#crashing down

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You squirmed out of Steve’s arms and ran to your dad, El limping close behind you pulled him into a big hug. Even though the last time you saw him was a few days ago, now was not the time for full fledged reunions you had to figure out what you guys were going to do to beat this thing.

As everyone was explaining their part of what had been going on over the last couple of days, you took your place under Steve’s arm. You watched as Jim gave Eleven the extra care she needed in that moment, making your lips curl up at the corners. 

“But instead of, like, screws and metal, the Mind Flayer made its weapon with melted people.” Steve said trying to make sense of everything he was being told

“Yeah, and it was fucking terrifying.” you say remembering what happened at the hospital yesterday.

“Yeah, okay I’m just makin’ sure”

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Hopping up on the counter next to Steve, you watched everyone scramble around trying to make last minute preparations before, Joyce, Murray and your dad headed down into the Russian bunker. You look at Steve’s face and how messed up it is and then look back at your father, hoping nothing too bad would happen to him down there. 

Steve notice how deep in thought you were,

“Don’t hurt yourself, thinking to hard over there Hop.” he said trying to make light of a situation

You laughed slightly, still letting your mind wander in and out of focus.

“You okay?” he asked moving across the counter to be a little closer to you

“Yeah just thinking. A lot of things could go wrong, just nervous I guess.” 

He nods his head in agreement, “But this is your dad we're talking about, he’ll be just fine.”

You overhear Dustin telling Hopper that they need a head start and a car to get to the highest point in Hawkins. He turns and waves Steve over, Steve gives you a pat on the knee before jumping off the counter and heading over to him. After telling Steve what he needed to do, he hollered out your name meaning you were needed. 

Steve met you in the middle causing you to stop, he pulled you into a hug while telling you that he was in charge of taking Dustin and Erica to some radio tower. 

“For the love of God, please be safe. It’s bad enough you’ve already been fucked up by the Russians, I really need you back in one piece.” you say to him pulling him just a little closer

“Oh you don’t have to worry about me, it’s you I'm worried about.”

You took a deep breath in before pulling away. You looked up into Steve’s eyes and placed a hand on his face, stroking his cheek with your thumb before walking over to your dad. 

“I was summoned.” you say marching up to and standing next to your dad

“C’mere,” he said, pulling you into his side, “I need you to keep a really close eye on El for me, okay?”

“Of course dad.”

“This thing is after her, so you guys are going to Murray’s house, so you guys can stay safe, protected and off the radar until this is all over.”

“Alright.” is all you can muster out before he pulls you into a lung crushing hug.

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You climb into the backseat of the Wheeler’s family car before Will and Lucas, leaving El, Mike and Max in the very back of the car. Nancy tries cranking the car but the engine just won’t start. Jonathan gets out to look, and says that there's a part missing, and it doesn’t make any sense. But all thoughts are put aside when you hear the sound of a very loud and familiar engine revving up.

“Get out, get out the car now” you say rather loudly nudging at Lucas’s side. 

You all get out of the car and head back into the mall where you would be a little bit safer.

After you get inside Mike instantly pulls out his walkie and starts sending out a code for ‘Scoops Troop’. You're standing next to El with your arm wrapped around her shoulder rubbing up and down her arm in an attempt to keep her calm. 

You see Jonathan, Nancy, Will and Max all walk over to the car that El had flipped over onto the Russian’s earlier that evening. You call Mike and follow in pursuit, climbing over the counter and behind the car to try and flip it over. You even let Eleven try to slip it over with her powers but it’s no use, but suddenly a bell goes off in your head. The same bell apparently goes off in Mike’s head because almost as if you were reading each others minds.

“Physics.” you both say in unison.

You flip the car over with the use of leverage and Jonathan begins his search for the ignition cable. 

Max was the one to notice El digging through the trash, you were the first to walk over to her and Mike was the one to call out to her. You were asking if she was okay and telling her that she needed to save her energy when none other than the Mind Flayer comes crashing down into the mall. 

“Fucking hell..”

You grab hold of Eleven’s hand and pull her away and out of sight. 

The four of you are hidden behind some sort of stand in the middle of the mall when Dustin comes over the walkie talkie telling you all to confirm your safety, but the Mind Flayer wasn’t having any of it. It let out one of the loudest screeches you had ever heard, you hadn’t been that close to it before. Tears formed in your eyes from the pain and from fear.

“We’ve gotta move.” you whisper to Mike

“There’s a way to get out, through The Gap.” El whispers back

Mike peeks his head up to see where the Mind Flayer is and is looking,

“Okay, okay. Now.” he said, grabbing El’s hand making a break for it, but of course not without making some fort of ruckus making the Mind Flayer turn and charge. Luckily you push them behind a clothing display just before it makes it to where the items had fallen,

You put your index finger to your lips signaling for them to be extremely quiet before you covered your mouth with your entire hand, attempting to silence your heave breathing. Looking at the three teens you motioned for them to crawl over behind the checkout counter in case it was just playing games, not wanting to risk anything. Though moving to this new spot didn’t help too much because you heard to your left the nasty sound of what you could only imagine was the flesh moving around.

As you turned and looked to your left you could confirm what you had heard, seeing the flesh like claw coming around the corner to snap at you. There was a loud popping noise, that sounded a lot like a balloon that caused a distraction making the claw retreat now redirecting its attention to the new sound.

“Go, go go.”  you said to the kids and you got up making a mad dash towards the exit.

You run out the back door and towards the gate that allows delivery trucks in and out trying to catch up with Nancy and the others. But as you make it just outside the gate you see Flayed Billy standing behind his car. You make the kids turn around and go back inside the mall in hopes that Billy didn’t see you, but you wouldn't go unnoticed especially since you had to go back and press the close gate button a second time because it didn’t work the first time. 

You run down a few different hallways trying to find another way out, whether that be up or down. So you pulled off into a side room where an elevator was, and mike pressed the button a few times. You really thought you had lost Billy at this point so you were good to take a little breather, until you heard the opening and shutting of a heavy metal door. 

Max was the one to round the corner and see who it was,

“Billy. Billy, you don’t have to do this. Billy. Your name is Billy, Billy Hargrove, you live on 4819 Cherry Lane. Billy please, I’m Max, I’m your-” was all you heard before the monster backhanded her out of consciousness. Mike was the first to lunge at him, but instantly got thrown against the wall and was also knocked unconscious. That left you and El, you take your stand in front of your sister and attempt to throw a punch at him, You successfully hit him in the jaw,

“You’re gonna regret that you little bitch” he says as he grabs you by the arm and twists until you’re facing away from him and he slams your head into the wall, everything goes black

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You wake up, what seems to be like hours later, seeing both Max and Mike still unconscious on the ground. You sit up, head pounding and your wrist and shoulder in excruciating pain. You crawl over to Max and get her to wake up, and when she does, she yells at Mike to get up.

“Are you guys okay?” you ask them. The both shake their heads, but then begin looking around the small room.

“Where’s El?” Mike asks.

The three of you run around in a panicked state of mind calling out for her hoping she had fucked Billy up and ran for help, but the more you looked the less hopeful you felt. You ran back down what you thought were the same hallways from earlier, but with your new concussion you weren’t so sure anymore. 

You looked down to the ground and saw drops of blood and some sort of black stuff.

“Guys, look.” you say pointing down the hallway where the trail of blood led.

After some time you finally manage to make your way to the main part of the mall. You pulled yourself to a complete stop, sticking your arm out to stop Mike and Max from continuing on any further. El was on the floor talking to Billy. 

You watched with wide eyes as Billy stood up in a protective stance over El. He stood there and stared at his creator, the thing that had destroyed him. Millions of memories flashed before his eyes as the fleshy tentacle that was supposed to kill your sister, shot out towards him. He stuck his arms out to stop it, to sacrifice himself. 

You watched in pure shock as tentacles pierced into his sides and back, grabbing hold of him, hoisting him up. It all happened in slow motion, as if the universe was trying to torture you in some way. You watched as that thing took your Billy Hargrove and pierced into his chest.

“Billy!” you and Max screamed one after another

You choked up a sob as you took off running over to him, Max close behind. You slammed your knees into the ground as you grabbed Billy’s shoulders and shook them trying to keep him awake. 

“Billy, Billy. Stay with me. Billy?”

His eyes fluttered open for a split second, this was the last time that he’d see your beautiful face.

“Hey, hey, hey, I need you to stay with me. Baby I can’t lose you. Please, baby please.”

He somehow managed to get an ‘I’m sorry’ out but you didn’t care he didn’t need to be apologizing right now, but that was the only thing he said before his whole body went limp. You continued to shake his shoulders, in disbelief that this was happening and that if you kept him awake long enough he would be okay.

“Billy, no please, Billy.” it suddenly feels like you can’t breath but the only thing you can do is yell. You’re choking out sobs as you strain your voice yelling out his name. 

Steve makes it down to the second floor as quickly as he can and is behind you in seconds. He puts his hands on your shoulders in an attempt to pull you away and into his arms but you turn and yell at him.

“No! Stop it! Don’t let them touch him! Billy! Billy!” Each phrase is spoken with more sobs. You finally collapse into Steve’s arms, shaking violently with each cry. 

All you can seem to say at this point was Billy’s name. Steve leads you to a paramedic and says that he’ll meet you outside, turning around and running back inside. You along with all of the others are checked over and are cleared to go home after sitting in ambulances for a while.

After Steve is checked, he walks over to you, Max and El and takes a seat next to you. The two are in a very tight hug, your sister is doing her best at comforting Max in this time of loss. You sit in silence, not having enough energy or emotion to talk. Steve wraps his arms around you with his blanket and pulls you into a tight embrace. You mellow out your breathing until you realize that you haven’t seen Murray, Joyce or your dad anywhere.

In a panic you release from Steve’s grip and grab your sister’s hand leading her to stand up. The two of you spend a few minutes looking around for them with no luck, suddenly you spot Joyce. No sign of Hopper, you notice that El see’s her too and looks to you confused as to why dad wasn't with her. But then she realizes, you know it too, dad didn’t make it.

Eleven turns into your arms and lets all of her tears out, and just when you think you don’t have any tears left to cry, all of your tears fall on top of her head. She lets out one scream and that’s it, the rest are sobs. You cradle her head, holding onto her and not letting go.

Both Joyce and Steve offer to take both you and El in for the night, seeing as how the cabin had been destroyed earlier that night and Hop wasn’t there to take you in for some extra loving. Of course you spent the next couple of weeks staying the night at the Byers’ house. But after a while it started to get a little too cramped so while El stayed with Joyce while you stayed with Steve. Most days were the same, super hard and emotional. But other days, you would be taking a few steps forward to recovery. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn't ever going to get easier, but you at least had the right people in your life to help you out.

>3 months later<

Over the last three months things have gotten better, you spent lots of time with Max and Eleven. Making sure that they’re both okay and that they know that they are both very loved. Your dad always told Joyce that if anything were to ever happen to him, that if she was up for it, to take care of El. It wasn’t that he didn't trust you to take care of her, he just knew that it would be a lot for you at such a young age.

Joyce took her in with open arms, and even offered a room to you when she mentioned that they would be moving to Maine. You declined, only because Steve couldn't handle all the kids by himself. Steve’s mom even offered to let you stay in their guest room until you and Steve could get your own place, you had only been talking about it since you were 11. The two of you still planned on doing that, but with being unemployed at the moment it was kinda hard to have money to pay rent.

Today was the final day of packing up the Byers house. You had planned on being there but got pulled into a last minute job interview at Family Video with Robin and Steve. But as soon as you were done there, you were heading over to say your goodbyes. It was a hard day and you were trying not to think about it. 

Good news: the three of you start work on Monday. Bad news: it was time for the Byers to leave.

As you and Steve pulled up it looked like they had just put the last box in the moving truck. You hopped out of the car and jogged up to the door right as Joyce was coming out with a box for you to take home.

“What’s this?” you ask, taking the box from her

“Just a couple of Hop’s things, I thought you'd might want them.”

You sat the box down on the front porch and pulled her in for a hug, “Thank you, for everything. For the stuff and for basically being my mom and for taking El in. It means a lot to me.” A few tears escaped from your eyes.

As everyone was saying their final goodbyes you pulled El in for one final hug. 

“You don’t have to go, you know..” you say in a half joking manner. “you could stay here with me, get our own place or fix up the cabin. He did it before.”

All she does is chuckle lightly and buries her face deeper into your chest.

“I'm really gonna miss you, kid” you say quoting something your dad would say, “but I’ll see you soon. I think we’re all coming up for Thanksgiving next month and then Christmas is right after that.”

“I know” she said quietly, “I love you, Y/N” 

“I love you too El.” you pulled away from the hug and locked pinkies with her and kissed your own hands. Giving each other a small smile before moving on to the others. 

“You have Steve’s number right?” you asked before pulling her into one last hug. She nodded her head as she pulled you closer for one last squeeze before climbing into the passenger seat of the moving truck. You shut the door behind her patted the door and just like that they were gone. The kids all ride their bikes back to their designated homes and you and Steve climbed back into his car to head home too. 

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As Steve puts his car into park he shifts a little in his seat, you don’t notice because you're looking down at your hands with tears rolling down your cheeks.

“I know today’s kind of a hard day for you, but I have something that might make you feel a little bit better.” he says running a hand through his hair.

He reached behind you into the back seat and pulled out a flat velvet box, you give him a curious look,

“Max and I, we talked about this for a really long time and she really wanted you to have this.” he says handing you the box.

You open it and your eyes fill with more tears as your hands drop to your lap and your head hung forward. Inside the box was Billy’s Virgin Mary necklace. It had been polished and shined and cleaned and it looked better than ever. You set the box to the side and you wrap your arms around Steve and give him a hug. After you pull away you pick up the box again and look down at it. 

“I miss him Steve,” you say resting your head on his shoulder.

“I know you do.” he said as he wraps his arm around you 

You sit up and look at him and he's looking back at you with nothing but love in his eyes, you think it’s time you told him.

“Steve there’s something I need to tell you.” your heart is beating so hard you’d be surprised if he couldn’t hear it. “These last 3 months have been some of the hardest months of my life, not only because I lost so much but because I’ve realized a lot of things. I learned my self worth, it’s been a while since I’ve truly been happy. And I found that I’m only truly happy when I’m with you. I also know that Billy would’ve wanted me to move on at some point, and as much as he said he hated you Harrington, he wouldn’t want me to be with anyone but you.”

He looked at you like if he blinked everything would fade away and none of this would be real. You reach out and place a hand on his face, looking over where wounds had once been and were now turning into scars. 

“ I love you Steve.” You finally say 

He doesn’t say anything back he just leans in and presses his soft lips against yours. The kiss held so much love and emotion. It felt just like the movies, like the moment when these things always happened. Time seemed to have slowed down, allowing you take it all in and cherish it.

“I’ll take that as the feeling’s mutual?” You say with a giggle. 

Steve brushes his nose against yours before kissing you again, only this time with more force. You took this as his way of saying yes. His mouth hot on yours as his hands grabbed your waist awkwardly from the place he was sitting and pulled you as close as he could. You both only pulled away to catch a breath. 

This would be a moment you would remember for the rest of your life. It wasn’t your first kiss, wasn’t even your second, or hundredth, but it was your first kiss as lovers, but it definitely would not be your last. The world would throw crazy things at you, especially when you aren’t ready for it, but you don’t have to deal with it alone anymore. 

You just always have to know that sometimes things just don’t go as planned and your world might come crashing down and it’ll fall apart, but always remember that you’ll have people in your life to be there to catch you when you fall.

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