demons2003

[demons2003]

Torn from Heaven (Part 1)

Description: You thought nothing would break you apart. Thought that no matter what you would be at eachothers side. But something wants you apart. And it breaks all of your hearts.

Warnings: mentions of miscarriage, grief, and loss.

Afterlife in hell wasn't all bad. After I had died, I didn't know what I would do with myself. But coming to the hotel was the best decision I've made. Not only did I create amazing friendships, I meant the loves of my afterlife.

Lucifer and Alastor. At the time, I didn't know that they were the most powerful men in hell or that they were lovers. But they let me in. Let me be with them. And it was the best day of my life.

When I found out that I had become pregnant, none of us knew what to do. We weren't thinking of having kids, but it felt right with these to by my side. We were excited. Planning for a future We had only dreamed of.

But what was meant to be a happy appointment for us became a heartbreak. We were meant to be celebrating our child, but instead, it became a loss. Two weeks ago we found out that we had lost our baby. The excitement and joy that we once were feeling were now all gone. Charlie has been a big support through this time, but my boys have completely disappeared.

Alastor hasn't been at the hotel since the appointment. We left the appointment and he just disappeared. Not a single word or note said to us beforehand. He found out the news and just ran away.

Lucifer has been cold and distant throughout the past two weeks as well. He's been here but not. He's floating around the hotel without talking to me. He started off, ok? Trying to comfort me while also grieving himself, but outside of the room, he would barely talk to me. Making me feel like it's my fault that we lost our baby.

But today was feeling weirder than normal. Lucifer hadnt left our room all day. I had gotton up early to help Charlie with setting up the hotel for an event today, but Lucifer hadn't left our room. Even while the event was happening, I found Charlie looking around the room for someone, for her dad.

"I just don't know what to do anymore. Neither of them are really talking to me and even if I talk with Lucifer he acts like we are fine." I explain to Husk and Angel at the bar. I really didn't want to socialise with new people.

"Im sorry, love. It's never fun when your partner does that. Do you even know where Alastor is, baby?" Angel says, wrapping an arm around me and looking over at Husk.

Husk shrugs as he cleans a glass. "He wouldn't let me know where he goes on a good day, let alone a bad one. Have you tried asking Rosie? The feels like someone he'd run to."

I sigh and shake my head. "That was the first place I looked. She hasnt seen him and would let me know if she does." The boys look at me with sympathy in their eyes before another voice breaks out.

"Have any of you seen dad at all?" Charlie asks us, sitting down next to Angel.

"No, sorry dear. Haven't seen him all night. Would you like me to go see if he's still in our room?" I ask her, turning towards her as I speak.

She smiles at me and nods her head. "If you don't mind. I'd really like to show him the turnout before people start to leave."

I nod at her and wave to the boys before leaving the area. As I turn a corner, I take a second to breathe. I'm not worried about seeing him, but I feel like something is wrong. Like I did that day, and I can't take any more bad news.

I knock on our door as I reach it and open the door. When I step instead, I find that all of Lucifers' stuff is gone. I panic a little, going back to the door to make sure that I'm in the right room, and I am. I look around the room, opening draws and flipping things to see if anything if anything of his was still there, but it isn't.

I reach for my phone to ring him when I notice a letter sitting on my pillow. My name on the envelope with Lucifers curly handwriting. I sit on the bed a pick the letter up, slowly opening it.

- Dear Y/N.

We can't do this anymore. We've had some great times together but we think we need to go our separate ways.

After what happened a few weeks back, we can't be with you anymore. We want to go different ways.

We need to breath. We need to think with having a reminder of what happened.

For what its worth, we are sorry about this.

Goodbye Y/N. Tell Charlie we won't be back for a while.

Lucifer and Alastor.

I stare shocked down at the letter, trying to process the words in front of me. "They're gone," I whisper to no one, and I feel my heart break in two as I realise that I am completely and utterly alone. The tears start to fall, and I just sit there alone.

Maybe if the baby didn't die, they wouldn't have left. But maybe they were planning to leave anyway, and it's better this way. He couldn't even tell me to my face he was leaving, though. And Charlie, poor Charlie doesn't even get a goodbye.

As I try to get myself together, I hear the door creaking. I look UL so far, hoping they came back, but Angel's face pops through the door. He's smiling before it drops from his face and he moves over to me.

"What happened love?" He asks while sitting next to me and wrapping me in a hug. I burst out crying again and hug into him.

"They left me." I tell him, passing the letter to him. He grabs it with one of his hands that isn't holding me and sighs.

"I'm so sorry, baby doll. You don't deserve this." He says, pulling me closer. I cry into his fluff and try to braeth. But I don't feel like I'm ever going to be able to breathe again. Not without my loves.

"We were happy before this." I tell him, leaving his warm and moving tothe chest of draws with our photos. Photos of us happy. Of us together.

"I know you were." Angel whispers and follows behind me, wrapping me in himps arms and looking over my shoulder.

"Was it all a lie. Did they never want me?" I ask him as I study the photo. It was one of the first ones we took when we all became a couple. We went on a beach trip and I begged Alastor to let me take a photo of him. He tried to argue, but after I gave him my puppy dog eyes, he caved. The three of us laying on the sand, smiling up at the camera that I was holding above our heads. We look happy, but we're they just pretending?

"They arent good at acting. They loved you doll. I just dont understand why they left." Angel explains but it doesn't help. So we stand there in silence, looking gat the photos. Looking at the memories that will hurt me over and over again.

Lucifer’s Pov

It's done. She won't try to talk to us anymore. Even though she is now safe, it still hurts to make her leave us alone. But now I just have to find a way to get Alastor out of her clutches.

Part 2

[demons2003]

The Witcher Masterlist

[demons2003]

Helluva Boss Masterlist

Stolas x Blitzø

TBD

Description: The crystal was meant to be a new start. Something to let them move on. How did it break them so badly?

TBD

Description: He's never felt like this before. He was worried about him. Even after he knew he was alright. Maybe Milly will know what's wrong with him.

TBD

Description: Sometimes your friends need some help finding each other. Even I they told you not to.

Fizzarolli & Blitzø

TBD

Description: Blitzø and Fizz finally talk about what happen to them when they were kids.

All Characters

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[demons2003]

Hazbin Hotel Masterlist

HuskerDust

Redeeming Without You

Description: Angel is redeemed before Husk. He's ripped from his arms and taken into the sky. Not knowing how long it will be before they see each other again. Or if they'll see each other ever again.

TBD

Description: It started off as a joke. They secretly loved each other but couldn't admit it to themselves or the other. Their past continues to get in their way. Until it doesn't.

TBD

Description: He's free. Angel is finally free. Husk was able to get him out of it. He just didn't get to tell Angel in time.

TBD

Description: Sometimes, anger brings out Angel's good side. At least that's how Husk is feeling right now.

TBD

Description: The boys finally open up about what their overlords have done to them. All the horrors that they have had to face.

Angel Dust & Reader (Female or Male)

TBD

Description: Sometimes you need to vent to your best friend about your crush. And sometimes he needs to do the same. So why not make a night of it together?

Radioapple

TBD

Description: They finally talk about things.

TBD

Description: The past hurts. But if you want to more forward, you need to go a little. Even if you're scared that they might leave in the process.

Radioapple x Reader

Torn from Heaven

Description: You thought nothing would break you apart. Thought that no matter what, you would be at each others side. But something wants you apart. And it breaks all of your hearts.

Ghosts of What We Had

Description: TBR

All Characters

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[demons2003]

What Was Left Unsaid (Batman/Bruce Wayne x Reader)

Description: Bruce has many secrets, ones that he has always shared with you. But what happens that be was hiding the fact that your newest and youngest child that's been living with you for months is accually his child. One that should exist because of your own relationship.

Warnings: mentions (offscreen) of rape and drugging. Heartbreak.

"Tell me you are joking," I ask Bruce as we walk through our front door.

"You know I don't really joke," He says as he moves to take off my coat, my heart racing.

"Why didn't you tell me about this before you brought him into our home? You have a biological son!" I exclaim, moving out of his reach. He drops his hands in defeat and puts them in his pockets.

"I don't know." He says, turning away from me.

"Bruce, we have to talk about this," I say, moving after him. He ignores me and continues up the stairs. "Bruce, please," I plead again, but he ignores me. 'He has a 10 year old son. A son that isn't mine, even though we have been together since before we adopted Dick!'

As we both walk up the stairs, the boys all seem to come out of their rooms to find out what we are yelling about. "What's going on?" Jason asks us, seeming to square up a little towards Bruce.

"Nothing Jas, go back to whatever you were doing," I kindly say, pushing Bruce towards his office.

"You've been yelling since you walked in the door. Something is going on." Dick sasses, crocking a brow at us both.

"This is between us boys." Bruce snaps and turns around, heading into his office.

Before I can do the same, Tim grabs onto my hand. "You ok mum? You look like you've been crying." He whispers, looking at me with concern.

I smile at him and shake my head. "Yeah, Timmy, I'm ok. Just some adult things we gotta talk about." I whisper, taking my hand out of his and walking into the office, locking the door behind me.

I stand there for a second, trying to collect my thoughts. Bruce sits at his desk quietly as well, seeming to wait for me to speak first.

"Please tell me this is all a sick prank, and you aren't really the dad Bruce?" I ask him quietly, not moving from my spot at the door.

"I checked. He's mine." He says. I laugh a little and look up to try to stop the tears from falling.

"How? Bruce, we've been together for 15 years? If you have a 10 year old son...." I choke out, not wanting to say the words, but I know I have to. "....Then you cheated on me." I finally say, my chest tightening as the words leave my mouth.

"I honestly thought it was a dream," he whispers, which gets me to face him again. He's leaning on his desk, head in his hands, shaking his head like he doesn't believe it either.

"So you had a dream about cheating on me? That doesn't make me feel much better, Bruce. We tell each other everything? Why not this?" I question, finally stepping away from the door and sitting in the chair across from him. But he doesn't say anything.

He just leans on his desk, staring at the wood like it holds all the answers. His hands grip his hair so tight that his knuckles are turning white. He seems like he goes to say something a few times, but nothing ever comes out. But I wait. Wait for him to tell me something. An explanation. An excuse. Something. But nothing ever leaves his mouth.

"You gotta tell me something, Bruce. He's been living in our house!" I exclaim, my voice breaking. "I'm falling apart here, I need you to say something."

Finally, his lifts his eyes to mine. Eyes that I am bearly reconising right now. He's always shows his emotions in his eyes but never these. He's always been the strong one out of the two of us, but he seems broken right now, just like how I feel. But it doesn't answer what's going on right now.

"I didn't know how to tell you. I couldn't leave him on the street. I didn't know how to explain. I couldn't remember it well. It wasn't.." he trails off, looking away from me again.

"It wasn't what?!" I exclaim, standing as my anger starts to rise again. "It wasn't serious? It wasn't recent? It wasn't consensual?"

As the words leave my mouth, I watch as Bruce flitches just a little. He looks up at me, eyes broken before they shift. Instead of my Bruce, I have Batman sitting in front of me. Emotionless. Cold. He shut down on me.

"I don't know what you want me to say." He says, eyes not moving from mine.

"That's not good enough, Bruce." I whisper. Taking a step back. "I don't like what you've become." I say, shaking my head and backing further from the desk. "You were supposed to be mine. For fifteen years, you were mine. But now there's this.... reminder of someone else. A child that wasn't with me."

"It wasn't like that," He says.

"Then tell me what it was like, Bruce! Tell me why you did this to me?!" I snap at him, needing something that could ground me. But he just stares back down at the desk. The same expression on his face, like the wood holds all the answers. Answers he can't let me in on.

My heart shatters as I watch him staring, not moving at all, brarely even breathing. "I can't do this anymore." I whisper, moving towards the door. "I need some time to myself. To think. To consider....." I turn fully around and unlock the door, my hands shaking so bad that I need to use  both. "Tell the boys I love them." I say without looking back at him.

"Don't follow me." I whisper before barging out of the door. All four boys are crowded near the door, seeming to be waiting for us.

They all look towards me as the door opens, but I just walk straight past them without a word. They all try to talk to me, but I can't say anything, needing to just get out of this house.

Away from all the problems. Away from the man that I love, trusted. But he can't seem to give me any words to make me want to stay.

In the Office

I can't move. I can't think. She's gone, and she took my heart with her. Everything runs through my head over and over, but nothing will change what I did. Or what I didn't do.

When she closes the door behind her, I don't move. Not even when her footsteps fade down the hall and the front door slams shut behind her. I just stay at the desk, stay hunched over, and stare at the wood. The silence is worse without her in it.

I could still run after her. Tell her what really happened. That Talia drugged me and took advantage of my state. But I don't know if I can. I don't know if I can see the look she might give me afterwards.

I won't be able to handle telling her that I started remembering everything that happened, but I didn't do a thing to stop it. I couldn't do anything. But it just makes me feel worse.

I lean more forward and press the palm of my hands into my eyes, trying to regain my control. Trying to even out my breath. Slow, controlled, hollow. But the door swings open before I can get too far.

"Okay, what the hell is going on!" Jasons voice rings out as he walks in. "Did you cheat on Mum? You screwed around on her?"

"Just leave it alone, boy," I say, trying to stay calm, not lifting my head to look at him.

"She was crying, Bruce, crying over you. She never cries," Dicks desperate voice rings out next.

Without even looking up, I can image the two of them, standing in the doorway, arms crossed and glaring at me. At least I know she's protected if I won't be around anymore.

Tim's worried voice comes out next, the worry bleeding into his tone, "She said it was just adult stuff. But that wasnt just any fight."

"I said leave it!" I growl at them and look up to find Damian also in the room. Silent and brooding but watching me like he was trying to solve a riddle.

"No, you leave it!" Jason snaps, stepping closer to me. "You broke her! What the hell went down in here!"

"Get. Out. All of you." I snap at them, anger burning my eyes. That seems to freeze them all.

Jason steps back a little and Dick sighs. "Come on. He's not going to talk. Not now." He whispers, ushering them all out.

Tim hesitates as he looks me in the eyes to say, "She doesn't just leave, you know that. Not without a reason." Then he's gone. The door clicking shut behind him.

And for the first time in fifteen years I feel completely and utterly alone.

Hotel Somewhere, Few Days Later

The hotel room that I've checked into is alright. Somewhere that people won't look for me. But that didn't stop everyone from trying to contact me.

Over the past 2 days I've been getting texts and calls none stop. 26 missed calls and 43 messages. Most are from Tim and Dick, some are from Alfred and even one call from Jason. But none are from Bruce. However, the last one from Tim is what catches my eye.

Tim: Please mum, just let us know that you're safe. We don't need to know where you are. Just let us know you're ok. We're all worried.

I don't know what to do. I know that I should do something, but I can't get myself to move in order to call them.

If I tell them I'm ok, I'd be lying. Physically, I'm ok, but I still can't get over it. He hurt me. He brought a child into my home, one I've grown to love, only to find out that's he's his biological child. That he knew all along.

I finally go to call Tim when there's a sharp knock at the door. I tense as I wait. No one should know where I am. Another knock rings out. This one is more rapid.

I slowly get up from the bed and move to the door, looking through the peep-hole, as the door explodes into me. I scream on impact and try to cover myself as best I can.

Smoke fills the room as heavy steps echo in the small room. I groan as I push the door off me, looking up to see blurry figures advancing towards me.

I go to attack when I feel a sharp pain in my neck, something entering my bloodstream. My body goes numb as I sink to the ground, the world slowly going black as I notice a symbol on one of the figures' arms.

H.I.V.E.

Batcave, Hours Later

I haven't been sleeping. Every time I close my eyes, I see her heartbroken eyes. So I've been spending my time in the cave. Scanning throughevery CCTV traffic cams, just for a glimpse that she is ok.

Even with all of Gothm's data at my fingertips though, I can't find a single thing with her in it. But she's Batwoman. She knows how to stay in the shadows.

"She hasnt used her card. No GPS pings. There is no sign of her car. No one's seen or heard from her since she left." Alfred says from behind me.

"She's hiding from me." I say.

I feel Alfred step closer and watch him as he crosses his arms. "Or something has happened to her."

"She just needed some space, that's all." I explain, moving to another camera.

"You've had fights before Bruce. She never leaves like this. Or she at least tell me where she is going. Always answers the boys' texts." Alfred's voice hardens as he continues. "If this was anyone else missing, you'd already have every single person out in the field looking for them."

I sigh and fully look at him. "I know. But I don't know what to do."

He studies me for a second, this eyes softening a little. "Then go out and look for her." He says, putting his hand on my shoulder.

I nod and finally get out of the chair, moving towards the Batmobile. "Bring up traffic cams feeds from hotels located near lower Gotham. Run facial recognition against every check-in desk. I'll start looking out there." I tell him, opening the door to the car.

Before we can get too far, Tim's voice crackles over the cams. "Bruce. I was investigating some chatter that I had been picking up from a H.I.V.E. operative that I was tracking. He was told that Mrs Wayne was delivered. I think they took mum."

I freeze for a minute, trying to let the words sink in. Then I snap, "I want every file that we have on H.I.V.E. pulled up. Now."

Underground Cell

I feel like I've been run over. My head is pounding, my mouth feels dry, and there's a soft ringing in my ear.

I try to move but my arm doesn't move. I shake and hear the distinct sound of metal hitting metal. 'Great. My hand is handcuffed to a chair.'

I open my eyes to see if I can work out where I might be but the room in bland. It's dark beside the light above me that is flashing slowly on and off. I scan the room to find a camera set up, pointing directly at me, a woman standing right next to it smiling.

"I was wondering when you'd finally wake up," she says, slowly starting to work towards me. Her heels click on the concrete floor as she moves closer.

I look her over, and she looks like most other H.I.V.E. operatives. She's tall and blonde but holds herself upright, almost like she's a force to be reckond with. She continues to smile at me, but it's cold and scary. I wanna be anywhere but here.

"You're quite valuable,  you know?" She asks, wiping something off of my face. I try to move away from her, but she just grips my chin. "Not just as Bruce Wayne's wife, but as someone that Batman truly wants to protect."

"I won't help you," I snap at her, trying to get out of her grasp, but she's holding on tight.

"Oh honey," she whispers, moving in closer to my ear. "You already are. Just by existing he has a weaken."

She moves back and lifts the tablet for me to see. On the screen in a paused video of me and Bruce as Batman, kissing on a rooftop. A time we thought was completely alone.

"This connection? That's leverage. And leverage gets results." She smiles and leans in close to whisper, "You are gonna help me make him bleed."

Batcave, Few Days Later

"They still have her in Gotham," I explain to everyone as a pace in front of a large holoscreen. "The H.I.V.E. facility that's she's in is underground. Most likely located in the East End industrial sector."

Everyone is looking at me worried but still focused. "They moved fast," Tim speaks up from the computer. He hasn't been able to leave it since she was taken, and it's showing. "Scrambled cams as they drove. Disguised the entries. But I did find a residual trace of heat signatures near an abandoned meatpacking plant. There are old tunnels under it."

"Classic villain move. Take the one person he can't afford to use and bury her underground." Jason mutters, his hands balling into fists.

"Then we dig them out," Damian snaps.

Dick frowns suddenly and sits forward as he says, "We don't even know what they want. If they have already made contact..."

"They haven't," I cut in, looking over at him. "They won't until they think they've broken her."

The boys are all silent for a moment. Thinking what none of us want to accually say. What if it's already too late. Jason steps forward to say, "Then lets move before they even get the chance."

"I'll be going in first." I tell them, leaving them no room to argue back. "You four will flank. We come in from all angles, give them nowhere to escape. These places are like hornets nests. One wrong move, and we trigger a swarm."

Tim swipes through some blueprints and brings one up for us all to see. "The tunnels are unstable. But there is a ventilation shift around this area. It's a tight fit, but it will lead directly to where they might be holding mum." I look at the screen to see if there's something that we might have missed, but the plan is solid.

I look over at the boys as Tim whispers, "If they've hurt her.."

Damian buts in and snaps, "They won't get the chance to do it again."

Underground Cell

My heart hammers in my chest as I look around me again. They have a guard on the other side of the glass, but he always turns around after watching me for a while. The perfect amount of time to escape.

I feel the chair and finally pull off a price of metal to help with my escape.  But then I just wait. The guard looks at me before finally looking away.

I bend the metal in my hand and jam it into the lock. I move it around until I hear a soft click. One down, one to go.

I stay in that potion, not wanting to catch his attention before shoving the metal into the other lock. I struggle to get this one open, but just as I do, the door swings open.

The blonde walks through with two guards behind her. "Well, well. Aren't you clever one." Shs mocks at me.

Without a second thought, I lunge at her. But the guards are faster. I manage to hit one of them, but before I can turn to the other, he stabs a taser into my side.

Pain shots through my body, everything freezing up. I scream through the pain and drop to the floor when he steps away.

The blonde moves in front of me and grabs my chin to force me to look at her. "I was going to wait for your precious Dark Knight to show up before I did anything. But after this stunt?" Her smile turns from 'nice' to cruel in a moment. "I think we should speed things up."

She slaps me in the face and gets up, moving to the camera. The guard lifts me by the collar and faces me to the camera, the red light mocking me as it slowly blinks.

Part 2

[demons2003]

Eddie makes his all of his big decisions by shaking a magic 8-ball

[demons2003]

okay i cannot shut up about them

steve being the one average intelligence friend among fucking geniuses (most of which are like fucking 13 year olds / all of which are younger than him) must be so damaging to his self esteem

because he’s only surrounded by child prodigies, a literal genius that’s fluent in several languages, and (probably the valedictorian if she wanted to be) a badass genius journalist, he has no example of what average intelligence is and just assumes he is stupid

which is not helped by the fact that everyone looks down on him/calls him an idiot/expects him to know everything!! so they just enforce this belief that he’s stupid and less than just because he’s not as intelligent as the rest of them

and then along comes eddie munson who failed senior year twice, yet is an amazing storyteller and genius DM, who knows about all these cool things and guess what? dustin looks up to him!

and steve knows dustin isn’t replacing him but dustin thinking he was cool was one of the only things holding his facade together

and then robin is only thinking about vickie and of course steve wants to help and he listens and gives advice, but robin was the only one who was around, who hung out with him, who listened

and max is isolating herself, and lucas has basketball and hellfire, and he doesn’t think nancy would ever want to be friends, so it’s. just him.

and then

and THEN

steve is walking through the upside down with eddie munson, and eddie references something he doesn’t get, and steve expresses his confusion and is prepared to be made fun of- but eddie just. tells him? explains it to him?

and it catches him off guard because no one has done that before, even as King Steve carol would roll her eyes and tommy would laugh whenever he asked them something. whenever he asked questions in class (which was rarely) the teachers told him he should’ve been paying attention but he was- he just didn’t get it

so steve tests it again later on and the same thing happens- even in front of the others, when steve asks a question eddie just tells him without poking fun and it’s… it’s really nice actually

once vecna is defeated and everyone survives (bc fuck you) steve continues to badger eddie with questions, looks to him whenever he doesn’t understand what’s going on and eddie will immediately explain it in a way he can understand

a while after they become good friends, steve just has to ask.

“does it get annoying?”

“…does what get annoying?”

“me asking you about stuff all the time”

but eddie just smiles at him, tells him how he actually loves that steve asks because it means he’s engaged and interested, when eddie is used to people getting bored of his rants/tirades

he tells steve that he loves explaining things to him, loves that he listens and pays attention and steve realizes oh, we’re kind of perfect for each other aren’t we?

he thinks he’s okay with that. especially if eddie keeps smiling at him and telling him about anything and everything he wants to

[demons2003]

The Interview (and the year and a half to follow)

Pairing: Eddie Munson × Steve Harrington

Summary: When rockstar Eddie Munson reveals that he's married, and to a teacher no less, his fans don't know what to do with themselves. Steve and Eddie, especially Eddie, love the chaos. And he can't help but keep declaring his love for his mystery husband.

Word Count: 2.7k

A/N: This is a modern AU in which Steddie are in their early thirties and everyone else is aged up accordingly, and it's truly incredibly sappy. I wrote this all in one go at 2-4am before a shift at 9am, so it could be a masterpiece or it could be crap. You decide!

"My husband is a middle school teacher." Eddie had said, just trying to give the interviewer a little bit of background on his life. He hadn't expected it to set the internet on fire. 

HE'S MARRIED?? TO A TEACHER?????

I CAN'T EVEN IMAGINE WHAT HIS HUSBAND COULD BE LIKE!!!

IS IT AN OPPOSITES ATTRACT KIND OF RELATIONSHIP OR IS EDDIE'S HUSBAND JUST THE MOST HARDCORE TEACHER EVER??

ONLY A LEGEND LIKE EDDIE MUNSON COULD DROP SUCH A BOMBSHELL SO CASUALLY!!

"Eds, what the hell did you do?"

"All I did was say that my husband is a middle school teacher and now everyone's obsessed with you. I think they like the idea that I have a soft side."

"You're nothing but soft sides." Steve chuckled, engulfing Eddie in his arms as they cuddled on the couch. "Maybe I should be the famous one."

"In your dreams, Harrington." Eddie scoffed, playfully smacking him on the shoulder.

"If they like the idea that you're secretly a softie, maybe you should tell them that we're an emergency foster home. Or that we have seven pseudo-children."

"One thing at a time, babe. I don't want to set the world on fire."

Eddie didn't do another interview for a while. He was busy producing his band's next album, their fifth one, and spending time with friends and family between tours. But when Corroded Coffin was invited to be the musical guest on a late night show two months later, partly to promote a movie that Eddie was in (it would be his acting debut and he would be lying if he said he wasn't terrified that people would think he was absolutely horrendous), he had almost forgotten about the frenzy he had whipped his fanbase into at the reveal of the existence of his husband.

"So, a couple of months ago you let slip that your husband is a teacher." The host said to him when he sat down after performing his song, and the audience cheered. These were the questions they wanted answered.

"Yeah, a lot of people were surprised to hear that I'm married but I've been wearing a wedding ring for six years." Eddie smiled, holding his left hand up to the camera to display the simple silver wedding band on his ring finger. "I guess nobody really noticed because I wear a lot of rings."

"That's insane, you've been married for six years?" The host exclaimed, and Eddie nodded with a chuckle. "I have to ask, how did you two meet? I mean, a heavy metal rockstar and a middle school teacher are not a conventional pair."

"We met in high school." Eddie answered, and the audience awed. "Well, technically, he had just graduated high school and I was on my second repeat of senior year. We met through some mutual friends."

"That's so sweet. Isn't that so sweet?" The audience cheered at the host's prompt and Eddie giggled, his hair falling into his face. "Was it a love at first sight thing? How did you end up together?"

"Um, kind of. It was strange, he was a popular jock in high school and I was about as weird and unpopular as they got, but once we got to know each other outside of school we clicked fast. And he's hot, like really hot, so I fell immediately." The crowd laughed.

"Wow, that's fantastic. But, anyway, I need to move on before I get carried away. Let's talk about this movie you're in."

"Yes, let's."

Steve was watching the show at home, sat on the couch with Robin on one side and Dustin on the other who were poking and teasing him as they watched the tooth-rottingly sweet interview. Robin was the one who hopped onto Twitter to see what people were saying, and, once again, social media was ablaze. #eddiemunsonhusband was trending the whole next day, and Steve and Eddie found it hugely amusing. 

Eddie slowly started opening up about his personal life after the overwhelmingly positive response to all his husband talk. At the premier of his movie, he walked Robin down the red carpet with him, telling the interviewers that the two of them and his husband were all roommates for a few years in his early twenties. In a radio interview he did in the lead up to his album release, he talked about how he ran the Hellfire Club in high school and how he was still friends with and still semi-regularly DMed for the kids that were in the club, and he told them about how one of the Hellfire kids was the one to initially introduce him to his husband. When the album released and the band did an interview with Rolling Stone, he told them about how supportive everyone in his life was of his music. He told them about the night's he would stay up writing Corroded Coffin's first album, his husband - then boyfriend - doting on him the entire time. And all of this served to fan the flames of his follower base because, even in opening up about his life and his friends and family, he never revealed who his husband was.

Steve didn't go to many of Eddie's public appearances. He never had; it wasn't his scene. And when he did, they kept their distance and kept things discreet until they were inside and there were no more cameras. When Eddie went out and released another morsel of information about his life, Steve sat at home grading papers or planning lessons and smiling to himself about his chaotic rockstar husband. 

And then it was time for Eddie to go on tour again. Steve hated saying goodbye when Eddie went on tour. 

The tour started in California and slowly snaked it's way across all fifty states, stealing Eddie away from their home in Indianapolis for six months. The faculty at Steve's school kept asking what was wrong in the first few weeks after Eddie left. He told them that his husband was travelling for work.

Eddie missed Steve too. Unapologetically so. For the first time on tour, he felt comfortable mentioning his husband. Every other night he brought up how much he missed him, usually as an introduction to one of their songs; one of the softer ones, off of their third album, that he wrote about Steve right after they got married. The audience ate it up every time. His bandmates always rolled their eyes and teased him after the show.

Eddie's tour landed back in Indiana right after Spring Break. Steve was thrilled to have him back, even if it was brief before he moved on to the next state. And Eddie was thrilled to know that, as he played his first night in Indianapolis, Steve was out in the crowd watching. Will, El and Mike had been out in the crowd when he played in California, Max and Lucas had come to see him in their recent new home of Chicago, and Erica, Nancy and Johnathan would be there when he played in New York City. But tonight he knew that Steve was out there in the crowd, with Dustin and Robin, screaming and cheering for him like he had from the start.

"Alright, this is the part of the show where I normally get all sappy about how much I miss my husband." Eddie said into the microphone, his skin gleaming with sweat. His fans cheered. "But not tonight. Because tonight, I'm pleased to say, my husband is here in the crowd." His fans screamed even louder. "And no matter how much you try you're not gonna spot him. You wanna know why? Because he's wearing my clothes so that he blends in with the crowd." Eddie grinned. The audience went wild. "This next one's just for you, sweetheart." 

Out in the audience, dressed in a pair of Eddie's black jeans, a pair of Eddie's bulky boots and a t-shirt from Corroded Coffin's last tour, Steve felt his heart swell.

A year after the revelation of Eddie Munson's husband came the revelation of Eddie Munson's kid. Like the chaos gremlin he is, Eddie took to Twitter on a Thursday afternoon and casually announced that he and his husband were fostering a kid with the intention to adopt.

Like clockwork, the internet set ablaze.

The eleven year old girl had been in Steve and Eddie's care three times over the past two years before the adoption, spending about eight months in their care over the three stays. Then, when Eddie had been in the last month of his tour, Steve got the call that a kid needed a place to stay. Steve had got the second bedroom ready with clean bedding, made sure the cupboards were stocked with snacks. And when the social workers arrived, the girl had launched herself into Steve's arms, babbling about how happy she was that she had ended up with Steve and Eddie again.

It was unusual for Steve and Eddie to see so much of the same kid. They were an emergency foster home, they usually only saw kids for a few nights or a couple of weeks. And it was the same with her the first time she stayed with them. She stayed for twelve days before she moved to a different home. But then she was back. Only three weeks later she was back in their care and, for whatever reason, that's where she stayed for the next five months. It had been a year since Corroded Coffin released their fourth album, and they had decided they were taking their time with the next one, so Eddie was home and not very busy and perfectly happy hanging out with the kid that they hadn't expected to have for so long.

She went back to her parents at the end of the five months, much to Steve and Eddie's disapproval. But they hoped that they had cleaned up their act and she would be going back to a more child friendly environment. Unfortunately, she was back a year later. The social workers had brought her back to Steve and Eddie and asked if they could keep her for a few months again. Of course, they enthusiastically agreed, and the three of them settled in together for the next three months until she was taken back to her family again.

The third time was the final strike. There was no way she was going to be placed back into her parents' care. Steve had volunteered them to foster her for as long as they could. She had always been a wonderful addition to the home ever since her first stay.

When Eddie got home he was thrilled to see her. He'd been filled in on the situation over call, of course, but you couldn't hug someone over the phone. It was only a couple of weeks after Eddie got home that he and Steve started talking about the possibility of adoption.

Steve and Eddie had always wanted kids. At first, they had planned on adopting a baby, but after involving themselves in the foster system and seeing the demand that there was for people to take in older kids they decided that that was their calling. The girl coming into their lives in the way that she did felt almost like fate. And so they sat her down and asked her how she would feel about the whole thing. Much to their delight, she had enthusiastically agreed to the idea, and they started the process immediately. Eddie felt like this was a major development in his life and he wanted to share it - at least a vague bit of it - and so a month later he took to Twitter.

Things went pretty quiet after that. Eddie's label was organising for a European tour, but he made sure it wasn't too soon so that he would be around for the adoption process. And that was where he put all of his energy: into his kid.

The girl attended the school that Steve taught at, and Eddie signed her up for a dance class when she mentioned an interest. Steve helped her with her homework and bought her books and had long conversations with her in which he taught her things without her even realising that she was learning. Eddie nurtured her creative side, buying her art supplies and teaching her guitar and singing Disney karaoke with her on the weekends.

Corroded Coffin was nominated for a Grammy. It wasn't their first nomination but Eddie was excited about it anyway. They hadn't won a Grammy yet, there only really being one category for metal music and plenty of artists deserving of the award.

Steve and Eddie had their first Christmas with a kid. Wayne came over like he did every year, making it a real family affair. They went overboard with the decorations and wracked their brains for the best gifts to buy. They made a gingerbread house and watched an obscene amount of Christmas movies, and it was the best Christmas they'd ever had.

The adoption was finalised at the end of January. The whole thing had been smooth sailing, Steve and Eddie having proved more than capable of taking care of a child over the years. And now they had a kid and they were officially a family and things couldn't have been better.

And then Corroded Coffin won the Grammy for Best Metal Performance. Steve and their daughter had leapt off of the couch with cheers and whoops and fists waving in the air. And after his bandmates had taken turns at the microphone thanking their management and their fans and their families, Eddie had taken his turn for a speech.

"I have so many people that I want to thank, and they know who they are. My uncle Wayne, the Hellfire kids and all my other friends from back home, all of our fans and every friend we've made in the industry. But, obviously, I want to thank my amazing husband for tolerating my chaos and the fact that I write best in the middle of the night. And I also promise to try and change that habit now that we have a kid in the house, and you're allowed to hold me to that." He gave his speech with a massive grin, trophy gripped tightly in his hands, and when he stepped off stage he split off from his band and excused himself to call Steve, who had secretly bought a bottle of champagne and Eddie's favourite cake from his favourite place to celebrate the victory (because he'd had a gut feeling that Corroded Coffin was going to finally win this one).

Then, as if it had crept up on them, it was time for the European tour, which would steal Eddie away from his husband and daughter for even longer than the US tour. 

Right before he boarded the plane, Eddie opened up Instagram, ready to cause one last stir.

The picture was one of Eddie's new favourites. Robin had taken it in their garden when she came over to hang out one random afternoon. Eddie was dressed peak rockstar, distressed black jeans and a studded leather jacket, chains dangling off him and hands covered in rings. And Steve was peak teacher, all blue jeans and a soft grey sweater, and glasses balanced on his nose. He was giving their daughter a piggyback, but the picture was from just an angle that you couldn't see her face, because she deserved her privacy even if her new dad was a rockstar. 

Now that it's all official and I find myself with this perfect little family, I think it's time to finally show you all the amazing man that I share my life with. Everyone, meet Steve.

And, for the final time, the internet went crazy. It was unanimous; they loved Steve. And Eddie couldn't blame them, because he loved Steve too.

[demons2003]

Wayne loved Eddie more than anything else in this world. That kid was his son, sister and her shit husband be damned, and he had been for almost eight years now.Wayne would do just about anything for that kid, and he liked to think that Eddie knew that by now, so he couldn't quite understand why he was trying to hide something so obvious.

That being whatever was going on between him and the Harrington boy. The two had been attached at the hip for months, and while Eddie was no stranger to having friends, having one that slept in his bed nearly every night was certainly new. And if that wasn’t a dead giveaway to what was really going on, then all of the touching sure would have been. He had never seen his boy be so tactile with someone before, and that was saying something considering how freely Eddie liked to give out touch. But with Steve? It was like he couldn’t go five minutes without being all over him, whether that be an arm draped around his shoulders, a hand on his thigh, or pressed against his side, if Steve was within arms length, then Eddie was reaching for him.

At first, Wayne worried he was keeping quiet because he was scared of his reaction, but he had been more than clear with Eddie growing up that being different in any way was nothing to be ashamed of, despite what the world may tell you. And Eddie seemed to be living up to that advice in every other aspect of his life, so that couldn't be it.

Then, he thought it was because he knew Wayne didn't like Steve. Or at least used to not like Steve. In hindsight, he was a little ashamed of his mistrust of the kid, but could he really be blamed? It wasn't so long ago that Steve Harrington was on the list of jackasses Eddie would complain about after school, a smarmy smartass just like his father.

But then Eddie went up and almost died, and suddenly Wayne was met face to face with just how much the kid had changed, and just how much the kid loved his Eddie. Slowly but surely, Steve wiggled his way into his good graces.

Like the way he made his boy smile wasn't enough, the kid basically became a live-in nurse during those first few awful months of Eddie’s recovery. And if Wayne thought Eddie was obvious with his feelings, Steve was on a whole other level. The kid was walking around with heart eyes whenever Eddie was around, always giggling like a high-school girl at whatever lame jokes his boy made, always leaning heavily into any touch, always obsessed with wearing his clothes. And as much as the cutesy behavior made Wayne roll his eyes, it also melted his heart a bit, knowing his kid was with someone who loved him just as much, if not more.

He just…wanted Eddie to know he was safe to be himself, both of them were, in any way that was. Eventually Wayne just let it slip, on one of those rare nights when Steve wasn’t there for dinner. He was working a late shift, and as Wayne watched Eddie wrap him up a plate for when he got off, he just let the question fall out of his mouth,“So…you and the Harrington boy huh?”

Eddie almost dropped the plate in surprise, spinning to stare at Wayne with wide eyes, “Huh?”

“You and Steve,” Wayne reiterated, “Not that there’s anything wrong that Eds, really, I don’t care-”

“There’s nothing going on between me and Steve!” Eddie interrupted, face bright as he put the plate down, “Why would you think that?”

Wayne sighed, “Eddie, you don’t got to hide anything from me.”

“I’m not!” Eddie insisted, face still insanely red, “Steve’s great but we’re not-I’m not like that, okay?”

Wayne blinked at him. He knew what his Eddie sounded like when he lied, and this wasn’t it…but Wayne also knew what he saw, and he couldn't help but feel his heart break a bit for Steve. Maybe his boy wasn’t in love with the kid, but Harrington sure as hell was, “My mistake then,”

Eddie gave him a nervous laugh, running a hand through his hair, “You bet it is, really letting that imagination run wild over there huh?

Wayne sighed as he stood up, “But Eddie?"

“Yeah?”

"Try and let him down easy when the time comes." He patted his shoulder as he made his way to his bedroom, already wondering if there was any way he’d be able to help the poor Harrington boy out when his heart got broken, leaving a shell-shocked Eddie in his wake.

Let him down easy when the time comes.

Eddie didn’t know what to do with that. He trusted Wayne, respected him too, but there was no way in hell that Steve felt anything towards him that wasn’t friendship. King Steve wasn’t gay, if anything he was a flaming heterosexual considering his insane number of flings in highschool.

Not to mention the fact that Eddie wasn’t gay, or at least…he didn’t think he was gay. But then again, he wasn’t thinking about much these days that wasn’t Steve, Steve, Steve. But they were best friends, new best friends, so wasn’t that normal? And okay, sure, Eddie had never felt like this for anyone ever before, but that didn't mean it was romantic. And so what if the thought of Steve with a girl made him ill? He was just a needy guy who loved having all the attention on him.

And so what if Steve was objectively attractive? Was it gay to know that a man was pretty or was it just having eyes? And okay, sure, Eddie had had a few wet dreams about him, but dreams didn’t mean anything. Right?

Eddie flopped face down onto his bed, groaning into his pillow. If, on some very off chance that Wayne was right, then he was going to have to put a stop to it wouldn’t he? It’s not like he and Steve could just drive into the sunset together as gay lovers, not in this town. No, Eddie would just have to lay down the law, put up some boundaries, do something to make this relationship make sense, because now that he was actually thinking about it, they were nowhere even close to normal.

Eddie could hear the front door unlocking, the tell-tale sign that Steve was finally home. Eddie wasn’t sure when their shitty trailer had become Steve’s home, but he hoped it stayed that way, even after they managed to put their friendship back into the strictly platonic category.

He kept his face in the pillow, mind racing on how to even start this bizarre conversation when he heard Steve laugh behind him, “What’s got you so dramatic?”

You.

“Wayne,” he mumbled into the fabric, listening to the sounds of Steve puttering around the room. He could tell everything he was doing from the sounds alone, so used to the little night routines they had developed together. He was digging through Eddie’s drawers now, definitely looking for something clean to sleep in.

Shit, would Steve stop wearing his clothes after they talked? Would he stop sleeping in the same bed as him? Eddie was really starting to question the worth of useless things like boundaries if it meant having his Steve around less.

His Steve. Platonic friends didn’t call each other that did they?

Eddie could feel Steve start to crawl onto the bed, laying right beside him, “Are you ever going to come out of there?”

“Never,” Eddie grumbled, because that would mean he would have to look at Steve. He’d have to acknowledge all the stupid shit going through his head and things would change. And he didn’t want things to change.

Steve laughed at that, and Eddie could feel warm hands start to poke at the side of his face, “But what if I want to see you?”

“Then that sucks for you.” Eddie mumbled. He could feel Steve getting closer, close enough that his breath was tickling his face. Close enough that Eddie felt like his heart was going to escape his chest from how hard it was pounding.

“You’re such a shithead,” Steve giggled right into his ear, “Come on, please? I missed you today.”

Eddie sighed, finally turning his head to look at him, only to be met with that stupidly pretty face. Was it legal for men to be this cute? Steve was smiling, the small kind that Eddie was almost sure was just for him, and he was so close. Eddie glanced down at his mouth, realizing it would take almost nothing for them to be kissing.

And from the look on Steve’s face, he just realized the same thing. They stared at each other, all of the playfulness from earlier gone. Steve was biting his lower lip, and Eddie knew that he was watching him stare at it.

“Do you wanna?” Steve finally whispered, leaning in the slightest bit closer, so near that it was making Eddie’s head spin.

This was it right? What Wayne was talking about, the perfect opportunity to let him down easy. He should just sit up, tell Steve to stop joking around, and start talking about what the hell they were even doing.

"Sure," he said instead. Vaguely, in the back of his head Eddie remembered he was supposed to be having reservations about this whole thing as their lips finally met, but whatever they were vanished into thin air the second they touched.

Because kissing Steve Harrington felt fucking amazing.

The thought of saying no? Of never kissing him again? It wasn’t going to happen, not after he'd gotten a taste. Eddie gripped his shirt and pulled him in closer, relishing in the little surprised sound Steve made when he slipped his tongue into his mouth. He wanted to do this forever. He couldn’t even remember what the argument against it was, not when Steve was moaning against him, not when he was too busy scrambling to move and get Steve in his lap, definitely knocking multiple things off the nightstand in the process.

If this is what being gay meant than Eddie was on board, himself from half an hour ago could go to hell.

He should have realized that they were making too much noise, noises that his very protective uncle, who just found out Hell was a real place and it lived below Hawkins, was not used to hearing from his room.

They both jumped when the door slammed opened, a frenzied Wayne standing in the doorway with Steve’s favorite bat over his shoulder, He let it drop at the sight of them, half relieved that they were fine and half shockingly amused to see what they were doing.

Steve tried to scramble out of Eddie’s lap, an apology already on his lips when Wayne started to cackle, “I really let my imagination run wild huh?”

Eddie laughed right along with him, rolling his eyes as he kept an iron tight grip on Steve’s waist, forcing him to stay in place, “You win this round old man,”

“Damn right I do.” Wayne laughed, turning on his heel, “You kids have fun now, just not too much.”

Steve could still hear him cackling as he went down the hall as he sat dumbfounded in Eddie’s lap, “What the hell was that?”

Eddie shrugged, “My uncle approving of us. Now kiss me again.”

And well…there was no way Steve was going to say no to that.

[demons2003]

My Boys (Chapter 62)

Series List

Y/n's pov

Everything after Max was a blur. Steve somehow got us all in the car and drove us back to Nancy's. We made sure all the kids were good and then Steve and I were cuddled up on the arm chair. We talked for a little bit, trying to get a hold of everyone in California in case they had any ideas and waited for Nancy and Robin to get back. When they were back, we filled them in on what happened with Max and they let us know what happened with them. After the long discussion we all thought it was best if we went to sleep and regain our energy.

"Hey, Dustin, this is Eddie the Banished. You there?" I hear through the walkie talkie. I groan and little and shift on my chair, which was Steve's lap. He groans as well but I shush him and quickly get off. "Dustin, can you hear me?" I hear again through the walkie. I look over to Dustin to find him still sleeping. I shouldn't wake him. He really needs his sleep. "Dustin? Earth to Dustin?" Eddie says again. I quickly pick up the walkie and move over to the table. "Hey, it's Y/n," I whisper, hoping he doesn't just ignore me.

There's a small break of static before Eddie says, "Hey, I'm gonna need a food delivery, like, real soon, unless you want me going out into the world." I panic a little and quickly reply, "No, no, please don't leave the house Eds. Stay there and we'll be there as soon as we can." "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen, um... can you pick me up a six-pack? I know, it's stupid as shit, drinking right now, but a cold beer would really calm my jangled nerves," Eddie asks. I look behind me and notice that the couch is empty. "Hey Eds, I'm sorry but I'm gonna have to call you back," I rush and turn the walkie off. "Nancy! Nancy!" I yell, shaking Nancy's shoulders. She groans and glares up at me. "What the hell do you want?" She asks. "Aren't you meant to be on Max watch?" I ask her. She rolls her eyes but nods. "There where the hell is she?" I ask her, getting more annoyed. "She's right there. A second ago. I swear, I just dozed off for..." She says but realises that Max is no longer laying on the couch. She looks down at her watch and her eyes grow in shock. She looks back at me and whispers, "an hour."

I groan and we quickly stand up, heading up the stairs. We head into the kitchen and find Max still at the table with her headphones on. I sign in relief and walk over to her. "Morning guys!" Karen greets us. "Everything okay?" She asks us after we don't answer her. "Yeah. Yeah, everything's okay." Nancy replies. "I think it's so sweet that you guys are sticking together like this," Karen says, putting some pancakes on a plate. "Could try sticking together at a different house for a change," Ted says. I roll my eyes but don't say anything, walking over to Max on the table. I sit down next to her and see a bunch of coloured drawings all over the table.

Max notices me next to her and stops the tape, pulling her headphones down. "Hey," She whispers. "Hey. You okay?" I say back, moving a little closer to her. "Just couldn't sleep. People kept blasting music in my ears, for some reason," Max tells me, looking down at her drawings again. I chuckle a little and she continues with, "But Holly let me borrow some of her crayons. We've been having a fun morning, right Holly?" We look over to Holly but she continues what's she's don't and says, "Mmmm-hmmm." I look back down at the table and ask Max, while moving one of the drawings closer, "Is this what you saw last night?" "I mean, it's supposed to be. I though it'd be easier to draw it out than to explain it, but... not so much." Max explains to me. "Is that...?" I start to ask, moving another drawing that seemed to be of Chrissy and Fred in front of us both. "It was like they were on display or something. And then there was this red fog everywhere. It was like a dream. A nightmare," Max explains to me. "Do you think Vecna's just trying to scare you?" I ask her. "With Billy? Yeah. But when I made it here..." Max tells me, pointing at the drawings. "I don't know, something was different. He seemed surprised, almost. Like he didn't want me there." Max continues to explain to me.

I look confused as Dustin, who randomly moved to the table with Nancy, says, "Maybe you infiltrated his mind. He invaded your mind, right? Is it that big of a leap to suggest you somehow wound up in his?" I look at him and nod, thinking about everything that we are learning about. It is weird though. How did Max end up in his mind if he didn't want her there? "Like Freddie Krueger's boiler room," Dustin adds on. "Freddie Krueger?" Holly asks Dustin confused, causing me to laugh a little. "He's a super burned-up dude with razors for fingers. And he kills you in your dreams," Dustin explains to her as child friendly as he can. "Dustin. Seriously? Nancy snaps at him. "Yeah, not like that Dustin," I whisper to him, looking over at Holly's scared face. Dustin looks at her and realises and says, "Sorry. It's a movie. It's not real." "Just... think about it. What if you somehow unlocked a backdoor to Vecna's world?" Dustin asks, looking back towards the three of us. He picks up a drawing and continues, "Like, maybe the answer we're looking for is somewhere in this incredibly vague drawing. God, we need Will."

"No shit. But I tried them again this morning, and it's the same busy signal." Max explains to us. Nancy seems to get idea and reaches over to grab a drawing. "Is this a window?" She asks, showing Max the drawing so she can answer. "Yeah," Max says. "Stained glass with roses," Nancy tells us. I look over and see that exact description on the drawing. "Yeah. See? I'm not so terrible after all," Max sasses to Dustin. "Yeah, well, it helps that I've seen it before," Nancy tells us, ruffling a few of the drawings around. She starts to fold a few of the drawings and move them around until it starts to builds a house. "It's pieces of a house," Max stats as Nancy starts to draw a black outline onto all the papers. "Not just any house," Nancy tells us. We all looks confused at her while she places the last piece of paper down. "It's Victor Creel's house," She tells us, standing up from her chair. "Where you going?" Dustin asks around a mouthful of food. "Waking the others," She says, walking towards the basement door. I quickly get up and run after her as well.

We walk down the stairs to find everyone down there still very asleep. I walk over to Steve but Nancy beats me over there. I scoff quietly but move over to Robin instead. I gently shake her and move a piece of hair out of her face. She groans but opens her eyes. "What time is it?" She asks as she goes to wipe her eyes. "No clue, but we need to go." I tell her, helping her still up and stand. "Where are we going?" I hear Steve ask loudly. I look over to him to find him looking at me in questions, rather than Nancy who is standing right in front of her. "We need to go to the Creel house," Nancy says, seeming to be slightly annoyed. He nods down at her but looks back at me. I smile at him and nod, motioning to the door. "Why don't we get everything ready and head out when we can?" I suggest. Everyone nods, and we gather what we can for the journey.

Sometime later

"This place is so creepy," Robin whispers as I pull up to the Creel house. I look out the window and say, "Yeah." We get out of the cars and start making our way up the stairs that lead to the Creel house. "Yeah, that's not creepy," Steve says, all of us stopping and looking at the house. "Let's get this over with," I say, grabbing Steve's arm and dragging him up to the door. When we get to the door, Steve starts to pull nails out of the wood. I stand on the other side to get the nails out as well. "What exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?" Steve asks as he throws a nail behind him. "We're not sure," Nancy replies. He looks at me for conformation and I nod. "We just know this house is important to Vecna," Nancy continues for him. "Because Max saw it in Vecna's red soup mind world?" Steve asks. "Basically," I say, getting a "Great," in response.

"Maybe it holds a cluse to where Vecna is. Why he's back. Why he killed the Creels. And how to stop him before he comes back for Max." Dustin adds on. Steve and I look at Dustin but then turn to each other a little more worried again. "We don't think he's in here, do we?" Lucas asks, looking at all of us. Max answers him, "Guess we'll find out." I shiver a little but continue to help get more nails out of the door. "Ready?" Steve asks after a second, getting ready to get the board down so we can enter. I nod and we both let go of the wood, it falling and almost hitting the kids, Robin and Nancy who are behind us. As the wood falls, we find ourselves face with an old door with a glass stained window in the middle of it. "Well, this is it," I whisper to myself as Steve tried the door. "It's locked," He whispers after shacking it a little. "Should I knock, see if anybody's home?" He asks us. "No need," Robin yells, causing Steve and I to turn to her confused. She stands all smug and holds up a brick saying, "I found a key." I laugh and move out of her way so that I don't get hit.

Robin throws the brick right in the centre of the window, leaving behind and almost perfect hole. Steve looks through the hole and then carefully puts his hand through the glass and unlocks the door so that we can all come inside. He pulls his hand out and pushes the door open, causing it to screech. "God I hate that noise," I whisper to Steve, getting a nod in reply. Steve steps into the house first, whistling but the rest of us walk in almost straight away. We all slowly walk through the start of the foyer, looking around to see if there was anything out of the ordinary. "Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill," Lucas mumbles to us after trying to turn on of the lights in the doorway. We all start to turn our flashlights on as Steve asks, "Where'd everyone get those?" Dustin looks at him confused and gives him attitude while asking, "Do you need to be told everything? You're not a child." Steve looks at him in disbelief while I softly laugh at the interaction. "Thank you," He sarcastically says while I pull out another flashlight from my pocket. "Here you go Stevie," I whisper and pace it over to him. He smiles at me and takes the flashlight slowly from me.

I start to make my way around the house like everyone else but don't get far before Steve is grabbing onto my arm to stop me. "What?" I ask him, confused why he would stop me. "Go with Robin," He tells me, nodding over to where Robin is. I look at him confused and ask, "Why can't I go with you?" He smiles at me and steps a little closer. "You know Dustin. He'll probably start to start something again. I don't want you to have to deal with it if it can be helped. I nod, still confused why he'd not want me with him, and move over to where Robin and Nancy are starting to head. Nancy looks at me confused and annoyed but doesn't say anything. She turns back around and we start to make our way through the house.

"They just left everything," Nancy says as we look into one of the many rooms in the house. "I guess a triple homicide isn't good for resale value," Robin say back. "Yeah, wonder why," I say before starting to walk further into the house. "Hey guys," Max calls to all of us. We all turn towards her as she asks, "You all see that right?" In front of her stands an old grandfather clock. The grandfather clock that Max saw when she had her visions. Nancy walks away from us and walks closer to Max to ask, "Is this what you saw? In your visions?" Robin and I walk behind her as well, taking a closer loo at the clock as well. "I mean, it's... just a clock. Right?" Robin says, looking between Max, the clock and I. With no response, Robin moves past Max and cleans some of the dust from the clock glass. She turns back to us all and says, "Like a normal old clock." "Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks?" Steve asks us all and adds on, "Maybe he's, like, a clockmaker or something?" I smile at him trying to work it out but Dustin sarcastically tells him, "I think you cracked the case Steve." I lightly smack him in the back of the head which causes him to glare at me while Nancy says, "All I know is the answers are here. Somewhere." "Alright, we need to split up. Make sure you all have a buddy, no one walk around this place alone," I tell everyone, all of us starting to split up and walk around the house.

[demons2003]

Together Again

I've been going through some of my old works while I'm thinking of ideas for My Boys and have rewritten the first two chapters of my story Together Again for anyone that had read it. Not too much of a change but it has helped me to come up with ideas.

[demons2003]

Fruity Four (Part 3)

Description: Everyone comes out to each other

Series

“Hey Steve?” Robin asks from my bed. I hum in answer but continue to look over the homework for school. After getting into college to start a teaching degree I’ve been slowly getting my work down. And this was the first important assignment due for my course. “Do you like Eddie?” She randomly asks me, causing me to stop writing down what I was doing. I put my pencil done and slowly turn to Robin. “What are you talking about?” I ask, hoping that she hasn’t worked out what I’ve only just come to realise. “Do you like Eddie?” She asks again, as if I didn’t hear her the first time. “Oh no, I heard you. But why do you think that?” I ask her again, feeling the panic start to rise a little bit. “Well, you look at him all the time. You both are constantly touching each other. You cuddle during movies and when you fall asleep. And I know what you look like when you like someone, and that look is directed at Eddie.” I freeze again and turn back to my work. “Nothing is going on. I don’t like Eddie,” I tell Robin, trying to concentrate on my work again. “Steve…” Robin tries again but I shake my head. “Can you go Robin? I need to concentrate,” I snap a little bit, feeling bad as I hear Robin sigh. “Fine, I’ll be here if you need me,” She whispers and walks out, slamming my door behind her. “Shit,” I snap and throw my pencil at the wall next to the door. I let out a small cry and go to lay down on my bed, closing my eyes to forget about what I just did.

Later that night

“Steve!” I hear Nancy yell on the other side of my door, banging on it repeatedly. I groan as I start to wake from my sleep. I got to get up but the door is already flying open. I jump in surprise and look in confusion and shock as an angry Nancy and angry, confused Eddie walks in my door. “What made you too barge into my room?” I snap a little, feeling ambushed all of a sudden. “What did you say to Robin this afternoon?” Nancy snaps loudly. I look shocked at her and say, “I didn’t say anything.” She scoffs annoyed at me as Eddie says, “We came to find her crying in her room this afternoon. She could only say your name.” “Dimmit,” I whisper and start to walk over to my door. Nancy steps in my way and glares at me. “Nancy, I need to go,” I growl, not having any more patents. “I will not let you go to her. You’ll just upset her more,” She growls back, trying to push me back. I roll my eyes and move around her. “She’s my soulmate. Only I can fix it.” I say and continue to her bedroom. “Steve,” I hear Eddie call but I can’t focus on it.

Shit, I fucked up so bad. I let my panic and stress get to me and snapped at Robin when she was only trying to help. I take a deep breath before giving a soft knock on her door. “Rob, it’s me. Can I please come in?” I softly ask, leaning my head against the door. In the corner of my eye I notice Eddie holding back an angry Nancy from coming over. I feel the door start to open so I take my head off the door to see no one on the other side. I sigh again and slip in, closing the door behind me.

I look into the room to find Robin flopping back on the bed face down. I smile sadly at her and move over to her side, taking a seat next to her. “Rob,” I whisper, hoping that she’ll lift her head to look at me. I see her take a deep breath and take her head out of the pillow, facing away from me. “I’m sorry I tried to push you,” She apologises to me. I shake my head at her and place a hand on her shoulder. “No, no, no. You have nothing to be sorry for Rob. I’m sorry. I was an asshole to you earlier. Just with school and all my confusing feelings, you caught me off guard and I snapped,” I explain, knowing that I shouldn’t be making excuses but also know that Robin deserves the truth.

Robin flips onto her bad and looks up at me with red rimmed eyes. I frown at her as she says, “What’s going on with you lately? You’ve been short with us all. And when I thought you liked Eddie, well, it explained everything.” “You weren’t wrong,” I whisper, looking towards the door wear I left Nancy and Eddie. “What?” She asks, drawing me to her again. “I do like Eddie,” I say, looking into her eyes so she knows I’m not lying. “Why didn’t you tell me?” She whispers, sitting up and moving closer to me. I sigh and lay down in her lap, really needing her right now. “I was scared. I just didn’t know how to deal with it,” I whisper, playing with her sheet. “Why don’t you talk with me about it now?” She asks. “I like girls. I like boobs. But I also like Eddie. I like playing with his long hair. I get butterflies when his face gets close to mine. I get excited when he walks into work. It feels the same way when I’m with girls. But shouldn’t I only like one?” I question, the sick feeling creeping up on me again. “Stevie, you know you are allowed to like both?” Robin whispers, running her hand through my hair.

I jump up and stare at her in shock. “What? That’s a thing?” I ask. She nods and smiles at me. “It’s called bisexual. I think,” Robin say, giving a slightly confused look as she thinks. “So there’s nothing wrong with me?” I whisper, tears springing to my eyes. Robin focuses back at me and gives me a small smile. “Nothing is wrong with you Steve. Maybe this week, after your assignment is in, we both go somewhere to learn more about this. I know a place that may help?” Robin asks, moving me back in her lap. I nod and go to fall asleep again when a thought occurs to me. “Eddie and Nancy are at the door,” I whisper. Robin tenses before jumping out of bed, almost causing me to fall off the bed.

She rips the door open to find Nancy and Eddie with their ears again the door that was once there. “We are fine. Leave us alone please,” Robin rambles before trying to close the door again but Eddie sticks his foot in the door. “Can we come in?” He pleads while Nancy still looks mad. Robin looks over at me concerned causing Eddie to do the same thing. I smile at he and nod, waving the other two in. “Come in,” Robin says and opens the door wider. “My beds big enough for the four of us,” She continues, smiling over at me. I laugh and move to the middle of the bed. “Is everything all ok?” Nancy asks as Robin slips in next to me and Eddie slips in behind me. “We’re ok Nancy. Just some personal stuff we needed to work through together,” Robin explains her. Nancy nods and slips in behind Robin. I sigh and push my face into Robins hair as Eddie slips his arm over my waist. I freeze for a second but relax after a moment more.

Few Weeks Later

For weeks Robin has been helping me try and figure out who I was. I’ve worked out that I am bisexual and definitely want to be with Eddie. The only other thing we have been trying to work out is how to tell Nancy and Eddie that I’m not straight. “Come on, you just need to tell them. I’m sure they’d understand,” Robins says one lazy Sunday, laying on my bed while I do homework again. “But what if they don’t Robin? What if Eddie doesn’t want to be bed around someone who’s half gay?” I complain while turning to face Robin. She gives me a, ‘you’re so dumb look’ before saying, “Have you met Eddie? If he’s not gay in some way idk gay.” I laugh and shake my head. “Would it make you feel better if I told them I was gay too?” She asks me, getting serious once again. I sigh and look up at the ceiling to think. “It definitely would help be feel a little better about it.”

Robin smiles and gets up from my bed, walking over to my door. “What are you doing?” I ask her, slowly getting up and following after her. She continues on her way and knocks on Eddie’s and Nancy’s room before continuing towards the living room. Nancy and Eddie both pop their heads out the doorway and give me a confused look. I shrug and point towards Robin. “What you need Birdy?” Eddie asks her, leaning casually against the door. I smile at him as Robin says, “Steve and I have something to tell you both.” I quickly look away, missing the sad look on Eddie’s face, and give Robin a shocked face. “We’re doing this now??” I freak, not realising she meant now. She shrugs and moves towards the living room again. “No time like the present. To the living room everyone!” Robin shouts over her shoulder. I sigh and follow after her, not looking up at Nancy or Eddie.

I walk around the corner to find Robin in the love seat, already waving me over. I move over and move her legs to lay over mine, playing with the end of her pants. Nancy and Eddie slowly sit down on the couch, still giving us both a weird look. “Ok, so we are hear. What did you want to talk about?” Nancy questions, looking between us both and where my hands are playing with Robin’s pants legs. I see a flash of jealousy in her eyes but don’t stop cause it’s the only thing keeping me from exploding. “So, Steve has been learning about himself over the past few weeks and we thought it was time to tell you what has been going on,” Robin starts to explain. Eddie looks at me concerned but I just smile at him. “I’m a lesbian,” Robin blurts, surprising me into a small laugh. Eddie and Nancy looked shocked at the two of us while Robin slaps me in the back of the head.

“Ow, what was the for?” I ask, rubbing the back of my head. “You already knew that. Don’t need to laugh at me,” Robin complains, “Well, I’m sorry. You said it so sudden,” I explain, letting out another small laugh. Robin rolls her eyes and looks back at the other two. “Ok, then what does this have to do with Steve?” Eddie asks, getting more confused. Robin grabs my hand and I take another deep breath. “Well, after having a few new feelings, Robin and I have worked out that I’m Bisexual,” I tell them both, locking on for any bad reactions.

In a few seconds, Nancy and Eddie are both smiling widely. “Hey, me too,” Nancy says, looking over at Robin quickly before looking away. I smile at her more as Eddie adds on, “I told you gay people always flock together Nance.” Robin and I look at him weird before he explains. “I’m gay too and I was telling Nance the other day about how gay people always find each other and hang out. I always side that Steve would be our token straight though. So we need a fifth friend now,” He jokes. We all laugh and I shake my head at him. “So, if we are all gay, why not on Saturday we all go to that gay bar that just opened up? Maybe I can do a bit more exploring?” I ask, getting a little more excited. Robin and Nancy get super excited about the idea but Eddie seems hesitant. I look at him pleadingly, which makes his sigh and agree to go with up. Now I can start trying to get with Eddie a little better.

[demons2003]

Fruity Four (Part 2)

Description: Eddie and Robin play pranks on Steve and Nancy. 

Series

Something very known in their new home that anything could jump out at Nancy and Steve. Since moving in, Eddie and Robin’s friendship has grown and has taken a cheeky turn. They knew the feelings they had for their other room mates but still wouldn’t say anything to each other, afraid that they funny relationship would change. Now, they are trying to figure out the next prank they are pulling on their roommates.

“So, what’s gonna be next?” Robin asks Eddie as she leans over the table, looking over his Dnd notes for the next campaign he’s working on. “Well, I have to finish up with this campaign but nothing is planned for the night,” Eddie remarks as he looks back down at his notes, trying to work out what would be a good beast for the party to try and kill. “That’s not what I’m talking about and you know it,” Robin wines and tries to push his papers away. Eddie laughs at her and piles all of his notes into a pile.

He stares up at her and gives her a confused look. “What are you talking about Birdy?” Eddie questions, tilting his head a little. Robin rolls her eyes at him and shakes her head. “What is the next prank we should pull you idiot!” She whisper shouts, knowing that Steve is only in the shower right now. Eddie shrugs and grins wide while asking her, “Well, you want something small or something big?” Robin smiles back and says, “We haven’t done anything big in a while.” Eddie’s grin gets impossibly wider. “Well, we could hide some of there stuff? Or I’ve been seeing these news articles about people hiding 100s of tiny things all over their apartments. Taken months to find them.” Eddie suggests, knowing that Robin loves nothing more then driving Steve a little crazy.

Robin jumps up and down, nodding her head up widely. “Yes!! Where can we get some???” She asks, still jumping up and down a little. “I saw a store somewhere down the road that had a few bags of some colourful ducks?” Eddie says, trying to work out which store it was that had them. Robin just starts jumping up and down more, squealing out a, “Yes!” over and over.

All of a sudden, Robin stops jumping and stares off into the hallway shocked. Eddie looks confused at her and asks, “What’s going on?” She just points over to the hall and covers her mouth with her hand, a grin spreading on her face. Eddie turns around to find Steve glaring at the two of them, and new bright blue hair, a colour he didn’t have before his shower. “We had one rule,” Steve growls at the two of them. If looks could kill, they’d be dead. Eddie grins and turns to Robin. “I also forgot to tell you that I put some blue hair dye in your shampoo and conditioner like you asked. I think we know who uses it.” Eddie grins over at Steve but he continues to glare at the two of them. “Robin,” Steve snarls, staring right at her.

Robin stops laughing and looks at Steve a little scared. “I forgot that we shared a shampoo and conditioner bottle! I really did want to find out who was stealing!” Robin defends. Before Steve can say anything more to her, Eddie buts in to say, “If it means anything, I think the colour makes you look hot.” Steve shuts his mouth and looks at Eddie surprised, not knowing what he can say to that. He blushes and walks away from the two of them, yelling back at them, “Stop with the pranks or I’ll kick you both out!” Eddie and Robin look at each other again and burst out laughing.

A Few Weeks Later

After Steve had the hair dye all come out, he listened to Robin and got it dyed professionally. He really did look good with the blue hair. But because Eddie knew that Steve was feeling better about the prank, he decided that it was time to start the one that him and Robin came up with the day Steve first dyed his hair. He’d dragged Robin to the store he found the ducks out and they spent a long time going through all the different ducks, trying to work out what they wanted to torture Nancy and Steve with. They bought a few of them. A bag of 40 colourful ducks, 40 Halloween ducks, 40 Christmas ducks, 40 valentine ducks and 40 ducks weird funny costumes.

Unfortunate for them, Nancy and Steve were home so they weren’t able to hide any of the ducks until the next day. So, Eddie left the bags in his van and the two spent the night with their roommates.

The next day, when Nancy is at work, Steve is at school and Eddie and Robin were meant to be in class, Eddie and Robin hide the ducks everywhere they could. About 100 ducks were separated into Steve and Nancy’s room. The rest were spread around the living room and kitchen. They even put some in the bathroom. When they were done, the quickly got themselves ready to get their own day ready, but they were excited to watch Steve and Nancy’s expressions when they find the first duck.

The End of the Day

“Really?” Steve yells from the kitchen. Eddie and Robin smile at each other as Steve walks into the room with the flour in his hand. “Why is there a duck in the flour?” He asks, looking between Eddie and Robin. They just smile at Steve and shrug. He groans and throws the duck at Eddie, bouncing it off his head. “Ow!” Eddie exclaims, rubbing his forehead and picking the duck up from the floor. “Your gonna end up with a bruise if Steve does that every time,” Robin laughs. Steve and Nancy look up scared at the two of them while Nancy asks, “How many ducks did you both hide??” Eddie and Robin just continue to smile at them, shrugging again and looking back down at whatever, they were doing. It’s going to be a long time until all those ducks are found. “We need to start getting them back,” Nancy whispers to Steve as she walks past him, trying not to get the attention of Eddie and Robin.

Steve smiles and follows behind her, getting away from the to idiots on the couch. “And how are we going to do that?” Steve asks her, starting to continue making the cookies he was making before the ducks. “Well, what’s the best prank that we could do to get them to stop doing them to us?” Nancy questions, sitting down next to him on the bench. “I don’t know Nanc, maybe we should just leave them be. It could get worse if we try to retaliate,” Steve tries to reason but Nancy’s smirk says otherwise. “You have a duck in your cookie batter,” She points out causing Steve to look down, indeed finding another duck in his batter. He groans and picks the duck out of the batter. He walks out of the kitchen to throw it at Eddie before walking back into the kitchen grinning at Nancy. “What have you go in mind?”

A Few Days Later

It took Steve and Nancy some time to come up with a prank. And they definitely came up with a prank. They new that it was silly but definitely one that would annoy the other two. Something that they didn’t know as that Nancy and Steve had been moving around one of the dolls that Robin had collected as a child as well as a few of Eddies guitar picks around the apartment. When no one was supposed to be in the apartment, Steve or Nancy would go back and moving the things around. Robin and Eddie had been questioning Nancy and Steve about it for days but neither of them were admitting it, which only caused the other two to get more confused about the situation.

“Maybe we have a ghost,” Steve smiles as he flips through one of his books he’s reading for school at the moment. Eddie looks up scared while Robin just laughs. “Yeah right, ghosts aren’t even real,” Robins says, trying to calm down a little. Steve shrugs and looks up to her. “I don’t know. If none of us is moving your stuff around maybe they do,’ Steve explains to her. “Or maybe you both are just crazy,” Nancy butts in, walking into the living room and plopping down on Steve’s lap.

“Would you two no be gross in front of us,” Eddie snaps a little, feeling a little sick at the display. “Nancy looks over proudly while Steve looks confused. “What do you mean? Nancy and you sit like this all the time?” Steve asks him, trying to work out Eddie reaction. “Don’t question it Steve, sometimes Eddie’s just weird where I sit,” Nancy says and gets off Steve’s lap, moving over to Eddies instead. “What the hell?” Steve says, even more confused. “Don’t worry about it, now why would I ghost only be moving our stuff around?” Robin continues to question, trying to wrap her head around the situation.

Steve puts his book down on the table and looks at Robin. “Well, maybe it doesn’t like you recking the house with your pranks,” Steve supplies. “Or maybe you and Nancy are just done with our pranks?” Eddie asks, seeming to be the first of the two to really try to get a confession, Nancy starts to nod her head. “Yeah we are, so why don’t you stop or we’ll start to hid your things,” Nancy tells them, getting off of Eddie and sitting on the arm of Steve’s chair.

“What the hell?” Steve asks, looking at Nancy confused as to why she spilled the beans so quickly. She smiles at him and says, “I’ve had enough of skipping my classes. I really need to get back,” She explains which gets a laugh out of Eddie and Robin. “You know you just started a war right?” Eddie tells them, giving them his biggest and goofiest smile. Steve blushes a little but turns to Nancy with a frown. “I told you that would happen,” Steve says, leaning back against his chair. Nancy shrugs as they both look over at their two idiots huddled in close and whispering about something. “But at least we can keep them out of trouble,” Nancy says as they both watch Eddie and Robin jump up from the crouch and run back to Robins room to plan more pranks to do on Steve and Nancy.

[demons2003]

Imagine a modern college au where Eddie makes it to college and never shuts up about his best friend Chris and his babygirl Stevie. Naturally when Chrissy and Steve come visit him, his college friends think oh that Eddie’s girlfriend Stevie and his best friend Chris.

Except. They’re both hanging out in Eddie’s dorm with his roommate Argyle and his friend Gareth, they’re pretty cool, and the door slams open as Eddie rushes in. He basically screams STEVIEEE, hurls himself into his lap and starts smacking kisses all over his face.

Chrissy says to a gobsmacked Gareth, “This is gonna take a while, it usually takes Eddie about ten minutes to realize there are other people in the room with them,”

And Gareth is like, “You’re not Stevie, are you,”

Argyle from across the room says, “Woah, I wish my best friend was that excited to see me,”

[demons2003]

My Boys (Chapter 61)

Series List

Y/n's pov

We've been sitting in the basement for what feels like forever. The boys are all impatient and all sitting on the couch trying to entertain themselves. Max has been writing the whole time, still not telling us what she's writing. The boys have finally stopped talking and are looking over at Max. "I know you guys are staring at me," Max tells them, making them all jump. They all say something to make her think she didn't see them but of course, they are terrible excuses. Lucas and Dustin pick up some magazines while Steve throws a ball up in the air over his head. "How do you think your eyes boring into the back of my head is protecting me from Vecna, I don't know," Max says. She makes a light tapping noise so I look behind me and watch as she walks over to us all. She stops in front of us, the boys still trying to look away from her. "You can look at me now," She tells them all. They all apologize and look up at her. She motions over to me to sit on the couch so I move so I'm sitting down on Steve's lap. He wraps his arms around my middle and kisses me on the back of my neck.

Max sighs and looks down at the envelopes in her hands. "For you," She says and holds one out to Dustin. Dustin looks confused but takes the envelope. "For you," She whispers and gives me one. She continues this for Steve and Lucas as well, both taking it. "Oh, and, um, give these to Mike, El and Will," she asks and gives them to me. I look confused at her and then the envelopes. "If you can ever get a hold of them again," Max whispers. Steve and Dustin start to open their envelopes and Max raises her voice, saying, "Hey, woah, what are you doing? No, don't. That's not for now. Don't open it now." "Don't... Okay," Dustin says, closing his again. "What is this Max?" I gently ask her. "It's um... it's a fail-safe. For after. If things don't work out," She nervously explains. "Wait, whoa. Max, things are gonna work out," Lucas tells her. "No! No, I don't need you to reassure me and tell me it's all gonna work out. Cause people have been telling me that my entire life and it's almost never true," Max snaps at him. I slowly get up from Steve's lap and walk over to her.

"It's never true," She says, looking between me and Lucas. I get behind Max and wrap my arms around her as she says, "I mean, of course, this asshole curses me. Should've seen that one coming." She leans back into me and lets out a sad sigh. I squeeze her and look over at the boys nervously. Max looks over at the walkie and gets out of my arms to pick it up. "If we go to East Hawkins, will this reach Pennhurst?" She asks, turning back to us all. "Of course. Yeah," Dustin replies. "Wait, why are we talking about East Hawkins?" Max looks at Steve and it's enough for him to understand. "No. No. No!" He says to everyone, looking at me for help. "Steve," I whisper, knowing why Max needs to go there. Without a word, Max walks over to her bag and runs up the stairs. "Shit," Steve whispers and we all follow after Max as quickly as we can.

"Max, Max. Seriously." Steve yells as we walk out the door. Steve gets next to her and tells her, "Seriously, I'm not joking okay? I'm not driving you anywhere." Max looks back and snaps, "If you think I'm going to spend what is likely the last day of my life in the armpit that is Mike Wheeler's basement, then you're out of your mind. So, either take me where I need to go or you're gonna have to tie me down, which is technically kidnapping of a minor. And if I live to see another day Steve, I swear to God, I will prosecute." We get to my car and Max tries to open the door but it's still locked. She glares at him and demands, "Open the door." "Uh, no," Steve tells her. God, he has some balls. "I know a good lawyer," She fights. "Or I'll give her mine," I tell him. Steve looks shocked and confused over at me and then looks back at Max. She continues to glare at him and he scoffs a little at her, pulling my keys from his pocket and opening the door while saying, "Henderson, that super walkie of yours better reach Pennhurst." We all climb into the car, Steve slightly angry about the development. I look over to Steve and grab his hand. He looks down at it and then up at me. I smile at him and he gives me a weak one back, starting the car and driving off when Max finally gets in the car.

At East Hawkins

Steve pulls up to East Hawkins and pulls on the break while telling Max, "This better be fast Mayfield." "Twenty seconds," She tells him and jumps out of the car. Steve looks into the back seat and asks Dustin, "That thing's got batteries in it right?" Dustin looks at him in disbelief and looks out the window. "I'm not even answering that question," He says. Steve looks at him annoyed while Dustin says, "Yea, it has batteries." "Yeah, I got it," Steve says and sits forward in his seat again. I reach over the centre console and grab Steve's hand again, giving it a squeeze. He looks over at me and softly smiles. I love that smile so much. Just as good as the sexy one, if not better. "She's been gone for longer than 20 seconds," Lucas says worriedly. I look down at my watch and nod. "Yeah, should we go check she's okay?" I ask, looking over at Steve. He looks forward and nods, and all of us jump out of the car. As I round the front I notice Max. I sigh and lean on the hood of the car and softly yell, "Guys?"

They all look over and see Max coming around the corner quickly. "Hey, that was longer than 20 seconds," Steve yells as she gets closer, leaning against my car door. Max doesn't say anything and tries to walk past Steve but he notices something is off. "Hey, whoa, whoa. You all right?" He softly asks her. "I'm fine. Just drive," she tells him, getting in the back again. Steve looks over at me but I nod to the car, both of us dropping into our seats. "Did something happen?" I ask and turn around. "Can we please just go?" Max snaps/pleads. Steve nods and starts the car and reverses out of the trailer park.

The whole time we drive to our next stop, Steve and I are looking in the reversing mirror to check on Max, giving each other a concerned look. Max has been quiet and looking out as we drive. As I go to ask where she wants to go she gives a, "Turn here." Dustin looks back at her confused and asks her, "Here?" She softly nods at him and he looks back to Steve who is looking at them and nods as well. Steve makes a left-hand turn and I notice the sign saying 'Roane Hill Cemetery'. She wants to visit Billy before she dies. I look over at Max to see if she's ok but she avoids my eye and continues to look out the window. "Park over there," Max tells Steve, pointing just in front of us. He nods and drives over.

As soon as he stops, Max jumps out of the car, closing the door behind her. Lucas jumps out after her and yells, "Max?" Running over to her as she tries to walk away. I watch them both and lean over to talk with Steve and Dustin. "Is she ok?" Dustin whispers, taking his eyes off Max for a second to look at me. I sign and shrug. "I don't know Dustin. I don't know how anyone would be feeling if they knew they could die," I tell him. I'm terrified and I don't even know if I'm cursed yet. Dustin signs as well but Steve turns to him and says, "Hey, we just have to be there for her when she needs us and kill Vecna as soon as possible." Dustin nods and gets out of the car, leaning against the hood.

"Is she going to be ok Steve?" I ask, leaning closer to Steve while Lucas starts to make his way back over to us. Steve turns to me and grabs my hands. "We will do anything we can to make sure nothing bad happens to her," He whispers, squeezing my hands tighter. I sigh and pull him closer, wrapping my arms around him. "I have to protect her Steve," I whisper to him, tears filling my eyes a little. Steve squeezes me back and says, "You will. You'll do anything you can to ensure nothing happens to her." I nod and bury my face into his neck. "What were you and Robin talking about last night? After we got back to the Wheelers from the school." Steve randomly asks, causing me to pull away from him. "What do you mean?" I ask, trying to be confused but knowing exactly what he is talking about. "When we got to Nancy's, you and Robin were talking about something when Robin came out crying. What were you talking about?" He asks again, trying to be more clear. I sigh and shake my head. "I can't tell you, Steve. You'll get worried too and we need to focus on Max right now." Steve tries to get me to look at him but I shake my head. "Please, Stevie. I need you to trust me. Everything is ok," I tell him, hoping he will drop it. He sighs and I notice him opening his window.

"I'm here if you need me," Steve whispers, tapping his finger on the door and looking out towards Max. "So, you think she's been up there long enough yet?" He asks, loud enough for the boys to hear. "Give her a few seconds," Lucas whispers, but Steve looks down at his watch. "Nope, it's been long enough," Steve whispers and jumps out of his car. "Steve, just give her some more time," Lucas tries again, but Steve isn't having any of it. "I have, all right Sinclear?" Steve snaps, turning around to continue. I quickly open my door to follow, Dustin moving so I can get out. "I'm calling it. She wants to get a lawyer, she can," Steve argues while he walks backward to where Max is. "Dam it," I whisper and run after him, both boys staying at the car. "Steve!" I yell after him, getting closer.

He ignores me and jogs over to Max. "Max," Steve yells a little as he is almost over at her, me close behind him. "Time to giddy up, yeah?" Steve asks, walking slightly in front of her. "Max?" I ask her, looking around Steve to see that Max is staring blankly at the tombstone in front of her, her eyes rolling back. "Max? Max?" Steve whispers, leaning down to her and grabs her shoulder, shaking her and yelling her name a little loud. "Max!" I yell really loud and move to her other side, grabbing both shoulders and shaking more than Steve was. I look into her eyes rolling back. "Max! Wake up!" Steve and I yell over and over, more panic filling our voices. "Guys!" Steve eventually yells back to the boys. "Wake up Max, Please!" I whisper to her, getting close to her ear.

Lucas runs up behind me, getting between me and Max while Dustin sits between Max and Steve. "Max you gotta get outta there! Can you hear me?" Lucas yells at her over and over, shaking her shoulder. "Max!" Dustin yells before Steve grabs onto his shoulders, pointing back to the car. "Call Nancy and Robin! Go get 'em! Call Nancy and Robin! Go!" Steve panic yells at Dustin. Dustin runs off while I look back at Max, Lucas continuing to call for her. "Steve?" I whisper to him, taking Dustin's spot to be closer to Max. He grabs onto my arm and says, "It's fine. We'll figure it out. Or the girls will know." I nod but it doesn't help the panic that I am feeling. I hear Dustin yell into the walkie but I'm trying to focus on Max. "Max, we need you to snap out of it already," I snap at her, shaking her some more. She just continues to stare ahead, not seeming to know we are there.

I jump up from Max and run down the hill to Dustin, hoping I can be more help there. "Did they work it out!?" I yell down at him, noticing him standing on the car. "We need music," He tells me, jumping down on the ground. I nod and Dustin grabs a bag, dumping the contents and picking up all of the tapes. I open the door and pull out the Walkman that is in the glove box, both of us running back up the hill to find Steve and Lucas still trying to wake up Max.

"Guys!" Dustin yells as he skids across the ground to the three of them. I get next to him as Lucas asks, "What is this?" pointing to all of the tapes Dustin dumped in between us all. "What's her favourite song?" Dustin asks, ignoring Lucas' question. "Why?" Lucas asks. "Robin said if she listens...." Dustin starts but I but in to say, "We don't have time right now! What is Max's favourite song?" "Running up that Hill by Kate Bush!" Lucas yells and we all look through the tapes to try and find one that has the song on it. "It isn't here!" I yell, panic creeping up on me more. "It's this one! I've got it!" Lucas yells triumphantly after a few more seconds of searching. "Give it to me!" I yell at him and hold out my hand, Lucas throws it in my open hand, and I throw it into the Walkman. "Go! Go! Go!" Someone keeps repeatedly yelling, but I ignore them while giving Dustin the headphones. He puts it on Max, and I press play. "Max! Wake up!" I yell, praying that she'll snap out of it. Everyone else also starts to yell at her, but nothing seems to be happening just yet. "Max, I need you to come back to us! Please, Max!" I yell, focusing on her.

Without warning, Max slowly rises into the sky. We all fall back and look up at her shocked. "Max!" We all yell, freaking out more. "No, no, no," I whisper, feeling myself shrink a little, panic starting to take over. Steve grabs onto my hand and squeezes, trying to help me. "Max!" Lucas yells over everyone. "Snap out of it Max!" I yell moving closer. "Max!" We all yell one more time, and Max falls from the sky a moment later.

"Max!" I yell in surprise and grab onto her hands, Lucas coming up behind her to help her up. Max pulls away from me and screams as we all move closer to her. We all continue to say her name, getting calmer the more we say it. "It's okay," Lucas whispers to her, pulling her into his arms as she starts to hyperventilate. She grabs Lucas's arm while he continues to whisper comforting words to her. I place my hand on her leg and breathe out a sigh of relief. She's ok. She's ok for now. "I thought we lost you," Lucas tells her, his voice breaking a little. "I'm still... I'm still here." She whispers back to him, trying to catch her breath. We all sit around Max, letting her catch her breath and think about what just happened to her.

[demons2003]

My Boys (Chapter 60)

Series List

Y/n's pov

As we pull up near the Wheeler's house, Robin grabs onto my arms. I look at her confused but she silently pleads with me to stay in the car with her. "Hey, why don't you all go ahead without us? We'll meet you inside," I tell Dustin. He looks confused but nods his head, getting out of the car and heading over to the rest of the group. I watch as Dustin walks over to them but instead of heading inside he jumps into Nancy's car. Guess they're waiting for us. "Please tell me I'm wrong. I need you to tell me I'm wrong," Robin asks, looking over at the group as well. I exhale a breath and say, "In order to do that, I need to know what you're thinking." Robin looks over at me and almost yells, "Tell me you aren't under the curse." I sigh and say, "I've been having really bad headaches for months. I've been having nosebleeds for about a month now too. I've always had nightmares. So, Robin, I can't really say."

I look over to Robin to find her silently crying next to me. "Rob," I whisper and cup her face in my hands. She tries to get out of my hands but I pull her back. "My symptoms have been going on much longer than everyone else. I'm sure I'll be ok," I try to reassure her but she doesn't look convinced. I sigh again and promise, "If I'm wrong, I'll do whatever you want me to for a whole year. Whether that be what I wear, where I go or who I go out with. I promise I am not under this curse." Robin lets out a breath but nods her head. "Why don't you go to the others, I'll meet you there," I tell her, needing a second to breathe on my own. Robin nods and gets out of the car, walking over to everyone else. I watch as everyone gets out of the car and she runs into Steve's arms, everyone looking confused. I take another breath and get out of the car, really wanting to scream but knowing we need to focus on Max instead of believing that I may be also under the same thing.

As I move over to the group they all give me confused and worried looks. I shake my head and walk over to Steve and Robin. I wrap an arm around them and ask the group, "So, are we going in or what?" Nancy nods but the other three still have the same looks on their faces. I smile at them and we all quietly make our way into the Wheeler's basement, ready for a stressful and restless night. 

Next Morning

When we all get up, we start going through the articles that Nancy and Robin found while they were at the library. We were going through them to see if there was any information that could be useful to us. "Okay, be honest. Uh... Do you guys understand any of this?" Steve asks us. "No," Lucas replies while Dustin says, "Pretty straightforward." "Oh, straightforward, really?" Steve sarcastically says. "What's confusing to you?" Dustin asks him. I look over to Steve and raise a brow, smirking at him. He rolls his eyes while Dustin explains, "So far, everyone Vecna has cursed has died, except for this old Victor Creel dude Nancy found. He's the only known survivor. If anyone knows how to beat this curse, it's him." "Yeah, that's assuming he was cursed, which we don't even know," Steve fights back. "How can Vecna have existed in the '50s? It doesn't make sense," Steve whispers to himself. "As far as we know, Eleven didn't create the Upside Down. She opened a gate to it. The Upside Down has probably been around for thousands of years. Millions. I wouldn't be surprised if it predated the dinosaurs," Dustin explains further.

"Dinosaurs? How did we get to dinosaurs?" I ask but Lucas quickly asks, "Okay. Okay. But if a gate didn't exist in the '50s, how did Vecna get through?" "Oh, and how's he getting through now?" Steve adds and points at Lucas. "And why now?" Lucas further asks. "And why then? Just pops out in the '50s, kills one family, and he's like, 'I'm good'. And proof, he just disappears. Just... gone? Only to return 30 years later and start killing random teens? No, I don't buy it. Straightforward my ass," Steve explains, moving towards the chair I'm sitting on. "Honestly Henderson, a little humility now and then, it wouldn't hurt you," Steve tells Dustin, getting a sorry in return. He motions for me to stand from the chair and I quickly get up to let him sit. When he's comfortable, I sit on his lap and lay back, his arms coming around me so he can still hold the news article.

I lean my head on Steve's shoulder and read the article with him, listening in to the boys in case they need anything or come up with any new ideas or theories. "Any idea what she's writing," I hear Dustin ask, probably looking over at Max. While the rest of us have been looking through the news articles, Max has been on the table franticly writing things. Hopefully not goodbye letters. Steve hears the questions and shifts a little to look back at her. "Did she sleep?" Dustin asks us. "I mean, would you?" Lucas asks back. I shake my head and lean against Steve's.

The door to the basement opens and Steve moves to see who's coming down. Nancy and Robin come running down the stairs, Nancy telling us, "Okay, so... we have a plan." They hand us all a folder and both of them sit down where they can. I look at the folder with Steve while Robin says, "Thanks to Nancy's newspaper minions, we are now rock star psychology students at the University of Notre Dame." "I'm now Ruth." Nancy tells us and Robin follows with, "And I'm now Rose." "Ruth?" Steve asks Nancy in disbelief and gets a nod from her. "Nice GPA," Dustin tells Nancy. "Thanks. So we called Pennhurst Asylum, told them we'd like to speak with Victor Creel, for a thesis we're co-writing on paranoid schizophrenics..." Nancy continues to explain the plan. "To which they said no," Robin says. I look confused at them both but Nancy continues with, "But we landed a three o'clock with the director." I nod and Robin explains, "Now all we have to do is charm him and convince him to let us talk to Victor." "And then maybe we can rid Max of this curse," Nancy mumbles, looking over at Max.

"Yeah, about that. We've been doing our Victor Creel homework, and uh... we got some questions," Steve tells the girls. "Lots of questions," Lucas adds. "So do we. Hopefully, Victor has the answers," Nancy replies. "Wait... Wait... Wait a second. Uh... Where's mine and Y/n's?" Steve asks, looking around in case they were somewhere else. Nancy gives him a weird look before saying, "You guys are looking after the kids." Steve looks annoyed at her before she stands to announce, "Robin and I need to go upstairs to get ready." She grabs Robin's arm and pulls her to stand. Steve groans and pushes me off of him, running after them while Robin slips her arm from Nancy's hold to help me. That was rude of Steve. I quickly get my balance and run up the stairs after Nancy and Steve, Robin right behind me. "Nancy, you're outta your mind if you think I'm babysitting again," I hear Steve snap.

I round the corner and look through the door of Nancy's room to Steve and Nancy in the corner arguing. "Ok, first of all, they're not babies anymore. And Max is in real danger. She needs people around her," Nancy snaps back. "I know. But why does it always have to be me?" He asks. "Oh my God, you have a Tom Cruise poster," Robin excitedly says when she enters, walking right over to it. "You have a Tom Cruise poster," Robin says in a suggestive way. "That's old. It's just..." Nancy tells her but Robin laughs and bends down near the bedside table. "Can you please not touch anything?" Nancy snaps at Robin. I glare at her while Steve argues, "I can't do anything here, Nance. I maybe can be helpful with this asylum director dude. I don't know. I could turn on my... my charm." I roll my eyes and walk over to Robin. "Not the charm they're gonna need Stevie," I tell him, not looking over as he whispers, "Ouch." "She's right. I did a little digging last night, and it turns out this Dr Hatch is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Harvard visiting scholar, okay?" Nancy tries to convince Steve.

I sit down on Nancy's bed while I watch Robin slowly look through all of her stuff, mesmerized by almost everything. She's really cute when she's like this. "This is a lifelong student of the world. If we're gonna win him over, we're gonna have to convince him we are too. That, like him... we are true academic scholars," Nancy continues. "Holy shit. There's a little ballerina in here," Robin whispers, showing me and Steve. I smile at her while Steve argues, "Academic scholar? She's giving you an academic scholar vibe? Yeah." I glare at him while Robin softly slams the box closed. "No, but..." Nancy agrees. I turn to see what she's gonna say next and she holds up a dress. "She will," Nancy finishes. "Oh, please, tell me you're joking," Robin complains. I laugh and look back at her smirking. "So glad I'm not going now." She glares at me and stares back at the dress. "Come on, you'll look so pretty," I say. She groans and walks over to Nancy, snatching the dress. I laugh at her while she walks out of the room to get changes. I stand and grab Steve's arm. "Let Nancy get dressed," I snap and drag him out of the room.

We're halfway down the stairs when Steve turns me around. "What's up with you?" He asks me, moving closer. I talk a step back and ask, "Is being with me and the kids that bad?" He looks shocked at me and shakes his head. "Of course not. You know I love hanging out with you," He whispers, stepping closer and putting a hand on my cheek. I pull my face away and say, "But the last two times you've been stuck with me you've tried to get out of it," I snap, hating the jealousy slowly filling me. Steve looks at me sadly and sighs. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," He whispers. "Do you still like Nancy?" I blurt out, knowing it could just make everything worse. Steve looks shocked at me before cupping my face and franticly shaking his head. "No baby. I really don't. I only love you," He whispers, pulling me a little closer. "I know it's probably looked like that, but I promise you, I've only been nervous about my friend, nothing else." I nod and lean up to give Steve a kiss but before I can Nancy's door and the bathroom door opens.

I spring away from Steve and look at them both. I smile at Robin and say, "You do look pretty in that dress." She blushes at me but rolls her eyes. Nancy walks over and hands her a pair of shoes. "Wear these too. It'll work better than what you have," Nancy says, giving Robin a pair of heels. Robin groans again and says, "I'll change them in the car, I'll break an ankle before then." Nancy nods at her and they both start walking towards Steve and I. "What are you two doing in the stairwell anyway?" Nancy asks us, pushing Steve to move. I walk down as well as Steve says, "We were waiting for you two." We get to the front door and I pull Robin into a hug. "Be careful," I whisper and lean back, keeping her at arm's length. She nods and looks back at Nancy. "Ready to go?" Nancy asks her, clearly annoyed about something. Robin nods and they both start the journey to the Asylum. I turn back to Steve and he smiles, grabbing my hand and pulling me into a quick kiss before taking me down to the basement.

[demons2003]

My Boys (Chapter 59)

Series List

Y/n's pov

As soon as we get to Ms Kelly's house, Max jumps out of the car and walks over. Steve and Dustin watch her as I lay down in the back seat. "Okay. She's in," Steve says. I nod but don't look at them. I close my eyes and try to get some sleep. Hopefully to get rid of this headache. "Y/n?" Dustin whispers, but I don't say anything back. I hear some shuffling in the seat before Dustin says, "I'm missing a collarbone, not eyes." I stiffen and listen closely to the conversation. Where is Dustin taking this conversation? Steve doesn't say anything, so Dustin asks, "So, we gonna talk about... it?" "Huh? Sorry, talk about what?" Steve asks. Shit, has Dustin noticed the way Steve's been with me lately? "Your temporary insanity earlier today when you basically threw yourself at Nance?" Dustin tells him. Great, it wasn't just in my head. Dustin noticed it too. "Okay, first of all, that's not what happened." Steve starts but Dustin buts in to say, "Pretty sure that's what happened. It was pretty public. There were a lot of witnesses, including Y/n..." "Are you implying I still have a thing for Nance?" Steve defensively asks. "No. I'm not implying. I'm stating. And, as it relates to your steadfast refusal to date Y/n or Robin, it's pretty much the only logical explanation," Dustin says, a little angry when he says my name. I wonder what that is about.

"That's not the only one," I hear Steve whisper with movement in the front seat after. "And as for Nance, I was just trying to protect a friend. A friend, Henderson. Okay?" Steve snaps at Dustin. "Okay." "Don't wanna find her in the morning with her eyes sucked out the front of her skull by this Vecna creep," Steve defends. "You're bright red in the face right now," Dustin mocks. Dammit, I wish I could see Steve's face right now. "No, I'm not. I don't wanna talk about it with Y/n in the car or ever. I'll punch you so hard your teeth will fall back out," Steve says. I stiffen a little at his last comment, ready to get in the middle of them. "Whoa. Too far," Dustin tells him. They are quiet for a second till they both say not cool and Steve apologizes to Dustin. I really do love these two. Just wish there was a way to figure out if Steve still loved me. They both go quiet and I pick that as the moment to wake up.

"Hey," I whisper, leaning between them both. Steve looks worried at me while Dustin beams. "Hey sleepyhead, you doing alright?" I smile at him and ruffle his hair. "All good over here," I whisper and lean back in my seat, looking at the window to Ms Kelly's house. I still hated this house. After everything that went down with my dad, I was forced by Hopper to come down here and make sure I was ok. Ms Kelly would try and get me to talk for hours and it only ended with me crying and having panic attacks. That did help me feel better though and I wasn't as scared to face men anymore. Just wish the Upside Down didn't bring a whole new mental problem.

"Here she comes. Here she comes," Steve excitedly whisper/yells to Dustin and I. I move over in the back, making sure Max can get in. She jumps into the back and Dustin asks, "What's she say?" "Nothing, just drive," Max tells Steve, slamming the car door closed. "Nothing?" We all ask her. "Steve, drive," Max forcefully says. "Okay," Steve whispers and starts the car, speeding off. Where do we go?" I ask for Steve. "The high school, I have her office key. We can look at Chrissy's file and maybe it will help us," Max explains. Steve nods in the front and puts his foot on the gas pedal more so we get there faster. 

"Dustin. It's Lucas. Do you copy? Dustin." Lucas rings through the walkie talky. "Lucas? Where the hell have you been?" Dustin says in the walkie. Thank god he's ok. "Just listen. Are you guys looking for Eddie?" Lucas asks. What the hell is this all about? "Yeah, we found him, no thanks to you," Dustin replies. "You found him?" Lucas asks, seeming to be relieved. I lean forward in my seat as Dustin says, "He's at a boathouse on Coal Mill Road. Don't worry. He's safe." "You guys know he killed Chrissy, right?" Lucas accuses. "That's bullshit. Eddie tried to save Chrissy," Dustin yells. "Then why do all the cops say he did it?" Lucas asks. Max reaches forward and takes the walkie from Dustin. "Lucas, you're so behind it's ridiculous, okay? Just meet us at the school. We'll explain later," Max snaps. "I... I can't. I think some real bad shit's about to go down," Lucas tells us. "What are you talking about? What bad shit?" I ask, interrupting Max. Instead of a reply, static comes through. "Lucas? Lucas?" Max asks into the walkie. "What the hell happened?" I ask, starting to feel worried for the boy on the other end. "I have no clue but we need to get to the school right now," Steve says, speeding quicker to the school.

At the school

We speed down the empty school halls, trying to get to Ms Kelly's office without being seen. Even though there shouldn't be anyone at school anyway. "Dustin, do you copy?" Robin asks through the walkie. Dustin fumbles a little to pick it up but says, "Yeah, I copy. "So, Nancy's a genius. Vecna's first victims date back all the way to 1959. Her shot in the dark was a bull's eye," Robin tells us. Great, now both of my best friends love her. "Okay, that's totally bonkers, but I can't really talk right now," Dustin tells them, all of us walking faster down the school halls. "Wait, what are you doing?" Robin asks him. I take the walkie from him and say, "Breaking and entering the school to retrieve some confidential and extremely personal files." "Can you repeat that?" She asks me. "Just come to the school right now Robs. We'll explain when you get here," I tell her before turning the walkie off.

Max runs in front of us and puts the key into the lock, looking around to make sure no one sees us and opening the door. We all slowly walk in and look around to try and see where the files are. Max and I see them and walk over. "It's like a mini-Watergate or something," Dustin whispers. I block him out and look over Max's shoulder to look at the files. Her fingers fly over them until she gets Chrissy's. "Holy shit," She whispers, looking at the ones closest to her and harder for me to see. "What is it?" I ask her. "You found it?" Steve asks, walking closer." "I did find it, but not just Chrissy's file. Fred was seeing Ms Kelly too," Max tells us. Oh shit, no, this can't be right. My breathing gets heavier as Max pulls out Fred's file. She grabs Chrissy's file and puts it on the desk, giving the other to Steve to read.

Steve sits on the desk and Dustin and I lean over one of Max's shoulders each, Max sitting at the desk chair. She flips through Chrissy's files and skims over everything, Dustin and I doing the same. Max seems to notice something and asks Steve, "Can I see Fred's file?" "Yeah," Steve says and gives it to her. She reads over the notes Ms Kelly wrote and I notice it too. They were both having the same symptoms. Headaches, nosebleeds, constant nightmares and trauma. "Max? What is it?" Dustin asks her, also realising she knows. Wait, I'm having those symptoms. Am I under Vecna's curse? But if Max noticed it... "Max?" I ask, scared to hell that she's gonna be next. Dustin also starts to freak out, calling out for Max. "Max!" I yell and round the table, looking into her eyes. "She's just blankly staring," I whisper, hope blooming a little. "Eddie said Chrissy's eye's rolled back, so she's ok right?" Dustin asks, also concerned about what's happening. The doors burst open and Robin and Nancy come in. "What's going on?" Nancy yells, looking at all of us panicked. Before we can say anything, Max seems to wake up.

"Max," I breathe out and get in her line of sight. She looks at me confused and looks around the room. "How am I back here?" she whispers, Robin and Nancy slowly moving closer. "What happened Max?" I softly ask, reaching for her hands. She looks up a little scared and says, "Something was calling my name. I was following it and there was an old grandfather clock around a corner." I nod and motion to the door. "Show us where it was," I ask, slowly standing up straight. She nods and moves as quickly as she can out the door. Everyone in the room springs into action and we all follow Max down the hall.

We round the corner and stop at a dead end, Max looking at it confused. "It was here. Right here," she says brokenly. "A grandfather clock?" Nancy asks her, Max nodding. "It was so real. And then, when I got closer, suddenly I just... I woke up," Max whispers to us. "It was like she was in a trance or something. Exactly what Eddie said happened to Chrissy," Dustin explains to Robin and Nancy. Max turns to us all and says, "That's not even the bad part." The rest of us look confused and Max walks back to Ms Kelly's office. She moves to the desk again and moves the note sheets for Chrissy and Fred in front of her.

"Fred and Chrissy, they both came to Ms Kelly for help," Max starts to explain to us all while we spread around the desk looking at her. "Uh, they both were having headaches, bad headaches that wouldn't go away. And then... then the nightmares. Trouble sleeping. They'd wake up in a cold sweat. Then they started seeing things," Max explains to us. Robin turns a little in her seat to look at me but I shake my head, not wanting to worry her about this. Steve notices her and gives us a confused look but I shake my head at him as well. We have to focus on Max, not me. She is worse than me right now, if we focus on both of us something will slip. "Bad things. From their pasts. These visions, they just... they kept on getting worse and worse until eventually... everything ended," Max continues. "Vecna's curse," Robin says, spinning back around to look at Max. "Chrissy's headaches started a week ago. Fred's, six days ago. I've been having them for five days. I don't know how long I have. All I know is that, for Fred and Chrissy, they both die less than 24 hours after their first vision. And I just saw that goddam clock, so... looks like I'm gonna die tomorrow," Max says, all of us going quiet.

A loud noise sounds behind us and we all turn around to see what it was. "Stay here," Steve says and starts walking to the door. I shake my head and follow right after him. He picks up the lamp sitting next to the door and walks out. I turn my flashlight off and hold it up, ready to hit something with it. "Do you not listen?" Steve hisses when he realises I'm behind me. I smile at him and shake my head, "Not if you go into danger alone." He smiles softly at me but rolls his eyes, moving down the hall again. As we walk I notice everyone else coming out the door behind us. Ha, no one listens to Steve. Another loud sound happens and I look around again, hoping to find the source. Loud footsteps start sounding in the hallway leading to us so Steve and I hold up our makeshift weapons. As someone comes around the corner, Steve starts to yell and moves closer to the person. They start yelling as well and step away from Steve. "Hey! It's me!" Lucas yells in a broken voice. "Lucas?" Nancy asks. "It's me," Lucas yells a little quieter. "Jesus, what's wrong with you Sinclair," Steve asks. "I'm sorry," He says. "I could've taken you out with this lamp!" Steve yells at him. "Sorry guys. Sorry," Lucas apologizes. Steve drops the lamp behind him as Lucas explains breathlessly, "I was... I was biking for eight miles. Give me a second. Shit." Lucas bends over near the wall and tries to catch his breath. "We've got a code red," Lucas tells us. "What?" Steve asks in disbelief.

Lucas moves past Steve and I and walks over to Dustin. "Dustin," He says while walking over. "I've been with Jason, Patrick and Andy, and they've gone like totally off the rails. They're trying to capture Eddie, and they think you know where he is. You're in terrible danger," Lucas explains. I stiffen and move over to the boys. "All right. Yeah, that definitely sucks, but we've got bigger problems than Jason now," Dustin says. He looks back at Max but she looks away from our eyes. "We need to go, now!" I say, pushing the boys to the car. "What?" Lucas and Dustin say. Everyone else follows behind but doesn't say a word. "We are getting out of this school. We are going to lay low. And we are going to work out how the hell we are stopping this thing," I tell them, looking ahead to the door. Robin comes up behind me and grabs my elbow. "Y/n," She whispers, drawing my attention to her. I look over and see her nervousness. "I'll explain later," I whisper to her, knowing exactly what she wants to talk about. "Where are we going?" Steve asks as we get to the cars. I turn back to the group and look around, wondering where would be the safest place to go right now. "You guys could hide out in my basement. We hid El there for a long time, you should be no problem," Nancy tells us. We nod and get into the car, speeding off to the Wheelers as fast as we can.