Goldenboyrichards​:

To be honest, Cole had forgotten it was a holiday. He usually didn't work Mondays anyways, so it was easy to forget the date and any federal holidays that happened to fall on Mondays. That is, until he woke up this morning with a primal craving for a Wild Cherry Pepsi. Two stores down and Melvald's was his only hope. As Cole rounded the corner on his skateboard, he couldn't keep his laugh in. There was Max, arm cocked like she was about to-- throw a rock through the window?

He couldn't blame her determination, but he knew she'd get found out. "Maxine!" he called out, making a tsk sound. "Are you positively determined to prove every negative stereotype about skaters right?" He propped his skateboard up against the curb and sauntered over to his unlikely friend. "Well, fuck, Max. Did you try to pick the lock?" he motioned for her to put the rock down. "At least, something that won't get you caught immediately. What's so important, anyway?"

WHO: max mayfield && open.

WHERE: outside of melvald’s general store.

this wasn’t max’s most…well-thought-out plan, but she had ransacked the trailer for anything she could bring to the wheeler’s barbecue. and she was pretty sure cereal or swanson’s tv dinners wouldn’t cut it.  as she skated her way downtown in hopes of a miracle, she brainstormed what she could bring that wouldn’t be too complicated. she came up with the likes of doritos or boxed pasta salad. of course, when max pulled up to melvald’s and tugged at the doors, they were locked.  melvald’s, like the hawk, and every other godforsaken business in this town just had to be closed. “shit…” she breathed out, scanning her surroundings. not a car in sight…not a person … but there was a rock. maybe if she just…she could get away with it…

max scooped it up from the ground and raised her arm to chuck it through the window, but she felt these eyes on her.  turning around, max initially jumped at the sight of another person.  hadn’t she checked for people? in a swift recovery, max rolled her eyes and frowned, “asshole. you can’t just sneak up on people like that.” as if to explain herself, she stepped forward and gripped the handles once more, “it’s locked.”  after chucking the rock out into the road, max placed her hands on her hips, then eyed the other, “i need in, like now.” then as a hint to help or get lost she asked, “got any better ideas?” 

zccming​:

“yeah, and you were only able to fracture it because i saved your ass first.” max huffed. now she understood how dustin felt all the time, no credit paid where credit was due. it wasn’t like she was expecting to be met with high praises or anything, but she had been anticipating a few more thank yous and a few less lectures. cole, at least, wasn’t going to lecture her. he was only going to be whiny, like always. “i’m surprised it isn’t already healed.” max snickered, then condescendingly sympathized, “must be real bad.” then as he made fun of her request for him quiet down, she smiled mockingly at him, “it’ll be quiet enough when you shut the fuck up.” 

despite the hostile words tossed around, max shuffled over to her dresser, grabbed her baggie, and got to rolling. following the mall, she was relieved to find that things seemed to remain normal between them. there wouldn’t be anything weird from her end, but it made her quietly pleased to see cole stand by his choice to share his truth with her. in time, she’d produced a joint for them. moving mostly in silence, max laid staring at her ceiling as they passed the j back and forth until she was lost in her thoughts, the sounds of the radio, and the bugs chittering outside of her thin walls.

cole had shared with her about adam, and all max could think about was how she couldn’t stop relating it to her feelings about eleven. of course, they had skimmed the surface over the billy of it all, but this was a new, equally difficult, perspective. it was horrible of her, but that didn’t mean anything weird, did it? maybe cole would know… thoroughly baked, max distantly asked, “do you ever think about how el has like, the perfect face?” did he even know what she looked like? “or how she’s like, the perfect girl. or perfect person even. it’s… crazy.” it wasn’t exactly explicitly emotional, but in her altered state, max was holding out hope that cole might just read her mind about what she was trying to convey. “i really missed her.” with even less tact than usual thanks to the weed, max somehow brutal and awkward, prodded at cole, “how does it feel when you think about adam? like …what does missing someone…like that…feel like…to you?” then she rasped, “it’s different from…my experiences.”

xx.

“It is real bad, thanks for your sympathy,” Cole retorted sarcastically, cradling his finger in his other hand. “I can’t play the piano with this shit. What else am I supposed to do at work?” he sighed, though his eyes twinkling with laughter. Cole blew Max a kiss with his good hand, playing along. “What, did you invite me over here to sit quietly in the corner? You got a dunce cap I can wear while I’m at it?” he teased, though he wouldn’t put it past her to actually sit him in the corner with a dunce cap, for the bit.

Cole gratefully took the joint and lifted it to his lips. “Cheers,” he breathed out, releasing a cloud of smoke. He still couldn’t believe he’d come out to Max. He hadn’t regretted it-- the opposite, he felt an ongoing sense of relief-- but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a tad on edge, waiting for any sign that Max treated him differently. He passed the joint to her and turned onto his side, studying her face. She acted like something was on her mind.

The mystery only lasted a few seconds more, until she started going on about El. Chuckling, Cole took the joint back from her, “I hadn’t really thought about her face. She’s nice enough, but not really my type.” The two grew quiet and Cole dared not vocalize his thoughts, his suspicion that Max maybe liked El as more than a friend. Maybe he was projecting, hoping that she could relate to him in that way. Then, to his surprise, her questions all but confirmed it. He took a drag of the joint, and then another, turning his response over in his head. “Not to be dramatic, but I think it felt like... I was missing part of myself. The part that only he knew, you know?” he looked down at his hands. “It still feels like that. Like I’m a fraud, like everything I do without him is just pretending.” Cole looked back up at Max, wondering, but not wanting to pressure her. “Maybe I need a shrink.”

sinclairss​:

the hideaway wasn’t usually at the top of lucas’ list of places to hang out, but after the carnival, he was looking for just about anything that might take the edge off. he’d been attacked by the doppelganger. max had been taken by the monster. the older kids had nearly gotten blown up. any of those things would be traumatic enough on its own, but add on the fact that five people -including mr. clarke- had died, and it left lucas with a lot to think about. according to his therapist, he’d gotten to the anger portion of his grieving process when he’d vandalized his middle school. showing up at the hideaway when he was supposed to be at physical therapy? that was squarely in the depression part. it wasn’t that he didn’t drink, but lucas didn’t usually drink alone. 

which was probably why lucas’ first instinct upon walking into the dimly lit bar was to find a drinking buddy. relief loosened his shoulders when he spotted cole montgomery sitting at the bar. ever since the guy had fallen into an open grave trying to help lucas out of one, he’d felt a strange sort of camaraderie with the other. he wondered if cole’s doctors knew he was spending his time drinking at the bar before realizing he probably didn’t care if they did. “same as you,” he answered with a humorless smile. “needed a drink.” he nodded as he slid into the seat to cole’s left and ordered a beer. 

the good thing about this bar was that they rarely ever carded, especially not after tragedy struck town. again. he remembered that his dad came here the night will’s ‘body’ had been found. and he and the basketball team had spent time tucked into a corner after…something had happened to jason’s girlfriend, right? lucas couldn’t remember. either way, the bartender passed over a glass and lucas thanked her with a smile, lifting the beer in cole’s direction in a mock toast. “thanks.” he took a long sip and wrapped both hands around the cool glass as he turned in his seat to look at cole properly. “so…” his eyes flicked back to cole, one side of his mouth quirking in the shadow of a grin. “what’s new? seen any good movies lately?”

xx.

Needed a drink. Cole certainly couldn’t argue with Lucas’ logic, enough had happened to warrant everyone in town taking a load off, especially Lucas. Cole absentmindedly wondered if Max knew Lucas was here. He hadn’t exactly gotten an update from her in a while, so he didn’t know what was going on between the two of them, except that there was something. There had always been something. “Well, cheers.” Cole raised his glass to Lucas’ and took a long drink, barely stopping himself from downing the whole glass in one gulp. Best to reign it in, in case Lucas relayed anything to Max.

Not that they were exactly talking right now, anyway. Things had been weird ever since Tessa Calloway’s funeral, which Cole only attended because Adam wanted to, for the record. He’d been torn up about the whole thing since then-- partially because he’d fought with Max, but also because he couldn’t help but wonder: How many others were afraid of Adam? How many others wouldn’t hesitate to restrain him or hurt him, even though none of this was his fault? Cole took a long look at Lucas, the other’s words processing somewhere behind the alcohol-induced haze of Cole’s mind. Was Lucas one of them, too?

The side of Cole’s mouth quirked over the glass at Lucas’ joke. “Hmm... Dirty Dancing? I’ve watched that like, six times with Adam’s youngest sister now. Or Hairspray,” he added, laughing at his movie choices. He knew Lucas wasn’t the type to make fun of him, but still, couldn’t he have at least seen a Star Wars movie or something? Then, it clicked. “The Lost Boys. Max really liked that one,” he smiled fondly, but his smile faltered after a second. “Is she... doing okay? It’s been a minute.” 

stevehharringtcns​:

.

with his hands gripping the steering wheel, steve stared at cole and thought about how he had almost ran him over. what was with people skateboarding in this town, anyway? he asked to himself as he looked at the other approaching his car. the memory didn’t take long to appear on steve’s mind as he was reminded of what the two had done in the backseat, but he shook it off his mind as he looked at cole as he leaned on the frame of his car. “you really should be careful when you’re skating that thing, you never know who’s behind the wheel… you’re lucky i saw you in time.” he warned, as he shook his head slowly and then motioned his head so the other could make his way inside the car.

“i wasn’t exactly offering a ride, but it’s better if i just drive you there. like i said, maybe next person won’t stop and then you’ll be left bleeding on the road.” he said, rolling his eyes slightly as he waited for cole to make his way inside of his car. steve didn’t mind driving other people around, in fact, he was used to. he was almost always the designated driver when it came to these type of events and it didn’t help that he was one of the few people in the group of people he knew that could actually drive. god forbid he would let max drive his car again, or anyone for that matter. “just get in, we can show up together.” he said with a nod.

xx

Cole put his right hand up as if he were reciting a pledge. "Right hand to God, it won't happen again, Officer Harrington," he promised, with a mischievous gleam in his eye. He knew Steve spent a lot of time with Dustin and Will and all those younger guys, maybe it had transformed him into the dad friend, or something. Anyways, calling a skateboard that thing aged Steve to at least forty in Cole's mind.

Without hesitation, Cole opened the passenger door and slid in, stashing that thing in the backseat. "Well, I appreciate it, really. What can I do to make it up to you?" Just barely, he resisted the urge to add a wink to the tail end of his question. Steve was being nice by offering a ride, and there was no need to torture him about it. "Sounds like half the town will be there. Anyone you're excited to see?" Cole asked, nonchalantly, though he was certainly fishing for information.

who: Cole & @goldenboyrichards​​

where: Cole’s hospital room :’) 

Everything hurt: his head, his abdomen, his shoulder, his throat. He blinked, but his eyes were heavy and hard to open. What the fuck had happened? His head felt foggy, and his memories were short and senseless. He saw a flash of the Tunnel of Love ride, some unidentified black goo, an explosion, and... Adam looking angry. At him. Adam shoving him away, telling Cole to ‘leave him the fuck alone.’ 

Cole tried to turn onto his side, to hide his teary eyes from the door, in case anyone walked in. Only, moving was no longer simple-- he must’ve broken a rib or two, because the pain that lit up Cole’s body was almost strong enough to knock him out. “Fuck,” he exclaimed, brows knit together and stars in his eyes. If he could keep his eyes open long enough to look around, he might have seen Steve in the bed across the room or the figure entering the room and nearing his bed.

Lifting his hands to his face, Cole shielded his eyes from the fluorescent lights. “Why are the lights so fucking bright,” he grumbled to no one in particular. He was about to complain about the bed being angled too high when he locked eyes with him. 

His stomach did a backflip and Cole’s mouth dropped open. He desperately searched Adam’s eyes, trying to decipher who he was right now-- his Adam or... whatever he’d been at the carnival? 

“Hey,” he managed, after a beat of silence. Cole desperately wanted to be held, to have some confirmation that Adam was himself again, to push the memories of anyone else to the edge of his mind. 

Keeping his head low so strangers (or worse, friends) wouldn’t see the dopey grin on his face, Cole ducked into Melvald’s. Since Adam had gotten back, he and Cole had been spending every waking minute together, switching from Cole’s room to Adam’s room every other day. It was bliss, and Cole truly believed he could stay there, in Adam’s arms, for the rest of his life. But, nature calls, and so do the Richards. They parted ways for a few hours, so Cole could stock up on snacks and beer and Adam could go to family dinner. 

Cole was a mix between stupidly happy and incredibly on edge. Happy for obvious reasons and on edge because he was afraid that if he wasn’t with Adam, something would happen or he would disappear again. As he fast-walked through the aisles, indiscriminately picking up cereal boxes and chip bags and beer, Cole stopped short when a vaguely familiar voice called out to him. Turning, Cole struggled to not spill the contents of his arms onto the floor. He really should’ve gotten a cart. “Foreman, yeah. Hey,” he smiled easily, remembering Jack as the football team captain. Cole quirked an eyebrow when he mentioned he’d been away with Adam. Had he been? Cole didn’t remember Jack leaving, but why would he make that up? “You were... uh, out of town? Or...?” his voice trailed off, the question hanging in the air. 

WHO: jack foreman & @colemontgomeryx​ WHERE: melvald’s 

After getting his greetings and affairs in order, Jack decided to head to Melvald’s to get some basic life things now that he had no toothbrush, deodorant, or anything essential, really, since his parents had rightfully thrown everything out upon his disappearance. His mother had offered to go do it for him, but Jack declined, thinking that it might be good to get out of the house. His parents had sworn to never let him leave Hawkins again, and he was certain that that was at least half true, but he’d promised to go straight to the store and back home. No going near the woods any longer, that was for sure.

He kept his head low as he entered the store, careful to not make eye contact with anyone who might recognize who he was. Jack was sure that his face had been in the newspapers back when everyone had apparently gone to this commune in the woods, and he wasn’t ready to start answering questions about any of that yet. He wasn’t sure he even knew why he would’ve gone in the first place. As he walked through the aisles, though, Jack recognized an unmistakable head of hair, and he brought down his hood from his head. “Cole?” he asked, dropping a tube of toothpaste from his hand into his basket. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to bother you, it’s just … I’m Jack. Foreman? You were on the football team, the manager, right? I don’t know if you remember, but I’m, um, back in town, I guess, with Adam Richards, he … you guys were friends, I think. Anyway, it’s, uh … nice to see you.”

𝐌𝐘 𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐌𝐘

WHO: max mayfield & @loverboymontgomery WHAT: after max and cole hop of their walkies, max shows up, heart to hearts are had, and the glimpses of each other in their own behaviors become abundantly apparent (aka colemax mirrors w hints of lumax and richgomery) WHERE: the montgomery residence, july 1st-ish

Keep reading

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.”

joycefm​:

    “cole!!”  a  smile  rests  on  her  face  as  she  greets  the  other,  hiding  anything  that  resembled  surprise.  she  definitely  hadn’t  been  expecting  the  other  but  there  had  always  been  something  about  cole  that  felt  so  familiar.  maybe  because  they  simply  fit  into  hawkins  so  well  -  or  because  he  simply  got  along  with  her  boys  so  well..  she  wasn’t  exactly  sure.  but  she  extended  her  kindness  to  everyone  across  town  unless  they  gave  her  reason  not  to.  

    brows  raise  at  his  words  but  yet  she  doesn’t  hesitate  to  open  her  door  further,  welcoming  him  in.  “i  have  all  the  time  in  the  world  -  i  bought  some  fresh  fruit  so  come  on  in.”  she’s  already  moving  to  grab  the  other  a  bowl,  placing  it  on  the  kitchen  table  and  moving  immediately  to  the  refrigerator  to  grab  some  grapes.  "talk  to  me  -  what’s  on  your  mind?”

If Joyce was surprised, she certainly didn’t show it, which put Cole at ease. He supposed she was relatively used to all the youth of Hawkins showing up unannounced, but for Cole this was a first. Following Joyce to the kitchen, Cole tapped his fingers nervously on his legs. He smiled at her as she handed him a bowl and plopped grapes into it. “Thank you, you didn’t have to,” he said, though he bit down on a grape.

What’s on your mind? 

A lot, actually, but in the moment Cole was focused on his timing. Was this the right time? Was there ever a right time to say what he was going to say? He decided to just be honest. Five years late, maybe, but nonetheless. “I don’t really have like... a tactful way to say this?” Cole explained, with an apologetic smile. “Lonnie Byers was my dad. Or, is. But we don’t talk or anything. I’ve never met him.” Realizing that his sentences were running into each other, Cole took a breath, popped another grape into his mouth. “Um. My mom... Maggie, you might know her from school... she told me a few years back and I just didn’t know if I wanted to say anything? I don’t want to complicate your life, or Will’s or Jonathan’s, but...” He didn’t know how exactly to express what he’d been feeling for his whole life: the desire for a family, to come home to a house teeming with life, to not be so... alone in the world. 

mmuscles​:

“cole montgomery,” thad repeated the name back to him in a scoff. he shook his head, lowering his voice in turn, “i like pretty boy better.” he felt dizzy, confused even. why had he come here in the first place, again? the only thing he could hone in on was cole’s stare, their proximity was suffocating. while his brain screamed at his feet to bolt and get back in the car, thad only found them firmly planted on the floor of his garage and his gaze unwavering as it bored into cole. who was this guy? 

thad liked to think he was strong. he liked to think he acted in way that would make his family proud, but as cole drew closer and demanded that show him, he was suddenly a very weak man. exasperated, he unnecessarily exclaimed, “fine! i will!” then fervently closed the distance between them. in one urgent motion, thad’s lips were on cole’s and his body was on his body, effectively sandwiching the other between himself and the wall.  

the anger thad felt towards cole was especially invigorating, only furthering the franticness of each of his actions – kissing, roaming hands, whatever. thad, obviously, didn’t divulge these impulses very often, so the moment his brain slipped back into his head, he pulled away. he looked at cole, wide eyed with an expression somewhere between pissed and shocked. forcing himself in the intimidating direction of indignation, thad glared at cole, then marched off to his car without another word. 

xx.

Cole wasn’t sure what it was, exactly, but he could see a battle waging behind Thad’s eyes. Through narrowed eyes, Cole studied Thad, trying to crack his code-- until, suddenly, Thad was pushing him against the wall again, and pressing his lips to Cole’s. At first, Cole was too shocked to respond. Thad who refused to learn his name was now kissing him?

It didn’t take long for Cole to give in; he hadn’t been kissed like this, maybe ever. Thad’s aggression translated to passion, and Cole ran his hands along Thad’s arms, encouraging him to keep going. When Thad pulled away, Cole couldn’t help the pout that his lips turned into. But he dared not protest-- something about Thad’s expression felt dangerous. Cole wasn’t sure what he would do, whether he would never speak of it again or whether he would take out his anger and repression on Cole.

So, Cole let him go. As Thad stormed off to his car and peeled out-- loudly, of course-- Cole lazily traced his lips, as if to check for physical signs that this had really happened. Steve was surprising to Cole, as was Eddie, but this? This felt earth-shattering in a completely different way. Not exhilarating and meaningful like with Adam, but... scary. And though it should’ve made him afraid of Thad, he couldn’t help be a little sad for him, too.