Zccming·:

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?”

cassieconrads·:

WHO: cassie conrrad & @eddiemcnson· WHERE: skull rock

In the weekend of the Fourth of July, Cassie had learned a lot. Hawkins was under attack by some supernatural creature, no one could leave, the government may or may not have been covering the whole thing up, and the girl Cassie thought she’d seen in her head the night at the graveyard actually hadn’t been dead. Which meant that she had some sort of apology to give to the nice guy with the rockstar head of hair she’d seen on her way to the library when she’d been looking for more information: Eddie Munson. After describing the cheerleader in her head, Eddie had proceeded to practically run in the other direction, and Cassie couldn’t help but dig into why. 

As it turned out, Eddie had been some sort of town-declared freak, after all. They’d thought that he was responsible for the cult in the woods or something like that, all because of playing Dungeons and Dragons. But, after talking to Lucas and finding out that there was no way some teenager could have done this singlehandedly back then, Cassie had come to realize just how horrible Hawkins had been to the guy. 

Which was why, upon seeing him at the rock where another one of Mike’s friends had apparently gotten possessed, according to Nancy, Cassie didn’t turn in the other direction. She also didn’t want to scare him into thinking she was there to pick a fight, so she approached with her hands in the air, notebook full of DnD notes she’d taken in one, as this was supposed to be a research trip.  “Please don’t run away this time, I come in peace,” she pleaded, taking cautious steps forward. “I promise. I have a whole lot of explaining to do and a pack of cigarettes in my pocket, half of which could be yours,” Cassie offered, lowering her hands slowly with a grin. 

+++

this was stupid. stupid, stupid, stupid. eddie truly didn’t know what had posessed him when he’d stormed out the trailer, headphones clasped tightly on his head, blasting the sisters of mercy’s 1987 ‘floodland’. coincidentally the same album he’d listened to over and over again following the months of spring break ‘86. the tape was worn out, sounding mangled at times, he didn’t care. it still provided him an odd sort of comfort. 

perhaps it had been wayne’s concerned nagging, or the way eddie still felt the bruises callahan’s handcuffs had left on his wrist. or it had been the fact that, once again, he couldn’t show his face in town without being subjected to scrutiny. maybe it had been eddie’s own doing, in the end, his constant overthinking that had caused him to snap at his uncle - who only meant well, of course, and eddie knew this - and leave the trailer to go on a walk. clear his head. not that he could take any of his usual routes, not if he planned on coming back home unharmed, anyway. still, he wondered why his feet had carried him to skull rock. muscle memory, maybe. just like it had been muscle memory in ‘86 when he’d fled to the same place after a run in with jason carver that had very nearly cost him his life, hadn’t vecna claimed his next victim at a particularly convenient moment.

being back at that spot did nothing in terms of calming his jangled nerves, made him feel worse, if anything. the feeling of worse-ness heightened by the fact that he’d forgot his cigarettes at home. bullshit. a voice cut through his incessant thoughts and eddie jumped, ripped his headphones off his head, ready to make a run for it. wasn’t that - oh. right.

a frown settled on his features, he eyed her with suspicion, a couple of beats passed. finally, he nodded apprehensively. “hand ‘em over.” and he nodded for her to go on.

Stranger Things - 4x08 - Papa

cassieconrads·:

Cassie looked up from concentrating on her map to take stock of the guy in front of her, who claimed to be Hawkins’ biggest outcast with a disclaimer. She couldn’t imagine why, if Hawkins itself was already an anomaly, that the town decided to pick on one particular resident. Thankfully, Cassie’s temporary residence lent itself to not giving a shit about who she hung out with this summer; she’d be leaving Indiana soon enough. She folded up the map, sticking it in the back pocket of her jeans as she stood to join the stranger on their walk in the direction of the library.

“I don’t mind,” she assured him, “I’m just here for the summer, crashing at the Wheeler residence.” It was getting old, having to introduce herself as the new girl, but she supposed that it was better than a ‘freak’, as her companion had so described himself. “May I ask how you acquired that title, or is that too intrusive for a singular block into our walk?”

+++

he pressed his lips together into an awkward smile, shoved his hands into the pockets of his denim vest, nodding for her to come along as they set off towards the library. he felt himself visibly relax once she mentioned the wheeler’s - if she was staying nancy and mike then he was definitely safe with her, or rather from her, even if a stray angry hick decided to expose just why he was deemed the town freak. 

“the wheeler’s.”, he said and hummed, nodded in acknowledgement. “they got a pretty nice pad. are you one of nancy’s college friends? or...” eddie looked at her, eyes narrowed. “ .. or in some dubious connection to mike?”

at her question eddie gave a shrug, steered them to the right to turn onto the main street. “well, for starters i don’t really look like your average small town prom king.”, he said, blew a lock off her from out of his eyes. “and i was, uh, head of the dnd club at school. mike was in it, too, actually. then the ‘satanic panic’ spread over ‘murica.” eddie wiggled his fingers, raised his brows before he dropped the theatrics, chuckled.

“i don’t know, people are werid, started saying we’re not actually playing dnd but worshipping satan.”, he shrugged.  “i’m eddie, by the way.”

zccming​:

max narrowed her eyes while eddie showcased his outfit for her. she nodded, hand thoughtfully on her chin. “i don’t know, eddie.” she sighed as if she had bad news, then reached out and smacked her hand onto his shoulder, “you’re looking like the spitting image of callahan these days.” max grinned, then stepped back, crossed her arms, and resumed examining the storefront. max knew it wasn’t going to open if all she did was stand there and before she got the chance to sit on it some more, eddie was running through the inciting events with her. she didn’t deny the way he framed it. in fact, max nodded along, until she just had to interject, “okay? have you ever had karen wheeler look at you funny? it gets brutal after like…” she muttered a couple numbers under her breath, “five times.” 

there was an easiness that came in interacting with eddie. most of the time, max had to force herself to listen to and engage with other people. when it came to eddie though, she just did it, like it was built in. if she was inching anywhere near an edge of truly snapping in the face of this inconvenience, eddie’s laugh pushed her about fifty steps back. she gratefully accepted his hair pin, “yeah yeah. so beneath me.” max started for the back of the building. an exit without insult or profanity could be chalked up to a thank you from max. with eddie’s help and the guarantee of a few beers now on her side, she’d consider this outing a score. 

max took a grand total of fifteen minutes to round up all she needed to avoid mrs. wheeler’s stare of death before crossing the street back over to eddie’s van. she tossed her bag and then her skateboard inside without much care, then followed in suit. “we got like an hour before we should show up.” max announced, “we could go now but…” she sucked in on her teeth, “i don’t think we want be in the first wave of guests.” it was an annoying truth, but if max arrived to the wheeler household with eddie munson before the droves of people piled in, well, about a quarter of that target audience wouldn’t bother coming at all if they caught word. not needing to explain that, she flatly posed the next step, “so, how are we going to kill an hour?”

+++

he scrunched his nose, grimaced. “callahan?” listen, he’d heard a lot of insults in his life but this? and coming from max? “wow, that’s, - that’s the worst name i’ve ever been called. and isn’t that, like, before your time? aren’t you, like, twelve or something?” at her comment about wheeler he just shrugged with his palms held out. he’d never met the woman, didn’t usually hang about that part of town, but the way max described her - well, eddie wasn’t sure if inviting himself to that cookout was such a good idea after all. but fuck it. “the hell did you do that made mrs wheeler stare at you funny five times, max? that sounds more like a you problem if you ask me.”

and off she went, eddie looked around, made sure that no one around had seen her sneak off before he went back to his van. resisted the urge to turn up the music because they really didn’t need to draw any attention to themselves. he left the doors to the van wide open, sat side-ways in the driver’s seat, legs dangling out the door. then max returned with her secured goods, he lazily turned his head and watched as she climbed into the passenger seat. “sweet haul”, he said and nodded his head towards the stolen yield. “what did you get?”

he blew a raspberry. “an hour.”, he mused, fingers drumming on the dashboard. he’d been ready to slam his keys into the ignition and speed off but now, here they were, in the middle of downtown hawkins, after robbing a store on memorial day, with an hour to kill. eddie shifted so he sat properly in his seat, pulled the door shut and rolled the window down. “i don’t know, man. we could, like, chill in the sun somewhere? or hey, maybe the arcade’s open today?” he shrugged. “anywhere but here, dude. your choice. your wish is my command.”

stevehharringtcns·:

.

steve couldn’t believe his eyes when he spotted that the person in front of his car (and that he had almost ran over with his car) was no other than eddie. he was pretty convinced that he had walked in front of his car on purpose, but then again, he couldn’t really be surprised by that - it was eddie after all. he couldn’t help but to chuckle at the other’s reaction to seeing him. only eddie would react like that, but at least someone was glad to see him. he couldn’t imagine nancy’s reaction when she spotted him, but he didn’t want to think about that right now. “what the hell are you doing, munson? you can’t just jump in front of my car like that, i could have killed you!” he continued his protests, but this time he had a smile on his face, shaking his head slowly as he laughed.

before he knew it, eddie was making his way inside of his car and before he could say anything about it, he was being pulled into a hug by the other, which made him chuckle awkwardly as he patted his back. “alright, alright, munson, don’t get too emotional just by my presence. it’s not like i went anywhere, you’re the one that has been missing from hawkins.” he said, shaking his head slightly as he kept patting the other’s back until he finally was pulled way from the hug.

staring at eddie as he invited himself over to the barbecue, steve thought to himself: it would be better if he showed with someone else, right? it would be less awkward than just showing up on his own and having to deal with the wheeler family all by himself. right? “i don’t think she’ll mind… but it’s not like i can ask her either way, so… the wheeler barbecue it is then.” he said as he started driving again, not thinking twice as he started making his way towards the wheeler house. “what have you been up to, munson? don’t tell me you came back to hawkins, after all this time?” he asked, a smirk showing up in his features as he drove.

+++

he shrugged. “had to get your attention somehow, didn’t i?” wide beaming smile fixed on his lips, eddie settled into the seat with a sigh, lifting his hips to pull the bandana from his back pocket. perhaps the hug had been a bit much, he thought to himself as he patted away a sheen of sweat on his forehead. he gave steve a sheepish smile. “sorry, man, didn’t mean to get all...”, he gestured between them with his hands, then dropped them in his lap. “it’s just you’re, like, the first friendly face i’ve come across here, ‘cept for my uncle, of course. and that means a lot, at least in hawkins, you know.”<7small>

although steve and eddie were... well, friends - bound together by that fucking whacky shit they’d gone through two years ago - eddie’s brow still twitched in anticipation as he awaited steve’s reply. he was still afraid of rejection, even after two years of keeping in contact. platonic rejection, though - yeah, no, eddie was pretty damn sure steve was as straight as they come. he’d put the moves on him during their time fighting vecna, really, come to think of it he’d never flirted as shamelessly with anyone else. dropping hints left, right and center, to no avail. until he’d moved to chicago and, well, had been forced to give up pursuing steve, for his own good.

but whatever. eddie noticed the sudden shift in tone as steve talked about nancy and cocked an eyebrow, buckling th seatbelt as he spoke. “huh? trouble in paradise, harrington? are you and wheeler, like, doing okay, or...?” a sort of open ended question, leaving it to steve to fill him in on the details he wanted to share.

he stretched his arms above his head, slipped his bandana back into his pocket. “oh, i’ve been up to all sorts of things. y’know. wreakig general havoc here and there, same old, in true munson fashion.”, he said and gave him a grin. “god, no, i’m only back for the summer, stevie. why? did you miss me?”

“you been up to anything fun, harrington?”

Ozzy Osbourne -   Crazy Train  ♰

stevehharringtcns·:

who: steve harrington and @eddiemcnson·

where: the video store

steve hated that he have to work. well, he didn’t hate working whenever he was accompanied by robin, but this time around, it was his turn to have a shift on his own and he didn’t know what to do with himself. he definitely didn’t want to spend most of his shift talking with keith, so he kept himself busy with rearranging the videos, although he was always with a bored look on his face. it was summer, why the hell was he wasting away at the video store? he should be at the pool or getting drunk with his friends, but instead he was just carrying the videotapes from one side to the other and organizing them in the right section. he heard the door open but he didn’t look, he was sure that keith could handle it.

he was about to turn and make his way around one of the halls, his eyes locked on the pile of videos that he carried before he almost bumped into someone. he was lucky that he didn’t drop anything or else he was never going to hear the end of it. getting ready to argue with the person, steve finally looked up to find eddie. why was he blushing out of the sudden? he didn’t know. “eddie!” he said, a smile forming on his lips as he looked over at him, before clearing his throat. “what are you doing here? seems like we keep running into each other, right?” he asked with a smile, as he just stood there waiting for an answer from the other.

+++ 

‘act casual, just ... act casual.’, eddie thought to himself, desperately trying to appear relaxed and unbothered as he continued browsing through stacks of vhs tapes he had no intention of watching. no, he wasn’t at family video for the videos’ sake. his fingers traced over the rough plastic edges of the casing of ‘fast times at richmond high’ - eddie grimaced - and he walked down another aisle that he’d been in about three times already. stealing quick glances at the man behind the counter - the actual reason eddie had come to the store.

not keith, ugh, no, never. but steve harrington, this time without his seemingly ever-present attaché robin buckley, engrossed in his work. he hadn’t looked over at him yet, and, well, it would be awkward if he came up to greet him, wouldn’t it? so eddie waited, waited until steve would finally notice him. stupid. he felt like a teenager with a silly crush.

lost in though, he accidentally pulled on a case, scrambling to catch it before it fell. close one. when he turned back ‘round to steal another glance at steve, eddie found him standing right in front of him, a little too close to comfort. he cleared his throat, signature grin pulling at his lips. “my my, harrington, what a surprise.”, he said - as if he hadn’t come by almost every day since coming back to hawkins, seeing if steve finally had a shift without buckley ( much as eddie liked robin, he’d wanted to catch steve alone ). as if he hadn’t just ‘browsed’ through movies for a good half hour.

stupid. he’d gotten over his stupid crush on steve, it had done himno good, destined to end in heartache and lead nowhere. or so he’d thought - because locking eyes with steve, eddie felt himself get flustered, he nervously played with his rings. “what am i doing here? well, you gotta think real hard steve, what do people usually go to the video store for?”, he teased, moved a little closer, one hand placed on a nearby shelf, leaning against it, the other on his hip. he shrugged. “i’m waiting to receive that world famous customer service you got going on here.”

rcbinbvckleys·:

⚢

all robin seemed to be able to do when eddie spoke even louder was laugh. “you are so annoying.” she shook her head fondly, paying no real mind to the loud music coming from the bedroom. this was eddie they were talking about, and if there was one thing besides hellfire that he was known for, it was his love of music. which is why robin wasn’t fazed, and she was pretty used to it by now. it was just something that came with their friendship.

 “i will never forget that mattress in my life. the image is still carved into my eyelids.” robin hoped that somewhere along the line, eddie or at least his uncle had replaced the old thing. but until she received explicit confirmation, it was pretty likely that she would purposely stay well away from sitting on eddie’s bed. 

 taking the joint from eddie’s hand, robin took a long drag from it. “where do i even start?” another drag, just for good measure before passing it back to him. “do you ever feel like, something’s going on but you just can’t be too sure about it?”

+++

the second the joint was taken from his fingers eddie buried his face in his palms, partly to hide the embarrassed flush that rose to his cheeks, a long groan falling from his lips. "buckley, please, i'm begging you - I know it was gross, okay? i have a new mattress now and i - i don't know what those stains were, okay?"

eddie knew absolutely what those stains were but the nature of said stains was a secret he'd take to his grave. he flung his hands about, gestured for robin to move on to a different topic of conversation.

he sat up a little straighter as she spoke, took the joint from her hands, a long inhale. "uh..." brows pulled together, he followed the smoke as it traveled up from his mouth to the ceiling. "just.... like, on a daily basis." a lopsided grin, he huffed. "what's this about, rob?"

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.”