maybe a couple of them, actually, and his skin suddenly felt like it was on fire. blood burning in his veins, boiling, his breath hitched in his throat. 

eddie really couldn’t speak, he nodded weakly, a strangled sound in the back of his throat. ‘is this okay’. steve could’ve just as well asked him if he liked to breathe. or if he listened to dio. it was okay, it was more than okay, exceptional, really. and eddie couldn’t help but feel pathetic that something as simple as a friendly, comforting touch could make him react that way.

“i - you don’t ?” it wasn’t much of a question, more of a startled observation. his lips gave a weak twitch though he was too taken aback, too riled up to give him a proper smile. he watched, carefully, eyes growing impossibly wide, as steve’s eyes dropped to his lips. all the bells inside his head were ringing, all alarms going off. some screaming ‘go for it’ others alerting him ‘danger - this is a trap, beware!’. 

he skillfully ignored all of them, swallowed, his lips suddenly felt awfully dry and eddie was sure he could hear his heart beating, could feel it in his throat, too. he must’ve shuffled closer without realising, seeing as steve’s face was suddenly so close, impossibly close. his own gaze darted down to steve’s mouth, lingering there for a touch too long. eddie licked his lips.

“steve, man,”, he suddenly heard himself saying, the words spilling out on their own accord, before eddie had time to stop himself.”i feel like i wanna kiss you.” he swallowed, god, when had his throat become so parched? “you don’t...you don’t have to kiss me back if you don’t want.”

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.”

colemontgomeryx·:

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

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

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

+++

He took them from Cole’s hand with an acknolwedging nod, slowly got up again once he had all figurines back safely in his lunch. Eddie dusted his palms off on his jeans, leaving stains but whatever, and finally looked up to meet the other person’s eyes. His own narrowed slightly, gears turning. “......Cole. You’re Cole, yeah?” And it sounded more like a statement than a question. But that’s Eddie for you, extremely awkward at times. He nodded - then...shook his head. “Yeah, I was headin’ out -”, he pointed behind himself with his thumb. “Like, soon as I heard some noise I was gonna get outta here. Not really looking for trouble, you know.”

He just...idly nodded to himself, clutched the handle of his metal box a little tighter. Until it dawned on him and his eyes narrowed again. “You’re not here to, like, beat me up, are you? Because I swear to God there are enough people in Hawkins looking to get a good punch in with Eddie ‘the freak’ Munson.”, he said, somewhat exasperatedly, and sigh deeply. He lifted his arms. “So if you are then, just, like, get it over with. I’m not looking for trouble.” And he closed his eyes, bared his cheek, brows drawn together, waiting for that painful hit to his jaw.

But it didn’t come. Tentatively, he opened one eye, the other still squeezed shut. But Cole wasn’t charging forward to pull him in by his collar and plant a punch, no, he was standing there rather....peacefully. Non-threatingly. Eddie lowered his arms. “Huh?” His eyes followed Cole’s gaze, dropped down to the lunch box. He blinked. “Oh, these? The little...”, he trailed off, gestured with his thumb in the directon of the metal box. “They’re...do you remember Hellfire Club? They’re for the next DnD campaign.”

joseph quinn as eddie munson in stranger things 4 vol. 1 (2022)

zccming·:

.

max squinted in eddie’s direction, communicating all she didn’t say. the main take away being, are you stupid? “i do do this for myself, like most nights out of the week.” her mom worked the night shift most days, it had been that way for years, max had learned how to fend for herself. sure, it wasn’t always a hot homecooked meal, but she did know how to feed herself, and she definitely knew how to use a knife without nearly losing a finger. “but you have a point.” max sighed, carefully avoiding the words you’re and right. “next time i’ll cook for us.”

at the end of the night, it didn’t matter whether or not eddie had made a five star meal or the inedible mush on their plates. the principal of sit down dinners was never about the food served, or each participants etiquette. they were about spending quality time with one another, and making an effort to connect. 

she hadn’t grown up with the most functional family and max never had a halting revelation that she wasn’t miss american pie and they weren’t the brady bunch. it was known in the same way she learned to walk or talk. she was born into chaos, from her parents divorce, to having billy hargrove and his insufferable dad as her new family members, then moving to hawkins. max seemed destined to walk a rocky path, but with eddie around, the idea of family stopped feeling so painful. it wasn’t how she always pictured it to be, but it felt nice when there were nights like these. 

unsolved mysteries prompted max to wonder if all of them were real, but that wasn’t of concern right now. she dismissed eddie’s thanks man with a, “shh! … you’re welcome.” as her eyes glued to the screen. it was going to be a long wait for their food if she couldn’t immerse herself into the show. at eddie’s assessment of incompetent law enforcement, max gave him a look, “if it seems that way then it definitely is that way.” she rolled her eyes, “we’d know living in hawkins… did you know they tried to give me a traffic violation for skateboarding on the side of the road?” groaning, max had to admit, “i’m so jealous that you don’t live here anymore. and you know, it’s only getting worse the older i get.”

+++

eddie rolled his eyes, over-dramatically but hummed in agreement, carerful not to let his pleased grin show because thats what he’d hoped max would suggest. not that he wouldn’t help her prepare the mayfield-munson-found-family-tv-dinners, he’d definitely help! just not...do them all by himself. because, as it turned out, he sucked at it. 

he settled further into the couch, idly sipping on his beer, dragging his upper lip mindlessly across the rim of the can as he let himself be engulfed by the storyline. eddie was a bit of a restless spirit, always fidgeting, never quite able to direct his attention on one sole thing for more than a few minutes. always looking for another distraction. it had been like that for as long as he could remember, though it had worsened significantly after their trip to the upside down.

as if on cue, he felt a phantom burn where his scars were located. a constant reminder that he’d been through hell and survived. “huh?”, he frowned, tore his eyes away from the screen to look at max. “for skateboarding? jeez, man. whats next, tickets for walking down the street? breathin?” eddie threw his hands up in theatrical mock outrage. “alas, we keep being oppressed by the man! sickening.”

he took a pointed gulp of his beer, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “you know, you can always get outta here, max.”, he said, mood a little sobered now. “offer still stands, kiddo. come back to chicago with me. i mean, yeah, my apartment’s like half the size of this trailer and a fucking shithole but we’ll make do. we can figure something out.”