#( i know the doors thing could just be vecna trapping her | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

harringtown · 2 years

Text

in the sea that’s painted black

a/n: it took an obscene amount of time to finish this fic and even longer to get around to this request so im so sorry for the wait, but me and writers block are currently duking it out in the ring lmao

pairing: steve harrington x fem!reader

summary: vecna kidnaps the reader, and once they’re rescued, steve helps pick up the pieces (aka how steve and reader lose each other, and how they find their way back)

word count: 7k

warnings: cursing, violence/torture mention

As far as Steve knew, you were a hundred miles from Hawkins when Vecna’s infection bubbled to the surface. You were at your aunt’s helping out with her new baby for Spring Break, far from the incoming chaos.

As far as Steve knew, you were safe.

As it would turn out, though, Steve didn’t know a damn thing.

Steve has broken his ribs more times than he can count, and the same can be said for his nose, and he’s had at least four concussions, but none of that pain comes close to this.

To the avalanche that lands on his chest when they bust through the locked door behind Vecna’s flaming corpse in the Creel house and see you, pale and bruised and bloody and unconscious. You’re alive, but barely—eyes shut, fingertips and lips blue, pulse so slow that Robin initially thinks you’re dead.

The decently laid escape plans every one of them came through the gate with dissolve, and in minutes, everyone on the wrong side of the gate is at the Creel house. Eddie is more blood than boy, and Dustin is limping, and Steve can’t tell who is holding up who. But they’re alive, and they’re awake, and that’s better than Steve can say for you.

“Can we move her?” Robin asks.

Nancy purses her lips. She’s purposefully not looking at Steve.

“I don’t know,” she says. “I think her arms are broken. Legs, maybe.” She shakes her head, and her next words are hopeless. “I don’t know.”

“I’m not leaving her here,” Steve snarls.

“No one is suggesting that, Steve,” Nancy says. “But if we just… run in there and lift her, we could hurt her even more.”

“What the hell are we supposed to do, then?” He asks, and he knows he’s raising his voice, and he knows Nancy doesn’t deserve it, but the girl he loves is half-dead on the floor.

He spent three days believing you were safe and sound, miles away. And for three days, you’ve been trapped in hell.

He should have known. Should have sensed it. Should have taken the damn time to call your aunt, who would have told him you never made it.

“We’ll make a stretcher,” Eddie says. He sways a bit as he comes forward. “We need a big fucking slab of wood.” He sweeps a gaze around. “And anyone with a belt, take it off, and hand it over.”

And though a few days ago, Steve didn’t care who Eddie Munson was, right now, he could kiss him. Instead, he just meets Eddie’s eyes, and gives him one of those dude-nods, hoping he’ll understand. Eddie nods back, already unthreading his leather studded belt.

Nancy and Robin end up ripping the front door straight off its hinges, and Steve, Eddie, and Dustin get to work making something sturdy enough to get you out of here.

You haven’t moved, have barely taken breath, since they found you, but for the moment, Steve lets the task distract him, and pretends it isn’t the girl he loves on the floor, but a faceless person he doesn’t know. It’s the only way he’ll get you and himself and everyone else out of here.

The radio chatter has been nonstop with the kids on the other side of the gate trying to figure out what’s going on, but not a single hand is free to answer the call. Within minutes, a decent looking transfer board with straps is being placed beside you.

Nancy and Robin take one side, Steve and Eddie another, with Dustin at your head to secure your neck.

“Ready?” Nancy asks. Four sets of hands slip gently beneath you. “Three, two, one—”

Your eyes snap forward, wide open, and the whites are almost entirely red from broken blood vessels. The others shift back on instinct—Steve’s instinct pushes him forward, has him reaching for you.

Your gaze finds his, and Steve doesn’t ever think he’s been so relieved in his life. You’re alive, and awake, and—

And you lunge for him, fingers wrapping tight around his neck.

And Steve can’t breathe.

“Get. Out. Of. My. Head.” Your voice is raw and ragged and breaking, and with each word, your fingers close a little tighter around Steve’s throat.

“Oh, shit!” Dustin yells, and if Steve had the capability of speech, he’d agree with him.

“Wheeler!” Eddie calls, in motion while the rest of the room is frozen, taking one of your arms. “A little help over here!”

Nancy lunges, Robin behind her, and it takes all three of them to tear you off Steve. Steve, who just spent a good ten minutes with a vine around his neck, is in no state to help, and even if he was, he still can’t breathe. He can’t breathe, and all he can see is your eyes, red and angry.

Eddie wrangles you back, but you shove out of his arms, throwing yourself back into the corner like a terrified animal.

“Steve—” Robin kneels to help him to his feet, but he shakes her off, hands flying up to rub at his neck.

“I’m fine,” he spits. And he isn’t, and everyone knows it, and maybe that’s why they don’t push it. Or maybe it’s you, trembling in the corner, staring at all of them like they’re monsters.

He takes a step toward you, and Nancy takes his arm.

“Steve, I wouldn’t—” She starts, but a glare from Steve silences her. She removes her hand.

“Y/N, it’s just us,” Steve says. He doesn’t get closer, despite every cell and nerve ending telling him to. “It’s me. It’s Steve.”

You shake your head so violently, Steve wonders if it hurts.

“No,” you say. “No. You’re not him. You’re not him.” You shake your head again. Draw your knees to your chest and loop your arms around them. “You’re not him.”

Steve looks back at his friends. Robin, her eyes glittering with tears. Nancy, who won’t look at him. Eddie, with his jaw clenched. Dustin, trying to shift his weight onto his bad foot and failing.

He doesn’t know what to do. After everything he’s been through, all the battles he’s fought, Steve Harrington has finally come face to face with a wall he can’t begin to imagine climbing.

In the end, it isn’t Steve who saves you from the Creel house. He doesn’t carry you out to safety. He doesn’t comfort you on the way through the gate and to the ambulances; one of them already has Max inside.

Eddie does. The only person you didn’t know before all this started—the only person Vecna didn’t use to torture you for three straight days.

Steve doesn’t have to ask to know that he was the center of the nightmares. The throbbing pulse around his throat is answer enough.

He was forced into a check up alongside everyone else when they got to the hospital—you, Max, Dustin, and Eddie were immediately taken back to rooms to be treated for your more severe injuries—but with so much chaos and carnage to deal with after the alleged earthquake, he’s told he’s free to go within the hour.

He doesn’t go, of course. He can’t. You’re still here. One of the nurses gave him your room number, said you’d be released in the morning. Which means Steve will be here until the morning.

Steve isn’t sure what else to do, so he ends up on damage control. He stops by Eddie’s room, where the Munson boy is wrapped tight in gauze and being pumped full of morphine, and asks if you said anything before he handed you off to the EMT’s. From what he could get out of you, you’d been intercepted on your way out of town. A cop found your car just a few miles from your house, down a gravel road, like you’d followed something.

Something. Someone. Vecna.

Thinking about it makes his blood boil. Makes him want to march back through the gate and burn every inch of the Upside Down back to ash.

He puts off going up to visit you as long as he can. But eventually, he’s called your parents and aunt to update them—your parents left in the evacuation, and your aunt was absolutely panicking, but as far as they know, you were minorly injured in the earthquake, and will call them all in the morning—and he can’t find any more excuses not to go.

It’s almost like part of him believes that the longer he waits, the more likely he is to walk into that hospital room and find you just the way you were when he kissed you goodbye three days ago.

Steve hesitates at the door. Room thirteen. He takes a breath, and steps inside.

He sees you jerk and straighten before he sees your face. It makes him stop a foot from the door.

You sit rod straight in the hospital bed. Both your arms are in casts. You have two black eyes, and more bruises and scrapes than he could even begin to count. But the worst part is the way you look at him. Like he’s a monster.

“I, uh, I wanted to make sure you were—” Steve stops. He should have come in with some game plan. “I wanted to see how you were doing.” It feels kind of like it did before you started dating, when you both walked that awkward tightrope until you realized you were both heading in the same direction. But even then, you never looked at him like this.

Your gaze trails up and down, and when it returns to his face, your expression is tight and tense.

“Steve?” you ask, like you doubt it.

“Yeah. It’s me,” he says. “It’s Steve.”

You gather the blankets up in your lap. “How do I know it’s really you?”

Steve’s lips part, but nothing comes out. He doesn’t know how to prove himself. He doesn’t know how to get rid of that panicked look in your eyes. He sure as shit doesn’t know how to fix this.

So, he just says, “I don’t know.” It’s almost impossible to talk past the choking sensation in his throat. “I would say that you'll have to just trust me, but—” He gestures at nothing. Closes his eyes for a long second. Opens them, and asks, as softly as he can, “But you can’t do that, can you?”

“I’m sorry.” You shake your head. Tears spill down your cheeks. “I’m so sorry.” You lick your lips and avert your gaze. “But I can’t—I don’t—”

Steve’s heart cracks open in his chest. He swallows the lump in his throat and says, “That’s okay.”

“It’s not—” you say.

Steve makes to move forward, but at your abrupt flinch, he freezes. Reroutes. Tries to cull the pain he knows is infecting his face with every breath.

“It is,” he says gently. “It’s okay.” He jams his hands in his pockets as if that will get rid of the urge to wrap his arms around you, protect you the way he’s supposed to. But right now, the only protection you seem to want is from him.

Steve licks his lips. “Look, I know that the last thing you want right now is to see my face—” Your expression twists, but you don’t counteract his words, so he knows they’re true. “—but I’ll be here. If you need me, or whatever, just…” He clears his throat. “I’m here, okay?”

You don’t say anything. You just nod.

And that’s it. Just like that. Steve turns and heads for the door before he breaks down at your feet, but a soft, “Steve,” stops him with his hand on the handle. He catches your eye over his shoulder.

Tears run rivers down your cheeks. A few days ago, Steve could have wiped them away.

“I’m so sorry,” you say.

The knot in Steve’s gut coils tighter, and rage sparks along his skin, but he’s not angry at you. He’s angry at Vecna or Henry or whoever the fuck he is. He’s angry at himself for not taking you up on your invite to get out of town for the week. Most of all, he’s just angry. Angry because he loves you, and he can’t help you.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Steve says, harsher than he means. He tries again, softer, “None of this is your fault. If you can trust anything right now, trust that.”

Then he slips through the door and pulls the door shut behind him.

With everything that happened, the Byers trip has been extended—Steve doubts they’ll go back to California for anything more than packing up and selling the house—and because half the houses in Hawkins were obliterated, Steve’s house becomes the hotel for the Byers, Hopper, and Eleven. He’s pretty sure Eddie will be taking over his couch when he’s discharged from the hospital, too.

He told them he’d be home later when he handed off a key, but he has no intention of going anywhere.

Steve drags two chairs from down the hall, positions them against the wall outside your side, and settles in. He’s immediately uncomfortable, and his back is going to wage war on him in the morning, but laying crookedly on those chairs is the closest he can get to you. After the last few days, he wants to be as close as he can be.

And so, he stays, staring up at the tiles of popcorn above him until he falls into a fitful sleep, full of empty, hollow dreams.

You were giddy the first, fifth, and five hundredth time you walked up the Harrington driveway. Tonight, though, the only thing you feel is dread.

To your relief, Steve is at work when you’re discharged, and since your parents are towns away with relatives—and unaware that you had to stay in the hospital at all—it’s Joyce and Hopper who drive you. They, too, are residents at the Harrington halfway house that popped up in the last day.

Jonathan, Nancy, and Argyle took the kids for a lake day to get their minds off things before Argyle has to head back to California, so the house is quiet, but it wouldn’t matter how full it was. Anything you touched or looked at or loved prior to three days ago is drenched in blood no one else can see. Even Joyce and Hopper, who featured less in the rampage of nightmares, make you want to crawl out of your skin.

But they seem to get it, or are just weighed down by their own responsibilities and losses, because they don’t stop you when you head out to the back yard. Sitting on a rusted lawn chair, it takes a second to realize why you chose this spot.

Because Steve doesn't come out here anymore. He hasn’t come farther than the doorway since Barbara Holland died.

Another barrage of tears lines up behind your eyes. If anyone would understand, empathize, it would be Steve. Steve, who has seen more pain than most people realize, and who has shouldered more than anyone should.

Steve, who you love more than you thought was possible.

And yet, when you saw his face in the Creel house, and again in the hospital, you could think only of the sick, maniacal grin on his face as he broke you in every way possible. As he spit venom and broke your bones and twisted every beautiful thing he ever told you.

Steve. Vecna. They are not the same, and they are.

You swipe the tears out of your eyes. The skin is dry and flaky from all the crying, and aches where you irritate the bruises.

But it could be worse. At least you’re alive, and awake, and walking around.

You’re not sure how long you sit out there, staring at the empty pool. It’s been empty almost as long as Barb has been dead. Steve begged his father to have it professionally done, and when the man ignored him, a frantic Steve went at it with buckets until his dad agreed.

At some point, the sun begins to set. A little later, a figure in the window catches your attention.

Steve stands at the back door, his arms folded over his chest, but he doesn’t make any attempt to come outside. You’ve no idea how long he’s been standing there.

He sees the line you’ve drawn in the sand. And it’s obvious how much it hurts him.

You take a breath and look away.

The nightmare yanks you out of sleep sometime past four in the morning. Tugging the damp, twisted covers off your legs, you slide out of bed—Steve’s bed, minus Steve, a fact that is both a relief and a disappointment all at once—and pull the hoodie from the end of the bed. It, too, is Steve’s, but it’s been yours almost as long, stolen months ago.

You pad to the door, eager to splash cold water on your face like it’ll wash the nightmare clean. Easing it open, you slip into the dark hallway, and almost trip on the dark figure sprawled outside the door.

Steve Harrington, in all his glory, a spot of drool on one side of his mouth, sleeping on a yoga mat with a ratty pillow and an old quilt.

“Steve?” you ask, louder than you should this late at night.

Steve’s eyes snap open, and he retrieves a knife he has tucked under the pillow, jerking upwards. At the sight of you, he sighs. Tosses the knife aside. Swipes at his eyes.

“Jesus—you scared the hell out of me,” he says. His voice is thick with sleep, and it tugs on soft memories; mornings across the same pillow and warm skin against yours.

“I scared you?” you ask, incredulous. “What are you doing out here?”

He flops onto his back and throws an arm over his face.

“Sleeping,” he grumbles. “Or, I was.”

“You know exactly what I mean,” you say. “Why are you curled up outside my door like a golden retriever?”

“If you wanna get technical, it’s my door—” He removes his arm from his face and scrunches his face up at your expression. “—which, clearly you don’t.” He pushes up to a seated position, shifting to lean his back against the wall. “Look, I get that you don’t want anything to do with me right now, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to just…” He shakes his head. “Ditch you.”

You can do nothing but look at him for a long moment, battling between the urge to run and the urge to stay.

Steve’s gaze falls to the wall across from him, as if he already knows what you’ve decided. A muscle ticks in his jaw. A few inches south, a scabbed line circles his throat. He almost died back there, too.

No one escaped this uscathed.

Maybe that’s why you decide to sit down across from him. Or maybe he just looks so miserable. Maybe you miss him. Maybe it’s all of those things.

You stretch your legs out, and Steve does the same. He rolls his ankle to tap your socked foot with his once before he shifts his legs away. His expression is twisted, a little hesitant, like he’s not sure what’s going on, like he’s worried he’s walked into a trap.

The silence holds longer than it ever has before. No one wants to be the first to break it.

Even before you admitted your feelings, as you skirted around each other like orbiting planets, it never felt like this. Awkward in a heart-wrenching way.

A few minutes, or an eternity, later, you voice the question bouncing around your skull.

“You’ve been sleeping out here every night?”

Steve pokes his tongue into one side of his cheek, making it bulge like he jammed a lollipop in his mouth. A memory of a candy store and sticky, taffy-flavored kisses drifts around you like a breeze.

“Uh, yeah,” Steve says. He rakes a hand through his hair, mussing it up even further.

“Why?”

Steve clears his throat. He doesn’t meet your eyes as he says, “I guess I don’t know what else to do.” His gaze darts to yours, a sad half-smile playing on his lips. “I mean, I don’t really ever know what to do, if the current state of my life didn’t make that clear enough, but I’ve always been able to… bullshit my way through it, you know? Enough to get by.” He shrugs a shoulder. Tips his head back against the wall. Closes his eyes. “But here, with you, I have no idea. And it kills me.”

You let out a breath. “It has nothing to do with not wanting to be around you,” you say. “It’s not that I—I don’t—”

Steve opens his eyes and says, “You don’t have to.”

Once again, patient. Patient like he’s been for almost a week. More patient than you think you deserve.

“I want to,” you say. “I wish I could. I just…”

Steve nods. He goes quiet for a long time, but it isn’t an awkward silence. It’s worse. It’s heavy with grief and wanting and old sentiments for the old version of you both.

You slide your leg across the scratchy carpet and tap his foot with yours, drawing his attention back to you.

“I’m sorry,” you say. “I’m sorry I don’t know what to do.”

“Yeah, well, we have that in common, at least,” he says. “Because I have no clue what to do, either.”

And while his actions the last week have made it clear he doesn’t plan on giving up, as he slides down onto his back on his sad little bed, it looks and feels a hell of a lot like surrender.

After three weeks, the Byers have vacated Steve’s house—Hopper and Joyce went Westward, back to California to sell Joyce’s house, and the kids with Jonathan at Hopper’s cabin now that it’s been done up.

The only other occupants of the Harrington house, since the actual Mrs and Mr Harrington are still out of town, are Eddie Munson and his uncle, though next week, they’ll be gone, too.

You’re not entirely sure why you’re still here. Your parents asked if you were planning on meeting them at your relatives house, and you told them no.

As much as it hurts to be near Steve, at the same time, it’s also the only thing that feels normal. Which makes no sense.

“We need to talk,” a familiar voice says. You hadn’t even heard him come outside—hadn’t figured he would, since he hasn’t once in the last three weeks. But when you turn, there he is, arms folded, jaw tight. Steve.

You shift on the rusty lawn chair, and Steve doesn’t hesitate before he comes to sit across from you.

“Steve, I’m really not in the mood—“

“Enough.” He shakes his head. “I’ve spent three weeks tip-toeing around you, and I’m done. You have to talk about it. Talk to me—”

Your lips form the beginning of a protest, but Steve presses on before you can say it, like he already knew you were going to.

“—or don’t talk to me. But talk to someone.”

“What do you want me to say, Steve?”

“Anything,” he says. “Anything at all. Because anything has to be better than this. You’ve been walking around like a goddamn ghost for weeks, and I’ve tried to give you space, and then I tried to be there for you, but all you’ve done is push me away.” He lets out the saddest laugh you’ve ever heard. “And then, I hear you on the phone with your parents. I know they asked you to come up to Indianapolis. And I know you told them no. Which doesn’t really make sense, because anytime I’m around, it’s like you can’t stand me.”

“That’s not true,” you say.

“Yeah? Could’ve fooled me.”

Your heart wrenches.

“I’m serious,” you say, swallowing the lump in your throat. “I still love you as much as I did three weeks ago. But for three days, a… demon wearing your face tortured me. Took every beautiful, kind thing you’ve ever said to me and twisted it. And it wasn’t just that. I saw everyone I love die a dozen times. I saw you die a dozen times.” You press your lips together. “I still love you, Steve Harrington, but I also see the end of the world when I look at you. I don’t know what to do with that, and I don’t know how to make that go away.”

Steve falls quiet, and for a long time, you’re afraid to look him in the eyes. And when you do, you regret it. All that pain and anguish and anger in his eyes, reflected back in your own.

“You can’t save everyone, Steve,” you say softly.

“You’re right.” Steve rakes in a breath. “I can’t save everyone. But I can save you.” He swallows. Grits his teeth. “And I will save you, Y/N. Whatever it takes.”

“Why? Why won’t you just give up?”

Steve goes quiet for a moment. His voice is low when he speaks again. “When you and I—” His brows furrow. “After everything that happened with Nancy, I was no good for anybody. I sure as hell wasn’t any good for you when we first started all this. I was a mess, but you stayed. You never stopped fighting for me.” Steve sniffs and swipes a hand under his nose. He pushes to his feet, and jams his hands in his pockets. “So if you want me to stop fighting, then look me in the eye and tell me, and I will.” He shakes his head. “But I’m never giving up on you, kid. I love you too much.”

The old nickname—you said an eight month age gap hardly warranted the term—from the months you both pretended not to feel what you did for each other, for your own stubborn reasons, stings like a slap.

Then he stands up, takes a tentative step toward you. When you don’t move, don’t even look up, he bends down. Presses his lips to the top of your head. Lingers, just for a second, long enough for your gut to lurch. Walks away.

And when you say, “Don’t stop fighting,” you’re not sure if he hears you before he makes it inside.

Another week passes. Steve moves back into his bedroom, and you into the guest room that shares a wall. Steve’s mother returns home, though even when she’s there, she’s not, so it still feels like it’s just the two of you. Circling each other.

On Friday night, you’re settled on the couch under the biggest blanket you could find, when Steve walks through the living room. He slings a jacket over his shoulders and drops onto the couch opposite you as he laces his sneakers.

“Hey,” you say.

Steve’s head snaps up, like he’s shocked you acknowledged him at all.

“Hey. How are you feeling?” he asks. He’s asked it a thousand times. And each time, you consider lying. And each time, you don’t.

“Just tired. Haven’t slept well in like a month.”

Steve nods grimly. “Well, if you feel like getting out of the house, I’m heading to Robin’s to watch some cheesy movie she picked out. She invited you, too.” Steve clears his throat. “You should come. It could be fun.” He shifts his weight, tries a smile. “I mean, not that fun, because Robin insists on that disgusting popcorn, milk duds thing, but, still.”

Your pulse leaps. You’ve barely left the house in the last month, but when you have, it’s been alone.

Your lips part, an excuse lining up behind your teeth, but before you can release it, Steve sighs, and says, “Yeah, I figured.”

He pushes to his feet and jams his hands into his pockets.

“If you change your mind…” Steve trails off, like he knows just as well as you that you won’t. He nods. “I’ll see you later. If you need something, call me, okay?”

You nod, and even though it breaks your heart to let him walk out the door, you don’t stop him. You never do.

That doesn’t mean you don’t wish you had. Wish you were brave enough. Wish that you and Steve were the same versions of yourselves as you were a month ago. But you’re not. He’s not. And there’s no way back to those people.

There’s just before and after.

A knock on the door half an hour later rouses you from the couch. You head to the door, expecting to let in Steve’s mom, who forgets her house keys more times than she remembers them.

It isn’t Steve’s mom at the door, though. It’s Eddie Munson.

No longer standing at death’s door, he doesn’t look like the guy who was more blood than boy when he carried you out of the Creel House. And while you’d never spoken before all this, a friendship was born out of the whole endeavor, during late nights on Steve’s couches.

“Eddie?”

“In the flesh,” he says, sweeping an arm. He flashes you a lopsided grin. “You look disappointed. Expecting someone different?”

No. Yes. You’re always hoping it’s Steve coming through the door, and a little relieved when it’s not. A little sad, too.

“No,” you say, rolling your eyes. “Just figured you had better things to do on a Friday night.”

He shrugs, and steps around you and into the house like it’s his own. With another eye roll he can’t see, you close the door behind him.

“Kind of you, sweetheart, but I’d guess our social schedules look pretty much the same these days.” He leans into the staircase banister. “I’m just here to grab some stuff I left. Harrington said he left a doggy bag just past the foyer.” He says foyer all fancy, an ay instead of an er, and you can’t help but smile.

You jerk a chin.

“Come on. You know where to go.”

“That I do,” he says, and heads into the living room. He locates the plastic bag stuffed with clothes on the coffee table, but instead of grabbing it, he drops down onto one of the couches.

With a sigh, you cross the room and sit on the other couch.

“Make yourself at home,” you say.

“What can I say? This couch and I got close last month.” Eddie grins, but it falters. “So. Elephant in the room. How are you?” He asks. “And don’t give me some bullshit answer. My lie detector is off the damn charts.”

You huff, sitting back on the couch and folding your arms across your chest.

“I’m…” You sigh. “I don’t know how I am. How are you?”

Eddie frowns, and the furrow between his brows is deep.

“About the same.”

“I haven’t slept more than five hours a night in a month. Every time I close my eyes, I’m back in that house. And the nightmares—” You stop, shaking your head.

“Yeah, I know the feeling,” Eddie says, jaw set. “My dreams aren’t exactly rainbows and daisies, these days.”

“And they were before?”

He lets out a soft laugh.

You take a breath. “Sometimes, I think they’re never going to go away. The nightmares. And not just the nightmares, but all of it.”

Eddie doesn’t say anything for a long moment. He just stares at the coffee table between you like it has something to tell him.

And then, he looks up.

“You know, my whole life, I felt like I was at war with the entire world. I had to fight so much, so long, that when I finally didn’t, I had no damn clue what to do.” Eddie licks his lips. “And I know that you’ve been through hell. But you’re not on a battlefield anymore. You have to come home. Get off that damn field before you get stuck there.”

You shake your head. “I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

Eddie purses his lips. He sits forward, leaning his elbows into his knees.

“Welcome to the club,” he says. “But you’re one of the lucky ones.”

“Lucky?” You scoff.

“Yeah. Lucky.” Eddie sits up. “Back in that house, four people who had every reason to run for their fucking lives stayed behind because you needed help. I mean, if it were up to me, I’d have gotten the hell out of there.” He shoots you an apologetic grin. “But not them.” There’s an unspoken not-him in there, and you’re not sure what surprises you more: that he’s defending Steve, or that you’re having this conversation at all.

The you of a month away would never have believed a word of this. Any of it.

“Look, I’m not saying that anyone is gonna walk in and make all the bad shit go away. Nobody can do that. But you’ve got people that want to try,” Eddie says. “Do you know what I’d have given to have that? What I’d still give?” He shakes his head. “Yeah. I’d call that pretty damn lucky.”

“You have people, Eddie,” you say. “At least, you do now.”

He gives you a wan smile, like he’s not sure he believes it, but he appreciates the sentiment.

“Whatever I have, it isn’t that.” He shrugs. “So, as the person who carried you out of that place, do me a favor and make it worth a damn.”

It’s a sincerity you’re surprised to find from him. Maybe it’s that, or maybe it’s the fact that he’s right, because all you can say is, “I will.”

“Look at me.” That voice, the one that you know better than your own, but it’s wrong, all wrong. He is all wrong. Dark and coated in rot.

You squeeze your eyes shut, hard enough to hurt. But that voice just gets louder, and louder, so loud it’s like it’s being projected directly into your brain.

“Look at me.”

“You’re not real,” you say, but you’re saying it yourself more than anyone.

This isn’t real. You know it isn’t real.

But it feels real. Looks and smells and hurts. And that makes it real enough.

A massive force slams into your chest and sends you colliding with the brick wall, but you don’t fall, your limbs stuck to the

Your eyes snap open.

Steve who isn’t Steve smiles.

“There we go,” he says. “I wouldn’t want you to miss a second of this.”

He lifts a hand. Steps forward. And lights every inch of you on fire—

“Wake up. It’s not real. Wake up.” That same voice, but this time, it’s gentle. And the hands on your shoulders don’t pin you down, but guide you up, keeping you from falling right off the bed as you jerk up and awake.

Steve pulls his hands back as soon as you’re steady, but he stays, perched on the edge of the mattress, his expression concerned.

“There we go. You’re okay. It was just a dream,” he says.

You rake a hand through your hair, huffing a breath.

“I’m sorry. Did I wake you up?”

Steve’s lips pull thin, and he gives you a sheepish smile.

“Thin walls,” he says. “I don’t sleep that great these days, anyway.”

And he doesn’t voice the unspoken, the reason he doesn’t sleep well.

Not for the first time, you consider Steve’s side of all this, but for the first time, you’re able to follow the train of thought without panic riding along.

You’re able to see how much he’s been hurting, too. You’re able to see that you broke his heart.

“Thank you,” you say, but you don’t just mean for this, but for all of it. For what he’s given up and left behind because you needed him to.

He nods. Pushes to his feet.

“Anytime,” he says. He clears his throat. “Try and get some rest, okay?”

He starts toward the door.

“Wait.”

Steve stops halfway to the door. He turns, his expression unreadable.

“Don’t go,” you say.

Steve hesitates, like he’s waiting for you to change your mind. But you’re thinking about Eddie, of all people, and what he said earlier. About walking off the battlefield before you’re stuck on it.

And it isn’t as simple as just stepping off, but it’s the only option worth anything.

“I’m so sick of letting you walk away from me. So mad at myself, and mad at Vecna, and mad at you for—for not telling me to screw off.” You rake in a breath. “But mostly, I’m just tired. And I miss you.” You shake your head. “I miss you so much, Steve, and you’re right in front of me, and all of this—it’s all my fault. I messed it all up.”

Steve frowns. Crosses to the bed and drops back onto the edge.

“None of this,” he says fiercely, “is your fault. Do you hear me? None of it.”

You close your eyes for a long moment. When you open them, Steve has his gaze locked on the fraying edges of the quilt curled in your lap.

“I don’t want to miss you anymore. I don’t want to keep pretending I don’t love you as much as I did a month ago just because I’m scared. And I know things can’t go back to the way they were, but that doesn’t mean I don’t wish they could.” You stretch a hand out, touching his own. He stills. “I wish like hell they could.”

Steve lifts his gaze to yours.

“Just tell me what to do. Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”

You press your lips together. Inhale, and thread your fingers through his.

“Don’t let me go,” you say, and lean closer, dipping your forehead against his.

“Like that was ever possible,” he says. His breath is warm on your chin, and he smells like lemon shampoo and aftershave, and god, you’ve missed it. Missed him.

“Promise?”

“I promise,” he says. “Always.”

You tilt your chin up, just a bit, and press your lips to his. It’s a cautious kiss, but Steve answers with another, steady and sure.

He pulls back a bit. Licks his lips.

“Do you still see the end of the world when you look at me?” he asks.

Yes. And no. Both choices and none of them.

You take his face in your hands, and he exhales softly, leaning into your touch.

“I don’t know what I see,” you whisper. “But I know what I want to see.” You give him a tiny, sad smile. “I want to see the boy who risked his own life to save mine. Who refused to give up on me, even when I gave him every possible reason to.” You lean forward, just a bit.

“And what do you see right now?” he asks.

“I see you,” you say. “Just you.”

Steve shifts back. He’s clearly reluctant to ask, his voice low as he says, “What about tomorrow, when you wake up, and that’s not what you see anymore? When you remember the monster under your bed has my face?”

It’s a valid question. And you don’t have a good answer, because there’s no way to know. There’s just this second, right now.

But really, now is all you have.

You trace your thumb down his cheekbone, to the corner of his mouth, and back up. His eyes flutter shut.

“You fought for me. So, I can fight for you,” you say. Steve opens his eyes. You incline your head and give him a half-smile. “Even if I’m fighting myself a little to do it.”

Steve shakes his head. “Why? Why not just walk away? You can’t tell me you haven’t thought about it. You can’t tell me it wouldn’t be easier to just leave Hawkins, and all of this shit, behind.”

You nod. “You’re right. It would be easier,” you say. “But I can’t. I can’t walk away, because that’s not what we do. You and me, we save each other.”

Steve pulls his bottom lip into his teeth. After a moment, he says, “Okay. Then we do what we always do. Take it one day at a time.”

“I think I can manage that,” you say.

Steve hesitates, then gives you a smile that makes your stomach flutter.

“It’s not the worst plan we’ve ever come up with,” he says.

And you surprise yourself by smiling.

“Don’t go lumping your bad ideas with my good ones, Harrington.”

“Don’t go crapping on my well-intentioned, but ultimately bad ideas,” he says.

You laugh, probably the first time in a month, and shake your head.

“God, I missed you,” you say.

“I missed you, too,” Steve says. Shakes his head. “So much.”

There are a dozen more things you should say, but there’s also the time to say it. You’ve been squeezing your eyes shut for so long, you couldn’t see it. The second chance laid out at your feet.

There will be time to say everything. Right now, though, you lean in, and kiss him. A real kiss. You thread your fingers through his curls and draw him close, and he kisses you back.

You’re not entirely free of everything that happened down there. Maybe you never will be.

But you can walk off the battlefield. You will. And this is the first step.

taglist: @milkiane @spideyboipete @robiin-buckley @robinbuckleyssgf @la-fille-en-aiguilles @sunlitide @cityofidek @isshecrazyorissheclever @peanutbutter-y-jams @hellfire1986baby

#brooke writes fic #steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x y/n #Steve Harrington x fem!reader #stranger things #x reader

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slashersteve · 2 years

Text

Let's Kiss

pairing: Steve Harrington/Female Reader

summary: It might be the end of the world, and you're for some reason worried about having never been kissed. Steve decides to change that.

warnings/extra tags: friends kissing tm, friends making out tm, reader spirals for a second here, gets a little heated but this isnt my nsfw blog, cursing, beta read, edited by me and autocorrect babey

note: forgive me for writing slowly :') i wanted to experiment with writing more kissing scenes and decided it was a perfect time for you to kiss steve till you were stupid. Thanks for reading and enjoy <3

✧ ✧ ✧

For the third time in your life, it felt like the end of the world, but unlike those times, this time felt as if it actually might be. And you were…not okay if you were being honest. Everyone who was piled into this stolen Winnebago that Eddie Munson hot-wired was not okay, but they seemed to be holding it together better than you.

When Steve Harrington drove into an open field so that you guys could properly prepare for your battle with Vecna, who was also known as Henry Creel, but also 001, you thought the fresh air would be just what you needed. You were wrong though when you thought of Vecna though, as the guy had shown Nancy some big, big plans of his that had to do with opening up a massive gate in the middle of Hawkins.

In response, you and everyone else here had big plans too, some that involved baiting him with a still cursed Max while the rest of you venture into the Upside Down to try and kill him before his plan could come to fruition. Honestly, it was a good plan, especially with Nancy basically leading all of you, and you couldn’t poke many holes into it…except for one…or some.

What if he didn’t take the bait with Max? What if Dustin and Eddie’s plan to distract the bats didn’t work? What if you step on a vine and alert the guy? And what if he literally knows everything you’re planning at this exact second and you’re all walking into a trap?

You don’t usually freak out like this, in fact, you had once prided yourself in your ability to be calm and collected in nearly every situation, but there must be something in the air right now or Vecna/Henry/One somehow got into your head or something because you were on the verge of a whole panic attack. Even Robin was more calm than you were (or at least appeared so).

“Preparation is key,” Nancy had said when going over your plan again when you questioned if it would actually work. And she was right, the first time you were in the Upside Down it was by chance (or force as the bruises around Steve’s neck still gave you uncomfortable chills and dread), but this time you’re going to be practically armed with all the shit you just bought at that angry hick store Eddie suggested while Max baits Vecna.

God, the thought of anything going wrong made your chest hurt, and you wanted to vomit all over the grass next to Nancy and Max’s feet as she sawed off the barrel of the shotgun.

“I’m- I’m going to go and change,” you said quickly before that could happen. They both glanced at you, and Nancy told you that was fine all the while it looked like Max could see right through you.

“She looks like she’s about to bail or something,” Max said, watching you make a beeline toward the Winnebago where Steve and Robin were currently sitting outside of.

Nancy hummed as she returned her focus on the felony she was committing and said, “I’m sure she’s fine.”

You didn’t say so much as a word when you went into the Winnebago and closed it, making Steve and Robin glance at one another before Robin was continuing to make their Molotov bombs with kerosene and empty alcohol bottles.

Steve’s eyes lingered on the shut door a little longer, noticing your odd demeanor, before reluctantly turning his attention back to the Molotov bombs as well.

It was in the Winnebago when things took a turn for the worse for you.

You had just finished changing out of your tattered clothing from your first trip in the Upside Down, and now wore the exact same camouflage shirt Steve was wearing and some new pants. You started to spiral, essentially, your thoughts coming at you fast and all at once, thoughts about what could potentially happen and go wrong, about possibly getting killed, which led you to think about a lot of the things you hadn’t done yet.

You wanted to graduate and attend the college you were already accepted to, then graduate from there, and maybe find a significant other there or something to at least experience that. It was just insane to you that you experienced what it’s like to breathe in the air of another dimension before anything inherently romantic.

It made you wonder if your life would ever be…just normal.

That was when the door was being opened and Steve was walking in without any regard to look specifically for you. When his eyes landed on you, they suddenly squeezed shut and he said, “Shit! Sorry! Were you changing? I’ll just-“ he blindly stepped backwards, knocking into the back of the passenger seat.

"It's okay! I'm done anyways," you told him, and he opened only one eye slowly before opening both.

"Still, I should've knocked," he laughed awkwardly as he stepped back into the Winnebago and said, "Molotov's are done, Eddie and Dustin's spears and shields are made, Nancy committed a felony...I say we're almost ready."

"Oh," you said a bit shakily, "So soon?"

He nodded, and said, "Yup, we should probably leave soon if we want to make it at sundown."

You dropped your eyes for a second, and forced the nervous exhale from coming out as everyone was on as much edge as you were about everything, and you didn't need to burden any of them with your doubt.

"Are...you ready?" Steve asked suddenly, and you glanced up at him.

"I-" you shut your lips to gulp nervously, then opened them again to say, "I...don't know..."

His eyes looked thoughtful as they stared at you, and he nodded, "Yeah...me either to be honest." He laughed weakly as he leaned on the side and crossed his arms.

You looked up and kept your gaze on him this time as he sighed deeply, "Just talked with Robin, and she thinks it might not work out for us..."

Your heart dropped, "Oh."

"But...she also said that we're crazy, and that...if we don't try and stop him then who will," he licked his dry lips for a second, "And she's right. Whatever happens...we win..or lose...at least we tried."

It was a bitter thought, to think that even if you go in prepared and ready for battle things can still go south. You needed to sit down immediately, and once you did on the couch in the back, you dropped your head in your hands at the thought of the endless possibilities.

"Is this what our lives have been leading up to?" you asked suddenly, voice quivering, "Battling a sadistic clock obsessed guy with powers like El and bad skin who snaps people's bones because he wants to open a giant gate to take over the world? What ever happened to normal lives, you know? Why hasn't our only problems been oh am I going to pass this physics exam or oh my god is he going to call me back? You know normal problems that normal people experience?"

You were rambling in a similar manner like Robin might, and it caught Steve off guard as you hardly ever did anything like that while Robin does it often.

Also, you already looked and sounded like you were defeated before the final battle even began, and Steve disliked that a lot.

"Hey, hey, we beat this guy? Then we'll have those normal problems," Steve tried to comfort you, "If this guy is really the big threat, and we manage to put him down, that'll be the end of everything...hopefully."

You moaned dreadfully, completely ignoring Steve, "There's just so much I should be experiencing, I don't understand why I experienced what it's like to climb up into a ceiling and fall out of the other side before I experience, I don't know, a first date? A first kiss? I know that stuff's not super important but still, it would be nice."

Steve tried to speak, but you were continuing on, your thoughts venturing to other matters besides yourself and it was making him even more concerned with your current state.

"And it's not even just me, like those kids out there? They're so young, one of them is literally cursed, like what the hell is up with that? It’s so fucked up!"

You were continuing to ramble and asking rhetorical question after rhetorical question that Steve had to actually go over to sit next to you and grasp your shoulders to make you stop and look at him.

"Hey!" he said, slightly shaking you as your eyes met, "All this is not helping anybody, especially yourself. I think the same things sometimes, and I wish I had some kind of explanation for you, but I don't even know it."

You stared blankly at him, and he sucked in a tight breath and continued to say, "What I do know is that we really don't have normal lives, and you know, at this point we just kind of have to to live with that-"

"But-"

"I also know," he cut you off, "That if we're going to go down there and try to put an end to this then we need to be prepared and level-headed you know? So...just...tell me what I can do to make you feel better."

His final request was odd to you, as you didn't know what he could do. He could tell you everything was going to be alright, but you'd know it was probably going to be a lie to try and calm you down. Steve knew as much as you did, and it sucked for a moment because you were expecting him to know more. Still, the question did make your heart swell up because of how genuinely nice he was, just being here with you and talking to you, wanting to make you feel better.

You instead took in a deep breath, trying to calm down the pacing of your heart stemmed from your blast of anxiety, and now the typical feeling you get when around the guy as you said, "You...you don't have to do anything. I'm sorry...you're right, tonight could be the end of the world, we're all nervous, but I'm the only stupid one ranting about never having kissed anyone."

You rolled your eyes at your own stupidity, and turned away from Steve to look at the ground.

Beside you, Steve shifted in his spot, and said "You don't have to apologize...I just almost lost you there for a moment."

You laughed weakly, but didn't reply.

Steve looked at you thoughtfully, and cleared his throat gently before saying, "For the record...I don't think you being worried about things like a first kiss is stupid."

"Yes it is Steve," you replied immediately, "In the face of the end of the world? Yeah...it's stupid."

"Well, I don't know, they're probably thinking about things like that too..." Steve trailed off, "Just because you're the only one voicing it doesn't make it stupid."

You pressed your lips together, and shrugged weakly at him in response as you leaned back on the couch now, the top of your head smacking lightly against the back window.

You weren't looking at Steve, because if you were, you probably would've caught a shift in his gaze that meant an idea was coming about, whether it was good or bad, you wouldn't have known until he said it.

And after a few seconds of silence, he did tell you, except you refused to believe you heard him right.

"What?" you asked, wanting him to repeat it so you don’t look silly.

He coughed into his hand nervously and said, "I could kiss you right now...you know...give you a sense of...normal or something...or to like…cross that off your list."

Steve wasn't looking at you as he repeated himself, which was just as well, because you felt your cheeks heat up and your jaw slightly drop. Not sure if he was just teasing you or something, you muttered, "Normal...normal friends don't kiss each other, Steve."

He laughed breathlessly, and ran his hand over his mouth for a moment before replying, "Friends do help each other though...also pretty sure we established we're not normal."

Now that made you laugh, not a weak or breathless one like before, but a genuine one and you said, "Yeah...that's definitely true.”

He was looking at you now, brown eyes staring right into yours and you saw then that he was serious about it, serious about kissing you and letting you experience at least that before tonight.

It wasn't like you hadn't thought about it before, if that warm feeling he always gave you when he was around, even now, said anything. You've thought about it even before you were friends, when he was a stupid jerk in high school who never looked twice at you but still made you weak in the knees.

After getting to know him more, you wanted to do more than just kiss the guy. You wanted to go on dates with him, hold his hand, make him laugh...all those romantic like things you've only seen in the movies. Would kissing him right now, in a moment like this, be a good move?

At your silence, Steve began to move to stand as he was saying, "God yeah, you're right it's not normal. I'm sorry I offered and made it weird."

Your hand was flying upward to capture his wrist gently, and when your eyes met, your thoughts went away as you realized you had made your answer already. You gave him a single nod, and then said, "Let's kiss."

His gaze remained on yours then, his expression softening slightly as he waited a few seconds before settling back down in the space next to you.

The atmosphere changed drastically then, the color within the Winnebago a pretty golden shade, bouncing off of Steve's face and his brown eyes as they bore into yours. You never really noticed how soft of a brown color his eyes were, maybe because you’ve never been this close enough to see them.

His next question had tore you out of your mesmerized gaze, asking you in a soft, quiet voice you never heard him speak in if you were sure it’s what you wanted.

You nodded, and said in a breathless voice, "Yes I'm sure."

Your heart was beating out of your chest, this time for the reason that any second now you were going to be kissing Steve Harrington, the once King of Hawkins High, and now one of your closest friends. You were nervous, and you were scared, but no more than you were scared about what might happen tonight.

He was just so close to you though, instead of the usual cologne he wore that drove you mad, he smelled like the earth and the pungent smell of the kerosene they used to create molotovs. It really proved that it wasn't just his cologne that drove you mad, it was simply him.

It was him just being here and this close that’s what made you this way, what was making you forget for a second that the end of the world was hours away. Your breath had even hitched and he gently reached upward to cup your cheek, a gesture that made you feel more heat spread across your face and chest.

His eyes flickered to your lips then as he began to move in, and you tensed up as you felt his lips gently graze over your own before they pressed fully against yours.

Though it was just a peck, just two lips touching, you practically melted in your seat when you felt his slightly chapped lips on yours. Your eyes even fluttered shut for a second, and any doubt of this being a bad idea faded at once as you returned the kiss.

When he leaned away from you after a few seconds, you opened your eyes to meet him and he asked with a small smile on the lips that were just on yours, "How was that?"

You were practically breathless as you replied something incoherent, and Steve tilted his head curiously at you, not understanding what you had said, and to be fair you didn’t know either. Your eyes fell back onto his lips, instead wondering if they were tingling like yours currently were, and wondering if he too felt the fire that he ignited in your chest by that simple kiss.

Steve had noticed your eyes had flickered back to his lips, and he exhaled deeply, and moved his hand underneath your chin to make you meet his gaze again. You blinked almost dreamily up at him, and he asked you in that same sweet, soft voice that would be added to your favorite things about him… "Want to do it again?"

Oh, how fast you said yes.

He didn't hesitate after your answer, pressing his lips fully onto yours to quite frankly give you another best first kiss of your life that you were sure nobody could beat even if they tried.

His experienced lips moved against your inexperienced ones, taking control and taking your breath away all at once. His lips were slow and steady on yours, gently sliding along yours and it was you who tilted your head gently in order to deepen it just a little more.

Steve's hand had moved from your chin, rather moving to the back of your head as he exhaled for a moment right onto your lips, and he asked, “Is this okay?” in reference to how quickly heated this kiss was becoming. You responded to him by leaning back in, and he chuckled as you recaptured his lips onto yours.

You didn't know what you were doing, since you've made it clear you've never kissed anyone, let alone like this, but it felt like you were doing something right as you tried to return his kiss with the same intensity as him especially when he hummed against you, his lips slightly vibrating on yours and pulled you impossibly closer to him.

When you felt the swipe of his tongue on your bottom lip, it sort of brought you back to yourself for a moment and he was leaning away again, his cheeks were a blush pink color and he said, “Fuck I’m sorry. We agreed on a kiss, and I’m trying to stick my tongue down your throat.”

He laughed awkwardly at his own words, and you could only sit there and stare at him all starry eyed, your prior concerns with the end of the world all but gone for even just a few seconds and you replied, “I…I don’t mind.”

Now you felt like the awkward one when he just stared at you, except you didn’t notice that his eyes were just as starry as yours, and then, the soft brown of his eyes shifted and darkened at your response and you were kissing again, picking off right where you left off.

Your lips parted and you felt him slip his tongue inside of your mouth, now really drinking you up and your hands flew upward to his sides, sliding them underneath his jacket and you felt him shudder against your hands as they touched his firm back above his shirt that matched yours.

The honest truth was you weren’t thinking about what this may imply, with how good Steve was kissing you and how intoxicated you both were quickly becoming on each other. It didn’t occur to you that Steve has probably been wanting to kiss you like this for a while now.

With your arms around him, you pulled him almost on top of you, your head smacking back against the window again as his tongue explored your mouth and all your worries just floated away as your mind was becoming fuzzy on him and the feeling he was bringing out of you.

“Steve,” you mumbled his name with a voice that was even unrecognizable to you, and it only urged him further, drinking up the next murmur of his name and you dragged your nails into his back (being wearing of his bandage) now feeling a sort of heat settling in the pit of your stomach as he practically devoured you in this Winnebago.

There was no telling where this might’ve gone, or how far either of you would’ve let it go, as Eddie was entering the Winnebago with a slam of the door saying, “Hey! So we’re- holy shit-”

The rest of his sentence was cut off at the sight of the position you and Steve were currently in. He had come in so fast and unexpectedly that neither you or Steve pulled apart quick enough so Eddie saw, well, everything, especially Steve nearly on top of you and his tongue in your mouth.

All you really could do was pull your lips apart from each other and look at the metalhead with similar, wide eyes.

“Uh…yes?” you asked awkwardly after a few seconds of silence, feeling your cheeks heat up with embarrassment rather than whatever Steve had been making you feel.

Eddie stared at the both of you for a second longer before he cleared his throat and said, “Yeah, some of us need this to change in, so if you want to make out- there’s an entire field out there,” he gestured around almost dramatically, and you blinked a few times, “Right yeah, so I’ll give you guys a moment.”

Neither you and Steve could properly respond to him as he was out of the vehicle in record time and you could hear some mumbling after the door shut and then Dustin saying quite loudly, “What? No, they’re not together- wait- what?”

A harsher wave of embarrassment came over you this time, realizing what had just happened between you and Steve, how heated it had gotten from a single peck to Steve’s tongue in your mouth and you pulling him on top of you. Your eyes trailed back to meet Steve as he leaned away from you, and your hands were falling to your lap. You wanted to say something, anything, but all that came out was a flustered breath at the loss of warmth you felt underneath his jacket.

Thankfully, Steve spoke for you, and he asked after an awkward, light cough, “Are you uh- feeling better now?”

You sat up more, flashing your eyes toward him before you looked down at your lap, noticing you were twiddling your thumbs nervously and all you could do was nod. Steve’s eyes stayed resting on yours, and before you knew it, he put his hand over yours.

Your eyes lifted to meet him again, and you could see there was a small, almost shy smile on his lips before he said, “I think I want to take you out on your first date too, if we end up saving the world.”

Your heart skipped a beat at that, and asked stupidly, “As like…a friend thing?”

He chuckled at your response, and shook his head, “No…no not like a friend thing at all…to be honest what just happened…if it wasn’t clear that wasn’t a friend thing either, I’ve been wanting to do that forever.”

His cheeks were still flushed, and his voice was still soft and low, only wanting you to hear him. And the way he was looking at you? His eyes were so intense, so adoring. Has he always looked at you like this and you just never noticed?

You stayed staring at him with a soft, surprised gaze, genuinely taken back by all this, and you decided right then and there that you were going to kill Vecna/Henry/One just to go on this date with Steve and maybe kiss him like you just had until you couldn’t breathe anymore and without interruption.

#my titles are the worst i am SO sorry i can never match just hold me </3 #this might be one of the final imagines as i wanna focus on cant cheat fate #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington #stranger things #stranger things imagine #stranger things fanfic #reader insert #female reader #lys writes again

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theladyofmanyfandomsfanfiction · 1 year

Text

Crossfire

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader (featuring platonic Steve)

Warnings: Language

Summary: You’re caught in the crossfire when Eddie is accused of murder.

Eddie’s whole life had gone to hell in a matter of hours. He was somewhat fortunate that this ragtag team found him to explain what was happening even if it wasn’t making a lot of sense. His mind wandered to the people in his life who were just as confused, his uncle, his friends, you.

“Shit.” Eddie sighed, his whole body sinking. “Is Y/n okay?”

Robin offered a kind smile despite their situation. “They’re fine. I spoke with them this morning and filled them in.”

Steve pushed himself off the pillar that he was leaning against and checked his watch.

“Actually, that was half an hour ago. They should have been here by now.” He noted curiously. Looking up, he noticed that the comment drew all eyes to him - particularly Eddie’s which were filled with a new kind of fear.

“You don’t think that this ‘Vecna’…?” The D&D player became more agitated as the thought of Y/n’s limbs being contorted took over his mind.

Steve’s eyes widened and he shook his head. “No - I mean, I don’t think so. Besides imagine if he tried.” He mused which received audible backlash.

“Dude, not funny.”

“They’re out there.”

“Read the room.”

Steve raised his hands defensively and silenced the cabin. “Jesus! I was just saying that if Vecna came after Y/n, they’d probably knock his teeth out.”

Eddie lowered his snacks, highly unamused. “Really, Harrington? You think they can defeat something none of us can see?”

Steve, now feeling bad and slightly anxious on the matter, made a decision to ease everyone’s minds. “Look, I’ll drive into town and see where they are. They probably held up at a traffic light or something.”

Pushing himself off the pillar, Steve grabbed the keys from his pocket and carefully snuck out to his car.

Dustin crept over to the window to watch his friend leave. When the car engine started and then backed out of the driveway, he turned back around to Eddie.

“Don’t worry, Steve’ll find them.” He reassured.

Max leaned forward and sent the young man a smile. “He’s also right too. About Y/n, I mean. If anyone can stick it to Vecna, it’s them.”

Dustin nodded as a memory came to mind. “Remember that demigorgon two years ago? Most badass thing I’ve seen.”

After your call with Robin, she requested that you grab some of Eddie’s favourite candy bars from the video store before heading out to meet with them. It was an easy little ‘break in’ since Robin told you where to find the spare key and you left money on the register to compensate for the bars and bag of pretzels in your hand.

As you stepped out and began to lock up, there were a few shadows that appeared on the door pane. With a final click, you pocketed the key and turned to see Jason and his basketball group lingering at the front.

“Hey Y/n, funny seeing you here.” Jason said, casually peering around and into the shop.

You squinted at his behaviour. “It’s a weekend.”

Jason chuckled and nodded. “It is. Don’t you typically spend your weekends with that Freak Munson - sorry, I mean Eddie? Have you seen him around lately?”

“I haven’t actually.” You stepped to the left with the intention to walk around them, a hand grabbed your shoulder and drove enough force to push you backwards into the door.

“What the hell Jason?”

“Do you know that he was the last person with Chrissy last night?” He asked.

Of course you knew this. Eddie told you about why Chrissy reached out and how he wanted to help her. Then she was found dead in his trailer and all eyes went to him as a suspect. Robin reached out to explain Vecna’s involvement but it’s not like you could explain that.

“I saw him last night before heading home. That was the last time. I don’t spend every waking minute with him.” You pushed his hand away to move out of his trap when Jason pressed his free hand against your throat suddenly.

The basketball team took a step back, quite surprised with their leader.

“You know what I think? I think you and the Freak planned this like the twisted and sadistic psychopaths that you are.” Jason accused, pressing a bit harder. “Where is the freak?”

You clawed at his hands to shove him away but it was useless until a car pulled up. The door opened and someone stepped out. “What the hell is going on?” Steve questioned angrily.

Startled, the basketball team urged Jason to let go before they backed off and fled the scene.

Steve rushed over to you and placed a gentle hand over your shoulder.

“Hey. Shit - are you okay?” He asked, checking you over for injuries. “Are you hurt?”

You pulled your jacket to sit properly over your shoulder, pocketed the pretzels and shook your head starting towards his car. “I just want to get out of here.”

The ride back was quiet and you preferred it that way. Steve was kind enough not to press but he knew that Nancy could get you to open up if you were shaken. He’s known you to take on Upside Down monsters without fear but human monsters were a different breed.

Steve pulled up to the boathouse and switched off the ignition. You got out of the car and followed Steve through to the back door and entered the room. You saw the kids, Nancy and Robin and you flashed a small smile. Turning around, you saw a glimpse of Eddie just before he dove into your arms and buried his face into the crook of your neck.

“Thank god you’re okay.” He mumbled against your skin. Feeling nothing but relief to see him again, you stayed silent and just hugged him back, ignoring the audience.

Nancy leaned over to Steve as he stood beside her and Robin before she spoke softly. “Was it Vecna?”

Steve exhaled and shook his head, glancing over at you. “Jason Carver, actually. Managed to get to them before he and his basketball chums began lynching.”

Eddie overheard the conversation and noticed some bruises peeking through from beneath your shirt. But before he could question it, you had stepped back and then turned to the group.

“So where are we at with Vecna?” You asked.

“He’s still in the Upside Down. So once we have a way through…” Max began.

“You can kick his ass!” Dustin interjected with a clap. “Boom! Vecna’s toast and we clear Eddie.”

You nodded. “And until then should I lay low here?”

Steve shook his head, crossing his arms. “That’s not a good idea. If you stay here, they’ll think you’re in league with Eddie and it’ll make things a lot worse. It might be best to…”

“Say we broke up.” Eddie finished.

You frowned and whipped around. “What?”

Eddie’s eyes were sad and desperate. He didn’t know what else to do. “Y/n, Jason got to you. If you keep defending me, you might get hurt or worse and I can’t.”

Scoffing, you pulled the packet of pretzels from your pocket and threw it at him. “I’m not telling people we broke up. It’s dumb and I-”

“And you could never pull it off.” Robin agreed and noticed that everyone was staring at her. Realising that she spoke out loud, Robin smiled and shrugged. “I mean, we’ve all seen it right. One mention of Eddie and it’s like he’s just phantom kissed Y/n.”

Steve rolled his eyes at how this conversation was unfolding and shook his head.

“No one’s breaking up with anyone. We just avoid Jason for now. Stick to the story that you haven’t seen Eddie since the game and take it from there.” He instructed.

Masterlist here

#theladyofmanyfandoms #theladyofmanyfandomsfanfiction #gif is not mine #eddie imagine #eddie x reader #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson imagine #stranger things imagine #stranger things x reader

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creelmalfoylaufeyson69 · 4 months

Text

Beauty and the beast

Summary: what if Henry had got turn into Vecna by Dr Brenner?

Warnings: none

~Y/n was on her way to go explore this abandoned lab that wasn’t too far from her house. She was dared to go there by a group of friends since she was throwing a party and they were all playing truth or dare. Y/n wasn’t going to pass down this dare of the potentially haunted house

It was rumored that kids souls were to be trapped there, and that one of the experiments went terribly wrong. A monster was created, and lived in the world called the upside down. Your favorite song would save you from the creatures curse, but their was also a way to stop it too

Y/n was riding her bike to the place with a camera wrapped around her neck to take pictures as proof of going. She didn’t believe the rumors though, so she didn’t have her favorite song on standby just in case

Once she was there, she instantly took a picture of the place while she was still on her bike. Once she had gotten off, she went inside of the place. It was actually pretty eerie looking since there was zero power, and there was moss on the walls. She hadn’t brought a flashlight, so this felt inconvenient

Something about the place also seemed so familiar, but she couldn’t understand why. She turns to face the door to get out, but it had vanished. The lights were on now too. She turns to face the hallway now. She was starting to think she wasn’t alone now

She decided to go deeper into the lab. She had eventually stumbled upon a room with a rainbow on the floor and broken toy cars, and blocks. Tears started to leave her eyes, but she couldn’t understand why. She went off to explore more, and found different room numbers

She had actually stopped walking once she realized two had a heart around it. She goes inside to see roses on the uncomfortable looking bed. There was a card next to the roses as well. It looked so new, and the roses were alive

Y/n approaches the bed, and picks up the card first, and begun to read it. ‘I missed you Y/n.’ Was all it said, and it was signed by someone with the initials of H.C. She was confused since she couldn’t recognize anyone that goes with those initials

She places the card down, and picks up the roses. In any horror movie, this would be the time to leave. But she was trapped inside the now new looking lab. She also didn’t feel scared at all. She sniffs the flowers as she closes her eyes

A sense of peace washes over her, but soon she hears a child’s cry. She opens her eyes, and then placed the flowers back down. Y/n finds herself located back in the rainbow room where the cry came from

But there was no child in the room at all. She looked around as a sense of fear unfolded in her. A chime of a grandfather clock was heard. She takes another picture, but of the room. She ignores the chimes as a presence stood behind her

“Y/n” she turns around, and saw the creature people call Vecna. She stood there in shock and horror, but the creature had turned into a beautiful man. Henry Creel. She felt less scared of the creature, and familiar with this face

“I wished you remembered me. Luckily I can help with that” he vanished, and then the man once known as Dr Brenner was watching over the children in the lab. Y/n stood in a white uniform, and stood next to Henry. She looks at him, and was intrigued by him

The two had never spoken before at this time. But she had many questions about him. When Brenner was out of sight, Henry looks at her. “I wanna show you something” he says, and she went with him

It was a part of the lab she had never known existed. A part where you could hide from Brenner for a while. A part that can help you spill out secrets that only you would know. Henry would tell her things only she would know

Over time, it became a spot where the two made out. A place where it felt like everything was going to be okay, despite the circumstances. But then the horror begins. The two tried to escape together, but Brenner got to Henry before he could escape

She didn’t want to leave him, but he knew it would be the best if she did. She just wished she knew what was going to happen next to her lover. Y/n is brought back to the present, where he stood as the monster called Vecna

Tears left her eyes now; “oh Henry… I’m so sorry for leaving you here” she places her hands onto his face. If he could cry, he would cry too. It took a lot to get him emotional, even when he was a human being. But seeing his lover again made him feel happier again

“I’m just glad you left before it was too late” he says in his new voice. “I could’ve saved you, but I was too scared. I also could’ve stuck by your side, but I decided to be selfish” she starts to sob at this point. “Do not call yourself selfish. You did what any human would do. I’m also glad you didn’t have to go through the torture I went through. I would’ve hated to see you go through all of that” he says

She calms down now. She looks into his dull eyes, and she could see all of what Brenner put her lover through in this hell. “I would’ve killed papa. We could still escape this hell together. I’m not leaving without you this time” she says as she has her lips inches from his

He smiles, and soon her lips were on his. He returned the kiss, and soon was back to his human form as the two kissed. She pulls apart, and looks shocked. “Let’s go home Y/n” he says softly as he takes her hand

She smiles now, and nods her head

#vecna x reader #henry creel x reader #stranger things

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justauthoring · 2 years

Text

nepenthe.

request(s): can you do one where y/n and steve are a situationship (or are dating) and he has to save her from vecna ??? can i request a stranger things imagine???where y/n gets cursed by vecna…. 😐 *nepenthe: something that can make you forget grief or suffering.

a/n: look who finally posted :)” warnings: stranger things s4 spoilers.

word count: 1,270

“It’s your fault.”

“No...”

“It’s your fault that I died.”

A sob wretches past your lips, choked words of pleas and cries leaving your lips; desperate for it to stop. For this to be some horrible, terrible nightmare that you’d wake up from in the next seconds.

But it wasn’t a nightmare.

Not one you could wake up from - it was Vecna.

You knew that. You knew what this was. But it didn’t make it any less terrifying, any less real. The image of your mother stood in front of you was so real. It was her voice, her words and her eyes, cold and lifeless despite being stood right in front of you, staring down at you.

“I would be alive if it wasn’t for you.”

She takes a step towards you, and the tightness of your chest turns painful. You’re scare, so, so scared. You can feel your nails digging into the palms of your hands and the rapid race of your heart pounding against your chest, echoing in your ears. But everywhere you look it’s just... a dark, cold imitation of your house. The walls are covered in a vine, slimy and gross and it’s cold, so horribly cold and any feeling of home and warmth is... nonexistent.

“Everything’s your fault.”

She reaches for you and you scream, unable to bare it. In the next second, you’re turning, racing out of the living room and into the front entrance. When you reach the front door, it’s locked and it won’t budge. You pull, with all the strength you can muster, your grip slipping because of how clammy you are.

“Y/N.”

The voice is different. It isn’t your mothers. It’s darker, deeper...

Hands still gripping the handle tightly, you pause all movement. You’re frozen still in terror, because you know exactly who it is behind you. You’ve always known, but it feels different knowing it isn’t hiding under the facade of your dead mother. That if you turned and looked, it’d be something... unwordly.

“Look at me.”

You shake your head, whimpering, jiggling to door once more. Of course, it doesn’t open. It won’t open. You’re trapped and there’s no escape and you’re seconds away from your death - you know it, can feel it. It terrifies you. You don’t want to die, you... you’re not ready to die. There’s so much more you wanted to do, so much more you wanted to see.

“We’ll get out of Hawkins one day.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Steve nods, a goofy grin curling onto his lips as he meets your eyes. “You and me.”

“It’s time.”

No... It can’t be.

“Steve!” You cry, yanking on the door, trying to ignore the footsteps that grow closer and closer by the second. “Please, Steve! Help me! Steve!”

“I won’t let him hurt you, you know that right?”

“Steve...”

“No,” he cuts in, setting his hands on your shoulders and squeezing. He leans forward, giving you no choice but to meet his gaze, a frown marring your lips. “I won’t let him take you.”

A hand falls on your shoulder, large and bruising and you let out a scream as you’re spun.

The sight of Vecna is one you’re not sure you ever could’ve prepared yourself for.

“It’s time for you to join me.”

“No!” You scream out at him, shaking your head. “No! I won’t join you.”

He steps towards you, slow and intimidating -- mainly because he has you exactly where he wants you.

“You will.”

“To what do I owe the pleasure, Harrington?”

“Ah, ya know...” He shrugs, leaning against the counter with a grin on his face.” Just thought I’d come and see my favourite person.”

Setting a hand to your chest, you fake surprise; “I didn’t know I was.”

“Duh,” he huffs, shaking his head with a laugh. “Who else would be?”

“Steve!”

“Steve’s not going to help you.”

There’s no where to run. You know that.

There’s no escape.

So, when he raises his hands towards you, reaching for your face and you feel yourself slipping, your strength giving away, there’s nothing you can do.

He’s right. Steve can’t help you. Not in here.

“It’s my favourite song!”

Steve laughs, shaking his head. “It’s just... so you.”

Lips parting, you turn to him in disbelief. “What is that even supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” he brushes off, sliding the tape into his cars radio. “Just that I love you.”

Glancing at the side of his face, your own softens, a warm smile spreading across your lips.

“I love you too.”

You hear it softly at first.

A faint whisper that you’re sure you’re imagining.

But then it grows louder, the words becoming clearer. It’s all you can hear, and by the look on Vecna’s face, you know he’s just as confused.

That, the look on his face, gives you hope.

Turning your head over your shoulder best you can, your eyes widen when you realize that door is open -- wide open, and on the other side is... you. You, in the air, and Steve... Steve’s there.

Screaming for you.

He’s... there.

He’s playing your song, loud and clear, the one you know he hates but plays nonetheless cause he knows you love it. Because he loves you and loves watching your eyes sparkle when you hear it, and the way you dance to it and sing so badly out of pitch but it warms his heart nonetheless.

And... Steve’s there.

The strength comes from no where. It isn’t really even strength, just... determination. You turn back to Vecna, feet kicking beneath you, before you take a bite of his hand, forcing him to let you go. You drop to the ground with a cry but are quick to push yourself to your feet, determined to get away.

“No!” He booms, voice so loud it rattles the house.

He sticks his hand out and you watch it, the way the door moves to shut. You just barely catch it before it does, pulling on it with all your strength not to let it fall shut. It’s hard and you know Vecna’s fighting behind you, moving closer to you.

But when you see Steve, so close... you can’t let this be it.

With one last tug, you slip behind the door, just enough room before it slams shut. And the last thing you hear is the echo of it slamming and the boom of Vecna crying out in frustration before you’re suddenly falling, your body slamming into the ground. When you manage to peel your eyes open, it’s light out, and it feels warm.

So much more warm.

“Oh my God, Y/N!”

You’re pulled into arms, pressed tightly against the chest of someone and you blink, gathering your bearings before you realize it’s Steve holding you. He’s the one gripping you tightly, the one pressing you against his chest, and the one panting next to you as he calls for you.

“Steve...”

He leans forward, meeting your gaze as his hands fall to your cheeks, brushing your hair back as he lets out a breath of relief.

“I... I thought I lost you.”

Putting your hands over his own, you whisper; “you... you saved me. Just like you said you would.”

He just stares back at you, shaking his head before leaning forward, tucking your head under his chin and holding you tightly. He whispers reassurances to you, voice soft and warming as you relish in it.

Relish in the feeling of him, close and holding you.

Especially when you’d been so sure you’d never get to feel it again.

#stranger things #stranger things imagine #strangers x reader #st #st x reader #steve harrington #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington x reader #steve imagine #steve x reader #imagine #imagines #my fics

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aemiron-main · 6 months

Text

This Little Steel Capsule vs Soteria and the Brenner Henward Merge

Thinking about this line from Eddie:

Like oh?? A little steel capsule, you say??? Almost like:

And I’m staring DIRECTLY at Eddie delivering Edward subtext & the “little steel capsule”/soteria being the key to saving Max and Edward…. Especially with all of the Brenner-Edward merging stuff…

It makes me wonder if Soteria is the key to saving Edward re: Vecna being the result of a Brenner-Edward merge (likely Richard and Edward) & Edward being more dormant/trapped within Vecna/like a puppet (and I know James has talked about this idea), and Soteria possibly repressing that merge.

Like, we don’t get those strong Henward-Brenner parallels until AFTER Soteria is removed/during the massacre. What if Soteria was what was keeping the Richard Brenner side of things at bay?

Which, you might be wondering with Martin Brenner would want to repress that- but we don’t actually know much at all about the dynamic between Martin and Richard, and Martin may have seen Richard as a threat & kept him at bay via Soteria/may have been mad that Richard “contaminated” his test subject/Henward by merging himself with him….

Which, this could also explain one version of the massacre- if Richard was pissed off about being locked away & decided to kill all of Brenner’s pet projects…..

And then that Dimension X transformation shlt where Henward looks just like Brenner- what if that shot is just the transformation completing (with it having started the process when Soteria was removed) ?

And this could also explain the “weird” henward we see during NINA- which, I’ve talked before about how that Henward weirdly resembles the S1 interrogation scene version of Brenner:

And since Soteria only weakens (rather than entirely prevents) things/powers etc, what if it’s only weakening the Brenner-Henward merge? What if “weird henward” is the result of Brenner bleeding back through briefly, like the transformation scene but on a smaller scale?

And the fact that a “little steel capsule” is described as the “key,” versus all of the “key” references with TFS + with the door to the Creel house being locked/Robin with her keyhole jacket patch + saying she “found a key,” etc etc…

What is going on here!!! I need to know!!

#stranger things #edward creel #henry creel #hawkins lab #brenner merging with 001

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upsidedownmvnson · 1 year

Note

eddie munson x reader

eddie crawls his way out of the upside down, somehow still alive post s4. a mourning reader happens upon him, amazed that the boy she loves is still alive. the only thing? he doesn’t remember anything. not her, not himself, not dustin, only one name to which he knows he’s indebted: creel.

upsidedownmvnson's 1k followers blurb celebration <3 request a 1k word blurb :) deadline is saturday <3

you didn't know what was drawing you here.

a trap probably. vecna probably luring you to your death, and not to be dramatic but... who cares? it's not what eddie would want for you, he'd want you to stay home, lock the doors, and stay out of harm's way. but he hadn't done that for you.

you were on steve's street. behind his house. there was just... something? you could feel something in your heart drawing you there. it was what made it so intriguing. there was only room for one person in your heart and he was gone.

you passed steve's house and tried to catch a glimpse of him. his car was in the driveway but no one else's. you wondered if he had a date over, and laughed thinking of his recent disaster - but something tugged your heart so hard you nearly fell off your bike. you stopped, looking into the trees and seeing nothing. what the hell was this?

against your better judgement, you go get backup before going into the creepy, whispering woods. you bike across steve's lawn and pound on his door, consistently and loudly until he answers. he answers angry and disheveled, wearing only sweatpants.

"can i help you?"

"there's something in the woods, i'm going after it." is all you say before you take off without him, barely giving a chance to put on his shoes and a coat before he's chasing you across his lawn. he's calling after you, really angry and really annoyed but you don't care. there's something happening, you feel like crying, and nothing makes sense.

you see someone laying in the trees ahead of you, completely still and unreactive to your shouting. you shout at them again. and you stop when you're over him. it can't be real. he can't be here right now.

"what the hell is that?" steve asks, running up beside you. you're both frozen for too long as you both process that you're looking at eddie.

you're both moving faster than you realize. steve has eddie's head, and you have his legs. he's not reacting to anything, but he's breathing. his wounds look really bad but you don't know if you can even take him to the hospital. so as long as he's breathing, steve is yelling that you should call hopper instead of 911 when you get back to his house.

"eddie?" you ask again, struggling to hold him up, but you guys were almost there. both of you had cuts on your arms and face from running through the woods, but no one cared. steve wasn't mad at you anymore.

when you guys stepped over the doorway to steve's house, eddie sprung to life, making you all scream.

eddie fought out of your grip and stepped back grabbing at his own body and looking around. he was so fucking confused, but so were you and steve.

"what the f-" eddie looked at you wide eyed. "what the fuck?"

"eddie? are you okay? you're standing," you say, looking at the bleeding wounds on his thigh.

"eddie?" he says, like he's tasting how it sounds. like he's checking to see if that belongs to him. "that's me?"

"yeah..." steve draws, closing the door, making sure that eddie doesn't make a break for it. "you know what's going on?"

"all i know is creel is gunna come back for a favour and i gotta deliver," eddie says casually, like the devil's name hadn't slipped off his tongue like they were long lost friends. "and i have a headache."

"eddie, it's me.," you say, eyes filling with tears. he doesn't have his memories. he didn't know who you are. you got him back and lost him again all in one afternoon. it was all too much. "call hopper," you whisper to steve, and he nods, leaving you alone with eddie. "can i look at your injuries?"

eddie looks at you apprehensively but nods. taking off his coat and shirt. and it's worse than you thought. they weren't bleeding wounds. they were scars. he was just covered in old blood. you bring him to steve's bathroom and help him set up a shower, and leave him to it. you brought him to a bathroom with no windows, because you didn't know what he would do.

"he'll be here in ten," steve whispers to you outside the bathroom. eddie is in the shower, and you can hear him rustling but he's not singing like he normally would be. "how did you know he was there?"

"i have no idea," you said, "i just felt it."

hopper gets there before eddie gets out of the shower. and he's short and gruff about the whole thing.

"look, i'm gunna take him somewhere safe. where we can figure out what's going on."

"well where are you taking him?" you ask. hopper doesn't look at you, just talks to steve.

"no one can know, especially him."

"what? you're not just taking him away," you say, laughing, but steve doesn't laugh with you, or crack a smile... or look at you... "steve?" you ask, "hopper can't take him and hide him, we just found him!"

"be quiet, you're gunna freak him out," hopper says. "get them outta here."

and you can't believe it, but steve complies. steve covers your mouth and brings you into the kitchen and holds you back while hopper goes into the bathroom, and knocks eddie out with something. steve lets you go when you bite him, but it's too late. hopper had stuck eddie with a needle that had made him unable to fight back, and with steve's help, hopper takes eddie away in his truck, leaving you to lose him again.

#eddie munson #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fic #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x reader #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things fiction #stranger things fic #stranger things s4 #stranger things #eddie munson blurb

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eddiernunson · 11 months

Text

Trapped | Eddie Munson | Part 11

Prev Part | Master List | Epilogue

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 11.6k

Next and final chapter will be an Epilogue.

Warnings: It's the last two episodes of ST4...so you get the gist. A large talk of grief at the end with a slight tw for EDs (food restriction due to depression). I don't put all three story lines from Hawkins in. This one has 90% of only what the reader experiences. At the end there's a gap filler for what happens for her over the two days later bullshit that we all had to just...sit through.

Authors Note: Fun fact, as I make this draft it was a year ago that I published the first Part. Man I didn't think I would follow through for the full thing at times but I'm happy to have proven myself wrong.

Chapter Eight: Papa

Stagnant relief made a startling switch into action as the stakes reached into space. A fire is lit under your ass into Eddie’s bedroom, attempting the hopeless task to find any sense of music both Nancy and Eddie would own.

As someone who resided and listened to his music with him, the task was daunting to see if he had any of that Madonna he was once accused of singing in the shower after you had just gotten together. Your eyes switch to Max’s trailer next door, wondering if you could just snatch a tape from her collection. However, it was clear from the yelling and the chaos that there wasn’t enough time for that.

Erica bursts into the room after being on Upside Down watch claiming, “Steve says you need to hurry!”

“Yeah? No shit!” Dustin yelled, on the verge of a rampage.

“We’re trying. We can’t find anything.” Max yells, having gone through half of Eddie’s music yet finding nothing she could use.

“What is all this shit?” Robin yells out, clutching a handful of tapes of artists she’s never even heard of.

“What are you even looking for?” Eddie barks out, this point annoyed his tape collection has been made a mess of.

“Madonna, Blondie, Bowie, Beatles? Music! We need music!”

Eddie grabs a tape from her, pissed off. “This is music!”

“Okay.” You interject, attempting to de-escalate the already high tense situation. “Okay, Max lives right down the road, why don’t two of us go and grab one that would—”

“Guys!” A loud bark from down the hall comes from Steve, calling out. The collective group makes their way over to see what he was yelling about, met with the sight of Nancy scared yet still alive.

As Steve and Nancy both climbed the rope to make their way back, Dustin peers at you with a particular look on his face. “You know, that’s not a bad idea.”

“What?”

“Max’s house, when they get back, we’ll go meet over there so Vecna can’t eavesdrop as much.”

“That wasn’t—” You started, but realized there wasn’t much of a point. “Alright.”

Once Steve lands on the landing pad with a stupid amount of grace Dustin lets him know the plans. Steve rolls his eyes, implying they weren’t going to be able to stay with the gate being so close, anyway.

The plan is shared, and you make yourself comfortable at Max’s, while Nancy tells the story of what she had seen.

As it turns out, Vecna was Henry Creel, son of Victor Creel. He was the one who tormented and murdered his family and Chrissy, Fred, and Patrick. Apparently as an Orderly he murdered dozens more in the Labs when there were more numbers than Eleven. In fact, he was One.

Nancy explains everything she saw, and she starts to stammer when she reaches towards the end. Throughout her discussion, she is withdrawn and factual, an armour for her fear.

“He showed me things that haven’t happened yet. The most awful things.” She whispered, continuing her explanation. “I saw a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. Downtown on fire. Dead soldiers. And this…giant creature with… a gaping mouth. And this creature wasn’t alone.” Her words rung out in a dead silence, no one even daring to breathe. It was truly a higher stake than any of you have ever faced, and it was terrifying. “There were so many monsters. An army. And they were coming into Hawkins. Into our neighborhoods. Our homes. And then… he showed me my mom,” Nancy chokes out, a tear running down her face. “And Holly. Mike. And they…they were all…” She can’t even finish her sentence, and she didn’t have to.

Steve, sitting to your right on the couch as you sat on the floor attempts to defuse the tension risen in the air. “Okay, but… he’s just trying to scare you, Nance.” He says, looking at his lap. You barely believed him and wondered if he believed himself. “Right? I mean…I mean it’s not real.”

“Not yet.” Nancy answers, not accepting his attempt. “But there… there was something else. He showed me gates. Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, they looked like the one outside of Eddie’s trailer, but…they didn’t stop growing. And this wasn’t the Upside Down Hawkins. This was our Hawkins. Our home.”

“Four chimes.” Max speaks up. Your eyes all flutter to her, as she stands leant up against the doorway. “Vecna’s clock. It always chimes four times. Four exactly.”

Nancy gulps. “I heard them too.” You switch your glance back to Nancy, and to say you were a fan of this connection would be a lie.

The air hangs heavy in Max’s house, your pulse racing despite you sitting completely still.

“He’s been telling us his plan this whole time.” Max says.

“Four kills.” Lucas adds, doing the math. “Four gates. End of the world.”

“If that’s true…” Dustin chimes in, hands on his hips and at a loss for words, “he’s only one kill away.”

Eddie speaks up for the first time in a while, and you love him even more for what he says. “Oh Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ.” He grumbles into his hands, his hair dishevelled and his body tensing up.

“Try ‘em again. Try ‘em again.” Steve urges Max, referring to the many calls attempted to get a hold of the Buyers before Nancy started explaining what she had saw.

Max does so, running to her phone to give it another ring. She barely holds it before she hangs it up again.

“Anything?” Dustin asks her.

“No. Rang a few times, then went to a busy signal.”

“Maybe you punched it wrong. Try again.” Steve tells her, momentarily taking his hands off his face for it.

“I didn’t punch it in wrong.”

“Well, I don’t know.”

“I think she knows how to use a phone” Dustin interjects, sticking up for Max.

“I’m just saying, she could’ve typed it in wrong.” Steve argues.

Max punches in the phone again, hanging it up even louder after a few seconds. “Same shit.”

“How is that possible?” Lucas asks, his hands on his hips.

“Joyce has this telemarketer job. She’s always on the phone.” Dustin answers. “Mike won’t stop whining about it.”

“Yeah but his phone’s been busy for, what, three days now? That’s not Joyce. No way. Something’s wrong.” Max argues, and despite the telemarketing job being logical, she has a point.

“She’s right.” Nancy agrees. “It can’t be just coincidence. It can’t be.” She gets up, staring out the window. “Whatever’s happening in Lenora is connected to all of this. I’m sure of it. But Vecna can’t hurt them. Not if he’s dead. We have to back in there. Back to the Upside Down.” Nancy announces, and she’s almost an entirely different person after these last five minutes. There’s a conviction in her voice that didn’t feel earned.

The following response is simultaneous.

“Whoa, no, no, no. What?” Steve asks in his most incredulous voice. (And as you know, there are levels)

“Nope. Nope.” Eddie dismisses out of hand, waving his hands to demonstrate his exact disdain for her plan.

“The place we just spent 12 hours trying to escape?” You ask her, hoping she wasn’t serious. Because surely she’s not.

“Let’s think this through.” Steve argues, getting up off the couch to get to Nance.

“What is there to think through?” Nancy interrupts him, confronting him.

“We barely made it out of there in once piece.” Steve argues back.

“That’s what I’m saying.” You mutter, agreeing with him. You look up at your boyfriend as he continues to rub his face in pure stress. You sit up on the couch next to him, rubbing his hand in comfort. He indulges, placing his head into your neck.

“Yeah, because we weren’t prepared. But this time, we will be. We’ll get weapons and protection. We’ll go through the gate, we’ll find his lair, and we’ll kill him.” Nancy answers him, listing it off as if it were so simple.

“Or he’ll kill us.” Steve bites back. “The only reason you survived is because he wanted you to. He’s not scared of us.”

“And for good reason.” Robin pipes up for the first time in a while. “We were wrong about Vecna. Henry. One.” She stammers, losing her point. “Sorry. What are we calling him now?”

“One.”

“Vecna.”

“One.”

“Henry.”

“Right. We’ve learned something new about Vecna slash Henry slash One. He’s a number like Eleven, only a sick, evil, male, child-murdering version of her with really bad skin. But my…my point is, he’s super powerful. He could turn us inside out with a snap of his fingers. It’s not a fair fight.”

“Then why fight fair?” Dustin asks, his mind reeling. “You’re right. He’s like Eleven. But that gives us an upper hand. We know Eleven’s strengths. And weaknesses.”

“Weaknesses?” Erica asks pointedly.

“When El remote-travels, she goes into this sort of trance-like state. I bet the same is true of Vecna.” Dustin explains.

“That would explain what he was doing in that attic.” Lucas understands.

“Exactly. When he attacks his next victim, I’ll bet you he’s back in that attic, physical body defenseless.”

“Defenseless?” Steve bites out. “What about the army of bats?” He says, pointing to his neck to where he was strangled.

“Right. We’ll have to find a way past them. Distract them somehow.” Dustin admits to a flaw in his ever-growing plan.

“And, uh, how do we do that, exactly?” Eddie bites out, standing up.

“No idea.” Dustin admits, and Eddie sits right back down. What was brewing in that mind of his? “But once they’re gone, he doesn’t stand a chance. It’ll be like slaying sleeping Dracula in his coffin.”

“That all sounds great,” you say, standing up from the couch, “in theory.” You finish. “We don’t know when or who he’s going even attack next.”

“Yeah, we do.” Max whispers out. “I can still feel him. I’m still marked. Cursed. I ditch Kate Bush; I draw his focus back to me.”

“Max.” Lucas whispers. “You can’t. He’ll kill you.”

“I survived before.” She gulps, nodding her head. “I can survive again. I just need to keep him busy long enough so that you guys can get into that attic. Then you can chop his head off. Stab him in the heart. Blow him up with some explosive Dustin cooks up. I honestly really don’t care how you put this asshole into his grave. Just…whatever it is…whatever you do…try not to miss.”

The air hangs heavy, again.

But something about how a 15-year-old girl basically offers herself up for a potential sacrifice in the name of destroying the villain does that.

“Check this out. The War Zone.” Eddie says as he taps the ad with his index finger. You stand in-between him and Robin, staring down at the open phone book. “I’ve been there once. It’s huge. They’ve got everything you need for uh…well…” He pauses, catching your eye. “Killing things, basically.”

“You think fake Rambo has enough guns there?” Robin asks, commenting on the ad. “Is that a grenade? I mean, how is any of this legal?”

“Well, lucky for us, it is, so… This… This place is just far enough outside of Hawkins. As long as we steer clear of main roads, we oughta be able to avoid cops and uh, angry hicks.”

“If we’re trying to avoid angry hicks, maybe we shouldn’t go to some store called the War Zone.” Erica points out.

“Normally, I’d agree but we need the weapons. So I think it’s worth the risk.” Nancy states, crossing her arms.

“Me too.” Lucas agrees.

“But is it worth the time?” Dustin asks. “It’ll take all day to bike there and back.”

“Who said anything about bikes?” Eddie asks him, and his voice sounded…cocky?

“You uh, got some car I don’t know about?” You ask, your voice a bit flirtier than you had intended it to.

“It’s…not exactly a car, there sweetheart.” He says, flirting right back. Oh, how you missed this. “And it’s not exactly mine, but uh…it’ll do.” Before you have a minute to revel in how normal your boyfriend seemed, he turns around towards Max. “Hey, Red, uh, you got a ski mask or a bandana, something like that?”

Max smirks, an old favourite making its way to the forefront of her mind.

Eddie’s gleeful smile when she hands over the Michael Meyers mask brings out a certain twinkle in his eyes you missed more than words could say.

He leads the entire group across the grassy fields that maintained a permanent home in the park up against one of his neighbour’s homes. He clutches onto a small grey bag you’ve noticed in a messy corner of his room once or twice, grinning at you maniacally when you have an unsaid question on your face. He scopes around the corner, giving a go a head when it’s all clear. The whole group follows him, all looking over your shoulders as Eddie flies across the grass to a specific trailer his fingers have itched for.

He leads across their front yard, the trailer’s inhabitants distracted by something on the radio. He sneaks around the back to a window he very specifically scoped out and opens and climbs in without a second to spare.

If your heart wasn’t racing so much from trying not to get caught you it would’ve been racing by how surprisingly turned on you were.

As soon as Eddie lands on the couch the Michael Meyers mask is unceremoniously ripped off, “That was suffocating.”

With help from Steve, you climb in, internally swearing at Eddie for making it look way easier than it was. As you get to the front, you sit in passenger seat, drawing the window curtain closed. Steve was right behind you, watching curiously as you were as Eddie made rewiring a vehicle look like idle work for idle hands.

“Where’d you learn how do this?” Steve asks him, paying more attention to the actual rewiring process than Eddie was.

“Well, when the other dads were teaching their kids how to fish or play ball, my dad was teaching me how to hot wire. Now, I swore to myself I wouldn’t wind up like he did, but now I’m wanted for murder, and soon, grand theft auto. So, uh, I’m really living up to that Munson name.” He jokes, giving you a saucy wink as he does.

“Eddie, I’m not sure I love the idea of you driving.” Robin admits timidly.

Eddie smirks, a glint in his eye. “Oh, I’m just startin’ this sucker. Harrington’s got her.” Eddie leans into him, teasing. “Don’t ya, big boy?” Eddie turns and starts the engine, causing a backfire.

The inhabitants of the trailer scramble to their feet upon the backfire. “Hey!”

The door right behind you shakes. “They looked the door!”

Eddie smirks to you, a wild look in his eye. He looks back to Steve, moving to his feet.

For the last two days it felt as if you haven’t seen Eddie experience anything but stress. But here, now, the sounds of the trailer’s true owners yelling after them while they make a quick getaway, he was goddamn thriving.

Steve swears loudly, and before he could even tell Eddie to leave his spot he was already bumping into Steve to the back of the bus. You go right behind him, letting Nancy take the passenger seat.

“It’s just a car.” Steve mutters mostly to himself. “Everybody, hang on to something!”

“Oh my God! Let’s go! Let’s go!” Lucas practically panics.

“Drive, Steve! Drive!” Dustin urges him, mostly everyone having found a spot by now.

Steve drives, and the amount of pure chaos that surrounds both the outside and the inside of the van is at the very least, entertaining.

The radio turned on one of Eddie’s favourite joyride songs, a perfect fit. While the rest of the crowd is on edge and anxious, you are thriving in watching him headbang during one of the most inconvenient times.

The motor home turns the corners of the trailer park hard, yanking your body every which way as everyone seems to simultaneously be yelling at once. The inhabitants’ voices eventually fade, and Steve turns onto the main road.

Mission: Grand Theft Auto was officially successful.

Along for the ride into the War Zone, you found yourself sandwiched next to Eddie near the back of the motor home. The two of you sat in comfortable silence, his hand tracing yours absentmindedly. There was an aura of a calm before the storm in the motor home. As soon as the weapons were in your arsenal it was about making them and preparing for the final battle.

The blueprint to which you are still not the happiest about, but you weren’t given much choice in the matter.

“You don’t talk much about him.” You started, allowing your eyes to look up at your boyfriend.

He glances down to you, his face unreadable. “Not much to say. He taught me how to steal cars and how to be freakishly good at pickpocketing.” He looks off, scratching at the stubble starting to form. “He’s not my dad, though.” He says, leaning into you.

You don’t say anything, just silently encourage him to keep talking.

“My dad is Wayne. I’ve never called him that, and only when he’s truly worried or upset does he ever call me son, but I know. He’s my dad. Sure, the man on my birth certificate is currently serving 25 years in prison for a multitude of things, but thanks to Wayne I have a head on my shoulders and I’m not out stealing cars for money. If my old man wasn’t caught, I don’t think he would’ve let me go passed freshman year.” He gulps, shaking his head. Something was clearly on his mind.

“What?” You ask him.

“Say we get through this. We defeat Vecna, the Upside Down is done, whatever.” You nod your head, listening. “How are we still going to prove my innocence? No offence but if I walk in with the same group of people who ran away from the police, I don’t think my case would be helped much.”

“Can I tell you a secret?” You ask him leaning in.

Eddie nods, eager for the distraction.

“Do you think we covered our own tracks the whole time?” You ask him, your voice border lining on skeptical. Eddie’s brow furrows curiously. “God no. The FBI is scary good at covering these tracks. Every time in the aftermath I get guided away by people in FBI jackets who take over the jurisdiction and make sure no wrongly accused get thrown away for the crimes of people in lab coats ten years ago.”

“So, you think the FBI will clear me?” He asks, and there’s just this sliver of hope.

“I will fight someone if they don’t.” You say in all seriousness, and he laughs at your willingness to protect him.

Eddie kisses your head, leaning his chin onto it. Lucas passes you, going to talk to Max one on one, and you turn away out of respect.

“So, how much of your history with this secret dimension do I not know about?” He asks you, an eyebrow quirked.

“Considering this is my fourth encounter, a bit.” You reply, unfazed.

“Can you tell me about it?” He asks, leaning onto one of his biceps to get comfortable.

“Ok.” You answer, and honestly you thought it might take more than that to get it out of you. “But promise me one thing.” Eddie nods rapidly. “When I get to the Russians, try not to get emotional. If I think too hard about it, I can’t even tell the story.”

Eddie gulps, wondering what possibly could’ve happened to require such a disclaimer. “Rule number 3.” He says, and you roll your eyes and start telling him anyway.

From the very beginning.

As Steve pulls up to the War Zone, it is immediately known that your rag-tag band of misfits weren’t the only ones who wanted weapons. He stands up from his seat, stretching his arms out before looking to the crowd in the motor home. “Alright. We go in. We get what we need, we get out. Make it quick, we have a wanted fugitive who we cannot risk being seen in this crowd.”

Everyone nods their heads in agreement, and all but you, Lucas, Dustin, and of course, Eddie make their way to the front of the motor home.

“Hey, Harrington!” Eddie calls to him, and Steve lifts his brows to acknowledge him. “Could you, uh, get me some spare uh…” he drifts off, aware of an audience.

Steve nods in understanding and gives Nancy the go ahead to open the door.

As the motor home became less crowded you sat next to Eddie under his arm, watching as they disappear around the corner to the main entrance. Eddie is tracing your hand slowly, and it’s so soothing you nearly let your head fall onto his shoulder. You hear him inhale and look to him with a questioning look on your face. He shakes his head, mouthing the words It’s nothing.

You don’t accept his answer, wordlessly caressing his cheek. He melts into it, and you want to freeze time in this moment and never leave. “Tell me.”

“When this is over, we’re going far from this town as we can get. I’m taking you on a road trip, we’re going to go the beach.” He says, looking off wistfully.

“The beach?” You ask, a smile on your face.

“Hell yeah. I need to see you in a bikini and know that everyone wants you but you’re all mine.” He says casually, his thumb rubbing your shoulder as he talks softly to you. “I would pack us a picnic for the ride, and mindlessly drool while you eat some watermelon. I would purposefully forget napkins but its ok, because I can help lick the juice off.”

“You…you put a lot of thought into this.” You whisper to him, dreaming of hot days on the beach a few thousand miles away from Hawkins.

“Well, I had a lot of time.” Eddie admits.

“I just want to lie down with you.” You admitted, knowing you weren’t even hopeful enough to want the beach you had just wanted to be with him. “I want to fall asleep, with you, and wake up with college being my biggest stressor.”

He gulps, the smile on his face slightly faded. “God, I would’ve followed—”

You interrupt him, shaking your head. “No. Don’t. We’re planning. What are you going to do?”

Eddie smiles softly, biting back laughter. “Sweetheart it don’t matter, you already know.”

You nodded shakily, beaming at him. He grabs your face into a fierce kiss, and there’s a part of you wondering of the salt water you tasted were his tears or your own. You separate, brushing your hands against his cheeks. He pulls you in for a hug, and you giggle involuntarily as he squeezes you so tightly.

Behind you, a cough. It was loud and firm.

“Hmm?”

“You’re cute n’ all but—” Dustin gags, pretending to throw up. “Too much.”

“I expected less of this when we were partnered up, you know? Just a moment of peace?”

Dustin shoots a toothy grin, shaking his head. “Nah.”

Eddie shrugs, knowing better than to expect such from him.

Lucas’ attention seems far from this conversation. “They should’ve been back by now.”

“When did they go in?” Eddie asks, his face growing serious again.

“Ten minutes ago.” Lucas answers, suspicion thick in his voice.

“Shit.” Dustin swears, getting up to pace.

Dustin and Lucas go back and forth on reasons they could be taking longer as the time continues to pass. Dustin checks his watch for the umpteenth time asking, “What the hell is taking so long?”

On cue, Steve bursts through the door, tossing a bag to Eddie promptly.

“What happened?” Lucas asks.

“Gotta go.” Steve answers, sitting directly into his seat.

Erica bursts through, holding a big brown bag. “Your old friends are here.” She answers, staring directly to Lucas.

“Shit!” Lucas swears.

Robin, Nancy, and Max run into the motor home, and before everyone was sat down Steve was being urged by several people to start driving. He shouts back, “I’m going, I’m going! Sit down!”

Eddie puffs his cheeks out in a big breath of “Oh, shit.”

On your way out Jason Carver stares off in frustration, ignoring the large motor home that near misses them on the way out of the parking lot.

Somewhere down the road between the War Zone and Hawkins Steve took a turn off to stay out of sight but have the open space required to make the weapons. Hammers, gasoline, a shot gun with a saw, sticks to tie to dazzlingly sharp knives all emptied out of the brown paper grocery bags.

Not to mention several axes and two stolen garbage can lids.

As all the crap was scattered about, jobs were naturally delegated two at a time, having teams partner up to create each specific firearm. Lucas and Erica sat to make the spears for Eddie and Dustin. Eddie and Dustin make armed shields out of nails and metal garbage lids. Nancy with the help of Max, set up a place to saw off the long end of a shot gun. Lastly, Robin, you, and Steve sit in front of the motor home to create the literal fire on demand.

Any possible ‘seats’ you could’ve used were in the form of crates the motor home’s cluster of random junk they assorted. It wasn’t the most comfortable, but it still beat the itchiness of the tall grass in front of you.

As you sat down with Robin and Steve, both working on dowsing the gasoline cloths together, and you find yourself all too distracted. You watch absentmindedly as Eddie rough houses into Dustin, enjoying the smile you’ve seen back on his face. As much as Dustin tries to get Eddie on the ground, Eddie’s strength proves mighty in comparison.

You finally glance away from them, starting to prepare the other gasoline cans for battle. As you sit there, Robin and Steve finally tell you a piece of gossip they’ve been looking for a moment to share with you.

Steve didn’t seem to wrap his mind around Vickie being in a relationship with a boy, he was so convinced that her pause on Fast Times was evidence that she was also into girls.

You thought it was the way she dressed that gave it away, but Steve was unconvinced.

“It just doesn’t make sense.” Steve continues his train of thought from earlier, having picked up different conversations since then.

“What doesn’t make sense?” Robin asks, not caught up with him.

“That was Dan Shelter. He graduated, like, two years ago.”

“So?” Robin prompts him.

“So, he’s in college. Which means he was visiting on spring break. Fast Times was returned, like, I don’t know, a week ago? Right? Unless she’s got some horndog brother we don’t know about. Which is possible.” As Steve continues to ramble on to himself Robin keeps to herself, and Robin letting Steve ramble is not a common occurrence. “Or she’s just really into Judge Reinhold?”

“Steve.” Robin interrupts him, having enough.

“Nah…” he drifts off, then realizes Robin called out for him.

“I don’t care. I don’t understand why do either with everything that’s going on. Honestly, this feels like a perfect time for that little pull of the rug because…”

As Robin continues talking, a gut feeling that’s been sitting in the pit of your stomach comes to the forefront.

“…in the face of the world ending, the stakes of my love life feels spectacularly low.”

“Yeah, I mean, I get you there, but… I still have hope.” Steve responds, somewhat optimistic, it seems.

“Not everything has a happy ending.” Robin tells him, adding a new bottle to the growing collection. You hand over a bottle to Steve as he grabs for it, him acknowledging you as he does.

“Yeah, yeah, believe me, I know.” He says, somewhat bitter about his own.

With everything prepared for them, you sit cross legged by Steve’s legs, the only one out of the bunch who opted to sit in the tall grass.

“Y/N?” Robin asks, seeing the pinch between your brows.

You sigh, lifting your legs so they’re held up by your elbows with your hands clasped in front of you. “Robin?”

“Care to help me out?”

“She’s not talking about failed romance, Steve.” You answer, and Robin knows you’re on the same wavelength. You turn your head to look back at Eddie and Dustin play fighting in the field. “I can’t speak for anyone else, here, but I’ve been having this, terrible, mind numbing feeling that…” you gulp, you can’t even say it out loud.

“It might work out for us this time.” Robin finished your sentence, brave enough to admit what you couldn’t even find it in yourself to think.

“You guys think we shouldn’t be doing this?” Steve asks, his voice hosting a level of doubt you don’t often hear.

“We’re absolutely bonkers.” You add, and it felt like Robin admitting what you were afraid to outloud had created a tight anxiety in your chest.

“We’re mad. The lot of us.” Robin agrees, also looking out. “But…if we don’t stop them, who will?” She asks, and unfortunately that is the caveat. If you, the only crowd of misfits that has any idea what is behind all of this are the only ones who can stop him, how could you not? “We have to try, right?”

“Yeah.” You turn around to face them. “To killing Vecna,” Steve toasts.

“Slash Henry.” Robin adds, also holding a bottle.

“Hey.” You nudge, reaching for one across them. Robin hands you one, and you insert a bottle in. “Slash One.”

By the time Eddie finishes roughing it with Dustin, he’s a damn mess, covered in sweat. It might’ve been hot if he had showered in the last few days. Who’s kidding, it was hot regardless.

This brought up a question you had. “Uh, are we going into battle wearing the same thing we have been wearing for the last two days?” You ask out loud.

“Funny you should mention that.” Steve answers, and he runs into the Motor home to grab a last bag he had, something he asked Erica to help him with, Battlefield clothes.

It felt odd getting dressed because it meant you were really going into another battle. It sucked, because none of those times did you know it was the final battle, but this felt…final.

An air was just different in the motor home. Any jokes, any attempts to fuse the tension have long gone home. The weight of how much was riding on you to win and beat him is a stupidly large dark cloud over looming everyone.

Never necessarily felt like the end of the world before, just Hawkins.

This is world ending.

High stakes, higher risks.

No one says a damn word.

You pull up to the Creel House so Erica, Lucas, and Max can jump out. Max doesn’t even say a word as she turns to shut the door, and there’s a part of you that wished you didn’t see the worry on her face as you pulled away.

Your throat felt tight as you started the drive to Eddie’s trailer, and you look over your shoulder to catch his eye.

He glances at you, his eyes torn from Dustin’s face of utter worry. I love you, you mouth to him, Eddie blinks slowly at you, tilting his head. I love you, he mouths back.

You turn around, facing forward to see that they had arrived right behind Eddie’s trailer park.

Great.

Chapter Nine: The Piggyback

As the Motor home is placed into park, Nancy gets up by the door to go over the plan once more. There’s a small temptation to roll your eyes at it, but anything to procrastinate leaving the false safety net that is the trailer.

“Okay. I wanna run through it one more time.” Nancy starts to pace through the trailer. “Phase one.”

“We meet Erica at the playground.” Robin answers her. “She’ll signal Max and Lucas when we’re ready.”

“Phase two.”

“Max baits Vecna. He’ll go after her, which’ll put him in his trance.” Steve answers.

“Phase three?”

“Me and Eddie draw the bats away.” Dustin answers, and Eddie clutches onto Dustin’s shoulder fondly.

“Phase four.”

“We head into Vecna’s bat-free lair, and…we light him up.” You answer, your breath hitching. “Though I still don’t see why I—”

“You’re going with them.” Eddies interrupts you, jolting your attention to his soft eyes. “You’ve already argued this to death. Sorry, I know. But it makes most sense for you to go with them...two shields n’ all.”

You sigh, defeated.

“Nobody moves on to the next phase until we’ve all copied.” She continues like you hadn’t even spoken. “Nobody deviates from the plan, no matter what. Got it?”

“Got it.” You all answer, moving your way out the door one by one.

Your footsteps running to Eddie’s trailer were all light and fast, the last thing you needed was to be seen by one of his neighbours. As you walk into Eddie’s trailer, the rope still hanging, Steve is already getting ready to pull off somewhat of an acrobatic move.

“Be careful.” Dustin pleads, no ounce of sarcasm in his voice.

“Thanks buddy.” Steve says, patting him lightly. He hops to the rope, starting a climb. “Here goes nothing.” He sighs, mentally preparing himself.

As Steve reaches the threshold to the Upside Down, he pauses, taking a few deep breaths and using the gravity his body was in to lurch into a summersault. He lands gracefully, looking up to say ta da.

You stood by Nancy and Robin, all watching his pose. Robin leans into you both, asking “Wow, what does he want us to do, applaud?”

Steve pulls the mattress over in record time for a landing pad, no time to waste. “All right.” He calls out. “Let’s go.”

Yay. You get to go back in again. On purpose.

Nancy starts, taking her backpack off and Robin allows her to use her knee as a stepping stool. Nancy doesn’t waste much time, the climb fast and the drop sudden. You take off your bag, and Robin puts it to the side. “What, no stepping stool?” You ask her, and Robin rolls her eyes.

“Here.” Eddie offers, and you gladly take the offer.

Your climb is much faster this time, and the lurch onto the landing pad isn’t as new, but it still felt fucking weird.

Steve offers a hand up, and you’re only standing for a half a second when yours, Nancy’s, Steve’s, and Robin’s bags make their way across as well.

Eddie comes next, lurching himself into the Upside Down with as much force as he did last time, the wind visibly knocked out of him. He’s barely given a chance to recollect himself Steve offers a hand.

Eddie’s shield is sent, Robin decidedly coming next. As she lands after a quick climb, you and Eddie extend your hands to her, and she accepts.

Dustin is left to send one bag and the two makeshift spears before he makes the trip for the first time. As someone who’s greatest strengths aren’t exactly in athleticism it took him a minute to climb and get across, but as soon as he does, he sits up quickly to catch his breath.

No one gives him that moment, yanking him by the grey sweater to get off his ass.

All the gear is moved around appropriately, Nancy putting the gun on her back, Eddie taking some wires out of your bag, etc. As soon as everyone goes through a quick check list Nancy opens the door back into the red lightning, determined as ever. You follow behind Steve, a pit in your stomach as you know the moment is seconds away.

Eddie and Dustin follow behind, the door slamming behind them.

“Hey, guys, listen.” Steve starts, nearly stumbling into you as he turns around. You accept his apology and drift off to side to let him do his thing. “If things here start to go south, I mean, at all, you abort.” You nod next to him, your face serious. Eddie’s eyes drift to yours for a moment, his expression unreadable. “Okay? Draw the attention of the bats. Keep ‘em busy for a minute or two. We’ll take care of Vecna.” Dustin rolls his eyes at the dramatics, used to it by now.

“Don’t try to be cute or be a hero or something. Okay? You guys are just—”

“Decoys.” Dustin finishes the sentence with him, exasperated. “Don’t worry. You can be the hero, Steve.”

“Absolutely.” Eddie agrees, humour in his voice. “I mean, look at us. We are not heroes.” Eddie says, glancing next to him.

Steve accepts it, but you didn’t.

“Hey.” You say, pulling focus and ignoring your audience for a moment. “Listen. Don’t be a hero.” You emphasize to Eddie, swallowing the emotions that threaten to pour out to him.

Eddie nods like he already understood what you meant.

“No. I know you, Munson. You come back to me.”

Eddie gulps, his face losing any sense of humour it just had. You gulp as well, following as Nancy and Robin are starting to lead the group the other way.

You start to when Eddie calls, “Hey Steve?”

Steve turns around, and you can’t find it in yourself to face him again and still follow them.

“Make him pay.” Eddie says, and Steve doesn’t respond, but you could feel the tension from the nuance of what he had just said.

Their pace picks up and you’re right behind them when your body can’t seem to take another step with out doing one last thing. Nancy notices you’ve stopped walking, and when she’s about to ask you’ve already dropped the bag and the flashlight in your hand to sprint to him.

Eddie already knew what you were doing, as soon as you turned around he dropped his shield, preparing himself to catch you.

He does, effortlessly. You breathe him in as his arms engulf you, and this just made it ten times worse but all worth the while. “I love you.” You tell him, just loud enough that you’re not even sure he heard you.

“I love you.” He says it like a promise.

You couldn’t help yourself despite the inappropriateness of it. You kissed him. Just one taste. Just something. He kissed you just as fiercely.

As you separate, he opens his mouth to say something, but you don’t even let him.

No goodbyes.

You walk away from him, starting into a half jog when Steve is ushering you to hurry up. You fling your bag back on and pick up the flashlight, now matching the pace next to Steve as you make your way to the Creel House.

As you wonder through the forest towards the Creel House things are eerily quiet until Robin finally speaks up.

“Uh…I don’t mean to freak anyone out, but I swear we’ve seen this tree before.” She claims, pointing to specifically curvy little tree.

“That’s impossible.” Nancy answers her.

“That would suck, right?” Robin asks, rhetorical. “If Vecna destroyed the world because…’cause we got lost in the woods?”

“We’re not lost, Robin.” You tell her, and she bites out a sarcastic laugh. She starts running ahead, and you follow behind her.

“Robin, hey.” Nancy starts. “Watch out for the vines, guys! Hive mind! Remember?”

“Thank you!” Robin answers, and you follow just behind her to make sure she doesn’t lose her mind.

You end up following her, your lungs giving you shit for it. “Robin, slow down!” You call out to her. “Aren’t you supposed to be the clutzy one? How are you running this fast?”

“Fear.” She responds without missing a beat. “Mostly just the fear of being lost in the woods before we can save the world that keeps eating my brain.” She sounds out of breath, but she keeps trekking.

“Ugh!” You grunt in frustration but follow her anyway, despite a part of you begging to give your lungs a break.

Robin lets out a shout of accomplishment, and you see her coming back just as fast. “Found it!” She declares and passes right by you to run to Steve and Nancy.

You stop, finally, catching your breath. What the hell did you wind yourself before you got to the battle for? Hopefully Vecna wasn’t gunning for a on-foot chase.

“Hey guys!” You hear her voice echo. “You guys! Awesome news! Looks like we weren’t going the wrong way after all.”

You don’t a hear a response, and there’s a beat before Robin ushers them to follow her.

“Okay, jeez!” Robin starts running back towards you, and how is she not out of breath? “Ro…Show down! Ro…Robin!” Steve calls out to her as she starts to pass you.

As soon as she reaches you, you start walking again, having spent the last three minutes trying to catch your breath with your hands on your knees. Before long you’re navigating through some low and very prickly branches to view the Creel House in all it’s Upside Down glory. Damn, did those bats give you the chills.

Steve and Robin scanned the scene, looking for a specific orange glow. They spot it on the rocket on the outdoor playground. “Erica.”

Signal you give Erica is immediately met with a flashing signal. Feels like forever when Lucas finally signals back the message is copied.

“Okay, the lovebirds have copied, Max is Moving into phase two: Distracting Vecna.” Erica’s voice echoes.

“So far, so smooth.” Robin comments.

“Yeah, we’re not even at the hard part yet.” Steve adds on.

Nancy is busy like she has for the last ten minutes, dead focused on the Creel House. “Take the bait, you son of a bitch.” She urges quietly. “Take. The bait.”

It’s not like Vecna could particularly hear her, but it felt necessary.

It’s a waiting game. Max barely survived her last encounter with Vecna and this time she’s going in full throttle.

This is the worst thing to wait for.

“Okay, she’s in. Initiate phase three.” Erica’s voice echoes out of nowhere.

“She’s in. Move on to phase three.” Robin walkies not one second after Erica copies.

“Copy that. Initiating phase three.” Dustin’s voice answers on the walkie.

Less than a minute later you can vaguely hear a guitar rocking out in the distance.

You remain crouched down right by the play set, waiting for a hint of the idea that phase 3 is working.

“Damn, is….is that Master of Puppets?” Steve asks you, his brow furrowed.

You had a bit of a knowledge of Heavy Metal bands by now, but you could barely tell just from the guitar riff alone. “If it is, that’s definitely his sense of humour.” You mutter, listening with a half smile. “He plays a lot to himself, but I haven’t had a chance to see him at the Hideout yet.”

“Haven’t had a chance?” Steve asks, incredulous.

You shrug, not having an excuse. “We didn’t get out much.” You admit, and it suddenly makes sense why Eddie insisted you go to the beach.

A shrill sound suddenly catches your attention, no less than a few hundred demo-bats flying over you to protect against the source of the sound.

“Okay, it’s working.” Nancy mutters. “Let’s go.”

Nancy leads the march into the Creel House, your heart beating out of your chest in sheer anticipation. Whatever Eddie and Dustin were continuing to do after the sounds of the guitar faded seemed to work, not a demo-bat in sight as you open the door to a house riddled in Vecna’s vines. When you thought Eddie’s trailer looked bad, this seemed like nothing in comparison.

You, Robin, Nancy, and Steve go one by one up the stairs to Vecna, a sense of purpose in each step as you aim for the wood between the vines. Steve offers his hand as each one of you make the top of the stairs after him over a particularly wide vine. At long last, the weapons are coming out to play. Robin hands you a bottle and her lighter, Steve grabs his axe, and Nancy holds her incomplete shotgun.

As you attempt to move forward an earthquake rumbles, this one bigger than ever, causing all four of you to huddle up, clutching on to one another so none of you end up falling over, and God forbid, onto one of the vines.

There’s a moment of relief, looking at one another as it passed.

The moment is too short, Robin looking down to a vine slowly making its way around her foot. She barely gets any time to respond, the vine tripping her. She lands onto it, yelping and it pulls her up against the wall. She was up there, too.

The vines continue moving around her, pinning her extremities down and around her neck. Robin calls out, voice full of panic. “Nancy!”

Your attempt at running to her aide is cut short, despite her not necessarily calling out to you. Nancy leans in, beating the vines with the butt of her gun, and before you could even attack it one by your foot gets a hold of you, dragging you on the front of your stomach and legs across the hall and strapping you up against the wall directly facing Robin.

“Oh shi—” you call out, the breath stolen from your lungs. You couldn’t even finish, a vine wrapping itself around your mouth to prevent any yelling…or breathing.

Steve turns quickly to your aide, attempting to use his axe against the vine that attacked you. A vine retaliates by grabbing at it, causing a tug of war between Steve and the vine. The axe is yanked out of his grasp, and three of the vines forcefully tug Steve five feet off the ground by the neck and waist.

Nancy hears Steve’s struggle, turning up in horror as Steve is dragged up to the wall. The floor is stolen right from under Nancy, the vine yanking her by one foot, as she barely manages to escape another one slithers down and across her stomach, yanking her up by the wall at an angle.

Each one of you is now pinned hopelessly against the wall, the vines wrapping themselves to immobilize the four of you. As the vine wrapped around your mouth slowly suffocates you, you can only hear Robin, Nancy, and Steve audibly choking.

Is…is this it?

It only takes a few seconds.

From going up the stairs deliberately, to pinned against the wall with no oxygen to speak of, it only takes a few seconds.

It only takes a few seconds.

From running to safety to chopping his only way out, it only takes a few seconds.

Eddie ignored every call for him to stop from Dustin. He ignored the echoes of your voice telling him not to be a hero. He ignored the gnawing feeling at the back of his mind…

He looks up to Dustin’s distressed face, picking up the shield and his weapon. “I’m buying more time.” He says, and runs head first into the swarm.

He picks up the bike he once dropped and starts on it, peddling as fast as his legs would let him. He gets a good minute of biking in, looking back and letting out his war cry.

Dustin uses all his strength to come after Eddie, severely injuring his left leg in the process.

His bike loses its footing. Eddie scrambles to his feet, one hundred percent bent on making his way back.

Back to you.

Then…

I didn’t know what to do, so I… I… I ran away.

I just ran, and I left her there.

I mean, look at us. We are not heroes.

He couldn’t run away. Not again. Not when for once in his life he could confront it, head on.

He breathes, mentally preparing himself. It…only takes a second.

His shield is pounded by his spear rhythmically, egging the bats on.

They charge after him. It’s not long before they surround him in a tornado, and he watched in awe, his heart painfully and eerily still. A few dive in after him, and he successfully thwarts them.

It only takes a second before one gets its tail around his neck. Others follow suit, grabbing arms…and legs.

Others dive in for his torso.

Dustin yells out after him, watching the scene unfold.

As his flesh tears, Eddie can only yell in pain.

It only took a second.

As your vision started to blur the vines around your neck suddenly loosen, letting the four of you fall to your knees. You blink as oxygen returns to you, the other three coughing from the vines being wrapped around their necks. You watch in awe as the vines retreat.

“I don’t believe in a higher power or divine intervention. But that was a miracle.” Robin breathes out, her breathing wheezy from the constant choking.

“Then we better not waste it.” Nancy declares, determined as ever now that you somehow escaped the clutches of Vecna’s vines. She cocks her shotgun.

“Phase four.” Steve manages out, still catching his breath.

“We light him up.” You finish, grabbing one of the bottles from Robin.

You approach Vecna’s room, seeing him held up by his vines and in a trance, completely vulnerable. You hold up the bottle to Steve, he grabs it from you and you ignite it with the lighter you grabbed earlier. Steve throws the bottle to Vecna, it lands perfectly on his chest as his whole-body catches fire. Vecna screams aloud, and he falls directly to the floor amid these new flames.

Vecna only writhes for a fraction of a second before standing up and facing you head on, somehow intimidating while simultaneously burning alive. You passed the lighter to Robin, allowing her to light up a new bottle and thrust another one to his chest. He falters back, and while you watch him charge forward, Nancy takes the moment to step forward herself, gun aimed.

She shoots, the barrel hitting his shoulder.

She cocks it and she shoots again without hesitation, hitting his lower stomach and causing him to fall back. Nancy shoots again, and again.

Vecna attempts to come at her, but he falters back as the weight of the fire, Hop’s sword wielding, and Nancy’s shots all in one. He lets out a howl, something from the depths of hell.

Nancy lets nothing about it falter her. She snarls her upper lip, letting Vecna know he can go where to back he came from.

Her finger pulls the trigger a final time and it causes Vecna to fall backwards through the wooden panels up against the window to the attic. She lowers the gun, turning back to face all three as you attempt to catch your breath.

You all run to where he supposedly fell, seeing nothing but ash and an empty space where Vecna should’ve been.

What now?

I think it’s my hear, Henderson.

I think it’s finally my year.

I love you, man.

It’s silent. None of you know any of what’s happening…neither Dustin, Eddie, nor Erica are copying back on the walkie.

The clock chimes from in the Creel House, and you catch up to it on it’s last and fourth chime. “Four chimes.” Nancy breathes, and the air is sucked right out of your lungs when you understand. “Max.”

You, Robin, and Steve stare at one another with bug eyes, wondering if its real life when the ground shakes under your feet violently. It’s not just the Upside Down, this time.

Eddie’s trailer, the roadside, the lake, and Vecna’s house are all ripped apart, the earth falling into it from several feet away. The only thing you can do is hang on to the bottom of the stair well, shaking around like beads in a damn maraca.

After God knows how long the ground finally ceases.

You get grab a hold of the banister and start running as fast as your legs could carry you through the forest.

Vecna had disappeared, but had apparently succeeded in his mission to kill four people, to kill Max. These were important details, but none compared to the most important.

The mission failed, time to regroup, assess damages and go from there.

Namely, time to regroup.

They all called after you, following behind by a few feet as you ignored them. They finally realized where you were headed, the path clear to them.

As you reached the park, you head straight for the trailer but someone calling your name stops you.

It wasn’t Robin, Nancy, or Steve from behind you.

It wasn’t Eddie either.

You look to the source, facing Dustin hobbling slowly towards you, with what appears to be an injured leg. Your concern for the injury fades into the back of your mind when you see his face. The glossy eyes, the runny nose.

Panic is already invaded your chest.

“I’m sorry.” Dustin chokes out, his voice thick with tears.

“Where is he?” You ask, needing the proof yourself.

“There was nothing I could do.” He continues, attempting to keep you from taking a step further.

Your teeth clench like your life depends on it. You stride to where Dustin was hobbling from and the glimpse of what you see when you go around the corner unmistakably shatters you.

Steve runs up to you, now catching wind to the situation as soon as the broken sob escapes your throat. You attempt to run to him, but Steve holds you back, and the pain is so sharp you can’t even tell what he’s saying to you.

You fight him off, tears flowing down your cheeks like a water fall and you’re crying so hard you can’t breathe.

You find yourself on your knees, bent over, clutching your chest as someone, you don’t know who, attempted to give you comfort despite this being one of the worst times to break down like this.

You don’t recall actually saying much, but the word No seemed to run through your head like a damn mantra. You had half a mind to push Dustin and demand what happened and why did he let him do something so stupid, but the only thing that escapes you is more full throttle chest sobs.

He can’t be gone.

He was just here.

Your friends wished they could’ve said they let you calm down when they finally managed to escort you from the Upside Down.

Given they didn’t exactly have the privilege, nor was time theirs to give for the moment, Steve tugs you up and lets you sob into his shoulder as he walks you over to what is less of a snack-size gate. You crawl your way through the gaping hole of what used to be his trailer. It was all too much, seeing his home ripped to shreds.

As your blinders go down, you saw the entire town engulfed in flames. Your sobs became hiccups, the pain still unbearable but there was no room for your grief when so much of your down is absolutely ruined.

Steve uses the motor home to drive you and the rest of the team to their respective houses, the only thing to do was to go home, get changed and figure out what came next.

On the way to your house, Steve keeps looking at you in the rear view, and you barely notice as you watch the outside in shock. He pulls up to your house first, despite passing Robin’s on the way.

Steve gets up and walks to you, and takes a deep breath in. “He died a hero. He saved most of the town. That’s what you tell her.” He states, knowing whether he was gentle wouldn’t make a difference to your mood.

Not that you particularly cared for his tone for the moment. You look up at him, your eyes shrouded over in grief. “This town hat—” you manage out, your words barely leaving your mouth through the thickness of your voice. You just nod, tears leaving the pair of eyes that already hurt from crying so hard.

You get up from your seat, mindlessly walking to the door and down the steps.

You make your way up the path, refusing to let any memories of him bubble to the surface, despite him the only thing on your mind. Steve asked if you were gonna be ok, but you barely registered it.

Before your hand reaches the door knob your mom opens the door. And before she could even ask what was wrong, another broken sob leaves your chest as lurch into her arms.

You cried for an hour before she could even get a word in, edgewise.

The police eventually reach your door, stopping by for rounds to make sure your family was ok for supplies and then told its not mandated but it is suggested to leave town. As you walk around the corner from grabbing a piece of toast just to stop your stomach from begging for more food, the officer at the door takes note of your presence.

“Oh, Miss. L/N! We’ve been attempting to get a hold of you to ask whether whereabouts of your current boyfriend, but we have not been able to get a hold of you.” He asks casually, like he wasn’t going to go arrest him.

You gulp, looking him dead in the eyes and say, “He died. In the earthquake.”

“Oh, sorry to hear that.”

“Mmhm.” You mutter, and your body somehow carries itself upstairs.

Your body spends time either in full pain mode or none. You refused to sleep in your own room, it was filled to the brim of memories of him that you didn’t need a reminding of. You had even attempted to spend all your time watching whatever your father had chosen to watch, but the words ‘Munson Murders’ on the news sent you seeing red as you stomped up the stairs.

After lying in the spare bed for a good portion of the day your doorbell rings.

Your mom calls your name after answering. You didn’t even bother responding.

There’s a knock on the door the door opened after the third one, Steve and Robin walking right in with Dustin on their tail.

Dustin couldn’t even come through the door, and there’s a shred of empathy that understands how guilty he must’ve felt.

“Hey. We’re going to the school to drop off and help with donations. Come with us.” Steve says, walking over to bend to your level.

You squint at him through your watery eyes. You sniffed. “I don’t think I’m the best person to be volunteering for the affected, Steve.”

Robin comes up to the side as well. “We know you lost him. And that- there’s no words to describe how much it sucks. But there are a lot of people in Hawkins who lost everything.”

“Are you telling me that people have it worse, so I should just get over it?”

“That’s the opposite of what we’re saying.” Steve claims. “we’re saying they’ll understand loss. There are other people who died in this earthquake you won’t be the only one mourning.”

“It wasn’t an earthquake.” You whisper, going underneath your blanket. You almost don’t make it under your covers to hide the violet sob that threatened to leave your lips.

They let you breathe for a moment.

The blanket is ripped off you, Robin yanking you out of bed.

She places some clothes on the bed. “Put these on, meet us outside.”

If you could’ve, you would’ve laughed. As they leave, you request they send in Dustin.

Dustin walks in with the help of a cane. He doesn’t look you in the eye, only the floorboards.

“I don’t blame you.” You whisper, shaking your head. “At first, maybe. I don’t even remember you telling me what happened, but I do know. He chopped it and ran, yeah?” Dustin nods shakily. “That was his choice. His stupid, fucking choice that he made about his own life. Not yours. I don’t blame you.” Dustin shoots you smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “You don’t blame yourself either, right?” You ask him. “Cause it’s not your fault.”

A tear falls down Dustin’s face and he wipes it away hastily.

“Dustin. It’s not your fault.”

Dustin gulps awkwardly and tells you he’ll meet you outside. Somehow, the interaction with Dustin convinced you to go with them. You nodded, implying you’ll be right there. Before he leaves, he turns around awkwardly. “Uh, thank you. I needed that.”

You nod in response, slowly shutting the door.

You turn to face the clothes Robin has picked out for you, a pair of jeans with one of his shirts. You appreciated the sentiment but threw his shirt holding your breath to refuse the smell as you walk into your room to grab a different one.

You weren’t quite there yet.

As you run down the stairs you tell your mom you’re going to help at the High School. Steve and Robin promised you were only going to the gym and would be avoiding the real building for you at any cost.

On the way Dustin mentioned that El, Mike, Will, Johnathan and some buy named Argyle were in town, having made a long two-day trip from the middle of the desert. You gulped, watching outside as Steve drove to the school. You ask how Max was, having received the news from your mom after you had finally calmed down enough to talk.

You still hadn’t seen her, the guilt cutting through you like a knife. Not that you didn’t care about her, you just wanted to be able to stand for five minutes without the mere thought of him eating you from the outside.

She wasn’t any better or worse…which is good, you guessed.

You finally pull in and open the trunk to three boxes. Dustin attempts to carry one, but you take it from him instead, refusing his protests.

As shitty as you felt, seeing the gym filled to the brim with cots and people seeking necessities actually did put things into perspective for you. As long as you grieved, at least you grieved him in the privacy of your home. You see the missing persons reports posted, your throat tightening when you catch a glimpse of the graffiti on his.

You didn’t have it in you to take it down. Didn’t want to make a scene.

There were people in a med bay on oxygen, for Christ’ sake.

Robin greeted the volunteer kindly, pointing out each box and its respective belongings.

When the volunteer offers a tax receipt, Robin politely declines and in turn, offers the four of you for volunteer work. You’re ushered away into giving water with Dustin, Steve to the clothes, and Robin is making sandwiches.

As Dustin is making his rounds, he notices someone pull up to his poster and switch out the graffitied one for a new one. You’re talking with one of the affected about something when he calls out to you, nodding to him.

A pang hits your chest as you see Wayne holding a whole file of missing posters for him.

“I’m sorry, I just see someone I know.” You tell her, and she gracefully lets you go, seeing the gloss appear in your eyes as you do. As much as you didn’t tell her, she could tell you had lost something as well.

Dustin hesitates in approaching him, but you help cross the threshold for him. “W-Wayne?” You stumble out.

He recognises your voice, turning to face you as soon as your voice hits his ears. “Oh, bless the Lord.” He mutters as he pulled you into a hug.

You grit your teeth to stop a sob from leaving, a tear falling down each cheek as you involuntarily breathe in his cologne.

You are breathing heavy when he lets go, and he notices your disposition. “What’s wrong?” He asks you apprehensively.

You gulp, the words can’t even escape your lips. “Where is he?” He asks you, and the tears falling down your face is an answer in itself. He pulls you in again, this time you hear sniffles coming from him as well, the heat of his tears hitting your shoulders. This was someone who raised the person you have loved for five months. His pain must’ve been…unimaginable. “What-what happened?” He asks, pulling a way from you..

“He…” you gulp, “he died in the earthquake. I wasn’t with him.”

“I was.” Dustin chokes out, holding out the chain for him. “I’m…I’m so sorry.”

Oh. That’s why Dustin refused.

Of course, you fucking narcissist.

Wayne sits down on one of the cots, clutching onto the chain like his life depended on it, attempting to hide his grief in a sea of people that believed his nephew was responsible for the problem to begin with.

Dustin manages to hobble right beside Wayne on the cot. “I…I wish everyone had gotten to know him. Really know him. Because they would’ve loved him, Mr. Munson. They would’ve loved him. Even in the end… he never stopped being Eddie.” That was the first time you heard his name in over 48 hours. You wouldn’t even allow yourself to think it. “Despite everything. I never even saw him get mad.” Your brow admittedly quirked at this, because could name five times you’ve seen him get mad in his last two days off by heart. The memories seem to cut through like a knife.

“He could’ve run. He could’ve saved himself. But he fought. He fought and died to protect this town. This town that… hated him.” A detail that still gets your anger phase of your grief revved up until you start crying in anger again, but you had to let it slide because this wasn’t technically about your grief. “He isn’t just innocent… Mr. Munson he’s… he’s a hero.”

A choked-out sob leaves your lips, same as Wayne. Your hand slaps across your mouth to mute it, trying not to draw any attention to yourself. Dustin leaves Wayne alone, letting him sit in his own grief.

After about five minutes Wayne wraps you in a tighter hug than before, and he whispers, “Thank you. You gave my boy life.”

By extension, by bringing him to Upside Down…did it mean…you took it away, as well?

You didn’t let out that part, let the tears fall as he continually embraced you. “Can I help with anything? You have a place to stay?”

Wayne shakes his head, refusing your help. You had a feeling he would, but knew he appreciated the offer regardless. “Sunshine?”

You turn around from where you were walking back for another volunteer position.

“Please call me every now and then, yeah? I need to know that you’re okay.” He asks, and you nod shakily.

Maybe you’ll break out an old t-shirt of his.

Funny how losing someone as close as he was does the end of the world compare.

However, the phone call you had received that night was enough to get you to drive a half a mile out of town and to phone call’s origin.

The cabin opens with El standing in the doorway, her hair all buzzed off and a smile sitting on her face. You walk in, the cabin crowded. Suddenly you felt foolish as you realized how much you were missing.

Hop was…there. Living, breathing. Thinner.

He looks like he went through hell to get back, but he was grinning on the couch, arm around Joyce.

When Joyce sees you, her face lights up. She gets up immediately, throwing her arms around you. Felt warm.

“Oh my sweet girl. I’m so sorry about him.” Her eyes full of sincerity as she looks into yours.

Tears come back, and you breathe through them. “I missed you.” You admit, and Joyce lets out a chuckle as she hugs you again.

“So is anyone gonna tell me how—” you point to Hopper.

“Long story.” About four or five people chirp out. Well, you’ll find out one day.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t come sooner.” You tell Joyce, noting everyone has already made their way back to sit down and enjoy the company of the Byers and the extras that came with them.

“Oh, sweetheart.” You gulp at the nickname. “It’s so okay. It’s only been two days. As far as I see it you’re so strong.”

God it was nice to have her back.

“Family Video is caput.” Robin says as you walk up to them.

“We seriously need to find new jobs?” You ask her, your eyebrow raised.

“I don’t know about that.”

“Are you going to be okay?” Steve asks as you scooch in-between them.

“If you asked me yesterday, I would’ve said no.” You admit, watching the grainy tv set in front of you. You look around at the people who all risked their lives to get to the point where Vecna was burning right in front of you.

“And now?”

“Still no. But it’s nice to have some company.”

Thanks for reading! Remember reblogging and commenting really means the world to me I read every single one <3

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percysoddity · 1 year

Text

Robin knew this was too good to be true. Things had been going a little too smoothly for her taste; a risk free stroll through the hell woods, the coast being totally clear of demon bats and all those other creepy ass venus fly-traps on legs that haunted her and Steve's increasingly frequent sleepovers.

What? It's not like Robin's ever had a girlfriend—sue her, she's touch starved. She's making the most of her equally desperate and clingy best friend.

The giant flesh-monster that stars in most of Robin's night terrors hasn't even made an appearance!

But it wasn't until now, as she looks down at the scorched pavement where the Big Bad should be laying, burned alive and half-blown to bits, that she realises that, 'oh. my worst fears are pretty tangible, actually'.

Because this is the age-old story of 'no body, no dice'.

If they can’t theoretically bury a body, they can’t theoretically put anything to rest.

He’s still out there.

Or not. Either way, they’ll never know, and he’ll always be haunting them. Whether in the creepy ‘I-have-government-sanctioned-mind-control-powers’ way or the plain old ‘you’ll-never-know-if-you’re-truly-safe-and-I-will-be-joining-the-revolving-door-cast-of-your-worst-nightmares’ way (along with the flesh-melty Billy Hargrove zombie and his big pet meat-spider. And Russians, of course).

Robin doesn’t look away from where Vecna/Henry/One should be, and distantly, she wonders why she isn't looking away. She's been staring at nothing but empty space a lot lately.

"We did it?" Steve shouldn't be saying that like a question, Robin muses, eyes starting to go out of focus a little.

Surely he couldn't just… reappear there.

"Yeah… We did it." Nancy manages to actually state it, but it still doesn’t feel like a fact.

Or he could. The kids said he was a wizard. And he disappeared. What’s to stop him from finishing off the magic trick? That's usually how they go, isn't it? Disappear then reappear?

"—Robin?"

"Mmm?"

Robin blinks through the haze and furrows her brow, confused. She doesn’t even have to look up to see who's speaking, Steve’s grabbed her shoulders and turned her. When the hell did he manage that without her noticing?

"Oh, thank God," Nancy gasps from her right, hand loosening on her elbow.

Oh? When did you get here?

"Are you ok?" Nancy continues, "what happened? What did you see?"

Huh? Oh. Oh.

"Ooooooh, no, no no, I didn't—that was just me," Robin scrambles to assure the clearly distressed pair getting in her face. She waves her hands either side of her temples, blowing raspberries. It feels like an especially comical action to make in the Upside Down. You can still blow raspberries in hell, whoda thunk it. She continues talking, ignoring the wayward train of thought in her head, "brain, baaah, bleeehh, uuuh, things. Spiral, or whatever."

Steve hits himself in the head and sags in relief so hard it knocks him back a step. Nancy half-catches him with a hand to the shoulder, and rolls her eyes, but Robin can't tell if the 'pinching the bridge of her nose' thing is directed at Steve's dramatics or Robin's… Whatever it is. It happens.

Robin does clock the way that Nancy pulls her hand away like she's been burned though, even after she gives Steve a very bro-y pat on the shoulder. Hmm. Maybe all that wasn't going the direction Robin thought it was, then.

Ok, so, obviously you can still blow raspberries in hell, but it’s… Like, it's the juxtaposition of it that makes it weird.

"You know," Nancy keeps going, "I think I prefer it when you spiral out loud."

Steve's gaze is stern, which is a weird look on him. "Me too, Jesus.” Then Steve turns to Nancy, a surprisingly steady hand on her shoulder. “Did you see anything like this in your… Vecna Vision or whatever?"

She shakes her head. “Maybe we’ve won. Changed it. Maybe we stopped all the rest from happening.”

Robin realises her gaze has slipped down and out again when Nancy puts her hand against the back of her neck, thumb against her jaw. Whoa. Robin’s gaze snaps up.

“Are you sure you’re ok?”

Robin hears Steve let out a breath through his nose. It’s his worried kind. The one when he’s trying to keep it together for someone else. He does it after nightmares all the time. When did Robin start to know him so well that she can categorise his breaths?

“Yeah,” he says, hand squeezing Robin’s shoulder where he’s still holding her upright, “this happens a bit. when things go a bit…”

“Fucky?”

The experience of hearing Nancy ‘The Priss’ Wheeler say ‘fucky’ out loud makes Robin bark a laugh. One that she immediately reels in.

"I—yeah, sorry guys, I didn't mean to—"

Theoretically, you could also turn your eyelids inside out in hell. Steve might be a little jumpy for pranks at the moment though, so Robin will resist. Hell, even she's jumpy right now.

Hooooo boy, shake it out, Bobby.

She shakes herself, mentally and physically, to expel the energy, and throws her thumbs up. "I'm all good. Now lets—"

An ear-splitting sound feels like it punches Robin in the back of the head, and all three of them whip around to stare into the haunted house they just escaped.

The Clock.

It fucking chimes.

on ao3!

#stranger things #robin buckley #st #fanfic #fic #stranger things fanfic #missing scene #steve harrington #nancy wheeler #ronance #steddie #EVENTUALLY #platonic stobin #platonic soulmates stobin #stranger things season 4

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alcalystrasz · 2 months

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I know you've been waiting for it. So... Here's my first theory about Stranger Things 5 :

(No Spoilers, just a theory)

Theory n°1 : Vecna's crazy role this season.

Alright, I'd like to start first with a resume about the 4 lasts seasons. For the three firsts seasons it's kind of my thoughts because Vecna never really explained his role during these three seasons, so I'll try to make it logical.

Season 1 -> Will gets kidnapped into the Upside Down.

If we remember what Vecna said to Nancy in S4, he says he was a sensitive, lonely kid. He was good at drawing, and he always felt different. You know who's EXACTY like that? Yup, Will. So in my opinion, he kidnapped Will in the first place because he was like him. But why keeping him so long without killing him? Because Will's good at hiding? No. We learn in the book about him being in the Upside Down what actually happened to him. He said he tried multiple times to "kill himself" like getting the Demogorgons to eat him, but whenever they got the chance they turned back. So I think Vecna was controlling the Demogorgons in order to not kill Will. He maybe wanted to test him, or keep him here until he could be able to do something with him. Take over him, get inside his body, or other stuff... So then Will's finally saved, but it doesn't end for him.

Season 2 -> Will gets possessed by the Mind Flayer.

So this season, Vecna probably wanted to test Will more, or, this time, to take him in his side, since they have the same personality. So he got the Mind Flayer and sent it to possess Will. However, in the end, Joyce made it to remove the creature from his body. That, of course, made Vecna mad, especially when El closed the gate. But, fortunately for him, it wasn't the end.

Season 3 -> The Flesh Mind Flayer wants to kill Eleven.

Russians opened an other door, which is why he was able to control the Mind Flayer through the Upside Down. Cause if the gate is closed, no more control and the Mind Flayer "dies." Which is what happened at the end of season 3 by the way. But, why willing to Kill El, and not controlling more Mike now? Simple question. She's always changing his plans and that annoys him. So killing her off would be the best to get Will to join him in is...what? Army? Maybe. But she managed to destroy the Mind Flayer, once again, with everyone else this time. That is when Vecna got super mad and finally decided to go in the nature and kill some teenagers. Yeah, let's go Henry!

Season 4 -> Vecna wants to kill Eleven.

Sooooo.... So far, Vecna was not a good master to his puppets (got the ref?), so he decided to be the big master, without puppets this time. We learn in the late season, that the more he kills, the more he becomes stronger, so he's like "Yeah let's go kill, to be come stronger." Logic. So he went down to kill, but not nobody, random teens with past traumas who feel guilt. Chrissy, Fred, Patrick... then El went to fight him, and honestly watching this I was like "Bitch are you nuts he's stronger?" And he, in fact was. The only reason El managed to get out of those vines she was trapped in was with Mike's words (sort of). So she then finally beat the ass out of him and he, of course, got totally BURNED by the fruity three (rip Eddie). But then what? We see he got away with it, he's still alive, and we learn from Will's words (oh weird?) that he's still alive, he's hurt, but he's there. And he doesn't want to kill just El or her friends now, but everyone in Hawkins. So it isn't about saving them anymore but the whole town.

So, now considering all that. Here's finally my theory:

We know Vecna wanted to control or make Will join him in the first two season, and it was logic, cause they're alike, they're sensitive, lonely, they feel different from other people and they're good in arts. During these seasons, Vecna probably wanted to observe and understand Will's behavior in some circumstances. Like what if he gets into this world like Vecna got into? He's traumatized? Oh shit. Well how about his personality changes completely like Vecna. He's also traumatized? Well that's a bummer.

What I'm trying to say is that Will and Vecna are very connected even now. Before, with Will's presence in the Upside Down and true sight, but also now because he also and still feels him behind his neck, like before. He was trying to, small steps by small steps, leading him to join him. And that'd what I want to point out.

I think, Vecna will try to finally make Will join him. BUT, Will, of course, won't accept. So I imagine Vecna putting Will in a sort of transe state, like he did with his four other victims, and maybe show him some moments in his life, that shows how miserable and how sad his life is, and that he'll be way better and stronger if he came with him. But Will will refuse. Why? He may be sensitive, a little naive and sometimes stupid, let's be honest, he's not going to let Vecna take him, because there's one thing that'll make him stay: MIKE FUCKING WHEELER. So I imagine, then Vecna putting his big ass hand on his face and that'll make Will float, just like in season 4 with Max and the other kids. But instead of being killed (cause it's Will, like, bro, come on), he can take a piece of wood or I don't know what but something sharp that he finds. You didn't understand? Let me explain: I imagine this, happen at the exact same place it happened to Max, that's why I said a piece of wood. WHO CARES? SO THEN HE TAKES THAT, AND BOOM, in the eye of Vecna, his left eye to be precise. Why? Don't you remember what Eddie said in his DnD campagne? :

"He's not only missing his left arm, but his LEFT EYE!"

So that's why I think Will could destroy his left eye, as a foreshadowing to what Eddie said (I mean why not?). Vecna would then be hurt again, and let Will go, but he could try to stop him, but not the same way as Max, nah that was too iconic, we need something more Byers, more Will... more William Byers... he could try to stop him by making him hear horrible things Mike told him, like in the rain fight of season 3, or the Rink O'Mania one... But he'd manage to finally get out of this, with the help of Mike's words also, cause I clearly see Mike talking to him. Maybe even a parallel, to what Will said while he had to get El out of Vecna's tentacles "You're the heart", but this time it is Jonathan Damn Byers who says it to Mike. Like, that'd be banger, just saying.

So what next? I already said he could try to take Will by his side, now what? Remember, in season 4 we learn the more he kills, the more he's strong. So I think, he'll try to get to kill all the characters we know, before killing whole Hawkins. Let me explain:

We know that everytime Vecna kills, he uses people's past trauma, in which they feel guilt. Who has past traumas with guilt? Yeah, almost everyone. So here's a quick resume and explanation of what could happen to almost all the characters.

-Nancy's targeted -> past trauma: Barbara's death -> saved by Steve or Jonathan. So why Steve or Jonathan? They're her two loves, be for real. However I see more Steve than Jonathan, but Jonathan could also be possible so it's between both.

-Jonathan's targeted -> past trauma: Will's disappearance in S1 -> saved by Steve. So why Steve? To show Jonathan that they're not enemies anymore, and that they could totally be friends. But it could also be Dustin, his bestfriend, or Robin, his girl bestfriend. But I have something else for Robin...

-Dustin's targeted -> past trauma: Eddie's death -> saved by Steve or Mike. Steve cause he's his bestfriend, but also why not Mike, because they both knew Eddie, and Mike could help him going through this because he also went through it.

-Lucas's targeted -> past trauma: Max's coma state/death -> saved by Erica. I say /death because we don't know if she will actually survive in season 5...

-Will's targeted -> past trauma: tons. Vecna wants him to join him -> saved by Mike.

So I have atleast 5 people that could be targets of Vecna, as for others... not sure what could happen to them. There's still: Steve, Joyce, Hopper, Murray (lol), Erica, Robin, Mike and Suzie (why not). I know Steve doesn't have past traumas he's feeling guilty for, but that's for another theory, along with Robin. Joyce, Murray and Hopper are adults, not sure they could be targetted. As for Erica and Suzie.... Erica doesn't feel guilty about anything, and she's younger so I think Vecna, has a small heart, and will let her live, and Suzie... it's Suzie... I mean... yeah, I think she's safe. However there are still characters we didn't talk about: Karen, Ted, Holly and the other family members of Lucas and Dustin. We know that the series really centered on the Byers and Wheeler family, but never on the Henderson's or Sinclair. So... there's a reason behind that. But it is for another theory.

So to resume, what is Vecna's crazy role this season? Well he's going to turn into a serial killer, trying to kill atleast 4 of our characters and make 1 try to join his army. But he's also going to do more, such as... destroying the Wheeler's house. I'm not kidding. After seeing a "spoiler" of ST5, that I know isn't real (it was clearly fake cause other stuff were like nonsense), I was like "yo it could be a great idea actually." So I imagined a really dramatic scene where, after his 5 tries, Vecna gets mad and tries to make fall the house of the Wheelers. Why? Maybe because everyone could reunite there and talk about a plan or something, when weird shit started to happen. Because it's a 2/3 years time jump, so the first episode is probably going to be them chilling in Hawkins and at the end, BOOM, Vecna's back bitch. And there he could have the opportunity to kill some people, but truth is... no one will die. They're all going to be saved, because they're all geniuses. But it could be a huge dramatic scene anyway. Or maybe if someone HAS to die, it'd be logic if it was either Karen, either Ted, or either Holl- nah just kidding. If one of the parents die, it could create a trauma for Mike, but that's for again, an other theory.

So what's next for Vecna? Honestly, if the Dragon we got foreshadowed since season 1 happens... I think Vecna's role won't be really interesting, so I keep my s5 vision without any Dragon. But I do see him trying to kill, so target, a lot of our characters...

That wasn't the best of my theories though. But, more theories soon, some better and cooler, but as for now, tell me what you think about this one, in the comments or as reblogs!

Thanks for reading all that by the way <3

...I probably am going to add more in this post, if I think about it, but I think I said everything I have to say...

#stranger things #will byers #mike wheeler #lucas sinclair #dustin henderson #steve harrington #nancy wheeler #jonathan byers #joyce byers #jim hopper #eleven stranger things #stranger things theory #stranger things thoughts #st theory #st thoughts #byler #st s5 theory #this took way too long

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nowmemoriees · 2 years

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Will Byers has powers THEORY

This is such a complex theory so I’ll probably be updating it in parts.

I'm gonna make a huge compilation from different theories on social media. I took this information from twitter, tiktok and tumblr posts, adding a lot of my own ideas too.

So before starting, I'll give some credits here. (anyway I'll be giving more credits as the post keeps advancing)

twitter users posts I included: @/iamnathansamuel @/s5willel @/wherexbyers @/crayolascribblz

tumblr users: @0aurelion-sol0 @beaulesbian @aurorabyler @notnahberrie

https://at.tumblr.com/0aurelion-sol0/689424781841448960/oo54zsqcip9o

https://at.tumblr.com/beaulesbian/689110068659191808/g285it0izdzr

Now, let's start

Skipping all of the information we already know, (The Upside Down has always existed, every person with super powers has a connection with the UD, 011 sent 001 to the UD in 1979)...

....We’re going directly to the main topic of this theory: Will Byers has powers. Why?

First, we come back to the day it all started.

November 6, 1983. Will was leaving the Wheeler’s house after losing the DnD campaign. Will told Mike the demogorgon got him. Here is where we see the lights twinkle for the first time. That means that there was already something or someone hearing Mike and Will from the Upside Down.

Then, Will and Dustin go in separate ways and Will bikes home alone. Here is where he saw this strange being in the middle of the streets, he got scared and fell off his bike.

A clock sound can be heard. The damn clock.

The strange figure is not a demogorgon. It’s not an UD animal either. It 's Vecna/001 himself. We know this because of its body shape and his disproportioned hands.

Was it Vecna who heard Will and followed him from Mike’s house?

Probably. It’s been confirmed that there’s a specific reason why Vecna was looking for Will in the first place.

Will wasn't even bleeding. And blood was what attracted the UD creatures.

Will ran away and arrived home, but Vecna kept following him. That’s where we find our second clue. The house’s door is opened with telekinesis.

Will runs to the tools room, and that’s where he gets caught by Vecna, who suddenly took him from there, but we never got to see how. We just saw the lights getting shinier and shinier until Will disappeared.

After Will goes missing, the party finds El in the woods and she shows Mike that she could recognize Will in a picture.

She knew he was in the Upside Down. She can even reach Will and listen to him using a Walkie Talkie.

Will now is in another dimension. It is just like hawkins, but it's dark and cold.

How is it possible that it's the exact copy of Hawkins?

Well, many people say that Will may have created an exact copy of Hawkins when he arrived at the UD because he was in a high stress situation and his powers showed up for the first time. (This part of the theory suggests that Will may have the power to create/shape/manifest things)

Will reshaped hawkins theory by @notnahberrie

This would be the reason why Vecna/001 targeted Will?

This could be the reason why the Upside Down is frozen in time on the day Will went missing.

Remember that, in season 4, when the older teens were trapped in the UD, Nancy wanted to find some weapons from her room expecting those would be there, but they weren’t because they didn’t even exist yet. The UD was frozen in the past.

part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5

FULL THEORY ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/V0FVvEmankE

#stranger things #st4 #stranger things 5 #will byers has powers #will byers #theories analysis

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carolmunson · 1 year

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starting from zero, got nothing to lose (V)

part i part ii part iii part iv part v

two new bombshells have entered the villa. (jk, but we do get a brief appearance of dusty and steve and it’s cute.)

tony and eddie have a chat about the fight, dose makes eddie embarrassed, steve isn’t having luck with the ladies, and eddie and ron hash it out in a diner.

(i wanted to make eddie awkward but also he sort of ended up really hot in this?)

i don’t think there’s any CW’s here, it’s a pretty fluffy chapter all around. they do smoke cigarettes at one point, and there are some bodily threats that don’t go anywhere.

A few nights had gone by since Eddie's fight with Rhonda and he honestly could not stop thinking about it. He replayed it in his head over and over, heat and anger bubbling in his chest every time he recalled her saying ‘Betty ‘Apple Pie’ Cunningham’ with her stupid smug face. It helped whenever he’d practice with the punching bags at Gleason’s before or after his shifts, numbing that ache in his chest with every hit. Deep down, he knew leaving her there alone was bothering him the most – She deserved it , he would justify, she was being a bitch .

She doesn’t know about Chrissy, she doesn’t know about Vecna, you have to cut her some slack – she just doesn’t know , the rational part of his brain would argue. The internal struggle of hating her but trying to see it from her point of view was frustrating. Eddie hated maturing, it made him less right all the time.

He gathered up his stuff in the men’s locker room to leave after another tiring mid-day shift. His balled up his coverall fell haphazardly out of his leather satchel while closing it up.

“Munson,” he heard a familiar gruff voice call to him, “Haven’t seen you in a few days, you been hidin’ out on me?”

Eddie blew his bangs out of his eyes, “Hey Tone, long time no see.”

“Where’ve you been, dude? Haven’t seen you here or at Skid since Saturday,” he said, “Ron scare you off?”

“No, man,” Eddie said, fatigue tugging at his eyes, “Just two ships passing in the night, I guess.”

“Look, Ron told me what happened, she’s been feelin’ real bad about it,” Tony said in a low, apologetic tone, “Don’t tell her I told you that, I’ll never hear the end of it. You told her, her music sucks, huh?”

“Let me guess,” Eddie said, rubbing the back of his neck, “That’s the worst thing I could’ve done?”

“Oh no, the worst thing you could’ve done was leave her in the bar by herself at night,” his face was smiling, but his eyes were dark.

“Tony, things were getting heated, I would never do that–”

“I don’t need to hear it man, I promise,” he said, “I’m not mad at you, I totally get it. Rhonda makes guys wanna rip their hair out all the time. But I’ll promise you this…” Tony got quiet and close to Eddie’s face, he could see a smattering of gray in his stubble and smell the Listerine on his breath. Tony’s dark blue eyes flashed a bit, keeping steady contact with Eddie so intently, he almost wanted to look away.

“If I ever find out that you left Ron alone, or in a position where she could get hurt, I will kill you,” his voice was grisly, “Capiche?”

Eddie nodded, a shiver ran up his chest into his throat, his brown eyes like saucers, “Yeah, c-capiche man. Won’t happen again.”

Tony’s smile broke across his face again, showing off his straight white teeth, “Don’t mean to freak you out dude, but I told you – that’s my Ronnie.”

“She told me you dated,” Eddie said, putting his bag on one of the benches and adjusting the buckles at the bottom.

“So then you’ll believe me when I tell you that it’s like pullin’ teeth to get her to apologize for something,” Tone explained, “And she wants to.”

Eddie looked up at him, surprised, “Wants to?”

“I don’t know what magic you have trapped in that fuckin’ mullet of yours kid, but suddenly she’s feelin’ all bad. Waiting for you to come in the door like a kicked puppy so she can say sorry – I wish it were me! She’s still on my last nerve,” he was exasperated, almost annoyed.

“So I’ll level with ya, make this easier for both of you. You work tomorrow? Got any plans?” he asked. Eddie shook his head no.

“That’s what I like to hear. She’s up at Roosevelt hospital on Thursdays, all morning into the afternoon. She gets out around three through the front lobby, you should go meet her when she gets out tomorrow,” Tony took a seat on the bench, unlacing his Doc Martins to switch into his sneakers.

“What’s in it for you?” Eddie asked, slinging his bag over his shoulder again.

“I don’t have to deal with that little sad sack moping around my bar,” he said, “You know she’s already got a bad attitude, imagine her when she’s a little bummed out? The worst. Again, please do not tell her I said this, I will not hear the end of it. She’s everywhere, she haunts me.”

“Cross my heart,” Eddie smiled, “Yeah, I can make it to Roosevelt tomorrow.”

“Ugh, brother, you are saving my life,” Tony said, grabbing his ringed hand.

Eddie laughed, shaking his hand free and clapping him on the shoulder the way Tony always did to him. As he got to the door of the locker room he heard Tony's soft singing to himself echo off the tiled walls.

“ Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match. Find me a find, catch me a catch…”

— “I promise you Dose, it’s not a date.”

“Even if it’s not Edward, you can not wear that you look so…you look like you don’t care about impressing her,” Dosia complained from the couch.

Eddie pinched the bridge of his nose, but couldn’t help but smile through his sigh at her, “I am never asking you if I look okay again, if this is how you’re gonna react.”

“It’s just…can’t you wear a little less black? Something more cheery? It’s a date right? To impress her? You told me you hurt her feelings,” she asked.

“Yes, I’m going to apologize to her, no it’s not a date,” he said, “I’m meeting her at a hospital.”

“Well, the shoe fits then,” she said, gesturing towards his outfit, “You look like you’re going to a funeral, anyway.”

Eddie laughed, “You’re still so sharp, you know that?”

Dosia crossed her legs and huffed, smoothing the muted pink velvet blanket over her. Her frosty white nails skated over the green and white striped couch, “Do not ask for my advice if you’re not going to take it, kochanie . Oh by the way, your friend, the little one, he called.”

“Dustin?” Eddie asked, his chest bubbling with excitement.

“You should call him back, he said it was important,” Dosia held her hand to her forehead dramatically, “Go, go, I cannot bear to look at you anymore, it’s making me depressed.”

Eddie shook his head at her, walking into his room to pick up the landline on his bedside table. He looked at the clock while he dialed the number and thought it was weird that he’d call while he was at school.

“Eddie?” he heard on the other end of the line.

“Hey Henderson,” Eddie said, a smile plastered onto his face at the sound of his friend’s voice, “How’s it going, shouldn’t you be in like, fourth period right now?”

“I skipped,” Dustin said, matter of factly.

“Ooooh, not cool man, c’mon, don’t be like me,” Eddie said, untangling the coiled cord on the phone so he could give himself a once over in the mirror.

“It’s just one day, I’m trying to get my character sheet ready for tomorrow,” he said, “I wanted your help.”

“Erica’s on your ass, huh?” Eddie chuckled, “That’s my girl. Knew I left Hellfire in the right hands. I wish I could help you more dude, but I kind of have to get going. Dose said it was important, is everything okay?”

“I always say it’s important so you’ll call me back,” he said.

“It doesn’t have to be important for me to call back, Henderson, just call,” Eddie told him. He held up the orange sweater Dosia got him for Christmas to his chest, balancing the receiver between his cheek and his shoulder.

“Where do you have to be? Hot date or something?” Dustin teased, a chuckle reverberating through the earphone.

“Uhhh, sorta,” Eddie responded, a little distracted, tossing the sweater on his bed.

“Wait, really?” he asked, his interest perking up, “You have a date tonight? Steve hasn’t even talked to a girl since last year. ”

“Last year was a week ago, man.” Eddie could hear Dustin laughing on the other end of the phone, talking to someone else in the room, “Eddie’s already getting more action than you .”

“Henderson, are you kidding me right now? Eddie ‘the Freak’ Munson has a date tonight and I’m here with you twerps?” Eddie could clock that bored, annoyed voice anywhere.

“Is that Harrington?” Eddie asked, he heard the clatter of another line picking up.

“Yeah, it’s me, don’t lose your shit,” Steve’s voice was much clearer now. Eddie could still hear Dustin laughing behind him.

“Having some trouble finding love in the ‘90s, Steve-o?” Eddie asked, checking himself out at every angle in the mirror, still, “Need some advice?”

“Yeah, ha, ha, I get it, it’s very funny – look, I don’t need dating advice from someone who still plays Dungeons and Dragons, but I do have a favor to ask,” Steve said shortly.

“Ask away, big boy.”

“Are you gonna be around, we uh,” Steve’s voice hushed a little, “We gotta get Robin the hell outta dodge.”

“Oh shit,” he said, grabbing the phone with his hand and switching ears, “Is everything good?” “As good as it can be, but I think her folks are starting to catch on man,” Steve said, “I was gonna drive with her over to you. We were gonna see if we could find her a place. You gonna be free at all, soon?”

“I mean yeah, but – my roommate–”

“The old Polish lady? Yeah, Dustin told me about that, that’s weird man–”

“Sh-shut up, Harrington. Dosia’s going to visit her son in Jersey for a week really soon, you can come around then. Do you have that much time?”

There was a brief silence, “Uh yeah, yeah. Just keep me posted so we can ask for some time off work.”

“Make him go to class, dude,” Eddie pleaded, “I gotta go.” He hung up and took a deep breath. He missed his friends, even if they were stupid kids.

He checked his watch and cursed a little, heart thumping in his chest. He had to go before he’d miss her leaving the hospital. He shrugged on his leather jacket, expertly sliding his vest over it, and double checked his pockets for his wallet and keys. Both were secure on the chain dangling down his thigh.

“Good luck, przystojny!” Dosia called out while the door shut behind him, "Go fetch me another daughter-in-law!"

— Right on time.

From the base of the steps, he saw her struggle to push open the door, he tried not to laugh at her.

“Hey!” he called out, waving her over to him. She stopped in her tracks, peering down at him from the door.

“Munson?!” she called back.

“Yeah! It’s me! I came to say sorry!” Oh my God, Munson, why did you just yell that? She pattered down the steps, making quick work of getting over to him.

“Hi,” she said, hoisting her back pack high on her shoulder.

“Oh,” he said, looking her over, “You look different.” Her hair was up in a claw clip, just her permed bangs and some fallen hair framing her cheeks fell out of it. Eyeshadow replaced by a swipe of mascara, the bite of the cold as her blush. The only thing that he recognized was the scent of chapstick on her lips. He could see a smattering of freckles across her face. She looked younger, but more lived in.

“I mean I don’t wear makeup to the hospital, it’s not that kind of gig,” she confessed, looking down at her winter boots. She rubbed her knees together nervously, the light wash denim swishing together.

“I don’t mean that you look bad!” Eddie backtracked, “You just look different. You still look, you know, you still look like you. You still look pretty.” He felt his stomach turn, hoping desperately that the next thing out of his mouth sounded cool.

“Thanks,” Rhonda said, not meeting his eyes, focused on a loose string on her jacket.

“Um, uh, have you eaten? Can I get you some lunch or coffee or something?” he asked, “There’s a diner like, a block away.”

“Kind of late for lunch, don’t you think?” she asked, finally looking up at him. She put her hands in her pockets, rocking on her heels.

He shrugged, “Late lunch, then?”

“I guess,” she smiled at him. Eddie's heart jumped to his throat as he walked with her away from Roosevelt.

‘Every SINGLE time she comes in from that clinic she spends the first hour of her shift going “I’m hungry, I’m hungry.” And I tell her every time, eat some fuckin’ LUNCH, Rhonda. You never even eat breakfast, no wonder she’s always in a bad mood. She lives off spite and Marlboros, I swear t'God.’ A rant of Tony’s from a week ago played back in Eddie’s mind. Tony owed him, now she’d be fed and feel better about their fight. It’ll be the best shift of his life.

They slid into a booth, Eddie nervously drumming his fingers on the table and smiling up at the waitress who poured them each a cup of coffee, “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” she drawled. He watched Rhonda reach for the little creamers and three packs of sugar. She slapped the packs on her hand, ripping off the top of two, pouring them into the cup, and then only adding a quarter of the other in.

“Two and a quarter?” he asked.

She smiled while pouring one of the mini creamers in, “I’m sure it doesn’t make a difference but I’ve always done it like that. My dad was the same. Medium, hot, cream, two-ish sugars, whatever ‘ish’ means. He’d have me go in the morning and get it for him–”

“Y’know, until I started stealing the change,” she tapped the spoon off the edge of the mug after stirring and put it on the napkin next to her. Rhonda held her coffee with both hands, resting her elbows on the table and looking at Eddie through the steam.

“Tony told you to come here, didn’t he?” she asked. He choked on his own coffee.

“Uh, no, no,” he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Don’t lie, Munson, how else would you know when I got off?” she asked.

“So he might’ve told me to come meet you, is that a crime?” he asked.

“Not in the same way that Motörhead shirt is,” she said, smirking into a sip from her mug.

“You know,” he said, leaning on his forearm and elbow, gesturing to her, “In fifth grade, my teacher used to tell me that if girls were mean to me it meant they had a crush on me.”

“Oh honey,” she cooed, putting her hand down on the table, “He was lying. They were mean to you because you’re weird.”

Honey. Honey. Honey. He wanted to reach down and grab her hand, feel how warm it was, see what it would be like to lace her fingers with his — ‘Betty ‘Apple Pie’ Cunningham’. His nostrils flared.

“So, I came here to apologize to you for leaving you at Skid,” Eddie started, a small jolt of anger flashing in his chest, “But I feel like you need to apologize to me first. You said some really awful shit.”

She was quiet for a minute and put her coffee down on the table, skating her hand back to rest on her forearms.

“I did,” she said, “And I felt really bad about it after, but I also was mad that you left me at the bar, that wasn’t cool. I thought you’d at least come by and fix the gate Saturday so we could talk about it.”

“I’m sorry I left you at Skid,” he said sincerely, “I’m really sorry. I was just feeling like — I wouldn’t have left if you hadn’t made up that name.”

“What name?” she asked, cocking her head.

“Oh!” she remembered, surprised at that being the reason, “The Betty Cunningham thing?”

He sighed, quickly trying to come up with a watered down version of the truth, “So, like you so poignantly pointed out, I did have a crush on the head cheerleader in high school. I liked her for like…ever, since I was in middle school.”

“And one day during my uh, my third , senior year, she asked if she could buy some weed off me which like, wow, y’know. Hawkins’s little princess asking me, Eddie The Freak Munson who she hasn’t spoken to since like, 8th grade, for drugs was pretty wild. So we met up in the woods and like, she was just so nice? We had such a good time talking to each other and I gave her a ride to my place to sell her some shit. And I thought for a little you know, ‘Hey, maybe this could be something,’” his voice fell to something a sullen, “‘Cause I was feeling some kind of connection…I don’t know, maybe I made it up. But it didn’t really matter cause um…”

Eddie bit his lip, his chest still getting tight at the memory. He laced his fingers at the center of the table.

“She passed away,” he said looking down at the table. He heard Rhonda let out a soft gasp, “Her name was Chrissy. Chrissy Cunningham. So, yeah…now you know.”

“Ed I’m — I’m so sorry,” she said, placing her hand over his fingers, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.”

“I know you didn’t, and it’s okay, I just wanted you to know why I left. It doesn’t excuse anything or whatever, it just really hurt my feelings,” he confessed, his cheeks burning at the feeling of her hand on his. Her dark red manicured nails were shining in the harsh light of the diner, her thumb slid back and forth on the back of his hand. Eddie's heart thrummed in his chest again.

“What can I get you folks?” The waitress asked while walking up to the table, order pad in hand.

“Can I just get the house burger and fries, please? Medium rare.” Ed asked, “And a coke.”

“And you, sweetheart?” she asked.

“Uh, I think I’m good—“

“Order some fuckin’ lunch, Rhonda,” Eddie muttered, his cadence sounding a lot like—

“Oh, I didn’t know Tony was here,” she murmured sarcastically, turning her attention to the waitress, “I’ll have the same.”

“How do you think I know you never eat lunch after a stint at the hospital, and then complain for your whole entire shift about how hungry you are?” Ed asked while the waitress walked away scribbling down their orders.

She held her mouth open in fake shock, a smile pulling at the corners of her lips, “Stop, he didn’t say that.”

“All he does at Gleason’s is complain about you, can’t imagine why. You’re not stubborn, or mean, or impatient, or scathing at all,” he said, unlacing his fingers to lace her hand into his own, “Don’t know where he gets those ideas.”

She blushed, “Shut up, Munson.” She gently pulled her hand away, her fingertips lingered on his for a moment before grabbing her coffee again. His hands felt clumsy and empty when he wasn't holding hers anymore.

“Oh, I talked to Spike,” she said, quickly swallowing a sip, “About your weird game. Dragons and Draping, or whatever.”

“Dungeons and Dragons, Ron,” he said, “It’s Dungeons. And. Dragons. D, and, D.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Anyway, one of their guys just got put in Rikers so, they are looking for someone to do the um..the…story! To tell the story? I don’t know what the fuck it is,” she said.

“He needs a new DM for their campaign?” he asked.

“YES! That,” she pointed at him, “That, whatever that means. He’ll be at Skid tonight cause Deb’s working and he has a big fat crush on her, you should come by.”

“I was gonna offer to take you to work anyway, I took my car up here,” he said, drumming his fingers again, “If you want.”

“Oh, I’m not supposed to get in the car with strangers, sorry,” she said, “Better luck next time.”

“If I leave you up here to take the train when Tone knows I could’ve driven you, he’s gonna kick my ass.”

“Yeah, that’s—that’s funny to me. That’s the point.”

“Ron, I’m not asking. I’m telling you I’m driving you to Skid,” he said, “I’ll forgive you quicker if you let me ride you—um—I mean, drive you–Jesus. Christ.” He hid his face in his hands, his face red with embarrassment.

“I mean you got something right, Munson. A lot of people have forgiven me quicker after I let them ride me,” she laughed.

“Oh god,” he said, rubbing his eyes, laughing too, “Pretend you didn’t hear that.”

They had to eat quickly, her shift at Skid was at 5 and she had to put her face on in the diner. With traffic, Eddie didn’t know how long it would be to get back downtown. When the check came, they stared at each other, daring the other to try and reach for it.

“I’m paying, Munson, it’s my apology lunch,” she argued while pulling her wallet out of her backpack.

“Rhonda Jean Riccio, if you don’t put that wallet away–” he warned, tossing a twenty on the table from a wad of bills in his hand. He slid the roll of twenties back in his pocket as discreetly as possible.

“My full name?” she ‘tsk’d, “Are you and Tony giggling about me at sleepovers or somethin’?”

“Oh no, just complaining about you,” he said, sliding out of the booth. He straightened out his jacket while Rhonda put her coat back on. Red lipped and pretty, like the day he first met her. They walked outside in the cold air, the wind sending their hair spiraling. Eddie hunched into his leather jacket.

“Wait inside, I have to go grab the van from a little down the street. I’ll swing around and get you,” he said, jamming his hands in his pockets.

“You need a winter coat, Ed,” she said, adjusting her scarf.

“M’alright,” he said, “Just wait inside while I get the car.”

“You’re gonna freeze to death,” she laughed, stepping closer to him, “On second thought, don’t get a winter coat. You should freeze to death.”

He nudged her with his shoulder and she nudged him back. Back and forth until they were both giggling.

"I have to get the car, Ron, c'mon," Eddie pleaded.

“Thanks for um, getting me lunch,” she said a little breathily. The tips of their feet were touching. He looked down at her, her eyes glinted in the light of the setting sun. Her lips were pouty and parted – he went numb. Eddie's bangs brushed her forehead while their eyes locked, noses brushing. Rhonda blushed while she looked up at him, his eyes serious but caring. Eddie swallowed hard, his heart hammered in his chest. He ran his tongue over his lips to wet them, cursing himself for not putting on chapstick. For eating something with onions on it. Rhonda could feel his breath on her cheek while he leaned in, sme–

“Oh! Shit, I forgot my lipstick in the booth. Let me go get it and I’ll meet you in the car,” she squeaked, “I’ll be right out.” He watched her spin and hop back into the diner, scurrying over to the booth. Eddie took a deep breath, watching the exhale smoke around him.

“Get it together, Munson,” he muttered to himself, “It’s not a fuckin’ date.”

He hustled to the van, feeling lucky he got it detailed just last week so she wouldn’t be sitting on cigarette ash and the back wouldn’t be filled with empty beer cans. He turned the ignition and cranked the heat so she wouldn’t be too shivery when she got in – uh – wait, no, it was so the van would be warm for him, it’s not about Rhonda. It wasn't a date.

He drove around the block to pull back up to the diner, seeing her in the doorway. Eddie beeped twice, tapping two cigarettes out and putting one in his mouth, lighting it with his zippo that made it out of the Upside Down with him. Rhonda hopped in, bouncing a bit on the seat.

“Here,” he offered, passing her the cigarette between his fingers.

“Oh thanks, um,” she put it in her mouth, “I don’t have a light on me, I left it at Skid.”

He beckoned her forward, “I got it.”

She leaned in while he put the tip of his cigarette to hers, blowing while she inhaled enough to light her own. She took a long drag, rolled the window down a crack, and let the smoke drift out of her mouth.

“Whew!” she said, “Something about that lunch really made me crave a cigarette. Probably those fries, they were like, better than sex, right?”

He changed gears, pulling out from in front of the diner and turning onto the road. He smirked, the cigarette still dangling out of his mouth as he did. Confidence swelled in his chest while putting one arm out behind her headrest and letting the other one lazily man the wheel. Metallica blared through the speakers, covering up the thrumming of his heart against his ribcage.

“Yeah,” he smiled, “Better than sex, Ron.”

‘I promise you, Dose, it’s not a date.‘

#eddie munson fan fiction #eddie munson smut #eddie munson x ofc #eddie munson #eddie munson fanfiction #eddie stranger things #stranger things au #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things fix it #eddie munson fix it fic #eddie munson fix it #eddie munson takes NYC #eddie munson fluff

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stranger-marauders · 2 years

Text

shattered

twelve: the creel house

chapter summary: Steve and Kate deal with the consequences of the night before while searching the Creel house for clues about Vecna.

chapter warnings: language, slight angst

word count: 3.6k

series masterlist | masterlist

THE NEXT MORNING, Kate could faintly hear someone speaking, but she couldn't identify who or where it was coming from.

"Hey, lovebirds, get up."

Kate quickly shot up at the sentence, more confused than anything. What the hell was going on? It wasn't until she sat up that she realized Dustin had been speaking, more specifically to her and Steve. Whenever they'd both finally fallen asleep next to each other, touching no more than by the linking of their hands, Steve had somehow gotten his arms around her, and she had been using him as a pillow, their legs intertwined.

Awkward.

She quickly pulled Steve off of her, trying to get up as quickly as possible so she could quite literally be anywhere else. He quickly became coherent whenever he realized Dustin was still staring at him, almost frightening similar to how his own mother would stare at him whenever he'd done something wrong as a child.

"Steve, get up!"

"All right, Jesus, Henderson!" he shouted back at him, pulling himself off the ground.

He finally met Dustin's eyes again whenever he'd gotten himself straightened out, he found his expression had changed, almost waiting for him to say something about what he'd just seen.

Steve almost couldn't blame him. He still couldn't believe he had been so close to kissing her and he hadn't gotten the chance before Dustin moved, making her pull away. Had she pulled away after the sound or before it? He'd replayed the moment so many times in his head that he was starting to think he was remembering it wrong.

Nonetheless, it wasn't any of Dustin's business, nor anyone else's besides his and Kate's. "Not... a damn... word. Got it?"

Dustin put his hands up in surrender, and Steve went to the bathroom to try to fix his hair as best he could before he wouldn't have the chance to.

Nancy had filled everyone in about Max's discovery in the car ride to Victor Creel's abandoned house.

Whenever she had been possessed by Vecna, Max had seen parts of the house when he'd had her trapped, a more dismantled version of it. She'd drawn pictures of it, and Nancy had pieced together the parts of it that formed the house.

As they pulled up on the boarded-up building, a shiver was sent down Kate's spine—there was a reason why this place was abandoned. What was presumably a beautiful house in the '50s and beforehand, the blue and white building had since been taken back over by vines and such on the first level, the other floors seeming to grow with mold and caked with dirt, not to mention the boarded up windows and door. There wasn't a thing about the place that breathed "welcoming," that's for sure.

Once they'd gotten themselves out of Nancy's car, they stood outside of the building, almost as if they were reassessing going in at all.

"Yeah, that's not creepy," Steve said to no one in particular while looking at Kate.

She shrugged, starting to move toward the house—they had to do this for Max.

Steve and Kate had been the ones to pry the nails off of the wooden panel that covered the door, both having a hammer each as the rest of the group watched.

"I mean, what exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?" he finally said, turning to Nancy behind him before starting to remove nails again.

"We're not sure," Nancy replied. "We just... know this house is important to Vecna."

"Because Max saw it in Vecna's red soup mind world?"

"Basically."

"Great."

"Maybe it holds a clue to where Vecna is. Why he's back. Why he killed the Creels," Dustin explained.

"And, more importantly, how to stop him before he comes back for Max," Kate added.

"We... don't think he's in here, do we?" Lucas asked somewhat worriedly.

"Guess we'll find out," Max said nonchalantly.

Steve looked at Kate, still holding up the panel. "Ready?"

She nodded in response, muttering a quiet "mhm" before they both let it fall to the ground with a loud thud.

Steve tried to open the door by the knob, but found it only rattled in response. "It's locked. Should I knock, see if anybody's home?"

"No need." Kate chuckled when Robin held up a brick. When Steve gave her an unconvinced look, she shrugged. "I found a key."

Steve threw the brick through the glass door, apprehensively looking inside before sticking his hand down to unlock the door and open it. He whistled when he walked inside, waiting for the others to come in behind him.

Robin was the first after him, then Kate, Nancy, and the kids, all holding flashlights in their hands. Kate stepped deeper into the house, trying to get a better look at the insides that wasn't just abandoned furniture, dust, and cobwebs.

Lucas tried turning on one of the lamps as Steve shut the door to the house. "Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill."

Dustin clicked on his flashlight, and Steve looked at him in confusion. "Where'd everyone get those?"

Dustin turned around to face him, giving him a shocked look. "Do you need to be told everything? You're not a child."

Steve hesitated to respond. "Thank you."

Dustin scoffed, pulling the backpack off his back to hand to him. "Back pocket."

He pulled the last flashlight out of the backpack, letting it drop to the floor whenever he turned it on.

Kate and Robin opened the door to what presumably was their parlor room, scanning over it with their flashlights.

"They just... left everything," Kate said, almost not believing what she was seeing. She couldn't believe that after thirty years, this was what was left.

"I guess a triple homicide isn't good for resale value," Robin replied.

Before she could respond, Max called, "Hey, guys?" Everyone walked over to where Max was standing, looking at what she was shining her flashlight at. "You all see that, right?"

The "that" in question was an old grandfather clock, one that looked like it hadn't seen the light of day presumably since the murders of the Creels.

"Yeah."

"Is... this what you saw?" Nancy asked, taking a step closer to her. "In your... visions?"

Max nodded hesitantly, almost as if she were still being haunted by them.

"I mean, it's... just a clock. Right?" Robin asked, her voice, for the most part, calm and steady. She walked around Max to get closer to the clock, trying to inspect it. She wiped the glass face off, dust caking her hand. She turned back to the rest of the group. "Like a normal old clock."

"Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks?" Steve asked. "Maybe he's, like, a clockmaker or something?"

"I think you cracked the case, Steve," Dustin replied sarcastically.

Steve turned to him sharply, giving him a pointed look—now was not the time to be poking fun at his detective skills.

"All I know is... the answers are here," Nancy said. "Somewhere. Okay, everyone stay in groups of two. Max, you're with me."

"Rob, upstairs," Kate said, grabbing her by the arm as she headed toward the staircase.

"Come on, let's go," Max said to Lucas, making him follow her.

Steve and Dustin exchanged glances, Steve's bitter and Dustin's content. Steve only sighed as he started to climb up the stairs.

"Why'd you sigh?"

"I didn't sigh," Steve said, already halfway up the stairs. "Just come on, dude."

"I heard you!"

"W–We're just always partners, okay?"

"What, you have a problem with that?"

"It'd just be nice to, I don't know, mix it up a bit." More specifically, Steve wanted to be with Kate.

"So what, I'm boring you? Is that it?"

"That is—No, the opposite—"

As they argued their way up to the second floor, Steve and Dustin had completely missed the evergrowing luminescence of the light fixture next to the staircase.

Kate and Robin had already swept part of the upper story for anything interesting or of importance.

"I don't know if I'm late to the party, but did anyone ever think that maybe this asshole isn't... I don't know, doesn't come from the Upside Down?"

Robin gave her a funny look. "What do you mean?"

Kate shrugged, still looking in front of her. "I don't know, maybe this thing is from here. Our universe, dimension, whatever." She turned around to look at Robin, who now looked even more confused, and she sighed. "Look, as far as we know, my sister is the only person to have ever opened a gate, right?" When Robin nodded, Kate continued. "So why did this Vecna dude just randomly kill a family never to be heard of again before now? He's... He's gotta be from here. Has to be."

"But isn't he in the Upside Down right now?" she asked. "How... How would he still be alive?"

Kate shrugged. "Haven't gotten that far into it." She looked back to Robin again for only a second. She didn't know how to say she thought it had something to do with her sister. "Look, it's just a theory, okay? I just... It's stupid. It doesn't matter. Forget I said anything."

Robin nodded, seeming to finally understand her point. Maybe she wasn't that far off. As Kate led them into another room, Robin posed a question of her own. "Hey, why'd you pick me? I mean, I'm honored, but I'm confused as to why you picked me over..." Steve. "I don't know. Anyone else?"

"Because you and I've always made a great team, Rob," Kate answered, scanning the area she shined with her flashlight. "We translated a Russian code when neither of us spoke Russian, remember?"

"And as convincing as that sounds, I am one hundred percent sure that that is not the case."

Kate turned back to Robin, giving her a questionable look. "What d'you mean?"

"As incredible of a team we make, you and I both know you picked me before someone else could pick you."

She stopped in her tracks, sighing softly. "That's not... true."

Robin took a step closer to her, almost as if she were scared to get too close. "I know it's difficult to accept, but he, very obviously, still has feelings for you. A lot of them. I mean, we all saw you guys this morning—"

"You all saw it?"

She gave a nod, almost smiling. "Yeah, we all saw you two adorably snuggled up against each other, so don't even try to deny you don't still have feelings for him, too."

Kate didn't respond, but it only reminded her of the kiss that almost happened the night before. She wished she wouldn't have pulled away. Their lips had been so close she could feel the heat radiating off of him. She wished she would've closed to gap sooner, just for everything to feel right for just a moment. She knew, however, that it wasn't fair to do that to Steve. She had cut things off and she had to respect that, even if she wanted to, mor than anything, be with him again, because she couldn't do that to him. Not again.

"Kate?"

She shook her head, almost attempting to pull herself out of her own thoughts. She started walking forward again, her flashlight lighting her path. "Let's keep going, okay? I hate this house."

When Robin followed behind her, this time, she didn't ask any questions, especially not about the boy that was just down the hall from them.

Steve wished he would've said something before he got stuck with Dustin.

It wasn't like he was stuck with Dustin. He loved Dustin, even if the kid had started loving Eddie Munson more than him. Nothing, however, would make up for the fact that he could've been alone with Kate right now, had almost been given a moment to talk to her alone despite everything else going on.

He wanted to ask her about that damn kiss. Really, it was a non-kiss, a close-to-a-kiss, but it had still happened. That was the closest thing he'd felt to right since she'd broken up with him in terms of girls, and he didn't want to just give it up now, not if she felt the same way.

For that reason, he hated that he was stuck with Dustin.

"I get why you freaked out about Nancy the other day now," Dustin finally said, breaking the silence between them.

Steve turned to look at him, giving him a confused look. "What?"

"She was the only girl you ever really liked besides Kate. You were just projecting—"

"What? No, that's not—" Steve cut himself off, trying to collect himself. If he got flustered, that would only make things worse. "It's not... like that."

"It certainly looked like that this morning."

"It's not that simple, Henderson," Steve warned. He didn't want to talk about it with anyone but her.

"Of course not. Because things have always been so simple between you and Kate."

"Will you shut up about Kathy, please?" he whispered somewhat harshly. "You're being... We broke up months ago, why would I—" He cut himself off to sigh. "For your information, I've gone out with other girls since then. A lot of them."

"And none of them have been her, have they?"

That's what hurt even more. Dustin was right: even Nancy hadn't even been close to what Kate had given him. Even if she was still broken, still a husk of what she used to be, he still loved her and would love every form of her. He hadn't even minded all that much when she'd pulled a gun on him again, almost hesitating to put it down. He hadn't minded her shutting him out, only because he knew she wanted space. He hadn't nor wouldn't mind anything that she would throw at him because she was her. He wished, more than anything, that he could make everything better for her, to tell her that he loved her and make it all go away, he knew he couldn't. Kate had pushed him away, and for now, there was no coming back from that. All he could do was be there for her as best he could—that or keep the kids from bothering her.

"Hey, uh, Henderson?" he finally asked to break the silence again, following him into what presumably was a bedroom.

"Yeah?"

"Could you maybe, uh... clarify what sort of clues we're supposed to be looking for here?"

Dustin stopped in his tracks, not turning to Steve as he spoke, more specifically in a British accent. "'The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.'" Dustin turned around to look at Steve with a smile, which he immediately dropped whenever Steve gave him a confused look. "Sherlock Holmes." Dustin scoffed, walking away whenever his expression didn't change.

"That's great," Steve finally said, walking in the direction opposite of him and moving toward the bathroom. "Thanks. That's great. Really helpful." Whenever Dustin was far enough away, he mumbled to himself, "Sherlock..."

He shined his flashlight over the vent in the floor, something inside of the vent reflecting the light. Curiosity got the best of him, and he kneeled down next to it, pulling the cover off and reaching his hand down to grab one of the many jars at the bottom of it.

Steve didn't know what to think of the jar he'd picked up: leaves filled the bottom of it, and a spider lay dead on some of the branches from those leaves, cobwebs dusting the limbs. He started to set it back down when he felt something crawling on him, turning to find a spider on his shoulder.

He jumped back up quickly and dropped the jar on the tile floor, gasping as he tried brushing it off of him frantically. He ran backward into the hallway, walking through the bathroom doorway and getting even more cobwebs all over him as he tried to brush the spider off.

"Jesus Christ," Kate breathed, jumping as Steve manically tried to brush himself off in front of her—he'd almost collided with her in the hallway. "Wh–What the hell are you doing? What's wrong?"

"There was a spider," he said softly, still rubbing his hand against his arm to make sure it was gone. He almost sounded out of breath as he spoke. "It was a black widow." Whenever he turned around, shining his flashlight in front of him, he quickly closed the door to the bathroom he'd just come out of. "Don't go in there."

"Okay? Oh, shit," Kate responded, finally seeing the mess of cobwebs that he'd gotten into his hair. She tried pulling some of it out, but Steve ran his fingers through it, starting to move forward as if he were trying to walk away from her. "Wait, just..."

"What?" Steve said, walking in front of a dusty mirror with his voice still panicked. "Something? Shit. O–Okay."

"Wait. Stop moving!" she said, making him stop in front of the mirror and attempting to pull the cobwebs out of his hair. "Stop. I just... I got it. I got it. Just stand still. Don't move."

"Thank you."

"If there's a spider nesting in there, you're never gonna find it til it lays eggs and all the babies spill out," Robin said evasively, trying to freak Steve out even more.

"What's wrong with you?" Steve asked as Kate pressed her lips together to suppress a laugh.

Robin only chuckled in response.

"Robin, seriously!" Steve turned his head so Kate could start pulling at the cobwebs again, and she tried her best to not start laughing, pressing her lips together tightly. "She's got problems."

"Yeah, tell me about it. She should've just said we were gonna have to shave your head."

"Kathy, that's not funny, okay? Seriously."

"To you," she said, chuckling slightly. "You would've freaked out, though, and it would've been hilarious."

"Do you... Do you both just enjoy torturing me or something?" he asked, somewhat bitterly.

"No! No, it's not that, it's just..." She stifled a laugh. "You're just really particular about your hair, Steve. You're an easy target."

He scoffed, almost running his hands through his hair, but he stopped himself. "It's cool you two still talk. That you're, like... I don't know, still friends. Maybe after we find Vecna, kill him... you know, save the world and stuff, maybe we can all go out or something." Steve turned to the side, almost as if he were trying to see her better. "You know? Me, you, Robin, Nance if she's down. Jonathan when he's back." Steve hesitated to go on, almost as if he were waiting for her response.

"Yeah, maybe you could bring one of those girls you've been going out with," Kate said nonchalantly. She hadn't meant it as a dig, but she wanted to slap herself after she'd said it.

"It's not like we're dating. Me and—I'm not dating any of them. Not really. Right? Robin told you? I'm not dating Robin either, so—"

"Yeah, I know," Kate said softly, still picking the cobwebs out of his hair. "That's... very obvious. I think I have a better chance with her than you do."

"Platonic with a capital P!" Robin said from down the hall.

"Yep. Thank you," Steve said loud enough for Robin to hear.

She put a thumbs up in response, still looking away from Kate and Steve.

"I mean... I don't know. I just—I don't only want to see you when the world's about to end, you know?" He paused. "I miss you."

Kate pressed her lips together again for a moment, almost as if she were thinking about how to word something. "Maybe... Maybe you could come visit sometime. Rob, too. Get out of Hawkins for a while."

He smiled. "Yeah, yeah, maybe."

She pulled the last cobweb out of his hair, taking a deep breath and smiling. "Okay, your hair's been saved. No buzzcut needed."

He fluffed it out in the back once, turning back around to her. "Great. Thanks." He chuckled, taking a step closer to her. "Well... Great. Um..." He stared at her awkwardly, almost not knowing what to say. What was he supposed to say after that? "Guess we should, uh... get back to the investigation."

Kate nodded in response, pressing her lips together still so as to try not to smile.

"The obvious things are not what... people... observe. Or... Do... Don't observe. Or...," he said, trying to remember what the hell Dustin said about five minutes before. When Kate gave him a confused look, he stopped as to not make even more of a fool out of himself, nodding. "Sherlock Holmes."

Kate couldn't help but smile at him as he walked away, almost dumbstruck as she walked toward Robin. "What?"

And once again, Kate couldn't help but smile because of the stupid antics of the boy just down the hall from her.

next chapter

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