Your personal Tumblr library awaits
colemontgomeryx·:
This was exactly what Cole had wanted to do all day: sit by the lake holding a book, giving him the perfect excuse to disassociate without being judged. But instead, he’s been all over town: helping Max break into a grocery store, getting roped into the Wheeler barbecue, and generally exhausting his already-low social battery. So he trudged through the vegetation to his favorite spot: an isolated bench just far enough away from the shoreline to be remote.
Or so he thought. A sudden burst of movement much too big to be a squirrel caused Cole to slow his steps, until he peered around the trees to see none other than Eddie Munson. Cole didn’t know Eddie very well, but everyone knew about Eddie. Personally, Cole didn’t believe the stories: Eddie was so not the kind of guy who could kill a cheerleader. Plus, Eddie was friendly with Max and Harrington, so he couldn’t be that weird. Geeky, maybe, but not creepy.
Setting his novel aside, Cole bent down to help Eddie pick up the figurines.Fuck, why were they so small? “Yeah, I’m good,” Cole said, handing over the three he’d collected. “Eddie, right? Were you leaving?” he asked, not wanting to kick Eddie out of his spot. “Hey… what are these, anyway?” Cole asked, standing up and brushing leaves off of his knees.
+++
He took them from Cole’s hand with an acknolwedging nod, slowly got up again once he had all figurines back safely in his lunch. Eddie dusted his palms off on his jeans, leaving stains but whatever, and finally looked up to meet the other person’s eyes. His own narrowed slightly, gears turning. “......Cole. You’re Cole, yeah?” And it sounded more like a statement than a question. But that’s Eddie for you, extremely awkward at times. He nodded - then...shook his head. “Yeah, I was headin’ out -”, he pointed behind himself with his thumb. “Like, soon as I heard some noise I was gonna get outta here. Not really looking for trouble, you know.”
He just...idly nodded to himself, clutched the handle of his metal box a little tighter. Until it dawned on him and his eyes narrowed again. “You’re not here to, like, beat me up, are you? Because I swear to God there are enough people in Hawkins looking to get a good punch in with Eddie ‘the freak’ Munson.”, he said, somewhat exasperatedly, and sigh deeply. He lifted his arms. “So if you are then, just, like, get it over with. I’m not looking for trouble.” And he closed his eyes, bared his cheek, brows drawn together, waiting for that painful hit to his jaw.
But it didn’t come. Tentatively, he opened one eye, the other still squeezed shut. But Cole wasn’t charging forward to pull him in by his collar and plant a punch, no, he was standing there rather....peacefully. Non-threatingly. Eddie lowered his arms. “Huh?” His eyes followed Cole’s gaze, dropped down to the lunch box. He blinked. “Oh, these? The little...”, he trailed off, gestured with his thumb in the directon of the metal box. “They’re...do you remember Hellfire Club? They’re for the next DnD campaign.”