After Henry’s attack, you somehow survived, but you had lost almost all ability to speak. It didn’t matter if you were only one of two left, Papa hated you. You were always the weakest and he despised you for it. He only kept you around after the massacre as incentive for Eleven; his pride and joy. When she didn’t, or couldn’t do as he said he would hurt you. Papa decided that if you couldn’t use your powers then he would make you stronger in other ways and appointed you a tutor to strengthen your mind. When an opportunity to escape came you took it. You grabbed Eleven and the two of you ran as far as you could. You thought you were safe, but when Papa’s men came you and Eleven you were forced to run again. You lost her in the woods, but you stumbled upon someone else. A boy who appeared to be your age. He said his name was Steve.
Another Henderson
You had gone missing a month ago. An entire week where your mother and your brother and the entire town searched endlessly for you. But you didn’t remember any of it. One moment you were riding your bike home from a party and the next you were lying in a hospital bed. You thought that you had crashed, that you had gotten into an accident, but when the Chief of Police explained that an entire week had passed you didn’t know what to think. Apparently, someone had found you in the woods and had called the police. But you didn’t remember a single moment of it. There was nothing, not even the flicker of a memory. Not even a dream. You moved on with your life, blocking out the weird stares and snide comments. The only thing you cared about was your little brother. He was your entire world and you would do anything to protect him, you had done everything to protect him. But Dustin didn’t know that. Dustin didn’t know anything. Not about your disappearance and not about your late father (curse his soul). And you were not about to let him know any of it. You were not gonna taint the perfect family image he had in his head. You were going to move forward, a happy smile on your face. Even if it was fake. But there was something preventing you from pretending. Something that kept cracking your perfectly crafted mask. Something that had made you forget, and something that you wanted to forget.
Damn Mayfield
You hated having to move halfway across the country. A fresh start? Yeah, right. It was just another way for Neil to have control. He wanted you to act like the picture perfect family; happy and content. Neil was an asshole, Billy was a jerk. Your mom put up with it for God knows what reason and poor Max just wanted some peace. Not a day had gone by since your mom had married Neil that you felt like you could breathe. And as much as you hated leaving California, maybe Hawkins wasn’t as bad as you thought. It had its downsides and secrets, but maybe not all of the people were so bad. Maybe this Harrington guy that Billy was so intent on hating actually had a heart.
Fourth Wheeler
You had just recovered from a year long battle with cancer. A brain tumor that you had luckily found just in time. But it had been a long and hard recovery. Now you were back to normal, back to school, and you somehow found yourself dating Steve Harrington of all people. You weren’t even quite sure how the relationship started. One day he sat next to you in class and then a week later he was kissing you in his car. He was already a lot sweeter than you had imagined, and you were finally starting to feel normal again. But when Will goes missing it seems like your newfound normalcy was about to be turned on its head.
Hopper Junior
You barely saw your dad after Sara died. Your parents had gotten divorced and he went back to his home town while you stayed in the city with your mom. You got birthday cards and saw him on the occasional holiday, but you hadn’t really seen him since you were twelve. And now you were forced to live with him. Your mom, never having recovered from losing your sister, had killed herself due to grief, and you were forced to uproot your life to go live in some small, quiet town where nothing ever happens. Or, at least, nothing was supposed to happen. Hawkins was supposed to be boring; normal. But it seemed like this small town held more secrets than it was letting on.
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It had taken a while after Starcourt for you to finally return to yourself again, both Steve and El there every step of the way until El left for California. You hated seeing her go, your loneliness growing with each mile down the road she went, but you knew it was for the best, that she would be safe outside of Hawkins. Steve didn’t go with her because he had never been in danger in this town, and you suspected that he didn’t want to leave you either.
Steve had moved into the cabin with you barely a week after everything that happened, the entire party pitching in to help rebuild the place. Part of it was because that’s just what you did for each other—all of you pitching in both times to help clean up the Byers house—but another part of it was because they all felt guilty for being the ones who caused it to be destroyed in the first place.
The cabin had gotten passed down to you after your dad’s death, his funeral just as hard to attend as Sara’s had been. Except this time you didn’t have him to lean on, to hold your hand through it and hug you close afterwards as you cried into his chest. But Steve was there, El was there, Joyce and the entire party were there. You hadn’t even cried at all, part of you still not quite believing it to be true as there had been no body to watch go below the dirt. You hadn’t cried at all until El had left, and then the tears flowed for a week, Steve barely letting you go through all of it.
You were better now, though, just focusing on the fact that you and your dad had been in a good place before his passing, even if it had been extremely short lived. You moved forward, one step at a time. Being able to strap your gun to your leg every day was a major help, made you feel more in control of the monotony. Owens had managed to locate it when his men did a sweep of the base, immediately returning it to you that night. He even let you keep the RPK-74 and a Makarov as well.
Owens had also made sure that Billy was well taken care of, making sure he got all of the medical care that he needed and even managing to get the government to help pay for some of the massive bills. Billy had been stuck in the hospital for a month before going home, and then he was stuck with another month of physical therapy for all the damage his body had taken. The government funds had helped somewhat, but it wasn’t enough, and him and Max eventually had to move into the trailer park.
You had been so relieved that Billy had survived as well. You didn’t know what you would’ve done if another person had been lost that night. You even helped him out a bit with his physical therapy, the two of you slowly growing a friendship between you. He was all healed now, had found work in an auto body shop.
You had saved up enough of your money to buy a beat up car for yourself—although, it still wasn’t drivable yet. You already knew how to drive, had driven just about every type of land and sea vehicle in the city, but back then it was just never necessary to have your own. And when you got to Hawkins you had your bike and your dad, and then you had Steve. But you decided it was time to get your own car, and Billy had been stopping by the cabin whenever he could to help you fix it up.
You did it piece by piece, saving up enough money each time before diving into a new project. You wished you could’ve been doing this with your dad, to do some sort of real father-son bonding, but he was gone now, just like Sara was gone, and there was no bringing him back.
Owens even kept you informed on Alexei’s wellbeing, that having to be a close kept secret between you. You didn’t know why you cared so much, but it made you feel better to know that he was doing all right. He was all healed up now, had been interviewed and his statement taken. And the last Owens had informed you, Alexei was off in Europe somewhere, safe and free.
El was safe now, too, and, technically, free. On account that her and Mike had remained broken up after Starcourt. They had realized they were better off as friends, and neither of them had been that particularly broken up about it. El only shedding a handful of tears because, let’s face it, your first break up was usually the worst. Nancy and Jonathan had broken up as well, just two months after the Byers had moved. They had realized that they just wanted two different things out of life, and long distance was too hard anyway.
But unlike all of them, your feelings just kept growing. You and Steve were living together now, all alone in that cabin. You loved him, and not just as a friend. You were in love with him. Almost every night you just wanted to jump out of your bed, storm over to Steve’s room, and confess all of your feelings to him. But, Jesus, you just couldn’t work up the nerve. You wanted him to just take the initiative and confess first, but he hadn’t done that either. It’s not like you could’ve done anything right after Starcourt, too wrapped up in your grief for a relationship. But you were fine now, the thoughts swimming through your head every goddamn day. Why couldn’t Steve just see that and do something about it?
~~~~~
“Jesus, I haven’t seen you eat that fast in years.” Wayne chuckled, watching from the seat beside you as you devoured your omelette.
You and Steve had breakfast at the diner every Friday morning, just becoming routine now. And Wayne was right, you hadn’t eaten this fast since your first day at the diner. But you were just so wrapped up in your own thoughts. After finding the strength to move forward after your dad’s death, your thoughts were consumed with Steve. Of the way his lips would feel against yours. Billy had been one hundred percent right, you did have feelings for him. You hadn’t been this consumed with love since you were dating Debbie.
“Guess I spaced out.” You let out a small, nervous laugh, part of you praying Steve could see the reason, and another part of you still scared of him seeing the truth. No sniffle sounded.
“Hey.” Steve announced, a curious tone to his words. “Whatever happened to that new guy you were complaining about? The one with the fake resume?”
Wayne laughed, loud and jovial, eyes lighting up with mischief. “The little shit got fired.”
Callahan and Powell joined in on the laughter from the other side, sharing what seemed to be a knowing look with Wayne. Powell had been made chief of police shortly after your dad’s funeral, his uniform now the khaki tan instead of the blue Callahan still wore.
“Why?” You asked, now back to taking normal bites, all too curious to know what that shared look was about.
“We arrested him for drunk driving.” Powell chuckled. “He decided to steal a company truck and go for a little joy ride.”
“Yeah.” Callahan chimed in, but not with a laugh, with annoyance. “And then when we started reading him his rights he starts claiming that he was blackmailed to do it. Said some evil Russian dude paid him to steal the truck.”
You and Steve shared a quick glance, both out of confusion and hilarity. Maybe the guy really did run into an evil Russian dude. Or maybe he had made it all up. But if it was real, then why would he be paid to steal a company truck? And do it while drunk of all things? Honestly, it was probably just some drunken lie, but, oh well, you’d probably never find out the truth.
“Maybe it was Russians.” You mused, just for the purpose of getting under Callahan’s skin.
“You’re not funny, Lil’ Hop.” Callahan pointed a stern finger your way. “If there were Russians in this town, we’d know about it.”
“Yeah, okay.” You sassed. “You can’t even aim your piss, and you think you’d know if there were evil Russians beneath your feet?”
“I am an officer of the law!” Callahan shouted. “I know everything that goes on in this town!”
“You keep yelling, then I’ll be forced to kick you out.” Claire chimed in, always one to join in on pressing Callahan’s buttons.
“You’re always taking his side.” Callahan grumbled, stabbing aggressively at his eggs.
Everyone else just laughed, Steve’s leg kicking out and knocking against yours, and you did nothing to stop yourself from doing the same. God, you needed to say something to him, because, at this point, if he hadn’t seen and made a move, then you were terrified he never would. Then again, if he did know, then maybe he wasn’t saying anything because he didn’t like you like that. Shit, maybe your feelings were one sided. No, they couldn’t be, Billy said he saw the way Steve looked at you. Steve had to like you. Right?
~~~~~
Robin was sitting in the back seat, trying her best to do her makeup as Steve drove her to school before the two of you went to work. Robin still didn’t have a license, and she liked to use Steve as her own personal chauffeur. But Steve didn’t mind, he liked driving her around, even if he always complained about it.
“The stupid fridge is starting to take a crap again, on and off all night long. We already fixed it twice this month, and the stupid thing just won’t stay together. And it’s not even the food I care about, cause, I mean, we can eat canned shit for all I care. But the insulin needs to be refrigerated. And we can’t keep storing it in a cooler forever. I mean, we need a new fridge, obviously, but, Jesus Christ, why are they so expensive? Who has the money for that? I mean, I don’t know. Does that make sense to you?” Steve finished his rambling as Robin kept going about her business, not paying him any mind as she put on her eyeliner. “Robin, are you listening?”
“Uh, yes. I’m listening.” Robin said, clearly not listening.
“What did I say?”
“You said something about the stove being broken.” Robin stumbled over her words.
“No!” Steve yelled, frustrated. “I’m talking about the fridge!”
“Cut me some slack, please.”
“Well—“
“Your life is one of labyrinthine complexity.” Robin rambled. “And it is seven in the morning, we have to go to this stupid pep rally, and I woke up looking like a total corpse.”
“You’re worried about a basketball pep rally?” Steve said disbelievingly. “You expect me to believe that?”
“Yeah? So?”
“So we all know what this is about. Okay?” Steve said. “I’m not buying that bullshit. This is about Nancy.”
“Absolutely not.” Robin said dismissively.
“Yes, it is.” Steve argued. “I don’t need to read your mind to know that. And you know what else I think?”
“Uh, I really don’t care.”
“I think you gotta stop pretending to be someone else when you’re around her, okay? You just gotta be yourself.”
“You’re literally quoting me to me.” Robin said. “You do realize that.”
“Well, maybe you should listen to yourself. You ever think about that, smarty pants? I mean, I’m taking your advice, even though it might not look like it, and look at me. Boom.” He gestured wildly in your direction, and you felt your breath catch in your throat. “Back in business.” Did that mean you? He had always been himself in front of you, probably even more so lately. Please mean you.
“It’s not the same thing. Okay?” Robin said.
“Well…”
“You can read people’s minds. You can know in an instant whether or not someone returns your feelings. And if you don’t and you go for it anyways, who cares? Maybe your ego gets a little bruised. Maybe you try and erase it or some shit, I don’t know. But I ask out the wrong girl, and bam, I’m a town pariah.”
“Yeah, I’d buy that, except Nance is definitely not the wrong girl.” Steve encouraged.
“We just don’t know that, do we?”
“She returned Fast Times paused at 53 minutes, 5 seconds.” Steve explained. “Do you know who pauses Fast Times at 53 minutes, 5 seconds? People who like boobies, Robin.”
“Ew! Gross.” Robin complained.
“Boobies.”
“Don’t say boobies.”
“It’s not a big deal, okay?” Steve announced. “I like boobies. You like boobies.” Steve gestured to you. “Hop likes boobies. Nancy likes boobies. Definitely.” Steve shrugged. “It’s boobies.”
Robin sighed as Steve pulled up to the school, throwing open the door and running out of the car before Steve could even hit the brakes, clearly just trying to escape Steve’s boob talk as she took off towards a group of her friends and started chatting away with them.
You turned to Steve with a smirk. “It’s boobies.”
“Exactly.” Steve exclaimed. “You get it.”
~~~~~
You were sitting on the counter just watching Steve. He had been stacking, unstacking, and re-stacking the tapes on the counter for the last twenty minutes, his boredom as clear as day by the way he kept sighing loudly every few minutes. He was trying to get your attention, to get you to do something that would distract him from the empty store and lack of work.
“What time is it?” You announced, speaking for the first time since Steve placed his head in his hand as an idea formed in your own, and Steve perked up immediately.
“12:05.” Steve said, dropping his mindless task and turning to you with a hopeful look on his face.
“Well.” You snatched up the phone and began dialing the number. “Debbie doesn’t have class on Fridays, and she always eats at home.”
Steve crossed over to you, leaning his head nearly up against yours so he could hear better. You called Debbie at least once a week now, sometimes with Steve there and sometimes alone so you could rant to her about your feelings. She had come to visit a few months ago and, suffice to say, her and Steve adored each other.
Hello.
“Hey, Deb.” You greeted.
“Hi.” Steve added.
What is this? Debbie asked. I was eating lunch.
“Steve was bored.” You shrugged to yourself.
“Hey.” Steve shot back, giving you a look. “You’re the one who called her.” He turned his attention back down, focusing on the phone. “So, how’s school going?”
It’s good. Debbie answered happily. I’m looking into this job at an old folk’s home. I’d be doing the shit work, literally. Change bed pans and whatever. Part time, eight bucks an hour, which is kinda low, but it’ll look good on my resume.
“At least you don’t have my resume.” You joked, earning a laugh from Debbie and a small push from Steve, although he was smiling as well.
Maybe if I use red ink then we’ll match.
You laughed, Steve as well, no longer able to hold back.
“So, what’re your brothers doing?” You asked, curious what the hell they had been getting up to all these years. As Debbie said, they were assholes, but never to her, or you once they gave you their idiotic version of a shovel talk.
Still stealing shit. You could practically hear the roll of Debbie’s eyes. But I think they’re finally learning to grow the fuck up. Looking to get into construction work.
“Well, that suits them.” You laughed. “As long as they’re the ones destroying and not building.”
Debbie started laughing, but it was cut off by the sound of the phone. There was another call coming in. Who the hell was calling?
“Sorry, Deb.” You apologized. “We got a call coming through.”
It’s fine. Get back to work.
“Yeah, yeah. Okay.” You sassed, hanging up on her and picking up the new call. “Family Video.”
Lucas can’t come to Hellfire tonight. Dustin’s urgent voice blasted through. Do you or Steve wanna come?
“No, thanks, man.” Steve said. “I’ve got other plans.”
Just move your plans this one time. Dustin complained. Come on.
“What, to hang out with you and Eddie ‘the freak’ Munson? Uh, yeah, I’ll pass.”
You’re just jealous cause I have another older male friend.
“Ew. Ugh. Whatever.” Steve scrunched his face in disgust, but you knew him well enough to hear the deflection. He was totally jealous. “Besides, I mean, I’m trying to get a date with someone who’s gonna be there.” Steve didn’t sound like he was joking, and he didn’t say it was a girl. Could he mean you? “I mean, I think that they could… who knows, they could be the one.” Steve’s eyes flickered to you for just a fraction of a second that you almost missed it. But it happened. He looked at you. He looked at you when he said that.
Jesus Christ, you can be really annoying sometimes, you know that?
“Thanks.” Steve said sarcastically. “You’re not that great yourself, you know.” A lie. A total and utter lie. But it did its job and annoyed Dustin.
Ugh! Dustin shouted loudly over the line.
Ding!
The front door opened and a group of girls walked in. You were about to hop off the counter and go help them when Steve pushed away first.
“Oh, I got some customers.” Steve said hastily. “Talk to Hop. Bye.” Steve shoved the phone against your head, forcing you to take over the conversation as he went to greet the girls.
“Dustin?” You said into the receiver.
You would love D&D. Dustin tried to convince you. You get to kill things and shit, and we all know how much you love doing that.
“Sorry.” You apologized, only half sorry for having to leave him hanging. “I promised Lucas I’d go to his game tonight.”
When did you promise that?
“About a week ago.” You shrugged to yourself. “When Lucas gave us the tickets. Though, I was planning to go anyway.”
This is so not fair. Dustin complained. Robin’s in stupid band, Nancy’s doing the stupid paper. I don’t have anyone else to ask.
“Just make Eddie move the game.” You said obviously, cause how hard could that really be? You had convinced scarier people to do a lot harder things before.
Oh, yeah, cause that’s just so easy. Dustin sassed. Have you ever actually met the guy?
“No.” You lied, you and Eddie’s brief talking spells still a secret. Hush money was hush money for a reason. “But if you want, I can give you some pointers in persuasion.”
Can you just do it for me? Dustin whined. Everyone listens to you. Even Eddie would. You can be really terrifying.
“Not gonna happen.” You said sternly. “You’re gonna deal with this on your own. Like a big boy.”
Screw you, Hop. Dustin bit at you.
“Yeah, yeah.” You waved him off. “Screw you, too.”
The line went dead after that, Dustin hanging up on you, probably pissed off you weren’t doing anything to help. You would help, but you paid Eddie off for a reason, and you swore to never talk to him again. That little stint outside the gym with the cigarette was a lapse in judgment. Besides literally running into him at the mall when chasing after that fake evil Russian, you hadn’t spoken a single word to him.
Ding!
You put the phone back down as the girls left the store, Steve making his way back over to you. He didn’t say anything, just planted himself beside you. And then his head fell onto your shoulder, a dramatic display of boredom. You didn’t push him away, because you never did. But you also didn’t reach out either, partly because you were in public, and partly because you felt a little lightheaded at the touch.
~~~~~
You and Steve made your way up the bleachers, the gym already packed with everyone cheering and shouting. You passed by Robin and the rest of the band playing for the team’s entrance, Nancy and someone else from the paper standing beside the band, Nancy taking intense notes.
Steve joined in on the clapping and cheering as soon as you got to your seats, you allowing yourself a moment of expression to join in on the celebrating when you caught sight of Lucas down on the court. Lucas spotted the two of you and sent you a wild wave and wide grin that Steve returned with his own, and you allowed yourself another moment to smile slightly. You were so damn proud of Lucas.
“Everyone now please rise for our national anthem.” The principal announced, and everyone stood up. “Singing for us tonight, we have a very special guest. All the way from Nashville, our very own Tammy Thompson!”
The crowd started cheering and whooping for her entrance as Steve clapped silently, you now standing still, not joining the celebrations since they weren’t directed at Lucas. That didn’t mean you weren’t shocked to see Tammy, though, and Steve did not keep his own hidden. The two of you shared a quick look before turning to Robin across the way, who looked at you in her own state of shock.
Tammy walked up to the mic, a focused look on her face as she took a steadying breath, and then she started—failed at—singing the national anthem. The feedback from the microphone whined in complaint as she tried to hit a high note. She did not hit it.
“Told you.” You heard Steve whisper over to Robin. “Muppet.”
“Okay, she does sound like a Muppet.” Robin whispered back.
Finally, after taking way longer than was necessary, Tammy finished singing and the game started. You could see Lucas sitting on the bench, a disheartened expression on his face. He had been confined to that seat for the entire season, but you knew that wasn’t what was causing that look on his face right now.
Lucas was upset because Max wasn’t here. His eyes kept drifting back towards the crowd every once in a while, scanning the faces in the hopes that Max’s would appear, but she remained absent, just as she had been for months. She had been pretty okay in the immediate aftermath of Starcourt, and then she started withdrawing. You figured it was probably due to everything that happened with Billy’s recovery, probably her constantly expecting to wake up and realize that he hadn’t actually survived. God knows you had done the opposite with your dad. That initial waking moment where you couldn’t remember the way El had broken down in Joyce’s arms; you preferred those moments.
After a while, the team was starting to lose, down by a good few points when you suddenly saw Lucas jump up from the bench and run off onto the court. You felt your heart swell with pride, the smile on your face impossible to hide. This was his first time off the bench all season.
“Let’s go, Sinclair!” Steve shouted, one arm raised excitedly in the air as the other grabbed your shoulder and shook you around.
“Beat their ass, Sinclair!” You shouted, hands cupped around your mouth to make yourself louder. Lucas only sent a quick glance in acknowledgement, too focused on the game.
When Lucas had first decided to try out for the basketball team he had asked Steve to help him train. Steve had been so excited to teach Lucas, the two of them going at it for months before the tryout date. And afterwards, he had biked straight to the cabin to shout the good news to Steve.
The ball was going back and forth now, both teams just barely managing to edge ahead before the other overtook the lead again. There was only a few points difference between them when Jason suddenly called for a time-out.
The team huddled up and talked strategy for a few moments, what appeared to be a small argument breaking out among them before it was finally settled and they broke away, and the game was back on.
The team began to struggle for the ball again before Jason finally got it. He took the shot, it hit the backboard, bounced off the rim, and then it didn’t go in.
As the ball fell back towards the court someone managed to grab it, now less than a minute left in the game as they broke away from the circle of struggling players. It was Lucas. Lucas had the ball. He quickly dribbled the ball over to an empty area of the court, the clock ticking down to the last final seconds, and Lucas took the shot.
The buzzer sounded, the game coming to an end, but the ball had already left Lucas’s hands, still in play. This was your last shot at a win. The ball hit the rim, it bounced back, it hit the backboard. And then it went in.
The crowd erupted in an explosion of cheers and applause and hooting and hollering alike. Steve turned and grabbed your shoulders, shaking you with excitement as he jumped up and down. You grabbed onto him for support, huge grin on your face. This was the first time in twenty-two years that Hawkins had won the championship, and it was Lucas who had secured that win.
The players and cheerleaders instantly surrounded Lucas, raising him high into the air on their shoulders, presenting him to the crowd as they cheered his name. He was in a state of complete and utter shock. Totally elated, sure, but nonetheless shocked that it was he who had won the game.
~~~~~
Steve had been buzzing with excitement all the way back to the cabin, completely unable to quell any of his pride, not shutting up for a second about how proud of Lucas he was. He was always so proud of the kids’s accomplishments.
When you finally pulled up to the cabin Steve had managed to calm down, now just smiling giddily to himself as you went inside. He snatched up the phone instantly, working quickly to type in the number as you leaned in close so you could hear.
Hello. Joyce’s voice greeted.
“Hey.” Steve responded happily. “Is everyone there?”
Yeah, we were just sitting down for dinner. Joyce said. Why?
“Put them all on.” You both waited a second until you heard shuffling coming through the speaker. “Lucas won the game!” Steve shouted, and the other end of the line erupted into screaming.
Holy shit! Will announced.
Dude, that’s amazing! Jonathan chuckled.
“He was literally the one to win.” You announced with a smile. “We were all tied up, a few seconds left, and he made the winning the shot.” More screaming followed your words.
Oh, I’m just so proud of him! Joyce gushed. I’m gonna have to call him.
“He’s probably out with the team.” Steve said. “I’m sure they’re off partying right now.”
Right, right. Joyce laughed. I’ll try him tomorrow. You two get to bed now.
“It’s only, like, 10:30.” Steve laughed.
Yep, bedtime. Joyce forged ahead, and it brought a smile to your face to feel the love of a real mother for once. I know you have work in the morning.
Can I talk to them? El’s soft voice barely managed to make it through the speaker.
Yeah, hold on. Joyce said. I’m giving the phone to El, she wants to talk to you.
Hi. El’s voice announced a few moments later.
“What’s up?” You asked. “Something wrong?”
No. El hastily lied.
“Yes, there is.” You argued. “Is it Angela again? She still giving you trouble?”
Yes. El admitted quietly, knowing it was no use to keep denying the matter. She… got nicer for a while. And now she’s mean again.
“Then kick her ass again.” You encouraged.
“No, no, no.” Steve chimed in hastily. “We are not doing that again.”
Only two months ago El had confided in you and Steve about Angela’s bullying, asking for some advice on how to make it stop. You told her to kick Angela’s ass, and she did, giving her a good punch square to the jaw, but it appeared now that that hadn’t deterred Angela forever.
“Just kick her ass.” You forged ahead, having dealt with enough so-called bullies back in the city. The only way to get them to truly shut up was to kick their ass, so you did. Debbie did the same when girls made fun of her or others. You had been so proud of Debbie when she knocked out a girl’s front tooth.
“She almost got suspended last time.” Steve hissed angrily.
“Then she does it off school property.” You shot back defensively.
“Then she’ll be arrested.”
“Only if she’s caught.”
“And if Angela presses charges?”
You shrugged. “If she hits Angela hard enough, she’ll be too scared to press charges.”
No, no, no. Joyce’s voice cut back in, either having been still listening at the phone or your voices were too loud. We are not hitting people again. El’s just gonna be the bigger person and walk away. We don’t need the unwanted attention. Do I make myself clear?
“Yes.” You and Steve responded in unison, him agreeing, you relenting.
Yes. You heard El respond alongside you.
All right, good. Joyce announced. Now, I’m serious, you two get to sleep. We’ll talk to you soon. Love you.
“Love you, too.” You and Steve answered.
Love you! El called back just before Joyce hung up.
“I don’t like you corrupting her.” Steve chastised as he placed the phone on the receiver, but you could see the playful glint to his eyes.
“I’m only teaching her how to stand up for herself.” You raised your hands in faux ignorance.
“You’re teaching her to beat people up.” Steve tried to sound stern, but the corners of his lips were quirking up despite his best effort. “She needs to keep her head down and just focus on being a kid.”
“And she can.” You agreed. “But not if she’s constantly bullied.”
Steve’s face fell. “You know, I used to be bullied.”
“You? Mister King Steve?” You half joked, knowing that even when he admitted some of his worst memories to you, he always appreciated you keeping the mood from becoming too bleak.
“Before that.” Steve corrected nervously. “Back at the lab. My siblings never liked me very much. Or El, for that matter.”
You felt your own face fall. Steve had rarely ever talked about his siblings before, and El had never said a word about them. But he never said anything about them bullying either of them.
“What’d they do?” You asked, heart already weighing heavy.
“You know.” Steve shrugged, his attempt at deflecting, and you allowed it to happen, not pushing the matter. It had come up out of nowhere, so he obviously wasn’t prepared to have some big conversation. “They made jokes. Stole my toys sometimes. That kinda thing.”
“I’m sorry.” You reached forward, pulling him into a hug that he instantly returned, his chin dropping to rest on your shoulder. “You didn’t deserve that. Neither of you did.”
“I know.” Steve muttered. “But it’s whatever. It’s in the past, you know.”
You didn’t respond, and you didn’t let go either, not until Steve pulled away first. You had never been outright bullied before, taunts or hits just thrown your way because of real bad blood between you and whatever enemy of the week. But you had seen plenty of people getting bullied before, and you could never help yourself from stepping in. That’s when people first started to learn your name, and why they should fear it.
Steve retreated off to his room after a little while, you reluctantly going to yours. You wanted to follow him, you wanted him to follow you. But you didn’t do that, that’s not what you were. The only times you ended up in the same bed were when Steve had a nightmare. You got your fair share, too, but you had never sought him out after it. You had never sought out any comfort after a nightmare before, just dealing with it alone, just as you had dealt with everything in your life.
i havent finished reading s3 finale but ALEXEI SURVIVED OMG
Alexei! I really wanted him to survive at least once and Hop was perfect for that! I think I might just continue saving him from here on out just because I can lol!
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oh god the s3 finale 🥹 was pleasantly surprised by the amount of canon diverges in this one! and was even more surprised by steve's showcase of his powers to save billy, himself and hop! he's finally showing more of what he can do...and the clinging to hop while said boy doesn't react but clearly appreciates it omgomgogmg and steve teasing him about it is sooo-he knows he got that boy in a way no one else could
the hop and jonathan friendship in this season is so good too, 's quiet (both of them being loners and all...peak outcasts sticking up for fellow outcasts) but i love how jonathan watches out for hop, both when he drove hop home and comforts him after hop's mind kind of breaks after the news that his dad is the ONLY one who doesn't survive the battle of starcourt 💔 it's also nice seeing hop bond with the others ofc and a huge part of that is definitely because of his precious relationship with steve! (and! more mysterious details about what happened in new york...)
absolutely love how all the plot is developing and hop and steve continue to melt my heart (both individually and together) and just super excited for season 4 in general! can't believe the final season is already here like time seriously does fly! take all your time too cause plot needs marinating anyways lmao and ofc thanks for providing all this amazing steve content ♥️
Thank you and you’re welcome! I really wanted Hop to have a couple scenes with Jonathan this season since El becomes a Byers in season four, so I wanted Hop and Jonathan to at least form a bond with each other (they’ll become brothers later). In season four I think just about every reference to Hop’s past is about July of 83 as this will be important later on. I also added a lot of extra dialogue in season four to create more Hop and party moments, mostly bickering. You are all gonna love season four, trust me! Canon divergence is pretty heavy aside from the whole Vecna thing!
El was screaming and crying on the floor, gripping tightly to you and Steve, trying to escape the pain as the thing in her leg twisted just beneath the surface. You placed a hand on her head, just trying to do anything you could to provide her with more comfort. But all you could think about was Sara, weak and exhausted in that hospital bed. You couldn’t lose another sister.
“What is that?” Erica asked from her spot on the floor beside you.
“There’s something in there.” Mike said.
“Jesus Christ.” Dustin breathed.
The thing moved again and a loud, pained scream tore its way through El’s throat. You could feel tears welling in your eyes. Why couldn’t the pain just leave you all alone?
“Keep her talking.” Jonathan said hastily as he stood up. “Keep her awake, okay?”
“Hey, hey, hey. Stay awake. Stay awake.” Steve muttered, his own tears already having escaped his eyes and now trailing down his cheeks.
You took a deep breath, steeling every nerve as you forced yourself to focus. “Turn her on this side.”
You and Steve started turning El over when she sobbed from the pain again, your heart continuing to break, but your face hardened. You held onto El tighter, trying to distract her from the pain. You could only help her if you stayed together.
“You know, it’s actually not that bad.” Robin said, clearly freaking out. “There was a… the goalie on my soccer team, Beth Wildfire, this other girl slid into her leg, and, like, the bone came out of her knee, like six inches or something, it was insane.”
“Robin.” Steve called out through his tears.
“Yeah?”
“You’re not helping.”
“I’m sorry.”
Jonathan came running back, supplies in his hands as he dropped down beside El’s injured leg. “All right, El?” He said. “This is gonna hurt like hell, okay?”
“Okay.” El sobbed.
Jonathan slipped on a pair of plastic gloves. “So, I need you to stay real still.” He picked up a wooden spoon and handed it to you. “Here, you’re gonna wanna bite down on this.”
You slipped the wooden spoon into El’s mouth and she bit down hard on it, preparing herself for the excruciating pain, and you whispered a few soothing words to her. El’s strangled screams got caught behind the spoon, hands clamping down around yours and Steve’s like a vice as Jonathan sliced the knife through her leg, the sound slicing straight through your heart.
“Jonathan!” Nancy shouted as Jonathan kept digging around in El’s leg.
“Stop talking!” Jonathan yelled back, not stopping his movements. “Goddamnit!”
“No!” El screeched, dropping the spoon from her mouth. “Stop it! Stop! Stop!” Jonathan removed his fingers from her leg and El slowly sat herself up, weakly pulling her arms from your grasp. “I can do it.” El whimpered.
El reached out with one hand, a strained yet determined look on her face. And then you could hear it, a low, distressed chittering coming from her leg, and she screamed loudly. Fresh blood fell from her nose, mixing with the old as she continued screaming angrily, using every last bit of strength left within her to lift the thing up and out of her leg.
Smash!
The glass wall beside you shattered, a thousand razor sharp shards exploding through the air and raining down around you. You quickly turned your head away and threw your body over El’s, turning yourself into a shield as you blocked any of the pieces from touching her and causing more pain.
When you removed yourself from her you saw that she had a little fleshy creature held up in the air. She screamed, using whatever remaining strength she still had to throw the creature across the room. It tried to crawl away when a foot stamped down and squashed the creature where it lied. When you looked up you came face to face with your dad, Joyce, Murray, and a man with glasses and an unhealthy amount of dried blood staining his shirt.
Your dad and Joyce quickly ran over to you, your dad immediately dropping to the floor as he pulled you, El, and Steve into a hug so tight that it felt like he might never let go. Joyce ran for Jonathan and Will, hugging them and checking them over for any injuries.
Your dad eventually pulled away, checking over each of you in turn, assessing your injuries, only satisfied once he was sure that none of you were about to die. He led you all over to the water fountain, sitting you all down on the ledge as Joyce came rushing over with a first aid kit. Your dad carefully wrapped up El’s leg, and you waited until he was finished to present your own.
“I think I need stitches.” You stated as you placed your wounded leg onto the ledge where you were all sitting, carefully removing the bandana.
“What happened?” Joyce asked worriedly as your dad quietly assessed the damage.
“I got shot.” You said plainly.
“Jesus, are we all getting shot at today?” Your dad huffed, a joke, and you found a small chuckle escaping you. “Joyce, go help Alexei.”
Joyce grabbed the supplies she needed from the kit and went over to the man with the blood stained shirt, Alexei. He remained silent, looking rather pale and with a sheen of sweat on his skin. When Joyce lifted his shirt you could tell right away that a bullet had caused that wound. It was bad, probably should’ve been fatal. A wound like that only occurs at close range. He must’ve been one lucky bastard to have survived.
“I think you know this is gonna hurt.” Your dad said as he threaded the needle.
You didn’t even need to prepare yourself as he dug the needle into your skin, poking through one side and out the other, pulling taut at the tissue as he tied it off. You only clenched your jaw at the pain, having been stitched up so many times it was now just routine. Your dad did three more stitches before he was done, four in total. Just to be safe. He wrapped your leg up after that, your bandage now mirroring El’s.
Across the way, Alexei was not as silent through his stitches as you were, pained groans and soft cries escaping him as Joyce worked steadily to close up his open stomach. He let out a few curses in Russian, and you wondered how the hell your dad and Joyce had even come across him in the first place. This whole situation must’ve been a lot bigger than you realized.
After your dad and Joyce got all of you stitched and patched up, now satisfied that none of you were going to die—right now, at least—Mike started explaining the situation to everyone, the mind flayer that was now some flesh monster, the people it flayed to create it. Billy, who was being controlled to kill all those people to create the monster. You felt your heart weighing heavy in your chest. You knew something had been wrong when he called you, and yet you did nothing to actually help. You should’ve gone to his house, demanded to see him. You should’ve been up on the surface with the others trying to save him.
“The Mind Flayer, it built this monster in Hawkins.” Mike explained. “To stop El, to kill her and pave a way into our world.”
“And it almost did.” Max added. “That was just one tiny piece of it.”
“How big is this thing?” Your dad asked.
“It’s big.” Jonathan said. “Thirty feet, at least.”
“Yeah.” Lucas said apprehensively. “It sorta destroyed your cabin. Sorry.” Whatever, you thought, as long as everyone was still alive.
“Okay, so, just to be clear.” Steve said. “This big fleshy spider thing that hurt El, it’s some kind of gigantic… weapon?”
“Yes.” Nancy confirmed.
“But instead of, like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon… with melted people.”
“Yes, exactly.” Nancy confirmed again.
“Yeah, okay.” Steve stammered. “Yeah, I’m just making sure.”
“Are we sure this thing is still out there, still alive?” Joyce asked.
“El beat the shit out of shit.” Max said. “But, yeah, it’s alive.”
“But if we close the gate again—“ Will started when Max cut him off.
“We cut the brain off from the body.”
“And kill it.” Lucas added. “Theoretically.”
“If it went after El.” You chimed in. “Do you think it’s after Steve, as well?”
“Probably.” Will said. “If this is because of her powers, then as soon as it knows about Steve, it’ll probably be gunning for him.”
“Yoo-hoo!” Murray shouted from across the room, and all heads turned to him running over and flailing a bunch of papers in the air. “Yoo-hoo!”
Everyone started to make their way over to Murray who was standing by one of the tables in the food court, but the moment you stood up your entire head began to swim, heart picking up its pace, vision blurring. Like you had just run ten miles or something. You quickly shoved it to the side, probably just lingering effects of the drugs, and huddled up with the rest of the group as Murray spread the papers out across the table.
“Okay.” Murray said as he pointed at one of the papers. “This is what Alexei calls the hub. Now, the hub takes us to the vault room.”
“Okay, where’s the hub?” Your dad asked.
“Right here.” Murray pointed at a spot on the map. “Alexei.” He turned to the man sitting in one of the chairs, looking almost like a ghost, eyes heavy and lost. He was not doing so hot.
Murray then spoke in Russian to Alexei, possibly asking him a question. But when Alexei tried to answer it just came out as a mumbled whisper. Jesus, he’s really gonna need some real medical attention soon. Would the hospital even treat some evil Russian scientist?
“Okay…” Murray drawled out once he realized gaining information from Alexei was futile. “Well, he’s not really able to talk right now, but I think the hub is fairly close to the vault room, maybe fifty feet or so.”
“More like 500.” Erica said as she stepped up to the table. “What, you’re just gonna waltz in there like it’s commie Disneyland or something? Your little Russian friend can’t even talk.”
“I’m sorry, who are you?” Murray asked incredulously.
“Erica Sinclair.” Erica sassed. “Who are you?”
“Murray… Bauman.”
“Listen, Mr. Buttman.” Erica said. “I’m not trying to tell you how to do things, but I’ve been down in that shithole for twenty-four hours. And with all due respect, you do what this man tells you, you’re all gonna die.”
“I’m sorry.” Murray said. “Why is this four-year-old speaking to me?”
“Um, I’m ten, you bald bastard!”
“Erica!” Lucas shouted, shocked by her outburst.
“Just the facts!” Erica shot back.
“She’s right.” Dustin said. “You’re all gonna die, but you don’t have to. Excuse me.” Dustin walked up to the map. “Sorry, may I?”
“Please.” Murray said sarcastically.
Dustin sat down and pulled the map over to himself. “Okay, see this room here? This is a storage facility. There’s a hatch in here that feeds into their underground ventilation system. That will lead you to the base of the weapon. It’s a bit of a maze down there, but between me and Erica, we can show you the way.”
“You can show us the way?” Your dad repeated slowly.
“Don’t worry.” Dustin waved him off. “You can do all the fighting and the dangerous hero shit, and we’ll just be your… navigators.”
“No.” Your dad said, shaking his head, and Dustin’s face fell. “Nope.”
Your dad began to walk off, and you went to follow him, to get him to at least let you go down there with him, but the moment you took a step forward it was like the room tilted. You couldn’t see anything now, a chill running through your body, heartbeat rapid and thready. Oh shit, this wasn’t the drugs. This was a fucking seizure.
“Dad?” You called out, voice shaky, and you could feel your legs start to give out.
“Kid?” Your dad called out worriedly, and then his hands were on you, gently lowering you to the floor. “Steve!”
“On it!” Steve shouted back, and then what must’ve been his rushed footsteps running in the opposite direction.
“You’re okay, kid.” Your dad soothed. “You’re gonna be okay. Just breathe.”
You tried to breathe, you really did, but you were so afraid of what might happen if you started seizing right now. You didn’t have any time to be dealing with you. You needed to get back into the base and close the gate for good. You needed to end this fight once and for all.
Footsteps began approaching again, hurried and loud, and you knew them as Steve’s. “Got it!” He shouted, his body dropping beside you. “All right, Hop, just eat this, okay? You’ll be okay.”
You then felt a plastic spoon enter your mouth, something sticky and sweet on your tongue. It was caramel. Totally not the best idea to help raise your blood sugar, but, oh well, you were in a closed mall right now, what the hell else were you supposed to do? You ate the caramel slowly, letting it dissolve on your tongue. It took a couple minutes to finally work and then your vision started coming back, your entire body feeling a lot better, heart rate slowing.
“How are you feeling?” Your dad asked gently, and now you could see the entire party staring at you.
“Better.” You breathed out.
“Good.” Steve smiled from beside you. “Now, eat this.” He held a peeled banana out to you.
You took the banana from him and ate slowly, still feeling a bit weak as your dad and Steve helped you to your feet and sat you down at the table. Your dad stayed with you for a few more moments before he took off, grabbing some gear from the dead Russians. Everyone else began to split off as well, just milling about as they awaited further orders, leaving you and Steve alone with Alexei and Robin.
“You’re not gonna, like, die, right?” Robin stammered nervously.
“No.” You took in a deep breath and took another bite of the banana.
“All right, good, cause I would, like, totally hate it if that happened.” Robin smiled weakly, out of worry, but it was genuine.
You turned to face Alexei, who was still sitting in his seat, skin still flushed. “Do you speak English?” You asked, and he looked up, but that was all he did. “Ты чувствуешь себя хорошо?” You slowly asked if he felt well, trying to remember all the words.
“Нет.” Alexei answered ‘no’ in return.
“I only thought you knew a few words.” Steve mused jokingly.
“On the tape.” You shrugged. “Guess hearing Russian for the last twenty-four hours reminded me.”
“All right.” Your dad announced as he walked back over, way too many weapons for just one person in his hands. “You three are gonna go with Dustin.”
“What?” You exclaimed, accent back in full force, nearly shocking everyone. “No, I need to be going with you. I’m the one who took out twenty-four of their goddamn soldiers.”
Your dad was stunned into silence for a moment. “You killed twenty-four of them?”
“Well, twenty-three soldiers.” You corrected. “And one evil doctor.” You held up your bandaged finger. “He took my nail.”
“No.” Your dad shook his head.
“What?”
“No.” He repeated. “You’re bruised, you’re shot, and you nearly had a fucking seizure.”
“As if I ain’t done that shit before!” You argued.
“You’re going with Dustin.” Your dad sternly. “Now, here, you can have this.” He handed you over a machine gun. “Just in case something happens.”
You took the weapon with a huff, slinging the machine gun onto your back as your dad tossed Steve a set of keys. Your dad was such an idiot for not letting you go along with him. He’d be in and out in minutes with you by his side. He could be so stupid sometimes.
You reluctantly got up and followed Steve and Robin after Dustin and Erica, taking the last bite of the banana before tossing it onto the table. Dustin and Erica were already hurriedly making their way towards the front entrance, barely even waiting for the rest of you to catch up. Steve threw open the double glass doors to reveal a yellow convertible sitting right out in front.
“Oh, man, now this… this is what I’m talking about!” Steve exclaimed.
“Toddfather?” Robin questioned as she read the custom license plate.
“Oh, screw Todd!” Steve laughed happily. “Steve’s her daddy now.” He hopped into the driver’s seat.
“Did you just talk about yourself in the third person?” Robin asked.
“Did he just call himself daddy?” Erica said, disgusted.
“He does it all the time.” You stated plainly, hopping into the passenger seat as Robin and the kids hopped into the back.
“All right, where are we going?” Steve asked.
“Weathertop.” Dustin said.
“Weather-what?”
“Just drive.”
“Okay. Jesus.” Steve turned on the engine, backed out of the mall, and floored it.
~~~~~
After a while of driving Steve had leaned forward and turned on the radio, unable to stand the long silence, the soft music now filling the open air. You were focused on the task at hand, at getting to that mountain and getting in contact with your dad. He needed Dustin and Erica’s directions to get through that base safely.
“Jesus, how far is this place, man?” Steve complained.
“Relax.” Dustin said. “We’re almost there.”
“Suzie must be pretty special, huh?” Robin said. “I mean, if you built this thing and lugged it all the way to the middle of nowhere just to talk to her?”
“I mean, nobody’s scientifically perfect.” Dustin said. “But Suzie’s about as close to being perfect as any human could possibly be.”
Steve was perfect. Scientifically so. At least, in your mind. Debbie, too. You could never forget about her. She was your first love, after all, and there would always be a special place in your heart for her. But you desperately wished Steve would be your last.
“She sound made-up to me.” Erica sassed. “She sound made-up to you?”
Steve silently glanced towards the back seat for a moment.
“Why are you hesitating, Steve?” Dustin asked.
“I’m—I’m—I’m not! I’m not!” Steve stammered. “I think she sounds real. You know, totally, absolutely real.”
“You can see into my mind!” Dustin shouted. “How can you not believe me?!”
“I don’t like going into minds!” Steve shouted back. “It’s an invasion of privacy!”
“I am giving you permission!”
“I’m not gonna do it!”
“Just look, Steve!”
“No!”
“Look!”
“No!”
“Look!”
Steve whipped around to Dustin. “I am not looking!”
Dustin clamped his mouth shut, fixing Steve with a murderous look as he turned back towards the dark road ahead.
“I believe you.” You stated.
“Thank you!” Dustin exclaimed. “Left. Turn left.”
“There’s no road here.” Steve argued.
“Turn left now!”
Steve swerved the car to the left and floored it up the hill. “Jesus! Hang on!” Steve shouted as you all went flying across your seats. “Whoa! Henderson, where are we going?!”
“Up!” Dustin yelled.
“We’re not gonna make it!” Robin shouted.
“Yes, we are.” Steve said determinedly. “Come on, baby. Come on, baby!”
The car started to slow down, the steep incline too much for it to handle, and the engine loudly whirred in complaint. And then it stopped, the car going still as the wheels got themselves stuck in the ground. Steve pushed hard against the pedal, but the car refused to move forward.
“Guess the Toddfather has its limitations.” You joked blankly, giving Steve a pat on the chest.
Steve turned and glared at you before ripping the keys from the ignition. You all hopped out of the car and started making the rest of the trek up the mountain on foot. You could feel your calf starting to ache from the constant pressure, practically shouting at you to stop putting it through so much constant agony. You just ignored it, putting one foot in front of the other. Your dad and El both needed you right now.
It took a little while to climb up the steep slope, your leg still spitting out curses, all of the bruises across your body now aching with their own frustrations. Finally, you could make out the top of an antenna and Dustin ran over to it, picking up the mic and flipping on the makeshift radio.
“Bald Eagle, do you copy?” Dustin said into the radio. “Bald Eagle, I repeat, this is Scoops Troop, do you copy?”
Yes, I copy. Murray’s voice came through the speaker, and they all laughed happily, you only letting a small smile grace your face, relieved that the radio had worked.
“Call sign?”
Bald Eagle.
“Please repeat.”
Bald Eagle. This is Bald Eagle!
“Copy that. Good to hear your voice, Bald Eagle. What’s your 20?”
We reached the vent. I’ll contact you when I need you. Until then, silence.
“Roger that, Bald Eagle. This is Scoops Troop, going radio silent. 10-10, over.”
The radio went silent as you waited for Murray to call back asking for directions. You let your eyes drift up to the dark sky above, the little white sparks dancing and glittering through the overwhelming darkness. There were so many stars out here, even more than in town without all the light to pollute its beauty. How you wished you had been able to be graced by such a sight back in the city, back when you truly needed it.
You wished you could’ve taken Sara here, she would’ve absolutely loved the sight. She deserved to have lived in Hawkins and not the overcrowded, over-polluted, and overly vile streets of the city. Well, maybe not Hawkins, but some other small town where neighbors knew your name, crime was more talk than action, and the streets didn’t smell like literal piss.
You felt warm arms wrap around you from the back, a head dropping down, chin resting upon your shoulder, and the sound of a sniffle right up against your ear. You didn’t react, you didn’t return the gesture or show a flicker of emotion on your face, but you didn’t push the body away either. Steve just always knew the right thing to do, huh? He knew when you needed words or touch, and he provided them the moment they were needed.
“You can’t be comfortable.” You pointed out blankly, and Steve just hummed. “Your entire front is pressing against the machine gun.”
“Eh.” Steve shrugged around you, not releasing his hold.
You tuned out Dustin and Erica as they spoke into the radio, providing Murray with the directions. Your gaze was pulled downwards, over to the town below, the electric lights so small and far away that they sort of looked like stars from the distance, but they were nowhere near as beautiful.
You turned your gaze back towards the sky, back to what made you happy. The moon was full tonight, shining brightly down above you. It sort of reminded you of Debbie, the moon emitting a luminous, quiet warmth, nearly ethereal in its ability to strike clean through the darkness. Steve was more like the sun, rays cutting through shadows with a sharp command, radiating a glow so warm it felt as though you were standing beside a hearth.
“You think a lot.” Steve said, voice so quiet it nearly got lost in the air between you, but there was no sniffle to punctuate it. You turned your head slightly, eyes catching sight of his face, and there was no fresh blood. “I don’t always need to go poking around to know what you’re thinking.” He smiled over at you. “You’re not as unreadable as you think you are.”
“That’s only cause you’ve opened the cover.” You said defensively, feeling your heart flutter in your chest as you turned your attention back to the night sky.
“Yeah, sure.” Steve mused with a small laugh. “I’ll let you think that.”
Scoops Troop, this is… Bald Eagle. I’ve reached another junction. Murray’s voice crackled through the radio, instantly snapping your attention back to the task at hand.
“This is what?” Dustin asked Erica as Steve slowly retracted himself from you.
“The fourth junction.” Erica said.
“All right, so if memory serves, this is right after the My Little Pony thesis.” Dustin talked to himself.
“We went left, so he has to go right.” Erica said.
Dustin clicked the radio back on. “Fly right, Bald Eagle. Fly right.”
Roger that, flying right.
“What’s the My Little Pony thesis?” Robin asked.
“Don’t get him started.” Erica said.
“Get him started?” Robin echoed. “Just tell me—“
“Hey, guys?” Steve called out.
You looked over to see that Steve had left your side and was now standing at the edge of the hill. The four of you walked over to him, looking down to see what had caught his attention. Off in the distance you could see the mall, its lights flashing and flickering in a violent colorful display. You all rushed back to the radio and Dustin picked it back up. You forced the mask to stay put as the worries ran through your head. Your dad was below the mall right now, nearing his way to the gate. El was there when you had left, but she should’ve been long gone and safe by now. But what if she wasn’t? What if she was trapped inside? This monster was after her. Jesus Christ, you didn’t give her a hug goodbye before you left.
“Griswold Family, this is Scoops Troop!” Dustin shouted into the mic. “Do you copy? Over! Griswold Family, this is Scoops Troop. Do you copy?” A loud, shrieking roar crackled through the speaker, and you felt your blood run cold. They were trapped inside. “Griswold Family, do you copy? Do you copy?!”
Dustin kept repeating himself over and over again into the radio, getting more frantic as all he was met with was silence. You turned on your heel without thinking, just about ready to take off back towards the car when you remembered you didn’t have the keys. You quickly snatched up Steve’s hand in yours and took off running back towards the Toddfather, practically dragging him along behind you. You had to get to the mall, you had to get the party out of there. You weren’t about to let them die. You couldn’t see their bodies laying mangled and bloody on the floor. You couldn’t let it happen again.
“Where are you going?!” Erica shouted after the two of you.
“To get them the hell outta there!” You shouted back as the two of you continued sprinting down the hill towards the car.
“Stay here, contact the others!” Steve yelled.
You let go of Steve’s hand once you reached the car and jumped into the passenger seat, Steve jumping into the driver’s seat. Robin suddenly came running after you, a radio in hand, and she flung herself into the back seat just as Steve threw the car into reverse.
Steve stepped on the gas and floored it backwards down the hill, the car bumping and jolting with each rock and hole, sending you all flying around a bit before you finally hit the road. Steve swerved the car into the direction of the mall, threw the shift into drive, and took off again.
“Do you think they’re okay?” Steve asked worriedly.
“They will be.” You stated, eerily blank, focus deadly sharp.
“What exactly is the plan?” Robin asked, tone rising with nerves. “Cause I don’t think they’re all gonna fit in the Toddfather.”
“Yes, they will.” You said determinedly.
You slung the machine gun from your shoulder and held it in front of you, slipping the mag out and checking to make sure it was fully loaded before sliding it back into place, immediately racking the gun. You knew your dad would’ve already checked it over, but old habits died hard, and you would never go into battle without checking your weapon ever again.
Despite Steve’s foot being pressed all the way to the floor, it still took a while to reach the mall. You kept taking deep breaths, pushing every thought out of your mind except the one to kill. Finally, you could see the Starcourt sign up ahead, the lights of the mall still flickering just like the Christmas lights had, and Steve swerved into the parking lot.
You could see Billy’s car flooring it straight towards the group in the car, straight towards Nancy who was trying to shoot at him through the windshield. You threw yourself up from the seat, planting yourself on the door as you raised your weapon. You pointed it down, aiming straight for the tires, and you pulled the trigger. A line of fire sprayed out, bullets ripping and tearing right through the rubber tires. A horrible screeching sounded out as Billy’s car was barreling towards a stop, still right on course for Nancy.
Nancy quickly ducked for cover, nothing to do except hope not to die. But Steve was faster, and your car went smashing into the side of Billy’s right at the last second, the hard slam of metal on metal ringing out as both cars went spinning out across the parking lot. The sudden force from the crash sent you flying off the door and right out of the car, you only just quick enough to remove your finger from the trigger as you went slamming against the hard asphalt. Your shoulder collided roughly, hip bruising on impact.
“Hop!” Steve shouted, him and Robin both shooting up from their seats. “Hop, are you okay?!”
Nothing was broken. At least, you didn’t think it was, and you quickly and painfully rose to your feet. “July fucking sucks.” You complained harshly to the two of them.
When Steve and Robin were sure you were all right you turned your attention back to Billy’s destroyed car. He was knocked out cold, body hunched over the steering wheel with a large gash across his forehead. You prayed that he wasn’t dead, that there was still a way to save him before it was too late.
The roaring of a monster suddenly sounded from above you, and you reacted on instinct, attention snapping up towards the roof of the mall as you raised your weapon to the noise. But what the hell was your measly gun supposed to do against that? The flesh monster was towering over everything as it bared down at you, at least two stories tall and with too many legs to count.
Beep! Beep!
You whipped around to see Jonathan grind to a halt beside your car.
“Get in!” Nancy shouted.
Steve and Robin quickly hopped out of the now destroyed car. You turned your attention back to the monster, gun still trained on the thing as Steve swung open the trunk door and ushered Robin inside. You glanced back, him understanding, and you turned back to the monster as he jumped inside, making sure they were all safe before you ran over and jumped into the trunk, Steve slamming the door shut behind you just as Jonathan took off, the flesh monster now hot on your trail.
You glanced around, taking a quick head count, but three were missing. El wasn’t there, Mike or Max either. Alexei was shoved in the trunk with you, just as flushed and delirious as ever, except now he was giving a real reaction, eyes blown wide in terror as he stared out the back window.
“Where’s El?” You demanded.
“They’re in the mall.” Lucas said. “I saw them sneak into one of the stores and into the hallways.”
“We need to go back for them!” Steve shouted.
“We can’t!” Jonathan shouted back. “They’ll be fine! That thing is chasing us right now!”
Jonathan was right, and Steve knew that, so he dropped the argument. If El was still in the mall then that meant that the flesh monster couldn’t get to her. You just hoped that Billy stayed unconscious and out of your way so you could figure out a way to bring him back, just as you had done with Will.
You threw open the back window and placed the muzzle of your gun on the sill, keeping your sights trained on the monster as it stayed a good few yards behind, ready to fire in case it came nearer. Suddenly, the radio in Robin’s hand crackled to life and a girl’s voice crackled through.
Dusty-bun, do you copy?
I copy, Suzie-poo. Dustin responded. It sounds much better now, thanks.
Steve and Robin looked up at each other. “Suzie.” They said in shocked unison.
“He told you to look.” You joked, eyes never leaving the monster behind you.
Okay, so, listen. Dustin said again. Do you know Planck’s constant?
Do you know the Earth orbits the sun?
Okay, so I know it starts with two sixes, and then a… what is it?
Why the hell was he asking Suzie for the number? Shouldn’t Alexei have known that? Or maybe he thought he did and he got it wrong. Or maybe he did know and the blood-loss made the numbers get lost in translation.
Okay, let me just be clear on this. I haven’t heard from you in a week, and now you want a mathematical equation that you should know so you can… save the world?
Suzie-poo, I promise, I will make it up to you as soon as possible.
You can make it up to me now.
What?
I want to hear it.
Not right now.
Yes, now, Dusty-bun.
Suzie-poo, this is urgent.
Yes, yes, you’re saving the world, I heard you the first time, but Ged is also saving Earthsea and he’s about to confront the shadow, so this is Suzie, signing off.
Wait, wait, wait! Okay! Okay. The radio went silent for a few moments, and then Dustin started to sing. Turn around/Look at what you see/In her face/The mirror of your dreams
You couldn’t help yourself from turning back around, a look of complete and utter confusion on your face, Steve and Robin displaying the same as Dustin and Suzie began singing in unison.
Make believe I’m everywhere/Given in the light/Written on the pages is/The answer to a never-ending story/Reach the stars/Fly a fantasy/Dream a dream/And what you see will be
You glanced at Alexei, his terror now also overridden with confusion as he just stared down at the radio, mouth agape. Lucas and Will turned to you from the back seat, just staring at you as you stared back, none of you quite believing what was happening.
Rhymes that keep their secrets will/Unfold behind the clouds/And there upon a rainbow is/The answer to a never-ending story/Story
The singing finally ended and Suzie spoke again. Planck’s constant is 6.62607004.
You just saved the world. Dustin chuckled.
Gosh, I miss you, Dusty-bun.
I miss you more, Suzie-poo.
I miss you more, multiplied by all the stars in our galaxy.
No, I miss you—
The line went dead and you all just continued to stare at the radio, completely dumbfounded.
You quickly snapped yourself out of it, turning your attention back out the window towards the monster, except now it was starting to slow down, getting further and further away until it stopped completely, turned itself around, and started heading back in the opposite direction. No. No, you couldn’t let it get back to the mall, to the kids. You couldn’t let it get to El.
“It’s turning around.” You stated.
“What?” Nancy asked.
“It’s turning around!” You shouted.
“Maybe we wore it out.” Lucas suggested.
“I don’t think so.” Jonathan said. “Hold on.”
You threw yourself back into the car just in time as Jonathan whipped the car around. You all went flying into each other, Robin into Steve, Steve into you, you into Alexei. Once you were facing the opposite direction, Jonathan slammed on the gas again and took off back towards the monster.
“Drive faster!” Lucas shouted.
“We’re almost there!” Jonathan shouted back as the monster turned into the Starcourt parking lot.
“The fireworks.” Will announced. “The fireworks!”
Jonathan pulled into the parking lot right after the monster and slammed on the breaks right in front of the main entrance. You all scrambled out of the car as fast as you could, you slinging the machine gun back onto your shoulder as Lucas and Will reached for the fireworks, quickly divvying them up between you all.
You all rushed inside, boxes of fireworks in hand. The monster was standing right in the middle of the mall, large and looming, watching something. You turned, seeing Billy carrying an unconscious El out of Scoops Ahoy and place her on the floor in front of the monster, offering her up.
You felt both worry and fear course through your veins. That was your sister on the floor, being presented to a monster like some sort of human sacrifice. And Billy, mind overtaken and no longer in his control, forced to do nothing except stand there and let it happen. The Billy you knew, the one who presented himself after closing the gate, would be fighting tooth and nail to protect El. And maybe he was, in his mind, screaming and clawing for an escape he couldn’t find.
A hand grabbed yours, Steve’s, pulling you from both your thoughts and your spot as he dragged you towards the stairs, and you forced yourself to tear your gaze away from the horrid scene. You took a deep breath, steeling your nerves. The only way to save both El and Billy was to get the monster’s attention off of them just long enough for your dad and Joyce to close the gate.
Billy leaned down over El, who was now beginning to slowly come to, and whispered something in her ear before slowly standing up, like he was presenting a gift. And then a firework exploded right across the back of the monster, lighting the mall up in a rain of booming golden sparks.
“Flay this, you ugly piece of shit!” Lucas screamed and threw another firework right into the monster’s mouth.
You picked up your own firework, terror striking through you as you all started throwing the makeshift bombs at the monster, trying desperately to keep its attention trained on you instead of El, its real target. The mall exploded in a flash of colorful sparkles, the monster’s loud roaring mixing with the reverberating boom of the explosions. It went whipping around, trying to land its attention on one of your groups, but failing due to the amount of random bombardment.
You kept throwing, kept attacking, even if your heart was slamming itself against your ribs. Your fear for El mixed with a fear of the past.
Fireworks exploded over your heads, the air thick and heavy around you as you pressed yourself up against a tree, the bark digging roughly into your skin. The gunshots were mixed with the colorful explosions, masking their attack on you. Your partner was lying face first in the dirt beside you, a hole blown wide in his head, face drowning in a pool of his own blood.
“Hey, asshole!” Steve yelled, pulling you back to the present. “Over here!” He threw a firework at the monster and it exploded right in your faces.
You kept throwing firework after firework, and you could see El down below trying to crawl away as Billy reacted to every hit the monster took, veins starting to turn black. Billy noticed El’s movement and reached out for her leg, forcefully dragging her back over to the monster, her hands scraping uselessly against the tiled floor. Billy got on top of El, hands twisting like iron into the front of her shirt, and he started repeatedly slamming her against the floor.
You turned to your basket of fireworks, and it was starting to run low now, only two more left. You and Robin each grabbed one and threw them at the monster, red and blue sparks exploding across the monster’s back as Steve grabbed the radio.
“Dustin!” Steve shouted. “We’re out of time!”
Hurry! Dustin’s voice crackled through. Close it now! Close it!
You were all out of fireworks now, no more sparks raining down, no more booming blasting through the air. Billy was standing in front of El now, but not to present her, it looked like he was shielding her. The monster threw out a tentacle and Billy threw out his arms, blocking its attack as he held it back from reaching El. Billy screamed as he used all his strength to push against it, to protect her, and you felt a spark of hope ignite in your heart. He was breaking free of its control, he was keeping El safe. You could still win.
Another tentacle rose in the air, and then it went flying forward towards Billy, heading straight for his side. And then it stopped, just barely an inch away, held frozen in the air. You whipped your head to El, her staring on at the scene, but when she turned towards the balcony there was no blood in sight. Her eyes were trained to your left, you followed them over, eyes widening as you saw Steve, arm outstretched, blood pouring from his nose, and a murderous rage in his eyes.
The monster roared, turning its attention onto you. No, onto Steve. A third tentacle flew out from its side, the first one yanking itself from Billy’s grasp and sending him crumpling to the floor, weak and unmoving. The third tentacle came flying right towards Steve, prepared to grab him, to kill him. But Steve was faster, free arm rising up to meet the attack and halting it in its path. He was breathing heavily, blood pouring from both his nose and his ears now as his muscles strained from the force. You had no time.
You slung the machine gun from your shoulder, wasting not even a second before pulling the trigger, a spray of fire ripping through the air and slamming against the flesh monster. But it didn’t hurt it, it didn’t even scratch at the surface. But it gained its attention anyway, and a fourth tentacle went flying right towards you.
A body slammed into your side, sending the both of you straight to the floor just as the tentacle flew above your heads, grabbing at nothing except the air where you had been standing. Robin turned to you, absolutely terrified. Behind her, Steve was still holding the other two tentacles in place. You could see as his eyes began to go vacant, his breathing heavy and calculated. And then he screamed, loudly, the glass wall beside you shattering and sending its razor shards slicing through the air. Both tentacles ripped in two, the chopped halves plummeting to the floor with a loud, fleshy boom!
The monster shrieked in agony, reeling away, chopped arms flailing around wildly. It reared back, its shrieking now a deafening roar. Its face flew open, sights set on Steve as its fleshy flower face bared all of its large, blade-like teeth. It may have been injured, but now it was enraged. And now it knew who Steve was.
The monster threw two of its tentacles out this time, rushing through the air straight at Steve. Steve threw both of his own arms out, stopping the attack once again. But he was weak now, skin going pale, head hanging a bit. He wasn’t going to win, and the monster knew that. You could see it reeling back a third tentacle, and you flew to your feet, slamming yourself into Steve, arms wrapping around him as you both went crashing to the floor, the monster’s tentacles slamming through the empty air above.
You quickly retracted yourself from Steve, snatching up your discarded gun as you rose to your feet. You fired, a good spray of bullets bouncing off the monster’s face, effectively drawing its attention your way. But there really was not killing this thing, and another tentacle went flying out straight towards you. But before you could even react, before you could jump out of harm’s way, it froze, trapped in the air, immobile.
You turned to Steve, splayed out on the floor and arm outstretched, his face soaked in blood, and eyes filled with a rage so palpable you could practically feel it. A scream sounded from beside you, human, and just as you whipped your head to the sound an ax went chopping through the fleshy tentacle.
Alexei ripped the blade out of the flesh, the monster shrieking and roaring in agony as Alexei shouted out curses in Russian. He chopped down again, blade imbedding itself into the flesh, large gash now torn right through the tentacle. Alexei ripped the ax out and chopped down, again and again, the monster continuing to shriek as Steve held it in place, slowly rising to his feet, the monster now with nowhere left to go.
Just as Alexei ripped the ax back out, now exhausted and slightly delirious, Steve let out an ear piercing scream. His arm reeled back, nose and ears soaked with blood, and then he threw his arm forward, the tentacle going along with it as it went flying back straight at the monster’s face, sending it stumbling backwards. It roared so loud that the walls nearly shook from the force, its body now seeming to fight against itself as it slammed back and forth against the balcony. And then it dropped to the floor. It was dead. The gate was closed. You had won.
You ran towards the edge of the balcony, fear painted across your face as you saw Max kneeling beside Billy’s body, tears streaming down her face as El had her arms wrapped around her, trying her best to provide comfort. And then you could see it, a small rise of Billy’s chest. It went back down, and then back up, and you felt like you could finally breathe again. Billy was alive, El was alive. The gate was closed, you had won. And the party had all survived.
Multiple pairs of footsteps then sounded from behind you, demanding shouts being thrown your way. You turned around, being met by a group of soldiers, their guns trained on all of you. Everyone threw their hands into the air, trying to convey that they weren’t the enemy. You quickly tossed your gun to the floor and did the same, not looking to die after having just survived. But the soldiers weren’t satisfied with all of your surrenders, and three of them started to encircle Alexei, fingers on their triggers.
“He’s with us!” You shouted, throwing yourself in front of his terrified yet delirious form, and you could see he was trying very hard not to say anything and risk getting shot because his words weren’t English. “He’s with us! He’s on our side!” The soldiers refused to relent, guns now trained on you as well. “Lower your fucking weapons!”
“You heard him!” A familiar voice shouted out and Owens came running into view. “Lower your weapons.” The soldiers finally listened, guns moving to train on the floor. “You kids all right?”
“Great timing.” You mocked, dropping your hands to your side, Alexei following suit. “Don’t hurt him.” You said sternly. “He helped us.”
“I won’t do anything.” Owens said. “But I can’t promise anything when I hand him over.”
“He needs medical attention.” You stated, knowing that that was the closest thing to a guarantee you were going to get. “He was shot in the stomach.”
“You need medical attention, too.” Owens argued lightly, just like the doctor he was.
“I can wait.” You bit at him. “Down on the lower level, Billy, he needs to get to a hospital.”
“We’ll take care of him.” Owens said. “That I can promise you.”
~~~~~
After Owens’s appearance you were all taken out to the parking lot and looked over by medics, your leg having to get re-wrapped because you had broken the stitches at some point. Good thing for the few extra your dad had done. Otherwise, your leg probably would’ve been a lot worse off.
You were sitting in the back of an ambulance now, Steve right by your side, his hand holding yours. Billy had been rushed off to the hospital, Max going along with him. Alexei was rushed off as well, but unlike Billy he had been cuffed to the stretcher and accompanied by a soldier.
It had taken a while for everyone’s families to show up, Robin’s parents whisking her away before she could even get a word out, the Sinclairs crying and holding tightly to Lucas and Erica. Mrs. Henderson had been in complete hysterics as she rushed around looking for Dustin—him and Erica having been tracked down and driven back to the mall—and she hadn’t let up her suffocating grip on him as she ran for you and Steve, squishing Dustin between you all as she hugged you tightly. You didn’t even care about showing your affection, hugging her back just as tightly before she left, her arms never leaving Dustin, and it’s not like his arms left her, either.
The Wheelers had shown up a bit after that, Mrs. Wheeler doting over Nancy and Mike, hugging them, scanning their faces, and then hugging them again, repeating the action every few seconds as Mr. Wheeler just stood there, Holly holding his hand beside him.
El was off walking around the parking lot, eyes desperately scanning the area for your dad. Him, Joyce, and Murray were taking a while to return from the base. Probably just having to reassure the soldiers that they weren’t Russians. Joyce then appeared, walking slowly as her eyes raked over the crowd. You could see Murray off behind her, walking over to an ambulance. But where was your dad? Had he been hurt? Was he off with a medic somewhere?
Joyce’s eyes landed on El, and then you could see the glisten in them, the tears. El froze in her spot, her back to you. Joyce crossed over quickly, throwing her arms around El as she pulled her close, El’s head burying itself into the crook of her neck. No. No, it couldn’t be what you were thinking. You had won. You had all survived. Billy, El. Your dad was just off in an ambulance somewhere. He was just badly wounded, but he wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be dead.
El’s shoulders shook, and you knew that sight all too well after comforting her after a nightmare. She was sobbing. No, no, no! Your dad was gone. He was dead. How could he be dead? Why him? Why were you the only one in your family left alive? You didn’t deserve to be the last one breathing. It should be Sara here, not you. Your dad should be hugging El, not Joyce. Why was it him? Why wasn’t it you?
“Hop?” Steve called out. “Hop, what’s wrong?”
You couldn’t bring yourself to do any more than just stare out blankly, entire body devoid of any emotion. Not a statue, not stone. Pure nothing.
Steve sniffled. “Hop… I’m so sorry. Hop?” You felt numb, weightless, like nothing around you was even real anymore. “I’m sorry, Hop.” Steve’s hand tightened around yours, the only thing you could still feel, but you didn’t return the gesture. “I’m so sorry.”
~~~~~
Joyce had taken you all back to her house after you were all allowed to leave. She had hugged you tightly, holding on just like a real mother should, but you didn’t have the strength to hug her back or even move closer, eyes just staring vacantly out at the parking lot beyond.
El was asleep on the couch now, Steve wrapped up in blankets on the floor in front of her. He had stayed up with you for a while, just holding you against him, trying every once in a while to say something comforting, but you gave him nothing in return, and soon sleep was too hard to ward off.
You had your back resting up against the coffee table, hard wood edge digging into your shoulders. But you didn’t care, you couldn’t care. You had your gun, the revolver, held in your hands in front of you. Owens had managed to locate it in the base and gave it back to you. Your eyes were trained on the front door, logically knowing that nothing was about to come crashing through, but that logic had left hours ago, and now all you could do was watch over who was left.
You sat there until the black sky turned a dark grey and the first bird of the early morning chirped. The house was cast in an eerily soft grey, and the first movement of the day was heard. A door slowly creaked open, light, padded footsteps slowly growing closer. You kept your eyes trained on the door, but you caught sight of Jonathan out of the corner of your eye. He was just standing there, probably looking down at you, probably wondering what the hell you were doing.
“Hop?” Jonathan called out softly, taking a step into view and crouching down in front of you. “Hop, are you all right?” You didn’t answer, instead looking past him at the door. Jonathan followed your gaze for a second before turning back to you. “The house is safe.” He said gently, hands placing themselves on top of yours. “No one is gonna find us.” He started taking the gun from you, and you just let it happen. “Why don’t we sit at the table? I’m sure it’s more comfortable.”
Jonathan placed the gun onto the table behind you before offering you a hand, and your eyes finally turned to him, still lost, still vacant, and you didn’t move. Jonathan sighed, a frown on his lips as he moved his hand to grab your arm, gently tugging up upwards, and you allowed yourself to be pulled gently to your feet, entire body sore and stiff from not having moved in hours. He led you over to the table and sat you down in one of the chairs before taking the one across from you.
“It’s okay to grieve him.” Jonathan said gently, your eyes looking more through him than at him. “It’s okay if you want to cry, too. No one’s gonna think you’re weak.”
You knew that, now. No one in the party would ever think lesser of you for crying, for any reason, but you couldn’t even get the tears to form if you wanted to. It was like you were watching yourself from the outside. Not even a year ago you were sitting with your dad in that exact same spot. Not even a year ago the two of you finally had an honest conversation and started working towards what you had before. And now he was gone, just like Sara was gone, and there was nothing you could do about it.
“When I went home, I was just trying to get more bullets.” You stated distantly, Jonathan growing confused. “I found my mom on my bed, brains blown out across the blankets. I cried for only a second, and then I called the cops.” You leaned in closer, Jonathan’s eyes growing fearful as your own finally focused on him. “Do you want to know what I did after that?” Jonathan just stared at you, words unable to form. “I ran, I hid, and two days later I stabbed a man on the subway and had two hundred dollars in my hand an hour later.”
“Hop.” Jonathan said as gently as he could, taking in a shaky breath as he leaned forward, meeting you halfway. “You’re allowed to react. You don’t always need to be the one holding everything together.”
“You don’t either.” You said.
“This isn’t about me.” Jonathan shook his head.
“I should be the one who’s dead.” Your eyes drifted down to the table. “I should’ve died two years ago. I almost did.”
“But you’re still here.” Jonathan said comfortingly. “And so is El. If you won’t react for yourself, then react for her. She needs you right now.”
“He stabbed me.” You stated distantly.
“What?” Jonathan asked. “Who stabbed you?”
“Rykov.” The name itself was like poison on your tongue. You hadn’t spoken his name in two years, afraid of being overheard. Maybe he would rise up from Hell and strike you down. Part of you wished that would happen.
“Who’s Rykov?” Jonathan asked. “Was he one of those Russians at the mall?”
“No.” You shook your head. “He was from the city.”
Jonathan tilted his head down, trying to meet your gaze, but you refused. “Why did he stab you?”
What would be the fun in killing you while you sleep? His words echoed through your head, like he was hovering just above your shoulder.
“I stabbed him back.” You turned your eyes to Jonathan. “Right where he stabbed me. And then over and over again I shoved that blade through his skin.” Jonathan’s eyes filled with terror again, but he didn’t back away. “But unlike what he did to me, I left his body to rot on the street.”
Jonathan sucked in a shaky breath, like he was trying not to freak out. “What did he do to you?”
Your face hardened, your first real emotion of the night. “What didn’t he do?”
~~~~~
Steve pulled up to the Family Video parking lot and you, him, and Robin stepped out of the car. Robin had your resumes in her hand, busy looking them over, but she wasn’t very happy with Steve’s. You and Steve both really needed this job, it had been three months since you last worked and your measly savings were starting to dwindle. Between fixing the cabin and having to keep you, him, and El all fed—not to mention the cost of your insulin—you were down to your last pennies.
“You put your mom down as a reference?” Robin asked.
“Yeah. Why not?” Steve said. “She’s, like, super well-respected.”
“You’re such a dingus.”
Steve opened the door and you all walked inside. You were all praying you would get hired together, none of you wanting to separate after everything that happened. You were already about to lose El, her off at the Byers house, packing up all of her belongings into a truck headed for California. It was safer that way, you knew that, but it still hurt to have to let her go.
You walked up to the counter and Robin handed your resumes over to Keith, him purposefully avoiding eye contact with you as he looked them over, seemingly unimpressed.
“Uh, just to be clear.” Robin said. “We weren’t fired, you know. The mall burned down and, like, killed a bunch of people.”
“Thanks for sharing.” Keith said tiredly. “Didn’t know.” He handed Robin back the resumes and jutted his thumb in your direction, still not looking your way. “Are you sure he didn’t burn it down?”
“I’m not an arsonist.” You sassed at him. It had taken a while since Starcourt for you to feel almost like yourself again, and a statement like that had you very annoyed. You never set any fires back in the city, you respected firefighters too much to put them through the trouble.
“Three favorite movies. Go.” Keith said, snapping his fingers and pointing at Robin as he completely ignored your previous statement.
“Uh… The Apartment, Hidden Fortress, Children of Paradise.” Robin listed.
“You. Go.” Keith only pointed at you, no snap sounding out, eyes still on Robin.
“Star Wars: A New Hope, The Godfather, and The Terminator.” You listed off.
“You. Go.” Keith snapped and pointed at Steve, moving his eyes to him.
“Favorite movies?” Steve repeated.
“Did I stutter?” Keith hissed.
“Uh… Animal House, for sure. Um…” Steve droned on, averting his gaze as he tried to wrack his brain for any movie to say.
Keith snapped and pointed exaggeratedly at his own eyes. “Eyes on me, Harrington.”
“Yeah. Uh…” Steve continued to flounder. “Star Wars.”
“A New Hope?”
“A new what-now?”
“Which Star Wars?” Keith hissed.
“The one with the teddy bears. Duh.” Steve made an Ewok sound and Robin dropped her head in exasperation as you just stared, knowing your eyes were betraying you with fondness. Steve was such a dork. “No? Uh… oh, the one that just came out. The one with the DeLorean and Alex P. Keaton, and he’s trying to bang his mom.” Steve chuckled. “The time…” He glanced around nervously. “Yeah, those are my top three. Classics.”
Keith looked at Steve tiredly and then turned and pointed at you and Robin. “You two start Monday.” Keith turned and pointed at Steve with a look. “You start never.”
Robin leaned over to you and Steve and whispered. “Will you two just, um… will you give us a minute?”
“Why?” Steve asked.
“Steve.” Robin whispered, and Keith made a face at Steve.
You grabbed Steve’s arm and guided him away from the counter to let Robin do whatever it was she was planning to do to convince Keith to hire Steve. Although, you half suspected you knew what her plan was.
You let go of Steve’s arm and started walking through the aisles, eyes raking over all of the different movies. You hadn’t managed to get yourself to watch anything except Miami Vice with El since Starcourt. You, her, and your dad used to watch it every Friday night. You could barely even enjoy the show anymore, but you sat there with El anyway, taking Jonathan’s advice and just being there for her when needed it.
Your eyes landed on one of the tapes, Apocalypse Now. That was Debbie’s favorite movie. It had taken you a while to call her again, but when you did she wasn’t mad, she didn’t even feign disappointment, because the moment she heard your voice she knew something was wrong. You called her at least once a week now, just updating her on the little things that happened, her doing the same.
Bang!
You whipped around at the sudden noise, nerves sharp and focused, but there was no need, because it was just Steve, the resumes stuck in his mouth as he knocked over a cardboard cutout.
“Goddamnit.” Steve mumbled through the resumes in his mouth as he picked up the cardboard cutout. “This is—hm.” He turned the cutout around and displayed it to Robin and Keith. “Fast Times. Fast Times. Ever heard of it? Top three for me, Keith.”
~~~~~
Steve dropped Robin back off at home before the two of you made your way to the Byers house. You got the job, thank god. Joyce had offered for you to go along with them, Owens himself offering the same for Steve, but both of you declined. El would be safe in California, Steve had been safe in Hawkins for years, and maybe you could keep both of them safe by staying out of the way.
By the time you got to the house, all of the boxes and furniture had already been packed up and loaded into the back of the truck. The kids were all saying their goodbyes already, hugs and tears being traded around without care. You had had a long talk with El last night, forcing yourself to get the more heartfelt goodbye out in the privacy of the cabin, so you went to Joyce first. You let her wrap her arms around you, a second offer to join them leaving her lips as you allowed yourself to hug her back. You declined.
You decided to save El for last, giving Jonathan and Will each a hug in turn first. Will almost had to be dragged away from Mike so that the rest of the kids could get their goodbyes in. Jonathan was a lot easier to grab, Nancy letting him go without much complaint, though her arms did linger.
“You can react, you know.” Jonathan whispered as he hugged you. “I mean, Will’s been crying for the past thirty minutes.”
“I don’t need to cry.” You whispered back, pulling yourself away from him. He didn’t dare say another word with the distance, but he did send a look your way.
El came crashing into your side the moment she left Steve’s arms, Steve having been whispering something against the top of her head. She buried her face in your chest, strength nearly as bruising as Dustin’s as she cried into you.
“You’ll be fine.” You soothed, arms wrapping around her, one hand landing on the back of her head as you cradled her against you. “You’re gonna go to school, you’ll make lots of new friends, and I’ll see you on Christmas.”
“But you’ll be alone.” El whispered against you. “You shouldn’t be alone.”
“I’m not alone.” You reassured. “Steve’s still here, and so is the rest of the party. I’ll be fine. And I promise to call you every day.”
“You better.” El squeezed you tighter, and the first tears in three months began to well in your eyes.
Nooooo, I'm gonna have to miss the s3 finale because I'm going on a road trip and I can't bring my computer 😔😔😔
I was about to proofread it for the second time, it might not take too long, so I could possibly get it out in the next hour. It’s past midnight for me, so technically I’m sticking to my every three days schedule lol!
Okay, so I have all chapters through season four episode three completed and episode four is halfway through. I’m on vacation now, so I’ll be posting every three days for the next couple of chapters. This will keep the story going without a long break and I won’t have to stress about writing anything right now. Maybe I can pump out some POVs at night though! Anyway, I’ll let ya’ll know when I’m back to every other day posting, but for now it’ll be every three days and I’ll post the season three finale tomorrow.
I was trying to think of nerdy things the byers reader can do and my sister said "Playing with legos." </3
I don’t know how if it’d fit into the story itself, but I can totally acknowledge Lego sets around his room or something. It even goes hand in hand with his love of pottery. He likes to build things!
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will Byers Reader be super close with Bob? like Bob gives him some semblance of a sense of what it feels like to have a good dad?
also I do kind of want to have a reader witness Bob’s death and be affected rather than just knowing that he died by the time they get back to the Byers’ home.
I think season two could also be a good time for Byers reader to actually be experiencing the anniversary effects of the first season, I imagine season one could be more traumatic for Reader- because of lonnie and his previous abuses
Yes, Byers will be close with Bob. He’s the only brother who actually got to know him. And I like the idea of him witnessing Bob’s dead, so maybe they go to the lab with Jonathan and Nancy to pick everyone up but this time the timelines gets closer and Bob has just made it to the lobby by the time the teens come to drive everyone away.
will reader be really interested in dnd like will? will he be the nerdier of will’s older brothers?
if you can’t tell i’m really interested in how reader will interact with little brother Will!!
I think the reader would definitely like D&D and understand it because of the amount of times Will just starts rambling on about his campaigns. As for being a nerd, I feel like I want him to be nerdy in a specific subject, but I’m not sure which one yet. He will be an artist as well, though, and is going to be into pottery as his niche.
ok so what would your thoughts be on making future characters want to go to college/university. I picture a character that gets into a good school pre-season three but is like catastrophically injured during the last fight and can’t? it seems like most characters in the past have been intelligent and could get into colleges, but outside circumstances have prevented them from anything actionable. I also like the dynamic that it could create in season three between reader/steve..
I could definitely try and work that into one or more of the future stories. The only reason they have no interest in college is because if they did then they technically should be away at school during season four.
"Collateral damage" hop i'm crine 😭 he broke the torture curse but that whole experience was definitely fuel for the trigger on his insanity 💔
love how he protected steve during the bathroom confession too—robin thought her hb steve was a twist? the real gag that was hop was sitting right there! and they were both in love with each other right in front of her omllll AND THEY BOTH ALREADY KNOW IT TOO the next challenge is who's sayin it first 😉 5 stars on this order of hopton (hoppington? just thought actually would hop rather take steve's last name or vice versa although yeah his past with the harrington's in this one hasn't been mentioned yet) burger with a side of angsty post-torture fries and scoopstroop soda 😋
Lmao! Yeah, from now on Hop just starts saying shit sometimes, just casually mentioning the horrors he experienced back in the city lol! And if you’re wondering about Steve’s parents, in this fic they’re basically like in canon, just entirely not around. I think Steve might’ve unknowingly used his powers a bit after he first escaped and that’s why they adopted him. But I do think Steve would take Hop’s last name as it’s a choice as well as him and El having the same name. I already have their get together/confession planned for season four and it is going to be adorable! Also, Hop’s still subconsciously hiding his feelings from Steve despite being so in love with him! Also, Hop is not okay in season four!
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Dustin was flooring it down the hallway in the little red truck and your head went banging against the metal wall with every bump and turn. It was aggravating your injuries, the bullet hole in your leg now throbbing. But you just felt so loopy, the world a bit fuzzy and your mind muddled, that you barely even registered the pain.
“Jesus, slow down!” You slurred.
“Yeah, what is this?” Robin said. “The Indy 500?”
“It’s the Indy 300.” Steve corrected Robin incorrectly.
“No, dingus, it’s 500.” Robin argued, sounding like a hissy toddler.
“It’s 300!”
“Let’s just say a million.” You chimed in, and the three of you broke out into a fit of laughter, literally falling on top of each other. Everything was suddenly totally hilarious all of a sudden.
“What is wrong with them?” Erica asked from the front.
“I don’t know.” Dustin said.
“Dustin, watch out!” Erica yelled.
The truck suddenly lifted into the air and slammed into a wall, sending you, Steve, and Robin flying on top of each other in a tangle of limbs.
“You guys all right back there?” Dustin asked as the three of you groaned in complaint. “They’re fine.” You heard Dustin and Erica exiting the truck and then the back door flew open. “Come on.” Dustin said. “We gotta go.”
“Come on!” Erica shouted when none of you moved.
“Let’s go!”
“Get out!”
Dustin reached for Steve first, grabbing his arm and forcefully yanking him out of the truck and to his feet, causing Steve to go stumbling around as he tried to keep his footing. Dustin grabbed your arm next and carefully helped to lift you up and out of the truck, setting you down next to Steve where you found yourself leaning sideways until you were knocking against him. Steve stumbled for a moment before he pushed back against you, the two of you using the other’s force to keep yourselves upright.
“Here goes nothing.” Dustin said and slid the keycard through the lock. It turned green.
The elevator door slid open and Dustin and Erica shoved the three of you inside. Dustin ran over to the control panel, slid the keycard through the reader, and then slammed on the button, and you went shooting back up to the surface.
You watched as Steve jumped onto the cart and Robin started pushing him around, both of them cheering and whooping loudly. You joined in, feeling almost like someone else was in control as you started clapping and cheering Steve on as he continued to ride the cart.
“Hey!” You laughed, every filter over your mind and body gone. But you didn’t care. “It looks like you’re surfing!”
“Yeah!” Steve yelled back, laughing along.
“They seem drunk.” Erica stated.
“Why would they be drunk?” Dustin asked.
“Look at Hop!” Erica shouted and gestured over to you, Dustin’s eyes following to find you giggling and clapping like an excited toddler.
“I’m a natural!” Steve yelled. “Check it out!” Robin pulled the cart back too far and Steve went flying forward into the wall.
“Wipeout!” Robin laughed as you dropped down next to Steve, hands grabbing his face, intending to look him over for injuries, but instead you just held him there. Steve then smiled dopily up at you, dimples showing, and you smiled back.
Dustin knelt down next to you and Steve and put his hand on your forehead. “He’s burning up.”
“You’re burning up.” You slurred.
Dustin grabbed your face and started prying your eyes open. You whined as he aggravated the bruises and the still open graze from the bullet and removed your hands from Steve’s face to weakly swat at Dustin’s arms. He huffed at you and then turned his attention to Steve, prying his eyes open as well.
“Ow!” Steve complained.
Dustin let go of Steve and turned around to Erica. “Their pupils are super dilated.”
“Maybe they’re drugged.” Erica suggested.
“Boop.” Steve tapped Dustin’s nose and you let out a small giggle at the sight.
Dustin ignored Steve and tapped his cheek to get his attention. “Steve, are you drugged?”
“How many times, dad?” Steve slurred. “I don’t do drugs. It’s only marijuana.” Steve tapped Dustin’s face and you giggled even louder that time.
“This isn’t funny, okay?” Dustin said seriously. “I need to know what they did to you. Are you gonna die on us?”
“Boop.” You tapped Dustin’s nose and Steve giggled that time, his arms suddenly wrapping around your waist and pulling you down backwards on top of his chest.
“We all die, my strange little child friend.” Robin said, like she had discovered the secrets of the universe. “It’s all a matter of how… and when.”
Dustin and Erica went silent for a moment as they just stared at Robin’s delirious form. You shifted on top of Steve, finding a more comfortable position before you settled back into him, his arms tightening around you. You stretched your wounded leg out, trying to give it a reprieve.
“They’re gonna be looking for us up there.” Dustin said. “So, I need you to tell me where you parked your car.”
“Oh, can we make a pitstop at the food court?” Steve asked.
“I would kill for a hot dog on a stick.” Robin tapped your uninjured leg.
“Ooh, I want food, too.” You mused, pouting up at Dustin. “Can I have a meat lovers pizza?”
“Yes, yes, food.” Dustin confirmed hastily. “Erica.” He pointed at his backpack, Erica ripping it open and searching inside. You didn’t know what you were expecting, but it wasn’t a little packet of peanuts.
“This is boring.” You frowned as Dustin shoved the food into your hands.
“This is so you don’t die.” Dustin said sternly.
You made a face at him but opened the bag anyway, too hungry to really care as you dumped about half the bag into your mouth.
“Not fair.” Steve whined. “I want food, too.”
“And you’ll get some.” Dustin said. “You can have as much food as you want, but only if you tell me where your car is parked.”
“Uh-oh.” Steve said.
“Uh-oh?” Dustin echoed.
“The car’s off the board.”
“What?”
“They took the keys.” Steve removed one of his arms and turned out his empty pockets. “The Russians, they took the keys. Like, forever ago.”
You suddenly felt how weightless you were, no holster on your calf, no metal tucked into your waistband. “They took my gun, too.” You pouted, and then Robin started laughing hysterically, you and Steve joining in. You couldn’t even stay upset at the stolen weapon, despite having saved up a lot of money to buy it.
The elevator finally stopped and Dustin grabbed your arms, pulling you from Steve’s hold as he hauled you to your feet, the bag of peanuts slipping from your grasp and dumping out all over the floor. You pouted at your lost food until Dustin yanked Steve up to his feet and he went knocking into you. You turned to Steve, him already smiling, and it just grew wider as you smiled back.
Erica pressed one of the buttons and the door opened. When you stepped outside you were met with the cool, crisp night air, a heavy relief after being stuck inside that musty base.
“Oh, my god.” Robin exclaimed. “That tastes so good. Guys, can you taste the air?”
“I taste it!” Steve said happily. “I taste it!”
You tilted your head up towards the sky and stuck your tongue out, taking in a deep breath and savoring the fresh taste. “It’s so clean!” You giggled.
The gates up ahead suddenly bursted open and two men came running towards you all, guns drawn and shouting at you in Russian to halt.
“Shit!” Dustin yelled. “Come on! Come on!”
Dustin grabbed you and Steve’s hands as Erica grabbed onto Robin and they dragged the three of you over to the building.
“Why are we running?” Steve asked as Erica pushed him through the door.
“Woo!” Robin threw her arms into the air and stepped inside.
You were stuck in the doorway, muddled brain listening to the Russian shouts for you to halt when Dustin suddenly planted a hand on your back and shoved you inside. You went tripping over your own feet, leg flaring up in a burning throb, and you let out a small groan in pain.
Steve whipped around to the noise, hand reaching out for yours when it was suddenly snatched up by Erica, her other hand grabbing your own while Dustin grabbed Robin. The two of them started dragging the three of you behind them as fast as they could, all of you stumbling a bit over your unsteady feet beneath you.
“Where are we going?” Erica asked.
“Just trust me.” Dustin said as he stopped in front of a door and opened it, slowly peering around the corner. “All clear.” He announced and slowly walked forward into the movie theater and into one of the showings. “Come on.”
You stumbled your way down the steps and towards the front row of the theater when Dustin suddenly stopped. Erica halted right behind him and you knocked right into her back, your brain too muddled to react in time.
“You three.” Dustin said and pointed at you, Steve, and Robin. “Sit.”
“No, no, no.” Robin complained as the three of you sat down. “These seats are too close.”
“Dude, these seats blow.” Steve said as he shoved a handful of popcorn into his mouth.
“I can’t even see anything.” You whined, crossing your arms over your chest and frowning at Dustin as you slouched into the seat.
“Then don’t watch the movie.” Dustin said.
“We wanna watch it.” You argued, like a toddler.
“Then watch it!” Dustin shouted, and a man in the row behind you shushed him.
You, Steve, and Robin turned around and shushed the man right back. You caught sight of the popcorn in Steve’s hand and greedily stole a handful, shoving it into your mouth.
“Sorry.” Dustin apologized to the stranger before turning back to the three of you. “Whatever you do, don’t go anywhere.”
“Fine, dad.” Steve mocked, and you and Robin laughed.
Dustin glared at Steve for a second before him and Erica retreated over to the other side of the theater. You grabbed another handful of popcorn, shoving the whole thing into your mouth as you slouched back in your seat again, trying to make sense of what was happening on the screen.
“What’s happening?” Robin whispered.
“I have no idea.” Steve whispered back.
You had no idea what was happening either, but you began to loosen up, body relaxing as you enjoyed the confusing spectacle, taking the occasional handful of popcorn from Steve. Now that you were thinking about it, you had no idea where he had gotten it from.
As you chewed on the popcorn you could feel as the kernels kept getting caught in the space where your tooth used to be. The salt stung the sensitive gums, sharp kernels slicing across the area. But whatever, you had already lost a tooth before. It really wasn’t that bad. You just hoped you didn’t end up losing too many more in the future. You didn’t exactly want to get dentures.
You lowered your head from the screen, the whole scene above just making absolutely no sense to you. You prodded gently at your finger, mangled flesh now covered in dried blood. Now that hurt like hell. But, again, who cared? Your enemies always loved to take your nails. You had become pretty desensitized to it at this point. It had happened twice when you were with Debbie, and both times she had wrapped the wound and then signed her name on the bandage. Just so everyone knew who you belonged to. And then she would kiss it better.
You glanced over at Steve, his face all bruised, dried blood caking against the cuts. But he still looked really cute. Even with that nasty looking cut on his bottom lip, you still had a very strong urge to kiss him right now. You didn’t, though. You simply sat there, staring at him, his hand reaching up every few seconds to pop another piece of popcorn into his mouth, eyes wide as they stared up at the large screen. You needed to get out of there. You needed to stop so blatantly staring at him. It wasn’t doing you any favors.
“I’m thirsty.” You whispered.
Steve and Robin looked over at you, Steve still chewing slowly, the both of them lost for a second as they just stared. And then they both stood up, Steve putting the bag of popcorn onto the seat and grabbing you instead, pulling you up to your feet, and then the three of you stumbled your way out of the theater and into the main mall.
You spotted the water fountain over on the wall and rushed over to it, your mouth now suddenly feeling like the Sahara desert as you threw yourself on top of the machine and started slurping away. You didn’t remember water tasting this good, so clean and fresh. And, now that you were thinking about it, when was the last time you had anything to drink?
When you finally had enough you pushed yourself away from the water fountain, and your feet stumbled a bit, vision blurring as your head throbbed for a moment. You shook your head, trying to clear it up, but it just made it worse, so you stood still for a second, and then the feeling finally disappeared. When you were finally clear of the fountain Steve took your place, his whole body leaning over the machine as he started drinking greedily.
“That’s amazing.” Steve said.
“So, like.” Robin said. “I wasn’t totally focused in there or anything, but… I’m pretty sure… that mom was trying to bang her son.”
“What?” You asked, turning to her, utterly confused.
“Wait, wait.” Steve said as he came up for air again. “The hot chick was Alex P. Keaton’s mom?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure.” Robin drawled out.
“But they’re the same age.” Steve leaned down and started drinking again.
“Oh, he went back in time.” You announced, finally beginning to understand.
Steve snickered. “Then why is it called Back to the Future?” He asked, and suddenly you didn’t understand it anymore.
“He has to go back to the future.” Robin explained for the both of you. “Because he’s in the past. So, the future is actually the present, which is our time.”
Steve just leaned there for a second, the water still running as he stared off into space. “Wh… what?”
“No, no, it’s my turn.” Robin whined as she shoved Steve away. “You’ve had enough.”
Steve stepped over and stared up at the ceiling. “Wow.” He said as he continued to stare, mouth agape. “Hey, guys. You gotta check this out.” You and Robin stumbled over to him and tilted your heads up. “Check this… this… the ceiling, it’s beautiful.”
As you stared up at the ceiling the lights started twinkling, growing into long white lines before shrinking back down. Robin chuckled a little at the sight as you just continued to stare at it. It was kind of enchanting, and you couldn’t pull your eyes away. It held you captivated.
You felt your stomach starting to churn a little, the whole ceiling now swimming and swirling around in your vision. You felt a little bile rise in your throat, your head throbbing again, a small chill running through you. The bile was threatening to come up, and you tried to swallow it back down, but it was too late.
You, Steve, and Robin sped towards the bathroom and threw yourselves into the stalls, bare knees slamming hard against the cool tiles as you all began retching up whatever was in your stomachs. You threw up two, three, four different times, the acidic smell burning your nostrils. You hadn’t thrown up this much in one go in three years. Your body had been so weak, confined to bed, delirious and lost, your temperature way exceeding the normal. Sepsis.
You flushed the toilet quickly, the nauseating smell disappearing with the water. You sat there for a few more minutes, head hung over the toilet as you took in slow, deep breaths. It felt like you had to throw up again, but nothing was coming up. You waited another minute just to be sure before you sat back against the cool tiled wall, wedging yourself between the stall wall and the toilet, skin clammy and heart racing.
You slowly pulled your legs up to your chest, tears beginning to well in your eyes. How could everything have gone so wrong? Why did history always insist on repeating itself? You had a missing tooth, a missing nail, a bullet lodged in your calf. Your entire body was covered in dark bruises and dried blood, ribs and head both aching. You might’ve even had a broken nose.
The tears flowed against your will, silent and steady as you hugged your legs close to your chest, hand wrapping around your own wrist as you held onto Sara’s hair tie with a bruising grip. It was all so fucked. You just wanted to go home. You wanted your dad. And what about the gate? What about Billy? Where was the rest of the party? Were they safe? Were they off potentially fighting Billy or some other new monster? Why couldn’t you just forget that horrid month?
“The ceiling stopped spinning for me.” Robin announced, and her voice was able to cut through the thoughts. “Is it still spinning for you guys?”
You didn’t bother to look, already feeling the lightheadedness and the dizzy feeling in your brain. You hadn’t eaten in probably twenty-four hours, not counting those measly peanuts and the popcorn that did nothing except sit in your stomach, utterly useless. Fuck, you could practically feel your heart slamming against your ribs, a cold sweat on your skin.
“Holy shit. No.” Steve said. “You think we puked it all up?” You came fully back to your senses, wiping away the stray tears and taking a steady breath.
“Maybe.” Robin said, still sounding a bit delirious, a bit out of it.
“Hop?” Steve asked. “How’re you doing?”
“Fine.” You called out, voice as steady as you could manage it.
“Ask me something.” Robin called out. “Interrogate me.” She said in a terrible Russian accent, and a small chuckle escaped you.
“Okay.” Steve laughed along. “Interrogate you. Sure. Um… when was the last time you, uh, peed your pants?”
“Today.” Robin said.
“What?” Steve asked, and you couldn’t quite believe that she had peed her pants so recently.
“When the Russian doctor took out the bone saw.” Robin explained.
“Oh, my god.” Steve laughed, Robin loudly joining in with him as only a few silent huffs escaped you.
“It was just a little bit, though.” Robin said in a small voice, still laughing.
“Yeah, it’s definitely in her system.” Steve laughed.
The three of you continued laughing for a moment before finally calming down. Some of it probably was still in your systems. You felt better, mentally, but the whole world had a slight blur to it.
“All right, my turn, Steve.” Robin announced.
“Okay.” Steve said. “Hit me.”
“Have you…” Robin said slowly, carefully thinking about her next words. “Ever been in love?”
“I thought I was.” Steve said, and you could hear the earnestness to his tone. “Nancy Wheeler. First semester, senior year.”
“Oh, my god.” Robin rasped. “She’s such a priss.”
“Turns out, not really.”
“Are you still in love with Nancy?”
You felt your breath catch in your throat as you waited for his answer. You already knew what he was going to say—or, at least, you thought you knew—but you found yourself nervous. You really did like Steve. You wanted to kiss him, for Christ’s sake. Please don’t be in love with Nancy.
“No.” Steve answered, and it felt like you could finally breathe again. But that really did nothing for your mind except confirm that his feelings for Nancy were totally gone.
Would Steve even want you? Were you too broken for him? He himself had dealt with too much trauma for just one person, why would he ever want to add yours on top of that? But he already had, hadn’t he? He was still here, right? Willingly?
“Why not?” Robin asked carefully.
“I think it’s because I found someone a little bit better for me.” Steve said. So, he had found someone else. But who? Oh, Jesus Christ, you were praying it was you. “It’s crazy.” Steve chuckled. “Ever since Dustin got home he’s been saying, you know, you gotta find your Suzie. You gotta find your Suzie.”
“Wait, who’s Suzie?” Robin asked.
“It’s some girl from camp, I guess his girlfriend.” Steve sighed. “To be honest with you, I’m not even one hundred percent sure she’s even real. But that’s not—that’s not really the point. That doesn’t matter. The point is, I already found this person, you know, the one that I like, it’s somebody that I… didn’t even know until recently. If I had known them sooner, maybe I could’ve been happy sooner. Or maybe not, cause Tommy H. would’ve made fun of me. I… I probably would’ve still been prom king, but I never even cared about that to begin with. I mean, Dustin’s right, it’s all just a bunch of bullshit anyways.”
You were the only person Steve’s age that he had met recently. Well, there was Robin and Billy, but Steve had already voiced a hard pressed no for Robin and just the thought of him liking Billy was utterly absurd. Especially since they didn’t even spend time together. So, Steve had to mean you, right? It had to be you.
“When I think about it, I wish I could’ve been hanging out with this person the whole time.” Steve laughed lowly, and you felt your heart skip a beat. “First of all, they’re hilarious. Way funnier than they give themselves credit for. I feel like, this summer, I have laughed harder than I have laughed… in forever, really. And they’re smart. Way smarter than me. You know, they are so skilled, in almost every way possible… you know? They’re honestly unlike anyone I’ve ever met before.”
Oh, God, it really had to be you. That just confirmed it, didn’t it? Was this his way of confessing? Was he expecting you to answer him? Probably not right now, if he was. This wasn’t exactly the time or place. The drugs had probably just gotten to him and he wasn’t thinking straight, the secrets spilling out without conviction. But would he make the confession more clear once you all made it to safety? Oh, God, you hoped he did, because you knew you wouldn’t be able to. This was just one thing you could never work up the courage to do.
“Guys?” Steve tapped on the stall walls. “Guys, did you just OD in there?”
You wished you had OD’d. That would’ve been a lot easier to deal with than how you were feeling right now. You scooted yourself out from beside the toilet, quickly wiping at your face to make sure there were no stray tears before you slid yourself under the stall and across the floor, sitting back up as you did your best to keep a blank expression.
“No.” Robin said quietly, letting out a shaky breath. “I… am still alive.”
You and Steve shared a look, and you felt your heart flutter, going a bit lightheaded, and you couldn’t tell if it was from his gaze or from the drugs still swimming through your veins. Steve then scooted himself out from beside the toilet just like you had and the two of you slid across the floor and into Robin’s stall, putting your backs up against the stall wall so you were facing her.
“The floor’s disgusting.” Robin said.
“Trust me.” You chuckled, both nervous and free. “I’ve dealt with worse.”
Robin smiled just slightly. “I don’t doubt it.”
“So, what do you think?” Steve asked her.
“About?”
“This person.”
“They sound awesome.”
“They are awesome.” Steve nodded, looking like he was trying to hold back a smile. Please, please, please let it be you. “And what about the guy?”
“I think he’s on drugs, and he’s not thinking straight.”
“Really?” Steve asked, fingers beginning to fiddle with the hem of his shorts. “Cause I think he’s thinking a lot more clearly than usual.”
“He’s not.” Robin said plainly.
Did she know who he was referring to? Did she suspect it was you? Was she not going to accept that if Steve said this person was a guy? Wait, did Steve even like guys? No, he had to. Who the hell else fit that description?
“Look…” Robin said. “He doesn’t even know this person. And if he did know them, like—like really know them, I don’t think he’d even want to be their friend.”
You forced yourself to remain blank. Steve did know you, better than anyone, outside of Debbie, ever had. He didn’t just know what you had done, he had seen it, and he had felt it. And in that elevator you had told him about that summer two years ago, even if it was extremely vague. He was still here, he had still held your hand. He kept choosing to stay, time and time again. Maybe you weren’t as broken as you thought you were.
“No, that’s not true.” Steve said, confused. “No way is that true.”
“Listen to me, Steve.” Robin said slowly. “It’s shocked me to my core, but I like you. I really like you. But I’m not like your others friends. And I’m not like Nancy Wheeler.”
“What are you talking about?” Steve scrunched his brows as he shook his head.
“Do you remember what I said about Click’s class?” Robin asked. “About me being jealous and, like, obsessed?”
“Yeah.” Steve said.
“It isn’t because I had a crush on you. It’s because… she wouldn’t stop staring at you.”
“Mrs. Click?” Steve asked, but you instantly understood where Robin was going with this.
Robin chuckled lightly. “Tammy Thompson.” She said. “I wanted her to look at me. But… she couldn’t pull her eyes away from you and your stupid hair. And I didn’t understand, because you would get bagel crumbs all over the floor. And you asked dumb questions. And you were a douchebag. And you didn’t even like her and… I would go home… and just scream into my pillow.”
You were right. Holy shit, you were right. Robin thought Steve was talking about her, and she in no way was talking about him. She liked girls. Robin liked girls. For some reason it felt like a weight had been lifted off your shoulders, both because that meant you weren’t alone and because it meant that she had no feelings for Steve. And you knew Steve, just like he knew you. When he had denied Dustin’s pushing for him to get with Robin, he was being genuine.
“Tammy Thompson’s a girl.” Steve said, and you could see that he was just testing the waters, allowing her to speak the words out loud instead of seeing it for himself.
“Steve.” Robin said softly.
“Yeah?” Steve asked slowly, prodding her along.
Robin just stared at him, her eyes conveying what her mouth wouldn’t. You glanced at Steve and you saw that his eyes were vacant, a small trickle of blood escaping his nose.
“Oh.” Steve said with a soft smile.
“Oh.” Robin echoed, clearly surprised at what she had just admitted.
“Holy shit.” Steve breathed as he sat back.
“Yeah.” Robin sighed, fixing her gaze to the ceiling, unable to meet either of your eyes. “Holy shit.” She then let out a single, quiet laugh. “Your nose is bleeding, by the way.”
“I know.” Steve wiped away the blood, revealing a small smile on his face. “It happens when I use my powers. Sorry.”
“Powers.” Robin shook her head. “So, you weren’t joking about that.”
“No.” Steve sighed, eyes drifting to his lap.
“Hop…” Robin called out softly. “Did you OD over there?”
You just stared at her for a second, trying to get your voice to work. You felt lightheaded. “No.”
“I mean, yeah.” Steve said, Robin’s attention flying to him, brows scrunched. “Tammy Thompson, you know, she’s cute and all, but… I mean, she’s a total dud.”
“She is not.” Robin said defensively.
“Yes, she is.” You argued lightly.
“She wants to be, like, a singer.” Steve chuckled. “She wants to move to, like, Nashville and shit.”
“She tried to sing for me once.” A smile slowly started creeping onto your face.
“She has dreams.” Robin defended.
“She can’t even hold a tune. I mean, she’s practically tone-deaf. Have you heard her? All the time.” Steve laughed.
Steve started singing badly, trying to convey to Robin just how much of a dud Tammy Thompson really was. You see me now tonight/You see me more than ever
“She does not sound like that.” Robin laughed.
“She sounds exactly like that.” You laughed back, not even caring about being so open anymore.
“She does not.”
“That’s a great impression of her.”
“Steve sounds like a Muppet.”
“She sounds like a Muppet.” Steve laughed, you and Robin laughing along with him. “She sounds like a Muppet giving birth.”
And if you can hold me tight. Steve started to sing when you and Robin joined in. We’ll be holding on forever
The three of you broke out into a fit of laughter, your shared interest in the terrible voice that belonged to Tammy Thompson causing you all to lose your breath. Once you had all calmed down Robin’s face suddenly turned into one of curiosity.
“Wait.” Robin straightened herself out. “If it wasn’t me, then who were you talking about?”
“Um…” Steve trailed off, eyes casting down to his lap again, fingers going back to fiddling with the hem of his shorts. “I don’t wanna say who.” He whispered. “But it’s a guy.”
“A guy?!” Robin practically shouted.
Steve still refused to meet her gaze, filled with an almost palpable nervousness. You suddenly got an urge to protect him—even if you always had that urge. He had just confirmed it was a guy he liked, so it had to be you. But he wasn’t going to say it right here and now. If he ever did.
“I didn’t even know I liked guys until not even a year ago.” You announced, effectively drawing Robin’s attention to you. “Not until a guy kissed me.”
“Who?” Robin asked curiously.
Shit. Your eyes drifted to your own lap, knowing she was not going to like the answer. “Billy.” You muttered softly.
“Billy Hargrove?” Robin echoed incredulously.
“He’s not actually that bad.” You defended, head raising to meet her gaze. “I mean, yeah, he’s hot-headed and all, but he really isn’t that bad of a guy. He’s just dealing with a lot.” You shrugged to yourself. “And he only knows how to handle it through anger.”
“So, are you guys, like… together?” Robin asked cautiously.
“Not anymore.” You confessed. “I broke up with him a few days ago.” You left out the part about being friends, and that phone call you were now almost certain was Upside Down related.
You were all just staring at each other in silence, none of you quite sure of what to say, if anything, to keep the conversation going. And then suddenly the door flew open and Dustin and Erica walked in, Dustin looking pissed off.
“Okay!” Dustin shouted angrily. “What the hell?”
The three of you looked over at Dustin and Erica, and then you all burst out into laughter, a little bit of the drugs still definitely in your systems as you fell into a laughing fit.
Erica put her hands on her hips and fixed the three of you with a look. “Are you guys still drugged?”
“No.” Robin shook her head. “No, we’re all good now.”
“Yep.” Steve nodded. “Puked it all up.”
“Disgusting.” Erica scrunched her face.
“All right.” Dustin said sternly, glancing down at his watch. “The movie is probably ending in about a few minutes or so. So, as everyone is leaving the theater we’re gonna blend in with the crowd. We catch the bus, and then home sweet home, here we come. Got it?”
“Got it.” You all said.
You slowly pushed yourself up from the floor, head and leg both throbbing, your feet still a bit unsteady beneath you. Your entire body was aching. You made your way over to the sinks, catching sight of Steve in the mirror as he walked over to join you. You were a complete mess, jaw, cheek, and eye all bruised, about a two inch long cut of dried blood on your cheekbone from where the bullet had grazed you. You lifted your shirt, torso just as black and blue as your arms and legs and another small cut from the other bullet. The back of your calf was still bleeding slightly, the bullet lodged beneath the skin, and your finger was still a mangled mess of red.
“Dustin.” Steve called out. “Do you have, like, a bandana or something for his finger?”
“Hold on.” Dustin slid his backpack off and started searching around, producing a bandana a few moments later and handing it over to Steve.
“This isn’t the first time someone’s taken a nail.” You said as Steve ripped off a strip of fabric.
“I see that.” Steve sniffled.
“And a tooth.” You added with a smirk, Steve sniffling again with a small smile.
Steve took your hand in his, your whole body buzzing with the contact, breath catching in your throat. He carefully wrapped the strip of fabric around the tip of your finger, tying it off securely but not too tightly. He then grabbed the rest of the bandana and suddenly knelt down in front of you, your breath now impossible to find as he wrapped your calf, tying the fabric off tightly against the open wound, not even earning any reaction from you. What was another bullet?
Steve stood back up, eyes locking with yours, but no words spoken. He really was still so beautiful even when bruised and bloody. His eyes even held their shine. It felt like he was staring right into your soul. Well, he did that all the time, didn’t he? But it felt different now, somehow more intimate.
“All right.” Dustin announced, snapping you out of your thoughts, and you turned to see him waving you all over to the door. You all joined him, leaning up close as you heard the distinct sound of bodies moving on the other side. Dustin opened the door and peered out. “And…” He whispered. “Blend.”
You all quickly exited the bathroom and weaved your way into the middle of the crowd, trying to lose yourselves in it, blend in and become invisible. You could feel Steve move to walk beside you, his shoulder bumping into yours as he fell into step, your hands brushing softly.
“Well, shit, that worked.” Erica said, surprised.
“Course it worked.” Dustin said. “Now we just have to get on the bus with the rest of these plebes, and home sweet home, here we come.”
“Uh, Dustin?” Steve called out.
“What?”
“Yeah, we might not want to go to your house.”
“Why?”
“Well, I might’ve told them your full name.”
“What is wrong with you?” Dustin hissed.
“Dude, I was drugged.” Steve defended.
“So?”
“So?” Steve mocked.
“So, you resist.” Dustin complained. “You tough it out. You tough it out like a man.”
“Oh, yeah, easy for you to say.”
“Guys?” Robin called out worriedly, grabbing your arms to stop you.
You followed Robin’s gaze over to the main doors of the mall, vision still slightly blurry, and you saw the two guards from earlier standing there, checking everyone’s IDs as they left. They were looking for you. Of course.
“Abort.” Dustin said as the men turned and saw you. “Abort. Abort.”
You grabbed onto Steve and Erica, hands tight around their arms as Steve grabbed onto Dustin and Robin, and the five of you took off running in the opposite direction, you leading them easily through the crowd as you tried to put as much distance between you and the Russians as possible. You made it over to the escalators, but they were roped off.
“Come on, let’s go, let’s go.” You waved them all forward.
Robin sat down on the section between the two escalators and slid down it. Steve went next and then you waved Dustin and Erica along before sliding down last, making sure to keep your injured leg off of the metal. The moment you hit the bottom you jumped up to your feet, wasting no time as you ran straight over to the cookie shop and hopped over the counter. The rest of them quickly followed suit, jumping up and over before ducking down and out of sight before the Russians could catch up to you.
Steve pressed himself against you, hand grabbing yours and lacing your fingers together. He held on tight, nearly crushing your bones in his grip, but he was also trembling, breaths shaky and inconsistent. You squeezed him back just as tight, not thinking as you brushed your thumb across his knuckles, sending a calming thought his way. It worked, his body began to still, a small trickle of blood escaping his nose that he didn’t dare try and sniffle away in fear of being heard.
You could hear the men’s footsteps echo throughout the food court as they stalked closer, more than two of them now. Their voices periodically spoke into their radios, their heads no doubt on a swivel as they searched for you. One of them spoke into their radio again and then their footsteps began approaching your location, growing closer and closer. You were caught.
Beep!… Beep!
A car alarm suddenly sounded in the distance and the four of them flinched at the noise, you just holding on tighter to Steve’s hand. He pressed even further into you, nowhere else to go lest you became one. You then heard the footsteps stop. Whatever had caused the alarm to go off had caught the Russians attention.
A loud crashing and thumping suddenly sounded from behind you, the booming sound of crushing metal reverberating off the walls. And then it went quiet. You signaled them all to stay down as you tore your hand from Steve’s, slowly rising to your feet. But they followed right along, because of course they did. You found the Russians all lying dead around the destroyed room, limbs splayed out, some blood splattered on the floor. The car that had once been on display was now destroyed and laying on its side up against the opposite wall.
You all looked around the room, trying to figure out what happened, when your eyes landed on the second floor, your body sagging in relief. El was standing there, hand outstretched and nose bleeding. Behind her were Nancy and Jonathan and the rest of the kids.
The group upstairs disappeared from view as they quickly made their way down to the bottom level. The five of you exited the cookie shop and you saw that Mike had one of El’s arms slung over his shoulders, helping her walk.
Dustin chuckled with excitement and ran up to Mike and El. “You flung that thing like a Hot Wheel!” Dustin flung himself into their arms and wrapped them up tightly.
When Dustin finally let go you immediately took his spot, arms wrapping around El as her own wrapped around you. Mike let her go and Steve joined in on the hug, all three of you holding tightly onto each other. You never wanted to let go of either of them ever again, but you did anyway, forcing yourself to break apart so you could focus on the task at hand.
“Lucas?” Erica exclaimed and ran over to her brother.
“What are you doing here?” Lucas asked, both confused and annoyed.
“Ask them.” Erica sassed. “It’s their fault.”
“True, yeah. Totally true.” Steve stammered. “It’s absolutely our fault.”
“I don’t understand what happened to that car.” Robin said.
“El has superpowers.” Dustin explained quickly.
“I’m sorry?” Robin said.
“Superpowers. Like me.” Steve said. “She threw it with her mind. Come on, catch up.”
“That’s El?” Erica asked, apparently having heard about her before.
“Who’s El?” Robin asked, still somewhat lost.
“I’m sorry.” Nancy said. “Who are you?”
“I’m Robin.” Robin gestured to herself and then over at you and Steve. “I work with them.”
“She cracked the top secret code.” You stated, mask easily falling into place.
“Yeah, which is how we found out about the Russians in the first place.” Steve added.
“Russians?” Jonathan repeated. “What Russians?”
“The Russians!” Steve shouted, gesturing wildly towards the dead bodies.
“Those were Russians?” Max asked.
“Some of them.” Erica said nonchalantly.
“What are you talking about?” Lucas asked, still both confused and annoyed.
“Didn’t you hear our code red?” Dustin asked.
“Yeah.” Mike said. “But I couldn’t understand half of what you were saying.”
“Goddman low battery!” Dustin shouted.
“How many times do I have to tell you with the low battery?” Steve yelled.
“Yeah, well, everything worked out, didn’t it, Steve?” Dustin bit back.
“Worked out?” Erica echoed. “We almost died.”
“Yeah, but we didn’t, did we?”
“Hop got shot!” Steve exclaimed, gesturing wildly over to you.
“You were shot?” Will echoed, concerned.
“Only once.” You shrugged. “The other two were just grazes.”
“And the nail?” Steve said, incredulous. “And the tooth?”
You waved him off. “Collateral damage.”
“Okay, Russians?” Lucas said, still not totally understanding. “As in, they’re working for the Russian government?”
“Thank god.” You scoffed to yourself.
“What is it that you’re not comprehending?” Dustin asked angrily. “Am I not speaking English? We have a full-blown Red Dawn situation.”
“So this has nothing to do with the gate?” Max asked.
“It has everything to do with the gate.” Dustin said.
The argument was broken up by the sound of a body hitting the floor, and you all whipped around to see El lying on the floor and crying in pain. Your heart shattered instantly.
“El? El?” You called out as you ran over to her. “El, what’s wrong?”
“My leg.” El whispered. “My leg.”
“Her leg, her leg. Okay.” Jonathan said and reached for her blood soaked pants, lifting them up and off of her calf.
El started screaming in pain as something started to wriggle around underneath the skin. You and Steve quickly grabbed onto her, trying your best to comfort her as the thing kept moving and she kept screaming. And your heart was unfixable.
Climbing up a fire escape was a lot harder when you only had one properly functioning arm. It was currently two o’clock in the morning, your left shoulder was dislocated, and you had a nasty bullet graze on your side. You had managed to haul yourself to your feet as best you could with one hand, and then you were off to Debbie’s.
You leaned yourself up against the bars, right hand gripping the side of the rusted metal ladder, snaking its way up the side after every step. You were only on the drop ladder, having just arrived at Debbie’s building, and you still needed to ascend five whole floors. Jesus Christ, you might have to convince her parents to move and get an apartment on the ground floor.
You took a deep breath, steadying yourself, pushing away your pain, and continued the rest of the way up. It was a major relief to make it to the first platform, your right arm now no longer having to hold all of the weight as your legs now took over. Although, walking up the stairs wasn’t a much better alternative either. The bullet graze was flaring up in an agony that you quickly stifled.
You pushed forward, finally making it to the fifth floor, and nearly collapsed against the window. Your body hit the glass with a loud thud, and you were just about to raise your hand to knock when someone else beat you to the punch.
You looked down, the curtains now drawn away to reveal the angel inside. She looked worried, although a lot less so than she had been the first time you came to her. You pushed yourself off the window as Debbie opened it, allowing her to help you through the opening before walking you over to the desk chair and sitting you down. The chair was more often used as an operating table than some place to study given the amount of times you had come crawling through her window.
“What happened?” Debbie asked, already moving to grab the first aid kit from under her bed.
The first time you had come to her for help she had no idea what she was doing, only able to haphazardly clean out the wound and then wrap it up way too tight. But then she started learning, slowly, and she invested in a top grade medical kit. You didn’t know what you would do without her. Probably just keel over and die.
“A bullet grazed me.” You groaned as you tried to find a more comfortable position. “And my left shoulder is dislocated.”
“All right.” Debbie announced, first aid kit being placed on the bed as she crossed over to you. “We’ll do the arm first, and then I’ll stitch you up.”
“Okay.” You nodded.
“So, um, I don’t really know what I’m doing.” Debbie said worriedly as she grabbed your arm. “I mean, I’ve done some research, but it’s just kinda hard when I’m only reading the words, you know.”
“It’s fine.” You rasped, and then you clamped your mouth shut, drawing in a sharp breath as she pulled your arm away from your body.
“They said traction first.” Debbie explained as she went through the motions. “And then move up, I guess. So, uh, just don’t make any noise.”
“No noise.” You groaned, face contorting into agony as she began moving your arm up. “Got it.”
She kept pushing your arm higher and higher into the air, tears beginning to burn in your eyes as she was definitely not doing everything correctly. And then it dissipated, leveling out into a manageable level, and you felt relief wash over you.
“I think that worked.” Debbie grimaced.
“It did.” You smiled up at her. “Now, you just need to stop me from bleeding out.”
“Oh, well, that I can handle.” Debbie laughed lightly, kneeling down to lift your shirt up and over your head, you hissing as the fabric scraped across the open wound. “You’ll be fine.” She reassured. “I’ve seen you with much worse.”
“I know.” You huffed. “It just hurts.”
Debbie balled up your shirt in her hands and held it out to you. “Bite down.”
You did as instructed, taking the torn and bloody shirt from her and shoving it into your mouth as she began cleaning the wound. It stung terribly, but you managed to keep yourself quiet. And then she threaded the needle, and you knew it was going to get so much worse.
Debbie was concentrated, eyes sharp and alert, hands steady and calm, and she dug the needle into your skin, earning a sharp gasp from you as you bit down hard on the fabric. You focused on her face as she tied off the stitch and moved onto the next, tissue pulled taut as you tried to concentrate on her instead of the pain. She was just so pretty, and you really didn’t know how you got so lucky with someone like her. She really was an angel sent down from Heaven. Well, maybe she was cast out due to the brash attitude and fighting. Either way, she was heavenly.
“All done.” Debbie announced as she tied off the bandage.
You didn’t respond, just staring at her, teeth still gripping tightly to the shirt in your mouth. For one, you could just never keep your eyes off of her. For two, you were half dazed from all the pain. But, luckily, Debbie knew by now to never offer you any drugs. You didn’t take them, not even aspirin unless it was absolutely necessary. You could deal with the pain. You just had to keep getting used to it.
Debbie let out a small laugh as she pushed herself to her feet, bloodied hands reaching out to gently remove the shirt from your mouth. What the hell would you ever do without her? The first time you had needed stitches because of your job, you had had to do it yourself, and that was the most painful experience ever. Not to mention you had done a pretty botched job and left yourself a rather jagged scar across your thigh.
Debbie went to go put the supplies away when you reached out and grabbed her, arms wrapping around her waist as you pulled her into your lap. You just needed to feel her, to know that she was really there with you. She draped one arm over your shoulders as her free hand cupped the exposed side of your face, your other half buried in her chest.
You wanted to hold on tighter, get as close as possible to her, but you couldn’t risk aggravating your injuries right now. You still needed to get back out there in two days and finish the second half of the job. But right now, you had some time in the still of the night to just relax.
“I love you.” You whispered.
Debbie kissed the top of your head. “I love you, too, you big mush.”
“I am not a mush.” You argued weakly, knowing she was absolutely correct. But you still had a reputation to uphold. Or, more correctly, a reputation you were almost near cementing.
“You are with me.” Debbie teased. “But that’s why I like you so much.”
“You like me so much?” You joked, but the giddy smile on your face was a hundred percent real.
Debbie laughed. “You’re like my own personal Spider-Man. Always crawling through my window in the middle of the night.”
You laughed, holding her tighter despite your wounds. “I don’t know if you’re more like MJ or Gwen Stacey.”
“Probably both.” Debbie shrugged.
“Either way.” You turned your head up to look at her. “You’re still an angel.”
Debbie tried hard to hide her smile, but she was failing miserably, and she brushed her thumb across your cheek. “And you’re still a mush.”
“Whatever.” You shrugged, just happy to see her happy. “Just don’t tell anyone.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Debbie leaned down and pressed a soft kiss against your lips, all of your pain disappearing instantly.
When Debbie broke away your eyes landed on her desk a few feet away, and it was only now that you noticed the messy state of her room. Well, it was always a mess, but it was usually an organized mess. Now it just looked like utter chaos.
“What happened to your room?” You asked.
“I was just doing some cleaning.” Debbie waved you off. “Wanted to clean out my closet, and then I started cleaning out everything.”
“Where’d the dice come from?” You asked as your eyes landed on the two little black cubes sitting on top of her desk.
“Don’t know.” Debbie leaned over and snatched up the dice. “Found them in the drawer.”
You took them from her, rolling them around in your hand. You had seen plenty of people playing with dice before, locked into a game of chance as they gambled away their money. Your mom was a heavy gambler whenever she drank, and it had often meant no money for insulin.
You closed your hand around the dice and shook them around, the little plastic cubes clicking against each other. You then tossed them forward, letting them land and roll across the hardwood floor before they finally came to a stop.
“Snake eyes.” Debbie frowned, the two white dots staring back at you.
“What’s that mean?” You asked. You never played games, you never gambled. You couldn’t risk losing what little money you had.
“People say it means bad luck.” Debbie explained, eyes locked on the floor. “Some say failure.”
“That’s just talk.” You brushed her off, although you felt nervousness pool in your gut. After tonight, it really did feel like you had been hit with some horrible stroke of bad luck. “I’m a lucky guy. And I ain’t no failure.”
“I don’t know about lucky.” Debbie smiled and turned back to you, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “But you sure as shit ain’t so failure. If you were, I wouldn’t have asked you out.”
Debbie leaned down and kissed you again, lips so soft you felt like you had melted right through the chair. If you were standing, you were pretty sure you would’ve collapsed on the spot from the way she took your breath away. Maybe the dice were wrong and you were lucky. Otherwise, how else would you have managed to land such an amazing girlfriend?
