Willthewize​:

mmuscles​:

.

thad hadn’t known what he was expecting when he started (deservedly) railing into a random stranger for denting up his car, but it wasn’t this attitude. as if the temperature rapidly ticked up about ten degrees, thad had the sudden urge to tug on the collar of his own polo shirt. he bit back the desire and instead combatted the other, “i’m not guy, i’m thad.” he exclaimed, “you’re guy.” he shook his head, huffing. the feeling began to sink in that this wasn’t going to be easy in the slightest as the other continued arguing in that annoying tone of his. right as thad opened his mouth to recover, the other intruded on his personal space, knocking the words directly out of his mouth. thad attempted to hide that fact with a scoff. “right. tell me, pretty boy, you make a habit out of rear ending people? is that how your car got so fucked?” he looked past him, and to the car. partly because he wanted to see it again, but mostly because he couldn’t stand to meet his eyes. 

groaning and throwing his neck back dramatically, thad condescendingly laughed at the stranger, “i don’t want your fucking number, champ.” he proceeded in his attempts to assert his importance by giving him a firm smack on the shoulder, “i want you to pay for my car.” thad gripped his shoulder, hard, “put the keys down, you look ridiculous.” he followed that up by releasing the other. thad clicked his tongue, then shot him a finger gun, “be right back.” he turned around and jogged back to his car. throwing open the front door he dug into his glove compart for his mini legal pad and ballpoint pen that read bradshaw & co. diamond manufacturing. with both in hand, he was surprised to see his car’s assailant still standing in the road. thad jogged back, extending the pen and paper, “now be a good boy and give me your information, guy.” 

xx.

Cole couldn’t help the smirk that overtook his features. Though this was an objectively shitty situation, the guy’s out of proportion outrage was entertaining, at least. “Thad?” Cole repeated, his eyes sparkling with laughter. “If I were you, I’d stick with guy.” At least ‘guy’ didn’t give off super-rich silver spoon asshole. Though, if Cole had to guess... that wasn’t far from the truth. Then it clicked: this was Nancy’s boyfriend Thad. Summer home in the Hamptons Thad. Completely ignoring Thad’s questioning, Cole arched a brow. “Careful, guy, I’m not sure Nancy would love the idea of you calling another me pretty,” he winked. “But hey, what happens in Hawkins can stay in Hawkins.” He was purposely laying it on thick, hoping to make Thad squirm a little. 

I want you to pay for my car. Yeah, good luck, as Cole could barely even pay for his own. Wiggling out of Thad’s grip, Cole fixed him with a sickly-sweet and very fake smile. “Why would I pay for your car when that’s an easy touch up? Hell, I’ll even buff it for you, but I’ve got other expenses.” Cole rolled his eyes, shoving his keys in his back pocket. Rolling the pen around in his fingers, Cole snickered at the company name. A diamond manufacturer was asking him, a music store manager, to pay for a tiny dent? The irony. So, Cole decided to fuck with him. On the legal pad, he wrote: Steve Harrington, 6130 Valley View Rd. Plastering on the sickly sweet smile once again, Cole handed the notepad and pen back over to Thad. If Thad managed to make his way across town from Steve’s house to his own, he might be impressed enough to actually chip in for the car’s repairs. “You sure you don’t want me to throw in my phone number, guy?” 

joycefm​:

  lonnie  byers  had  been  everything  that  joyce  had  been  looking  for  as  a  teenager  -  the  pair  got  along  and  had  for  years,  he  was  the  bad  boy..  the  guy  that  all  the  girls  wanted.  and  he  had  picked  joyce  of  all  people.  they  had  something  special  in  the  beginning  and  then  things  started  to  crumble  pretty  quickly.  whilst  joyce  loved  her  little  family  and  loved  being  a  mother,  lonnie  didn’t  seem  to  enjoy  his  role  so  much.  “i’m  sorry  i  put  my  kids  through  dealing  with  him.”  that  was  truly  her  only  regret.  "i  should  have  kicked  him  out  sooner.  he  wasn’t  good  for  anybody.”  she  couldn’t  really  describe  how  happy  she  was  that  cole  didn’t  have  to  experience  that.  the  less?  the  better.

    hand  reaches  up  to  touch  his  shoulder,  giving  it  a  small  squeeze.  she  didn’t  know  why  he  was  crying  either  -  but  she  did  understand  it  to  an  extent.  he  was  clearly  worried  about  what  she  might  think.  “you’ve  always  got  us,  cole.”  and  she  meant  it  to.  he  might  not  have  been  related  to  her..  but  he  was  family.  he  would  always  be  family  now.  “i  mean  it.  come  here  whenever  you  need  it.“

      and  yet,  a  small  smile  crosses  over  her  lips  at  his  words,  amused  that  he  was  panicking  ever  so  slightly.  “you  don’t  need  to  ask  for  permission.”  head  shakes.  “they  deserve  to  hear  it  from  you.”  they  knew  that  their  father  was  an  asshole.  joyce  sounded  like  a  broken  record  ranting  about  lonnie  at  times.  “so  whenever  you’re  ready  -  whenever  you  want.  i’ll  leave  that  all  up  to  you.  they’re  good  kids,  i  don’t  think  it’ll  take  them  long  to  get  used  to  it.”  or  believe  it,  for  that  matter.

If Cole knew one thing about the Byers family, it was that Joyce’s boys adored her. And for good reason, obviously. Admittedly he didn’t know much about marriage and even less about raising kids with someone, but he did know that Lonnie being an asshole wasn’t Joyce’s fault as much as it wasn’t Maggie’s. “I don’t think they’d want you to be so hard on yourself,” Cole offered, gently.

With watery eyes, he smiled at her shoulder squeeze. It was weird, how familiar and comforting she felt to him. “Thank you,” he repeated. “And, for what it’s worth, um... same here.” He wasn’t sure exactly what he could offer to their familial unit-- maybe a discount at The Music Center-- but he wanted to contribute if he could. “I mean, they don’t really need another brother, but whatever I can do, you know.”

He smiled, nodding as Joyce spoke. He knew they would be cool about it, but he also worried about like... ruining whatever view of their dad Will and Jonathan had. But, he trusted Joyce. “Okay... yeah. Thank you.” He knew he should stop thanking her, but he really was so relieved to have it out in the open. “I’ll tell them,” he confirmed, growing confident as he got used to the idea. “I’m glad you’re okay with it,” he admitted, sheepishly. “I always wanted a big family.”

mmuscles​:

.

thad watched the grass crunch below his feet as he walked off with cole. the fact he even had to say anything about this at all was stressing him out and the one feeling he kept coming back was wishing he simply hadn’t done it. maybe the thoughts of cole couldn’t haunt his mind and maybe he wouldn’t feel so uncomfortable with having to use some tact. as easy as it was to intimidate with fists and words, he didn’t want to do that with cole. with what little he knew about the guy, it didn’t seem like it would work. they spent a long time wandering around the field, thad unspeaking despite pulling cole aside.

finally, he shoved his fists into the pockets of his shorts and looked down at cole, “look, i like, really don’t want anyone finding out about….” he trailed off, nervously licking his lips. he was too embarrassed to even say what had happened, speaking about the incident made it more real, and that made thad more nervous. trying to keep up a tough exterior for cole, he continued, “i’ll fix your car if you keep that big mouth shut, deal?” he asked, sticking out his hand for cole to shake. would this be a business deal that thad’s father would be proud of? probably not. as he waited for cole to take it, thad added, “like, as collateral or whatever.” 

xx.

Wordlessly, Cole followed Thad around the field. Maybe Thad wanted to be further from people to say what he wanted to say. Cole had a foggy idea of what this conversation would be about; he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about it too. Mostly, he’d thought up about a dozen questions, all that he couldn’t imagine Thad wanted to hear. Cole knew from personal experience that things as big as this couldn’t be forced; Thad had to be ready on his own.

He could tell Thad was nervous, ashamed even, and that made Cole sad. God, he was getting soft. Cole ventured to look into Thad’s eyes and decided, for once, to be earnest. “You don’t have to bribe me. I won’t say anything.”  Deciding to be the bigger person, Cole let the ‘big mouth’ comment slide. Besides, he knew how Thad really felt about his mouth. “For the record... it’s okay to feel that way,” he said, though his muscles were tense. He was ready to duck out of the way if Thad swung on him, just in case. 

who: cole & @zccming​​

where: the skate park

Cole hadn’t seen Max since Adam had gotten back. In fact, the last time they’d hung out was when she’d told him all about the alternate universe underneath Hawkins... what had she called it? The Upside Down? Admittedly, he’d found it hard to believe at first, but then Adam came back to life. He has since decided that everything Max told him was true, and had told Adam that Max might have answers about how and why he’s back. Though, Cole didn’t like the idea of asking too many questions. He was afraid something would go wrong and he would lose Adam again. He couldn’t lose Adam again. 

Lost in thought, Cole pulled up to the skatepark and lit a cigarette. In an attempt to attract Max, he’d brought a portable boombox and slipped a Kate Bush CD he’d borrowed from work into it. For some reason, Max was always listening to it, but he hoped to use that to his benefit tonight. 

Cole rolled his cigarette around with his fingers before standing up and skating circles around the small park. He was a bundle of nervous energy. He knew it was maybe paranoia, but every time he wasn’t in the vicinity of Adam, he feared he’d made it all up and that Adam was still dead. Maybe this was a psychotic break. Pushing a strand of hair out of his face, Cole glanced up to see a figure carrying a skateboard walking towards him. He squinted and, even in the dark, recognized her gait.

“Hey stranger,” he waved, a genuine smile overtaking his face. He couldn’t wait to tell her. 

@goldenboyrichards

PARKS AND RECREATION — 4.05 “Meet n Greet”

rcbinbvckleys​:

⚢

opening up her own soda, a multitude of bubbles escaped over top. quickly she lowered her mouth to the can and just about managed to avoid them spilling over. robin gingerly moved to take a seat on the edge of her bed, leaving room for cole in case he wanted to join her. in fact, she motioned for him to do so as an invitation. they would probably be here a little while and it was best to have what would likely be an uncomfortable conversation in actual comfort.

“i think i might have seen something. maybe. it’s just all a bit fuzzy, i can’t really make any sense of it.” like cole, robin remembered the fire going out and cole and lucas both getting injured. then everything went dark. there had been the pool, and barb grabbing her ankle and pulling robin down into the watery depths with her. in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t a lot to go off of. “and- correct me if i’m wrong, but judging by your face right about now i’d be willing to bet that you saw something too.”

xx.

At Robin’s bidding, Cole sat next to her on her bed. It was comfy, he noted absentmindedly. Adjusting his position so he could face Robin, Cole tried (and failed) to read her expression. At her vague response, Cole’s face fell. Maybe he really had imagined what he’d seen-- head trauma to blame, or something. Taking another sip of the soda, Cole weighed his options: tell her what he saw and risk being institutionalized, or not tell her and have to deal with it alone.

He chose the former. “Yeah... I did.” Cole tried to smile, though it probably looked more like a grimace. “My best friend died in the mall fire, and... I saw him, like, on fire.” Then, since he was already telling her the truth: “It felt really real. Like I was actually there.” He met her eyes again, visibly uncomfortable. “What did you see? If you don’t mind saying.”

jackforeman​:

“Yeah, Adam and I were in the woods together … in the commune. So, I guess they let us go, or we just left together,” he explained with a shrug. Didn’t Cole know that Adam had gone away with him? “I mean, I don’t know, I guess it makes sense. He was one of my friends in high school, so I guess if he’d decided to go into the woods for some shit like this, then the other would’ve followed.” At least, that’s what he was telling himself. Everything made sense.

Jack didn’t recall Adam and Cole being that close in high school. He knew the two were friends, but he didn’t think that they’d be hanging out so much that Adam’s parents would be sick of him, or so he said. “No, I’m sure they’re glad Adam has a friend now that he’s back. You know, someone to hang out with. I went over to Steve’s after I saw my family, you know, just to say hi, but other than that, I’ve kind of just been hanging out with my sisters. Not that they’ve ever missed me before this, but I think they might have this time,” he said with a laugh.

xx.

Cole nodded, going along with Jack’s story. It was certainly easier than telling what had really happened to Adam. Though, it made no sense-- why would Jack have a memory of being with Adam at the commune? None of this made any sense, and Cole was too nervous to figure it out, in case he uncovered something he didn’t want to know. “Right, of course. Well, I’m just glad you’re both back and... relatively okay?” he phrased it as a question, raising an eyebrow at Jack as if to assess his mental wellbeing.

With a smile, Cole agreed with Jack. That much was true, at least with Adam’s sisters. He’d gotten very close with them after Adam-- died, disappeared, whatever-- and he felt as if they were his sisters now, too. “Well, that’s valid. I’m assuming you also didn’t contact anyone while you were gone, right? I’m sure they have a lot fo questions.”  

After a few days at the hospital, Cole was finally home, in his bed, staring at the same Smiths poster he’d tacked up when he was sixteen. He’d pretended not to notice that his room was much cleaner than he’d left it, instead flashing his mom a guilty smile when she’d first ushered him up the stairs. Cole knew that she’d found his stash of beer cans, and something in her eyes promised he’d be hearing about it later.

His first few days home had passed thanks to a steady rotation of Adam, his mom, and his aunt. He felt better than he had in the hospital, but it was still hard to walk on his own and he hadn’t been sleeping at all. Every time he closed his eyes, he heard people screaming during the explosion or saw Adam shoving him away. None of it made any sense, and Cole wasn’t up to figuring it out. He’d leave that to Will and his friends. 

When his mom called up the stairs that he had a visitor, Cole expected it to be Adam. If it was Max, she would just climb through the window or something, and he assumed Chrissy was under her mother’s lock and key. He was pleasantly surprised when he recognized her sing song-y voice. Pasting on a grin, he attempted to push himself into more of a seated position. “Hey, Chriss!” he said, hissing the ‘s’ sound in pain at his sudden movement. 

Cole smoothed out the comforter for her to sit down. “You didn’t have to do that,” he smiled, though he took a tart right away. Biting into it, he savored the flavor. “This is so much better than hospital food,” he praised her, mouth still full. “God, how did you know I needed this.” 

Wiping any lemon tart remnants off of his mouth, Cole gave Chrissy a half-hearted shrug. “Like I got hit by a bus, honestly.”  

𝐖𝐇𝐎: Chrissy Cunningham & @loverboymontgomery​

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓: Chrissy’s first order of business after being set free? Visiting Cole!

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄: Cole’s House!

When Chrissy found out about the explosion at the carnival, she had counted her blessings that she had been far away from the fairgrounds, despite the circumstances. That was until word got around of all who had been killed or hurt and when she heard Cole’s name, she was set into a slight panic which led to calling the Montgomery residence which led to a conversation with Maggie that Cole was fine for the most part, or at least fine enough that he was alive and would recover. She let that qualm her anxiety for the next few days, until she knew that Cole was home from the hospital. She knew that his hospital room was probably full of family and friends, and she just didn’t want to be a burden. She’d let everyone else see him first. 

When she heard that Cole was back home, Chrissy spent most of the morning figuring out what she wanted to bring over. Cole was sick, and what brought someone back to life more than a sweet treat? She sat atop her kitchen counter, perusing her grandmother’s cookbook (until he mom yelled at her to get down), and she eventually settled on a lemon tart recipe she found.

Hours later, lemon tarts in hand, she knocked on the front door. She made light conversation with Cole’s aunt, even handing her a tart, before making her way to Cole’s room. Tapping lightly on the door, she pushed it open, holding up the lemon tarts so high that they were covering her face. “Coley,” she sang, pushing the door closed with her foot. “I’ve got the best medicine you could buy… lemon tarts!” It may or may not have been helpful in her case that she knew Cole liked fruity desserts.

She sat towards the edge of his bed, holding the plate out to him. “How are we feeling?”

zccming​:

cole might not have known about the truth about upside down, the mall fire, or the flayed, but he did know the truth of loss. he understood better than most the weight of grief and how it could change a person. at least, cole understood it in some of the ways max understood it. regardless, as soon as she started feeling jittery about everything she searched for cole. naturally, he met with an argument, which only made her scoff as she moved to refill her cup, “i wouldn’t trust you to remember how to spell your own last name, let alone cups.” max assured him, then took a drink from her cup as a vow of don’t worry, i will. 

swallowing the last of her sip, she took a couple of step backwards, “come on, i have something better.” max turned around and proceeded to lead cole halfway down a stopped escalator. they sat overlooking a fountain on the lower level, it’d be almost pretty if this entire place didn’t feel so eerie. she fished around in her pockets, shoes, then bra to a produce a baggie, paper, and zippo lighter. “gotta get this off me.” max insisted, like it wasn’t perfectly clear why she had pulled cole aside. it wasn’t often max and cole got vulnerable with one another, but it happened enough that they managed to stay friends throughout all the bickering. a trauma bond ( and then some ) or whatever.

max got to rolling, throwing her trash off the side of the escalator as if to say fuck this mall as she went. all finished up, max sighed, “are you as miserable as me right now?” she asked bluntly, extending the joint to cole, then the lighter. max placed her hands on her knees  and shook her head, “like, this is super messed up, right?” 

xx.

"In my defense, my last name is long," Cole teased, trying to lighten the mood-- but the smirk on his face felt wrong, like he was spitting on Adam's grave. How dare he be happy in the place he had died? Cole finished his cup and set it on the ledge nearby, taking a long drag from his cigarette in the process.

When Max told him to follow her, he did so without hesitation. She was one of the few people in this town he trusted fully, oddly enough. Their friendship, however unorthodox, was a natural one: after running into her at the skate park a few times, he started bringing snacks for them and they just clicked. He could tell they were similar: both of them carrying around a pain they didn't know how to handle, and both of them unwilling to burden another with it.

Upon seeing her stash, Cole put out his cigarette on the side of the escalator, following suit and launching it over the side. Fuck this mall, indeed. Cole laughed, though it was more a breath than anything. "Oh yeah. Let's go throw a rager to memorialize the place our friends and family died. Nothing weird about that," he remarked, taking the blunt and lighting it behind his hand. He took a drag and handed it to her.

"It's just... do you ever feel like it should've been you? Like, why did all those people die and not me?"

zccming​:

.

“you take a hit like a dude.” max countered, feeling a momentary wave of relief as he returned the hug. his arm was warm, and heavy, and very much alive. he was alive. she pulled back, wincing herself when he pressed the ice pack against his torso. no way that felt good, but again, at least cole was there and breathing. max couldn’t be too upset with that outcome. she was sure it would hit her later, but she’d already shed a few silent tears in front of cole, she didn’t want to shed anymore. 

at his next comment, max’s brows rose as she looked at adam beside him, “what? you’re telling me you didn’t know he was here?” she rolled her eyes, relishing in the fact that this almost felt normal as she teased, “you’re fine. big baby. at least pretend you’re grateful i stole an ambulance for you.” she moved from the floor to a chair while cole reached for his water. she pulled her legs up into the chair with her and when cole asked if she was hurt, she flashed him her nasty looking hands. it hadn’t been related to the explosion, but it was an unavoidable truth. she had gotten hurt, a little. “i’m thinking about getting some boxing tape, i’ll look real tough.” max said dryly, then dropping her hands. cole’s next question left max mute. she shrugged, wanting to melt into the chair, “i didn’t see it all go down.” she admitted, “but, dustin said something about a bomb? and explosive fireworks? unbelievable.” sighing, she felt like she had to ask, “does that ring a bell to you?”

xx.

“It’s all those years of football,” Cole flexed the arm closes to her, pathetically. “I was a varsity athlete, you know... Technically,” he added before she could correct him. He took another sip of water, his throat burning at how much talking he was doing all of the sudden. But Cole didn’t care; he craved this sense of normalcy, even if it was just a distraction. He figured they were both owed that. Following her gaze to Adam asleep in the chair next to his bed, Cole’s expression softened. “Well, you were the one sobbing over me. Hard to notice anything else,” he joked. 

Cole choked out a laugh, “You stole an ambulance? Christ, Max. You’re compiling quite the record.” Concern flooded his face at the sight of her hands. “Max,” his tone was intentionally stern. “You need to get them looked at.” He motioned to the button by his bed, “We can call for a nurse. Then you can have your boxing tape.” The apprehension on Cole’s face only grew at Max’s mention of a bomb and fireworks. Admittedly, he didn’t remember much after the Tunnel of Love. He was preoccupied thinking Adam was going to die again; if he thought hard enough about it, he was sure he remembered Steve and Dustin arguing over something, mentioning ‘bomb’. 

“What the fuck,” he muttered, shaking his head. “Kind of...,” then he dropped his voice, not wanting Adam to hear his next words. “He was acting weird. Like before. He was fighting with me... physically. Telling me to leave him alone,” he confessed, hoping Max knew what it meant. Hoping more than anything that it was an easy fix, though the heaviness in his gut told him he knew better.