Returning to the town of Hawkins after being locked away in Smith’s Grove for more than a decade has been a change. everyone is on edge-- and it’s not because Michael Mye.rs has returned to reclaim his old home, no. disappearances, supernatural-like occurrences happening. it’s enough to pique the curiosity of The Shape. his home still remains abandoned and generally untouched, so a brief side stop to the location of the nearest disappearance doesn’t cause any hesitation. if there’s another threat in town, he wants to know what it is. there can only be Him. he’ll make sure of it.

He walks, silent and slow through one of the rural areas of Hawkins. he doesn’t stop until a sickly sweet smell hits his nose-- one that makes his stomach growl. he follows it, stepping on branches and leaves until the sight of a small pit fire comes into view. he sees no one around so he steps into the clear, knife still gripped in his palm, breathing muffled under his white mask. there’s marshmallows roasting over the fire and he takes a moment to simply watch the flames crackling. once the hunger beckons at him again, he moves forward, reaching out for one of the skewers. it gets dropped out of his grip when something collides with his back, though. the wooden bat snaps in half against The Shape, chips sticking into his clothing and the top half of the weapon rolling into Michael’s heel. his breath got knocked out of him for a second from the blow, but nothing to disable him or even cause significant pain. 

           HE’S JUST A LITTLE SCARED .           ‘ you a car guy ? or just know beauty when you see it ? ’

𝐈𝐍𝐁𝐎𝐗  𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐒!   ——   𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠!  

     𝑯𝑬 𝑯𝑨𝑫𝑵'𝑻 𝑺𝑳𝑬𝑷𝑻 in what felt like days, the exhaust running deep to his core. Two days had gone by, and yet it felt like a lifetime and a blur all the same. Processing it all came like that of snapshot memories- frames playing in his mind when he’d closed his eyes. The sound of Dustin’s screams, the sight of blood, the lifelessness in Eddie’s body as he pulled him into his arms, and the way the world sounded muffled and faint as his body pushed him to the portal. Sheer adrenaline was the one thing that kept him going, minutes painfully ticking by as he forced everyone back through to the real world, and had to struggle and fight to get Eddie back through to safety. Yet there was something so chilling, holding the lifeless body of someone he loved, the way Eddie’s blood seemed to paint his hands, his clothes, his lips once in the back of the van. He could remember his pulse fading, in and out, mouth to mouth leaving a taste of copper as he’d force air back into his lungs and keep him stable. Their last moments together seemed to play on loop in his mind, Eddie’s voice, his eyes, the promise they made to make Vecna pay- and get out safe all the same. 

      And he failed him, that much he knew. Even when he was taken back to his place, the frantic scramble to tend to his wounds and get him stable- he knew Eddie was barely breathing because of him. If he would have gotten to Vecna faster, maybe then he wouldn’t be in such a terrible state. The guilt ate away at him, kept him close to his bedside, waiting day and night to see if there would be some sort of life from the other. Yet he sat still, even when he’d check his wounds, when Dustin and Robin would come and go, he was simply unmoving- leaving him with the fear he might never wake back up.

     It had been a quiet morning, his limbs heavy as he woke early, tending to his own wounds before he would check on Eddie’s all the same. Matching scars they’d share, a story to tell years down the line, and hopefully something they could look back on and smile. It was that thought that kept him going, even as he sat by his bedside, removing the sheets from his waist to take a look at the bandaged wounds. Hands were gentle to touch, and truth be told he never expected a response. All it took was a simple sound to cause his eyes to widen, the sounds of his lover stirring leaving his heart pounding in his chest.

first impressions vs. current impressions ?

@crrodedcoffin // hurt/comfort.

Eddie's admission shouldn't come as such a surprise; he's been on the run for so long, deemed a freak and hunted by a dangerous ignorance. She can't imagine what it feels like, and the empathy swells in her chest while she takes in the state of him.

( Dirty, same clothes as the few days before, tired. )

Nancy still hadn't expected him to come to her, and so surprise colors her tone all the same.

sloane  kelly  and  eddie  munson  go  for  a  walk  in  the  woods,  featuring  @crrodedcoffin:          for  the  record,  your  analogies  are  very  hurtful.

silence  is  something  so  deafening  these  days      —      every  creak  of  a  floorboard,  every  snap  of  a  twig,  every  tick  of  a  clock,  all  of  it  rings  loud  in  her  ears,  sets  her  hairs  on  end,  has  her  anticipating  a  threat  that  is  never  there.  yet  she  can  feel  its  presence  looming  over  her,  weighing  down  on  her,  crushing,  suffocating.  and  yet,  this  silence  is  different;    eddie  munson’s  hand  fits  comfortably  in  her  own,  something  unexpected  on  the  surface  yet  welcome  nonetheless.  there’s  a  certain  warmness  there.  she  doesn’t  notice  every  shuffle  of  leaves  as  a  squirrel  runs  through,  doesn’t  think  so  much  about  the  fact  that  she’s  still  a  little  sluggish  from  another  sleepless  night  as  their  arms  sway  back  and  forth  with  the  rhythm  of  each  step.