𝚆𝙰𝙻𝙺𝙸𝙴 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙽𝙽𝙴𝙻 #𝟶𝟶𝟼: Cole & Max

mmuscles​:

.

thad hadn’t come to cole for some bullshit heart to heart, he came to level with him. considering what a pain in the ass he had been for the duration of their prior interactions, he was kicked off guard when cole was so…cool about it. he didn’t understand. and most definitely thought it was a trick. “i’m not bribing you, man.” thad ran a contemplative hand through his hair. there was no way he was trusting a guy he just met with a secret this big. “let me fix the car.” it obviously wasn’t out of kindness, but he didn’t have the words to explain what he was trying to do here. the way his brain worked though, was if he actually did something for cole, he’d feel less inclined to spill. thad merely hoped if he pushed enough, rather than articulate, cole would surrender. other than through his parents, that was how thad got most things he wanted in life, through brute force. 

for the record, it’s okay to feel that way. 

thad’s tongue got stuck at the front of his mouth and he gulped down his initial thoughts. how dare he? he didn’t feel any way. not him, not towards cole. “what way?” he asked, aggressively jutting his chin out towards cole. he wasn’t going to hit him or anything, but scaring him wasn’t out of the question. the last thing he needed was some…pretty boy telling him how to feel. 

xx.

It was a good deal... a $3,000 worth of a repair for his silence. But Cole felt weird blatantly accepting it as a bribe, as if what had happened was gross or wrong. It was unexpected, sure, but... Cole had asked for it, hadn’t he? He assumed Thad was just very confused. Either that or Thad had a major lapse in judgement and now thinks Cole is wrong, sinful, a freak, even. With a tentative shrug, Cole gave in. “Okay, fine. Guess I won’t get a better deal than that.”

Cole was torn. He wanted to push the issue, to prove to Thad that there really is nothing wrong with liking guys... but that put him, and by association, Adam, in an extremely vulnerable position. At least with he kiss, the two were on equal footing. Leaning away from the discomfort, Cole decided to lighten the mood. “I guess I have to hope you’re good with your hands, guy,” he smirked. The usual back-and-forth of their interactions was a welcome reprieve from the temporary heaviness. 

cassieconrads​:

The name wasn’t one that Cassie had heard when Nancy had given her a rundown of the people she should know to avoid in Hawkins, so she figured the boy who had approached her was safe enough to trust. He stopped on his skateboard, which wasn’t the most popular form of transportation in California, but one that she’d seen among the rollerbladers near the water. Pulling off his headphones, Cassie was reminded of hers that she’d left behind, and how embarrassed she was to have to ask a stranger where to get new ones.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” she said with a wave of her hand as she began to fold the map up. The last thing Cassie wanted was for any of Nancy’s friends to think she was completely useless. “It looks like you were headed somewhere, I’m sure I could find it,” Cassie assured him, but there was a lack of confidence in her voice after she’d spent the past hour looking for the store. “I’m Cassie. I’m staying with the Wheelers, just visiting.”

Cole waved his hand, dismissing her comment. "It's no problem, really. I just got off of work and I'm trying to avoid the house for a little bit," he laughed to himself. "I kind of, um, wrecked my mom's car and she's not too happy with me." He shrugged, taking his skateboard in his hand so he could walk alongside Cassie.

"Right! Nancy mentioned she had a friend from college coming to stay. It's nice to meet you, Cassie," he stuck out his hand for a dramatic handshake. "Don't take this the wrong way, but Hawkins isn't exactly a vacation destination so... what brings you here?"

eddiemcnson​:

+++

pursed lips, eddie took another drag, buried one hand in the pocket of his jeans. he huffed. oh, he’d known about this stuff for a while, alright. the mere thought of it made his stomach drop, he squeezed his eyes shut for a second, softly, almost unnoticeably, shook his head. trying to shake the image of red skies and black lightning, swarming bats from his mind. 

eddie clicked his tongue, absent-mindedly kicked some gravel. “’easier’.”, he echoed, musing. wondering if he should shield cole from the truth. but he’d been roped into it, too, now. so what good it denial do him. and how cruel would it be of eddie, not letting him in on all the crazy. “remember….remember spring break ‘86? the.. ‘earthquake’ - it wasn’t an earthquake. anyway.”, another drag, eddie quickly exhaled. “anyway. anyway, shit …. went down, basically. like, supernatural shit. and i, well. i almost died.” eddie shrugged, resigned. it seemed so far away now, unreal. though it became frighteningly present again, every other night when eddie woke up in a cold sweat, heaving and panting and clutching at his chest to remind himself that he was alive and breathing. “it’s not …. it’s serious stuff, cole. but it - well, in a way, it sort of gets better. when you get outta here, it gets better.”

he glanced at cole, a small smile tugging at his lips, he nodded. “yeah. friends, i’d like that. that’d be cool. you’re not half bad yourself, montgomery.”truly, eddie hadn’t expected to make any new friends during his summer back in hawkins. and this was a pleasant surprise. 

quirked brows, eddie watched with an amused expression on his face as cole went on about adam, gushing about him, and he felt a warmth swelling in his chest. he was genuinely happy for cole, even more so since they were both so alike. which made eddie hopeful that maybe he could be just as happy as cole one day. “yeah, he seems pretty cool. great catch, cole. well done.”

eddie quickly looked away, flustered chuckle, the mention of steve brought a blush to his cheeks. “it’s… ah, it’s nothng, not really. it’s - “he was cut off by his own incredulous laugh, eddie ran a hand through his hair, then rested his palm on his forehead, he turned to look at cole. “i just can’t wrap my head around the fact that i, like….i made out with steve harrington. king steve. that’s - that’s not real, you know? like, guys like him don’t… they don’t go for guys like me. it’s mental.”

xx.

Cole searched Eddie’s face, noting how viscerally uncomfortable talking about this made him. Clearly, Eddie had seen some shit. If Cole couldn’t sleep because of a vision of Adam’s death, how much worse would he be feeling if he had really experienced any of that shit? 

With a frown, Cole watched the gravel scatter under Eddie’s foot. He nodded, trying to wrap his mind around another tragedy that was actually supernatural in origin. “What the fuck,” he said, incredulously. He almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity, because... why Hawkins? Lifting his eyes to Eddie’s face, Cole nodded at his hopeful conclusion. He patted the other’s shoulder in a slightly awkward display of affection. “I’m sorry... I know that was... fucked up,” he said, at a loss for something more substantial to say. He took a puff of the cigarette and turned it over in his mind. When you get outta here, it gets better. Cole hoped that much was true, and hoped that he and Adam could get out sooner rather than later.

With a teasing smile, Cole flicked his cigarette. “Not half bad,” he echoed, his eyes lingering on the water in front of them. It was nice, something glaringly normal in the midst of everything else. A reminder, almost, that things could be simple and easy. “Don’t let it go to your head,” he warned, with a chuckle.

“Thank you, really... it’s nice to get to talk about it,” Cole said, Eddie’s congratulations causing a swell in his chest. In another world, where they didn’t have to sneak around, Cole would parade Adam around, would wear his name ever on Cole’s lips, because he could never get tired of the feeling that Adam loved him. Despite everything, Adam chose him.

Clearly, Eddie could relate to the feeling. He nodded his understanding, smile still pushing on his lips. “But why shouldn’t he? You’re a catch too.” With a hint of mischief in his eyes, Cole shrugged, “I mean, we already established that I have good taste.”

For the first time in his life, Cole was thankful for the mundanity of his job. Usually, by 11 a.m. he'd be bored out of his mind, hoping that anyone would walk through the doors; but after what happened at the cemetery, he'd rather not speak to anyone. His mind was too busy playing the 'vision' over and over again. As he plucked the string of an acoustic guitar, he wondered if he was going insane... and if he was, if anyone would notice.

Hearing the door jangle, Cole stifled a groan and was at the counter in two long strides. Pasting on a smile, Cole surveyed the customer. Tessa. He'd known her in high school, of course, but they'd never really spoken... until Robin's 'kickback.' A pit formed in his gut as he wondered if that's why she was here; or, worse, if she hadn't experienced anything at all and needed help finding a guitar pic, or something.

"You got lucky, we're usually slammed this time of day," he said, dryly. "What can I do for you?"

Who: @tessacallovvay & @colemontgomeryx

Where: the music center

Locking her car, Tessa's heels clicked against the sidewalk as she made her way towards the grimy looking Music Center. Some cross between a music store and a record store, Tessa didn't really know much about it other than the fact you could hear it down the block. And the fact that one Cole Montgomery worked there. The know-it-all boy from high school. And one of the five other people who'd been there at Robin's disastrous attempt at a party. One of the people who'd... seen something.

Memory of blood running down her back, covering the frills of her dress, slipping over her face and streaming down her eyes-- Tessa paused at the door, shaking the visions away. Mm, no. No, thank you. Pushing through the grimy door, Tessa scanned the rows of guitars and other instruments before spotting an unfortunately familiar face. Walking to the main desk, she smiled wide at him, "Cole. Have a minute to talk, hon?"

TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET as HARRY STYLES on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE

byersphotography​:

Striped wallpaper - it haunted him on his way down the stairs. Flushed, he opted for the front door. It was the fastest way to his car. Jonathan’s first time back in the Wheeler residence had been … successful? He wasn’t entirely sure. Regardless, no amount of cocktail offers would make it easier to stick around any longer. His adventures down the rabbit hole of a Wheeler supply closet and heartfelt throwback in Nancy’s bedroom needed to end.

Jonathan opened the front door, reaching for his car keys as he walked towards the patio stairs. Cole’s greeting caught him off guard. As of lately, people always seemed to slap him around the shoulder. “Heey.” He said, frowning at the use of brother. Sharing a joint at the keg party was a nice gesture but it didn’t produce a cosmic bond between them. “Yeah, thanks - yeah – I uh, I guess it was.” The way Cole examined  him added tension to his already uncomfortable stance. 

This day could not get any weirder. Removing himself from Cole’s grasp, Jonathan looked at him with desperation that read – I can’t do this right now. “Are you okay?” He looked around, wondering if the guy was alone on the patio. Is Cole always drunk? It probably wasn’t ethical to leave him out here like this. Jonathan really didn’t remember much from high school - especially Cole.  “What… what are you talking about, man?”

xx.

“Was sooooo good,” Cole said with a goofy grin, using the porch’s railing to swing away from Jonathan. He stumbled over his feet but caught himself, laughing hat his lack of coordination. “Said it’s from California? Or... Colorado? No! Culver City,” he decided, nodding with finality. “Gotta go sometime, bro.”

As hard as he concentrated, Cole couldn’t decipher Jonathan’s expression. He felt like the other was trying to send him a message, but his face was blurry-- Cole wished he would just say it, whatever it was. “What?” he asked, louder than he had intended. “I’m fiiiiine. ‘S been a fun night.” Cole leaned his back against the porch railing and smiled absentmindedly into the dark. 

“Lonnie, dude, he’s my daddy too,” he laughed, like he’d just told an incredibly intelligent joke. Hearing commotion by the front door, Cole turned, hoping it was Adam finally escaping from his final round of goodbyes. He frowned when he saw it was just one of the kids-- Mike-- rushing past the door. “Looks like everyone had fun,” he commented as if to continue a casual conversation, then turned to Jonathan with a raised eyebrow. “Hey, I didn’t see you earlier? You just get here?”

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.”  

stevehharringtcns​:

.

steve couldn’t blame cole for what he was saying. he would have probably done the same if he hadn’t been a swimmer during high school, knowing that he just couldn’t stop swimming. but even then, he preferred using the public pool rather than his own pool. “right… that makes sense. you know, i haven’t really been able to use my pool after…” he said, narrowing his eyes as he tried to remember. he didn’t remember, but he knew that he had associated a bad memory to his pool, even if he couldn’t remember exactly what it was. “you know what, i don’t even know… it’s just that my pool kind of gives me the creeps and i don’t like being near that much. but it’s kind of hard to ignore it.” he said with a small shrug of his shoulders, pursing his lips as he looked at cole.

steve couldn’t remember the last time he had liked someone this much. obviously, he had liked nancy a lot, but those feelings eventually had faded away. and there was always his crush he had on robin, but that had been cut short, obviously. he looked over at cole, nodding his head slowly, but frowning slightly when cole said that eddie didn’t like girls. “right, right… but, even if he doesn’t like nancy.” he said, letting out a sigh. “what if he liked… you know, chrissy? the two were seen together a lot before she… disappeared or whatever. you can’t tell me that they weren’t like… into each other, right?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at his own question. steve wondered if eddie would be dating chrissy if she hadn’t disappeared, but he decided to not think about it that much.

listening to cole talk made steve a little more relaxed. it didn’t fix how he was feeling, but it definitely gave him some more comfort, knowing that he wasn’t alone in this situation. he would never have thought that when they made out in the back of his car, that this is how they would end up - with steve asking cole for advice. “thank you, cole… that’s really cool of you.” he said, nodding his head with a smile. “i should talk to him about this, but i don’t want him to get scared or anything. plus, i’m not sure if the whole talk about… wanting a family and six kids will work on eddie.” he said, sighing.

xx.

Cole studied Steve’s face as he spoke, trying to determine whether or not Harrington was pulling his leg. But his confusion seemed genuine, which maybe... was worse. Cole finished off the beer Steve had originally handed him and slipped into the kitchen, grabbing two more from the fridge and presenting one to Steve. “Cheers to never swimming again,” he said with a smirk. Maybe this was his gift, making light of really terrifying shit.

He couldn’t hold back his laugh when Steve mentioned Chrissy. Quickly, he explained so Steve wouldn’t think he was laughing at him. “Sorry. I just... Chrissy covered for me and Adam a lot back in high school.” It was funny to think of her, perfect Christian Chrissy Cunningham, being part of yet another scheme to cover for two guys. “To be honest, Harrington? I’m sure Eddie likes you. You don’t just look at a guy like that unless you want to jump his bones.” Cole didn’t elaborate on how he knew that look from Eddie; it wasn’t relevant, especially with the state Steve was in. 

Cole took a sip of his beer to hide his smile. It was surreal; at first, Cole was sure what happened between him and Steve was a one-off, just a jock experimenting. And honestly, Cole hadn’t expected it to ever come up again, but he was sort of glad it did. At least so that they could be friends... or something. “No problem, seriously. I get it.” He chuckled at Steve’s thought process. “Don’t you both like... kind of already have six kids? With the DnD club and all?” he teased. Cole swirled the beer around in the bottle, giving Steve a one-shoulder shrug. “It’s a scary conversation, but maybe what’s scarier is not having it at all.” Jesus, he needed a blunt. If only he could take his own advice. 

who: Cole & @drewcampbell​​

where: The Music Center

It had been a week and a half since Cole had gotten out of the hospital, and he’d run a few errands by himself despite his mother’s and Adam’s protests. Truly, Cole was sick of being stuck in the house, like he had been sick of the hospital room. He was restless. Though the owner of the Music Center had told him to take all the time he needed, Cole wanted to go back in to work, if only to get out of the house for a while. Plus, he hadn’t taught the new guy how to do inventory, and Cole hated when the owner attempted it. He’d once come back to find Joni Mitchell in the heavy metal section, and promptly banned anyone else from the job. 

The drive over was a spectacle, from Cole having to carefully lower himself into the driver’s seat and avoid moving too much or too quickly and inflame the pain in his broken ribs, to him driving with one hand and adjusting the radio with his arm in the sling. But, he pulled into his usual parking spot and let himself into the Music Center from the back door. Smiling at Drew, Cole waved with his good arm. “Hey, man. How’s it going? Holding everything down here?” he asked, eyes skimming over piles of undone inventory. Cole tucked a stack of records under his arm and busied himself immediately.

He turned, feeling Drew’s eyes on his back, and supposed he should explain his more-ghostly-than normal appearance, the still-healing cuts and bruises, the sling. “From the carnival. Wrong place, wrong time,” he grimaced. Then, lifting a brow, he asked the other: “Were you there? I don’t remember much. You didn’t get hurt, did you?” He didn’t know much about Drew, so he wasn’t necessarily worried about him, but Cole winced at the thought that they’d forced him to work because Cole had been hospitalized.

sinclairss​:

if it weren’t for the most recent injury, lucas would’ve gone on a run right now. the adrenaline coursing through his veins meant he barely felt any pain, not from his surgically-repaired knee and not from his newly-dislocated shoulder. he could use something to channel that adrenaline, especially when he wasn’t entirely sure how deep into this conversation he wanted to get.

to buy himself some time, lucas hopped out of the car and rounded the passenger side to tug cole’s door open. “yeah,” he finally said with quick nod. “i felt like…i thought i was gonna die.” and that would be a shitty way to go. he held his arm out, unsure if cole might need him for balance and then heading for the doors beneath the glowing EMERGENCY ROOM sign.

this, lucas wasn’t sure on, but he had a hunch. “two’s a coincidence. three’s a pattern,” he said, like he didn’t need to elaborate at all.

xx.

“Thanks,” Cole gave Lucas a grim smile as he climbed out of the passenger seat. He was able to stand on his own, which Cole hoped meant it wasn’t a major injury. Something that would go away in two days, tops. But Cole was tired-- not just physically, but emotionally. He was drained and if he was honest, all he really wanted to do was lock himself in his room for a few days to try and understand what was going on.

Cole waved his hand, dismissing Lucas’ arm. “I’m good, thank you though,” he repeated, feeling bad that Lucas had driven him all the way here just to field his questions and be released with a concussion. Lucas said ‘I thought I was gonna die’ so casually that Cole barely clocked it, so when he realized what Lucas said, Cole stumbled over some shitty landscaping job. “Mine was really real too. Only I wasn’t the one dying,” he added the last part in a mumble.

Raising an eyebrow at Lucas’ comment, Cole turned to him. “Three?” he prodded. He knew he’d remembered a few others mentioning things they’d seen, but everyone was so rattled that he guessed he hadn’t paid much attention. “What does it mean, if it is a pattern?”