Stevehharringtcns​:

Season 4: Chapter Six — The Dive

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.”

walkie talks || steddie

steve: that's not what i meant, eddie! i just want a private talk, that's all...

steve: i wanted to come over but i wasn't sure if you wanted to see me...

steve: i've been trying for days to get on the... right fucking channel, or whatever

steve: i just... i wanna know what happened back in the cabin

eddie: a private talk on a walkie line any of the shitbirds could intercept at, like, any moment, huh?

eddie: gotta say i probably wouldn't have fist bumped the air if i'd seen you pull up in my driveway

eddie:... i say drive way like it isn't a trailer park

eddie: anyway

eddie: thought it was quite obvious what happened at the cabin. *you* made it quite obvious, chief.

stevehharringtcns·:

dvstybuns·:

WHO: Henderson & @stevehharringtcns· & @eddiemcnson·

WHAT: Dustin needs advice from his dads!

WHERE: Steve’s House 

It was an indisputable fact that Dustin Henderson had the longest lasting relationship of any of his friends. He’d met Suzie Bingham at Camp Know Where the summer before his Freshman year of high school, and had been happily with her ever since. As far as Dustin was concerned, their relationship was pretty perfect. Suzie was the smartest person Dustin knew, as well as the sweetest. Her taste in music was impeccable, and on top of all of those things, she was also stunningly beautiful. She was absolutely amazing. 

And Dustin was worried about being an awkward idiot around her now that they were in person for an extended amount of time. So far, things had been great! But she was living with him at his house with his mother, who had been surprisingly chill about everything, but for how long??? Dustin had already had to hide every incriminating photo of himself in the house, and was constantly worried about Mike, Lucas or Max trying to embarrass him in front of her. All of his Weird Al t-shirts had been thrown away, and the left over can of Farrah Fawcett hair spray he’d used for the Snowball had been generously dropped off on Steve’s doorstep. Dustin was doing his best to seem as cool as possible around Suzie, but it did not feel sustainable. 

Which is why he turned to the two people he trusted more than anyone in the world for some wisdom. Sure, neither of them had had a relationship as successful as his own, but they probably had some good advice, right? It had to be better than Mike or Lucas’, anyway. Sending out a ‘Code Red,’ to both Steve and Eddie on the walkies, he waited patiently on Steve’s front step for them to get there. He would have offered to host, but he was terrified of Suzie or his mom overhearing a conversation like this. 

“Steve! Eddie!” He greeted enthusiastically when they arrived, too nervous to sit still or watch his volume. “Hey! How’s life going? Gee, that’s great,” He bulldozed right through niceties, not bothering to actually check in with either. Dustin saw them often enough that he was sure they were fine. Fine-ish, at least. 

“So, weird question. Totally hypothetical. How the hell am I supposed to date Suzie in person?” Dustin asked once they were inside. “She’s literally the coolest girl I’ve ever met. And I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing here.” 

after being together with eddie over at eddie’s place, steve was taken by surprise that both of them got a code red from dustin on their walkies. it still baffled steve that he was pretty much forced to carry a walkie now, something that he had never to do before he met dustin henderson. sure, it was a nice way to communicate with everyone, much better than a house phone and it was portable! how cool was that? okay, he wasn’t about to freak out over some walkies, but as soon as he heard the code red coming from dustin, telling them to meet him at steve’s place. he frowned, but didn’t waste any time to get in the car with eddie and drive down there.

once they both arrived, steve got out of the car, almost in a rush to get to his place and dustin, but once he saw him standing by his doorstep, steve frowned as he walked towards him, placing his hands on his own hips and looking at him. “henderson! what’s going on? did someone break in my house? because i don’t have my bat with me to beat them up, so maybe you should have called the cops…” he said, shaking his head as he looked over at his house. no windows seemed to be broken and his door seemed normal, so now he was starting to wonder what this was all about.

he was about to answer dustin about how his life was going, but he was quickly cut short once the other asked them how he was supposed to date suzie. letting out a sigh as he moved his hand to rub his eyes, he shook his head. “you… gave us a code red because of that? i thought my house was on fire or something!” he said, shaking his head as he walked past dustin and opened his door, standing by it as he made way for both of them to get in his house. “get in.” he said, waiting for them to make their way inside.

once they were all inside of the house, steve made his way inside of the living room and looked at dustin, frowning slightly at him. it was only fair that he had questions about his own dating life, but why had he asked both him and eddie? did he know something about them? steve hoped not. “right, about suzie…” he said, as he pondered on what to say to him. “well, i think…” he said, as he looked at eddie for a couple of moments as in a way to ask him for help. “the best way is that you take her on dates… you know, watching movies, having dinner together… i mean, at least that’s what i did when i was uh…” he asked, looking at eddie again and then back at dustin. “when i had dates.” he said, nodding.

@eddiemcnson··

+++

as much as he loved dustin, that little shithead's code read truly couldn't have come at a worse time. steve and eddie hadn't really talked since the whole... cabin fiasco, as eddie had titled it in his head, and they'd done a pretty good job avoiding one another so far. sure, yeah, maybe eddie did drive by family video, like, every other day to catch a glimpse of steve before ducking behind some cars when the other turned around, but that didn't mean he missed him or something. he definitely didn't. how could he, when the brutal punch of steve's rejection has left a festering, every growing bruise?

no, he didn't miss him and he'd done a swell job trying to convince himself that he wasn't as affected by the whole thing as he truly was. he'd been fine, really. up until steve had shown up at the trailer. his presence alone did wonders of ripping open old wounds, god, the sight of steve's face, the look on it, made eddie's stomach drop. a cruel joke was what it was - steve dropping by, insisting they continue their 'talk'.

eddie had barely gotten halfway through "nothing left to talk about, harrington" when steve's walkie had chimed in, alerting them to a code red, and suddenly all animosity between them was forgotten. they shared a look and practically ran to steve's car, the drive up to his house was silent and charged.

the concerned frown on eddie's face quickly turned into something resembling outrage and annoyance as dustin let them in on why he'd truly called them over. exasperated, he threw his hands up into the air. "no, no, you're shitting me, right, henderson? that's why you called us? jesus christ, man!" he shook his head in disbelief, messy curls flying about as he did so. a nauseating feeling settling in the pit of his stomach as he remembered what had happened the last time he'd been at steve's house. eddie gulped.

"seriously, man! how many times do we have to go over this, code red's are for emergencies only! like, life and death and freaky... upside down monster emergencies, you hear me?" the annoyed tone in his voice started to quickly fade and die down as eddie settled, he shook his head once more, crossed his arms over his chest. this was dustin, after all, so eddie really couldn’t stay mad for long.

pondering his question, he met steve’s eyes for a split second, feeling a sharp tug at his heart. he scoffed at his words, scrunched his nose up. “yeah, steve here got the idea. dates. like, real proper romantic shit. maybe you can even, i don’t know, whisk her away to a romantic getaway. a cabin, maybe! that’s sounds like so much fun, don’t it, harrington?” eddie flailed his hands around as he spoke, slowly pacing around steve’s living room. throwing him a mocking glance as he mentioned the cabin, basically spitting out his words, they left a sour taste in his mouth. “just... i don’t know. make sure it’s just you two, some real nice qualitiy time. don’t want anyone disturbing that, do you? and then you... just tell her how smart and, like, beauitful and everything she is.” eddie shrugged. “i mean, i don’t know, guessing that’s, like, what girls like to hear? i don’t know shit about girls, so maybe that sort of advice from our loverboy steve over here, yeah?”

he clasped his hands together, threw steve another look. “i’m outta my depth here, henderson. so can i go?”

@dvstybuns··

loverboymontgomery·:

who: Cole & @eddiemcnson·

where: the shores of Lover’s Lake

What a weird fucking night it had been. It was already weird enough for Cole to come to an open-invitation camping trip. Add onto that that Adam, his resurrected boyfriend, was helping to plan it. And then everything that had actually happened in the lake. Ninety percent of Cole was internally screaming at him to go home– but he wanted to be a good sport and a supportive boyfriend, and besides, whatever ‘injury’ he had earlier was now gone. 

Still, Cole needed a reprieve from the crowd; apparently shit had gone down in the cabin, too, and Adam was being the usual Good Samaritan and helping some stragglers put their tents together. So, Cole slipped away back towards the lake. He was certainly going to keep his distance from the water, but something about the scene and the sun setting on the lake’s horizon was enough to calm his fears from before. 

As he rounded the corner and heard the chatter behind him die down, Cole spotted a figure closer to the shore. That hair was unmistakeable, and a grin broke out onto Cole’s face. “Hey, Munson!” he called to announce his presence. Though they hadn’t spoken much since that day in the mall (and they hardly spoke that day either, to be fair), Cole felt incredibly comfortable with Eddie. Like they’d been friends for years. “You hoping to find the Lochness monster down here or something?” 

+++

god, it had been an eventful six-ish hours at the lake,and eddie was more than ready to just fuck it and go home again. he'd even debated sleeping in the van but after what had went down he wasn't sure if he'd be brave enough to be on his own tonight.

a nice, simple, fun, relaxing camping trip had sounded like a hell of an idea, once he'd found out about it he'd been all game. not to say that the fact that they were camping at lover's lake didn't make him uneasy, oh god it did. everytime his gaze fell on the open water he gulped, a ghastly shiver running down his spine as he remembered the events of spring break '86. watergate. the upside down.

still he'd come along, because what else was there to do? soon enough the fun had turned sour, when adam and cole had been dragged down in the water, when dustin had started acting weird, apparently some shit had gone down over at the cabin, too, but he could barely even wrap his head around what had happened at the shore. in true hawkins fashion, the paranormal apparently couldn't take a day off.

he needed a break. he needed some time to clear his head, so eddie had split from the group. to breathe, have a smoke, be alone with his racing thoughts for a moment. though the solitary didn't last long.

a lopsided grin, eddie awkwardly waved at cole, cigarette between his fingers. a faint blush rising to his cheeks as memories of the day of the mall protest flooded his mind. "nah, not here for nessie. just.... needed a break. from all this." he shrugged, took a drag. "how's your ankle, montgomery?"

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?”

cassieconrads·:

Cassie gave a nod at Eddie’s question, noticing his demeanor shift as she mentioned the Wheelers. As he described how he was friends with Mike, things started to make sense: maybe her new companion wasn’t that much of a stranger, after all. “Yeah, I came back with Nancy from the summer from college,” she explained, “we’re in the same sorority there, and they kind of all suck, so we bonded over it. Mike, though? I’m trying to get him to like me better than Nancy’s boyfriend, who somehow managed to follow us across the country to try and win her back, or some shit.” Cassie shrugged.

She let out a laugh, supposing he was right: Eddie certainly wasn’t the kind of guy she saw on the streets of Boston or San Francisco. “Shit, I’m sorry. I mean, I’m from California, and we had nothing like that going on there. Honestly, more has happened in the past few weeks that I’ve been here than my whole life there.” Including, but not limited to, a weird night at the graveyard and an entire diner burning down. “I’m Cassie. I appreciate the personal escort.”

+++

see, any friend of nancy’s that nancy trusted and liked enough to invite to stay with her over break surely wouldn’t mean no harm and eddie immediately relaxed. the...unfortunate encounter with ‘unnamed asshole slash jason carver carbon copy’ still had him somewhat shaken, looking over his shoulder more often than usual. and, at the mention of a dubious boyfriend that had followed them across the country, he slowly began to connect the dots. hoped to god that he had connected them all wrong. “that, uh, that boyfriend of hers - does he, like, have a little temper problem? and, like...does he sort of look like a ken doll right out of the box? “

he chuckled at her statement, shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “yeah, hawkins sort of does that to a person. lived here all my life before i moved to chicago, twenty years of, like, constant mayhem. and not, like, the good kind of mayhem, either.” 

but he spared her the gory details, the story of how, two years ago, he had nearly died while being attacked by vampire demon bats in the literal hell version of hawkins underneath the town. “well, pleased to make your acquaintance, cassie.”, he said with a grin and gave an over-exaggerated bow. “may i inquire what brings you to the library on such a fine day?”

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.”

Stranger Things - 4x08 - Papa

colemontgomeryx·:

xx.

Cole usually didn’t get nervous; he had an unearned air of confidence supported by the belief that he could get with any guy. The flirting was no problem, but after that? When the feeling was returned? It had been so long since he’d felt this. Finally, Eddie was reciprocating and moving closer to him, confirming that Eddie felt it too.

Cole breathed in deeply, catching a whiff of Eddie’s cologne mingling with cigarette smoke. A smell that made Cole want to bury his face into Eddie’s chest, so he could smell it on himself the rest of the night. Cole couldn’t drag his eyes away from Eddie’s lips, watching the other run his tongue along his bottom lip.

“We’re in a mall,” Cole repeated, his voice breathy. “There are plenty of places to hide. And I doubt the vandals will notice we’re gone,” he grinned, tugging on Eddie’s shirt as if to say let’s go now. 

+++

his thoughts were spiralling, dizzy with how close they suddenly were to one another. a contact high, if you will, eddie thought and nearly chuckled at his own joke that he had cracked, to himself, in his own head. decided against it because he had a strong feeling that that might ruin the mood. and after his love life had been a big heap of, well, nothing, these past few months, eddie was definitely not trying to do anything that could potentially ruin the mood.

eddie watched, enraptured, as cole’s eyes stuck to his lips and is own darted down to cole’s. and man, while he hadn’t taken much notice of him in hgih school, he now wondered why - cole was pretty. like, very pretty. the relevation hit eddie hard, made his breath hitch. shit.

his heart skipped a beat, stopped for a second, he thought, as he felt cole tug on his shirt. he bit his lip as his eyes flicked down to cole’s lips, god, they really had to get out of there, stat. so eddie nodded, hummed in agreement. grabbed hold of his wrist and looked around for a moment before he dragged him off around the corner, pressing him up against a marble pillar.

nervous eyes searching is. “uh...you, uh, sure about this?”