Elevcnhops​:

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.

backtowheeler​:

— ✎ —

“Definitely not your smartest idea to date,” Nancy agreed. She didn’t even know why she, or anyone, for that matter let Cole behind the wheel. Steve was semi-sober enough to get them around that night, but alcohol just did that to a person. They were all too focused on saving Max and stumbling around to actually make sure anyone was safe. “But it’ll be fine, right? I mean, I’m sure you can take it down to the shop and it won’t be… terrible to fix,” maybe Nancy was too naive. She didn’t know how much cars were really priced at or how much it cost to fix them. Her parents were the ones who handled all of that so it was the one topic Nancy wasn’t knowledgeable in. 

Nancy smiled at his comment, a chuckle escaping her lips. Sometimes Cole made her jealous. She always had her head on her shoulders and every move she made was perfectly curated. Whether it be by her parents or her own headstrong nature. Nancy knew what she was doing which was a blessing in its own right, but she never just guessed. She could never be smart enough to just blindly know the right answer. She had to have logic behind it. A reason. “A crooked finger would be kind of cool,” she told him, teasing behind her voice. “But I guess we have to let Bach keep playing.”

“The Wheeler household?” Nancy took another bite from her sandwich and leaned back. “We’re the same as usual. I don’t think I’ve talked to my dad in days, I think we’re working on a new record,” she shrugged. “Oh, wait, you’ll totally freak at this!” She exclaimed, slapping Cole’s shoulder in excitement. “Thad is here. Like, in Hawkins.”

xx.

Cole groaned at the mention of the easy fix. In his mind, it should be an easy fix! Not that he was a mechanic, but he wasn’t an idiot. Most of the time... except for when he wrecked the car in the first place. “It will be fine,” he said, in his best attempt at a cheery voice. “But I took it to a mechanic and they quoted me $3,000 to fix it.” Cole ran a hand through his hair, conveniently not mentioning that he’d met her delightful boyfriend right after his stop at the mechanic. “You may be shocked to learn that the Music Center does not pay me enough to afford that,” he joked.

Laughing, Cole wiggled his finger. “Are you suggesting I become Captain Hook? Dramatic, sure, but not entirely practical.” It had always been easy for Cole to relax around Nancy. Maybe it felt comfortable because they’d just been in the same vicinity their whole lives. They certainly were always lumped together by their teachers-- nerd one meet nerd two-- though Cole couldn’t hold a candle to Nancy’s smarts in math or science. “Bach is high praise for someone who hasn’t heard me play since... what... our fifth grade recital?” he laughed, remembering the years Karen had forced Nancy to play piano though it was obvious to everyone else that Nancy hated it.

Cole coughed on a chunk of sandwich at Nancy’s news. Taking a second to swallow and collect himself, he shot Nancy a surprised glance. Oh my God! I totally had no idea. “Really?” he exclaimed. His acting wasn’t great, but it was believable-- or so he hoped. “What is Mr. Hamptons doing slumming it in Hawkins?” he asked, genuinely curious. Why had Thad come all this way?

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.”

Will and Cole weren't exactly close, despite being half-brothers. Not that Will was aware of that... yet. Every time Will came into the Music Center and chatted with Cole, guilt crept its way into Cole's chest and settled there. He's sure nothing would change once Will knew, it's not like either of them talked to their dad anyway, but the longer Cole put it off, the weirder it became to bring up in casual conversation.

So, when Will came in today looking for a model, Cole volunteered. He always thought he had an artistic form anyway, and the Music Center was always dead this time of day. But now, his nervousness and guilt caused him to fidget-- which was less than ideal for the artist. "Right, right, sorry," he straightened his spine. "So... how's your family? Everyone home?" Cole had to force himself not to wince at the awkwardness of his phrasing.

WHO: will byers + open

WHERE: you decide

     His drawing skills have only improved since those childhood days scribbling with crayons and colored pencils, but it still requires practice, a constant honing of his abilities to stay sharp. And anatomy, realistic human portraiture, is one of the hardest things to get right, because when it’s just a little off…well, it can get creepy fast. People have always been one of Will’s favorite subjects to draw, probably stemming from his interest in visualizing his and the party’s childhood DnD characters. It would just be a lot easier if…

     “Could you try not to move so much? Sorry, it just helps if you stay still.” He didn’t want to come across as impatient, but if his model was already fidgety, then sitting longer to finish the sketch wasn’t going to help matters.

thequeenofhawkins​:

— ♔ —

Chrissy never considered herself as someone who had close friends. She always kept fellow jocks and cheerleaders at arms length, but there were two people who she kept at elbow’s length. Cole Montgomery and Adam Richards. Maybe it was because they never wanted anything from her, other than a little bit of trust. “It’s totally crazy. I was like, in this forest commune?” Chrissy tried to explain, but she came up rather vague. She had two years ripped away from her and she couldn’t even remember what it was like on the commune. “Kinda gives me the heebie jeebies if I think about it for too long.” 

So, instead of thinking about it, she was more than content to move the conversation to a more pressing topic. Adam. “Yeah, yeah, I have. I think we were like, together the entire time? I don’t know, it’s all fuzzy,” and she left it at that. It sounded like a bitchy move, so she didn’t want to linger on how she had allegedly been with Adam the entire time. It was like they deliberately left Cole out, but that just didn’t make sense to Chrissy because she knew that she’d invite him, and the same could probably be said to Adam.

“So… where does that leave you and Adam?” She asked, resting a hand on one of the racks. Chrissy had a habit of holing herself into Adam and Cole’s relationship business, whether she did it on purpose or not. Either with one of them coming to her for advice or Chrissy seeking it out herself whenever she noticed something was up. “You’re not like, mad at him or anything, right?” 

xx.

Cole frowned ever so slightly when Chrissy mentioned that she was in the forest commune, too. He knew she’d been out of town, but if he really thought about it, he couldn’t remember any details or any goodbye. It was strange; he and Chrissy were close enough that he definitely would’ve wanted to say goodbye to her if she was leaving for a long time. But everyone wrapped up in the forest commune business had hazy memories attached to them. Maybe the drugs, if he were to guess. “Right. I totally get it if you don’t want to talk about it,” he offered, a genuine look of concern in his eyes.

While the forest commune was fuzzy for everyone else, Cole knew what had happened to Adam. He’d gone to the funeral, he’d checked in on Adam’s sisters every week for the past three years. Adam had died. And now he was back, and Chrissy claimed she was with him this whole time? None of it made sense... but maybe it didn’t need to. Maybe he was tempting fate by asking questions and should just shut up and accept it. “Yeah... it’s fuzzy for him, too. I guess we just hadn’t really talked details, yet,” Cole lied. “But, you’re here now. Why not pretend everything is normal for a while?” Cole asked with the biggest smile he could muster.

If he had any doubt about this really being Chrissy Cunningham standing in front of him, the glint in her eye when she asked about Adam confirmed it. Cole had seen that same look in her eye every time she asked about Adam; some cross between fondness and amusement and concern. Honestly, Chrissy was as much a part of their relationship as they were-- besides the obvious bits, anyways. Cole shook his head at her question, a content smile smoothing out his features. “You know I’m shit at being mad at him,” he said. “It wasn’t his fault, you know? Like, he didn’t want to leave... so how can I be upset?”

“Everything’s just... weird right now. Not because of him. Because of me, I think,” he sighed. Cole knew Chrissy would never let him get away with such a vague answer, so he continued speaking and absentmindedly picking through the same t-shirt in ten different colors. “I just mean... I feel like I’m bracing myself. Like I’ll lose him again? And he’s obviously fucked up about it all, the leaving thing. So we’re good-- like, sometimes it feels like nothing has changed-- but it’s like this thing is lurking.” He threw up his hands in mock surrender. “Stop me if I sound insane, please.” 

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?” 

stevehharringtcns​:

.

cole’s response made steve nod his head slowly, letting out a sigh. he figured that someone would have told him about what had happened two years before, but he didn’t feel like talking about it. he was sure the scars on his torso spoke for themselves, if cole had even noticed that. raising an eyebrow once he heard cole talk about how adam didn’t have any marks, he sighed again. they were not close to figuring anything out and it didn’t seem like that was going to change anytime soon. steve just hoped that sooner or later, one of them would figure it out, but it definitely wouldn’t be him. he was better at swinging bats either way. “that’s… weird. but as long as the two of you are okay… just don’t go swimming in there anytime soon. once is enough.” he said with a nod, smiling at cole.

as the conversation switched about steve’s love life, steve wished they were talking about something else. but he had been the one to go looking for answers to cole, even though he probably didn’t have many. but he couldn’t help but to think that his love life had failed all along because he was looking for the right woman instead of… you know. he sighed as he looked at cole and bit his lower lip as he thought. “you don’t think…” he said, clearing his throat. “you don’t think he likes nancy? because apparently they’ve been hanging out lately. and you know, two years ago when eddie got pulled into… all of this.” he said, motioning towards the party and his group of friends. “i don’t know.” he said with a sigh, he wasn’t even sure what he was talking about anymore. but he was a bit relieved to hear cole say that eddie liked him. it made things easier, even if they were still hard. “i guess i just don’t want to scare him away like i do with most girls, you know? it’s just different with eddie, it feels… good.” he said, feeling almost as a weight got off his chest.

steve listened carefully as cole talked about his relationship with adam. they really knew how to keep a secret if steve hadn’t noticed, but then again, steve didn’t notice a lot of stuff. plus, he spent most of his time worried about basketball, swimming and his hair during high school. “i mean, at least you two got back together when he… came back.” he said, not sure what cole meant about the other being dead. he remembered him missing, but that seemed to be confusing a lot of people lately. he looked down at the ground at cole’s advice and nodded his head. “right… you’re right.” he said, although he still cared about what people thought. and he didn’t want people commenting on what he was doing.

xx.

Cole laughed, which was odd, given the situation. But the thought that he would ever swim in Lovers Lake, or anywhere else again? Was laughable. The part of his mind that was still trying to make sense of everything was increasingly concerned that Steve seemed just as lost as him. Shouldn’t Steve have more firsthand experience? Shouldn’t that help find an answer? But Cole pushed the thoughts away, shaking his head vehemently. “Yeah... I may never swim anywhere again, to be honest.” He shuddered, remembering the feeling of a hand or something around his ankle. 

Though he could’ve laughed, Cole instead nodded at Steve’s fears. He remembered having the same thoughts about Adam, and the insane jealousy Cole felt when Chrissy and Adam were together. He and Steve were different though; Cole had never been with a girl, never even wanted to. Everyone figured out their shit at different paces, he supposed. “I’m 99% sure Eddie doesn’t like Nancy, Steve. Or... girls at all.” He said, hoping it could put Steve at ease. Cole smiled. He’d never expected to see Steve Harrington flustered over someone. 

Cole couldn’t help the amused smile on his face. It was so surreal to be talking to Steve about this, and Cole didn’t take that lightly. It was just unexpected. “For whatever it’s worth... people don’t have to know right away. Or at all. It’s no one’s business but yours,” he shrugged. The only reason Chrissy had known was because Adam didn’t want to cheat on her; the only other person who knew was Max. And now Steve, obviously. “I won’t say anything,” he promised, giving Steve and encouraging smile.  

zccming​:

“something like that…” max stared at her shoes for a moment. she couldn’t recall precisely what the report had said, she merely knew that she was pulled out of the fire along with her friends and what her lines were for when she couldn’t quite place herself in the fabricated story, “–it, it happened really fast.” then, she divulged, “i don’t remember what they even said and i don’t read those stupid articles about the fire.” max huffed, getting more agitated the more she spoke off book. she didn’t take well to personal questions, even from cole. not because she was mad at him, but she was still so mad at everything, and that was an unnerving beast to let roam around outside her mind. yet, max had still managed to share something with him. some real frustration about the cover up, even if he didn’t know.

the ghost of a smile on cole’s face told her that she had been successful in aiding his mood. “i’m always right.” she assured, a curve in her own lips appearing. max took the blunt and puffed on it, mirroring cole’s body position. “and you aren’t?” she deadpanned, “sometimes  i’d say you’re more than–” if he didn’t seem so urgent when cutting her off, she would have told him to shut the fuck up. and once cole fully asked his questions? max was wishing she had. her mouth dried and her jaw clenched. was billy like, different, right before? that didn’t even begin to describe it. lost in the terror in her chest, max didn’t speak until she felt a stinging on her knee. looking down she clocked the source; burning ash on her skin. she had forgotten about the joint. “shit.” she winced, brushing it off, then immediately passed it back to cole. he might have needed it for what she was about to say.

the cover up infuriated her at times, but simultaneously, max understood why it existed. it existed for people like cole, where the lie would hurt less than the truth. the lie would still hurt, greatly, but she wouldn’t wish knowledge of that supernatural can of worms on anyone. ears burning, she prepped the fib on the tip of her tongue, “he wasn’t.” i totally didn’t like, lock him in a sauna or watch him nearly kill my friends. max fought back the urge to pick at her nails, “but then again, billy was always weird.” she rolled her eyes, wishing it was that simple and shook her head, “i don’t know.” 

she left it at that. 

in some kind of miracle though, max’s mind was torn away from billy, and her attention was averted somewhere rapidly different. she looked at cole, brows knitted deeply in thought. so many puzzle pieces clicked together all at once. adam wasn’t a best friend, he was a boyfriend. there was a stray inkling about it, once, a heart-to-heart ago when max was equating his feelings about adam being gone to hers about her best friend el ‘moving away’. but she never followed up on that with cole. she should have. while there were so many things she wanted to say, and a dozen more questions she wanted to ask, max plucked a four leaf clover and went with the unexpected option. tenderness. “oh cole.” a hug, “i’m so sorry.” what a horrible realization of what he’d been going through. 

suddenly, max felt very guilty about lying. 

xx.

I don't remember what they even said. Something about that stood out in his mind, almost like "they" had been feeding Max lines. He felt, deep down, like she was lying. But he dismissed it with the next drag he took. Hadn't the shrink his mom forced him to see said that it wasn't unusual to make up stories to explain away tragedy? Maybe that's what he was trying to do. "Yeah. I guess no one really knows what happened. And we just have to... be okay with that. Move on, or try to," he said, his flat tone evidence of his unbelief.

Though he barreled through her sarcastic comment, her meaning wasn't lost on her. And she wasn't wrong. God, what he wouldn't do to make fun of the selfish prick one more time without feeling the sting of loss. He watched as Max inadvertently burned herself, and he raised an eyebrow at her sudden nervousness. Signs of lying again. But his heart sank all the same at her response. There he was again, trying to explain away the tragedy. "Oh," he nodded, taking the joint back again.

He felt himself leaning away, afraid of her response if she even had one. Maybe it would be best if she didn't, then they could get sober and pretend he hadn't said what he did. That would be better than losing a friend because of a stupid need to overshare. He was surprised at the feeling of her arms around him. The understanding in her voice. Even with the circumstances, Cole felt a lightness in his stomach. Finally, someone else knew. Finally, he wasn't alone with it. His blinks were rapid-fire and he silently willed the moisture to stay behind his eyelids. "Thanks," he spoke after a long pause, his voice barely above a whisper. He tilted his head slightly towards hers, relieved for the comfort, the acceptance. "And I'm sorry too. I know it's not the same thing, but... I get it, sort of."

Cole ventured a glance at Max and his eyes fell to the four-leaf clover. A sign of good luck, ironic. "And if you ever want to talk about it, any of it, or just... remember him. I'd like that," he met her eyes again. "Might make me feel less crazy."

eddiemcnson​:

+++

see, cole could’ve hit eddie flat in the face with a giant metal sign that said ‘i’m into guys’ and he still wouldn’t have taken the hint. just…the thought of someone else in hawkins that was like him. surely not - or well, they just wouldn’t come right out the gate and say it. no, being…different, whatever kind of different, and living in that godforsaken town - for some people that was comparable to a death sentence.

still, his eyes widened, blinking at cole with that ‘deer caught in the headlights’ look as he hastily in- and exhaled the smoke. not that that did anything in terms of calming him down. on the contrary, eddie just started to fidget more. “as in….you like them or…like, like like them….” he felt like a fucking middle-schooler. but he just continued. “your boyfriend. you mean like when … wheeler and buckley or like, i dunno, girls call each other ‘girl-friends’ or like….like if…like, when wheeler called harrington her ‘boyfriend’ when they were still a thing?”

as confused as eddie was about the whole situation he apparently still had it in him to blush and get insanely flustered at cole’s….suggestion? if that’s what it was? lips parted, mouth dropped open slightly, he took another drag. his eyes never left cole’s, only once to go look around them, see if anyone was in earshot. negative. “h-how….”, his lips formed around words he didn’t say, a thousand scenarios flashes in his head. eddie blinked.”…how would - you, uh, prove….it?”

XX.

Cole felt bad, but he laughed at Eddie's inability to accept what he was told. It was a defense mechanism, he assumed, after many years of having to keep this part of him secret. For a moment, Cole was grateful for Adam-- grateful he had someone to share it with; in a way, it made this whole ordeal easier. More natural.

"He was my boyfriend-boyfriend," Cole explained. "As in, we fucked," he took a drag of his cigarette, granting Eddie time to take in what he said. "Sorry to be so explicit, but wasn't sure what else to say," Cole explained, though he wasn't really sorry. Part of him liked seeing Eddie squirm. He liked the effect his words had on the other.

Cole smirked, letting his eyes linger on Eddie's lips. He figured it would never happen, but he was open to all possibilities. Especially possibilities that looked like Eddie. "Well, I'm a gentleman. I'd take you out to dinner first," he winked, taking another drag of his cigarette.