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eddie-van-munson · 2 years

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Keeping You Safe (Eddie Munson x Byers!Reader)

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Summary: Your dad (Lonnie) drops in at the house unannounced one afternoon while Will and Eddie are scheming for Hellfire, leaving Eddie black and blue. Hearing you talk about your childhood brings Eddie back to his own.

Warnings: Stories about the Reader and Eddie's Abusive Fathers, Talk of Blood/Bruises, Series Typical Violence, Cursing, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Mentions of Death/Grief, Mentions of Bullying, Cigarettes, Fighting, One Sex Joke, Abuser Uses the Word 'f**', She/Her Pronouns.

A/N: I teased this FOREVER ago and its finally here! I wanted to say that while I didn't go into detail in the story, Eddie DEFINITELY got in some punches. I don't know how to feel about this one over all but I love the song Eddie's mom wrote. I'm so soft for momma's boy Eddie.

Please leave a comment and tell me what you think!!!

***********

Your heart nearly stopped when you picked up the phone. Will sobbed into the receiver, croaking unintelligibly. You gripped the storefront counter, panic frying every last one of your nerve endings, just as the phone had fried in your mother's hands two years ago as she listened to those same cries.

"Will? Will, what's wrong? Are you hurt? Wha-"

"Eddie...E-Eddie is..."

You hadn't realized it was possible to be hit simultaneously with relief and more panic. "Eddie's hurt? Are you at home? What happened?" You snatched the keys from the desk, stretching the phone chord around the wall as you scrambled to clock out.

"D-Dad was here." Will choked through deep breaths as you fumbled with your punch card, shooting your coworker an urgent look. "Dad was here and I'm scared-"

"It's ok. Hey, no no no. It's ok buddy. I'll be there in five minutes, alright? Give me five minutes."

You threw your coat on frantically as you ran out to your car, the only indication your boss had received being the ring of the bell when the door opened.

***********

"Who the hell are you?" The man spat, his brow furrowing at the sight of Eddie.

Ah. Lonnie Byers.

Eddie had never met the man in his life, but he had enough experience with abusive fathers to know that this guy was definitely yours.

"I'm Eddie." He kept his voice still and confident, trying to look unbothered. He propped his arms across the back of the couch confidently. "Who the hell are you?"

Lonnie scoffed, "What are you doing in my house, kid? You want me to call the cops?"

"I don't think that'd end up well for you, man. But, be my guest." He shrugged non-chalantly, crossing his legs on the coffee table.

Lonnie opened his mouth to shout, forehead creased with anger, but paused. "Wait a second...I know exactly who you are."

Eddie's brows crooked as he stared down the older man.

The man's jaw flexed, "You're Manson's kid. You run that cult over at the school."

The corner of Eddie's mouth tugged mischievously, "It's Munson, actually."

Lonnie grabbed the game book that'd been left open on the table, glancing at the artwork before flinging it across the room carelessly. His muddy boot planted itself on the table in its place.

"You killed that little Cunningham girl didn't you?"

Eddie's expression went slack, anger boiling in his stomach. He swallowed thickly, ignoring the jab.

"What the hell are you doing here, you freak? You gonna pluck my daughter's eyes out? Break her bones?"

The room went silent as Eddie's face slowly split into a knowing grin. "No." He looked him directly in the eyes. "But I do have a date with her in an hour."

Lonnie lunged forward, grabbing him by the collar and yanking him up off of the couch. "You're not gonna lay a fucking hand on my daughter."

Eddie choked through a laugh. "Oh, trust me. Your daughter is very well acquainted with my hands."

Before he even knew what happened, Lonnie's fist gave a sickening crack against Eddie's temple. Stars danced in his eyes as he was flung down onto the rough carpet, the wind knocking from his lungs. Eddie wheezed through a weak laugh, groaning. God, he hoped Will would stay quiet in his room. Based on the blow he'd just taken, Lonnie would have no problem busting down a door.

"You think that's fucking funny, freak?" Lonnie yelled, towering over Eddie's crumpled form.

Eddie struggled to breathe, "A little."

He turned just in time for the toe of Lonnie's boot to ram into his ribs instead of his stomach. The second blow was worse. Eddie could taste copper in his mouth as he tried to remember how to breathe.

He much preferred Jason Carver

***********

Your hands trembled as you drove, tears clouding your vision.

This was your worst nightmare. It was why Will was never left home alone, even though he was well old enough to be. Your dad had always had a temper and a violent streak. When you were young, it hadn't been uncommon to hear the sharp sound of a slap cut through the air during his arguments with your mom. Ever since the divorce, Will had become the target of his anger. He was always calling to shout at your mom, accusing her of "raising that boy to be a fag". That, and bitterly claiming that "That boy needs a father around, Joyce. He needs someone to beat some sense into him."

Your driving was getting hazardous by the time you reached the house. You flew through the front door, heart sinking at the sight of your boyfriend sitting propped against the hall's wood paneling. Will sat beside him, looking visibly shaken.

"Eddie..." You breathed his name, hands trembling as you dropped to your knees beside him. You held his face gently in your hands, assessing the damage.

He smiled at you through a wince, "Hi, sweetheart."

"Christ, What have you done?"

He smirked, nodding towards your brother. "Well, I had to stand up for Will the Wise, didn't I? It's party rules."

You cursed under your breath as you pushed his bangs back from his hurt forehead. A dark bruise painted his temple and cheekbones, a smeary trail of blood dripping from his nose all the way down to the collar of his shirt. It'd be a miracle if his nose wasn't broken. His pretty lower lip had a bad nick in it, and anxiety churned in your stomach when you noticed how stiff his movements were.

"Jesus, Eds. Stay here, ok?" You darted around the house quickly, locking every door and window you could find, before grabbing a clean washcloth from the kitchen. You took your brother's hand sweetly when you returned, "I need you to do me a favor alright? Do you think you can call Hopper? Tell him what happened?"

Eddie groaned at the idea of involving the cops, but Will nodded solemnly. You ignored your boyfriend's complaint, propping your shoulder beneath his arm.

"Let's get you to my room, Bruiser."

He chuckled, eyes scrunching pain as you helped lift him up onto his feet. "Princess, I know I look awfully pretty right now, but it might not be the best time for you to have your way with me."

You rolled your eyes at his smirk, wondering how he was still able to be a cocky bastard with an actively bloody nose.

You were gentle as you helped him sit on your bed, heart aching sympathetically at his soft curses. "Hey...shhh 's ok. Tell me what hurts."

He slowly fought to catch his breath, scrunching his eyes. "It'd be easier to list what doesn't hurt, actually."

You noticed him tense with every rise and fall of his chest. "He got your ribs, didn't he?"

Eddie chuckled weakly, "Yeah. A couple of kicks to the stomach."

You bit your lower lip, shaking your head at the mental image. You fought it hard, but your eyes glossed, lip quivering.

"Hey...It's alright." Eddie stroked your hair, biting back the pain as he brushed the beginnings of a tear from your lower lashes. "Everything's alright, sweetheart. Will's ok, huh? That's all that matters."

You sniffled, "What about you?"

"Me?" He chuckled, wiping some blood from his nose with the back of his hand. "I'm right as rain, babe. You should see the other guy."

A tear finally welled over as you gave him a sad, grateful smile, but you quickly brushed it away when Will peeked his head into your room.

He looked nervous still, guilt swimming in his eyes. "Hopper said he'd be on the look out for dad's car." Your brother fiddled with the latch on the little red first aid kit he'd retrieved from under the bathroom sink, his eyes unable to meet Eddie's. "He's going to come by later to file a report, but he said to make sure the doors are locked."

You took the kit from his hands, laying it on the bed beside you. You scrambled for words, unable to think of a way to ease his mind when your own was racing. Eddie supplemented.

"What's wrong, dude?" He patted an empty spot on the bed, inviting Will to sit.

Will was quiet for a moment, his voice soft when he finally spoke. "You got hurt and it's my fault."

You took your brother's hand, soothingly. Eddie shook his head. "No, man. I got hurt because your dad's an asshole. That's not your fault."

Will focused on the comforter, toying with the fabric. "I could've...I don't know. I should've helped."

Eddie nudged him gently with his sneaker. "Oh come on, Byers. You've faced some pretty gnarly shit all on your own. It's ok to let me help out every once in a while."

"But I just sat there!" He argued, pitifully. "I just sat in my room while he-..."

Will trailed off, tears welling. Eddie sat up, biting back the pain as he crooned to meet his eyes.

"Hey..." He mussed his hair, lovingly. "I know it sucks, man. But can I tell you something?"

Will nodded.

"When I was a kid, my dad used to show up out of nowhere too...pull all the same shit. My mom always told me to go to my room and lock the door and all that, right? Just like I told you to do earlier."

Will nodded, listening dutifully as he blinked back tears.

Eddie shook his head, "I fucking hated it. They would fight and I would just be stuck in there listening to it."

Eddie's eyes glazed with memories. You could tell they hurt. Your stomach churned.

"So when I got older and dad was locked up, I asked mom about it, you know? 'Why did you make me stay in my room? I could've helped. He was hurting you, mom.'"

Your eyes stung.

"But you know what she said? She said 'Your dad did hurt me, Eddie. But it would've been so much more painful for me to see him hurt you."

Will stared off, pensively. You took his hand, squeezing it gently.

Eddie nodded, "I'd so much rather get my ass kicked than to see you get hurt. I mean that. You did what I told you to. You stayed safe and that's what's fuckin' important."

Your brother's shoulders relaxed a bit, "I suppose so."

A smile tugged at Eddie's lips. "I know so. And what I say goes because I'm the Dungeon Master. So there."

Will laughed, and the sound was like pure sunshine. You took Eddie's hand, squeezing it appreciatively. He squeezed yours back.

Eddie's dimples were pretty as he smiled. "You know what would make me feel better?"

Will narrowed his eyes, "What's that?"

"New character sheets for Hellfire....drawn by the most skillful renderer in all of Hawkins, The William Byers..."

Your brother blushed, hiding his smile, "Come off it, Eds."

"I mean it!" He laughed heartily as he clutched his ribs.

Will stood from the bed, crossing his arms, "I'll think about it."

Eddie laid back against the headboard, "Well you better think quick, because your sister's about to take my shirt off so she can doctor me up, and things are liable to get pretty steamy. She's a total animal when she sees me-"

"Eddie!" Your cheeks went pink, but Eddie only giggled at your indignation.

Will threw his hands up in surrender, immediately hightailing it out of your room. "Fine! Ok! I'll go!"

***********

Eddie gave a borderline pornographic moan when you carefully laid a hot water bottle over his side. You cooed to him softly, pushing his hair back from his forehead. "Theerree it is. Too hot?"

He shook his head dumbly, enjoying your hands in his hair. "Feels good."

You smiled as you knelt beside him. He was all clean now, and while he definitely had some bumps and cuts, he looked much better. You pecked his forehead and his nose gently before finally granting him a soft kiss on the lips.

He hummed, smiling lazily. "What was that for?"

"Because I love you."

He chuckled happily, "Well shit, baby. In that case..." He tugged the collar of your shirt gently as he brought your lips back to his, long and slow and deep.

You were breathless when you finally parted, and Eddie looked very proud of himself as he guided you up to lay beside him on the bed.

You sighed, playing with his hair, adjusting the cold pack you'd given him carefully so it better rested against his temple. You watched his big brown eyes flutter shut as you worked, "If Jonathan were here, he'd welcome you to the family."

"Hmm." Eddie winced as he adjusted the pillow beneath his head. "Why's that?"

He saw your eyes glaze a bit with memories, your expression fading. "He used to say you're not a Byers unless Lonnie's knocked you around, some."

The room was quiet for a long time. Finally, Eddie reached over to rub your arm soothingly, squeezing your hand. He had questions that he didn't want to ask.

"Did Will see him hit you?" You rasped, keeping your face hard and emotionless.

"No." Eddie reassured you. "I told him to go the second I heard someone coming up the driveway. He didn't see anything."

Your shoulders relaxed a little. Will didn't need to have anything added to his list of nightmares. "Do you think he heard?"

Eddie swallowed thickly, trying to ignore the anger that swelled in his belly at the thought of Will hearing his own father berate him through the walls. "I'm not sure. I think he might have put on some music."

He hadn't, but Eddie knew the idea would ease your mind.

You thought through his words before sighing, reaching into your bedside table for a cig and a lighter. "He used to shove him around when he was little. Jonathan and I too, but it was different with Will..." You choked, hands trembling as you lit your cigarette. "Will's always been so…so small. Too small to hold a heart so big."

Your voice tightened, words croaking.

"Mom had to work during the week and I would pick Will up from Pre-K on my way home from school." Eddie's heart ached as he watched you recall it. "I'd carry him around on my hip all afternoon because I was so worried he'd stumble into Dad's path and-"

You shook your head, abandoning the thought.

"The night mom threw dad out of the house, Will was only three. He saw dad using the TV remote and he wanted to try too." Eddie could hear the anger in every word. "He was just a baby…he picked up the remote from the coffee table and dad grabbed his little wrist so tight in his fist. I thought he was going to snap it."

"Jesus…" Eddie cursed thickly, nausea settling in his upper stomach.

"Mom heard Will crying and she ran in and saw what was happening. She made him leave…said she'd call the cops if he came back." You chewed your lower lip. "We all slept in her room with her that night."

Eddie was hit with a wave of emotion, a memory he'd long packed away resurfacing. He used to do the same on particularly bad nights. He could vaguely remember his mom's hands stroking through his short curls, soothingly.

There was a long silence. Finally, he reached for you, and you were quick to put out your cig and melt into him. He held you as best as he could, ignoring the ache in his muscles. He'd long since abandoned his ice pack, but you didn't have it in you to argue for it.

You stayed like that for a long time, wrapped in each other's arms as you listened to his steady heartbeat. You thought he might have drifted off by the time he finally spoke again.

"I used to do the same with my mom." He hummed it so softly against your head that you almost didn't catch it. "On the nights dad came around…"

His eyelashes fluttered as you reached up to graze your thumb ever so lightly over his bruised cheek. He stared off, lost in thought.

Your heart stilled. Eddie never talked about his mom. His conversation with Will was the first he'd ever mentioned her.

You only knew two things about her, and those you'd learned from Wayne. He'd given you a pat on the back one evening when he saw you admiring a photo of her and Eddie together. "I wish you could've known him before we lost her." He'd hummed weakly.

He told you she'd died a few weeks before Eddie turned eighteen. Eddie had been asleep beside her hospital bed, head resting in her lap when she'd slipped away.

He told you Eddie had loved her more than life itself.

It was hard for Eddie to think about her too much, now. It made him hurt. Still, he found himself remembering her so often around you.

Growing up, it'd been him and his mom against the world. It was the sweetest time he could remember, filled with memories of her mussing his hair and running barefoot with him outside. He could see her smile so vividly in his memories from childhood…hear her giggling as she strummed up silly little songs about him on her guitar.

My baby will only eat meatballs. He likes them with parmesan cheese.

My baby will only eat meatballs. That's why I call him Spag-Eddie.

My boy, he's as wild as a grizzly. He's even got curly brown hair.

My boy, he's as wild as a grizzly. That's why I call him Eddie Bear.

Everything sweet soured when his dad starting coming around.

You'd always known Eddie's dad had abused him. You'd found out one night as you'd been tracing a scar on his shoulder. It was oddly shaped in comparison to the countless others that'd been left by the bats…small and round.

"This one is already healed up." You hummed softly, pressing your lips to it gently.

Eddie tensed. "That one wasn't from the bats."

There was a long silence. "What was it from?"

His voice was soft when he finally answered, as if he was a little boy.

"A cigarette."

You were overcome with a sense of protectiveness, holding him tighter at the memory. He groaned, "Ribs…"

You gasped, pulling back. "Fuck, Eds. I'm sorry."

He smiled, " 's ok. I mean, I think I've got a punctured lung now, but it's fine."

Giggling softly, you crooned over his sore body to kiss him. He sighed happily against your lips.

"We need to take you in for an x-ray…" You hummed softly, hoping your kisses were enough of a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down.

He made a displeased sound, scrunching his nose. "I don't need an x-ray. I'm fine. I've never felt better."

You chuckled against his lips as he pulled you closer greedily. "Ed's half of your rib cage is purple. Your nose is broken."

He bit his lip, shooting you a pretty boy smile. "You still think I'm pretty though, right?"

You snorted, giving a roll of your eyes as you gently pinched his cheek. "You're always pretty."

He giggled, "Well that's all that really matters."

**********

Your mom loved Eddie. She had from the moment she saw him. Joyce Byers had a special place in her heart for "strays", and Eddie was most definitely one of them.

She'd known of him long before you'd started dating. Whispers about the Munsons were harsh and abundant around town. A few of the moms on the PTA had even started a petition to have him removed from school when he'd first started classes, claiming that he "was a loaded gun with a father like that."

Joyce had never bought into it. She saw the boy every morning when she dropped you off at school. He wasn't dangerous. He was tired and lonely. He didn't have a mother looking after him anymore.

It became a habit for your mom to glance around for Eddie when she dropped you off in the mornings, double checking that he was carrying a lunch, and that no one was bothering him.

The two of you became quick friends as the school year went on. Joyce was always ready and waiting to greet Eddie with a hug and a snack every time he visited. By the time the two of you started dating, he was practically part of the family, already.

Your mom and your brother were on a college visit together in California when you called to tell them what had happened with Lonnie. Eddie could hear you trying to calm them down from the other room as you explained the situation over the phone, but he knew your family well enough to know it wouldn't do much good.

Eddie had managed to escape the encounter with little more than a nasty bruise and a cracked rib, and luckily, that would heal all on its own. By the night after, he was already feeling well enough to help you make dinner. That's where he was, in fact, when your mother and Jonathan got home.

Your mom practically burst through the front door, dropping her suitcase.

"Where is he?" She glanced around the room, expression immediately crumbling at the sight of a still-bruised Eddie. She let out a sob, rushing to him. "Oh god…"

she squeaked, checking him over protectively before pulling him into a hug.

"Thank you. Thank you. Oh, sweetheart..." She croaked, petting his hair. "You're such…such a good kid."

Maybe it was the way Joyce had always taken care of him. Maybe he was just feeling sentimental. But for just a moment, Eddie felt like he was hugging his mom again.

***********

@krispypotato @lem0nb0iii @badgirlforeddiemunson @for-hearthand-home @ajokeformur-ray @eddie-swhore @bibieddiesgf @hawkins-heartbreak @munsond-mayhem28 @running-on-nitroglycerin

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skyfallslayer · 2 months

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Should We Stay or Should We Go? || Chapter Five - Part 1

-A ST Rewrite Feat. Steve Harrington x Henderson!OFC-

Main Masterlist || Series Masterlist

🎲Summary: Hopper breaks into Hawkins Lab, while Nancy and Jonathan confront the forces that took Will and Steph. The boys, and even to their surprise, Steve, ask Mr. Clarke how to travel to another dimension; All while Stephanie frantically starts looking for Will after hearing his cries.

🎲Pairings: Will x Platonic!OFC; Dustin x Sister!OC; Slow burn! Steve x Henderson!OFC (Ex-bestfriends to Lovers); Slow burn! Byler

🎲Rating: Teen-Mature

🎲Word Count: 22,544 (In Total)

🎲Date: 7/31/24

🎲Warnings: Heavy Angst; Heavy Language & Dialogue; References To Broken Friendship; Mental Strain/Breaking Down; Physical Fighting; Lying; "Death"; Funerals; Crying; Talks of Corpses; Being Drugged; Brief Alcohol Consumption; Unwanted Touching; Suggestive Dialogue; Suicidal Thoughts; Minor Blood; A Certain "Curse" Comes Into Play Early; The Byers Family's Mental Strain; Hopper Being a Great Cop & A Total Mess; Dustin Being a Gangster & A Overprotective Brother; The Harringtons' A+ Parenting; Steve's Emotional Damage & Signing Up To Be A Babysitter; Stephanie & Will Deserved All The Love, man. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

(And let me know if I missed anything)

🎲A/N: Heads up, Readers! This document is split between two parts. For some reason Tumblr said I reach my 1,000 space limit, or something like that and wouldn't let me post it because it's so long. But at the very end of this part will be a spot you can click on for the next. Hopefully where I cut it off makes sense. Hope y'all in for a treat :) - And as you probably will notice when you're reading this, I left out Lonnie, Joyce's ex-husband. I left the scene out of chapter two where Jonathan goes to meet him and inform him that Will is missing. I felt like I really did need to write that, kind of like I don't feel like writing him in this chapter either. He doesn't exactly benefit this story, and this chapter/episode, is the last appearance of the character anyway, so... I just decided to just cut him, and replace his intense "dialogue" with a scene between Joyce and Jonathan. Hope you understand, and enjoy this chapter ❤️

Hopper wasn’t sure what he was even doing or thinking anymore. He got the answers he was looking for, but there were still some follow up questions about those answers that he needed to know. When the horrible, horrible thought crossed his mind about breaking into the morgue and seeing if the poor kids’ bodies were even real, he barely even hesitated. Why he didn’t hesitate kind of scared him. I mean, did deep down he know his doubts might be real?

So he swallowed and drove over to the place, still in his street clothes, hat discarded in his seat, and smelling like cigarettes and three hour old alcohol. He got out of his car, parking illegally, and was surprised to see the receptionist outside the door.

“Hey, Patty. Heading home?” He said, and she perks up upon seeing his face.

“Oh, Chief. Perfect timing. I was just debating if I should call you or not.” She says, confusing him.

“Is there a problem?”

“I…” She sighs. “I-I don’t know. About… ten minutes ago, I would say, a young lad came in and said his brother left something behind and wanted to retrieve it. I let him do it, but I noticed he hasn’t come back. And when I try calling out to the officer in the back I get no response. Frankly, I’m a little freaked out to investigate myself.”

A young lad? An officer? That’s weird. “Did you recognize this man? The one who came in?”

“I don’t recall seeing him this morning. Just Ms. Byers, her son and of course Ms. Henderson. But that’s all I’ve seen all day.” Patty explains before pointing in the distance. “I’m assuming that’s his car.”

Hopper follows her finger, a familiar black BMW was parked a few feet away. If it wasn’t for her pointing it out, he surely would have missed it since the area had poor lighting. It didn’t take him long to realize who’s car that was.

He puts on a front to calm her. “I’ll see what’s going on. Just wait right here. I’ll make it quick. ‘Kay?”

“Okay. Thank you, Chief.”

As soon as he’s inside, his hand is already on his holster. Judging by the car, he knew the Harrington kid was here, which he’s not exactly sure why; But to be honest, him being here was his least concern at the moment. He was more concerned about another officer being here. I mean, this was a morgue, people unfortunately die all the time, whether it was just natural or part of a crime; So it didn’t make any sense why the murders of two local kids would get special treatment.

His mind of course wanders back to the bar earlier where he had to beat the crap out of O’Bannon just to get some answers.

“Okay…” Hopper pins him to the wall. “Let’s try this one more time.” He grabs the man by the chin, squeezing. “Who told you to be out there? What were you doing out there?” He watched for an answer, and when he wasn’t getting any, he dialed back his fist.

“I don’t know!” David shouts. “I don’t know. They… they just told me to call it in and not let anybody get too close.

“Get close to what?!”

“The bodies.”

The bodies. Someone told him not to get close to the bodies. There was something about Will and Stephanie’s bodies that no one was supposed to get close to, and needed a cop to guard the morgue.

And I am a little afraid to find out why though. As Hopper got closer to the back, he immediately saw something that made him draw out his gun. The cop, whom he didn’t recognize at all, was lying unconscious on the floor (At least he hoped he was unconscious). He runs over quietly, and squats down to check for a pulse. Breathing. That’s good.

Now for the real question is… why was he unconscious? Was this the teenager’s doing? He frowns and pushes open the unlock door carefully, and steps inside. The cold temperature hits him hard but he doesn’t shiver; Maybe it was the adrenaline that was pumping in his veins, and pulled his heart to his feet. It was so eerily quiet, it was like straight out of a horror movie. He had half expected someone to come through the shadows with a knife. As he move inland more, he heard some shuffling and someone muttered, ‘What the fuck’, and then decided to push open the door to the fridge.

He must have startled the other party, which so happened to be the Harrington kid, brown eyes blown wide and (Oh, the irony) a knife pointed his way. They both stared at one another in silence, both surprised to find each other here…

Both surprised that they had the same idea/doubts.

Hopper’s eyes trailed past the boy’s shoulder, landing on the table where he could see the top of the dead girl’s head. What is he–

Then he stops himself when he notices something else. In the tips of Steve’s fingers, he sees a small ball of… cotton. Afraid, but he didn’t show it, he starts walking towards the table, lowering his weapon as Steve sidesteps to give him room – Hopper’s heart almost stops. He sees the incision immediately, and the white fluff pooling out of it. The two of their gazes meet, silence was enough to tell the adult everything.

Deciding he needed to know more, he pulls the sheet back over the body and slides her back in before searching for another one. In the drawer below, he pulls out Will’s body and pulls the sheet back. It was still a sickening sight to see, despite knowing damn well it was a fake; But he still needed to know. Still not saying any words, Hopper holds his hand out and Steve gets the message and hands over his blade.

With no hesitation, Hopper digs into the realistic flesh, the flesh that was dry and had no prior incisions like it should have, and pulls out the same fluff like the last one.

Oh, my God. His doubts were real. The bodies were fakes. But if that was the case, where were the children? Closing the blade and handing it back, Hopper grabs the teenager by the bicep and strings him along. “Come on.”

They leave in a hurry, only slowing their pace when they see Patty outside. Hopper puts on a cheeky smile, still holding onto Steve. “Dang, teenagers. Always wanting to do a good prank.” He chuckles. “Everything’s all good. Goodnight, Patty.”

“Uh…” She stares at him, slightly confused but still waves goodbye. “‘Night, Chief.” He drags the boy back to his car, glancing back to make sure she was inside before exploding.

“Hey, listen–” Steve begins, as he tries to wiggle out of his hold.

“What did I say about forgetting our conversation at school?” Hopper snaps, and let’s go.

He scoffs and gives him a look. “How could I forget? Especially the way you reacted? How could I forget all that?”

“Listen, son, whatever this is–” The adult gestures around. “Is dangerous. Something’s going on, and it’s a dangerous slope.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“You know?” Now it was Hopper’s turn to scoff. “Then why the fuck are you running head first into this?”

“‘Cause I had doubts too. I thought about everything, and nothing’s adding up, Chief.” Steve explains, getting a groan from the man. “Nothing’s making sense. They said the two of them drowned in the Quarry, but I highly doubt that. But, who knows! Maybe they did get pushed towards the Quarry, but they also took a shotgun with them. If someone was chasing them to a cliff, why didn’t they use the gun? Why did they feel like they had to make their bodies fake? Were they actually taken and not lost? Or–”

“I’m going to stop you right there.” Hopper says, holding his hand up. “I know you have questions, I get that, but you really need to stop and let me handle it.”

Steve shakes his head. “I’m not letting this go.”

“You should. Before you get hurt.”

“They stuffed my friend like she was a fucking stuffed animal!”

“I thought she wasn’t your friend anymore?” Hopper asked, and Steve shut his mouth and looked away. His face softens a tad. Just a tad. “Listen, something is definitely going on, that’s as clear as day. But when I poked around today, I noticed someone was following me, which means I’m getting close to something that I’m not supposed to.”

“That means you’re on the right track then.”

“Yes. But that’s a track that I don’t want you on.”

“Chief–”

“Steve.” Hopper steps closer, and grabs him by the shoulder. “I know this is an emotional time, but I need you to trust me, and let me do this. Please.” He swallows the lump in his throat. “I can’t see another kid get hurt or die on me. So trust me, and stay away. Okay?”

Steve nods slowly. “Okay.”

“Good. Go home. Be safe. And please, do not do anything stupid.” He warns, because he’s about to do something stupid. But Jim Hopper doesn’t really know Steve Harrington all that well.

Because the teenager was already planning on doing something stupid too.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| THE OTHER SIDE ||

Besides the migraine, Stephanie wakes up to the sound of screaming. She shoots up from her sleeping form, big blue orbs blown wide and adrenaline starts to spike. Memories came in slowly, remembering the way her body basically gave her the finger and shut off on its own, falling into the deepest, but dreamless sleep. Her body felt colder than usual, and hugs herself for warmth.

What is… She winces at the pain in her temples spike, followed by a small drop of blood coming out of her nose. Slowly, she reaches up to touch, her fingertips stained red. She wonders if she hit her head too hard when she fell over. That could explain the headache, the nosebleed and the feeling of being in a fog. Hopefully she didn’t give herself a concussion. That’s the last thing she needs.

And that’s when she hears the scream again.

She felt a shiver, not from the cold, run down her spine immediately. She knows that scream so familiar now, it’s engraved in the back of her skull.

“Will.” She mutters, and looks around. Sure enough everything was here except for him. “Will?!” And then another scream, and Steph wastes no time to grab her pistol and bolt back towards the house. “WILL!!”

Completely scared – heart beating, head pounding, blood trickled down her chin – and the thought of not losing her footing was keeping her going. She doesn’t know why he was gone. Did he run off on his own? Did the monster get him? She’s not so sure, and she doesn’t care. She just needs to find him and make sure he’s safe.

“Will!” She shouts again, completely obviously how short the run time was, and rammed through the back door and–

Right back outside.

She stumbled to the stop, and her eyes burned in the light, the buttercream sun and the sound of peace, and the feeling of warmth she hasn’t felt for days now. Confusion hits her now, and she suddenly finds herself on her very own lawn that was connected to her very own home. She blinks, and looks around, spinning on her heels like a twirl. Everything looked… normal. No weird snow-like substance falling from the sky, no darkness, no weird plants that pulsate, and drop temperatures close to zero. She was back home, and totally not in a scary place she’s been stuck in.

But how did I– How did I get back here? She touches her head, thinking. None of it made sense. She ran through Will’s back door and now she’s here? Back at her home? The normal version? This doesn’t–

Then, a car pulled into the driveway, making her breath get taken away. It was a 1960s station wagon, her Mom’s car, her Mom’s old car, The one that had gotten totaled in an accident years ago.

She tilts her head, squinting like it would just change at any second. Why is it–

Then the front door opened in a flash with another shocking sight. Her grandmother, the one that passed away when she was just a kid, was standing in the doorway with a huge smile on her non-sickly face.

// Oh, baby, they’re here // She says, and that’s when she’s hit with another strike to the gut.

Stephanie watched as her barely five year old self shifted around her granny, practically bouncing down the steps towards the yellow car. Her mother gets out first, with a small bundle of cloth in her arms, which her younger self was giggling about.

// Stephanie, come meet your brother, Dustin // She said, with a smile that touched her eyes and soul.

Her younger self laughed as she showed her baby sibling. // Hi, Dustin //

Stephanie stared, the confusion intensifying by hundreds, no even sure what else to say except, “What the fuck…?”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Hopper manages to sneak through the door just as a scientist left for the night. He was out of his mind, he knows that for sure, especially since he decided to trespass into Hawkins Labs that seemed more guarded the last time he was here. He was also more out of his mind when he decided to head inside the place that was blocked off and had two large hazardous signs on the entrance. Well… what do they say?

You only live once.

The hallway was short lived, leading right up to a door that was of course locked, and unable to access it without a passkey.

“Shit.” He said, unaware of the two security guards rushing up behind him.

“Hands up!” They shouted, guns drawn. “Forgot all the cameras, bub?”

Hopper decided to play it cool, his face calm with a smile as he slowly turned around, hands in the air. “Look, Dr. Brenner asked for me specifically. Okay? How else do you think I got in here?”

One of the guards raised an eyebrow, using a free hand to reach for his walkie. “What’s your name again?”

“It’s Jim Hopper.” A little chuckle. “Chief Jim Hopper.”

He presses the button. “Yeah, I’ve got Jim Hopper–”

And the Chief landed a punch across his jaw, sending him to the floor and grabbing his gun. He immediately points it to the other party, and pins both his arms against the wall. The guy over the radio shouts what’s going on, but Hopper ignores it and takes the guard’s weapon away from him too.

“Hey…” His fingers latched around the badge. “You mind if I borrow this one?”

He plucks it off and swipes the card, never taking his eyes on the conscious guard until the door shuts. As soon as he’s in the dark room, Hopper shoots a bullet through the card reader, trapping himself inside.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, the boys were back at the Wheeler house, all lounging around in the basement, trying to process everything they heard on the radio.

“What was Will saying? Like home... but dark?” Mike said, pacing around, occasionally glancing at Eleven who was laying in a daze on his couch. He feels a bit bad that they might have pushed her too far tonight.

“And empty.” Lucas adds, face in his hands.

“Empty and cold.” Dustin says, sitting on the steps, a worried look on his face. “Wait, did he say cold? And who was he talking to?”

“Could have been your sister.” Mike suggested.

“No. He said my sister was passed out. There’s no way that was her.” Dustin groans. “That stupid radio kept going in and out.”

“Like home. Like his house?”

Lucas perks up with a snap of his fingers. “Or maybe like Hawkins.”

“Upside down.” El mutters from her spot on the couch.

“What’d she say?”

Mike was suddenly hit with realization and springs over to the table. “Upside down!”

“What?”

“Upside down.” He waves them over, and flips his upside down game board back over. “When El showed us where Will and Steph were, she flipped the board over, remember?” He flips it over again. “Upside down. Dark. Empty.”

“Do you understand what he’s talking about?” Lucas asked, meeting his other friend’s eyes.

“I’ll admit, I’m a little lost.” Dustin said, sheepishly.

“Guys, come on, just think about it.” Mike pressures. “When El took us to find them, she took us to Will’s house, right?”

“Yeah. And they weren’t there.” Lucas points out.

“But what if they were there? What if we just couldn’t see them? What if they were on the other side? What if–” He flips the board back to its normal side. “This is Hawkins and–” And then back to the blank side. “This is where they are? The Upside Down.”

Dustin gasps. “Like the Vale of Shadows.” It took his friends a moment to process the reality of this as he fished out his ‘unofficial’ D&D guidebook. He flips to the page he was talking about. “The Vale of Shadows is a dimension that is a dark reflection or echo of our world. It is a place of decay and death. A plane out of phase. A place of monsters. It is right next to you, and you…” He locks fearful eyes with them. “Don’t even see it.”

“An alternate dimension.” Mike realizes, terrified as well.

“But... how... how do we get there?” Lucas asked, worriedly.

“You cast Shadow Walk.” Dustin answers.

“In real life, dummy.”

“We can’t shadow walk, but…” His blue eyes trail to their sleepy friend. “Maybe she can.”

“Do you know how we get there?” Mike asks, hopefully. “To the Upside Down?”

Unfortunately for them…

She shook her head no.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“Will?” Hopper frantically called out into the darkness, frantically scanning the area with his flashlight. “Stephanie?”

From what he can tell, this area mimicked a hospital. The white walls, colorless floors, the cold. I guess he should have suspected the rooms lined in the hallway to be filled with beds, but what he wasn’t expecting was the rooms to be catered with a few stuffed animals and security cameras in them. He also got a sudden wave of sickness when he saw a drawing done by a child on the wall, one that looked pretty recent.

What the hell? And that was his last thought before he could hear alarms blaring in the distance. He was honestly surprised they didn’t sound it sooner. So with a gun back in his hand, Hopper raced frantically down the rest of the halls, checking each room he could find.

“Will? Stephanie? Kids?” He shouts, and picks up speed. Come on. Where are they?

When he reaches the end of the hallway, he finds an elevator. A slight blessing in some way, but he also dreaded what else he might find. Are the kids really here? Or is he really following a thin thread?

“I see him!” Someone shouts just as the door opens. “Hey! Stop!”

Hopper just gives them a sharp glare as the door seals him inside, heading down yet another level. When he did arrive, this floor was a lot creeper than the last. This time it did have lighting, except only every other light fixture ‘worked’ (It was more flickering on and off), and there was something floating in the air – a substance that looked like snow, but wasn’t.

“Will? Stephanie?” He manages to yell before breaking into a coughing fit. “W-Will? St-Stephanie? Kids!” He continued to cough, covering his mouth with his elbow as he continued his trek. “What in the world?”

When he entered the room at the end of the hall, he saw something he cannot explain. Stretching along the back wall was a very disgusting looking plant; Black veins shot out like the spiderwebs that were hanging off of them, and the middle of it, the core, seemed to glow a red hue and it was… pulsating. In a strange case of curiosity, Hopper couldn’t help but reach out to touch the stickiness.

What is this thing? And that’s when he catches something moving in the corner of his eye. He whips around, gun out again and starts looking around worriedly. And just like a fucking horror flick, a man in a hazmat suit came right out of the darkness and straight towards him.

“Hey!” He takes a step back as a warning. “Hey! Hey!”

And then out of the depth again, only this time he did not see, another masked up individuals come from behind–

And plunges a needle into his neck.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Jonathan was rushing home rather late. His little… “shopping trip” was cut short by none other than a schoolmate, Nancy Wheeler. Never in his sixteen years on the planet did he think he would get a visit from her – and over something so strange. But now, he was trying to get back home, to tell his mother that she wasn’t insane, that he finally understood what she was saying these past few days.

When he got home the first thing he noticed was there was a big gaping hole on the front of his house. Distressfully, he did his best to rush inside, finding his poor mother shivering with a conveniently placed axe by her feet. It didn’t take a genius to put two-and-two together.

“Mom, what happened?” He asked, and she didn’t even flinch – almost didn’t acknowledge he was even there.

“Oh… hey, Jonathan.” She said, the exhaustion made her look ten times her age. “How was the shopping?”

“Forget shopping. Jesus, you’re freezing.” He replies, slugging his jacket off and placing it over her. “Just wait right here.”

It took a few minutes to retrieve a few things from the shed, but he managed to nail up a tarp to block the chilly November winds. Holding back the urge to shiver himself, he focuses his strength back onto his mother.

“Mom.” He begins, sitting down next to her (He even takes her cold hands into his own). “What happened?”

“Oh…” She shakes her head with a sniffle. “Nothing, sweety.”

“No, not nothing.” Guilt started to eat at him a bit (Why didn’t he believe his own mother in the first place?). “Why did you take the wall down?”

“Jonathan, it’s nothing–”

“Mom… that thing you saw before–” He swallows “Did it come back?”

She shakes her head again. “Who cares. Maybe it was all in my head after all.”

“No, it was not.” Jonathan reaches inside his jacket pocket, pulling a photo out. “The thing you saw, is this it?”

“Jonathan–”

“Mom, please. Just look.” He gives her a set of pleading eyes. “Please.”

It took a moment, but she did. It took another moment for her to process what she was looking at. And another for the realization to settle in.

“W-Where did you get this?” Joyce gasps, and points at it.

Jonathan takes a second to think over his story. “Two days after Will and Stephanie disappeared, I decided to look in the area they vanished from. Somehow, I ended up at a house where one of my schoolmates was having a party; Nancy was there with her friend Barbara. Remember Barbara?”

“Yeah, I remember Barbara.”

“Well, you know she’s missing right?”

“I’ve heard. So you…” Joyce gives a look. “You saw her before she went missing?”

“Yeah.” He nods. “But before you scold me, I ended up taking pictures of the people at the party, one of them happened to be Barbara when she was alone at the pool.”

“Jonathan–”

“I know, I said wait… Please.”

“Okay.” She nods. “Continue.”

“Okay. So I snapped a picture, and as soon as I snapped it, she was gone.”

“Gone?” Her look intensifies. “What do you mean ‘Gone’?”

“It’s like she vanished out of thin air. I thought it was weird. Kind of freaked me out too, so I left.” He frowns, scared. Even when he found out what may have happened, he still couldn’t wrap his head around it. “It wasn’t until earlier today that Nancy came up to me and asked to see my photos, from there she revealed she saw something at the house. A man with no face.”

Joyce covered her mouth with her hand, processing. “Oh, my god…”

“Mom, is this what you saw? Is this what came out of the wall the night before?”

She shakes her head eagerly. “Y-Yes. This is what I saw.” She replies, ending with a small sob. “I… I couldn’t hear them, y-your brother and Stephanie, but I just…” She touches her chest, her heart. “I-I just had this feeling that I knew they were there, right next to me and–” She sighs heavily, feeling like she’s losing her mind again.

Jonathan starts rubbing soothing circles on her back, still holding one of her hands. “It’s okay. Take your time. Just… walk me through everything. Please.”

Another sigh, but this time it was for her to steady herself. “Okay. I… started hanging lights, ‘cause when I-I was in the store I felt their presence, the lights on the aisle flickered, so I thought maybe I can get some reaction here. It took a few hours and I did. I said, one blink for ‘Yes’, two blinks for ‘No’. But–” She bites her lips. “It wasn’t giving me the questions I needed, so I painted the wall.”

“The alphabet wall?” He asked, gesturing behind them with his head.

“Y-Yeah.”

“What did you ask them? What did they say?”

“I… I-I really could only get one answer. I asked them, ‘Where are they?’. Then, they gave me a strange response.”

“Which was?”

“‘Right here’.” She points to the floor. “They said, ‘Right here’.” She frowns. “I… I tried asking what that means, but then they told me to ‘Run’. And that’s when that… th-that thing came out of the wall.”

“It came out of the wall, okay. Um–” His eyes glance over to the tarp. “Is that why you took the axe to the wall? Were… were you trying to see if it was in there?”

“No.” Another shake of her head. “I heard him. I heard Will a few hours ago, so I… I peeled back the wallpaper, and… there was this– this bubble type thing inside, and… a-and I could see him, hear him. He was talking, and he was scared. I asked him where he was, and he told me he was here, but it was dark and cold. And… s-something was coming for him, so I told him to run, and…”

“You took down the wall to see if he was there?”

She nods. “Y-Yes.”

“Okay.” He says, nodding to. He was trying to process this. “Okay. Okay. Okay. Um… shit.” He starts rubbing the side of his head. “I… I don’t have an answer for this.”

Joyce laughs quietly. “Yeah, neither do I.” She sighs. “I don’t know… I do know what to do. All I can do is communicate when I can get a hold of him.”

“Yeah.” He frowns. “I guess…”

Suddenly, the lights flickered for a few seconds, and the boombox flipped on.

[ ♪ –or should I go?

If you say that you are mine

I’ll be here ‘till the end of time

So you got to let me know

Should I stay or should I go? ♪ ]

Jonathan had jumped to his feet when it turned on, and got all defensive. “What the–”

“See?” Joyce said, touching her son’s arm to get him to calm down. “Your brother is here.”

The eldest stared at the box, imagining his little brother laying on the floor with his legs in the air, and adding color to a drawing he’d finished. He felt a bit relieved that his brother was still “around”; But it also made him feel terrible, because…

He has no idea how to get Will back to them.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| THE OTHER SIDE ||

Will will admit… that this did not go as he planned or at least hoped it would have. He actually got through to his mother, he actually got to see his mother. Even if it wasn’t the clearest image, he could tell it was her. He wonders when the beast crawled out of the wall earlier it must have left behind some kind of doorway to the other side. The sucky part was, no matter how hard he pushed on that… disgusting bubble it wouldn’t budge. All he could do was explain where he was to her and hoping she understood before the faceless beast returned to hunt.

But Will wasn’t shaking this thing off. This thing seemed to be mad, a bit pissed off with the way the movements were, frustrated even as it let out a few growls and huffs of air. He tried to make a few runs for the door, but everytime it kept lunging and throwing him off track. He felt his heart pounding in his ears as he trips on something, losing the shotgun and literally crawling across the hallway to get away.

He finds himself on the verge of tears at this point, wondering if this is how his life will end: By dying by a literal monster on his big brother’s bedroom floor.

Will starts pleading quietly, the beast’s meaty hand reaching out towards him, and at the last minute, Will moves out of the way. The beast ran into Jonathan’s desk before rerouting and stalking over his prey again. Will curls up into a ball in the corner, muttering ‘I’m sorry’ to everyone he knows…

Then his brother’s boombox fell, turning it right on, and causing the lights to start flickering like a rave.

[ ♪ –or should I go? ♪ ]

The beast flitched hard, almost like it was hurt by the vocals coming out of the box. It made a distressful sound, Will uncurling himself to watch this turn of events unfold.

[ ♪ If you say that you are mine

I’ll be here ‘till the end of time

So you got to let me know

Should I stay or should I go? ♪ ]

The thing lets out a shriek and starts jerking its head around, before calling it quits. It practically threw its body out the room, running frantically around the house until it finally got out and disappeared. Will followed carefully, poking his head down the hallway where he was met with silence again. The beast was gone. Like… actually gone. Scared away by The Clash? It almost seemed too good to be true.

[ ♪ It’s always tease, tease, tease

You’re happy when I’m on my knees

One day it’s fine and next it’s black

So if you want me– ♪ ]

He comes over and shuts the boombox off with a small smile, and gets an idea. Rummaging around the filth, he started stuffing some cassettes into his coat pockets until they were full before shifting over to pick up the boombox until he remembered something. A boombox is a bit hefty to be lugging around, and what if it gets to be too much and then they have to ditch it? Then what? What could they use? That’s when he remembers his brother had a walkman lying around somewhere. He eventually finds it, and starts making his way back to Stephanie.

Will did his best to carry everything in his tiny grip, still a little scared that the beast might make an appearance again (It’s not like he could whip out his gun quick enough ‘cause his hands are full), but now he knew it’s weakness. Who knew it was something so silly like music?

Maybe… this could be our way out? He wonders about that, and he also wonders about the way he communicated with his mom earlier. If the beast could travel to both worlds, could it also be their key to getting out of here? Could there be another gate somewhere? It was questions like these that were going to be hard to answer. Hawkins was so big, how long would it take them to search every nook and cranny for a gateway home?

This is something I got to run by Stephanie. Speaking of… When he got closer to where they settled down, he noticed she was actually awake; Sitting on her knees in the grass, looking like she hadn’t noticed his presence yet.

So, she is awake. Weird. I thought she would have run after me when reading the note I left her. But he shrugs it off. Maybe she was more understanding than he thought. With a huge smile on his face, he picks up his pace to tell her the good news.

“Hey, Steph. Before you get mad, I found a way to protect ourselves.” He explains, setting the items down next to her. “When I accidentally turned on the boombox, the monster got all frightened and ran off. I know that sounds weird, but it works! We can roam freely just by playing a song! Isn’t that crazy?”

He was expecting a scolding, maybe even a laugh, or a look of disbelief, but he certainly didn’t think she wouldn’t say anything. He doesn’t recall her being the type of person to give the silent treatment if mad. Will repeated the last sentence to see if he would get something, and that’s when he finally noticed something odd. The girl wasn’t… moving. She was just sitting there on her knees, slightly hunched over, looking like a statue.

He’s not going to lie, it was kind of freaking him out. “Stephanie?” He slowly crouches down in front of her, and brushes a few strands of hair out of her face and nearly falls back.

To his shock he finds her looking paler than the last few days, and her eyes were bloodshot red and dry, but that wasn’t what was scaring him. What was scaring him was the fact that her blue eyes looked unnatural, and that her pupils had completely disappeared from sight. To him, she looked like she was possessed.

Will finds himself growing pale himself, completely scared of what’s happening to his friend. “Stephanie?”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| THE OTHER SIDE ||

Stephanie couldn’t help but follow them inside. Her grandmother was saying to Claudia all kinds of loving things, as her younger self wouldn’t stop expressing how much she wanted to hold her baby brother. It all seems so surreal, it felt like it happened only yesterday, but it was in fact twelve years ago.

She runs up the stairs and through the door, as soon as she does, the memory changes. The three of them vanished, and the house looks like it was spruced up more in this scene change. Now, she sees her younger self was a little bit older, Dustin was too, and they both were sitting on the floor in the living room, playing a game on their Atari.

// You’re cheating // Her brother pouts as soon as the score on pong changes to double digits.

She snorts. // How am I cheating? It only has one control //

// Still cheating //

// Dustin… //

Stephanie smiles at the antics. This was pretty much the same conversation every time they played a video game of some sort. It makes her laugh and feel good every time she thinks about it. But this still doesn’t explain what’s going on.

// Ugh, this doesn’t make any sense! // Dustin, a different version, yells from the dining room table. His head lays across one of his books as his big sister looks over it, perplexed.

// I don’t remember learning any of this // She mumbles, scratching her head.

// I’m going to fail… //

// You’re not going to fail //

// I’m totally going to fail //

The oldest shakes her head at his antics. She remembers this too, and despite the hardship of it, he still passed with a B. It’s still better than nothing.

She then nearly jumps out of her shoes when she swears something exploded in her kitchen. She rushes over, finding herself again standing off to the side in disbelief. That’s when she saw her brother standing tall and proud with batter all over his face.

// Pancakes are done // He said, oblivious to her shock.

She rubs her face, cringing at the time Dustin tried to make breakfast on his own which was a complete disaster. How he managed to burn and undercook everything was beyond her knowledge. Oh, Dusty.

Then, she perks up again when her little bro is replaced by her mother. Her hair is tied back, and she’s wearing her kiss the cook apron. “Mom?”

// Hey, Ms. Henderson? //

Stephanie gasps quietly and spares a glance to the side where the entrance to the basement was. Just like she thought, she finds herself staring at a young Steve Harrington, probably about eight years old.

“Steve?” She said, taking him in. A little stripe button up shirt, shorts and small bandage on his cheek; He was also flashing a grin with a couple baby teeth missing.

// Yes, Steve? // Claudia said, not taking her eyes off the stove.

// Can we eat downstairs? Fia and I are almost done with our game //

Fia. Her heart clenched at the nickname she hasn’t heard in such a long time. I kind of… miss it.

I mean, her brother calls her Phanie which was special to her, but that was something only he ever called her. And Steph was just a common nickname to call all ‘Stephanies’. However, Steve’s little nickname for her was really unique and special to her.

Apparently it was still special to her.

Some more was said but she didn’t listen, and before she knew it, little Steve was running back down the stairs.

“Hey!” She shouts and chases after him. As soon as she gets off the last step she finds herself somewhere different again. She was met with a few flashing strobe lights, loud music and lots of laughter. She recognizes this place rather quickly, it was the roller rink they built in the mall a few years back.

// Steve! Stop! // Her preteen self yells, looking like a newborn colt on rollerblades. She was hanging onto dear life to her best friend who could not stop laughing at her over reaction.

// You know you’re going to have let go soon // Steve says, as she shakes her head.

// Nope. No way. I don’t want to fall again //

// Falling comes with the practice, you know //

She sends him a look. // Easy for you to say. You haven’t fallen once! //

// What can I say? // He starts slowly pushing her away, only holding onto her hands for support. // I’m just a natural //

// Steve! Please! // She said, a mixture of panic and laughter. // Come on! //

He hums, acting like he was thinking before he lets go of one of her hands. // Oops //

// Steve! // She warns, and slouches a bit to keep herself small so she doesn’t slip.

// Relax, Fia. I wasn’t going to let you go // He replies, truthfully, warmly. // I’ll hold your hand until you’re confident enough. Okay? //

// You better, Harrington //

// I will. Relax. Here // He pulls her back, waiting for her to steady herself again before explaining. // This is what you have to do. First– //

Stephanie couldn’t help but smile. She loves that memory so much. It was so perfect in her eyes. The all American boy was the most elegant roller skater she’s ever seen, and he was so dorky and teasing, but patient while teaching her the ropes. She wishes sometimes she could go back to this day over and over again. I miss this so much.

“Little Stevie here can’t protect you any more.”

And just like that, the scene changes again, only this time it feels more heavy and darker – like it was sucking the soul out of her. She felt so scared all of a sudden, and when she blinked she was sitting at a bar top. The smell of booze, money and cigarettes nearly knocked her over… and sent a chill through her body.

N-No. This was a painful memory she was trying to forget. What was she doing here? What was the point of–

“Are you not having fun, Munchkin?”

Now that voice almost made her die on the spot. Terrified, she slowly turns to her left, finding the only other person inside the place. He was rather tall,

A bit lanky but built, dark hair and blue eyes. The genes that ran so strong in this family, the genes that her and Dustin hated they both had. And he’s sitting there with a stupid smirk on his bearded face, one that makes her want to crawl into a hole or slap off. She almost couldn’t speak as she felt like she lost her voice.

“D-Dad?”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Jonathan’s bitter thoughts were pulled back into reality the early next morning by his own mother, who was helping him with his tie.

“Why are we sending daggers at our home phone?” Joyce asked, heavy makeup covering her exhaustion, a black jacket clings to her body that acted like her blouse.

His gaze follows back to the phone before back to her. “I know we agreed not to talk to him at all, besides it being pointless because Will’s body is a fake, but still. He can’t even give us a call about his own son’s death?”

She finishes his tie, frowning out of sadness with a hint of hate for her ex-husband. “Well, another reason why I’m not with your father. This should be a lesson to you, don’t just settle for the first person that gives you attention, or makes your rebellious phase feel ‘special’. I know I’m not the best mother–”

“You’re the perfect mother.” Jonathan pushes, wholeheartedly. “I know it was hard, but for someone doing it on your own, you always made time for us, loved us, and did only what you thought was best. A thousand times more than whatever dad did. I just…” He gets a bit teary eyed. “I just wished I believed you in the beginning. Maybe things would have been different.”

Joyce chokes down her own sob. “Oh.” She brushes a tear from the corner of her eye. “You’re going to make me bawl.”

He quietly laughs. “Sorry.”

“And you know, I’m not upset that you didn’t believe me. I never was, and never will be. I am glad that you came around though.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She smiles. “Jonathan?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t… don’t do anything stupid, okay? We’re going to go to the funeral, act like we’re in mourning, and when everything is over, we’re going to figure this out. We’re going to figure out what really happened with you brother. Okay?”

He puts on a good smile and nods. “Okay.” Jonathan agrees with a heavy feeling. He knows he agrees, but deep down he’s not. He’ll pretend to grieve, pretend that he mourns his not-so-dead brother, he’ll pretend that he’s not going to do anything with going through his mom first. In reality, it’s the opposite.

In reality, he’s about to do the stupidest thing in probably his entire life.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Claudia Henderson had to fix her make up for the fifth time already, and she hasn’t even left the house, almost too scared to even leave the door. She was sitting on the couch, a ball tissues in one hand and her baby’s photograph in another. She was shaking all over, trying to hold down more sobs. Her son eventually appeared, dressed in black, pretty curls brushed back neatly, and had a glass of water in his palm.

She looks up, watching him silently offering it. “Oh, thank you, honey.” She replies, gesturing for him to set it down. He does, and scoots next to her.

Dustin can’t stand that his mom is this way, and half of him wants to blurt out that something about his sister’s and Will’s disappearance doesn’t seem right, and the bodies in the caskets had to be fakes, but he can’t. He can’t go off a theory that has barely any evidence still.

“Oh… look at her face. I’m going to miss her pretty face.” Claudia continues, touching the picture. “Her little curls, her freckles, her… beautiful blue eyes, those…”

Dustin’s heart clenched. “Dad’s eyes…”

“Oh, not him. Not his.” She shakes her head, batting her honey brown orbs. “No. You and your sister’s are so unique.” She reaches up to cup her son’s cheek, him leaning into the touch. “Hers is like a sky and sapphire, and yours is like this cross of sky, this pale blue and, uh…”

He gives her a goofy smile. “A light denim jean.”

That got her to laugh. “A light denim jean, yes. That’s… that’s perfect.” She then pulls him into a hug. “It’s going to be hard, but we’re going to get through this. Together.”

Suddenly Dustin felt the wind get knocked out of him. What if… what if he and his friends were actually wrong? What if they were just imagining everything? What if his big sister was actually dead?

What if… she really is gone? He couldn’t stop himself from tearing up, a single stray rolling down his cheeks, clenching his sister’s necklace in the palm of his hand like it would make her appear in his arms.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Now you know who wasn’t ready for the funeral? I mean how could he when he just woke up in a cold sweat and a dazed look in his eye. Jim Hopper finds himself on his couch, still wearing the same clothes (minus the jacket) that he seemed to have sweated through most of the thin material. It didn’t take long for him to remember what happened last night and immediately bolted up. He takes in his coffee table, which to him seemed way messier than he left it (Plus, there were a lot more empty beer cans than he consumed over the few days).

Grabbing his gun that was right in front of, Hopper wastes no time to run outside with it held high. But as he searched the land that he was all alone on, he didn’t see anything or anyone out of the ordinary. He almost started to doubt that last night even occurred.

Almost. That’s the keyword.

Coming back inside, he examines himself in the bathroom mirror, trying to find the needle marking in his neck. It took a hot minute, the doubt was coming back until his finger picked up the tiniest drop of blood. Now, the paranoia was setting in, and that’s when he started tearing his trailer apart. Anything he could get his hands on, pictures frames, light bulbs, home phones, stereo system, VHS player, cookie jars, anything was torn apart in his hands. He even went so far by cutting open his couch cushions with a knife.

In a hot, sweating, panting mess, he was about to give up until he noticed he forgot to check his overhead light. Just tall enough to reach it on his own, Hopper carefully unscrews the fixture and that’s when he saw it.

The bug.

Plucking it off so hard that the wires ripped, he examined it close, the disbelief came first, and ended with sheer anger.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

I guess you could say that Steve “snuck out” of his home, dressed appropriately in black attire, still thinking about what his next “detective” move could be. The funerals were being held together to make it emotionally easier for the families, and everyone in town was welcome to come. His parents wouldn’t have approved, anyone associated with them wouldn’t either, but I guess the “good” thing about coming to the graveyard is that he wouldn’t have to worry about any of them. The only person he knows that will be there is his girlfriend. Speaking of…

Nancy was quick to notice after getting out of the car herself with her family. She was honestly surprised a bit, but didn’t let that weigh her down as she excuses herself to come over.

“Steve?” She said, as he flicked her a sad smile. “How… how are you?”

“I’m… I’m good. Really, um–” He replies, fiddling with his hands. “How are you?”

“Fine.”

“That’s good. How’s your brother doing?”

“Mike?” She takes a quick glance back his way. “He’s coping, I guess. I don’t know. He’s been really quiet.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.” Steve says, nodding slowly. “Listen, Nance, I wanted to apologize for how I reacted the other night.”

Nancy shakes her head. “Steve, it’s alright. I get it. You’ll tell me about the relationship with your parents eventually. I honestly really don’t care if you do or not. It’s not my business.”

“I know, but still. I got a little snappy and–”

“Steve, it’s fine. I get–”

“My parents don’t like her.” He blurts out, silencing her. He watches her tilt her head, waiting for him to elaborate. “My parents never… approved of my friendship with Stephanie. She wasn’t up to their… ‘standards’. So…” He sighs. “My parents are probably going to gut me when they find out I’m here.”

“Gut you?” She asked, worriedly. Was it really that bad for him to be here? “Friends or not, she still was a classmate, the least you can do is show up for a quick respect.”

“Yeah, they don’t see it like that. They…” His throat felt dry. Every time he starts remembering a few things about his past, his parents, he just feels like he’s going to shut down and hide.

“Steve?” Nancy says, pulling him out of the rut. “They… what?” She needs to know more, she wants to know more. She didn’t like that he looked like a kicked puppy. What has his parents done to him?

“She wasn’t like Tommy or Carol, or even you. Steph was sweet and caring, but didn’t dress like a girl should, she didn’t talk like a girl should, she didn’t…” He laughs, a mixture of nerves and distaste towards his parents. “She likes heavy metal, she likes to wear black and stomp around in big combat boots, and she would always do the craziest shit I’ve ever seen. She wasn’t the girl my parents wanted me to hang out with because she wasn’t a ‘girly-girl’. She fits in with the school’s ‘freaks’.”

“Steve…”

“Sometimes… I miss it. I miss going behind my parents’ backs to hang out with her.” He says, sadly. “But I… I had to end it… for her sake.”

Well that’s news. She thought, piqued. “What do you mean by that?”

“I–” His attention was caught by someone else arriving. “I… I’m going to go pay my respects. I’ll catch up to you later, Nance.”

“‘Kay.” She mumbles, watching him leave with a heavy heart.

Steve makes his way over to the family he used to call his own; The mother gets out, in her own head, while the brother immediately stops in his tracks – looking like a deer in headlights upon seeing him.

“Ms. Henderson.” He begins, getting her attention (His throat felt tight again and his chest felt like it was being kicked in). “I don’t know if you remember me. I’m Steve Harrington.”

“Steve?” It takes Claudia a moment to recognize him. “Steve! Oh, my gosh, I do remember you.” She smiles. “You’ve grown quite into a young man.”

Steve blushes a bit. “Uh, thank you. Um, listen I… I know your daughter and I had a bit of a falling out, but I thought it would be alright if I gave you my condolences. If you… approve that of course.”

“Oh, honey, I appreciate it. Friendships, I know, tend to end sometimes, and it can be hard. But I really do appreciate you coming.”

‘That’s good to hear.” He clears his throat and takes a step back. “I’ll be going now.”

“Oh, why don’t you stay?” She said, with her son perking up at the news.

“What?” Dustin said, a bit sharp for his mother’s liking.

“Dustin.” She turned and scolded. Her son gave her a shrug of disbelief, making her sigh. “Sorry. Do you mind staying for the wake? I think it would be nice if we can catch up.”

Steve was honestly lost for words. He’s guessing that Stephanie never actually told them what occurred… at least she didn’t tell her mother the truth. His gaze falls on Dustin who was pouting a bit and looking at the ground; The bitterness he probably had makes Steve wonder if he knew the truth. It was making him feel pretty shitty right now.

Jesus. If his mom wasn’t here I’m sure he would deck me by now. But Steve ignores this and just smiles. “If you insist, Ms. Henderson.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Jonathan, or course, ignores his mom’s pleas not to do something stupid. Him and Nancy had both stepped off to the side to discuss their findings, hoping to form some kind of plan of action. “This is where we know for sure it’s been, right?” He says, holding a small map of the area, some places marked with a red X.

Nancy leans in closer. “So, that’s…”

“Steve’s house.” He starts pointing out each mark and their meaning. “And that’s the woods where they found Steph’s car, and that’s my house.”

“It’s all so close.”

“Yeah. Exactly. I mean, it’s all within a mile or something. Whatever this thing is, it’s... it’s not traveling far.”

Nancy locks eyes with him, realizing what he was suggesting. “You want to go out there.”

“We might not find anything.” He admits with a shrug.

“I found something. And if we do see it… then what?”

He inhales. “We kill it.”

“Kill it?” She said, surprised. “Are you serious?”

“What? You want to find this thing and take another photo? Yell at it?”

“This is a terrible idea.”

“Yeah, well, it’s the best we’ve got.”

She shakes her head. “Jonathan–”

“What? You can tell someone, but they’re not gonna believe you. You know that.” He points out as she frowns.

“Your mom believed you.”

He averts his eyes from her. “She’s been through enough. It’s time for me to worry about this thing.”

“She deserves to know.”

“Yeah, and I’ll tell her when this thing is dead.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Dustin was leaning against the wall next to a table full of snacks and drinks, ruefully chewing on some knock off brand cookies. His daggers were set on Steve who was chatting with his mom for most of the wake now. He still can’t believe he even showed up, the same boy who broke his sister’s heart and reverted her back into a bit of a hermit. Now, he loves his sister, his friends do too (probably as much as he does), but he kind of felt sad that after being disowned by Steve she decided to hang out with them more. Times at the arcade she was always driving them; The past few Halloweens she’s been stuck with them; A few times a week at school they would sneak outside for lunch and have it together. It was sad that no one else wanted to hang out with his sister, and it made him mad in more ways than one because of it.

Stupid ass people. He thought, taking another harsh bit out of the food.

“Uh, Dustin–” Lucas says, nudging him a bit. “Maybe try to be a little more subtle on the lasers you’re shooting out at Steve.”

Dustin doesn’t answer his question, instead replying with, “These aren’t real Nilla Wafers.”

“Alright enough about him for a moment.” Mike interrupts, and tries to be the reasonable one. “How do we do this?”

“Do what?” Dustin mumbled, turning and taking another handful of cookies, making his friend sigh.

As the boys were distracted a bit, Steve had finally finished the nice chat with Claudia. He almost forgot how sweet she was, and how he remembers he wishes his own mother was like that. It could explain why he was always over at Stephanie’s house when he was young (he kind of misses it). He excused himself for something to drink, only to accidentally wander into another conversation that couldn’t help but hearing.

Mike sighs. “Mr. Clarke. We were going to ask him our questions about another dimension.”

“Oh, right. Another dimension.” Dustin says, nonchalantly, his friends looking at each other with confusion.

“What’s your deal, man?” Lucas asked, confused on the sudden attitude change (and both him and Mike know it’s not about Steve).

“My deal is what if I’m actually wrong? What if they really are dead?”

Lucas made a look. “Dude, I’m supposed to be the skeptical one here. And besides, you’re the one who told us about hearing Will over the radio.”

“This funeral must be messing with your head.” Mike points out. “Will and Steph are alive. Where they are, we don’t know. But we aren’t going to know if we don’t ask Mr. Clarke about dimensional travel.”

“Yeah, man. Don’t be so down yet.” Lucas pats him on the back, before pointing out something. “Look. There he is.”

The Wheeler boy makes the first move, looking a bit sluggish to suggest he was sad. “Mr. Clarke?”

“Oh, hey there.” He says, sending them a bittersweet smile. “How are you boys holding up?”

“We’re in... mourning.” Lucas replies, pretending to be glum too.

“We were wondering if you had time to talk?” Mike asks, nervously.

“We have some questions.”

“A lot of questions.” Steve says out of the blue, shocking the kids who were not expecting this. As the kids looked like they were fishes out of water, Mr. Clarke was overjoyed to see him.

“Ah, Steven. I haven’t seen you in a while. My, you’ve grown to be quite the stud.” He replies, his ex-student bowing with excitement.

“You flatter me. Uh… the boys here were sharing a few things with me that I couldn’t really answer.” Steve points out, still having no idea where this was going and hopes he doesn’t screw it up. “But uh, hey! I always remember you were a man of answers.”

That seemed to fuel the adult’s ego a bit and got him more excited. “Oh, well, I can certainly try. Uh–” He gestures to an open table. “Let’s talk.”

Mike sits and is the first to speak, “So, you know how in Cosmos, Carl Sagan talks about other dimensions? Like, beyond our world?”

“Yeah, sure. Theoretically.”

“Right, theoretically.”

“So, theoretically, how do we travel there?” Lucas asks, getting right into it.

“Ah.” Mr. Clarke nods. “You guys have been thinking about Hugh Everett’s Many-Worlds Interpretation, haven’t you?”

The boys subtly glanced at each other, having no clue who he was talking about; Even Steve was trying to remember if he ever learned this when was young. But they shook their heads ‘Yes’, and went along with it.

“Well, basically, there are parallel universes.” The teacher begins. “Just like our world, but just infinite variations of it. Which means there’s a world out there where none of this tragic stuff ever happened.”

“Yeah, that’s not what they’re talking about.” Steve blurts out, before realizing he spoke. “Right?”

“Y-Yep!” Mike said, nodding eagerly.

“We were thinking of more of an evil dimension, like the Vale of Shadows.” Dustin replies, the anger disappearing for now. “You know the Vale of Shadows?”

Mr. Clarke’s face lights up a bit. “An echo of the Material Plane, where necrotic and shadow magic—”

“Yeah, exactly.” Mike butts in, quickly. “If that did exist, a place like the Vale of Shadows, how would we travel there?”

“Theoretically.” Lucas adds.

Mr. Clarke’s gaze locks with Steve’s, who just shrugs. “Hey, I told you I couldn’t answer their questions.” He says, rendering everyone silence.

The teacher took a moment to think this over. “Well…” He picks up an empty paper plate and takes out a pen, drawing two lines and a tiny stick figure on top of it. “Picture... an acrobat… standing on a tightrope.” He shows off his drawing to everyone, before holding in a position where everyone could see.

He continues, “Now, the tightrope is our dimension. And our dimension has rules. You can move forwards, or backwards.” He drew an arrow on each side of the figure. “But, what if… right next to our acrobat, there is a flea?” He draws a tiny insect next to it. “Now, the flea can also travel back and forth, just like the acrobat. Right?”

“Right.” They boys said, intrigued.

“Here’s where things get really interesting. The flea can also travel this way…” He draws an arrow between the two lines. “Along the side of the rope. He can even go…” And another below it. “Underneath the rope.”

“Upside down.” The boys said, in unison (Steve just flashed them a confused look).

“Exactly.”

“But we’re not the flea, we’re the acrobat.” Mike asked, everything clicking in place.

“In this metaphor, yes, we’re the acrobat.”

“So we can’t go upside down?” Lucas asked, an undertone of concern.

“No.”

“Well, is there any way for the acrobat to get to the Upside Down?” Dustin asked, hopefully.

“Well…” Mr. Clarke jogs his brain. “You’d have to create a massive amount of energy. More than humans are currently capable of creating, mind you, to open up some kind of tear in time and space, and then…” He folds the plate in half, and aggressively pokes his pen through it. “You create a doorway.”

“Like a gate?”

“Sure. Like a gate. But again, this is all–”

“Theoretical.” Lucas says, almost rolling his eyes at how many times this word was repeated.

“But…” Mike shifts in his seat, another question lingering around. “But what if this gate already existed?”

“Well, if it did, I... I think we’d know. It would disrupt gravity, the magnetic field, our environment. Heck, it might even swallow us up whole. Science is neat. But I’m afraid it’s not very forgiving.”

The boys were left awestruck, all three of them looking at each other and agreed on something in silence.

“Wow, uh… thanks, Mr. Clarke.” Mike replies, standing up. “You, uh, really answered our questions.”

“Any time. Is there anything else I can help you with?” He asked, as they shook their heads.

“Uh, nope! W-We’re good. We’re, uh…”

“We’re off to grieve some more.” Dustin said, his friends agreeing.

“Yep. Thanks again, Mr. Clarke. See you at school.”

“Uh–” He watches his students leave, a little thrown off by the mood swings. “See you around.”

“I… better see what’s up with them.” Steve replies, taking a stand too. “It was nice seeing you again.”

“You too.”

Steve quickened his pace to catch up with the group that was now outside, a small part of him can’t believe what he’s about to do or say. “I didn’t know you guys felt the same way.”

“Why are you following us?” Mike asked, stopping with annoyance all over his face.

“Look, I didn’t mean to bud in, but it just so happens that you guys feel the same way I do about this situation surrounding Stephanie and Will.”

Lucas rolls his eyes for real this time. “Ignore him. He probably just feels bad.” He says, and they started walking away, wanting some time alone to think their plan over.

“No, guys, come on. Listen to me.”

“Stop following us, man.”

“Guys, just a moment of your time–”

“Leave us alone.” Mike snaps harshly.

Steve sighs heavily, the debating he felt was necessary was suddenly over and he finally lets it out. “Her body’s fake!”

And like pressing pause on a TV, the boys immediately stopped. It took them a moment, a solid moment to process what he’d just said before turning around and staring like he was crazy.

Dustin was the first one to speak, the fierceness he spoke with earlier had returned with a hint of disbelief. “What?”

Well there’s no backing down now. Steve thought, and went along with the punches. “I went to the morgue last night, with the Police Chief. Your sister’s and Will’s bodies are fake. I don’t know what’s going on, but whatever happened to them, someone doesn’t want people to know how, what or why.”

“You went to the morgue?” Lucas said, after another moment, to process what he just admitted.

“With the Police Chief?” Mike adds.

Dustin shakes his head, not sure how he feels about this. “H-How do I know you’re not lying? You’re the reason my sister was in a rut that whole school year.”

Steve frowns, apologetically. “Listen, I’ll admit I was an asshole, but despite that, I would never, ever lie about something like this. Even if someone I didn’t know, I would never snoop that low. And…” He shifts his weight around. “And if you don’t believe me, you can call the Chief yourself. Although, he’d probably be pretty mad because he told me to forget about what I saw. So…”

Forget being gutted by my parents later, he would definitely kill me on sight if he knew about this. Steve waits anxiously as the boys look at each other, mutely communicating like they were doing earlier.

Lucas looks between them and shrugs (Even Mike does too, as Dustin looks a bit on edge still). “I think he’s telling the truth, man.”

“If he is, why bother?” Dustin asks, looking over at the teenager. “Your friendship’s been long gone with my sister.”

“Yeah, it has.” Steve admits, heart clenching again. “But it doesn’t change the fact that I know her, and when I found out the official ruling for her death, I knew something felt off.” His frown deepens. “I was going to do a little investigation on my own, until I overheard you boys talking about how you don’t buy any of this bullshit either.”

Although I’m still a little confused on the whole other dimension thing. But he kept his mouth shut for now as the boys looked at each other again.

“Can you excuse us for a second?” Mike said, turning around and pulling his friends into a huddle. “Listen–”

“No way.” Dustin says, putting his foot down.

Lucas sighs. “Dustin, look, I understand the hate for this guy, but either way, if we take him in or not, he’s going to be snooping around too. You know, you can’t beat ‘em, you join ‘em, right?”

“Plus, he is older, and he can get away with a lot more shit when things get tough for us.” Mike points out, and they all looked back at him for a second. “Come on, man. The more the merrier, you know?”

Lucas and Mike plead with Dustin with just a look, and soon he caves in.

“Fine.” He says, arms crossed. “But the moment he disrespects my sister, he’s out.”

“Agreed.” Lucas said, and they disassembled.

“Hey, Steve?” Mike said, getting his attention. “You think you can come over to my house afterwards?”

-To Be Continued-

Read Part 2: Here

-Taglist is Open-

@ladygrey03 @poppet05 @tooearlyforthis @lovesfics @lordzzz

@mirkwoodshewolf @sadbitchfangirl @olivewisp

@emsownuniverse @unspecifiedvisitor @smaryamsstuff @kitty49646 @jinxeee @bookkeeperlove @prozacgooble @goth-baby98 @aainr @luca-random-stuff @catradorapotter

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frcvnds · 2 months

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Audrey Rose HEADCANONS

- She loves the color pink but only in certain shades, and is very picky about what shades of pink she’ll wear or interact with in general

- For obvious reasons, she despises the color purple..

- Despite her last name, her favorite flowers aren’t roses, ironically, but peonies and petunias

- Growing up, her closest friends were Lonnie, Ben, and Jane

- When Audrey and Ben first met she didn’t like him romantically, since they were six at the time and she thought boys had cooties

- Audrey loved Ben as her boyfriend, but found more of a friendship and connection in his best friend, Chad Charming

- She used to have big birthday bashes and would invite all of her Auradon friends

- After she and Ben broke up she threw one, bought all the decorations herself, invited all her closest friends, but nobody showed up except for Chad. She was devastated

- Chad took her to his family’s castle that day to cheer her up so now she spends every birthday with him and his family

- Audrey love babysitting and loves little kids, particularly little girls. She loves taking them to her cottage, playing dress up or fairies and reading bedtime stories.

-Her favorite person to babysit is Chad’s little sister Chloe.

- She hates sushi. She doesn’t like smell of seafood, as it makes her stomach queasy, and she tried sushi one time, which caused some serious food poisoning and gave her a bad impression of it altogether.

- Audrey’s not a big sports fan. Her dad is, which is why Ben got along so well with her family, but she could never get herself to sit for hours and watch guys shove each other and toss around a ball.

-She enjoys tourney though, strangely enough, and is invested enough to learn the rules and concept of the game.

- For a long time she had night terrors of what happened to her mother happening to her. Her family told her the story of Sleeping Beauty and her grandmother in particular instilled that fear into her

- Audrey loves to cook.

-Her family, like most fairytale monarchies, are very traditional and taught her those “wifely” skills very early on, as she was arranged to be married to Prince Ben, and her grandmother insisted that no one would love her if she didn’t know how to cook and clean.

-That was not why Audrey loved cooking though. She enjoyed it because it gave her an outlet for being good at something outside of herself and was a way to share her joy with others

#that was all I could think of at the moment #descendants #audrey rose #ben florian #chad charming #chloe charming

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sparks-olivarpente · 1 year

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Byler reunion fics list

Here is a list of "Will and Mike haven't talked for months/years and now find their way back to each other" fics I've read and loved! If you know of other such fics or have written one, please reblog and add them :) Thanks to the writers <3

are there still beautiful things? by @aceoflanterns will attends an open mic poetry night at a local cafe, invitation courtesy of one max mayfield. this turns out the unexpected effect of seeing one mike wheeler again… and maybe also sparking a conversation long overdue.

see me (i'm waiting for the right time) by agustplz (shout_out_lou) It's been ten months since the last time Mike and Will last spoke. Mike shows up at his dorm in Chicago, determined to fix things for good.

the gaps and the silence by @parkitaco (delusionaltogether) "Oh my God, I had such a crush on you back then," Mike says, laughing a little, and sounds so easy with it that it takes Will a couple of seconds to process. or, will and mike reunite 5 years after their friendship ends

bury me in metamorphoses by @hiscleric It’s been seven years since Will Byers vanished from Hawkins for the second time; seven years since he picked up his life, moved across the globe, and finally settled. OR: Running away and the reunion of a lifetime.

anything, anything by inblue It isn’t before Will is inside Mike’s two-bedroom apartment for the first time that Mike realizes a part of him had expected the world to implode as soon as he stepped past the threshold, as if Will’s presence in Mike’s apartment would trigger some sort of ancient curse or something. Or: Five years after the Byers family leaves Hawkins, Mike and Will rediscover each other within a small apartment in New York.

things lost, buried, and found again by iwannabeyourpoetry It’s December 1993 when, in the wake of Lonnie Byers’ untimely death, Will finds himself returning to Hawkins for the first time in years—a morose husk of the person he once was.

Lost Without You by Julia_Skysong After graduating, both Mike and Will struggled to adjust to life after the Upside Down. It didn't help they had already drifted apart. But now, 8 years later, Mike finally reached out again, and the 2 struggle to rebuild their friendship while also hiding their romantic feelings for each other.

The Crossover by @futureboy-ao3 (nbfutureboy) Will Byers, a comic book author and illustrator at the very beginning of his career, initially turns down the invitation to Hawkins ‘HorrorCon’. But after hearing that a certain musician has gone missing - and despite the fact that Mike and Will haven’t spoken since their high school graduation - he can’t seem to shake the feeling something’s seriously wrong. With embeded sounds and songs! :D

More Than a Metaphor by Nikocat Will Byers returns home from college for the first time for Christmas break and he's a bundle of nerves. He's reckoned with some deep truths while away at school, finally coming to accept that he's gay. While he can be open and honest in his new city of New York, Hawkins is an entirely different story. Or Will Byers comes out to the people he loves and gets more than he bargained for.

Reunion by Nymphadoragreenleaf Will comes back after two years away and Mike can't wait to spend the summer with him! But there's someone with him… bonus: Mike being secretly good at cooking <3

The Cemetery Dance by oceanfruit Will doesn't like his memory. He calls it his inflammable wood-- No matter how long it sits out and dries, a fire can never quite catch. Even with the challenges, he tries to forget, hoping one day he'd become unrecognizable. Yet there are things, people, that exist with him in a ghost-like manner. or, Will works in a restaurant, his memories wont let him alone and he can't stand the flickering light. When someone from his past walks in… AU full of mystery!

Path of the Paladin by olliecoddle "A paladin who has broken a vow typically seeks absolution from a cleric… " or, a few hours after delivering his father’s eulogy, Mike Wheeler punched his former best friend squarely in the face.

Can This Be a Real Thing (Can It?) by Pseudologia They’d graduated and Will had disappeared — not just to Mike, to everyone. It’s not like it was mean-spirited. He needed to leave Hawkins in the rearview, to figure out who he was without the ghosts of monsters at his heels (…) Except, well, now Mike is sitting here, at a gay bar…

Fool Me Once by @queerxqueen It took nearly three years of growing apart, but Will Byers has finally gotten used to life without Mike Wheeler. He has El, he has Max, he has his art, and, as of two days ago, he has a full ride to art school in Chicago, so things are good. Right? So when Mike climbs through his window one night and stumbles back into his life, Will’s not prepared for the resurgence of old feelings…

I Wanna Be Anything You've Lost by @edelweiss-coffee (scout_thewise) Will left his hometown after graduation, determined to get to know himself in New York City. It's 1992, he has a great job as a florist at The Secret Garden, and life is beautiful and fulfilling. He wouldn't change a thing… -or- Someone familiar has been hired at the coffee shop below his loft, and Will's avoidance tactics are taking a rough blow.

meet me at memory lane by @smoosnoom Still, it’s fine. It’s all fine. He’s allowed a bad day or two. It’s fine. “Will?” What’s not fine, however, is when he finds Mike Wheeler on his front porch step. or, It's senior year, and, after three years of silence, Mike and Will find their way back to each other.

Shrike by StepfordSnarker It's the late '80s, and Will is coping with the loneliness of having left the Party behind (…) It's the early '90s, and Mike is coming to understand that there are some people worth losing your false sense of self for. But now that Mike and Will have parted ways, this realization may have come too late.

Stepping On the Last Train by @suzieburself After everything they've been through, it is Mike who rips off the final band-aid of their friendship. Years pass of Will pretending like he never thinks about Mike at all. Years pass of him forging his own life and finally letting go. But when a young boy shows up at Will's apartment, it becomes clear that he'll never fully be done with Mike Wheeler.

I’m a Wreck (Without You Here) by @talkingtothelights Mike has been living 2,200 miles away from his family and hometown for the past fourteen years. He rarely visits, but when he receives heartbreaking news, he’s forced to return home for a funeral. It’s in this unfortunate chapter of life that Mike must come to terms with the consequences of abruptly running away from home and perhaps reconnect with the one person he’s tried his damnedest to forget about.

#this took me forever to write x_x #but i love reunion fics #byler #byler fic recs #byler fic #byler reunion fics #reunion fics

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spopsalt · 7 months

Note

Hi friend, today we are gonna discuss or talk about Rogelio x Kyle ship because the ship is not but actually so scary/srs

let's stars: Scorpia says out of the blue that Kyle has a crush on Rogelio but if you pause and take a minute to think it it's wierd and disgusting because Kyle is a person and Rogelio an animal. Remember that Rogelio is not like C*tr*, his not a human, his a lizard . I mean what the shows says is that a person ( in this case, Kyle ) has a crush on an animal ( in this case, Rogelio ) and that's zoophile. I mean, it took me hour to realize why i felt the ship was wrong and then i realize Nate created a zoophile ship. Idk ic C*tradora counts too because yes C*tr* is an animal a cat but she's also a human so idk but still awfull. But well, i don't have any questions but i would like to know your opinion about this

I'm so glad that I'm not the only person who feels this way! I love Kyle but Rogelio is a literal lizard, he is not shown to be able to talk like Catra, he only speaks in grunts and him and Kyle are never shown to understand each other, Rogelio and Lonnie are the only ones shown to understand each other consistently, Rogelio is never shown to understand Kyle, and Kyle is never shown to understand Rogelio, which just makes the ship really icky for me. At least Catra, despite being a horrible person who did not deserve Adora was shown to speak and understand Adora.

#anti rogekyle #or whatever the ship name is #I love kyle #but seriously?#Did spop have to make him have a crush on a lizard man?#anti spop #spop criticism #spop crit #anti catra #spop salt #anti c//a #spop discourse #antic//a #anti catradora #spop critical

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websterss · 2 years

Text

THE HADDONFIELD BOOGEYMAN — EVAN BUCKLEY

SUMMARY: Halloween can be scary, especially with a pyscho killer running around town.

WARNING(S): Angst, fluff, mentions of blood, mentions of massacre and dying

WORD COUNT: 2,523

PAIRING: Evan Buckley x fem!Reader

A/N: I hope you guys enjoy it! Feedback is always welcomed!

MASTERLIST

2018, Haddonfield, Illinois

Travesty broke through the town of Haddonfield again. It appeared that nothing could kill the man named Michael Myers. Yet man seemed like an oversimplification. Someone who could take hit after hit. That wasn’t a man, he was the eternal of evil, and he was wreaking havoc on Halloween night again.

And what better way than for you to spend your Halloween. Slumping it with a nice cold beer at Mic’s Bar. Watching the oh so talent your neighbors and friends possess. You raised your beer to the previous girl group who finished up. Applause rumbled up the bar. You took another sip of your beer then checked your phone. No messages from Buck yet. He usually checked up at this hour of the night, but you wouldn’t hold it against him. His job required his full attention. “Another round Y/n?” The bartender caught your attention. You sighed and put your phone down.

“Keep them coming!”

“Ladies and gentleman, I’d like to introduce our next Thespian, now I used to bust this guy’s balls when we were kids, but he is all grown up now, and he’s become the most captivating…bird whistler.” Lonnie Elam ran off stage and then walked on, Tommy Doyle.

“Hey everybody.”

You turn around on the stool and rest your back against the counter. If you were gonna stay here, then you were gonna enjoy the most of it.

“Uhh Lonnie put me up to this shit.” Tommy adjusted the mic stand to his liking. “I’m not gonna whistle for ya…instead I’m gonna tell you a story.”

“Ghost and Goblins!”

You chuckled at the girl who shouted out. That got everyone to laugh.

“Any of you know the story about Haddonfield’s Boogeyman?” When he got no reply he continued. “Too young to give a shit, too drunk to remember?”

It was silent. Yet he kept going.

“Forty years ago, a madman escaped from a mental hospital. It was the night before Halloween and three teenage girls were walking home from Haddonfield High. They had sightings of…a ghost-like figure creeping right through our town. A man in a white mask, or was it more than a man…” A shiver ran down your spine as you pulled down your long sleeve shirt. “He was watching them. Before the night was over, three people would be murdered. And the house next door, there was a babysitter, and a young boy and a young girl, and they were brutally attacked by this stalker. Who had a power, beyond any mortal man.” Whispers and chatter arose amongst everyone. “My name is Tommy Doyle…and I was that young boy.” Gasp of disbelief could be heard in the crowd. “So please join me in commemorating the victims and the survivors of Michael Myers.” You brought your hands together to clap along with everyone. It was touching. “Now we have the lovely Miss Lindsey Wallace, her babysitter Amy Brackett was executed that night. Now we have Miss Marion Chambers, she survived an assault. We have Lonnie Elam.” Tommy took the big spotlight and shined it down on each three of them. “Lonnie survived a face to face encounter.” Your eyes grew big. Your parents and friends always told you it was a myth. You were one of those “I gotta see it to believe it” types. Safe to say you’ve never encountered Michael Myers. Not really sure what you’d do or how’d you react if you did, but hearing other people survive him, it scared you half to death.

Yet you wouldn’t know that the only reason they survived was because they were children at the time, and Michael Myers never killed children.

“It’s Halloween night in Haddonfield, when terror is supposed to be fun…” Tommy stared into the crowd. “When we hide behind masks, and we pretend we aren’t who we are. Is he real…who knows? Who’s next? Maybe not tonight, maybe not tomorrow, but the Boogeyman is coming for me, and he’s coming for you, but he’s not gonna get us. Not this time! Because we will never succumb to fear. This is for your Laurie! Wherever you are!”

You grabbed your drink and raised it up in salute to this Laurie chick. You gulped down the rest of your drink and asked Brian for another one. “Brian can I have one more?” You raised your pointer finger.

“That makes three now…and you drove here right?” He asked you.

“Mhmm.”

He scoffed and came back with-

“Water? I asked for a beer…”

“And I need a raise for taking care of you careless drinkers, but you know what…”

“What?” You laughed rolling your eyes.

“Life’s a bitch like that.” You pouted and traced the rim of the glass. “Drink your water!” He gestured to the glass in front of you.

“Alright, alright.”

“Copy that. Utilities are being shut down!”

Buck slammed his shoulder into a door of the house looking around and calling out for any survivors.

“We got a gas fed fire in here!” Buck spoke into his walkie.

His partner that was with him gestured to him to continue moving forward. “Ten-four. Stand by!”

“Copy!” Buck dragged the heavy hose then released the water. Hoping to reduce the amount of fire that was spreading like crazy.

“Assignment complete! Utilities are disengaged.”

“Copy! Eyes on the roof. Watch out.” Buck warned as some of the wood from the floor was starting to break. “With me!”

“Command ladder 13, do you copy?”

As he kept walking further into the house the radio chatter became indistinctive. He was worried he was missing something.

“This is Buck with Engine 118, I didn’t quite catch that!”

Nothing could be heard but the loud crashing that came from behind him. He whipped around and walked closer to the edge.

“Mayday, mayday, mayday, we have a firefighter down. There’s been a structural collapse. We have a firefighter that fell through. I repeat we have a firefighter down, over!” He peered down. “Brenton you okay?”

“M-My air supply is busted.” He then pulled his emergency alert button on his portable radio.

“Radio silence, we have a mayday alert!”

“I’m gonna get you out of there, okay? Just hang tight alright.” Buck called out to him. Brenton called out to his radio. “This is Brenton with Engine 8. There’s been a structural collapse. M-My air supply is compromised. PASS alarm has been activated…Oh shit!” Brenton’s eyes widened as he saw a masked figure standing not more than a few feet away from where he lay.

“Come in, Engine 13, Engine 118.”

“There’s somebody else down here!” Brentom exclaimed as the man walked over to him. He was then kicked in the face making him head his head against the ground.

“Brenton!” Buck watched with wide eyes as the man started beating the shit out of him. “Do you copy?”

Brenton felt his world stop as finally realized who hovered over him. It was Michael Myers. He cried out as he saw the pick ax being raised. “Buck run!”

“No!” Buck cried out for the man, but stumbled back as Michael turned around to look up at him. Buck didn’t think for a second to get the hell out of there.

It had been some time late in the evening when every phone in that damn bar started going off and chimming.

“Oh my god!” Marion gasped. “Tommy look, hey turn it up!”

Brian turned the Tv on, and what popped up on the screen had turned out to be your worst nightmare yet.

“…at the service station earlier today. This evening four bodies were discovered in three homes along the same residential street. Residents of North Haddonfield are on high alert. Officials are investigating.” The newsported announced. The man followed up with a report about a house fire, but what was said about a huge massacre of firefighters made your heart plummet to your feet.

“Hey isn’t Buck on that call?” Brian pointed out to you.

Your glass shattered to the floor as you stood up grabbing your coat and keys. “Oh my god!” You felt like you were gonna throw up.

“Hey it’s not safe out there.” The man Tommy called after you. “Y/n!”

“It’s not safe anywhere!” You pushed your way through people to get to the door.

“Y/n, be careful!” Brian called out after you.

“Got a goddamn massacre on our hands.” Sheriff Baker stood up from peering inside of the car with a decapitated head inside. “Graham.”

“Yes sir!”

“Establish a perimeter.”

“Copy that!”

Sheriff Bakker walked around the car to fully inspect the blood shed before him. Firefighters dropped dead on the lawn. Heads bashed into, you could hardly even recognize them anymore. “Motherfucker!”

When you got to the location you had quickly put the car in park. The car rolled a centimeter as you got out. You looked at all the chaos, mostly seeing officers, and…

“S-Sheriff Barker!” You ducked under the ‘do not cross’ tape line and ran towards the tragic scene before you.

“Attention, all responders. Be advised we have a violent criminal at large, armed and dangerous.” Graham spoke into his megaphone. “We will deploy all units of frontline and tactical officers to search the area. This fugitive is on foot…and his name is Michael Myers!”

You stumbled back seeing the mess Michael left behind. All what once was the boogeyman used to scare children to go sleep or eat their veggies was now a reality. None of the firefighters were spared, and if that were the truth then that meant….You were pulled out of your daze feeling hands lightly push you away from the scene.

“Y/n, I’m gonna need you to step back, you can’t be here right now.”

“Is my fiance here? I need to know if Buck’s here?” You brushed past him trying to look for him.

“Y/n please-”

“H-Has anyone seen Evan Buckley? First responder Evan Buckley! He’s with Engine 118. Please, has anyone seen my fiancé!” You frantically looked around, shouting and trying to get the attention of any of the officers around you. Your breathing was growing uneven with every swivel of a turn and whip of your head you did.

“Evan!” You cupped your mouth glancing over at the dead first responders. “Oh g-god…” You almost threw up at the scene. Dead wasn’t even the correct term to describe the horrid scene before you. You didn’t even want to imagine that Evan could be amongst the bodies. “Evan!” You shouted out again. “Evan-“

“Y-Y/n?”

You turned around and let out a broken sob. There he was. He wasn’t dead, he wasn’t dead. You kept repeating to yourself. The love of your life wasn’t dead. You ran over to him. When you reached him, you didn’t know how to grab him, whether or not to tighten your grip on him or wrap your legs around him like your life depended on it. You didn’t know. You pulled him in close. Your hand curling around the back of his head of hair. His face falling into the crook of your neck.

“Oh my god!” You thanked whoever the hell was listening to you. “I thought you were dead. I thought he killed you. A-Are you hurt?” You examined him for any injuries. Buck shook his head no.

“I’m okay, I promise. I hid in the woods as soon as he killed the captain.” He whimpered into your neck. “I-I didn’t do anything, I didn’t help anyone. I just ran like a coward…” It was your turn to shake your head.

“No, Evan no. You’re human okay, those were just your instincts kicking in. I think anyone would have ran. But if I’m thinking selfishly…” A tear fell down your cheek. “I’m glad you did, I’m glad you didn’t stay rooted to one place.” You nodded furiously. “I’m glad you’re right here in front of me. I’m so glad!”

“I was scared.” He shook his head sitting at the back of the ambulance. “I couldn’t breathe, and then he came out of the burning house…picking us off one by one. I didn’t think I was going to see you again.” You reached forward and cupped his face. He looked exhausted. You turned your hand and placed the back of it against his forehead. He was sweaty and warm.

“Let’s go home.” Buck sighed his head falling forward against your chest. “Please.”

“W-We can’t.” Your voice cracked. “He’s still out there.” You were trying to stay calm for you and for him. Yet your heart that was practically beating out your chest told you otherwise.

“Five years.” Buck said out of the blue. He scoffed then chuckled, shaking his head.

“What?”

“I’ve never seen him in Haddonfield for five years. Each year on Halloween for five years, he’s shown up and killed people.” He looked down at his lap. “You don’t really start believing the stories they tell you until you see the blood and the bodies on the ground and when you finally do. You start realizing there’s a pattern. One after the other, bodies start dropping, people go missing from a party….and there’s nothing you can do. I’m supposed to save people, but lately…there hasn’t been a whole lot of that.” A tear fell down his head.

“You’re not invincible, Evan Buckley.” You half-heartedly laughed as you caressed his birthmark on his left eye. “A firefighter, yes, but you act like you have more than nine lives. You can’t keep over exerting yourself because one day you’re gonna push too far, and something is gonna shove back. I’m scared of what that day will feel like. I am. I adore how much you love this job, and I love you for being the caring and loving person you are.”

“But?” He looked up at you, frowning a bit.

“I can’t stop you from running into a burning building…I knew the minute that I met you what I was signing up for. I can’t stop you, but I can tell you I can’t bear to lose you. You’re too important to me.” You pressed your head against his.

“I can’t lose you either.” He turned his head and pressed his lips against yours. You placed your hands on his cheeks trying to cherish the moment while it lasted since tonight was still going on, and Michael was on a killing spree. “We can’t stay here, we have to go somewhere safe.”

“Where else would we even go?” You looked back at the blood bash. Covers being draped over the dead firefighters. You shivered and focused on Buck’s touch.

Buck stopped for a second and thought about it. Then it looked like a lightbulb went off inside his head.

“There’s always the fire station. He’s never really gone there over the time I’ve lived here. We can try there.”

“As long as I don’t look like them…I’m all in.”

“Nothing’s gonna happen to you, not on my watch okay?”

“I trust you.” You nodded and took his hand. He got up and you guys walked over to your car.

#evan buckley #evan buckley imagines #evan buckley imagine #evan buckley x fem!reader #evan buckley x reader #my gif #writings by juls

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hbyrde36 · 10 months

Text

The Crawl

Part 1 of 5

AO3

Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson | WC: 3340

Will Byers is only 12 years old when he learns that monsters are real, and is taken far away to another world that looks like his home, but isn't. The only thing they know for sure about the other dimension is that it does not play by the rules of the real world, and that, as the newest member of the party comes to realize, has possibilities. Time travel stories love to play with the idea that one small act can have an incredible impact on the future. What if, in a weird twist of fate, Will is found in the Upside-Down by a friendly face that just can't keep his mouth shut and is sent home safely with a warning of what's to come. Will it be enough to change everything?

Inspired by the VERY little information we have about the Stranger Things writer's plans for season 5

-Will-

Will Byers was only 12 years old when he learned that monsters were real.

The party had just finished up a marathon gaming session at Mike’s house. None of them wanted to leave, but they'd been playing for hours and it was a school night. Everything was fine until he and Dustin split up, the other boy taking the turn that would get him home, while Will kept going towards his own house. It was dark out and the old light on the front of his bicycle had started flickering again when some thing suddenly appeared in the middle of the street.

He only got a glimpse of it as he crashed his bike, but it was horrifying. Taller than a man and made sounds that sent chills running up and down his spine.

Sounds no human mouth could produce.

Will left his bike where it lay and ran. Home wasn’t far, he could make it. His Mom would be there. Jonathan would be there. He’d be safe.

Except the house was empty when he arrived save for Tucker, who wouldn't stop barking. Dogs always seem to be able to sense when something is wrong. Will peeked out the window to see if the coast was clear, but the creature had followed him and was still lurking around outside.

He tried the phone, dialing 911 just like he was taught to do in an emergency, but it was no use. Something was wrong with the line. All he could hear on the other end was static and a distant screeching.

It didn’t matter, it was too late for anyone to help him anyway.

The monster was at the front door.

Will took off through the back door and headed straight to the shed where they kept Lonny’s old shotgun. If no one was coming to save him, he’d have to try and save himself.

He loaded the gun with shaking hands, aiming it at the door where the monster would undoubtedly be coming from. Little did he know, this creature didn’t play by the rules of Will’s world.

It was so cold in this place. This world that looked like Hawkins, but wasn’t. The monster had brought Will here, taken him through some kind of portal that had opened up in the wall.

He was confused, to say the least, but he knew instantly that he’d been transported somewhere else.

The sky was wrong and the air was thick and there was this weird ash falling all around him. It was harder to breathe here.

But he was small and quick and somehow he managed to escape the monster and hid in and around the wrong version of his house for a long time.

He tried so many different ways to talk to his mom, but it seemed like everytime he got close to her the monster would sense it and reappear. Eventually it got so bad that he had to abandon the house altogether, for his own safety and for his mom’s.

He didn’t want to risk that thing crossing back into his Hawkins and hurting her or Jonathan, or any of his friends.

Will went to the only other place he could think of that felt safe. A place where maybe the monsters wouldn’t find him. Castle Byers, his fort in the middle of the woods, his home away from home.

It took a lot out of him, getting there. Will didn’t know how long he’d been in this Wrong Hawkins, days at least, but he hadn’t had any food or water in all that time, and it was starting to take its toll. He shivered constantly now, and it wasn’t long before he could scarcely do more than lay on the makeshift cot in his hut made of branches and sing to himself for company.

“Should I stay or should I go now?

Should I stay or should I go now?

If I go, there will be trouble

And if I stay it will be double

So come on and let me know”

He wondered if he’d ever get to see his family again. If his loved ones would know what happened to him.

Will stopped singing as he heard a twig snap outside only a few yards away. Then another, and another.

The monster had found him.

He didn’t run this time. Not that he wasn’t scared anymore, he was petrified. He didn’t want to die. He was just too tired, too weak to get away again.

He stayed where he was and braced himself for the claws and teeth, squeezing his eyes shut thinking that maybe if he didn’t see it coming it wouldn’t hurt so much.

“Baby Byers? Is that you?”

Will’s eyes snapped back open. He couldn’t believe it. It wasn't the monster with the flower petal mouth peeking in through the door. It was another boy, a much older boy.

The boy stepped cautiously inside the fort and crouched down next to where Will was laying.

Up close he could see the older boy a little better. He had long dark curly hair hanging down from under a bandana that was wrapped around his head. He was ghostly pale, with big brown eyes that were tinged with just the slightest bit of red, and ruined clothes that were splattered with dried blood.

In any other circumstances the boy would have been a terrifying sight, but when you’ve been faced with nothing but actual monsters for so long, seeing another person even in this condition felt like hope.

“Yeah, I’m Will.” He managed to answer.

The boy grinned widely. “No shit? Hah! It really is you! This is wild, man. I mean, it was a crazy theory , right? But I thought, shit , if this place is stuck in 1983, and just between you and me I think time is a little screwy here all around, I figured- I don’t have anything better to do, let me see if I can find the Baby Byers from back when all this started, and here you are!”

Will had absolutely no idea what this guy was going on about, but he sounded happy about it, and now Will wasn’t alone anymore.

He had help.

“Who are you?” He asked.

The strange boy’s face screwed up in thought. Will couldn’t help but be amused at how dramatic his movements were. How expressive he was even in this bleak wasteland of a world.

“Listen, I don’t want to make a creepy situation even creepier, but I don’t know if I should tell you my name. I don’t know how all this works or what kind of effect it might have on future events, y'know?”

Will didn’t know.

None of what the other boy said was making any sense to him. He tried to respond, to ask the boy to slow down or explain what he meant, but the words got caught in his throat as he began to have a coughing fit.

The boy rested the back of his hand on Will’s forehead, just like his mom always did when checking him for a fever.

“Jesus, kid. You’re freezing.”

The boy shucked off his green vest and let it fall to the floor before removing the black leather jacket he had on beneath it and laid it down over Will like a blanket.

When his chattering teeth slowed a bit and the cough had stopped, Will asked, “Won’t you get cold?”

The boy waved a hand through the air dismissively. “I’ll be fine. I don’t really feel the cold anymore.”

It was an ominous admission that when coupled with everything else Will couldn’t ignore.

“ What are you?” Will asked, almost more curious than anything, really. He probably should have been more afraid of the boy than he was, but he was being so kind that it was hard to care that he might not be completely human.

The boy shrugged, seemingly unbothered by the question. “I’m… just a guy who got mixed up in this place because of a monster, same as you.”

Will narrowed his eyes. It felt like the truth, just maybe not the whole truth. “And you're sure you can’t tell me your name?” He pushed.

“You are persistent, kid. I’ll give you that.” The boy said with a laugh. “ Now I understand why you and Mike get along so well.”

“You know Mike?!” Will said excitedly.

“Shit.” The boy cursed as if he’d said more than he meant to. He looked nervous suddenly but recovered quickly. “Not important. What is important is getting you out of here. Can you walk if I help you?”

“I think so.”

“Good!” He said, reaching out to help Will shrug his arms into the sleeves of the oversized jacket. “Because I think I know how to get you out of here. Let’s get going, Will the Wise.”

Will stared up at the other boy, mouth dropped open a little in surprise. “How do you know that ?”

“I know a lot of things…” The strange boy mumbled to himself, trailing off and staring into space a little as they stepped out of the fort and started walking. He kept one hand resting on Will’s back, ready to help if he stumbled or got too tired. He hadn’t felt this safe in days.

“Oh.” The boy gasped suddenly, and out of nowhere. “Okay, yea. This could work!” He grinned down at Will and patted his back gently. “We’re going to do it your way.”

“You know you're not making any sense, right?” Will asked, giving him a little sideways look.

The boy cackled, eyes shining with amusement. “Right, yeah. Okay, let’s start over.”

He halted their steps and turned to Will, offering his hand to shake. “Hi, my name is Eddie and I'm from the future.” He tilted his head. “Sort of”

Will cracked a smile, letting out a soft laugh of his own.

“What? No gasp in awe? No sounds of surprise?” Eddie asked.

Will shook his head, still grinning as they resumed walking.

“Jeez, you throw a kid into another dimension for half a week and he goes all cynical on ya.”

“Another dimension?”

“Oh yeah. You guys call it the Upside Down, I think Mike, Lucas, and Dustin came up with it while you were in here. They also named all the monsters and shit after things from D&D.” Eddie started ticking things off on his fingers. “The tall humanoid thing is the demogorgon.”

“But-” Will began.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s not what the demogorgon looks like . I said the same thing, just go with it. Then there's Demodogs, the one’s kinda self explanatory. Demobats too, and the Mind Flayer. But– here’s the thing, what you don’t know, at least not yet, is that it’s all connected to one guy. He’s controlling them.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand.” Will was doing his best to keep up. He made a point to remember every word Eddie said in case it was important, even if he didn’t understand what any of it meant now. Eddie said he was from the future, if that was true maybe it would all make sense later.

“I know, kid, I know.” Eddie shook his head. “There's so much that hasn’t happened to you yet. It’s hard to explain, even I don’t get it all, and we don’t have much time. I think the sooner we get you out of here the better.”

Will wanted to ask why Eddie kept talking like he was the only one getting out of here. Surely Eddie would come along too, right? He couldn’t want to stay here. He looked like he needed a hospital.

“Okay let me think, some of it’s a little fuzzy, but maybe I can just rattle off what I do remember. Uh, 1984, next year, Halloween. The shit’s gonna hit the fan again with all this stuff. You’ll… hell, you’ll just have to be careful and keep an eye out because I don’t know much about that one except that there were demodogs involved. I think Dustin actually kept one as a pet for a while or something.”

“What?!”

“It’s Dustin! Would you expect any less?”

Will shrugged. “I guess not.”

“It’ll be fine. Stick with Steve, he’ll keep you guys safe.”

“Oh. Who’s Steve?” Will asked.

“In 1983? He’s Nancy Wheeler’s boyfriend, or about to be. Don't worry about it right now, you’ll meet him eventually.” Eddie tapped his own chin, thinking. “What else, um, 1985. Something definitely happens at the mall.”

“What mall?”

“Oh right, they didn’t start building it until ‘84. It’ll be there. Anyway, there’s a fire, but it’s not a fire and somehow there were Russians involved and Steve and Robin got tortured and– Oh! And Hopper died!”

Eddie grimaced at his own tone. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay, good to know I guess. What should we do then?”

“I”m gonna go with the same advice as before and say stick with Steve. He always seems to manage to keep you brats safe, although honestly for that one you kids should probably be keeping an eye on him . Just, uh… don’t let him or Robin go near any elevators.”

Will nodded along as if that made any sense. Maybe it would one day, or maybe this was all a hallucination. “So is that it? Is it over after that?”

Eddie looked away. Face going carefully blank which was a stark contrast to the way he’d been up until now. “No, after that it… We call him Vecna… He started picking kids off. Chrissy Cunningham, she’s his first victim. She…” Eddie trailed off, a faraway look in his eye.

As they approached some kind of facility Eddie stopped walking abruptly and squatting down so he and Will were eye to eye. They had reached a tall chain link fence that surrounded a huge building. The sign outside indicated that it was Hawkins Lab. Will had heard of the place but he’d never been there before.

“I don’t think I can take you any farther than this.” Eddie said. “You’ll have to walk in there on your own, but from what I understand that’s where your mom and Hopper came in and out from when they rescued you.”

“My mom found me?” It was crazy how easily he was starting to believe all the things Eddie was saying, but it was all a little too weird for it to be a lie

Eddie nodded. “She sure did. Your mom is a total badass. I might not have known what was going on back then, but even I remember how everyone in town tried to tell her you were dead. She refused to believe it, and she was right.”

Eddie got quiet for a moment. He looked back up at the massive building for a long minute before bringing his attention back to Will.

“Will, I don’t know if any of this will make a difference, and there is so much more I should probably be telling you, but I don’t know how to explain it so you’ll understand. Just, trust each other, all right? Stick together no matter what. You're gonna meet a girl when you get out of here. A girl with superpowers named Eleven, like the number. I don’t know shit about her story really, but I do know this all comes down to her. Her and Vecna. When the time comes remember that Vecna is Henry Creel, and Henry Creel is One. A number, just like Eleven. He used to be human, they knew each other before, and he’s after her just as much as he’s after a way to get out of this place. That's the key. If you can kill Vecna, then I think all of this will finally be over.“

“Is that what happened, did Vecna do this to you?” It was the first time Will had openly acknowledged Eddie’s odd appearance and all the blood and wounds that were easily visible through the rips in his shirt.

Eddie offered him a sad smile and dodged the question. “Just because we failed, doesn’t mean you will. Maybe this small change, getting you out of here early, and giving you my admittedly lacking knowledge of the future, will make a difference.”

Will opened his mouth, hesitating before closing it again. There was so much he wanted to say. He wanted to beg Eddie to come with him, to ask if they’d ever see each other again, but somehow he already knew Eddie wouldn’t answer. He wouldn’t leave this place, maybe couldn’t.

Instead of saying anything he threw his small arms around the strange boy's waist, careful to avoid his wounds, and hugged him tightly. Eddie embraced him in return, patting his back awkwardly as they separated. Then he walked up to the fence and bent down pulling at the bottom of the chainlink until it was curled up enough that Will could crawl underneath it to the other side.

Eddie spoke to him one last time through the fence. “Somewhere in that building is a gate, a portal back home. There should be men monitoring it. Let them find you and bring you home, you’ll be alright.”

Once he was back in the Right-Side-Up, when he was finally home and recovered from his ordeal, Will tried to tell everyone about the strange looking older boy named Eddie who had helped him get out of the Upside Down. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t the type of kid to make up stories, not outside a game of D&D at least.

No one believed him.

“Then how did I know you named it the Upside Down? How did I know Eleven’s name or the fact that she had superpowers?” Will had argued.

Unfortunately, once the men in hazmat suits had come to pull him through the gate, he’d sort of passed out and spent the next few days unconscious in the hospital wing of Hawkins Lab.

Mike had been there almost the whole time, sometimes joined by Lucas and Dustin as well, and they would talk to Will as he slept about everything that had happened while he’d been gone. When he finally woke up and tried to explain what really happened to him, everyone assumed that he knew these things, the name of the place he’d been, the name of the monsters, and about El and everything else, because he’d heard his friends talking to him as he slept. Even Doctor Owens, the one nice man he’d met who worked for the lab, had said it was a possibility.

Everyone thought his mind had invented Eddie, that the strange boy had been nothing more than a visual and auditory hallucination to help him deal with what was happening to him.

It didn't even matter that he had actual physical evidence in the form of a worn black leather jacket. Once again, it was explained away. It was probably one of Lonny’s old jackets that he found and put on because it was so cold, they said. There might not be people in the Upside Down, but there was plenty of stuff.

Never mind that there was a guitar pick on a length of thin chain shoved in one of the pockets, and Lonny had never played guitar a day in his life.

They all seemed to just want to get over it and move on. Eventually Will stopped trying to convince anyone else that Eddie was real. He believed, and that was good enough for now. They’d all know soon enough if the things Eddie had told him would come to pass.

The truth came to slap them all in the face just under a year later when Dustin, Lucas, and the new girl Max found themselves facing down demodogs in the junkyard with nothing for protection except an old school bus, and Steve Harrington with his nail bat.

It was a little easier to get the others to believe and listen to him after that.

Part 2

Thanks forever to @penny00dreadful for being the best friend, cheerleader, and beta in the whole fucking world 💜 truly could not do it without you.

#steddie fanfic #stranger things #time fuckery #will byers #eddie munson #steve harrington #steddie #steve harrington/eddie munson #fanfic #steve x eddie #steddie fic #ao3 #the crawl #will byers in the upside down

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