STRANGER THINGS 4.01 The Hellfire Club

where: where do we think

what: eddie’s making his rounds at the hospital ig

who: @backtowheeler​ + eddie.

coming to see that steve was doing semi-okay, that he was awake at least and well on the road to recovery had calmed his jangled nerves signifcantly. however, it had done nothing for the rest of his sleep-deprived being,truly, he must’ve looked like a ghost, roaming around the painfully brightly lit hallways. he felt like it, too, felt like he could very well collapse with every step he took.  but it was fine, he’d catch some shut eye later, maybe a quick nap in that awfully uncomfortable plastic chair next to steve’s bed. eddie wasn’t leaving him out of his sight again. not a chance in hell.

surpressing a yawn, he pulled the door to what he suspected to be steve’s room open with considerable effort - had it gotten heavier in the last then minutes ? - clutching the cup of ice chips he’d left the room in search of. “your delivery, my lieg- oh.” eddie stopped, blinked and frowned as he wasn’t greeted with the sight of steve but rather nancy. a couple of beats passed in silence as eddie stood there, waited, so he could be certain that this was real and not some sleep-drunk hallucination. “wheeler, hey. i was just -” just what? ‘paying your ex-boyfriend who i’ve been sort of secretly dating for the past two weeks or so a visit and got lost on the way back?’ he pressed his lips together. “checking in on people. uh, steve.” clicking his tongue, he gave her a sheepish smile. “how are you holding up?”

dvstybuns·:

Dustin wasn’t even remotely phased by having woken Eddie up. He’d woken him up at weirder times before back when Eddie was in Chicago and Dustin had something he had to tell him right that second. It was a wonder Eddie put up with him still, but Dustin wasn’t one to question when people grew a soft spot for him. “I’m talking about the Upside Down! Probably,” He amended. Dustin didn’t know for sure that that was what was behind all of this, but considering it always was, it was a fair guess. 

“I’m injured, I have to elevate it!” Dustin complained when he was called a heathen. Rolling up the leg of his jeans, Dustin showed off Max’s poor bandaging skills to prove that he wasn’t making it up. But, he did move his feet off the coffee table and onto the couch beside him. “What? Come on…” Dustin whined, not fighting the lack of beer too hard. It was noon, after all. And really, he could steal one from Steve’s fridge if he really wanted one. 

With a deep sigh, Dustin began his retelling of their night in the woods. “Okay, so Joyce, Murray, Max, Will, Mike and I were in Joyce’s car going to check something out at the town border. But then I saw something out the window. It was like… human but not? Some kind of mix with a demogorgon?” He shrugged, still not really knowing what to call the thing. “It hit the car, so we all got out to look for it. Then, we kind of got separated. Someone went missing, or something. Anyway, it came back and hit Joyce’s car again and I fell, fucked up leg and took Max down too. We were lucky to get away.” In truth, some of the details were already becoming fuzzy for Dustin. Maybe a side effect of the adrenaline wearing off, or maybe he’d hit his head or something. He wasn’t entirely sure. 

+++

the upside down. if there were any two words that drew a visceral, gutteral reaction out of him it would be those two. a shiver ran down his spine - or was it up, actually? -, goosebumps on his arms, he nearly choked on his coffee. didn't even need the damn thing anymore, seeing as he was suddenly wide awake. still he held onto it, took a cautious sip, for comfort more than anything else.

dustin's mention of his injury had a similarly effect, sobering him up completely, eddie rubbed the last remnants of sleep Form his eyes, cranked his neck to get a better look at his very poorly bandaged injury. "who the fuck stitched you up? max with her eyes closed?"

still, he listened intently to dustin's storytelling, taking the occasional sip of coffee, his tiredness all but forgotten. replaced by an eerie feeling of dread. because dustin's story, combined with eddie's own experiences at benny's, it became undoubtedly clear - the supernatural had somehow wormed its way back into hawkins. and, presumably, it was out to get them.

"fucking - shit, man.", he hissed, dragged a hand down his face. "are you sure? like, a hundred percent - you're not fucking with me here, henderson, are you?"

joseph quinn as eddie munson in stranger things 4 vol. 1 (2022)

backtowheeler·:

𝐖𝐇𝐎: Nancy Wheeler & @eddiemcnson······

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓: Post-Benny’s shenanigans

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄: Outside of Benny’s while it burns <333

So, that happened. Nancy Wheeler started a literal fire and now she was watching as Benny’s bursted into flames. She told herself it would be fine, the damage wouldn’t be that bad, and it’d give the owner a reason to update the place but fact of the matter was it still happened. And they still agreed to let it burn down instead of calling for help. She backed away from the building, splitting off from the group as they decided it was time to clear out before anyone showed up. Nancy walked down the paved road, quick on her feet. “Hey, hey,” she jogged over to Eddie, who was only a few paces ahead of her.

“I’m really sorry for dragging you into this,” I didn’t think it was anything serious. Instead, there was goo and eggs and arson. Not the Nancy Drew mystery she had expected to solve. She had seen how spooked Eddie was and rightfully so. He had been to the Upside Down, even experienced the horrors of Hawkins once before, but this was entirely different. They were supposed to be safe. “Let me drive you home?” She asked, reaching into her pocket and grabbing the car keys to her mom’s station wagon, wincing at the pain she felt in her right hand from the burn she had gotten which was surely starting to blister. “As long as you don’t mind a one handed driver.”

+++

eddie was still in the process of catching his breath, hands braced on his thighs, leaning a little forward as he stood there and watched. watched benny’s burn down to the ground. the events of the night re-playing in his head like an episode of ‘unsolves mysteries’. he took another moment, then turned to head out, too.

seriously questioning and doubting his sanity. because what. the . fuck. had just happened. and how had he managed to get himself into another heap of hawkins shenanigans again. as if nearly dying in an alternate dimension while half the town thought you were a cold-blooded murderer wasn’t enough. no, apparently, the upside down had decided to introduce overly large ... eggs into the mix, too. typical. he should’ve figured. figured that this wouldn’t be a normal, happy, carefree summer.

he jumped slightly, startled, still spooked, as nancy called out and caught up with him. eddie shrugged. “not really your fault, wheeler, is it? i mean, whatever the hell this....shit is, was gonna catch up to me eventually.”, he said and managed a weak smile. “though, gotta say, not what i imagined when you asked if i wanted to hang.”

though what had he expected, exactly, from nancy ‘i have guns, plural, in my bedroom’ wheeler ?  eyes glanced down to her hand, concerned frown appearing on his face. eddie quickly snatched the keys from her hand, careful not to brush her injured hand. “uh, no, no way, wheeler.” he was about to suggest that he drove her home instead and then walked back, but remembered how long it had taken to bike back to his trailer in the upside down - and he really wasn’t keen on walking through hawkins alone, at night.

“how about i drive myself home and then let you take over? so you only have to be a one-handed driver for the last leg of the journey. and when you’re not responsible for two lives.”

cassieconrads·:

Cassie let out a half-snorted laugh at the mention of Thad, who she could tell without even hearing about his conversation with Eddie how it must’ve gone. Thad was probably the most judgmental person she’d ever met, which was saying a lot, given the current state of her sorority life. Eddie was made for somewhere like Hawkins, Indiana, while Thad, quite simply was not. “He sucks, and I cannot express how sorry I am that you had the misfortune of meeting him. I could literally go on forever about how horrible I think that man is, and I’ve tried to very subtly bring it up to Nancy many times, but she won’t budge. I don’t know why, but maybe someone here can help her see the light more than I can.”

Though they’d only really driven through Chicago, Cassie couldn’t imagine what could have possibly brought someone back to Hawkins from a big city like that. “And you came back?” she asked, raising a brow. 

She gave a theatrical curtsy in response to his bow, unable to hide a smile. “You as well. I might have to start stealing all of Nancy’s friends for myself, if you’re all this cool.” Cassie didn’t want to bring up the cemetery or her vision to someone she’d literally met on the street, but maybe he knew something about the girl she’d been. “Right, well, I was looking through Nancy’s yearbook, and there was this whole page memorial kind of thing that sparked my interest. Some cheerleader girl, did something happen to her or something? I was just looking for anything that might be in the archives, I was … just curious.”

+++

he scrunched up his nose in disgust. so that was wheeler's infamous boyfriend. truly, eddie could not imagine how she'd moved on from steve to... whatever the hell this guy's deal was. "can't imagine that she'd value herself so little to  willingly be with this guy. you sure he's not, like, blackmailing her or something?"

just as cassie had said, eddie, too, hoped that someone would help nancy back onto the right path. not - not that that someone had to necessarily be steve, mind you. no, eddie really wasn't keen on a repeat of the 'upside down flirting with your ex while trying to fight vecna' debacle. he valued both steve and nancy's company greatly, but the thought of the two of them shamelessly flirting made him want to gag.

he shrugged, nodded. "yup, sure did. my boss is traveling the states for the summer, gave me a couple months off. thought I'd check back in with the crew." namely the people he'd spent spring break of '86 fighting an evil monster from a hell version of hawkins with. and the teenagers he used to play dnd with. " my uncle still lives here, too. only family i got."

eddie's smile slowly but surely faded as cassie continued talking. as if someone had punched the air out of him, he felt nauseous all of a sudden, hands cold and clammy. eyes darting around nervously. cheerleader. dead cheerleader. dead cheerleader in nancy wheeler's graduating class.

"chrissy cunningham.", he blurted out, voice meek and close to breaking. "what do you... why do you wanna know what happened to her? what is this, some kind of - are you trying to mess with me? is that what this is?"

where: the munson trailer, living room

what: date night <3

who: @stevehharringtcns​ + eddie

eddie didn’t know how long they’d been in this exact position, both of them on the couch, eddie’s legs lazily draped over steve’s, the record he’d put on had long since faded into a static crackling noise. it felt unreal, having steve over. like this. with eddie’s arms around steve’s neck, bringing him down every so often for the occasional kiss. it felt unreal, it felt better than every dream eddie had ever had about a similar scenario. better than the little daydreams that helped him go to sleep.

it was the real thing and eddie wondered if the butterflies in his stomach woiuld forever be there. clutching at steve’s shoulders, he pulled him into another kiss, a shorter one this time, hands tangled into the other’s hair. ready to deepen the kiss, eddie suddenly cursed and quickly pulled back, trying to untangle a lock of steve’s hair from one of his rings. “oh, shit, sorry, princess”, he gave him a sheepish smile, shook off a strand of hair that he’d accidentally pulled out. “sorry, my bad. should’ve taken ‘em off.”

dissatisfied with not being as close as humanly possible to steve anymore, he quickly grabbed his hand, intertwining their fingers. gazing up at him in a way that could only be classified as ‘lovingly’. big, stupid grin on his face. eddie let his head loll to the side so it rested against the backrest. as much as he tried to actually get a conversation going - well, it was hard when steve had the audacity to look this pretty.

“you wanna watch a movie, hot shot? i - i don’t have a lot here, can’t promise they’re any good, wayne taped over a lot of them.”

zccming​:

max narrowed her eyes while eddie showcased his outfit for her. she nodded, hand thoughtfully on her chin. “i don’t know, eddie.” she sighed as if she had bad news, then reached out and smacked her hand onto his shoulder, “you’re looking like the spitting image of callahan these days.” max grinned, then stepped back, crossed her arms, and resumed examining the storefront. max knew it wasn’t going to open if all she did was stand there and before she got the chance to sit on it some more, eddie was running through the inciting events with her. she didn’t deny the way he framed it. in fact, max nodded along, until she just had to interject, “okay? have you ever had karen wheeler look at you funny? it gets brutal after like…” she muttered a couple numbers under her breath, “five times.” 

there was an easiness that came in interacting with eddie. most of the time, max had to force herself to listen to and engage with other people. when it came to eddie though, she just did it, like it was built in. if she was inching anywhere near an edge of truly snapping in the face of this inconvenience, eddie’s laugh pushed her about fifty steps back. she gratefully accepted his hair pin, “yeah yeah. so beneath me.” max started for the back of the building. an exit without insult or profanity could be chalked up to a thank you from max. with eddie’s help and the guarantee of a few beers now on her side, she’d consider this outing a score. 

max took a grand total of fifteen minutes to round up all she needed to avoid mrs. wheeler’s stare of death before crossing the street back over to eddie’s van. she tossed her bag and then her skateboard inside without much care, then followed in suit. “we got like an hour before we should show up.” max announced, “we could go now but…” she sucked in on her teeth, “i don’t think we want be in the first wave of guests.” it was an annoying truth, but if max arrived to the wheeler household with eddie munson before the droves of people piled in, well, about a quarter of that target audience wouldn’t bother coming at all if they caught word. not needing to explain that, she flatly posed the next step, “so, how are we going to kill an hour?”

+++

he scrunched his nose, grimaced. “callahan?” listen, he’d heard a lot of insults in his life but this? and coming from max? “wow, that’s, - that’s the worst name i’ve ever been called. and isn’t that, like, before your time? aren’t you, like, twelve or something?” at her comment about wheeler he just shrugged with his palms held out. he’d never met the woman, didn’t usually hang about that part of town, but the way max described her - well, eddie wasn’t sure if inviting himself to that cookout was such a good idea after all. but fuck it. “the hell did you do that made mrs wheeler stare at you funny five times, max? that sounds more like a you problem if you ask me.”

and off she went, eddie looked around, made sure that no one around had seen her sneak off before he went back to his van. resisted the urge to turn up the music because they really didn’t need to draw any attention to themselves. he left the doors to the van wide open, sat side-ways in the driver’s seat, legs dangling out the door. then max returned with her secured goods, he lazily turned his head and watched as she climbed into the passenger seat. “sweet haul”, he said and nodded his head towards the stolen yield. “what did you get?”

he blew a raspberry. “an hour.”, he mused, fingers drumming on the dashboard. he’d been ready to slam his keys into the ignition and speed off but now, here they were, in the middle of downtown hawkins, after robbing a store on memorial day, with an hour to kill. eddie shifted so he sat properly in his seat, pulled the door shut and rolled the window down. “i don’t know, man. we could, like, chill in the sun somewhere? or hey, maybe the arcade’s open today?” he shrugged. “anywhere but here, dude. your choice. your wish is my command.”

stevehharringtcns·:

steve couldn’t say that he had ventured out in flirting with men before, at least, if he had done it, he couldn’t tell that he was doing. it was part of his personality to be naturally charming - he thought to himself. and it wasn’t like eddie was bad looking, there was definitely something about him. he wasn’t sure if it was the hair or the tattoos, but steve definitely liked what he saw whenever he looked at eddie. a smile showed up on his face and he let out a small chuckle. “so, you’re here to see me, is that it munson? you could have just told me that, i know i’m great company.”

once he was done rearranging the cases on the shelves, he started making his way towards the counter and passed on the other side, knwoing that eddie would follow him. his company was definitely better than keith’s, he thought. he could stay with eddie all day and he was sure that the day would pass on faster than it normally did. opening his mouth as he was offended, he let out a small chuckle. “i am definitely not a nerd, but yes, you are… didn’t you play that dragons and dungeons game or whatever it was called? i’m not even sure if i know what that game is about.” he said with a chuckle, shaking his head slowly as he leaned forward against the counter and stared at eddie, a smile on his face. he really was attractive… steve hadn’t seen that before. i mean, he definitely had noticed it, but it wasn’t like this before.

“oh, uh…” he thought a little about the type of movies he liked. “i really don’t have a type. i just kind of like… everything.” he said, clearing his throat as he did. “but horror’s pretty cool, i think. but i think our life has been enough horror as it is.” he said with a small chuckle, feeling himself turn red at eddie’s compliments, mentioning his hair and face. “thanks, man… and it’s a secret, i can’t just reveal that to anyone.” he said with a chuckle. “you’re not so bad yourself… you definitely could be a great contender to be the best hair in town if i weren’t here.” he said with a smirk on his face. “and the tattoos are sick, man.” he said with a nod.

he stared at the other, feeling himself still blushing before he just shrugged his shoulders and looked over at his watch. “do you have plans for after this? my shift ends in about twenty minutes, we could do… something.” he suggested with a small nod.

+++

“and that’s exactly why i didn’t tell you. your hair’s big enough, your ego doesn’t need to be the same size.”, eddie said with an overexaggerated sigh, grin still playing on his lips. all said in good fun because, well, in all honesty eddie wouldn’t mind being ‘round steve all day, paying him compliment after compliment. just to watch his cheeks take on that lovely pink colour.

he followed steve through the store like a lost puppy, stumbling over his own feet every so often. he feigned a look of outrage, one hand clutching at his chest, he let himself fall dramatically back against the counter. “oh, you wound me, harrington! pretending as if you do not even know what the sacred game is called - pain! “, he wailed dramatically, then got back upright, chuckled. “it’s dungeons and dragons, pretty boy. and well, why don’t you go and think real, real hard for a moment what a game called ‘dungeons and dragons’ could be about, hm?”

eddie watched in delight, a dazed glint over his eyes, as steve blushed at his compliments. which was very dangerous because now there was no stopping him, the compliments would fall freely from his lips. but when steve actually returned the compliment, in a way, and smirked - eddie gulped, audibly, smiled nervously. his heartbeat had increased rapidly. “oh, this frizzy mess? looks way tighter in chicago, trust me. hawkins is too fucking humid.”, he waved it off - eddie had never been particularly good at receiving compliments, though when steve gave them to him he did feel all sorts of buzzy inside. “and yeah, some sweet old tatties, hm? actually got a couple more. see?” and, feeling particularly bold, he pulled down the collar of his shirt to expose his inked skin.

and then steve asked him what he was doing after his shift, actually suggested that they do something together and his stomach flipped, in a good way, pulse speeding up. fuck yes, he didn’t have to be the one to ask. eddie blushed, nodded eagerly. “hell yeah, man.”, then, considering he might’ve come on to strong, he shrugged. “i mean, yeah, whatever, let’s do it.” god, he wished he could’ve been a touch less of an idiot when talking to steve. he leaned against the counter, tilted his head to the side. “thought i’d never see the day where steve ‘the hair’ harrington, king steve, asks me out.”, he said teasingly with a smirk. “it’s a date, then. how about....well, we could do the classic approach, dinner and a moive. or, if you’re that sort of girl, the drive-in straight away. bit....”, he wiggled his brows suggestively, “...racy for a first date but you do have a reputation ‘round town,”

god, I miss him so much. please come back :((

zccming·:

.

max squinted in eddie’s direction, communicating all she didn’t say. the main take away being, are you stupid? “i do do this for myself, like most nights out of the week.” her mom worked the night shift most days, it had been that way for years, max had learned how to fend for herself. sure, it wasn’t always a hot homecooked meal, but she did know how to feed herself, and she definitely knew how to use a knife without nearly losing a finger. “but you have a point.” max sighed, carefully avoiding the words you’re and right. “next time i’ll cook for us.”

at the end of the night, it didn’t matter whether or not eddie had made a five star meal or the inedible mush on their plates. the principal of sit down dinners was never about the food served, or each participants etiquette. they were about spending quality time with one another, and making an effort to connect. 

she hadn’t grown up with the most functional family and max never had a halting revelation that she wasn’t miss american pie and they weren’t the brady bunch. it was known in the same way she learned to walk or talk. she was born into chaos, from her parents divorce, to having billy hargrove and his insufferable dad as her new family members, then moving to hawkins. max seemed destined to walk a rocky path, but with eddie around, the idea of family stopped feeling so painful. it wasn’t how she always pictured it to be, but it felt nice when there were nights like these. 

unsolved mysteries prompted max to wonder if all of them were real, but that wasn’t of concern right now. she dismissed eddie’s thanks man with a, “shh! … you’re welcome.” as her eyes glued to the screen. it was going to be a long wait for their food if she couldn’t immerse herself into the show. at eddie’s assessment of incompetent law enforcement, max gave him a look, “if it seems that way then it definitely is that way.” she rolled her eyes, “we’d know living in hawkins… did you know they tried to give me a traffic violation for skateboarding on the side of the road?” groaning, max had to admit, “i’m so jealous that you don’t live here anymore. and you know, it’s only getting worse the older i get.”

+++

eddie rolled his eyes, over-dramatically but hummed in agreement, carerful not to let his pleased grin show because thats what he’d hoped max would suggest. not that he wouldn’t help her prepare the mayfield-munson-found-family-tv-dinners, he’d definitely help! just not...do them all by himself. because, as it turned out, he sucked at it. 

he settled further into the couch, idly sipping on his beer, dragging his upper lip mindlessly across the rim of the can as he let himself be engulfed by the storyline. eddie was a bit of a restless spirit, always fidgeting, never quite able to direct his attention on one sole thing for more than a few minutes. always looking for another distraction. it had been like that for as long as he could remember, though it had worsened significantly after their trip to the upside down.

as if on cue, he felt a phantom burn where his scars were located. a constant reminder that he’d been through hell and survived. “huh?”, he frowned, tore his eyes away from the screen to look at max. “for skateboarding? jeez, man. whats next, tickets for walking down the street? breathin?” eddie threw his hands up in theatrical mock outrage. “alas, we keep being oppressed by the man! sickening.”

he took a pointed gulp of his beer, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “you know, you can always get outta here, max.”, he said, mood a little sobered now. “offer still stands, kiddo. come back to chicago with me. i mean, yeah, my apartment’s like half the size of this trailer and a fucking shithole but we’ll make do. we can figure something out.”