Rcbinbvckleys​:

Every now and then, on a day he didn't have to work, Cole found himself wandering aimlessly around the main attractions of Hawkins; like he was taking a tour of his hometown. Today, somehow, he ended up at the high school. He couldn't decide if it was self-sabotage or nice to remember, but everywhere he looked he could see him. Lost in thought, it took the girl's deep sigh to shake him out of the fog. "Damn. Should've known the school was that broke," he joked, trying to plant himself firmly in the here-and-now.

Cole walked closer, peering at the girl. They definitely went to high school together, but weren't really friends. "Ginny, right?"

WHO: ginny sprat & open.

WHERE: the hawkins high tennis courts. 

she sat on the picnic table, head bent as she re-wrapped her racket’s handle. sweat dripped down her forehead and stung her eyes, but she hardly stopped to wipe it away. glancing up at the person nearby, who’s repeated pushes of the button indicated a familiar frustration. 

“water fountain’s broken,” she sighed, “so don’t even bother.” 

TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET

© Carl Timpone for TimesTalks

goldenboyrichards​:

Their relationship had never gotten to look like a straight couple’s. In high school, Adam didn’t get to walk down the hall hand in hand with Cole, or kiss him when they got to their classroom door. Cole couldn’t show up to Adam’s games with Adam’s jersey number painted on his cheek. They couldn’t be out. That just wasn’t an option in Hawkins, Indiana. But they had always managed to find little ways of reclaiming the public displays of affection that they deserved. From sitting too close on the bus to away games to a casual arm thrown across the other’s shoulder, Adam and Cole had always tried to show how much they loved one another in their own way. Cole wearing Adam’s clothes was probably Adam’s favorite, though. He loved seeing the other in his hoodies or sweaters; he’d even given Cole his fucking letterman jacket in school, almost daring anyone to say something. So giving him another hoodie tonight was more than worth it if it warmed Cole up and brought a smile to his face after everything that had happened. 

“Yeah, me too,” Adam agreed, leaning back on the log. If only it was that simple. If only they’d had some sort of weird, freaky, shared nightmare or something. But something had happened, hadn’t it? Adam had felt it just as much as Cole. And that didn’t comfort him in the end. “But, we’re okay. Right? We both lived. We’re both here. We’ll get through this.” Maybe that was too optimistic, but Adam had always brought that to their relationship. Where Cole was more pragmatic, more understanding of the cruelties of the world, Adam was kind. He was gentle. He saw the best in all situations and people. And right now, they needed a little bit of optimism before they….well, before they drowned. 

It killed Adam to turn Cole down. If he could just go, he would in a heartbeat. That had always been the plan, after all - for them to leave, runaway together and move out to California. Somewhere where they could just be together. Where no one would hurt them for holding hands, or would look at them strangely for living together. And Adam had ruined that. Whether he meant to or not, Adam had kept them from leaving, and he was doing it again. It broke him to do that, but he couldn’t just leave his family. Not right now. “I’m so sorry, honey,” Adam told him, bringing Cole’s hand up to his mouth and kissing the back of it. If someone saw right now, Adam would say he was fucking kidding or something - but he needed to comfort Cole. “No, baby, it’s okay to be emotional.” Fuck, Adam was emotional. He felt sometimes like his heart was too big for his rib cage - it expanded out, bloody and raw for the world to see and judge and treat however it saw fit. He couldn’t hide a fucking emotion if he tried. “You won’t.” Adam swore. “I promise, Cole, I’m going to do everything that I can to be with you forever. Whatever happened before - we’ll just make sure it doesn’t happen again, okay? Together.” 

xx.

We’re okay. We’re both here. We’ll get through this. Adam’s words washed over Cole, enveloping him in the comforting hug Adam couldn’t physically give him right now. Cole’s smile gained strength as he met his boyfriend’s eyes. There were plenty of times in their relationship that Cole wasn’t particularly welcoming of Adam’s optimism; but now, there was nothing he was more thankful for in the world. It felt like confirmation that Adam was back-- that the cruel, cold flash of him was truly dead and gone. Cole squeezed his hand back. “Yeah. We’ll get through this. We can get through it together.” 

Cole’s heart sank at Adam’s apology, and he quickly tried to remediate the effects of his words. “No no no,” he murmured, scooting closer to Adam so he could keep his voice low. “Never apologize, my love,” he narrowly resisted the urge to cup Adam’s face, brush his cheek. It’s okay to be emotional... it is! But Cole was scared, so scared that if he let the cracks show, Adam would see how utterly broken he was. How his entire life stopped and lost meaning when Adam died. The ache had ebbed and flowed throughout the three years of Adam’s absence, but it was constant. Under the surface, Cole always knew that part of him was missing. But that didn’t matter, what mattered now was that Adam was here. They had a second chance, and Cole wasn’t going to ruin it.

“I just want you. Us. It doesn’t matter where, love, I promise.” Cole willed himself not to cry, but he couldn’t help the feeling that the ache in his chest was more exposed than ever. He’d learned what to do with the hollow feeling, how to cope with it, but this fear? The knowledge of life without Adam was too heavy to hold. So, he accepted Adam’s promise, knowing fully that neither of them could promise forever, not really. “It won’t happen again,” Cole repeated, almost convincing himself of its truth. “I love you so much. Always.”

END.

zccming​:

.

if max hadn’t been so pleased with cole’s vow towards safety, there was a one hundred percent chance she would have wacked him across the chest for touching her. but this go around, just this once, she welcomed it. she closed her eyes, simply grateful to have him near. after taking a moment to convince herself that he would make good on that promise and be careful she flashed him a small smile and clapped her hand over his, “thanks.” and that was that. 

it was much easier to throw herself into teasing conversations. it wasn’t difficult for max to find a good time, but it did take some concentration to force herself to stay in the moment now and again. that being said, the information that cole dropped into her lap fully grabbed her attention. she had been expecting cole to stumble to come up with a full five people, so when he not only did that, but also name dropped steve and eddie, max’s jaw dropped, “shut the fuck up!” the back of her hand came into harsh contact with cole’s chest, “you’re joking.” she levelled with him. when it became abundantly clear that cole was being honest, she turned her head and curiously leaned in a little closer, “what the fuck? when?” screw adam and luke from college and also nancy’s boyfriend? there was no judgement to be found in max’s expression or in her tone, merely shock from apparently being severely out of the loop. regardless, she was fully invested now and swore her own secrecy with a zipping motion over her lips, “it will. i can keep quiet.” 

the reveal had been a nice reprieve, but matters circled back to billy, as they always seemed to these days, and max’s expression darkened. she hunched over, slightly more protective of her body as she divulged cole with details from her own life. “it’s cool, you didn’t force the asshole to come back.” she shrugged, picking up a pebble from the ground and fixing her eyes on it while she rolled it between her thumb and index finger. max sighed, shaking her head, then throwing the pebble into the distance, “he’s staying in the living room.” she looked back to cole. did she really need to say more than that? max didn’t seem to think so. 

cole’s unspoken offer to not talk about what happened with el was snatched up by max in record time and replaced with the sharp and giddy jabbing of her elbow into his ribs, “really good? like, you’re dating good? or what? i wanna know!” she’d been moody enough for one conversation and she’d caught a sudden wave of energy that she was finding to be extremely helpful in her enthusiastic efforts. 

the suggestion of breaking into melvald’s left max scoffing, “yeah, right. not my brightest moment.” she rolled her eyes and ashed her cigarette. despite the criticism of her past idea, max offered an equally as bad, but much more fresh one, “do you think we could get away with spray painting the police station? like what are the odds we pull it off?”

xx.

“Ow,” Cole groaned, rubbing his chest where Max had hit him. It wasn’t that hard, he just liked to make a point. He wondered for a moment if he should be offended that Max was so shocked, but the question passed when she asked for details. He knew she wasn’t judging him-- that had never been a factor in their friendship-- so he allowed himself to crack a smile. It was pretty ridiculous, after all.

“Steve was a while ago-- couple months, maybe. At some party; well, in his car outside of some party,” he admitted. “Eddie was... at the Blue Quarry Mall party, thing. Before your arrest, obviously,” Cole noted. “And Thad was a few weeks ago. That was weird,” his brow furrowed. He still didn’t know what to make of it, and he’d taken to pushing it out of his mind now that Adam was back. Cole nodded, relief passing over him at her promise to keep it secret. Obviously, he needed to tell Adam, but... it hadn’t come up. Truthfully, he was afraid it would change things, or change the way Adam viewed him. Cole really couldn’t take that. He couldn’t even entertain the thought.

He watched as Max’s body language shifted dramatically. Cole had never gotten details on what her and Billy’s relationship was like, other than he was an asshole, but how she was acting now was all he needed to know. “Goes without saying, but if you need to crash, my house is open. My mom loves you anyways,” he said, hoping she would take the offer. Or any offer really, just something that would put distance between her and Billy. Cole got a bad feeling in his gut when he thought about them staying together in the already-cramped trailer. It felt like playing with fire. 

At Max’s sudden change, Cole quirked an eyebrow. But whatever, maybe it was her way of signaling that she’d had too much of the heavy stuff, so he went along with it. A laugh escaped Cole’s lips, “Yeah? I mean, yes. We haven’t like explicitly talked about it, but...” Cole shrugged. “Not to be gross, but he’s my future. He’s it.” It was a funny question, he realized in retrospect, because Cole wouldn’t call Adam his ‘boyfriend’-- that felt too high school. Adam meant more to him than that, but he didn’t know how to put it into words. Hopefully Max got the gist.

Cole openly scoffed at Max’s new-and-improved suggestion. “Christ, Mayfield. Are you trying to get arrested again so soon?” Not that he had a better idea. “Why don’t we, like, break into Harrington’s pool or something else that won’t get us handcuffed.”

who: Cole & @willthewize​

where: Main Street

Cole had just gotten off work and was a few blocks into the skate home. On days when he had nothing else to do, which was most days now, he liked to pass through downtown via Main Street. It was nice to see the activity and be reminded that people were here and going about their normal lives.

Since the camping trip fiasco, Cole had felt phantom pains in his ankle from where... whatever it was... had dragged him underwater. He was pretty sure it was all in his head, because Adam hadn’t been feeling the same thing. But still, Cole stopped and sat on a bench to give it a break. He studied it closely, looking for any sign of contact or inflammation, but there was nothing. Maybe Hawkins was making him crazy.

Thankfully, he was interrupted by footsteps on his side of the street. Snapping his head up, Cole’s face broke out into a smile. “Hey, Will,” he called, hoping the other wasn’t in a rush and would come over. He’d been meaning to talk to him, anyway, ever since he’d spoken with Joyce. “What are you up to?” he asked. Cole vaguely recalled that Will had been at the camping trip, too-- but he must’ve been with a different group. “How was the camping trip for you?” Cole had heard whispers about weird stuff happening in a cabin, but he had admittedly been too focused on his almost-drowning to gather any details.

who: Cole & @sinclairss​​

where: The Hideaway 🍻 

Since he’d been admitted to the hospital, Cole had rarely had a moment alone. He didn’t mind it, when the people surrounding him were Adam or Max or Chrissy or Beth, not at all! But he had so many questions and was exhausted to his core with worry, and around them? Cole wouldn’t express that. Everyone else was scared enough, the last thing he wanted to do was add to that. Even still, Cole hadn’t been able to get the carnival out of his head-- the way Adam had reverted back to whatever happened before he died-- the way Max wasn’t even there-- the way Tommy H had acted more animal than human. 

So he’d found himself at The Hideaway a few times this week, somewhere he doubted any of his friends and certainly not his boyfriend would willingly go. It was a nice excuse to wallow for a while, allow himself to drown the fear in a few jack and cokes. At the moment, Cole was on his third, desperately trying to numb the ache in his chest, the uncertainty about whether or not Adam would live to the end of the week. Cole finished the glass, setting it down on the bar with a rattle, and motioned to the bar tender that he’d take another. With his eyes lifted, Cole saw the last person he’d expected to see: Lucas Sinclair. When it was clear that the other had seen him, Cole lifted a hand in greeting and pasted a smile on his face. 

“Hey, man. What... uh, what are you doing here?” Cole asked, ignoring the twinge of embarrassment in his gut. Drinking alone was so uncharacteristically uncool. “Can I buy you a drink?” he offered, figuring Lucas had some shit to air out, too. He’d been attacked by Tommy H, after all, and that was the last Cole remembered seeing of him before the explosion. Though, admittedly, he’d been a little busy. 

Cole had just gotten off his shift at The Music Center and had nowhere to go; he had already gone by the skatepark looking for Max, but he figured she was still under her mom’s lock and key ever since the whole mall incident. So, Cole had taken to skating around town, looking for someone to kill some time with. His mom had been particularly icy since he came home in a wrecked car, so he was trying to avoid home as much as possible. God, he felt like a teenager again.

Cole’s thoughts were interrupted by a girl he didn’t recognize, but even still, he obliged. Pulling his headphones down around his neck, he planted a foot on the ground and stopped the roll of his skateboard. “Oh,” it dawned on him who she was. Nancy had mentioned a friend from college coming to stay for a while. Who else would be contributing to the booming tourist economy of Hawkins? “Yeah, no, not quite. But you’re close, it’s just around the other side of the strip.” He started to motion and then decided against it. “I’ll take you, it’s a little confusing. I’m Cole,” he smiled, deciding that any friend of Nancy’s was a friend of his. 

WHO: cassie conrad & you!

WHERE: the strip mall, outside the video store

Cassie wasn’t used to small-town. Even the suburb she’d grown up in had more people in a square mile than Hawkins did in the entire town. Boston was even more of a monstrosity, but it was where Cassie felt most at home. Despite the less than logical layout of the city, she knew her way around every corner, every nook and cranny. It somehow became easy after being there for three years. What she couldn’t understand, though, was how the hell to get around Hawkins, Indiana. It shouldn’t have been so hard, with how little there was to memorize, but everything just looked the same. 

So, here she was, standing with her map outside the strip mall where she thought the Radio Shack was, looking and feeling quite lost. She’d stupidly left her Walkman in Boston, and Cassie couldn’t get around very far without ABBA in her ears. “Excuse me,” she asked the person walking toward her, looking like they were making their way into the video store. “This might be a weird question, but I’m kind of not from here, and I’m looking for the Radio Shack. I’m not … in the right place, am I?” she asked, flashing a pained smile. “I promise I’m not usually this directionally challenged, I just think this map is severely outdated.”

bethkrichards​:

“You know, just because you’re sick in bed, it doesn’t give you a free pass to talk about how attractive you think my brother is,” Beth teased, giving his shoulder a poke with her finger. “When I come back, I’ll be throwing popcorn at you the whole movie.” Cole wanted to try something new, and this was it. They’d never really talked about Adam in this same light in years. It was strange, getting used to talking about him in the present tense, leaving out the part about his death like it’d never happened. Ever since Adam had come back, they’d never discussed why or how his sudden reappearance came to be: it just was. That seemed to be more than enough for both of them.

Still, she sauntered off to the kitchen, throwing in a bowl of kernels to microwave, just as Cole had asked. Beth noticed that there was a photo of the three of them in there again, perched on a shelf, from Adam’s football days. One that made her smile now, instead of wanting to cry. “Here’s your snack, my liege,” she offered upon reappearance, sitting down on the couch beside him with a bowl full of warm popcorn. “Forgive me for a moment until I get up again and put the movie in, will you? I want to hear about how you’re doing without the voice, and face, of Link Larkin distracting us.”

xx.

“What, I need a pass now? Being the love of his life suddenly isn’t enough?” Cole pouted, leaning his head back dramatically. “Count your blessings, Elizabeth, because if he hadn’t met me do you have any idea how many guys he would’ve gone through looking like that?” He was intentionally laying it on thick, and the grin showing through his hand was evidence enough. As Beth stood up to get the popcorn, Cole couldn’t help the content smile on his face. Sure, things were complicated with what happened at the carnival and how Adam came back in the first place, but he couldn’t help how right this felt. How this was always what life was meant to be. 

Cole took the bowl, ignoring the pang in his ribs as he stretched his arm out to grab it. At this point, the pain was all the same, just a dull, nagging ache. “Woah, no need for formalities. I’m still the same old Cole,” he teased. He took a few pieces of popcorn and smiled agreeably at her proposition. They did have a lot to catch up on. “Link Larkin can wait.” Cole shifted his body so he could face Beth head-on. “I’m okay. I mean, I’m worried about him, you know? He’s gonna carry that shit-- the guilt-- no matter what I say.”

xx.

Things were weird and tense and off in most areas of Cole’s life lately-- with Adam, with Max, and in town. Though, he wasn’t exactly predisposed to care all that much about whatever was going on unless it directly affected him. He didn’t know why, but the only place Cole felt like he could escape from everything for a while was The Hideaway-- the old, wooden bar with familiar scrapes and carvings from hundreds of sad sacks just like him. He bet if he looked hard enough, he could even find evidence that dear old dad had spent hours here, too.

He was just finishing his third vodka cran when someone planted two hands on the counter next to him. Cole glanced up at the stranger and instantly wished he hadn’t. A myriad of feelings twisted together in his gut-- embarrassment, guilt, and even jealousy, for some reason. Cole wasn’t the most emotionally intelligent person, but he could tell Jonathan was tense... more than usual. The way he gripped the bar as if it was the only thing keeping him on his feet was evidence enough. “Hey,” he echoed, decidedly not turning to face Jonathan. Decidedly not turning to face much of anything, lately. 

As he continued, Cole’s brow furrowed and he hurriedly took another sip of the drink in front of him, setting it on the bar and grasping the glass tightly between two hands. Truthfully, he didn’t get what Jonathan was angry about, or why he felt so guilty. He remembered the conversation at the Wheeler’s-- of course he did-- but he thought they’d left on good terms. Better terms than this, at least. 

I thought we agreed to be careful. Cole’s grip on the slick glass tightened again, so much so that the glass went careening forward and the sticky liquid pooled onto the bar. “Fuck,” he muttered, grabbing it up and mopping up the spill with the thinnest paper napkin he’d ever been given. He used it as a ploy to buy time, wiping up every streak and stuffing the napkin into his now-empty glass with an apologetic smile at the bartender. 

If they’d agreed to be careful, Cole didn’t remember. Maybe he’d been more drunk than he realized; but it was a party, anyway, who wasn’t drunk? Maybe Jonathan had been, too, and they’d both come away with different ideas about the conversation. “I just thought...” he started, angling his shoulders in Jonathan’s direction and shrugging as he trailed off. He didn’t know what he was thinking, telling Will without so much as a heads-up. He doesn’t quite remember what the urgency was all about, either. “I mean, I guess I thought he should know.”

As the bartender brought another drink to Cole, he relished the opportunity to look at someone other than Jonathan. “Thanks, man,” he muttered, taking a sip and scanning the other occupants. “Joyce was fine with it, so I figured I should just, like... rip off the band-aid,” Cole said, nonchalant glance in Jonathan’s direction.

Who: Jonnie & @loverboymontgomery​​

Where: The Hideaway

Why: Nuclear War

TW: Alcohol/Alcoholism.

——————————————————————————————

Jonathan entered The Hideaway and immediately recognized the mop of curls sitting at the bar.

Cole.

He drove over to this pub half expecting to see nothing but a few old geezers enjoying an afternoon pitcher of beer. It was, after all, 3pm on a weekday but finding him here was almost poetic after their discussion on the Wheeler patio. Clearly, the tip he gathered earlier about Cole spending an atrocious amount at this place hadn’t been wrong.

Jonathan had given himself a few days to gather his thoughts after Will approached him about Cole’s second patio reveal. The entire conversation threw him completely off-guard. Will didn’t seem particularly affected by the newfound family dynamic but he wondered why Cole hadn’t approached him before dropping the bomb. Between struggling to keep his head above water at work, running around town and Hawkins Lab like a rat for information, grasping at straws to mend his already precarious friendship with Nancy … He didn’t want to deal with this right now but replaying the whole Wheeler patio conversation in his head left one question hanging heavy in his chest: what happened to Cole’s whole - “Don’t worry, it can be our little secret?”

Jonathan opted not to take a seat as he approached the bar and instead planted his hands down on the counter. “Hey.” He said, rocking himself forward to take a breath before turning his head to study Cole. Maybe his message at the barbecue hadn’t been clear. “I heard …  that you showed up at my mom’s place-” He paused, eyes flickering towards the bartender who was now looking at him. “I’m okay. Thanks.” He confirmed, pursing his lips into a small smile that read -  I don’t need a drink right now.

Returning to the issue at hand, he kept his voice calm but serious, “What … what were you thinking, man? I thought we-” he eyed condensation pooling between the glass and coaster in front of Cole, one heel bouncing into the sticky pub floor, “I thought we agreed to be careful.”